What did Romans wear under their kilts?
Scotsmen, as we all know, wear a kilt. True Scotsmen, as we all know, wear nothing underneath the kilt. Given the voracious nature of Scottish midges – tiny mosquito like pests whose bite is like the pin-pricking of minitaure red-hot pokers and which swarm in millions around anyone unfortunate enough to be in Scotland between May and September – the thought of any unprotected flesh is painful. The thought of a swarm of midges congregating in the warm darkness underneath a kilt positively brings tears to the eyes. The ancient Romans must have shared my opinion on the wisdom – or rather, the unwisdom – of wearing kilts without undergarments. Not that the Romans wore kilts exactly, but they certainly didn’t wear trousers. Trousers were the garments of effete civilisations such as the Persians or the Sarmatians; real men – like, for instance, the Romans – wore togas in their leisure moments and short, kilt-like garments when off soldiering. Just consult any picture of a Roman legionary to
