Tablion

The tablion (in Greek ταϐλίον / tablíon ) is a vestimentary accessory aulic in the late Antiquité and the Byzantine Empire: it is a pair of panels of embroidered fabric, of square or trapezoidal form, bent with right angle at the edge of the Chlamyde. On the representations of people carrying chlamyde fixed at the shoulder, as on the ivory of the Bargello (opposite) only one panel of the tablion is visible because the second is on the side of the clothing rejected into the back. But when the person carries fixed chlamyde of face under the neck, the two panels are quite visible.

At the 4th century, the tablion is bent with height of knees (like those of imperial chlamydes on the Missorium de Théodose), but it goes back to height of the chest about the 6th century. It can be decorated with elaborate geometrical reasons, but also with portrait, in particular with the imperial portrait: it is the case for example tablion of the empress ARIANE on the imperial Diptyque of the Bargello.

The reason for the tablion differs according to the row from the character who carries it, and at the time Byzantine must be bought by the holder: a patrikios pay thus 24 nomismata at the 9th century for its tablion.

The tablion is in general the mark of the civil civils servant, although the military saints are represented sometimes carrying it over their armor. It is also an accessory almost exclusively male: only the empress can carry the tablion.

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