Footwear Gallery

Ancient Roman shoes and sandals

Imperial Roman footwear from the Trajan Column 1, Roman footwear from the Palazzo Mattei 2, sandal from a fragment found at Palestrina 3, and a Roman sandal from a figure in the Casa Giustiniani 4. Copperplate engraving by Pietro Ruga after an illustration by Lorenzo Rocceggiani from his own 100 Plates of Costumes Religious, Civil and Military of the Ancient Egyptians, Etruscans, Greeks and Romans, Franzetti, Rome, 1802. Date:

© Florilegius/Mary Evans

Foot x rays showing damage done by wearing high heels

A double page spread from The Sketch reporting on the unnatural stresses put on the feet by the wearing of high heels, which had been banned by the French medical profession being bad for the feet and encouraging poor posture. Women who objected to being flat footed were advised to wear heels of not more than four centimetres. The sketches among the X-rays are by the famous French cartoonist, Sem. Date: 1918

© Illustrated London News Ltd/Mary Evans

Ancient Roman footwear

Ancient Roman footwear. Sandal from the Vatican Museum 1, from the Arch of Constantine 2, and from the courtyard of the Palazzo Albani 3. Copperplate engraving by Pietro Ruga after an illustration by Lorenzo Rocceggiani from his own 100 Plates of Costumes Religious, Civil and Military of the Ancient Egyptians, Etruscans, Greeks and Romans, Franzetti, Rome, 1802. Date:

© Florilegius/Mary Evans