Toga

 Home| Latíné | Deutsch | Español | Français | Italiano | Magyar | Português | Română | Русский | English

For making and wearing a toga, see Toga (Nova Roma).

The toga developed over time from the simple, common and possibly sole garment of the Roman people to become the distinctive signifier of the power and culture of the Roman state, "...inseparable from every manifestation of their civic activity."^[1]

Romans conceived of themselves as "Romans, masters of things, the togate people". [2]

Social meaning of the toga

Toga were sometimes given as gifts by patrons to clients. Martial complains when the price of his expected gift is spent elsewhere (book X number xxix):

Types of the toga

As far as the colouring of the wool itself, there were several types of toga:

Toga virilis (or toga pura)

The ordinary citizen's toga. It is undyed, and thus off-white or cream coloured.

Toga praetexta

The toga worn by magistrates (and also by boys under the age of 16). It bears the purple stripe, the width of which varies according to the wearer. Senators and magistrates holding imperium wear a broad (3") purple stripe. Members of the Ordo Equester and magistrates without imperium wear a thin (1") purple stripe. Such stripes do not go all the way around the toga, but instead are placed on edge BEFA on the diagram (the upper-half of the toga).

Toga candida

The stark-white toga worn by candidates running for office. The English word "candidate" comes from this usage.

Toga pulla

A dark toga, either brown, dark gray, or even black, worn while in mourning.

Toga picta

A special toga worn only by military commanders being given a triumph. It is pure purple with decorations in golden thread.

Toga trabea

A multi-coloured toga, bearing purple and scarlet stripes, worn by Augurs.

Evolution of the toga

The early toga

This was original semicircular form in the republican times until the 1st century BC, which can be seen on this statue:

2nd-1st c. BCE

In the end of the 2nd century BCE, the aristocracy started to enlarge their toga to have a more impressive draping. They increased the width of the material bigger and bigger through the decades. Now they had a very large toga draped the way seen on this statue, and a bit later, this version of draping became even more popular at the end of the republic with the sinus, seen on this statue:

The "classical" toga

But having this new fashion of draping and the large measure of the material, they had problem with it's falling from the back and in the first part under the visible draping downstage, caused by the lots of material in the corners "x" and "y". Also, they continued to increase the width to have a larger sinus, and it caused even more problems because of those "too much material" corners, so they simply started to cut down the corners.

"Theory 1"

An other hypothesis says that they cut it down in a semicircular way, so they had an oval, ellipsis-like shape:

"Theory 2"

Final shape

I think that the even cutting is more likely because it is a more simple solution; anyway, they now had this variant of the toga that is called "imperial", and was worn during the principate. I think "classical toga" is a better name for this variant, because it is which became the most symbolic and characteristic version of the Roman toga.

In the photo at right, you can see my classical toga which is made according to the "Theory 1":

Please compare it yourselves with ones on the Roman statues, like this, or this, or this and so on...

Footnotes

1. ↑ Carcopino, J. (1940). Daily Life in Ancient Rome. E. Lorimer trans.
2. ↑ Aeneid I.284: Iupiter refers to the Romans as "Romanos rerum dominos gentemque togatam"

Sources

---

---

---