Toga

Евсеенков А.С.

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Toga — status outerwear in ancient Rome, a wide and long piece of fabric that was worn over a tunic.

The toga was one of the attributes of Roman citizenship. Virgil called the Romans " lords of the world, a people dressed in togas." Persons deprived of their citizenship and sent into exile lost the right to wear a toga, and foreigners were also not allowed to wear it. The toga was the official dress worn primarily by the wealthy citizens of Rome. Over time, the fashion changed, and the toga was worn less and less often. For example, Juvenal mentioned that the toga was mostly worn only on the dead on their deathbed. Martial wrote that in small towns in Italy, the toga was worn once or twice a month, when the family celebrated various festivals, mainly in honor of Lares. In Rome itself, the tradition of wearing the toga was somewhat more stable than on the periphery of the state, but despite this, even in the late Republic, citizens increasingly preferred to use ordinary cloaks instead of togas- penulas and sagums. Under Augustus, the aediles were supposed to ensure that Roman traditions were maintained: that every Roman citizen in the forum and in the circus wore a toga. However, even these measures did not succeed, and soon it was worn only where it was necessary: at public games, in court, at sacrifices, and when customers greeted their patron. Thus, over time, the toga turned into an official dress, and in everyday life it was practically not used.

It should be noted that in Roman fashion, the toga probably came from the Greeks, who used a similar piece of clothing, the himatium.

Several varieties of toga were known:

• Toga praetexta-a toga with wide red or purple stripes. This toga was worn by young free minor Romans, as well as magistrates and priests.

• Toga virilis — a toga worn by a young Roman at a celebration in honor of joining civil society.

• Toga pura-everyday toga, which was sewn from heavy white wool, without colored ornaments.

• Toga candida — specially bleached toga, which was worn by a candidate for the post of official. From the name of this toga came the word "candidate".

• Toga pulla-a gray or black toga worn by mourners during mourning.

• Toga picta or toga palmata — purple toga worn by the triumphant. It might have had scenes from Roman history embroidered in gold.

• Trabea-a toga decorated with purple horizontal stripes. Servius describes three types of trabea: entirely of purple cloth, dedicated to the gods; white and purple trabea-the clothing of Latin and early Roman kings; purple and saffron-colored with a purple border, worn by augurs, consuls at festivals and equites during transvectio.

Reconstruction

The toga was shaped like a rounded trapeze and was truly huge in size, it was put on with the help of slaves. The width of the canvas reached up to 2 meters in the widest part, the length from 3 to 10 meters, depending on the type of toga. The classic toga was white or cream in color. To create a red or purple edging, a braid was often not sewn: threads of a different color were woven directly during the weaving process.

Since the toga was worn by Roman citizens, it is best suited for reconstructing the images of a senator and a priest. For togas, it is recommended to find the thinnest wool of plain weave, along the edges you should sew the fabric for a more neat look.

Related topics

Tunic, Augur, The Pontiff, Equites-Riders, Penula, Sagum

Literature

Giro P. Private and public life of the Romans

Sergeenko M. Zhizn Drevnego Rima Life of Ancient Rome