Toga

Lore & Background

In Roman historical tradition, the toga was said to have been the favored dress of Romulus, Rome's founder, and was thought to have originally been worn by both sexes and by the citizen-military. As Roman women gradually adopted the stola, the toga was recognized as formal wear for male Roman citizens, with women found guilty of adultery and women engaged in prostitution providing the main exceptions. The type of toga worn reflected a citizen's rank in the civil hierarchy, and various laws and customs restricted its use to citizens, who were required to wear it for public festivals and civic duties.

Reader's Guide

The toga's significance lies in its role as the 'national costume' of Ancient Rome, embodying Roman identity and citizenship. It was an approximately semi-circular woollen cloth, usually white, worn draped over the left shoulder and around the body; the word 'toga' probably derives from tegere, to cover. The Romans considered it unique to themselves, leading to their poetic description by Virgil and Martial as the gens togata ('toga-wearing race'). There were many kinds of toga, each reserved by custom to a particular usage or social class, including the toga virilis (plain white, for adult male commoners), toga praetexta (white with a broad purple stripe, for curule magistrates and freeborn children), toga candida (bright white, for political candidates), toga pulla (dark, for mourners), toga picta (solid purple with gold embroidery, for triumphs and emperors), and the trabea (associated with equestrian rank). Despite its symbolic importance, the toga was hard to put on, uncomfortable, and never truly popular; when circumstances allowed, those entitled to wear it opted for more comfortable garments. It gradually fell out of use, first among lower-class citizens, then the middle class, and eventually was worn only by the highest classes for ceremonial occasions.

Did You Know?

• The toga was usually woven from white wool and worn over a tunic.
• The toga candida, rubbed with chalk to a dazzling white, is the etymological source of the word 'candidate'.
• Women found guilty of adultery and women engaged in prostitution might have been the main exceptions to the rule that the toga was formal wear for male Roman citizens.
• The toga praetexta, with a broad purple stripe, was worn by freeborn boys and some freeborn girls before they came of age to mark their protection by law from sexual predation.