The Roman clothing


Back to the table of contents


The Romans knew only two articles of clothing: the toga and the tunica. The toga was worn at official happenings, like the salutatio, and the tunica at home etc. Instead of a toga, women wore a stola, a white woollen attire.





A statue of a Roman woman in her clothing, the stola. A statue of a Roman man in his clothing, the toga.

A toga was put on like this (1).

A toga was put on like this (2).

A toga was put on like this (3).  This was the result.

The toga
The toga was only worn at official happenings. The salutatio, speeches, solemnities, big festivities, and visits of important people were reasons to wear such an uncomfortable toga. In the daily life the toga wasn't very important, because you couldn't move easily in it, and the creases felt wrong.
The toga was a big woolen trapezoid cloth. This cloth was draped around the body of the bearer. A lot of patroni (plur. of patronus) even had a special slave for this job!
Boys till 16 years wore a toga with a purple edge. That was called a toga praetexta. Senators, members of the Senate, the government of the Roman Empire, too wore a toga praetexta. At their 16th birthday the boys exchanged it for a toga virilis, a non-decorated, bare toga. This solemnity meant that the boy was grown-up. When a Roman was a candidate for one of the many political functions, he was allowed to wear a toga candida, an extra white toga. Then he was a candidatus. That word descents from candidus, what means shiny white.
The only one in the whole Roman Empire who was allowed to wear a totally purple toga, a toga picta.

The tunica
The tunica was worn the whole day by proletarians, shopkeepers, building workers etc., because you could move comfortably in this article of clothing, you didn't have to take care of the creases and it was much more airy. Sometimes the tunica was also worn under the toga. The tunica was a simple long shirt with primitive sleeves. The shirt was tied up with a belt.

Foot-wear
The Romans wore leather sandals on their feet, always and everywhere, because it was comfortable and airy. They didn't know any other footwear like shoes.



Back to the table of contents