ROMAN DRESS AND PERSONAL APPEARANCE
In this drawing of a bas relief on the Arch of Constantine, we can see
typical Roman dress. The third figure from the left is wearing a
toga, the formal garment of Roman male citizen. The toga was just a large
piece of wool cloth, but the draping of it over the body was complicated
and probably required the help of a second person. It was arranged in such
a way as to form folds in front that could be used as a pocket. The
left hand held the garment in place. Most Romans (as the figure here
wore the toga over a tunic, a piece of cloth folded in two, sewn up on
two sides with holes for arms and head. Tunics for men were tied
at the waist and normally extended to the middle of the thigh, but were
sometimes longer as you can see on the figure on the far right (with the
child sitting on his shoulders). While the senatorial aristocracy
no doubt wore the toga on those days they were conducting public affairs,
the tunic was the normal workday wear for the lower classes, who would
don the toga on special occasions like holidays. The figure on the
far right (with back turned) and the boy next to him are wearing a pallium
(over a tunic), which was a garment Romans liked better than the
toga, no doubt because of its fewer folds and shorter length (especially
in warm weather). Women wore a long tunic called a stola that went
down to the feet, often with a woolen mantle called the palla over
it (see female figure, fourth from the left).
A member of the senatorial aristocracy wore a toga with a purple
stripe (see below). A candidate for office wore a brilliantly white
chalk-bleached toga (toga candida, thus "candidate") that
made his ambitions obvious to all. The censor, the most prestigious
of magistrates, wore a purple toga, as did a triumphing general, only with
the addition of a gold border.
As can be seen in both images above, men wore their hair cropped
short and were mostly clean shaven. Wearing a beard might be a sign
of rusticity or an attempt to imitate the Greeks or to indicate one's devotion
to philosophy. Women's hairdos were normally simple, but in the late first
century AD, elaborate hairstyles were all the rage among aristocratic women.
Images from Connolly, P. and Dodge, H., The Ancient
City: Life in Classical Athens & Rome (Oxford 1998).
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