06-03-2008, 11:56 AM
There are plenty of pictures of Roman statues of men wearing togas, however practically none are in colour.
The wide band down the front of the tunic worn under a toga is the clothing equivalent of the leather lorica. Beloved of Hollywood but with very little supporting historical or archaeological evidence, especially in the first century AD. There are some paintings from Etruscan times which do show a single broad band on tunics but the two striped versions seem more common.
Two illustrated examples are well known and might be of use in answering the questions asked. Both appear in most general books on the Romans.
Firstly the Republican era statue known as Arringatore, a man in a toga with an outstretched arm. Although this is in bronze it has incised lines on the border of the toga and over the right shoulder of the tunic. These would correspond to the coloured bands and may have been coloured on the statue originally.
Secondly there is a single painting of a figure wearing a toga from Pompeii from the House of the Vetii. The figure has a broad purple border on the tunic and a single broad purple stripe on the tunic over the right shoulder.
In both these examples only a single stripe is shown because the drapes of the toga itself hide the left side of the body. However in both examples the stripe is so far over on the right side, that it can not be a single stripe down the middle of the tunic.
For more information on Toga's, I recommend
'The Roman Toga', by L.M. Wilson which is now available again via Amazon. This also supplies written evidence of Roman toga's. And 'The World of Roman Costume', by J.Sebesta and L.Bonfante.
Graham.
The wide band down the front of the tunic worn under a toga is the clothing equivalent of the leather lorica. Beloved of Hollywood but with very little supporting historical or archaeological evidence, especially in the first century AD. There are some paintings from Etruscan times which do show a single broad band on tunics but the two striped versions seem more common.
Two illustrated examples are well known and might be of use in answering the questions asked. Both appear in most general books on the Romans.
Firstly the Republican era statue known as Arringatore, a man in a toga with an outstretched arm. Although this is in bronze it has incised lines on the border of the toga and over the right shoulder of the tunic. These would correspond to the coloured bands and may have been coloured on the statue originally.
Secondly there is a single painting of a figure wearing a toga from Pompeii from the House of the Vetii. The figure has a broad purple border on the tunic and a single broad purple stripe on the tunic over the right shoulder.
In both these examples only a single stripe is shown because the drapes of the toga itself hide the left side of the body. However in both examples the stripe is so far over on the right side, that it can not be a single stripe down the middle of the tunic.
For more information on Toga's, I recommend
'The Roman Toga', by L.M. Wilson which is now available again via Amazon. This also supplies written evidence of Roman toga's. And 'The World of Roman Costume', by J.Sebesta and L.Bonfante.
Graham.
"Is all that we see or seem but a dream within a dream" Edgar Allan Poe.
"Every brush-stroke is torn from my body" The Rebel, Tony Hancock.
"..I sweated in that damn dirty armor....TWENTY YEARS!', Charlton Heston, The Warlord.
"Every brush-stroke is torn from my body" The Rebel, Tony Hancock.
"..I sweated in that damn dirty armor....TWENTY YEARS!', Charlton Heston, The Warlord.
