06-24-2005, 03:32 PM
Matthias Pausch has looked at the toga in his dissertation on Roman tunicae recently. He has reached some - interesting - conclusions. Apparently, the link between the toga and Romanness was established only in the late Republic and instiottuionalised under Augustus, and dissolved under the strain of reality in the next two centuries.
The toga of prostitutes is another such issue that is hard to grasp. Bettina Eva Stumpp, in her study 'Prostitution in der römischen Antike' (one of the few such works not intended for one-handed reading) assumes there must have been subtle (or not so subtle) distinctions between this and the formal, upper-class toga, including colour (it is apparently referred to as a /toga pulla/, dark-coloured).
As to women wearing the toga, it is not all that unlikely given that the 'fpormal' distinctive dress of the Roman matron, the stola, became unpopular even faster than the full male toga. A female toga may have been a very different thing - an alternate name for a variant of what we usually call a /palla/ for all we know.
I do have my doubts about the silk, though. All types of mantle depend on friction to stay in place, and the Romans liked silk because it was so thin and fine. That kind of silk would probably not be comfortable as a toga or palla. Not to mention far too expensive for most people (but then, much the same was probably true of what we today consider the 'full' toga)
The toga of prostitutes is another such issue that is hard to grasp. Bettina Eva Stumpp, in her study 'Prostitution in der römischen Antike' (one of the few such works not intended for one-handed reading) assumes there must have been subtle (or not so subtle) distinctions between this and the formal, upper-class toga, including colour (it is apparently referred to as a /toga pulla/, dark-coloured).
As to women wearing the toga, it is not all that unlikely given that the 'fpormal' distinctive dress of the Roman matron, the stola, became unpopular even faster than the full male toga. A female toga may have been a very different thing - an alternate name for a variant of what we usually call a /palla/ for all we know.
I do have my doubts about the silk, though. All types of mantle depend on friction to stay in place, and the Romans liked silk because it was so thin and fine. That kind of silk would probably not be comfortable as a toga or palla. Not to mention far too expensive for most people (but then, much the same was probably true of what we today consider the 'full' toga)
Der Kessel ist voll Bärks!
Volker Bach
Volker Bach
