The toga's most distinguishing feature was its semi-circular shape, which sets it apart from other cloaks of antiquity like the Greek
himation or
pallium. To Rothe, the rounded form suggests an origin in the very similar, semi-circular
Etruscan tebenna. Norma Goldman believes that the earliest forms of all these garments would have been simple, rectangular lengths of cloth that served as both body-wrap and blanket for peasants, shepherds and itinerant herdsmen. Roman historians believed that Rome's legendary founder and first king, the erstwhile shepherd
Romulus, had worn a toga as his clothing of choice; the purple-bordered
toga praetexta was supposedly used by Etruscan magistrates, and introduced to Rome by her third king,
Tullus Hostilius. In the wider context of classical
Greco-Roman fashion, the Greek
enkyklon ("circular [garment]") was perhaps similar in shape to the Roman toga, but never acquired the same significance as a distinctive mark of citizenship. The 2nd-century
diviner Artemidorus Daldianus in his
Oneirocritica derived the toga's form and name from the Greek
tebennos, supposedly an
Arcadian garment invented by and named after Temenus. Emilio Peruzzi claims that the toga was brought to
Italy from
Mycenaean Greece, its name based on
Mycenaean Greek te-pa, referring to a heavy woollen garment or fabric.
In civil life Roman society was strongly hierarchical, stratified and competitive. Landowning aristocrats occupied most seats in the
Roman Senate and held the most senior
magistracies. Magistrates were elected by their peers and "the people"; in Roman constitutional theory, they ruled by consent. In practice, they were a mutually competitive oligarchy, reserving the greatest power, wealth and prestige for their class. The
commoners who made up the vast majority of the Roman electorate had limited influence on politics, unless barracking or voting
en masse, or through representation by their
tribunes. The
Equites (sometimes loosely translated as "knights") occupied a broadly mobile, mid-position between the lower senatorial and upper commoner class. Despite often extreme disparities of wealth and rank between the citizen classes, the toga identified them as a singular and exclusive civic body. at
Vulci. Some scholars believe this shows a
toga picta, largely based on its colour and decorative detail; others suggest that the straight edges make it a Greek-style cloak, and not a toga. Togas were relatively uniform in pattern and style but varied significantly in the quality and quantity of their fabric, and the marks of higher rank or office. The highest-status toga, the solidly purple, gold-embroidered
toga picta could be worn only at particular ceremonies by the highest-ranking
magistrates.
Tyrian purple was supposedly reserved for the
toga picta, the border of the
toga praetexta, and elements of the priestly dress worn by the inviolate
Vestal Virgins. It was colour-fast, extremely expensive and the "most talked-about colour in Greco-Roman antiquity". Romans categorised it as a blood-red hue, which sanctified its wearer. The purple-bordered
praetexta worn by freeborn youths acknowledged their vulnerability and sanctity in law. Once a boy came of age (usually at puberty) he adopted the plain white
toga virilis; this meant that he was free to set up his own household, marry, and vote. Young girls who wore the
praetexta on formal occasions put it aside at
menarche or marriage, and adopted the
stola. Even the whiteness of the
toga virilis was subject to class distinction. Senatorial versions were expensively laundered to an exceptional, snowy white; those of lower ranking citizens were a duller shade, more cheaply laundered. Citizenship carried specific privileges, rights and responsibilities. The
formula togatorum ("list of toga-wearers") listed the various military obligations that Rome's
Italian allies were required to supply to Rome in times of war.
Togati, "those who wear the toga", is not precisely equivalent to "Roman citizens", and may mean more broadly "
Romanized". In Roman territories, the toga was explicitly forbidden to non-citizens; to foreigners, freedmen, and slaves; to Roman exiles; and to men of
"infamous" career or shameful reputation; an individual's status should be discernable at a glance. A freedman or foreigner might pose as a togate citizen, or a common citizen as an equestrian; such pretenders were sometimes ferreted out in the
census. Formal seating arrangements in public theatres and circuses reflected the dominance of Rome's togate elect. Senators sat at the very front,
equites behind them, common citizens behind
equites; and so on, through the non-togate mass of freedmen, foreigners, and slaves. Imposters were sometimes detected and evicted from the equestrian seats. Various anecdotes reflect the toga's symbolic value. In
Livy's
history of Rome, the
patrician hero Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus, retired from public life and clad (presumably) in tunic or loincloth, is ploughing his field when emissaries of the
Senate arrive, and ask him to put on his toga. His wife fetches it and he puts it on. Then he is told that he has been appointed
dictator. He promptly heads for Rome. Donning the toga transforms Cincinnatus from rustic, sweaty ploughman – though a gentleman nevertheless, of impeccable stock and reputation – into Rome's leading politician, eager to serve his country; a top-quality Roman. Rome's abundant public and private statuary reinforced the notion that all Rome's great men wore togas, and must always have done so.
Work and leisure from a building near
Pompeii, a rare depiction of Roman men in
togae praetextae with dark red borders. It dates from the early Imperial Era and probably shows an event during
Compitalia, a popular street festival. Traditionalists idealised Rome's urban and rustic citizenry as descendants of a hardy, virtuous, toga-clad peasantry, but the toga's bulk and complex drapery made it entirely impractical for manual work or physically active leisure. The toga was heavy, "unwieldy, excessively hot, easily stained, and hard to launder". It was best suited to stately processions, public debate and oratory, sitting in the theatre or circus, and displaying oneself before one's peers and inferiors while "ostentatiously doing nothing". Every male Roman citizen was entitled to wear some kind of toga –
Martial refers to a lesser citizen's "small toga" and a poor man's "little toga" (both
togula), but the poorest probably had to make do with a shabby, patched-up toga, if he bothered at all. Conversely, the costly, full-length toga seems to have been a rather awkward mark of distinction when worn by "the wrong sort". The poet Horace writes "of a rich ex-slave 'parading from end to end of the
Sacred Way in a toga three yards long' to show off his new status and wealth." In the early 2nd century AD, the satirist
Juvenal claimed that "in a great part of Italy, no-one wears the toga, except in death"; in Martial's rural idyll there is "never a lawsuit, the toga is scarce, the mind at ease". Most citizens who owned a toga would have cherished it as a costly material object, and worn it when they must for special occasions. Family, friendships and alliances, and the gainful pursuit of wealth through business and trade would have been their major preoccupations, not the
otium (cultured leisure) claimed as a right by the elite. Rank, reputation and
Romanitas were paramount, even in death, so almost invariably, a male citizen's memorial image showed him clad in his toga. He wore it at his funeral, and it probably served as his shroud. Despite the overwhelming quantity of Roman togate portraits at every social level, and in every imaginable circumstance, at most times Rome's thoroughfares would have been crowded with citizens and non-citizens in a variety of colourful garments, with few togas in evidence. Only a higher-class Roman, a magistrate, would have had lictors to clear his way, and even then, wearing a toga was a challenge. The toga's apparent natural simplicity and "elegant, flowing lines" were the result of diligent practice and cultivation; to avoid an embarrassing disarrangement of its folds, its wearer had to walk with measured, stately gait, Vout (1996) suggests that the toga's most challenging qualities as garment fitted the Romans' view of themselves and their civilization. Like the empire itself, the peace that the toga came to represent had been earned through the extraordinary and unremitting collective efforts of its citizens, who could therefore claim "the time and dignity to dress in such a way". == Patronage and
salutationes == " depicting a
Roman senator with
portrait busts of ancestors, one of which is supported by a
herma: marble, late 1st century BC; head (not belonging): middle 1st century BC.
Patronage was a cornerstone of Roman politics, business and social relationships. A good patron offered advancement, security, honour, wealth, government contracts and other business opportunities to his client, who might be further down in the social or economic scale, or more rarely, his equal or superior. A good client canvassed political support for his patron, or his patron's nominee; he advanced his patron's interests using his own business, family and personal connections. Freedmen with an aptitude for business could become extremely wealthy; but to negotiate citizenship for themselves, or more likely their sons, they had to find a patron prepared to commend them. Clients seeking patronage had to attend the patron's early-morning formal
salutatio ("greeting session"), held in the semi-public, grand reception room (
atrium) of his family house (
domus). Citizen-clients were expected to wear the toga appropriate to their status, and to wear it correctly and smartly or risk affront to their host.
Martial and his friend
Juvenal suffered the system as clients for years, and found the whole business demeaning. A client had to be at his patron's beck and call, to perform whatever "togate works" were required; and the patron might even expect to be addressed as "
domine" (lord, or master); a citizen-client of the
equestrian class, superior to all lesser mortals by virtue of rank and costume, might thus approach the shameful condition of dependent servitude. For a client whose patron was another's client, the potential for shame was still worse. Even as a satirical analogy, the equation of togate client and slave would have shocked those who cherished the toga as a symbol of personal dignity and
auctoritas – a meaning underlined during the
Saturnalia festival, when the toga was "very consciously put aside", in a ritualised, strictly limited inversion of the master-slave relationship. Patrons were few, and most had to compete with their peers to attract the best, most useful clients. Clients were many, and those of least interest to the patron had to scrabble for notice among the "togate horde" (
turbae togatae). One in a dirty or patched toga would likely be subject to ridicule; or he might, if sufficiently dogged and persistent, secure a pittance of cash, or perhaps a dinner. When the patron left his house to conduct his business of the day at the law courts, forum or wherever else, escorted (if a magistrate) by his togate
lictors, his clients must form his retinue. Each togate client represented a potential vote: to impress his peers and inferiors, and stay ahead in the game, a patron should have as many high-quality clients as possible; or at least, he should seem to. Martial has one patron hire a herd (
grex) of fake clients in togas, then pawn his ring to pay for his evening meal. The emperor
Marcus Aurelius, rather than wear the "dress to which his rank entitled him" at his own
salutationes, chose to wear a plain white citizen's toga instead.
Caligula wore a triumphal
toga picta or any other garment he chose, according to whim.
Nero caused considerable offence when he received visiting senators while dressed in a tunic embroidered with flowers, topped off with a muslin neckerchief. == Oratory ==