Why Everything about Your Toga Party is All Wrong

#1: First of all, that is not a toga you are wearing to begin with.

Today, most so-called “togas” are made from old bedsheets, which are rectangular. The classical Roman toga, however, was always made from a roughly semicircular piece of cloth. The classical toga was comprised of a single sheet of cloth, but this piece of cloth was actually much larger than the size of a single bedsheet. That is the reason why in Roman statues you always see ripples of flowing cloth.

Furthermore, the classical toga was always made from wool, whereas most modern bedsheets are made from cotton. In ancient times, cotton could only be obtained through importing it from India, which was half a world away from Italy. Only the extremely ultra wealthy would have been able to afford any kind of clothes made from cotton.

#2: You are probably wearing the “toga” over the wrong shoulder anyway.

The Greeks and Roman always wore all garments over the left shoulder. Wearing a garment over the right shoulder was universally viewed as a defining characteristic of a barbarian. In The Birds by Aristophanes, the foreign god Triballos, who can only speak in garbled nonsense, is depicted wearing his himation over the right shoulder, forcing the god Poseidon, who is standing next to him, to show him how to wear it properly.

Although The Birds is a Greek play, the same general rule held true for the Romans also: left shoulder=civilized person; right shoulder=uncouth barbarian.

#3: The toga was an exclusively Roman garment. The Greeks never wore togas.

Many people often imagine that the ancient Greeks wore togas. In actuality, however, the Greeks did not wear togas. The toga was only worn by the Romans. There are probably two major reasons why many people think that the Greeks wore togas. The first reason is because, sadly, in our modern culture, the Greeks and Romans are often confused and conflated with each other, even though their cultures were actually immensely different from each other.

The second major reason why so people falsely believe that the ancient Greeks wore togas is because many ancient Greeks garments bore a slight resemblance to the toga. One common ancient Greek garment that somewhat resembled the toga, however was the himation, which was a kind of cloak comprised of a single rectangular sheet of cloth worn over the left shoulder and wrapped around the entire body. Ironically, modern bedsheet “togas” are much closer to the Greek himation than to the actual Roman toga since the himation actually was made from a rectangular piece of cloth.

ABOVE: On the left is a photograph of an ancient Greek statue depicting an unknown Cynic philosopher wearing a himation. On the right is a photograph of an ancient Roman statue depicting Emperor Tiberius wearing a toga. Notice the similarities and differences between the two.

#4: During the Classical Era, the only women who wore togas were prostitutes.

Although it is true that, during the very early part of Roman history, the toga was indeed worn by both men and women alike, by the time of the second century B.C., the toga was reserved specifically for men. Respectable women instead wore the stola, which was a kind of dress. The only women who continued to wear togas after this point were prostitutes.

ABOVE: An ancient Roman statue depicting Livia Drusilla, the wife of Emperor Augustus, wearing a stola.

#5: The toga was incredibly unpopular and was generally only worn on formal occasions.

People often imagine the ancient Romans walking around wearing togas all the time, but, in actuality, from the very beginning of Roman history, the toga was very unpopular. Togas were almost always made from wool and they were much heavier than other garments, meaning that togas were often notorious for being extremely hot, uncomfortable, and impractical.

It seems that lower-class Romans never wore the toga at all, even during the toga’s height. In fact, during the early second century A.D., the Roman satirist Iuvenalis snidely commented that most people never put on a toga until after they are dead. In his book The Life of Agricola, the Roman historian Publius Cornelius Tacitus, who lived around the same time or shortly after Iuvenalis, shows contempt towards the lower classes, calling them “vulgus tunicatus,” which means “tunic folk.”

During the early Imperial Era, the only reason why anyone ever wore the toga at all was because it was illegal for anyone to wear the toga unless he was a Roman citizen. Wearing a toga was therefore a sign of citizenship. In the Roman Empire, citizenship was very rare and highly valued, which meant that wearing a toga conveyed a certain level of prestige.

After Emperor Caracalla extended the right of citizenship to a greater number of people in 212 A.D., however, the toga’s prestige quickly faded.  As a result of this, members of the middle class quickly stopped wearing it altogether. Soon, it was only worn by members of the upper class and even then, it was only worn on formal occasions.

Eventually, even senators began to stop wearing the toga. In fact, so many senators stopped wearing togas that Emperor Honorius actually attempted to enforce legislation trying to force senators to wear togas. These acts of legislation were ultimately doomed to failure from the very start.

Finally, in 382 A.D., Emperor Theodosius I issued Lex Vestiaria, a commandment acknowledging that the toga was thoroughly obsolete and that, instead of wearing the toga, senators should wear the paenula, which was a common garment very similar to a modern-day Mexican poncho. By the time of Emperor Ioustinianos I, the toga had been fully replaced by other, more practical garments such as the tunic, the chiton, the paludamentum, and the chlamys.

SOURCES
Aristophanes. The Birds.
Emperor Theodosius I. Lex Vestoria.
Iuvenalis, Decimus Iunius. Satires.
Tacitus, Publius Cornelius. The Life of Agricola.
IMAGE CREDITS
All of the images used in this article were retrieved from Wikimedia Commons. All of the images used in this article are in the public domain.