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The Romans

Clothing

Roman clothes were made of wool, spun into cloth by the women of the family. Later on the richer people had slaves to do this work for them. If you could afford to buy clothes, you could buy linen, cotton or silk, which was brought to Rome from other parts of the Empire. Washing clothes was difficult because the Romans did not have washing machines or soap powder. They used either a chemical called sulphur or urine.

These are the clothes that Romans wore

Toga

The Toga

This man is wearing a toga. Only male citizens of Rome were allowed to wear togas. They were made out of wool and were very large. The material was not sewn or pinned but was draped around the body and over one arm. Togas were very expensive because of the large amount of material needed to make them and very heavy. It was the law that all citizens wore togas for public events. They were even told which colour of toga they had to wear:

A plain white toga was worn by all adult male citizens

An off-white toga with a purple border was worn by magistrates and upper class boys

A toga made of dark coloured wool was worn after someone had died

A bleached toga was worn by politicians

A purple toga with gold embroidery was worn by a victorious general and later by emperors.

Tunic

The Tunic

This was worn under the toga by men. It was made by sewing two pieces of wool together to make a tube with holes for the arms. It was belted at the waist and just covered the knees.

Underwear

Both men and women wore a simple loincloth (like the one worn by Tarzan) under their clothes

Shoes

Indoors, the Romans wore open-toed sandals. However, outdoors they preferred to wear shoes that covered their toes.

Jewellery

Men were only allowed to wear one piece of jewellery - a ring that was used to make a mark in wax for sealing documents. However, many ignored the rules and wore several rings and brooches to pin their cloaks.