Can it really have taken seven episodes of Instant Classics to get
to everyone’s favourite Roman meme: the toga party? Mary and
Charlotte grasp the thistle - or rather the sinus (fold at the
front of a toga) - and ask what exactly is a toga? Who wore them
and when? And how do you make one? In this fact-filled
episode, we discover that - despite the antics of students around
the world today - a toga wasn’t a bed-sheet turned into a sort of
cheap tunic for getting blind drunk in, but an elaborate, woollen
garment more like a cloak or robe that signified power. We find out
how many kilometres of woollen thread were necessary to make a
toga, where the word ‘candidate’ (as in political candidate) comes
from and which Roman emperor wore platform shoes to make himself
look taller. As they go deeper into the folds of the toga,
Mary and Charlotte reveal how wearing one was about much more than
looking smart but got to the very essence of what it meant to be
Roman. And… in case you’re wondering… one of our hosts has
been to a toga party. But can you guess whether it’s Mary or
Charlotte? @instaclassicpod for Insta, TikTok and YouTube
@insta_classics for X email: instantclassicspod@gmail.com Mary and
Charlotte recommend some further reading Roman dress has been a bit
of a boom area of study recently. Mary Harlow explains many of the
practical aspects (including a fun video showing how to actually
put one on) here:
https://romanleicester.com/2020/06/30/dress-to-impress/ There is
good, accessible stuff on the rights and wrongs of toga-wearing
here:
https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/unromantest/chapter/the-roman-man-and-the-toga/
More specialised: Camilla Ebert, Sidsel Frisch, Mary Harlow,
Eva Andersson Strand and Lena Bjerregaard (eds), Traditional
Textile Craft: An Intangible Cultural Heritage? (Centre for Textile
Research, University of Copenhagen, 2016) Judith Lynn Sebasta and
Larissa Bonfante (eds), The World of Roman Costume (Wisconsin UP,
pb, 1994) Jonathan Edmondson and Alison Keith (eds), Roman
Dress and the Fabrics of Roman Culture (University of Toronto
Press, 2008) If you want to follow up some ancient
writers: the phrase ‘the race that wears the toga’ is from
Virgil, Aeneid 1, 282; Augustus’ rules on wearing togas in
the forum are mentioned at Suetonius, Augustus 40; Augustus keeping
a handy toga at home at Suetonius, Augustus 73; Claudius’ rules in
the court case at Suetonius, Claudius 15. There is a full
translation of Tertullian’s (baffling) On the Pallium online here:
https://www.tertullian.org/articles/hunink_de_pallio.htm Instant
Classics handmade by Vespucci Producer: Jonty Claypole
Executive Producer: Natalia Rodriguez Ford Video Editor: Jak Ford
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