Did ancient Romans have different colour in togas for different occasions?

Answer 1

Adult Roman male citizens wore an undyed woollen toga, which was off-while, which was called toga virilis. This was a woollen cloth of perhaps 20 ft. (6 m) in length which was wrapped around the body and was generally worn over a tunic.

The toga trabea had horizontal purple stripes. Originally it was worn by the kings of early Rome. Later it was worn by young equestrians (equestrians, cavalrymen) during a parade of men of this rank (the transvectio equitum). The equites were the second highest social rank in Rome. There was a purple and saffron striped trabea was worn by the augurs, the priests who performed augury (divination of the omens of the gods).

The toga purpura was an all purple trabea which was first worn by Julius Caesar and later by the emperors in ceremonial occasions.

The toga pulla was a black or grey toga which was worn for mourning. The pulla preatexta also had a purple border and was worn by the man who the last rites for the deceased. Usually this was a relative.

The toga picta was purple and embroidered with gold thread. It was worn by victorious commanders in triumphal parades.

The toga candida was a toga artificially whitened with bleach. It was worn by candidates for political office.

The toga preatexta. It was also off-white but it had a purple border. It was worn by:

• Freeborn children prior to puberty. Originally the right to wear this toga was reserved to the sons of patricians (aristocrats). Then it was extended to all freeborn boys as a sign of 'free birth.' Boys stopped wearing the toga praetexta and assumed the toga virilis on the coming of puberty, from the age of 14 to the age of 17. The first wearing of the toga virilis was part of the celebrations on reaching maturity which involved a procession form the Forum to the Capitoline hill. This wearing of the toga virilis was called tirocinium fori, which was an introduction and training for public life. During the Second Punic War the right to wear this toga was also extended to the sons of freedmen, provided that their mother was a patrician. It is known that girls also wore the toga preatexta, but it is uncertain whether they were given this right at the same time as boys or later. They wore it until they got married, upon which, they wore the stola
• The two top magistrates (executive officers of state): the consuls and the praetor; the dictator (an extraordinary officer of state) and the aediles (junior magistrates). It is uncertain whether the other magistrates (censors and quaestors) and the plebeian tribunes also wore this toga.
• Senators and former officers of state (magistrates), but only for ceremonial occasions.
• Some priests (e.g., the Flamen Dialis, the s quindecemviri sacris faciundis, the septemviri epulonum)
• The magistri vicorum on the day of the religious festival of the compitalia, a festival of the wards of Rome. These magistri were selected from the common citizens of the ward to preside over this festival.
• Magister Collegii, These were the presidents of a collegium or corporation.

Roman men also wore a tunic which was also off-white. They could be made of wool or linen. The senators wore the lacticlavia, which had a broad purple strip. The equestrians wore the Angusticlavia, which had narrower purple stripes.