COLORS

Color terms are given in masculine adjectival form. Where an ancient author describes a color only in relation to a noun, such as "the color of almonds," the noun in nominative form is printed in bold type. In a few instances the noun form of an adjective is found in a Latin text, and this form is indicated by parentheses.

Aer: Light blue.

Albens rosa: Pale gray, or possibly pale pink.

Albus: White.

Amethystinus (purpura amethystina): Amethyst purple

Amygdala: Almond, light tan.

Aureus: Golden yellow.

Caesicius: Sky blue.

Callainus: Green-turquoise.

Calthulus: Marigold yellow.

Carinus: Walnut brown, dark brown with red overtones.

Cerasinus: Cherry red.

Cereus: Wax yellow, brownish yellow, perhaps identical to cerinus.

Cerinus: Brownish yellow.

Coccinus, coccineus (coccum): Scarlet.

Conchyliatus (conchyliatum): Pale lavender.

Coracinus: Deep black.

Crocotulus: Reddish orange.

Croceus: Saffron yellow, red-orange or yellow with orange overtones, perhaps identical to crocotulus.

Cumatilis: Sea blue.

Erythraeus: A natural reddish hue of wool.

Ferrugineus: A somewhat purplish red.

Flammeus: Reddish orange.

Fuscus: Brown with a reddish tinge.

Galbinus: Yellow-green.

Glandes: Chestnut brown.

Heliotropium: Reddish blue-red.

Hyacinthinus: Reddish violet.

Hysginus (hysginum): Scarlet.

Ianthinus: Violet.

(Indicum): Indigo blue.

Luteus: Yellow-red.

Malva: Mauve.

Molocinus: Mauve.

Niger: Black, or very dark brown.

Ostrinus (ostrum): Reddish purple. That the color had a red tinge is indicated by descriptions of the hue as rubens, red; sanguineus, bloody; and puniceus, scarlet.

Paphiae myrti: Dark green.

Prasinus: Bluish green, pea green.

Pullus: Gray, according to Ovid; also black or a very deep brown-black, the color of mourning.

Puniceus, phoenicius, poenicius: Scarlet.

(Purpura): Purple. The four major shades were ater, dark; lividus, pale; ruber, red; and violaceus, blue.

Purpureus laconicus: Dark rose purple.

Purpureus Tyrius (purpura dibapha Tyria): Light rose purple.

Ruber Tarentinus: Reddish violet.

Russus, russeus, russatus: Bright red.

Thalassinus: Purple of undetermined hue.

Threicia grus: Gray.

Tyrianthinus: Violet purple.

Undae: Sea blue? darker blue?

Venetus: Dark blue.

Violaceus: Violet.

Viola serotina: Blue-red.

Violeus: Violet.

Viridis: Green.

GENERAL TERMS: Modern terms appear in bold type.

Akinakes: A short Persian sword.

Amictorium: Jewish word for a cloak.

Amictus (Latin, amicire, "to wrap"): Generally, a covering.

Amiculum: A mantle, worn by prostitutes according to Isidore (Origines 19.25.5).

Amphimallium: A cloak which was shaggy on both sides.

Anakolos: Jewish word for an undertunic.

Anaxarides: Iranian trousers of somewhat full cut.

Ankle shoe: A shoe covering the foot up to the ankle joint. See boot.

Ankle strap: A strap fastening around the ankle with a tie, knot, or buckle.

Auratus: Woven with gold thread.

Babylonica hypodemata: Elegant Babylonian sandals made of excellent quality leather (see the Edict of Diocletian 9.7). They were considered luxurious and worn by both men and women.

Baldric: A belt worn diagonally from shoulder to hip to support a sword.

Balteus: A term borrowed by modern scholars from Quintilian, Institutio oratoria 11.3.140, where it is used to describe the appearance of the rolled cloth of the toga which extended diagonally from the right armpit to the left shoulder, and which thus resembled a sword belt. The term was not used in antiquity.

Bardocucullus (Celtic loan word): A very thick, heavy cucullus which retained much of the natural grease of wool to make itself waterproof. See cucullus.

Baucides (from Greek, baukos, "prudish, affected"?): Expensive saffron-colored footwear especially popular among courtesans (Athenaeus, Epitome 13.23.568). Some had cork soles to increase the wearer's height.

Bombycina: Silk.

Boot: A kind of footwear extending above the ankle joint.

Bracae (braccae): Loose or baggy trousers tied by a cord at the ankle and worn by European barbarians.

Brocade: A fabric woven with a raised overall pattern.

Brodequin: Stout, laced ankle boot or sock.

Bulla: The boy's rounded, convex locket enclosing an amulet, often phallic in nature. The bulla was adopted by the Romans from the Etruscans. It could be gold, silver, bronze, or even leather.

Buskin: A soft, high-laced leather boot which apparently developed from the cothurnus worn by tragic actors. See cothurni.

Butted seam: A seam joining two edges of the leather of uppers, usually at the back of the heel or the toe front, with no lapping of the leather.

Calautica: A woman's headdress. According to Servius (In Aeneadem 9.613), it was a woman's mitra. See mitra.

Calcamen: Roman shoe or boot that reached to the midcalf.

Calceamentum: Any kind of shoe, and footwear in general. It also designated a Roman shoe or boot that reached to the knee.

Calceare: To put on shoes.

Calceatus: Wearing shoes.

Calcei muliebres (Latin, mulier, "woman"): Shoes for women; a term identical to calceoli.

Calcei patricii: Boots for Roman nobles which had closed uppers and a long tongue (Edict of Diocletian 9.7). They were hound to the leg with four thongs (corrigiae), two on each side attached between the sole and the uppers, front and back. The thongs tied around the upper ankle and the middle of the leg. These calcei were perhaps distinguished from the senatorial boot (calcei senatorii) by the distinctive red color of the patrician shoe (mulleus). The senatorial boot seems to have remained black.

Calcei repandi: Pointed-toed shoes, curving upward at the toe, that were worn by Etruscans in the sixth century B.C. These, in theory, were the model for the later Roman senatorial calcei with lacing and straps. Cicero says that only statues of Juno Sospita continued to use the pointed-toe calcei repandi, but a rounded-toe version may have been in use as late as the third century A.D.

Calcei senatorii: Boots for Roman senators, which were perhaps distinguished by their black color from the patrician boot. When members of the equestrian class hegan to enter the ranks of the senators, patricians might then have been distinguished by the color of their boots. The style of the senatorial boot seems to have been identical to that of the calceus senatorius; in the Edict of Diocletian, however, the calcei patricii cost 150 sesterces, while the calcei senatorii cost only 100 sesterces, which indicates some substantial difference.

Calceoli (diminutive of calcei): Small shoes, half boots, usually for women.

Calceus (pl. calcei): Shoes that came up over the anklej the term comes from the Latin calx, "heel." This shoe was the major contribution of the Romans to footwear, since the Greeks relied mostly on varieties of sandals or boots. Calcei were formal shoes worn with the toga outside the house, while sandals were worn with the tunic inside the house. Slaves were not allowed to wear calcei. Bonfante-Warren ("Roman Costume," 605) adds, "Though the word was used for high closed shoes in general, cf. calceamentum, in contrast to soleae or sandals, it meant especially the official Roman shoe worn with the toga (toga et calcei). A special type, mulleus, was believed to have been the shoe of the kings of Rome, specifically the Etruscan kings.... The Roman senatorial calcei, derived from Etruscan shoes . . . were high-topped, laced with black corrigiae . . . and fastened with a buckle called a luna."

Calicae: Shoes, differentiated in the Edict of Diocletian (9.9) as shoes for senators and for equites (calicae equestres).

Caligae: Army boots with hobnailed soles and cutwork straps. These straps formed a complex network on the uppers; there were also two or more straps tying at the upper ankle. Caligae are also referred to in the Edict of Diocletian (9.5-6) as "boots for mule drivers or farm workers, first quality, without hobnails."

Caligae muliebres: Boots for women, similar to those worn by soldiers, but without hobnails. Caligae muliebres cost only 60 sesterces in the Edict, but those for soldiers, without nails, cost 100 sesterces.

Camisia (Gallic loan word): An undertunic.

Campagi imperiales: A shoe, similar to that of the soldiers, worn by emperors in the late empire (e.g., Maximinus and Gallienus) and by Byzantine emperors.

Campagus (pl. campagi): Soldiers' shoes, also called campagi militares. In the edict of Diocletian (9.14), these cost 75 denarii.

Capite velato: The action of pulling the toga over the head for certain types of sacrificing.

Carbasina: Heavy, durable linen-cotton cloth.

Carbasus (Hebrew loan word): Cotton.

Carbasus lina: Linen-cotton mixture.

Carbatina (pl. carbatinae): One-piece shoes with soles and uppers cut from a single piece of leather. The edges were cut into loops through which a lacing pulled the uppers together.

Centonarius: Patchworker, dealer of patchwork.

Chain mail: Flexible armor made of interlocked metal rings.

Chaps: A contraction of chaparreras, referring to leather overalls which are usually open at the back and worn by Mexican and American horsemen for protection against thorns and brush.

Chiridota tunica (Greek, cheir, "hand"): A long-sleeved tunic, also called the tunica manicata (Latin, manus, "hand").

Chiton: A Greek dress made of two rectangular lengths of material which were sewn along the sides up to the arms. The rectangles were pinned together at intervals along the top with a space left for the head and neck. Josephus also uses the word to denote the long-sleeved woman's dress worn by unmarried Jewish women and the sleeved tunic worn by Jewish men.

Chitoniskos: A short, long-sleeved woman's dress worn by unmarried Jewish women, according to Josephus.

Chlamys: A long cloak reaching the ankles and worn by the emperor and empress as part of their civil costume in the sixth century A.D.

Chlanis: A man's mantle. The word is a derivative of chlamys.

Chukker boot (Hindi): An ankle-high shoe, laced through two pairs of eyelets and often made of soft leather.

Cilicium: Cloak of Cilician goats' hair (Varro, De re rustica 2.11.12).

Cinctus Cabinus: The "Gabinian" girding, a way of tucking up the toga while the wearer performs a ritual. The wearer threw one end of the toga over his shoulder and then knotted the garment around his waist.

Cingulum: A helt. The bride's cingulum was in the form of a cord of woolen fibers twisted together.

Clavus: The woven, vertical strips of reddish purple on the tunic extending from each shoulder to the hem.

Clogs: Wooden-soled shoes which had broad leather straps over the insteps. The toes were left bare.

Colobium (Greek, kolobion, "curtailed"): Jewish term for a linen tunic.

Confarretio: The oldest form of marriage among the patricians. It was a binding religious ceremony rather than a civil contract.

Corolla: The small bridal wreath of herbs, flowers, and sacred branches (verbenae), worn by the bride under her veil.

Corona: Generally, a wreath or crown. Specifically, the highest distinction awarded for valor in war, as in corona civica, a wreath of oak leaves for saving a citizen's life in battle, or corona muralis, a golden circle in the form of a city wall for the soldier who first climbed the wall of an enemy's camp. See crown.

Corrigia (pl. corrigiae): Straps on the calcei, two on each side. These were wrapped around the ankle, and each pair was tied in front with a knot. The corrigiae may have been formed by two continuous, long straps which were inserted between the inner sole and the outer sole of the shoe.

Cothurni (possibly a Lydian loan word; see Herodotus 1.155): The tragic actor's shoes or boots which had high platform soles to increase his height and stage presence. See buskin.

Couched embroidery: A method of embroidering in which heavy threads, laid out on the material, are stitched down at intervals with another thread.

Crepidae (Greek krepis, krepides): Greek shoes which covered more of the foot than did the simple thonged soleae. The crepidae sometimes had straps but most often sported high up on the foot or ankle a complex network of cutwork designs, on the order of modern huaraches.

Crown: A circlet for the head. In the third century A.D). the radiate crown of the sun god was commonly worn by Roman emperors. Religious crowns worn by priests frequently had images of deities engraved on them. See corona.

Cucullus: Hooded cape or cloak. See bardocucullus.

Cuirass: Defensive armor for the torso, consisting of a breastplate and hack plate (dorsal plate) and worn over a cloth, leather, or padded vest. Originally they were made from Icather, as the etymology of cuirass (corium) indicates, but Roman generals came to wear iron breastplates which were often molded to replicate musculature; these are also called "classical" or "anatomical" cuirasses. The lower edge of the cuirass was curved and had one or more rows of round or long tongue-shaped lappets (pteryges). The Roman imperial or "Hellenistic" style of cuirass, which appeared in the late first century B.C., developed from the Greek cavalry cuirass. It was also modeled to represent the musculature of its wearer but had a single row of short leather straps attached to its lower edge. These short straps are distinct from the longer leather straps attached to the lower edge of the underlying vest. Cuirasses of Roman generals, and especially of Roman emperors, also were decorated with embossed historical, allegorical, or mythological figures and symbols of victories.

Cyclas (Greek, "circular"): A woman's mantle with a border running all around it. The mantle could be luxurious. Propertius (4.7.40) mentions a gilded border, while Juvenal (6.259) states that the mantle was made of a light (gauzy?) material.

Delamination: The separation of the leather into grain and flesh layers when leather lies underground or in a watery environment.

Dextrarum iunctio: Joining of the right hands, which marks the union in Roman marriage.

Diadem (Greek, "to bind around"): Originally a simple band or fillet tied at the back of the head and visible in coin portraits of Alexander the Great, where it symbolized absolute monarchy. It was rarely worn by Roman emperors until the time of Constantine the Great, who wore one decorated with jewels and laurel leaves. The ties in the back of the emperor's diadem were usually adorned with jewels. In the fourth century, a large central jewel adorned the diadem above the forehead, giving it a more massive appearance.

Dorsalium: A curtain which hangs behind the deceased in mortuary sculpture.

Embades: Any enclosed boots which had to be "put on" with a foot stepping into them (Greek embainein, "to step into" ). The long leather tongue came down over the top in front of the lacing, and the boots could have been lined with felt or fur. Dionysus is depicted wearing these, and so they came to be used in tragic drama. The woman's version, Sikyonia embas (from the island Sikyon), was a fancy shoe made of white felt.

Endromides: High boots worn by rumlers or hunters. 1 hey were split vertically up the inside middle to make them easier to put on.

Ephod: The jeweled breastplate worn by the Jewish high priest (Exodus 28:6). Its shape and the kind and number of its jewels, like those of the other garments of the high priest, had cosmological symbolic meaning.

Epikarsion: A type of shirt worn in Palestine under a tunic.

Epomydes: Shoulder straps which tie the front and back plates of a cuirass together.

Essen: The long robe worn by the Jewish high priest.

Eyelets: Holes for lacing. Some were bound or reinforced.

Fasciae: Bands wrapped around the legs. They were appropriately worn by men only in ill health.

Feminalia (femur, "thigh"): Short, tight-fitting pants covering the thighs to the knees, worn in cold weather.

Fibula: A pin or brooch fastening a person's mantle, or chlamys of the emperor, at the shoulder. Beginning in the third century A.D., the emperor wore a more elaborate jeweled brooch to signify his status over military tribunes, who began to be awarded jeweled brooches. Under Constantine the Great, the emperor's jeweled brooch became conspicuously larger, and by the reigns of his three sons, three pendant jewels hanging from the brooch were consistently part of the imperial insignia.

Flammeum: The bride's rectangular, enveloping veil, dyed with yellow luteum pigment. Though the word is cognate with the Latin flamma ("flame"), literary sources make clear that the veil was a deep yellow, like the flame of a candle.

Flesh: In tanners' terminology, the inner surface of the leather, made from the inner surface of the hide.

Forma: The wooden last on which a leather shoe was made.

Galerus: The helmet-shaped cap made of animal skin worn by Roman priests. The higher-ranking priests' galerus had a spike (apex) attached to the top; lower-ranking priests' had a knob.

Gallicae: Informal sandals worn with tunics and lacerna, but not with the toga. There were various kinds of gallicae: for men, gallicae biriles; for runners, gallicae cursuriae; and for farm workers, gallicae rusticanae.

Gausapa (loan word, possibly from a Balkan language): A felt waterproof cloak.

Gemara: The rabbinic commentary on and interpretation of the Mishnah.

Gladius: The Roman short sword. The gladius Hispaniensis, its progenitor, had an eagle-headed pommel on its hilt.

Grain: The outer surface of the leather, made from the hide of the animal. The hair, fur, or wool forms a characteristic pattern on the grain side, which enables identification of the kind of hide used in a shoe.

Halacha: Jewish law as set forth in the Mishnah and Torah.

Haluq: A Jewish garment identical to a tunic.

Hasta caelibaris: The spear used to part the bride's hair in the seni crines style.

Himation: A rectangular mantle worn by either men or women. It was essentially identical to the pallium and palla.

Hobnails: Iron nails nailed through the soles of shoes or boots to keep the footwear together and to prevent the soles from wearing out. The nails were placed all around the edge of the sole and in various designs on the surface of the sole.

Holosericus (Greek, holos, "wholly"): Made of pure silk. See serica.

Hosae: Hose, boots, or gaiters; in general, leg coverings.

Impilia: Liners of wool or felt for boots or sandals. Also, a Jewish word for felt slippers.

'Imrah: Hebrew term for the clavus or purple stripe of a tunic.

Indusium: An undertunic.

Infula: Woolen fillet or ribbon, either white or red, worn around the head by priests and priestesses, especially Vestals, and also by sacrificial victims and suppliants.

Insignia: Distinguishing marks of authority, office, or honor, such as the imperial jeweled brooch with three hanging pendants and the pendilia hanging from the diadem.

Institae: The shoulder straps of the stola.

Interrasile: Elaborate openwork settings for medallions and coins hung on chains, bracelets, or necklaces.

Jambières: A modern French term designating the leggings worn by Palmyrene men over their trousers (anaxarides) as part of their riding costume. Palmyrene men also wore such leggings, made of fine material, indoors.

Lacerna: A cloak or mantle worn by both men and women, originally over the tunic and toga, but then just over the tunic.

Lacing: Thin lengths of leather or fabric inserted through loops or eyelets to fasten shoes to the foot.

Lacinia: A term possibly used to designate the hem of a toga, which was placed against the lower left leg between the knee and ankles (see Suetonius, Caligula 35.3). It may, however, merely designate the lower border of any garment.

Laena: The heavy rounded mantle, Etruscan in origin, worn by the augurs and flamines during sacrifices. It was shaped like a toga but was draped ovcr both shoulders and hung in a curve, front and back, and was fastened with a pin in back .

Lamé: An ornamental material in which metallic threads are interwoven with silk, wool, linen, or cotton.

Lamellar armor: A type of armor composed of small, overlapping plates (lamellae) laced together.

Lana: Wool

Lappet: A small flap or loosely hanging decoration of a garment.

Last: A wooden block (forma) shaped like a foot on which a shoe was made. The Romans also used an iron block on which to hammer the hobnails, since the points had to be turned or flattened.

Latchet shoe: A late Roman style of a low shoe with a strap or straps across the instep.

Limbus: A purple band sewn onto the edge of a woman's mantle or the hem of a woman's garment (Nonius M541, Servius, In Aeneadem 2.616, 4.137).

Limes: The frontier area of a province where troops were stationed.

Lingula: The tongue of a shoe.

Linteo (pl. Iinteones): Linen weaver and seller.

Lodex: A specialty weave of Laodicea, made of wool or flax.

Loramentum: A fastener, thong, or strap for tying the shoe.

Luna: A crescent-shaped decoration tied to the top of the senatorial calceus as a buckle.

Lunula: An amuletic necklace worn by girls and women. The amulet was shaped like the crescent moon (luna).

Luteum soccum: The yellow bridal slipper, dyed the same color as the bridal veil (flammeum) and the hairnet (reticulum).

Mafortium: A short palla worn by women.

Margarita: The pearl.

Mater familias: The wife of a pater familias, a man n ) longer subject to his father's power. As such he was able to have children under his own paternal power (patria potestas).

Matrona: A female Roman citizen who was married to a Roman citizen.

Melanteria: Copper-vitriol solution containing iron, used to blacken leather.

Metaxa (loan word of uncertain origin): Silk.

Mishnah: The collection of Jewish oral laws compiled by Rabbi Judah the Prince ca. A.D. 200.

Mitra: An Asiatic headdress resembling a turban and worn by the Trojans in the Aeneid. Romans considered it effeminate dress for a man. See calautica.

Modius: A flat-topped cylindrical hat worn by Palmyrene priests. The term applied to this type of hat is a modern one: it is owing to the hat's resemblance to the Roman corn measure or bushel basket called the modius.

Mordant: A substance used in dyeing to fix the coloring matter.

Mulleus: A shoe dyed red, named after the mullet fish (mullus), which is red in color. The calceus patricius probably differed from the calceus senatorius or equestris by being made of leather dyed red.

Nimbus: A halo around the emperor's head in coin portraits, mdicating his divinity.

Nodus Herculaneus (Herculeus): The ritual knot of the bride's belt, symbolizing the virility of Hercules, who fathered seventy children.

Nudus: When used in a public setting, "bare-chested." The priests called Luperci, for example, were hare-chested above their loincloths of goatskin. Used in a home setting, nudus could mean "wearing underpants," "completely naked . "

Paenula: A short, hooded cloak of heavy wool, leather, or fur.

Palla: The rectangular mantle of a woman.

Pallium: A large rectangular mantle worn by non-Romans and especially by Greeks.

Paludamentum: The long mantle worn by a Roman army officer or the emperor in military garb.

Patagium: A gold band. A tunic with a neckline decorated by a patagium was called a tunica patagiata.

Pellytra: A Greek word denoting leather "socks" worn to protect the foot against chafing and cold.

Pendilia: Chains, beads, gold wires, or pearls to which pearls or other precious stones were attached like pendants. Beginning in the early fifth century, they hung down from the sides of the emperor's diadem and were part of the imperial insignia. The emperor's pendilia were short and fell behind his ears, while the empress' pendilia were long and hung in front of her ears. The pendilia are not to be confused with the jeweled ties of the imperial diadem, which hung behind the head.

Peplos: A dress worn by Greek women. The upper third of the material was folded over to form an overblouse. The folded edges of the material were pinned together along the upper arm.

Perizoma: Short pants worn by men under the tunic.

Pero (pl. perones): A soft leather shoe covering the entire foot and ankle. Originally pero was a generic term for "shoe," but J. Pollini has used it to denote the type of shoe worn by figures on the Ara Pacis.

Phrygian cap: See pilleus.

Pilleus: A felt or soft wool cap which rises to a forward curving point at its top and was worn by Phrygians and Dacians.

Piloi: The name derives from the Greek word for felt (pilos) and denotes felt socks used with leather sandals to protect the flesh of the foot from chafing and to keep the foot warm. The piloi were commonly worn with the embas or endromis.

Pissyrgos: Pitch worker, a Greek slang word for "shoemaker," who frequently used pitch to blacken shoes.

Plumatilis: Pilelike down.

Plumeus: Downy, having a pile similar to down.

Polymita: A many-threaded damask made in Alexandria.

Praetexta: The woven reddish purple border on a garment.

Pteryges: Rounded or scalloped leather lappets hanging from the bottom of the Roman, "classical" style of cuirass.

Quarters: The four sides of the uppers of shoes.

Radiate: A depiction of the head of an emperor from which the sun's rays burst forth as a sign of his divinity.

Ralla: A gauzy, open weave.

Rawhide: The hide or skin of an animal scraped on the flesh side and made pliable by flexing, not by tanning, leather.

Reticulum: Hairnet. Traditionally brides wove their own from wool dyed with luteum.

Ricinium (recinium): The square mantle worn by women during mourning. It had a woven reddish purple border (praetexta) and is likely to have been dark colored like the man's toga pulla.

Rugae: The folds ("wrinkles") of the skirt of the stola.

Sagum (Celtic loan word): The soldier's cloak of rough wool. It could be short or midleg length. Sagum sumere meant to exchange the toga for the military cloak, that is, to prepare for war.

Sandalia: Sandals consisting of a sole and strap or thong to tie the sole to the foot.

Sculponeae: See clogs.

Selvage: The edge of a woven garment finished off to prevent raveling.

Seni crines: The ritual hairstyle of brides and Vestals which was made by dividing the hair into six braids.

Serica: Silk. The Chinese were called the Seres.

Shaatnez: The Jewish prohibition against the mixing of fibers contained in Deuteronomy 22:11.

Shirr: To gather material by drawing it up along two or more parallel lines of stitching or encased cords.

Sifre Deuteronomy: A commentary on Deuteronomy.

Sikyonia embas: See embades.

Sinus: An overfold which extended down from the diagonal roll of the cloth of the toga which ran from beneath the right arm to the left shoulder. It extended down across the torso like an apron. The sinus first became popular during the reign of Augustus and survived into the fourth century A.D. Its length varied according to fashion, although it generally extended to the region of the right knee. When the banded toga became popular during the third and fourth centuries, its sinus became very long, extending to the ankle, and its lower portion was generally carried over the left arm.

Snood: A clothlike covering for the hair of women in the fifth and sixth centuries. Sometimes the empress wore it under an elaborate jeweled diadem.

Soccus: A low, light shoe worn by Greeks and, among the Romans, by women, effeminate men, and actors. The Edict of Diocletian lists four colors of socci: purple, Phoenecian purple, white, and gilded (9.17-23).

Solea: A sandal fastened to the sole, (solum, "ground") by leather straps. Greeks wore sandals outdoors, but the Romans wore them mostly indoors; outdoors Roman men wore calcei. Sandals were worn to dinner parties, where they were removed before reclining on the couches; "to ask for one's sandals" (poscere soleas) was an idiom for "to Icave the party."

Solo alto: A phrase describing the high platform shoe of the actor. See buskin, cothurni.

Sordes: Dirtied clothing worn as a symbol of sorrow, as, for instance, when a family member or friend was accused of a crlme.

Spissa: A closely woven fabric.

Stephane: A Hellenistic crownlike headpiece worn by goddesses and Hellenistic and Roman women. It was in the form of a high, triangular-shaped headpiece, sometimes made of gold and cmbossed, and rose to a point above the forehead.

Stola: The dress worn by married Roman women. It was suspended from the shoulders by straps (institae) and was long enough to cover the feet. As this dress, distinctive in form, symbolized its owner's chastity, Josephus anachronistically describes King Jeroboam's wife as wearing it. Josephus also used the Greek word "stola" ("garment") to refer to the robes of Jewish priests.

Strophium: A type of bra in the form of a band, made of linen or cotton, worn by womcn around their breasts for support.

Subligaculum: A loincloth.

Subligar: A loincloth.

Subucula: A linen undertunic worn by both sexes.

Sudarium: Jewish term denoting a scarf worn around the neck .

Suffibulum: The veil worn by the Vestals, especially while sacrificing. It was short and white with a purple border.

Supparum: A linen undertunic worn by girls.

Synthesis: A costume for banquets and parties. Its exact form is uncertain, but the word means "a combination."

Tablion: A rectangle of elaborately woven decorated cloth on the emperor's chlamys.

Tallit: Jewish word for "mantle."

Talmid hakham: The tallit or mantle of a Jewish scholar or distinguished person. It was longer than the average tallit and completely covered the tunic.

Talmud: The collection of Jewish laws and teachings, comprising the Mishnah and the Gemara. There were two Talmuds. The Jerusalem Talmud was completed in the mid-fifth century A.D., and the Babylonian Talmud in the mid-sixth century A.D.).

Tanning: Conversion of hides into leather by steeping them in a solution of tannin, an acid solution often brewed out of oak bark or gall.

Tapestry: A fabric in which colored threads are woven by hand to produce a design or picture.

Taurina: An oxhide sandal for women which could be made single- or double-soled, according to the Edict of Diocletian (9.16).

Tiara (Eastern loan word): A high turban, worn in the Aeneid by the Trojan king. Palmyrene gods also wore a tiara, or turban, which was often decorated with horns. A plain tiara was worn by Armenians depicted on Roman coinage.

Tibiale (tibia, "shinbone"): Bandage or wrapping for the Iegs below the knees, worn in cold weather.

Toga: A rounded, woolen garment, adapted from the semicircular Etruscan mantle. It originally was worn without an undergarment by all Romans. From the second century B.C. on, it was generally worn over a tunic by adult males. It was the garment worn by the Roman man during business, governmental, and religious affairs. The toga was draped by placing an edge on the left side of the body which extended from the lower legs (see lacinia) up over the shoulder, then around the back and beneath the right arm. The loose end of cloth which remained was then thrown over the left shoulder. The toga extended to the lower legs on all sides. The toga was also worn by a wife divorced for adultery, to signify her dishonorable status.

Toga candida: A toga specially whitened by bleaching or chalking, which was worn by candidates for a magistracy.

Toga contabulata: A term often used by modern scholars to designate the banded toga which developed in the later second century A.D. and which remained popular throughout the third and fourth centuries. The term contabulata is derived from Apuleius, Metamorphoses 11.3, where it is used to describe the complex folds of Isis' palla.

Toga exigua: A term borrowed from Horace, Epistles 1.19.13, and used by modern scholars to describe the short toga worn until the mid-first century B.C.

Toga muliebris: A term used by Cicero to denote the toga worn by a prostitute.

Toga praetexta: A toga with a reddish purple band woven along its lower edge. It was worn by freeborn children of both sexes and by consuls and priests when presiding at official functions. Upon puberty boys assumed the toga virilis; upon marriage girls assumed the stola and the palla.

Toga pulla: A dark-colored toga worn during mourning.

Toga pura: The toga in the natural, off-white color of wool.

Toga purpurea: A toga woven of purple-dyed wool worn in the early triumphs and by the emperor.

Toga rasa: A toga with a closely clipped, smooth pile.

Togati: Clothed in a toga.

Toga virilis: The plain white toga which boys assumed upon maturity. It was identical to the toga pura.

Torque: A massive metal, circular necklace, often made of gold. Sometimes it was fashioned of metal wires twisted around each other. A favorite form of jewelry among the Gauls, it was also worn by Persians, and Etruscans and Romans.

Tosefta: A "supplement" to the Mishnah.

Tractate: A section or chapter of the Talmud, such as the Tractate Shabbat.

Trochades: Greek sandals worn by runners.

Tunic: The Roman garment worn by men and children under the toga and by women under the stola. It was a sleeved garment, unlike the Greek archaic chiton Both chiton and tunic are derived from the Phoenician word for the prototype of this garment; possibly tunica came into Latin indirectly through Etruscan.

Tunica pulla: A dark-colored (gray or black) tunic worn by Verres. Its color made it inappropriate for a Roman governor to wear.

Tunica recta: The straight tunic, worn for initiation ceremonies, such as marriage for girls and the coming of age for boys. It was woven on a warp-weighted loom on which the weft was beaten upward. Recta ("straight") presumably indicates that the garment was woven as a single, straight piece of material.

Tunica talaris (Latin, talus, "ankle"): An ankle-length tunic. According to Cicero (Second Verrine 2.5.13.31), it was an effeminate garment for a Roman man to wear.

Tutulus: Traditionally the ritual form of a woman's hairstyle, it was adoped from the Etruscan hairstyle worn in the late sixth and early fifth centuries B.C. The hair was sectioned and piled high on the head and fastened with vittae.

Tzitzit: The twisted tasscls attached to the four corncrs of the Jewish mantle as ordained in Deuteronomy 22:12.

Udo (pl., udones): A woolen sock made from African goat's hair.

Umbo: A term used to designate the bunching of cloth pulled from the portion draped over the left side of the body over the sinus. It apparently helped to hold the garment in place; see Macrobius, Saturnalia 3.13.4. Tertullian (De pallio 5) used the term to designate the folded band of the banded toga of the third century A.D.).

Upper: The portion of the shoe which covers all hut the sole of the foot.

Vamp: The portion of the shoe which covers the instep and toes.

Velum: A woman's veil.

Vestem mutare: To change one's clothing to mourning clothing; also, generally, to change one's clothing.

Vestiarius: Dealer in ready-made clothing.

Vestis: The generic word for "clothing."

Vestis Coa: Garment made of wild Coan silk.

Vincula (vincla): Straps or shoe strings. In poetry, the term was used as a metaphor for sandal or shoe.

Vitta: A woolen band used in women's hairstyles and in decorating altars, victims, graves, and so on. Those used by priests were colored reddish purple (purpurea).

Welt: In shoemaking, a strip of leather placed between the outsole of a shoe and the edges of the insole and the upper, through which these parts are stitched.