''Trabea'' (: ''trabeae'') is the name of various pieces of

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

clothing. A distinct feature of all ''trabeae'' was their color – usually red or

purple Purple is a color similar in appearance to violet light. In the RYB color model historically used in the arts, purple is a secondary color created by combining red and blue pigments. In the CMYK color model used in modern printing, purple is ...

. They were formed like a

toga The toga (, ), a distinctive garment of Ancient Rome, was a roughly semicircular cloth, between in length, draped over the shoulders and around the body. It was usually woven from white wool, and was worn over a tunic. In Roman historical tra ...

and possibly in some cases like a mantle and worn by more distinguished members of Roman society. A garment known as the ''trabea triumphalis'' was commonly worn by

consuls A consul is an official representative of a government who resides in a foreign country to assist and protect citizens of the consul's country, and to promote and facilitate commercial and diplomatic relations between the two countries. A consu ...

late antiquity Late antiquity marks the period that comes after the end of classical antiquity and stretches into the onset of the Early Middle Ages. Late antiquity as a period was popularized by Peter Brown (historian), Peter Brown in 1971, and this periodiza ...

. When Emperor

Justinian I Justinian I (, ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was Roman emperor from 527 to 565. His reign was marked by the ambitious but only partly realized ''renovatio imperii'', or "restoration of the Empire". This ambition was ...

abolished the office of consul as a separate entity from the Emperor himself, the ''trabea triumphalis'' developed into the ''

loros The ''loros'' () was a long, narrow and embroidered cloth, which was wrapped around the torso and dropped over the left hand. It was one of the most important and distinctive parts of the most formal and ceremonial type of imperial Byzantine dr ...

'', which was the worn only by the imperial family and senior administrative officials. Although Emperor

Leo VI Leo VI (or Leon VI, notably in Greek) may refer to : * Leo VI the Wise Leo VI, also known as Leo the Wise (; 19 September 866 – 11 May 912), was Byzantine Emperor from 886 to 912. The second ruler of the Macedonian dynasty (although his paren ...

abolished the ancient title of consul altogether, the ''loros'' persisted until the end of the empire as the formal, ceremonial

dress A dress (also known as a frock or a gown) is a one-piece outer garment that is worn on the torso, hangs down over the legs, and is primarily worn by women or girls. Dresses often consist of a bodice attached to a skirt. Dress shapes, silh ...

of the emperors.

References

*Philip Smith: ''Toga''. In: William Smith (Hrsg.): ''A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities''. John Murray, London, 1875
online copy
at

LacusCurtius LacusCurtius is the ancient Graeco-Roman part of a large history website, hosted as of March 2025 on a server at the University of Chicago. Starting in 1995, as of January 2004 it gave "access to more than 594 photos, 559 drawings and engravings, ...

) *Liza Cleland, Glenys Davies, Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones: ''Greek and Roman dress from A to Z''. Routledge 2007, , p. 197 () *J. C. Edmondson, Alison Keith: ''Roman Dress and the Fabrics of Roman Culture''. University of Toronto Press 2008, , S. 13, 27, 32, 42, 43, 217-237 ()

External links

Picture of a man dressed with tunica and trabea
at roman-empire.net Roman-era clothing Dresses {{Clothing-stub

See also

References

External links