Vittae

The were a type of woolen band used to bind up the hair of Roman women, wrapping itself around the head like a fillet. This piece of clothing appeared in the attires of Vestal Virgins and it is also mentioned as a bridal adornment; it may also have appeared in the coiffure of Roman matrons. It may have symbolically represented concepts such as chastity and purity, thereby signifying that the wearer also possessed these qualities. Due to these connotations, it may have served as some variety of apotropaic device designed to protect the perceived virtue of the wearer. However, it is possible that it was either an antiquated practice that had already faded into obscurity during the Roman Republic, before being intentionally revived by the moral legislation of Emperor Augustus, or was invented during this period as an archaism. In either scenario, the band may have functioned as a more artificial honorific granted to specific women. The are referenced in tandem with another type of garment called the , with the author Servius the Grammarian claiming that the hung from the sides of the . It is possible, however, that the term "" was used metonymically to refer to the as the former term is more easily able to fit the constraints of dactylic hexameter, a style found in Roman poetry.

Usage

Among Brides and Vestal Virgins

Accounts from Propertius, a 1st-century BCE Roman love elegist, suggest that ''vittae'' were components of the bridal attire. In of his poems, Propertius depicts the perspective of a deceased woman named Cornelia on Paullus, her still living husband, stating "Soon, the bordered (toga) yielded to wedding torches, and another captured my bound hair, and I was joined to your bed, Paullus, destined to leave it." This passage may be interpreted as referring to Cornelia abandoning her childhood fillets for bridal fillets, or as Cornelia relinquishing her childhood fillets for matronal fillets. Another passage from Propertius details the misfortunes of Arethusa, who laments that their wedding was tainted as her ''vitta'' was not placed upon her head properly. The , alongside the , are used in Roman literature as shorthand for the Roman matron. Tibullus, a 1st-century BCE Roman elegist, implores Delia, his mistress, to behave like a proper Roman woman, saying "Teach her to be chaste, although no ''vitta'' binds her hair together." Similarly, Plautus describes an incident in which a slave named Palaestrio advised as old man named Periplectomenus to disguise the prostitute Acroteleutium as his wife, instructing him to adorn her with ''vittae'' styled after the "fashion of matrons." It is likely that ''vittae'' were considered to be representative of chastity and purity: the 4th-century grammarian Servius states that prostitutes were forbidden from wearing the garment and Ovid commands the "chaste" ''vittae'' to stay away from his sexually explicit poems.Ovid.
Ars Amatoria
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1.31-34
British-Canadian Classicist Elaine Fantham proposes that the ''vittae'' may have offered some variety of "moral protection" comparable to the "''bulla''," an apotropaic amulet used to protect Roman boys. The ''vittae'' are also mentioned as an ornament of the Vestal Virgins: Ovid describes the Vestal Virgin Rhea Silvia adorned with the garment,Ovid.
Fasti
'
3.29-30
4th-century Roman orator Quintus Aurelius Symmachus also describes the Vestal Virgins as decorated with the ''vittae'', the 2nd-century Roman poet Juvenal mentions a priestess wearing the ''vitta''. Two Christian authors, the 4th-century Christian writers Prudentius and Ambrose, also connect the ''vittae'' to the Vestal Virgins: Prudentius describes a Vestal Virgin sitting down whilst wearing a ''vitta'' and Ambrose describes the "veiled and filleted" head of Vestal Virgins.

Among Roman Matrons

The extent to which ''vittae'' were regularly worn by Roman women is disputed. Marcus Terentius Varro, a 1st-century BCE Roman polymath, describes the ''vittae'' as an ancient style of Roman dress, although he claims that it was, at one point, a regular component of the attire of a Roman woman. German classical philologist Jan Radicke interprets this past-tense description as a sign that, although the style had fallen out of favor by the time of Varro, it had remained preserved in the cultural consciousness and potentially in important religious ceremonies. However, ''vittae'' reappear in the later literature of the Augustan and Early Imperial period as, according to Radicke, an "artificial signifier" of matronal virtue in Roman society that was either "revived or invented" by Emperor Augustus himself. Ovid occasionally refers to the ''vittae'' with legalistic language, describing it as an "honor" and mentioning that the ''vittae'' protects its wearers exposure to lascivious artworks. Radicke interprets this description as referencing either marriage or a possible sacrosanct status of matrons, concluding that the ''vittae'' possibly signified that the wearer was a married woman, and thus protected in some manner. Furthermore, in his ''Tristia'', Ovid explicitly defends the legality of his writings, exclaiming "I shall sing of nothing but of what is lawful and of secret love that is allowed. There shall be no crime in my song. Did I not exclude rigorously from reading my ''Ars amatoria'' all women whom the wearing of ''stola'' and ''vitta'' protects from contact with it?" Such statements from Ovid may be further contextualized by the Augustan '' Leges Juliae'' ("Laws of Julia"), which largely concerned the punishment of acts considered by the Romans to constitute sexual immorality. Radicke suggests that, due to this legislation, the ''vittae'' may have been a "legal privilege" during the time of Ovid. The 1st-century Latin author Valerius Maximus describes—likely in an almost entirely pseudohistorical manner—an event from the life of Gnaeus Marcius Coriolanus, a legendary 5th-century BCE Roman general, in which the Senate honored various women by offering them ''vittae''. Although this account is almost certainty an inaccurate historical description, it may provide insight into cultural perspectives on the ''vittae'' contemporary to Valerius Maximus himself. If this passage does offer such information, then it showcases by the lifetime of Valerius the ''vittae'' were offered by the Senate specifically as honorifics.

If ''vittae'' were a common component of the attire of Roman women, then it remains unclear why they are largely absent from Roman portraiture. Classicist Susan E. Wood theorized that ''vittae'' would have been identified on a sculpture by the colors, as the coloring could differentiate between individual strands of fabric and hair locks. However, the pigment of many Roman sculptures has been lost and thus it is impossible to clearly identify the ''vittae'' on any portrait. Elaine Fantham disputes this perspective, arguing that, given the precise detail in many other Roman portraits, it is unlikely that Roman artists would not have meticulously sculpted the ''vittae'' in three dimensions. Radicke argues that the ''vittae'', over time, may have lost their social significance and decayed into a more common piece of female clothing in ancient Rome. According to Radicke, the ''vittae'' almost entirely disappeared from Roman literature following the account of Valerius, although they appear in the writings of the early 3rd-century jurist Ulpian.

Radicke suggests that there may have been two distinct types of ''vittae'': virginal ''vittae'', the type associated with religious and ritual functions, and the matronal ''vittae'', the kind worn in the outfits of married Roman women. In literature from the early Imperial period onwards, the virginal ''vittae'' often appear in a mythological context, usually with some connection to virgin goddesses: Ovid mentions that the virgin goddess Phoebe had her hair bound by a ''vitta'' and that the nymph Callisto was adorned with a white ''vitta,'' Vergil describes them in connection to the goddess Vesta and the Vestal Virgins in the ''Aeneid'', and Horace mentions that the Roman noblewomen Livia and Octavia wore the ''vittae'' during a ritual procession commemorating Augustus' return from military campaign in 24 BCE. Pliny the Elder mentions that a "white ''vitta''" was used to wrap around a "garland of spikes," also providing evidence for a potential etymological connection between the word "''vitta''" and the Latin verb "''viere''," meaning "to twist, to plait." The matronal "vittae" is described as "''tenuis''," or "narrow," by Ovid. In the early 3rd-century BCE, the Roman jurist Ulpian mentions ''vittae'' ornamented with pearls.

Connection to the

According to Servius, ''vittae'' hung from the sides of another—potentially bridal—adornment: a red and white band-like crown called the ''infula''. Servius provides additional descriptions of the ''infula'', stating that they were worn like diadems and made from white or scarlet threads. ''Infula'' were connected to religious Rituals in ancient Rome: Festus claims they were a wool thread used to drape priests, temples, and sacrificial victims. Both ''infulae'' and ''vittae'' may have been used to consecrate both inanimate and animate objects. In a wedding poem authored by the 1st-century CE poet Statius, the goddess Juno gives the ''vittae'' to a bride and Concordia sanctifies them. In the ''Aeneid'', Helenus is said to have removed his ''vittae'' after he was finished sacrificing oxen. ''Infulae'' appear much more frequently in standard literature than ''vittae'', which are more common in poetry: the word ''infula'' appears only twice in the ''Aeneid'' while 1st-century BCE historian Livy mentions it often. At one point in his work ''Ab urbe condita'', Livy describes diplomats from Syracuse came to Rome adorned with ''infulae''. Fantham argued that this discrepancy regarding the usage of ''infulae'' and ''vittae'' between poetry and other works emerged as the limitations of dactylic verse permit only the nominative singular form of ''infula,'' making ''vitta'' a much more practical word to use for poetic purposes. Thus, Fantham concludes that Roman poets may have substituted the ''infula'' for ''vitta'' for poetic convenience. Fantham cites a line from the ''Epistulae ex Ponto'' of Ovid in which he mentions an "''infula''" that is replaced by the word "''vittis''" in the next line.Ovid. ''Epistulae ex Ponto''. 388.74-75.

References

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Headgear
Roman-era clothing