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UC Santa Barbara UC Santa Barbara Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title The Roman Toga: The Social Effects of Materiality Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7j12b4ct Author Dighton, Aerynn Publication Date 2018 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Santa Barbara The Roman Toga: The Social Effects of Materiality A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Classics by Aerynn T. T. Dighton Committee in charge: Professor Dorota Dutsch, Chair Professor Robert Morstein-Marx Professor Rose MacLean Professor Elizabeth DePalma Digeser September 2018 The dissertation of Aerynn T. T. Dighton is approved. ____________________________________________ Robert Morstein-Marx ____________________________________________ Rose MacLean ____________________________________________ Elizabeth DePalma Digeser ____________________________________________ Dorota Dutsch, Committee Chair August 2018 The Roman Toga: The Social Effects of Materiality Copyright © 2018 by Aerynn T. T. Dighton iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank the members of my committee—Dorota Dutsch, Robert Morstein- Marx, Rose MacLean, and Beth Digeser—for the time and attention they spent in providing insightful and constructive feedback on each chapter and on the completed dissertation. I am especially indebted to my advisor, Dorota Dutsch, for guiding me with intellectual rigor and curiosity, especially regarding the literary and semiotic elements of my project, and for being generous with her time and patience over the last several years. Robert Morstein-Marx has also contributed significant effort of his own toward making sure my dissertation was historically accurate, vigorous, and persuasive. My deepest gratitude goes to both sets of parents—Mom and Bruce, Dad and Linda— who have supported me emotionally (and financially) over the last twelve years of graduate school. Special thanks go to my mother, who kept me sane and talked me through the rough spots, and to my dearest friends Deepti, RJ, and Sasha, who have not only maintained that the whole thing was worth the sacrifices, but also demanded that I reward myself and celebrate my achievements. iv VITA OF AERYNN DIGHTON September 2018 EDUCATION B.S. in Design, University of California, Davis, June 2000 (summa cum laude) M.A. in History, California State University, Stanislaus, December 2009 (distinction) M.A. in Classics, University of California, Santa Barbara, September 2013 Ph.D. in Classics, University of California, Santa Barbara, September 2018 PUBLICATIONS 2018 “Mutatio Vestis: Clothing and Political Protest in the Late Roman Republic,” Phoenix 71.3-4: 1-25. AWARDS 2013 Keith Aldrich Award, UC Santa Barbara 2009 Phi Kappa Phi Love of Learning Award (national) 2009 Dean’s Award for History, CSU Stanislaus 2008 John Z. Bava Fellowship, CSU Stanislaus 2008 Phi Kappa Phi Student Scholarship, Chapter 282, CSU Stanislaus 2008 Holder-Caswell Award for European History, CSU Stanislaus 2000 Outstanding Performance in Design History, UC Davis 2000 Outstanding Performance in Design, UC Davis 1996 Regents Scholarship, UC Davis CONFERENCE PAPERS 2018 “‘Creticus, you are see-through!’: The Transparent Toga in Roman Invective,” CAMWS Annual Meeting, April 11-14. 2018 “Totally Goats: The Sarcophagus of T. Aelius Evangelus and the Roman Goat-Hair Industry,” AIA/SCS Annual Meeting, January 4-7. 2017 “Mutatio Vestis: Clothing and Political Protest in the Late Roman Republic,” CAMWS Annual Meeting, April 5-8. 2011 “The Problem with Pornoi: Male Prostitution and the Law in Classical Athens,” CAMWS Annual Meeting, April 6-9. 2009 “Hypatia of Alexandria: Martyr, Myth, and Math,” 2009 Northern California Regional Conference of Phi Alpha Theta, April 25. 2008 “Portraiture as Propaganda: Color and Elizabethan Iconography,” Annual Meeting of the Pacific Coast Branch of the American Historical Association, August 9. 2008 “Portraiture as Propaganda: Color and Elizabethan Iconography,” Renaissance Society of America Annual Meeting, April 4. v ABSTRACT The Roman Toga: The Social Effects of Materiality Aerynn T. T. Dighton The social meanings of the Roman toga, in all their nuances and varieties, arise not arbitrarily from culture and custom, but, as shown in this dissertation, are shaped by the materiality of the toga and its components. Inspired by current approaches in material culture studies which center on the materiality of objects and their interactions with human bodies and behaviors, this project brings together a wide variety of literary and artistic sources, from the first century B.C.E. to the late-second century C.E. and beyond, in an examination of how togas are represented in the performance of their function as signs of identity. This analysis explains the material bases for the toga’s many uses as a marker of social identity, adding a wealth of complexity and nuance to the current image of the toga as a symbol of citizenship, masculinity, and Roman-ness. An important contribution of this study is its insight into how the toga functioned as a unifying sign of citizenship, one which identified gradations of social status only by subtleties in materiality. The all-white toga pura marked a ‘Roman citizen’ as someone integrated within a homogeneous group, with the fabric ostensibly concealing his individuality and his particular origin or status beneath a visual quality of sameness. High rank was indicated only by the addition of prestigious purple dye, making a toga no longer pura but praetexta, and by small variations in other garments such as the tunic and shoes. Nevertheless, slight physical differences in the toga’s fabric, such as its whiteness or vi comfort level, were used in nuanced ways to indicate other markers of identity, especially wealth, to a discerning Roman audience. As a result, the toga could mark its wearer as ‘elite’ in artistic and literary sources, but just as often, it could also reveal him to be impoverished, servile in origin, or rustic. The toga signified more than simply citizenship in Roman society. The garment was also a sign of ‘masculinity’: this study explains how its drape accentuated bodily characteristics that were gendered male, and also why transparent togas signified promiscuity and effeminacy instead. The fabric of the toga both indicated and materially enforced ‘peace’— except when it was adjusted for fighting, perhaps to imply that the upcoming violence was a civic duty. Changes in fashion served to differentiate the elite from non-elites or ‘dandies’ from more conservative dressers, as several scholars have pointed out, but in addition, this study shows how style changes also reflected shifting ideas about ideal bodily movement. In addition, many researchers have noted that various types of toga were important components of several rituals that marked social transitions, but the materiality which lies beneath their different meanings is explained here. From the brilliance of the purple-and-gold toga picta to the dark wool and filth of mourning dress, very specific changes in the toga’s materials signaled a shift in status, a new phase of life, or a civic crisis. Any variation in the toga—its fiber, fabric, drape, dyes, and surface treatments—resulted in new social meanings which were largely shaped by the physical characteristics of these substances, particularly by the effects such qualities had upon the wearer’s body. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1: Introduction 1 Chapter 2: Tegere: To Cover and Conceal 30 Chapter 3: The Citizen Body 112 Chapter 4: Toga Types and Transitions 162 Chapter 5: Conclusion 242 Illustrations 248 Appendix: The Basics 270 Works Cited 280 viii Chapter 1 – Introduction Many historians call the toga “the quintessential symbol of the Roman people and of Roman masculinity in particular.”1 The word “toga” in ancient texts often also serves as a sign of something else: peacetime, civic duty, the act of taking office, or a rite of passage. How the toga acted as a symbol in literary and artistic contexts has been well explored. This dissertation, influenced by new approaches in material culture studies, looks beyond what a toga looked like, how styles changed, what the different types were, or what togas represent in a particular author or genre of Roman literature. Foundational to this study is Bjørnar Olsen’s observation that “even when things join language and participate as signs in a system of communication, their actual form or material substance is far from an arbitrary quality; their very significance actually depends on their intrinsic characteristics.”2 This approach frames the primary question of this dissertation: what roles did the materiality of the toga play in the construction of its diverse meanings? 1 Dolansky 2008: 32. For example, the toga is “the quintessential Roman male garment” (Harlow 2004: 47), “the dress that quintessentially defined Romanness” (Edmondson 2008: 25), “the quintessential garment of social distinction and Roman identity” (George 2008: 94), “the quintessential Roman article... worn by those seeking to affirm their quintessential Roman identities” (Rothfus 2010: 432), “a quintessential symbol of one’s Romanness” (Olson 2014a: 186), “the quintessential Roman garment” (Olson 2014b: 426), or “quintessential Roman male attire” (Olson 2014b: 429). 2 Olsen 2010: 157. In the Peircian semiotic system, a physical thing can be a ‘Sign’ (e.g., orientation of a
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