praetexta

American  

[pree-tek-stuh] / priˈtɛk stə /

Or pretexta

noun

plural

praetextae

1. (in ancient Rome) a white toga with a broad purple border, worn by priests and magistrates as an official costume, and by certain other Romans as ceremonial dress.

2. a similar garment worn by a boy until he assumed the toga virilis, or by a girl until she married.

---

Etymology

Origin of praetexta

1595–1605; < Latin, short for toga praetexta literally, bordered toga. See pretext

Example Sentences

Its chief interest lies in the fact that it is the one surviving example of a fabula praetexta, or tragedy, drawn from Roman life.

From Post-Augustan Poetry From Seneca to Juvenal by Butler, Harold Edgeworth

Besides these, Ennius probably wrote a praetexta on ‘the Rape of the Sabines’; and his Ambracia is probably a praetexta on the capture of the town by M. Fulvius Nobilior in B.C.

From The Student's Companion to Latin Authors by Middleton, George

Why are we not all clad in the praetexta?

From The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, Volume 4 by Cicero, Marcus Tullius

Octavia, a late praetexta ascribed to Seneca, was certainly not written by him.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 8, Slice 6 "Dodwell" to "Drama" by Various

The tragic actors wore the crepida, corresponding to the cothurnus, and a heavy toga, which in the praetexta had the purple border giving its name to the species.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 8, Slice 6 "Dodwell" to "Drama" by Various