toga praetexta

/ priːˈtɛkstə /

noun

1. (in ancient Rome) a toga with a broad purple border worn by certain magistrates and priests and by boys until they assumed the toga virilis

Word History and Origins

Origin of toga praetexta¹

Latin, literally: bordered toga

Example Sentences

We are told how each victim was slain; how the brethren took off the toga praetexta, their crowns and golden ears of corn, then put them on again, and examined the entrails of the sacrifices; all as minutely detailed as the rubrics of any office of unction and coronation could possibly be.

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Behind Titanus stood his young son, Carnion, a raven-haired boy of twelve, dressed in the toga praetexta, a becoming garment of white with a wide edge of purple, and suspended from his neck the bulla, a round ornament of gold, worn especially by the children of the noble.

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At dawn the magister sacrificed two porcae piaculares to the Dea, and then a vacca honoraria, after which he laid aside the toga praetexta or sacrificial vestment, and rested till noon, when all the brethren partook of a common meal, of which the porcae formed the chief part.

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The purple-edged toga praetexta was worn both by priests and magistrates, and by children under age; and I think there is good reason to believe that in all these cases the original idea was the same—that they took part, directly or indirectly, as primary or secondary agents in sacrificial acts.

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They also wore the toga praetexta, which, though associated by us with secular magistrates, had undoubtedly a religious origin.

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