Stola

{{short description|Traditional garment of Ancient Roman women}} {{other uses}} [[Image:Livia Drusila (15708884953).jpg|upright|thumb|Statue of Livia Drusilla wearing a stola and palla]]

The '''stola''' ({{IPA|la-x-classic|ˈst̪ɔ.ɫ̪a|lang|link=yes}}) (pl. '''''stolae''''') was the traditional garment of Roman women, corresponding to the toga that was worn by men.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Sebesta|first1=Judith|last2=Bonfante|first2=Larissa|author2-link=Larissa Bonfante |title=The World of Roman Costume|date=1994|publisher=University of Wisconsin Press|location=Madison, WI|page=48}}</ref> It was also called ''vestis longa'' in Latin literary sources,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Radicke |first=Jan |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110711554/html |title=Roman Women's Dress: Literary Sources, Terminology, and Historical Development |publisher=De Gruyter |year=2022 |isbn=978-3-11-071155-4 |location=Berlin |pages=299–354, 680–688 |language=en |doi=10.1515/9783110711554|s2cid=253152649 }}</ref> pointing to its length.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Radicke |first=Jan |title=Roman Women's Dress |chapter-url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110711554-020/html |chapter=4 stola/vestis longa – a dress of Roman matrons |publisher=De Gruyter |year=2022 |pages=299–354 |isbn=978-3-11-071155-4 |location=Berlin |language=en |doi=10.1515/9783110711554-020}}</ref>

==History== The ''stola'' was a staple of fashion in ancient Rome spanning from the early Roman Republic until the beginning of the 2nd century CE. The garment was first identified on statues by Margarete Bieber.<ref>RE 4.1 A (1931) s.v. stola, col. 56–62</ref> The first evidence of the ''stola''/''vestis longa'' dates to the 3rd century BCE, but the form of the garment is common in the Mediterranean world and so it must be much older.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Scholz |first=Birgit I. |title=Untersuchungen zur Tracht der römischen matrona |date=1992 |publisher=Böhlau |isbn=3-412-01491-5 |location=Cologne |language=German |oclc=27443395}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Radicke |url= |title=4 stola/vestis longa |date= |publisher= |year= |isbn= |location= |pages=328–354 |language=en |doi=}}</ref> In Republican times, it was simply part of Roman female dress practice. In Augustan times, when it was used much less, the ''stola'' was taken up by Imperial cultural policy and was turned – like the ''vitta'' (plaited headband) – into a dress insigne of married Roman women. It may even have been a legal privilege.<ref>Radicke. ''4 stola/vestis longa''. pp. 333–342.</ref> By this time, it was worn only by women of the social elite. At the beginning of the 2nd century CE, the ''stola'' fell completely out of use. However, the term ''matrona stolata'', referring to married women of equestrian rank, remained a technical term in inscriptions.<ref>Holtheide, B. "Matrona stolata – femina stolata," ZPE 38 (1980), 127–134.</ref>

A well-known image of the stola is the one worn by the Statue of Liberty in New York City.{{cn|date=June 2017}}

=== Social conventions === It has long been believed that Roman women originally did not wear ''stolae'' and that they instead wore togas like the men. However, this goes back to a scholarly lore invented in Late Antiquity.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Radicke |first=Jan |title=Roman Women's Dress |chapter-url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110711554-049/html |chapter=2 Varro (VPR 306) – the toga: a Primeval Unisex Garment? |publisher=De Gruyter |year=2022 |isbn= 9783110711554|location=Berlin |pages=578–581 |language= |doi=10.1515/9783110711554-049}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Radicke |first=Jan |title=Roman Women's Dress |chapter-url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110711554-022/html |chapter=6 toga – an attire of unfree prostitutes |publisher=De Gruyter |year=2022 |isbn=978-3-11-071155-4 |location=Berlin |pages=365–367 |language=en |doi=10.1515/9783110711554-022}}</ref> For the most part, the ''toga'' was worn exclusively by men, and Roman wives (''matronae'') traditionally wore the ''stola''. In Latin literature, wearing the male ''toga'' was associated with prostitution and adultery.<ref name="isbn0-19-508785-22">{{cite book |author=McGinn, Thomas A. |title=Prostitution, sexuality, and the law in ancient Rome |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1998 |isbn=0-19-508785-2 |location=Oxford [Oxfordshire] |page=340 |quote=…through conviction under the law was cast as a prostitute, most visibly through imposition of the label of the toga, the prostitute's badge of shame.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=LacusCurtius • The Roman Toga (Smith's Dictionary, 1875) |url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/SMIGRA*/Toga.html |website=penelope.uchicago.edu}}</ref> In Roman life, the only Roman women who wore a ''toga'' were unfree prostitutes (referred to as ''meretrices'' or ''ancillae'') who worked in the streets and in brothels. A Roman matron convicted of adultery (''moecha damnata'') did not actually have to wear a ''toga'' in public from then on. She was only symbolically called a ''togata'' (a woman in ''toga'') since she was unfit to be a matron (as epitomized by the ''stola'').<ref>{{Cite book |last=Radicke |title=6 toga – an attire of unfree prostitutes }}</ref> Female and male citizen children could wear a ''toga'' ''praetexta'' (a toga with purple border), but this usage should be kept apart from wearing the toga as an adult.{{Citation needed|date=November 2023}}

== Description == The ''stola'' was a long, pleated, sleeveless robe that could be worn by Roman wives (''matronae''). It was worn as a symbol and represented a woman's marital status, and it was also worn by the Roman Vestal priestesses.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Radicke |url= |title=4 stola/vestis longa |date= |publisher= |year= |isbn= |location= |pages=327–328, 686 |language= |doi=}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Mekacher |first=Nina |title=Die vestalischen Jungfrauen in der römischen Kaiserzeit |publisher=Reichert |year=2006 |isbn=978-3-89500-499-5 |location=Wiesbaden |pages=29, 51–52 |language=German |oclc=78203585}}</ref> There are no physical remains of any ''stola''. The matron’s ''stola'' usually served as an intermediate garment and was worn over the undertunic (''subucula'') and under the cloak (''pallium''). It looked like a ‘''peplos''’ and had longitudinal folds (''rugae)''. There are no explicit literary sources as to its upper opening, but there is archaeological evidence. This shows that, in Augustan times, the sleeveless garment was fastened by significant shoulder straps (''analeptrides'').<ref>{{Cite book |last=Radicke |first=Jan |url= |title=4 stola/vestis longa – a dress of Roman matrons |publisher=De Gruyter |year=2022 |isbn= |location=Berlin |pages=311–312 |language=en |doi=}}</ref> It also had a visible lower border, called ''instita'' (or in non-technical language a ''limbus''). The fabrics used for ''stolae'' were presumably linen or wool, but a wealthy woman might have also used silk.{{Citation needed|date=November 2023}}

=== Varieties === The matronal ''stola'' had no fixed colour.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Radicke |url= |title=4 stola/vestis longa |date= |publisher= |year= |isbn= |location= |pages=312–318 |language=en |doi=}}</ref> The ''stola'' of the Vestal virgins was presumably white. The border (''instita'') was probably usually in purple colour (similar to the purple border on an expensive toga).<ref>Blanck, H. (1997). "Die Instita der Matronenstola," in: Komos. FS Thuri Lorenz, Vienna, pp. 23–24</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Radicke |url= |title=4 stola/vestis longa |date= |publisher= |year= |isbn= |location= |pages=306–311 |language=en |doi=}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

== Sources ==

* {{cite book | last=Mekacher | first=Nina | title=Die vestalischen Jungfrauen in der römischen Kaiserzeit | publisher=Reichert | publication-place=Wiesbaden | date=2006 | isbn=978-3-89500-499-5 | oclc=78203585 | language=de}} * {{cite book | last=Radicke | first=Jan | title=Roman women's dress : literary sources, terminology, and historical development | publication-place=Berlin | date=2022 | isbn=978-3-11-071155-4 | oclc=1346261306}} * {{cite book | last=Scholz | first=Birgit Ingrid | title=Untersuchungen zur Tracht der römischen matrona | publisher=Böhlau | publication-place=Köln | date=1992 | isbn=3-412-01491-5 | oclc=27443395 | language=de}} * {{cite book | last1=Sebesta | first1=Judith Lynn | last2=Bonfante | first2=Larissa | title=The world of Roman costume | publisher=University of Wisconsin Press | publication-place=Madison, Wis. | date=1994 | isbn=0-299-13850-X | oclc=27810161}}

== External links == *[https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/SMIGRA*/Stola.html Stola] (article in Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities) *[http://www.dl.ket.org/latin1/things/romanlife/makeitstola.htm How to make a stola] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080604080554/http://www.dl.ket.org/latin1/things/romanlife/makeitstola.htm |date=2008-06-04 }}

Category:Clothing in ancient Rome Category:Dresses Category:Byzantine clothing Category:Shawls and wraps