What did Romans wear under their togas?
Well, if you were a reactionary politician like Marcus Porcius Cato Uticensis (Cato the Younger), who fought against Julius Caesar, or if you were an even more conservative 95-year-old geezer like his great-grandfather, Marcus Porcius Cato Censorius (Cato the Elder), who fought against the Carthaginians, the answer would always be “nothing”. Most other folks wore “something”. Those of you who remember the article about togas that ran last year in these pages (or see http://www.mmdtkw.org/VToga.html) will know that the toga was originally an Etruscan invention and was nothing but a huge, five meter by two meter, woven cloth of raw wool that was wrapped artistically around the human frame for warmth and theatrical effect. Some ancient historians guess that, before the advent of good metal needles in these parts, all they could do was wrap up — patent nonsense, of course: sewn garments first appeared millennia earlier. But, for whatever the reason, togas were routinely worn (sans underga
