During the second century BCE the Roman norms regarding female clothing changed. From being a garment worn by both men and women, the toga hereafter came to be a symbol for female indecency. The following study aims to understand why the toga came to symbolize this and does that by analyzing and discussing both ancient and modern sources. The study have been thematically divided, with chapters discussing different parts of the Roman society which all give some insight as to why the toga came to represent female indecency. A chapter discussing the ancient Roman female and male norms regarding clothes and status is followed up by a chapter analyzing how the ancient sources depicts situations in which women wear the toga. Lastly, chapters discussing the Roman view on women in prostitution and adulteresses, other situations in which women wore the toga and whether or not the female toga was an actual garment or a epithet will be included as well. The discussion and analysis have all come to the following conclusion: the toga was used as a way for the Roman society to make the adulteress or the woman in prostitution less feminine. By associating a certain (female) behavior with a masculine garment, in a society obsessed with femininity and masculinity, the faulty behavior could be punished. Adulteresses and women in prostitution did not abide by what the ideal sexual behavior was for women, and therefore those women would not be considered feminine. Further studies are required to be able to distinguish whether this was limited to the Roman capital or if the toga as a symbol for female indecency could be found elsewhere in the empire.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:uu-392290 |
| Date | January 2019 |
| Creators | Upphoff, Emmy |
| Publisher | Uppsala universitet, Institutionen för arkeologi och antik historia |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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