Abolla
An abolla was a cloak-like garment worn by Ancient Greeks and Romans. Nonius Marcellus quotes a passage of Varro to show that it was a garment worn by soldiers (vestis militaris), and thus opposed to the toga.
The abolla was, however, not confined to military occasions, but was also worn in the city.[1] It was especially used by the Stoic philosophers at Rome as the pallium philosophicum, just as the Greek philosophers were accustomed to distinguish themselves by a particular dress.[2] Hence the expression of Juvenal facinus majoris abollae merely signifies, "a crime committed by a very deep philosopher."[3][4][5]
The word abolla is actually a Latinization of the Greek ambolla (ἀμβόλλα) or anabole (ἀναβολή), for a loose woolen cloak.[6]
References
- ^ Suetonius, Caligula 35
- ^ Mart. iv. 53, viii. 48
- ^ Juvenal, iv. 75
- ^ Heinrich, On Juvenal l.c.
- ^ Becker, Gallus vol. ii. p. 99
- ^ Smith, William (1870). "Ambolla". In William Smith (ed.). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities. Vol. 1. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. p. 2.
Other sources
- The Wordsworth Dictionary of Phrase and Fable
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1870). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities. London: John Murray. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty|title=(help)
External links
- Abolla (article in Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities)