The Stola

Notes about the wearing of the Stola from Roman Literature:

• Valerius Maximus, writing at the beginning of the 1^st century CE, bemoaned the immodest behavior of women who “could no longer be silenced” and stated in an appeal to the goddess Pudicitia (Chastity) “te custode matronalis stola censetur” (the dress of a lady is respected because it is under your guardianship).
• Stolae were being worn less frequently on the streets in the early Empire period, which infuriated the uptight Roman men. Senator Lentulus Augur, who believed this was a symptom of a drastic decline in sexual morality, called for a return to the “good old days” of the Late Republic. Senator Caecina Severus agreed, asking how Romans were expected to know which women were decent if they didn’t wear their stolae? So, in 20 CE, Emperor Tiberius tried to introduce a law requiring matrons to wear the stola in public. The punishment for appearing in public without would be the same as for adultery: Death. The law failed to pass the Senate.
• Writing in the 2^nd century CE, Gnaeus Domitius Annius Ulpianus (c.170-223 CE) wrote about the importance of women wearing matronali habitu (matronly dress), but never mentions the stola by name.
• *It should be noted that a similar trend was happening with men at the time, so they may have had some sympathy for their wives – They were rejecting the cumbersome toga in favor of lighter, more comfortable clothing. Emperor Augustus had forbidden men to enter the Forum if they were not wearing a toga, but by the early 2^nd century the toga was reduced to formal wear and primarily worn by senators and at funerals.*

There are three distinguishing features of the stola that are usually mentioned in Roman Literature:

1. It’s length – in literature it is described as always covering the feet, though this does not necessary seem to be the case in Roman art
2. An element called the institia, which is never defined in the literature. For decades the institia was described by historians as a “flounce” sewn onto the bottom of the stola, even though there is no precedence for such a thing anywhere else in Roman fashion and not a single Roman-era image exists that depicts something with that appearance. The institia is now thought to be a band or colored border woven into or sewn onto the hem of the stola that would still be visible when covered by the palla, although not all stolas appear to have had a contrasting border. It is also theorized by another author that the institia were the straps that passed over the shoulders, connecting the front and back of the garment, even though not all stolas appear to have had straps.
3. The stola is *always* worn over an undertunic with sleeves reaching to at least the elbow, unlike the Greek, Etruscan, and extremely early Roman versions which were worn alone. The extremely early Roman version was called the vestis longa, rather than the stola. The garment kept the name vestis longa even after it had evolved into an over-garment and gradually became known as the stola. This element of the stola does seem to be portrayed consistently in Roman art.