The Transition Of Ancient Roman Social Culture Seen From The Evolution Of Toga

Originally,as an important ancient Roman garment,the ancient Roman toga was just the piece of cloth used for covering body.With the development of politics,economy,culture and so on of ancient Rome,Roman toga had been endowed with many meanings.In the Roman Republic,Roman toga was a symbol of Roman citizenship.In Early Empire,the raw materials,colors,styles and accessories of Roman toga had took place a series of changes,meanwhile its function also became complicated.The evolution of Roman toga spanned for several centuries and witnessed the rise and decline of ancient Rome,which epitomized the changes of ancient Roman culture.This paper is divided into three parts to study the evolution of Roman toga from Roman Republic to Early Empire and transition of social culture at that time.The first part introduces the origin of the ancient Roman toga and the unsophisticated toga in Roman Republic.It demonstrated that the unsophisticated toga was the embodiment of the early Roman’s wisdom,the epitome of early natural folkway and the result of the comprehensive effect of the relatively backward peasant economy,foreign invasion and moral education.The second part describes the extravagant and complicated Roman toga in Early Empire.It revealed that the external expansion brought the great wealth and extravagance began to prevail.At that time,the style of Roman toga became diversified and the handicraftsmen who was specialized in the production and maintenance of toga had appeared.Meanwhile,the function and meanings of toga became complicated.The third part analyzes the changes of social culture seen from the evolution of the ancient Roman toga.Multicultural blend of Greece culture,Oriental culture and others had significant effect on Roman culture.The aesthetics of the Roman had been improved.However,Roman pleasure-seeking leaded to their traditional moral bankruptcy.