Meaning of praetexta | Babel Free

Definitions

A white robe with a purple border, worn by a Roman boy before he was entitled to wear the toga virilis, or until about the completion of his fourteenth year, and by girls until their marriage. It was also worn by magistrates and priests.

Ancient-Rome, historical

Equivalents

Examples

“The officers who had attended the proceſſion, ſtripped off the robes in which they were dreſſed, and caſt them in the flames. Women crowded to the pile, and threw upon it, as a ſacrifice to the manes of the dead, the ornaments of their own perſons, the gorgets and the prætextas of their children.”

“It gave to Pompey the Great the privilege of appearing in triumphal robes, and with a golden crown at Circensian games, and with a praetexta and golden crown at theatrical plays.”

“In ancient Rome, after a boy celebrated his sixteenth birthday he was considered a man. He threw aside the praetexta worn in his youth, and donned the toga of a full-fledged Roman citizen.”

CEFR level