Paenula

The paenula or casula was a cloak worn by the Romans, akin to the poncho (i.e., a large piece of material with a hole for the head to go through, hanging in ample folds round the body). The paenula was usually closed in the front but, occasionally, could be left with a open front; it could be also made with shorter sides to increase mobility for the arms. This was originally worn only by slaves, soldiers and people of low degree; in the 3rd century, however, it was adopted by fashionable people as a convenient riding or travelling cloak, and finally, by the sumptuary law of 382 (Codex Theodosianus xiv. 10, 1, de habitu . . . intra urbem) it was prescribed as the proper everyday dress of senators, instead of the military chlamys. Thereafter, the toga was reserved for state occasions.

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