CARACALLA
CARACALLA was an outer garment used in Gaul, and not unlike
the Roman lacerna. [
LACERNA] It
was first introduced at Rome by the Emperor Aurelius Antoninus Bassianus,
who compelled the plebeians who came to court to wear it, and thence
obtained the surname of Caracalla. (Aurel. Vict.
Epit. 21.)
The caracalla, as worn in Gaul, was a close-fitting garment with long
sleeves, and slit before and behind like a modern overcoat (Strab. 4.4.3).
In its original shape it reached only to the knee, but the emperor
lengthened it so as to reach the ankle. It afterwards became common among
the Romans, and garments of this kind were called
caracallae
Antoninianae, to distinguish them from the Gallic caracallae.
(Aurel. Vict.
de Caes. 21; Spartian.
Sev. 21,
Anton. Car. 9, with Salmasius' note.) In its longer form
it came to be worn by the clergy, and is retained almost unaltered under the
name of cassock (
sottana, soutane). Like the
lacerna, it was furnished with a cucullus or cowl for the protection of the
head: hence Jerome, speaking of the Jewish ephod, calls it
palliolum mirae pulchritudinis in modum caracallarum sed
absque cucullis. (
Ep. 64,
ad
Fabiolam.）
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W.S] [
W.W]
