Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles
available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. In republican and
imperial Rome, the paludamentum was a cloak or cape fastened at one
shoulder, worn by military commanders and (less often) by their troops.
As supreme commander of the whole Roman army, Roman emperors were often
portrayed wearing it in their statues (eg the Prima Porta Augustus) and
on their coinage. The paludamentum was generally crimson, scarlet, or
purple in colour, or sometimes white. It was fastened at the shoulder
with a clasp, called a fibula, whose form and size varied through time.
Putting on the paludamentum was a ceremonial act on setting out for war.
