The pallium was a Roman cloak. It was similar in form to the palla, which had been worn by respectable Roman women since the mid-Republican era. It was a rectangular length of cloth,Tertullian, De Pallio, I as was the himation in ancient Greece. It was usually made from woolPlautus, Miles Gloriosus, III, 1 93 or flax, but for the higher classes it could be made of silk with the use of gold threadsVirgil, Æneid, IV 262-264 and embroideries.
The garment varied in fineness, colour and ornament. It could be white, purple red (purpurea from murex), black,Apuleius, The Golden Ass, XI 3 yellow, blue, pale green, etc.
The pallium was originally considered to be exclusively Greek and despised by Romans, but was favoured by ordinary people, philosophers, and pedagogues. Tertullian thought it the most appropriate garment for philosophers and Christians. French article about De Pallio
It is not to be confused with the pallium used by Catholic clergy, which is related to the omophorion.
See also Clothing in ancient Rome Abolla Paenula
References
Bibliography Tertullian, De Pallio Suetonius, De Genere Vestium Judith Lynn Sebesta, The World of Roman Costume, Madison WI, University of Wisconsin Press, 1994 Gaston Boissier, Le traité du manteau de Tertullien in "la Revue des Deux Mondes", 94/5, 1889, pp. 50–78 Radicke, Jan: Roman Women's Dress, Berlin: De Gruyter, 2022.
External links
On the Pallium by Tertullian