This fragmentary sculpture depicts a togatus, that is, one who is wearing a toga and has civilian status. As part of an effort to revive ancient values and customs, Augustus decreed that all citizens who entered the Forum had to be dressed in the toga, a traditional Roman garment made from a single, very large, semicircular piece of undyed woolen cloth. The toga seen here is draped in the same way as those worn by officials in reliefs decorating the Ara Pacis Augustae, erected in Rome between 14 and 9 B.C.

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