Abolla

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An Abolla was a garment worn by Ancient Greeks and Romans. Nonius Marcellus quotes a passage of Varro to show that it was a garment worn by soldiers (vestis militaris), and thus opposed to the toga. Its form and the mode of wearing it are seen in the figures annexed, taken from the bas-reliefs on the Arch of Septimius Severus at Rome.

It was, however, not confined to military occasions, but was also worn in the city. It was especially used by the Stoic philosophers at Rome as the pallium philosophicum, just as the Greek philosophers were accustomed to distinguish themselves by a particular dress. Hence the expression of Juvenal (iv.75) facinus majoris abollae merely signifies, "a crime committed by a very deep philosopher."

The term is the Latin form of ἀμβόλλα, i.e. ἀναβολή.

This article incorporates content from Smith's A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, a publication in the public domain.
The Wordsworth Dictionary of Phrase and Fable