Vittae
The vittae were a type of woolen band used to bind up the hair of Roman women, wrapping itself around the head like a fillet. This piece of clothing appeared in the attires of Vestal Virgins and it is also mentioned as a bridal adornment; it may also have appeared in the coiffure of Roman matrons. It may have symbolically represented concepts such as chastity and purity, thereby signifying that the wearer also possessed these qualities. Due to these connotations, it may have served as some variety of apotropaic device designed to protect the perceived virtue of the wearer. However, it is possible that it was either an antiquated practice that had already faded into obscurity during the Roman Republic, before being intentionally revived by the moral legislation of Emperor Augustus, or was invented during this period as an archaism. In either scenario, the band may have functioned as a more artificial honorific granted to specific women. The vittae are referenced in tandem with another type of garment called the infulae, with the author Servius the Grammarian claiming that the vittae hung from the sides of the infulae. It is possible, however, that the term "vittae" was used metonymically to refer to the infulae as the former term is more easily able to fit the constraints of dactylic hexameter, a style found in Roman poetry.
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