I was recently watching the HBO show "Rome" which came out many years ago. The show attempts to depict the life of Caesar and adjacent figures during that time period. How successful they were is outside of my knowledge scope.
One scene which came up that I found surprising was during the death of one of the major characters.
Caesar conducts a religious ceremony for this person and during the ceremony, he seems to cover his head with a shawl and recite a prayer which his hands raised.
The scene in question can be found here (SPOILER ALERT)
How accurate is the above scene? From my perspective (I'm Jewish) that looks like a Tallit or Jewish prayer shawl. While it's missing fringes it has the notable crown portion which you see on many Talliot.
Obviously, Caesar wasn't Jewish. I'm just curious as to what the customs of the time were and if this scene was depicting something genuine or they just came up with it to explain a generalized funeral ceremony?
Yes, they did cover their heads – specifically Roman priests covered their heads during ceremonies and offerings. Since Caesar was pontifex maximus, or head priest, he would have covered his head while performing his duties. There are statues showing Roman priests covering their heads for these occasions; for example, here's Augustus in his role as pontifex maximus. But from the statues, it looks like they didn’t have a distinct garment like a prayer shawl, but rather that they would use parts of their clothes to cover their heads. The toga included a lot of extra fabric that men could pull over their heads, and was the customary dress for conducting serious business as a Roman citizen, which included priestly duties.
There’s also a passage written by ancient writer Plutarch in his series Moralia, which discussed Roman customs and morals and was written around 100 AD (so a while after Caesar). Plutarch made a distinction between the ouranic (heavenly) and chthonic (underworld) gods – you only needed to cover your head before the heavenly gods. He also mentioned that men usually used their togas, and speculated about why people followed this custom. An online account quotes it like this:
In the "Roman Questions" of his Moralia, Plutarch asks, "Why is it that when they worship the gods, they cover their heads, but when they meet any of their fellow-men worthy of honour, if they happen to have the toga over the head, they uncover?" He speculates that concealing the head is a way of "humbling themselves" before the gods, but that men of higher rank are saluted by uncovering the head "to avert from them the jealousy of the gods, that these men may not seem to demand the same honours as the gods." He notes that in the worship of Saturn, in which sacrifices are offered with the head uncovered, there is an exception, perhaps because "they cover the head before the heavenly deities, but they consider Saturn a god whose realm is beneath the earth."
Sources:
Edmondson, Jonathan, and Alison Keith. Roman Dress and the Fabrics of Roman Culture. Edited by Alison Keith. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2018. https://doi.org/10.3138/9781442689039.
Marlow, Michael. “Headcoverings of the Ancient World.” Bible Researcher. https://www.bible-researcher.com/headcoverings3.html#note6 Accessed 17 October 2022.
