Paludamentum

Paludamentum is the generals and soldiers coat. The jacket consisted of a rectangular piece of cloth and was attached to the left shoulder with a fibula. He had less practical use, but served rather ( depending on the color of the jacket ) as rank insignia. With the paludamentum Roman emperors are often depicted on coins and on still images. In late antiquity, from Diocletian was basically everyone who was in the service of the emperor, as a soldier (miles ); the activity in the civilian sector was now a militia, which is why the officers mostly military cloak ( chlamys or paludamentum ) and soldiers belt ( cingulum ) contributed instead to act as earlier in the toga.