The pallium was the Roman cloak that was worn by both men and women (palla

Palla (garment)

Palla is a traditional ancient Roman mantle worn by women, fastened by brooches.  It was similar to the pallium that a man would wear. The shape was rectangular instead of semi-circular as with the traditional toga.The Palla was similar to a shawl that a woman of today would wear.The palla would...

in this case). It was a rectangular piece of cloth, square in form, as was the himation

Himation

A himation was a type of clothing in ancient Greece. It was usually worn over a chiton, but was made of heavier drape and played the role of a cloak.The himation was markedly less voluminous than the Roman toga....

 in ancient Greece. It is not to be confused with the pallium

Pallium

The pallium is an ecclesiastical vestment in the Roman Catholic Church, originally peculiar to the Pope, but for many centuries bestowed by him on metropolitans and primates as a symbol of the jurisdiction delegated to them by the Holy See. In that context it has always remained unambiguously...

, in the Catholic Church, which is related to the omophor.

The pallium, which was considered at first to be exclusively Greek and despised by Romans, was taken into favour by ordinary people, philosophers and pedagogues and eventually replaced the toga

Toga

The toga, a distinctive garment of Ancient Rome, was a cloth of perhaps 20 ft in length which was wrapped around the body and was generally worn over a tunic. The toga was made of wool, and the tunic under it often was made of linen. After the 2nd century BC, the toga was a garment worn...

 on the 2nd century BC.

The material of this cloak was usually made of wool

Wool

Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and certain other animals, including cashmere from goats, mohair from goats, qiviut from muskoxen, vicuña, alpaca, camel from animals in the camel family, and angora from rabbits....

 flax

Flax

Flax is a member of the genus Linum in the family Linaceae. It is native to the region extending from the eastern Mediterranean to India and was probably first domesticated in the Fertile Crescent...

 or cotton

Cotton

Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....

, but for the higher classes it could me made of silk

Silk

Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The best-known type of silk is obtained from the cocoons of the larvae of the mulberry silkworm Bombyx mori reared in captivity...

 with the use of gold threads and embroideries.

The garment varied in fineness, colour and ornament. It could be white, purple

Purple

Purple is a range of hues of color occurring between red and blue, and is classified as a secondary color as the colors are required to create the shade....

 red (purpurea from murex

Murex

Murex is a genus of medium to large sized predatory tropical sea snails. These are carnivorous marine gastropod molluscs in the family Muricidae, commonly calle "murexes" or "rock snails"...

), black yellow, blue, pale green, etc.

It could be used as a blanket, or spread over beds or cover the body during sleep.

In Tertullian

Tertullian

Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus, anglicised as Tertullian , was a prolific early Christian author from Carthage in the Roman province of Africa. He is the first Christian author to produce an extensive corpus of Latin Christian literature. He also was a notable early Christian apologist and...

's mind, the pallium, which he adopted a toga ad pallium !, was the cloak of philosophers and Christians.