Coa vestis
Coa vestis also COA (n. pl.), the Coan cloth or garments, mentioned by various authors, but most frequently by the Latin poets of the Augustan age (Tib. 2.3, 53, 2.4, 29; Propert. 1.2, 2, 2.1, v. (iv.) 2, 23; Hor. Carm. 4.13.13, Sat. 1.2, 101; Ovid. Ars Am. 2.298; Sen. de Ben. 7.9). From their expressions we learn that it had a great degree of transparency, that it was remarkably fine, that it was chiefly worn by women of loose reputation, and that it was sometimes dyed purple (Hor. Carm. l.c.; Prop. 2.1, 6) and enriched with stripes of gold. It has been supposed to have been made of silk, because in Cos silk was spun and woven at an early period, so as to obtain a high celebrity (Arist. Hist. Anim. 5.19). (Becker-Göll, Gallus, iii. p. 285.)
From William Smith (ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities. Text provided under a CC BY-SA license by Perseus Digital Library, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu, with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and Tufts University. Data accessed from https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-pdlrefwk/ on 17 October 2026.