APPENDIX C.ON FELT.

APPENDIX C.ON FELT.MANUFACTURE AND USE OF FELTING BY THE ANCIENTS.

MANUFACTURE AND USE OF FELTING BY THE ANCIENTS.

Felting more ancient than weaving—Felt used in the East—Use of it by the Tartars—Felt made of goats’-hair by the Circassians—Use of felt in Italy and Greece—Cap worn by the Cynics, Fishermen, Mariners, Artificers, &c.—Cleanthes compares the moon to a skull-cap—Desultores—Vulcan—Ulysses—Phrygian bonnet—Cap worn by the Asiatics—Phrygian felt of Camels’-hair—Its great stiffness—Scarlet and purple felt used by Babylonish decorators—Mode of manufacturing Felt—Northern nations of Europe—Cap of liberty—Petasus—Statue of Endymion—Petasus in works of ancient art—Hats of Thessaly and Macedonia—Laconian or Arcadian hats—The Greeks manufacture Felt 900 B. C.—Mercury with the pileus and petasus—Miscellaneous uses of Felt.

There seems no reason to question the correctness of Professor Beckmann’s observation[584], that the making of felt was inventedbeforeweaving[585]. The middle and northern regions of Asia are occupied by Tartars and other populous nations, whose manners and customs appear to have continued unchanged from the most remote antiquity[586], and to whose simple and uniform mode of existence this article seems to be as necessary as food. Felt is the principal substance both of their clothing and of their habitations. Carpini, who in the year 1246 went as ambassador to the great Khan of the Moguls, Mongals, or Tartars, says, “Their houses are round, and artificially made like tents, of rods and twigs interwoven, having a round holein the middle of the roof for the admission of light and the passage of smoke,the whole being covered with felt, of which likewise the doors are made[587].” Very recently the same account of these “portable tents of felt” has been given by Julius von Klaproth[588]. Kupffer says of the Caratchai, “Leurs larges manteaux de feutre leur servent en même tems de matelas et de couverture[589].” The large mantle of felt, here mentioned, is used for the same purpose in the neighboring country of Circassia[590]. One of these mantles now in the possession of Mr. Urquhart was made of black goats’-hair, and had on the outside a long shaggy villus. The Circassians sleep under this mantle by night, and wear it, when required, over their other dress by day. A similar article is thus described by Colonel Leake[591]: the postillions in Phrygia “wear a cloak of white camels’-hair,half an inch thick, and so stiff that the cloak stands without support, when set upright on the ground. There are neither sleeves nor hood; but only holes to pass the hands through, and projections like wings upon the shoulders for the purpose of turning off the rain. It is the manufacture of the country.” The Chinese traveller, Chy Fa Hian, who visited India at the end of the fourth century, says, that the people of Chen Chen, a kingdom in a mountainous district situated about the Lake of Lob, wore dresses like those of the Chinese, except that they made use of felt and stuffs (du feutre et des étoffes[592]).

[584]Anleitung zur Technologie, p. 117,Note.[585]See Gilroy’s Treatise on theArt of Weaving, p. 14.[586]Malcolm’sHist. of Persia, ch. vi. vol. i. pp. 123, 124.[587]Kerr’sCollection of Voyages and Travels, vol. i. p. 128. See also p. 167, where the same facts are related by William de Rubruquis.The account which Herodotus gives (iv. 23) of the habitations of the Argippæi evidently alludes to customs similar to those of the modern Tartars. He says, “They live under trees, covering the tree in winter with strong and thick undyed felt (πίλῳ στεγνῷ λευκῷ), and removing the felt in summer.” Among the ceremonies observed by the Scythians in burying the dead, Herodotus also mentions the erection of three stakes of wood, which were surrounded with a close covering of woollen felt (iv. 73). Also, in the next section but one (iv. 75.) there is an evident allusion to the practice of living under tents made of felt (ὑποδύνουσι ὑπὸ τοὺς πίλους).[588]Reise in dem Kaucasus und nach Georgien, ch. vi. p. 161.[589]Voyage dans les Environs du Mont Elbrouz.St. Petersburg, 1829, 4to, p. 20.[590]Travels in Circassia, by Edmund Spencer.[591]Journal of a Tour in Asia Minor, p. 38.[592]Ch. ii. p. 7, of Rémusat’s Translation, Par. 1836, 4to.

[584]Anleitung zur Technologie, p. 117,Note.

[585]See Gilroy’s Treatise on theArt of Weaving, p. 14.

[586]Malcolm’sHist. of Persia, ch. vi. vol. i. pp. 123, 124.

[587]Kerr’sCollection of Voyages and Travels, vol. i. p. 128. See also p. 167, where the same facts are related by William de Rubruquis.The account which Herodotus gives (iv. 23) of the habitations of the Argippæi evidently alludes to customs similar to those of the modern Tartars. He says, “They live under trees, covering the tree in winter with strong and thick undyed felt (πίλῳ στεγνῷ λευκῷ), and removing the felt in summer.” Among the ceremonies observed by the Scythians in burying the dead, Herodotus also mentions the erection of three stakes of wood, which were surrounded with a close covering of woollen felt (iv. 73). Also, in the next section but one (iv. 75.) there is an evident allusion to the practice of living under tents made of felt (ὑποδύνουσι ὑπὸ τοὺς πίλους).

[587]Kerr’sCollection of Voyages and Travels, vol. i. p. 128. See also p. 167, where the same facts are related by William de Rubruquis.

The account which Herodotus gives (iv. 23) of the habitations of the Argippæi evidently alludes to customs similar to those of the modern Tartars. He says, “They live under trees, covering the tree in winter with strong and thick undyed felt (πίλῳ στεγνῷ λευκῷ), and removing the felt in summer.” Among the ceremonies observed by the Scythians in burying the dead, Herodotus also mentions the erection of three stakes of wood, which were surrounded with a close covering of woollen felt (iv. 73). Also, in the next section but one (iv. 75.) there is an evident allusion to the practice of living under tents made of felt (ὑποδύνουσι ὑπὸ τοὺς πίλους).

[588]Reise in dem Kaucasus und nach Georgien, ch. vi. p. 161.

[589]Voyage dans les Environs du Mont Elbrouz.St. Petersburg, 1829, 4to, p. 20.

[590]Travels in Circassia, by Edmund Spencer.

[591]Journal of a Tour in Asia Minor, p. 38.

[592]Ch. ii. p. 7, of Rémusat’s Translation, Par. 1836, 4to.

PLATE VIII.

In conformity with the prevailing use of this manufacture inthe colder regions of Asia, scarlet or purple felt (such as that latelyre-inventedat Leeds, in England), was used by the Babylonish decorators for the drapery of the funeral pile, when Alexander celebrated the splendid obsequies of Hephæstion: for so we must understand the expression φοινικίδες πιληταί (Diod. Sic. xvii. 115. p. 251, Wess.). Xenophon (Cycrop.v. 5. § 7.) mentions the use of felt manufactured in Media,as a covering for chairs and couches. The Medes also used bags and sacks of felt (Athenæus, 1. xii. p. 540c.Casaub.).

The process, by which wool is converted into felt, was called by the Greeks πίλησις (Platode Leg.1. viii. p. 115. ed. Bekker), literally a compression, from πιλέω, to compress[593]. The ancient Greek scholion on the passage of Plato here referred to thus explains the term: Πιλήσεως· τῆς διὰ τῆς τῶν ἐρίων πυκνώσεως γινομένης ἐσθῆτος,i. e.“cloth made by the thickening of wool.” With this definition of felt agrees the following description of a πέτασος in a Greek epigram, which records the dedication of it to Mercury:—

Σοὶ τὸν πιληθέντα δι’ εὐξάντου τριχὸς ἀμνοῦ,Ἑρμᾶ, Καλλιτέλης ἐκρέμασε πέτασον.Brunck,Anal.ii. 41.

Σοὶ τὸν πιληθέντα δι’ εὐξάντου τριχὸς ἀμνοῦ,Ἑρμᾶ, Καλλιτέλης ἐκρέμασε πέτασον.

Σοὶ τὸν πιληθέντα δι’ εὐξάντου τριχὸς ἀμνοῦ,

Ἑρμᾶ, Καλλιτέλης ἐκρέμασε πέτασον.

Brunck,Anal.ii. 41.

[593]Xenophanes thought thatthe moonwasa compressed cloud(νέφος πεπιλημένον, StobæiEclog.i. 27. p. 550, ed. Heeren);and that the air was emitted from the earth by its compression(πίλησις, i. 23. p. 484).

The art of felting was called ἡ πιλητικὴ, (Plato,Polit.ii. 2. p. 296, ed. Bekker). According to the ancient Greek and Latin glossaries, and to Julius Pollux (vii. 30), a felt-maker, or hatter, was πιλοποιὸς or πιλωτοποιὸς, in Latincoactiliarius. From πῖλος (dim.πίλιον,second dim.πιλίδιον), the proper term forfeltin general, derived from the root of πιλέω, came the verb πιλόω, signifyingto felt, orto make felt, and from this latter verb was formed the ancient participle πιλωτὸς,felted, which again gave origin to πιλωτοποιός.

It may be observed, that our English wordfeltis evidently a participle or a derivative, and that its verb or rootFelappears to be the same with the root of πιλέω.

The Latincogo, which was used, like the Greek πιλέω, to denotethe act of compressing, or forcing the separate hairs together, gave origin to the participlecoactus, and its derivativecoactilis. Pliny (H. N. viii. 48. s. 73.), after speaking of woven stuffs, mentions in the following terms the use of wool for making felt: “Lanæ et per se coactæ (al.coactam) vestem ficiunt,”i. e.“Parcels of wool, driven together by themselves, make cloth.” This is a very exact, though brief description of the process of felting. The following monumental inscription (Gruter, p. 648, n. 4.) contains the titleLanarius coactiliarius, meaninga manufacturer of woollen felt:—

M. Ballorius M. L. Lariseus, Lanarius coactiliarius, conjuga carissimæ B. M. fec.

Helvius Successus, the son of a freed man, and the father of the Roman emperor Pertinax, was a hatter in Liguria (tabernam coactiliariam in Liguria exercuerat, Jul. Cap.Pertinax, c. 3.). Pertinax himself, being fond of money, having the perseverance expressed by his agnomen, and having doubtless, in the course of his expeditions into the East, made valuable observations respecting the manufacture which he had known from his boyhood, continued and extended the same business, carrying it on and conveying his goods to a distance by the agency of slaves. The Romans originally received the use of felt together with its name[594]from the Greeks (Plutarch,Numa, p. 117, ed. Steph.). The Greeks were acquainted with it as early as the age of Homer, who lived about 900 B. C. (Il.x. 265), and Hesiod (Op. et Dies, 542, 546).

[594]PileusorPileum(Non. Marc. iii.,pilea virorum sunt, Serviusin Virg. Æn.ix. 616.), dim.PileolusorPileolum(Colum.de Arbor.25).

The principal use of felt among the Greeks and Romans was to make coverings of the head for the male sex, and the most common cover made of this manufacture was a simple skull-cap,i. e.a cap exactly fitted to the shape of the head, as is shown inPlate VIII.fig. 1. taken from a sepulchral bas-relief which was found by Mr. Dodwell in Bœotia[595]. The original is as large as life. The person represented appears to have been a Cynic philosopher. He leans upon the staff (baculus,βάκτρον, σκῆπτρον); he is clothed in the blanket (pallium, χλαῖνα, τρίβων) with one end, which is covered, over his left breast, and another hanging behind over his left shoulder; he wears the beard (barba, πώγων); his head is protected by the simple skull-cap (pileus, πῖλος). All these were distinct characteristics of the philosopher, and more especially of the Cynic[596]. The dog also probably marked his sect. Leonidas of Tarentum, in his enumeration of the goods belonging to the Cynic Posochares[597], including a dog-collar (κυνοῦχον), mentions, καὶ πῖλον κεφαλᾶς οὔχ ὁσίας σκεπανὸν,i. e.“The cap of felt, which covered his unholy head.” This passage may be regarded as a proof, that among the Greeks, though not among the Romans, the cap of felt was worn by very poor men. It also proves that this cap, which was thefessof the modern Greeks, was worn by philosophers, and therefore throws light on a passage of Antiphanes (ap. Athen.xii. 63. p. 545 a) describing a philosopher of a different character, who was very elegantly dressed, having a small cap of fine felt (πιλίδιον ἁπαλὸν), also a small white blanket, a beautiful tunic, and a neat stick. When Cleanthes advanced the doctrine,that the moon had the shape of a skull-cap(πιλοειδῆ τῷ σχήματι, StobæiEcl. Phys.1. 27. p. 554, ed. Heeren), he probably intended to account for its phases from its supposed hemispherical form. A cap of a similar form and appearance, though perhaps larger and not so closely fitted to the crown of the head, was worn by fishermen[598]. In an epigram of Philippus[599], describing the apparatus of a fisherman, the author mentions πῖλον ἀμφίκρηνον ὑδασιστεγῆ, “the cap encompassing his head and protecting it from wet.” Figure 2. inPlate VIII.represents a small statue of a fisherman belonging to the Townley Collection in the British Museum. His cap is slightly pointed and in a degree, which was probably favorable to the discharge of water from its surface. Hesiod recommends, that agricultural laborers should wear the same defence from cold and showers (Op. etDies, 545-547). The use of this cap by seamen was no doubt the ground, on which the painter Nicomachus represented Ulysses wearing one. “Hic primus,” says Pliny (H. N. xxxv. 36. s. 22.), “Ulyssi addidit pileum[600].” For the same reason the cap is an attribute of the Dioscuri; and hence two caps with stars above them are often shown on the coins of maritime cities and of others where Castor and Pollux were worshipped. Figure 3. ofPlate VIII.is taken from a brass coin of Dioscurias in Colchis, preserved in the British Museum. On the reverse is the name ΔΙΟΣΚΟΥΡΙΑΔΟΣ. Figure 4. represents both sides of a silver coin in the same collection, with the legend ΒΡΕΤΤΙΩΝ. It belongs to Bruttium in South Italy. On the one side Castor and Pollux are mounted on horseback. They wear the chlamys and carry palm branches in their hands. Their caps have a narrow brim. The reverse shows their heads only, and their caps, without brims, are surrounded by wreaths of myrtle. The cornucopia is added as an emblem of prosperity. Figure 5. is from a brass coin of Amasia (ΑΜΑΣΣΕΙΑΣ) in Pontus. It shows the cornucopia between the two skull-caps. Charon also was represented with the mariner’s or fishermen’s cap, as, for example, in the bas-relief in theMuseo Pio-Clementino, tom. iv. tav. 35, and the painted vase in Stackelberg’sGrüber der Hellenen, t. 47, 48, which is copied in Becker sCharicles, vol. ii. taf. i. fig. 1, and in Smith’sDictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, p. 404.

[595]Tour through Greece, vol. i. pp. 242, 243.[596]See the articlesBaculus,Barba,Pallium, p. 703, in Smith’sDict. of Greek and Roman Antiquities.[597]Brunck,Anal.i. p. 223. Nos. x. xi.[598]Theocrit. xxi. 13.[599]Brunck,Anal.ii. p. 212. No. v.[600]Compare Eustathiusin Hom. Il.x. 265, as quoted below.

[595]Tour through Greece, vol. i. pp. 242, 243.

[596]See the articlesBaculus,Barba,Pallium, p. 703, in Smith’sDict. of Greek and Roman Antiquities.

[597]Brunck,Anal.i. p. 223. Nos. x. xi.

[598]Theocrit. xxi. 13.

[599]Brunck,Anal.ii. p. 212. No. v.

[600]Compare Eustathiusin Hom. Il.x. 265, as quoted below.

A pileus of the same general form was worn by artificers; and on this account it was attributed to Vulcan and to Dædalus, who, as well as Ulysses and Charon, are commonly found wearing it in works of ancient art. Arnobius says, that Vulcan was represented “cum pileo et malleo”—“fabrili expeditione succinctus;” and that on the other hand Mercury was represented with the petasus, or “petasunculus,” on his head.[601]This observation is confirmed by numerous figures of these two divinities, if we suppose the termpetasus, which will be more fully illustrated hereafter, to have meant a hat with a brim, andpileusto have denoted properly a fessor cap without a brim.

[601]Adv. Gentes, lib. vi. p. 674, ed. Erasmi. When Lucian ludicrously represents Jupiter wearing a skull-cap, which we may suppose to have been like that of the philosopher inPlate VIII.figure 1. he must have intended to describe the “Father of gods and men” as a weak old man; Διεῖλε τὴν κεφαλὴν κατενεγκών· καὶ εἴ γε μὴ ὁ πῖλος ἀντέσχε, καὶ τὸ πολὺ τῆς πληγῆς ἀπεδέξατο, &c.Dial. Deor., vol. ii. p. 314. ed. Hemster.

Fig. 6.Plate VIII.is taken from a small bronze statue of Vulcan in the Royal Collection at Berlin. He wears theexomis, and holds his hammer in the right hand and his tongs in the left. For other specimens of the head-dress of Vulcan the reader is referred to theMuseo Pio-Clementino, t. iv. tav. xi., and to Smith’sDictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, p. 589.

Plate VIII.is intended still further to illustrate some of the most common varieties in the form of the ancient skull-cap. Figure 7. is a head of Vulcan from a medal of the Aurelian family[602]. Figure 8. is the head of Dædalus from a bas-relief, formerly belonging to the Villa Borghese, and representing the story of the wooden cow, which he made for Pasiphae[603]. Fig. 10. is from a cameo in the Florentine collection. Fig. 9. is the head of a small bronze statue, wearing boots and theexomis, which belonged to Mr. R. P. Knight, and is now in the British Museum. It is engraved in the “Specimens of Ancient Sculpture published by the Society of Dilettanti,” vol. i. pl. 47. The editors express a doubt whether this statue was meant for Vulcan or Ulysses, merely because the god and the hero were commonly represented wearing the same kind of cap. Not only does the expression of countenancedecide the question; but also the small bronze of Mr. Knight’s collection agrees in attitude and costume with many small statues of Vulcan, who is represented in all of them wearing the exomis, holding the hammer and tongs, and having the felt cap on his head[604]. Fig. 11. is another representation of Ulysses from an ancient lamp[605]. It exhibits him tied to the mast, while he listens to the song of the Sirens. The cap in this figure is much more elongated than in the others.

[602]Montfaucon,Ant. Expl.t. i. pl. 46. No. 4.[603]Winckelmann,Mon. Ined.ii. 93. The skull-cap, here represented as worn by Dædalus, is remarkably like that which is still worn by shepherd boys in Asia Minor. Fig. 12, inPlate VIII.is copied from an original drawing of such a Grecian youth, procured by Mr. George Scharf who accompanied Mr. Fellows on his second tour into that country.According to Herodotus the Scythians had felted coverings for their tents, a custom still found among their successors, the Tartars. Felting appears to have preceded weaving. It is certainly a much ruder and simpler process: and, when we consider both the long prevalence of the art among the pastoral inhabitants of the ancient Scythia, and the extensive use of its products among them so as to be employed even for their habitations, perhaps we shall be right in considering felting as the appropriate invention of this people.[604]Montfaucon,Ant. Expl.vol. i. pl. 46. figs. 1. 2. 3;Mus. Florent. Gemmæ Ant. a Gorio illustratæ, tom. ii. tab. 40. fig. 3.[605]Bartoli,Lucerne Antiche, P. III. tab. 11. There is a beautiful figure of Ulysses inPicturæ Antiquæ Virgiliani cod. Bibl. Vat.a Bartoli, tab. 103, taken from a gem. In Winckelmann,Mon. Ined.ii. No. 154, he is represented giving wine to the Cyclops: this figure is copied in Smith’sDict.p. 762.

[602]Montfaucon,Ant. Expl.t. i. pl. 46. No. 4.

[603]Winckelmann,Mon. Ined.ii. 93. The skull-cap, here represented as worn by Dædalus, is remarkably like that which is still worn by shepherd boys in Asia Minor. Fig. 12, inPlate VIII.is copied from an original drawing of such a Grecian youth, procured by Mr. George Scharf who accompanied Mr. Fellows on his second tour into that country.According to Herodotus the Scythians had felted coverings for their tents, a custom still found among their successors, the Tartars. Felting appears to have preceded weaving. It is certainly a much ruder and simpler process: and, when we consider both the long prevalence of the art among the pastoral inhabitants of the ancient Scythia, and the extensive use of its products among them so as to be employed even for their habitations, perhaps we shall be right in considering felting as the appropriate invention of this people.

According to Herodotus the Scythians had felted coverings for their tents, a custom still found among their successors, the Tartars. Felting appears to have preceded weaving. It is certainly a much ruder and simpler process: and, when we consider both the long prevalence of the art among the pastoral inhabitants of the ancient Scythia, and the extensive use of its products among them so as to be employed even for their habitations, perhaps we shall be right in considering felting as the appropriate invention of this people.

[604]Montfaucon,Ant. Expl.vol. i. pl. 46. figs. 1. 2. 3;Mus. Florent. Gemmæ Ant. a Gorio illustratæ, tom. ii. tab. 40. fig. 3.

[605]Bartoli,Lucerne Antiche, P. III. tab. 11. There is a beautiful figure of Ulysses inPicturæ Antiquæ Virgiliani cod. Bibl. Vat.a Bartoli, tab. 103, taken from a gem. In Winckelmann,Mon. Ined.ii. No. 154, he is represented giving wine to the Cyclops: this figure is copied in Smith’sDict.p. 762.

The felt cap was worn not only bydesultores, but by others of the Romans upon a journey, in sickness, or in cases of unusual exposure. Hence Martial says inEpig.xiv. 132, entitled “Pileus,”

Si possem, totas cuperem misisse lacernas:Nunc tantum capiti munera mitto tuo.i. e.O that a whole lacerna I could send!Let this (I can no more) your head defend.

Si possem, totas cuperem misisse lacernas:Nunc tantum capiti munera mitto tuo.

Si possem, totas cuperem misisse lacernas:

Nunc tantum capiti munera mitto tuo.

i. e.

O that a whole lacerna I could send!Let this (I can no more) your head defend.

O that a whole lacerna I could send!

Let this (I can no more) your head defend.

The wig (galerus) answered the same purpose for the wealthy classes (arrepto pileo vel galero, Sueton.Nero, 26), and thecucullusandcudofor both rich and poor. On returning home from a party, a person sometimes carried his cap and slippers under his arm (Hor.Epist.l. xiii. 15).

The hats worn by the Salii[606]are said by Dionysius of Halicarnassus to have been “tall hats of a conical form[607].” Plutarch distinctly represents them as made of felt. He says (l. c.), that theflamineswere so calledquasi pilamines, because they wore felt hats, and because in the early periods of Roman history it was more common to invent names derived from the Greek. On coins, however, this official cap of the Salii and Flamines is commonly oval like that attributed to the Dioscuri. We observe indeed continual variations in the form of the pileusfrom hemispherical to oval, and from oval to conical. A conical cap is seen on the head of the reaper in the wood-cut to the articleFlaxin Smith’sDictionaryof Greek and Roman Antiquities, which wood-cut is taken from a coin of one of the Lagidæ, kings of Egypt. Caps, regularly conical and still more elongated, are worn by the buffoons or comic dancers, who are introduced in an ancient mosaic preserved in the Villa Corsini at Rome[608]. Telephus, king of Mysia, is represented as wearing a “Mysian cap[609].” This “Mysian cap” must have been the same which is known by the moderns under the name ofthe Phrygian bonnet, and with which we are familiar from the constant repetition of it in statues and paintings of Priam, Paris, Ganymede[610], Atys, Perseus, and Mithras, and in short in all the representations not only of Trojans and Phrygians, but of Amazons and of all the inhabitants of Asia Minor, and even of nations dwelling still further to the East. Also, when we examine the works of ancient art which contain representations of this Mysian cap, we perceive that it was a cone bent into the form in which it is exhibited, and so bent, perhaps by use, but more probably by design. This circumstance is well illustrated in a bust of Parian marble, supposed to be intended for Paris, which is preserved in the Glyptotek at Munich. A drawing of it is given inPlate VIII.fig. 13. The flaps of the bonnet are turned up and fastened over the top of the head. The stiffness of the material is clearly indicated by the sharp angular appearance of that portion of it which is turned forwards. Mr. Dodwell, in hisTour in Greece(vol. i. p. 134), makes the following observations on the modern costume, which seems to resemble the ancient, except that the ancient πῖλος and πιλίδιον were probably of undyed wool:—“The Greeks of the maritime parts, and particularly of the islands, wear a red or blue cap of a conical form, like the pilidion. When it is new it stands upright, but it soon bends, and then serves as a pocketfor the handkerchief, and sometimes for the purse. Others wear the red skull-cap, orfess.” The Lycians, as we are informed by Herodotus (viii. 92), wore caps of felt, which were surrounded with feathers. Some of the Lycian coins and bas-reliefs, however, show the “Phrygian bonnet,” as it is called, in the usual form[611].

[606]Smith’sDict. of Gr. and R. Antiquities, art. Apex.[607]Ant. Rom.L. ii.[608]Bartoli,Luc. Ant.P. I. tab. 35.[609]Aristoph.Acham.429.[610]Stuart, in hisAntiquities of Athens, vol. iii. ch. 9. plates 8, 9, has engraved two beautiful statues of Telephus and Ganymede from a ruined colonnade at Thessalonica. In these the cap is very little pointed.[611]Fellows’sDiscoveries in Lycia, Plate 35. Nos. 3, 7. The “Phrygian bonnet” is seen in the bas-reliefs brought from Xanthus by this intelligent traveller, and now deposited in the British Museum.

[606]Smith’sDict. of Gr. and R. Antiquities, art. Apex.

[607]Ant. Rom.L. ii.

[608]Bartoli,Luc. Ant.P. I. tab. 35.

[609]Aristoph.Acham.429.

[610]Stuart, in hisAntiquities of Athens, vol. iii. ch. 9. plates 8, 9, has engraved two beautiful statues of Telephus and Ganymede from a ruined colonnade at Thessalonica. In these the cap is very little pointed.

[611]Fellows’sDiscoveries in Lycia, Plate 35. Nos. 3, 7. The “Phrygian bonnet” is seen in the bas-reliefs brought from Xanthus by this intelligent traveller, and now deposited in the British Museum.

The cap worn by the Persians is called by Greek authors κυρβασία or τιάρα[612], and seems to have had the form now under consideration. Herodotus, when he describes the costume of the Persian soldiers in the army of Xerxes, says, that they wore light and flexible caps of felt, which were calledtiaras. He adds, that the Medes and Bactrians wore the same kind of cap with the Persians, but that the Cissii wore a mitra instead (vii. 61, 62, 64). On the other hand he says, that the Sacæ worecyrbasiæ, which were sharp-pointed, straight, and compact. The Armenians were also called “weavers of felt” (Brunck,Anal.ii. p. 146. No. 22). The form of their caps is clearly shown in the coins of the Emperor Verus, one of which, preserved in the British Museum, is engraved inPlate VIII.fig. 14. The legend, surrounding his head,L. Vervs. Avg. Armeniacvs, refers to the war in Armenia. The reverse shows a female figure representing Armenia, mourning and seated on the ground, and surrounded by the emblems of Roman warfare and victory. The caps represented on this and other coins agree remarkably with the forms still used in the same parts of Asia. Strabo (L. xi. p. 563, ed. Sieb.) says, that these caps were necessary in Media on account of the cold. He calls the Persiancap “felt in the shape of a tower” (L. xv. p. 231). The king of Persia was distinguished by wearing a stiff cyrbasia, which stood erect, whereas his subjects wore their tiaras folded and bent forwards.[613]Hence in theAvesof Aristophanes the cock is ludicrously compared to the Great King, his erect comb being called his “cyrbasia.” The Athenians no doubt considered this form of the tiara as an expression of pride and assumption. It is recorded as one of the marks of arrogance in Apollodorus, the Athenian painter, that he wore an “erect cap[614].”

[612]Herod, v. 49. According to Mœris,v.Κυρβασία, this was the Attic term, τιάρα meaning the same thing in the common Greek. Plutarch applies the latter term to the cap worn by the younger Cyrus: Ἀποπίπτει δὲ τῆς κεφαλῆς ἡ τιάρα τοῦ Κύρου.—Artaxerxes, p. 1858. ed. Steph.

The “Phrygian bonnet” is calledPhrygia tiarain the following lines of an epitaph (ap. Gruter.p. 1123):

Indueris teretes manicas Phrygiamque tiaram?Non unus Cybeles pectore vivet Atys.

Indueris teretes manicas Phrygiamque tiaram?

Non unus Cybeles pectore vivet Atys.

[613]Xenoph.Anab.ii. 5. 23;Cyrop.viii. 3, 13. Clitarchus,ap. Schol. in Aristoph. Aves, 487.[614]Πῖλον ὀρθόν. Hesychius,s. v.Σκιαγραφαί.

[613]Xenoph.Anab.ii. 5. 23;Cyrop.viii. 3, 13. Clitarchus,ap. Schol. in Aristoph. Aves, 487.

[614]Πῖλον ὀρθόν. Hesychius,s. v.Σκιαγραφαί.

The coin represented inPlate VIII.fig. 15. (taken from Patin,Imp. Rom. Numismata, Par. 1697, p. 213) is of the reign of the Emperor Commodus, and belonged according to the legend either to Trapezus in Cappadocia or to Trapezopolis in Caria. It represents the god Lunus or Mensis, who was the moon considered as of the male sex agreeably to the ideas of many northern and Asiatic nations (Patin, p. 173). This male moon or month was, as it seems, always represented with the cyrbasia[615]. In another coin published by Patin (l. c.) a cock stands at the feet of this divinity, proving that this was the sacred bird of Lunus, and probably because the rayed form of the cock’s comb was regarded as a natural type of the cyrbasia, which distinguished the kings of Persia and was attributed also to this Oriental divinity. A lamp found on the Celian Mount at Rome[616]represents in the centre Lunus with 12 rays, probably designed to denote the 12 months of the year, and on the handle two cocks pecking at their food. A head of the same divinity, published by Hirt (l. c.) from an antique gem at Naples, has 7 stars upon the cap, perhaps referring to the 7 planets.

[615]Hirt’sBilderbuch, p. 88. tab. xi. figs. 8, 9.[616]Bartoli,Luc. Ant., P. II. tav. 11.

[615]Hirt’sBilderbuch, p. 88. tab. xi. figs. 8, 9.

[616]Bartoli,Luc. Ant., P. II. tav. 11.

Instead of the conical cap of the Asiatics many of the Northern nations of Europe appear to have worn a felt cap, the form of which was that of a truncated cone. Of this a good example is shown in the group of Sarmatians, represented in thewood-cut in Smith sDictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities(p. 160), which is taken from the Column of Trajan. The same thing appears in various coins belonging to the reign of this Emperor, two of which, preserved in the British Museum, are engraved inPlate VIII.fig. 16. represents Dacia sitting as a captive with her hands tied behind her back, wearing trowsers (braccæ) and a conical or oval cap with the edge turned up. Figure 17. represents Dacia mourning. In each we see a Dacian target together with Roman armor. Each has the same legend,Dac. Cap. Cos. V. P. P. S. P. Q. R. Optimo. Princ.On the reverse is the head of the Emperor with the inscriptionImp. Trajano. Aug. Ger. Dac. P. M. Tr. P.

According to the representation of Lucian (de Gymnas.), the Scythians were in the constant habit of wearing caps or hats: for in the conversation between Anacharsis and Solon described by that author, Anacharsis requests to go into the shade, saying that he could scarce endure the sun, and that he had brought his cap (πῖλον) from home, but did not like being seen alone in a strange habit. In later times we read of the “pileati Gothi” and “pileati sacerdotes Gothorum[617].”

[617]Jornandes, &c.,ap. Div. Gentium Hist. Ant., Hamb. 1611, pp. 86, 93.

In considering the use of the skull-cap, or of the conical cap of felt, it remains to notice the use of it among the Romans as the emblem of liberty[618]. When a slave obtained his freedom he had his head shaven, and wore instead of his hair the pileus, or cap of undyed felt, (Diod. Sic. Exc. Leg. 22. p. 625, ed. Wess.). Plutarch, in allusion to the same custom, calls the cap πιλίον, which is the diminutive of πῖλος. It is evident, that the Latinpileusorpileumis derived from the Greek πῖλος and its diminutive, and this circumstance in conjunction with other evidence tends to show, that the Latins adopted this use of felt from the Greeks. Sosia says in Plautus (Amphit.i. l, 306), as a description of the mode of receiving his liberty, “Ut ego hodie, raso capite calvus, capiam pileum.” Servius (in Virg. Æn.viii. 564) says, the act of manumitting slaves in this form wasdone in the temple of Feronia, who was the goddess of freedmen. In her temple at Terracina was a stone seat, on which was engraved the following verse:

“Benemeriti servi sedeant, surgent liberi.”

[618]Hæc mea libertas; hoc nobis pilea donant.—Persius, v. 82.

In allusion to this practice it appears that the Romans, though they did not commonly wear hats, put them on at the Saturnalia.[619]At the death of Nero, the common people to express their joy went about the city in felt caps.[620]In allusion to this custom the figure of Liberty on the coins of Antoninus Pius holds the cap in her right hand. Figures 1 and 2 inPlate IX.are examples selected from the collection in the British Museum, and, as we learn from the legend, were struck when he was made consul the fourth time,i. e.A. D. 145.

[619]Pileata Roma.Martial, xi. 7; xiv. 1.[620]Plebs pileata.Sueton. Nero, 57.

[619]Pileata Roma.Martial, xi. 7; xiv. 1.

[620]Plebs pileata.Sueton. Nero, 57.

In contradistinction to the various forms of the felt cap now described and represented, all of which were more or less elevated, and many of which were pointed upwards, we have now to consider those, which, though made of felt, and therefore classed by the ancients under the general termspileus, πῖλος, &c.,[621]corresponded more nearly to our modernhat. The Greek word πέτασος,dim.πετάσιον, derived from πετάννυμι,extendo,dilato, and adopted by the Latins in the formpetasus, dim.petasunculus, well expressed the distinctive form of these hats. They were more or less broad and expanded. What was taken from their height was added to their width. Those already mentioned had no brim; the petasus of every variety had a brim, which was either exactly or nearly circular, and which varied greatly in its width. In some cases it seems to be a mere circular disc without any crown at all. Of this we have an example in a beautiful statue, which has, no doubt, been meant for Endymion, in the Townley collection of the British Museum. SeePlate IX.Fig. 3. His right hand encircles his head, and his scarf is spread over a rock as describedby Lucian[622]. He sleeps upon it, holding the fibula in his left hand. His feet are adorned with boots (cothumi) and his simple petasus is tied under his chin. In this form the petasus illustrates the remark of Theophrastus, who, in describing the Egyptian Bean, says, that the leaf was of the size of the Thessalian petasus[623]. For the purpose of comparing these two objects, a representation of the leaves of the plant referred to, is introduced into the same Figure (3); taken from the “Botanical Magazine,” Plates 903, 3916, and Sir J. E. Smith’s “Exotic Botany,” Tab. 31, 32. The petasus here shown on the head of Endymion, the original statue being as large as life, certainly resembles very closely both in size and in form the leaf of the Egyptian Bean, which is the Cyamus Nelumbo, or Nelumbium Speciosum of modern botanists.

[621]Plutarch (Solon, 179) says that Solon, pretending to be mad and acting the part of a herald from Salamis, ἐξεπήδησεν εἰς τὴν ἀγορὰν ἄφνω πιλίον περιθέμενος. Here πιλίον seems to mean the πέτασος.[622]In the Dialogues of the Gods (xi.), the Moon says in answer to Venus, that Endymion is particularly beautiful “when he sleeps, having thrown his scarf under him upon the rock, holding in his left hand the darts just falling from it, whilst his right hand bent upwards lies gracefully round his face, and, dissolved in sleep, he exhales his ambrosial breath.”The recumbent statue, here represented, is of white marble, and is placed in room XI. of the Townley Gallery. It was found in 1774 at Roma Vecchia (Dallaway’sAnecdotes of the Arts, p. 303). It has been called Mercury or Adonis. But there are no examples or authorities in support of either of these suppositions. It is not sufficient to say that every beautiful youth may have been meant either for Mercury, who was never represented asleep, or for Adonis. We know that the fable of Endymion and the Moon was a favorite subject with the ancient artists. In theAntichita d’Ercolano, tom. iii. tav. 3, we find a picture, which was discovered at Portica, and which represents this subject. It is still more frequent in ancient bas-reliefs. SeeMus. Pio-Clem.tom. iv. v. 8, pp. 38, 41; Sandrart,Sculp. Vet. Adm.p. 52; GronoviiThesaur.tom. i. folio O;Proceedings of the Philological Society, vol. i. pp. 8, 9.[623]Πετάσῳ Θετταλικῇ.Hist. Plant.iv. 10. p. 147, ed. Schneider.

[622]In the Dialogues of the Gods (xi.), the Moon says in answer to Venus, that Endymion is particularly beautiful “when he sleeps, having thrown his scarf under him upon the rock, holding in his left hand the darts just falling from it, whilst his right hand bent upwards lies gracefully round his face, and, dissolved in sleep, he exhales his ambrosial breath.”The recumbent statue, here represented, is of white marble, and is placed in room XI. of the Townley Gallery. It was found in 1774 at Roma Vecchia (Dallaway’sAnecdotes of the Arts, p. 303). It has been called Mercury or Adonis. But there are no examples or authorities in support of either of these suppositions. It is not sufficient to say that every beautiful youth may have been meant either for Mercury, who was never represented asleep, or for Adonis. We know that the fable of Endymion and the Moon was a favorite subject with the ancient artists. In theAntichita d’Ercolano, tom. iii. tav. 3, we find a picture, which was discovered at Portica, and which represents this subject. It is still more frequent in ancient bas-reliefs. SeeMus. Pio-Clem.tom. iv. v. 8, pp. 38, 41; Sandrart,Sculp. Vet. Adm.p. 52; GronoviiThesaur.tom. i. folio O;Proceedings of the Philological Society, vol. i. pp. 8, 9.

The recumbent statue, here represented, is of white marble, and is placed in room XI. of the Townley Gallery. It was found in 1774 at Roma Vecchia (Dallaway’sAnecdotes of the Arts, p. 303). It has been called Mercury or Adonis. But there are no examples or authorities in support of either of these suppositions. It is not sufficient to say that every beautiful youth may have been meant either for Mercury, who was never represented asleep, or for Adonis. We know that the fable of Endymion and the Moon was a favorite subject with the ancient artists. In theAntichita d’Ercolano, tom. iii. tav. 3, we find a picture, which was discovered at Portica, and which represents this subject. It is still more frequent in ancient bas-reliefs. SeeMus. Pio-Clem.tom. iv. v. 8, pp. 38, 41; Sandrart,Sculp. Vet. Adm.p. 52; GronoviiThesaur.tom. i. folio O;Proceedings of the Philological Society, vol. i. pp. 8, 9.

[623]Πετάσῳ Θετταλικῇ.Hist. Plant.iv. 10. p. 147, ed. Schneider.

The flowers of umbelliferous plants are aptly called by Phanias[624]πετασώδη,i. e.like a petasus. The petasus, as worn by the two shepherds, who discover Romulus and Remus, in a bas-relief of the Vatican[625], is certainly not unlike the umbel of a plant. SeePlate IX.Fig. 4.

Callimachus ascribes the same head-dress to shepherds in the following lines:

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