Pileus (hat)

The pileus (plural, "pilei"), also pilleus or pilleum, was, in Ancient Greece, where it was the "pilidion", and in Rome, a brimless, felt cap, somewhat similar to a fez. The "pilleolus" was a smaller cap, similar to a skullcap. It was especially associated with the manumission of slaves who wore it upon their liberation. The "pileus" became emblematic, especially popular in the 18th and 19th centuries (when it was often called a "liberty cap" or Phrygian cap), of liberty and freedom from bondage, appearing on statuary and on heraldic devices.

History

In Ancient Rome, a slave was freed by a master in a ceremony that included placing the "pileus" on the former slave’s shaved head. This was a form of extra-legal manumission (the "manumissio minus justa") considered less legally sound than manumission in a court of law.

One 19th century dictionary of classical antiquity states:

:Among the Romans the cap of felt was the emblem of liberty. When a slave obtained his freedom he had his head shaved, and wore instead of his hair an undyed pileus (πίλεον λευκόν, Diodorus Siculus Exc. Leg. 22 p. 625, ed. Wess.; Plaut. Amphit. I.1.306; Persius, V.82). Hence the phrase "servos ad pileum vocare" is a summons to liberty, by which slaves were frequently called upon to take up arms with a promise of liberty (Liv. XXIV.32). The figure of Liberty on some of the coins of Antoninus Pius, struck A.D. 145, holds this cap in the right hand. [Yates, James. Entry "Pileus" in William Smith's "A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities" (John Murray, London, 1875).]

Albanian "plis"

The traditional white felt conical brimless cap worn by Albanian men and called the "plis" in the Gheg north derives etymologically from the "pileus" and perhaps there is a historical cultural connection. The same cap in the Tosk Albanian south is called "qeleshe", as it is felted of "lesh", "wool".

References

ee also

*Phrygian cap

ources

*1911