Fig. 36.
Some of the hats are so very like caps that we can scarcely decide whether they ought to bear the name of petasos. In the oldest period the petasos almost always had a pointed, rather high crown, and a broad brim turned up in front and behind. (Compare the examples in Fig. [35].) Afterwards varieties were introduced; sometimes the crown was semi-circular, sometimes flattened, now high, now low, or with a little point like a button; the brim, too, was sometimes broad, shading the whole face, sometimes quite narrow; now turned down, now horizontal; at other times, again, turned up or bent round the head. Thus in the first half of the fifth century, we find a very peculiar shape. The brim projects in front in
Fig. 37.
a narrow point, and at the back is turned up as far as the high conical crown. (Compare Fig. [35].) The commonest shape is that of which examples are given in Fig. [36]; the crown is tolerably flat, generally not higher than the skull; the brim, which is rather broad, and generally turned down, is not circular all round, but cut out at several places—either between the ears and the forehead, so that a point falls over the latter, while the brim extends in semi-circular form round the back of the head; or else this half is cut out in the same way as the front part, so that the brim ends in four points, which generally fall over the forehead, back of the head, and ears. Still, we sometimes find instances where it is only cut out over the forehead, and the points fall to the right and left of the face. This shape is very common in the best period, that is, in the fifth and fourth centuries. Afterwards, there were some very strange shapes, such as that in Fig. [37], on the left, which is found on vase pictures of the best period and reminds us of the hats pointed in front and behind worn at the beginning of this century. The petasos was fastened under the chin with a cord; when it was not wanted it was pushed down below the neck, where it was kept in place by the cord; and we find it frequently in this position. (Compare Fig. [38].)
Fig. 38.
When, as sometimes happens, the petasos has a high crown, and a narrow turned-up brim, it is often very like the pilos, a cap of leather or felt, which was the common dress of workmen, especially smiths, countrymen, fishermen, sailors, etc. Odysseus, as sailor, is almost always represented with it; and so is Charon, the ferryman of the nether world, Hephaestus, as smith, etc. Invalids who were obliged to protect their heads from the weather, also wore such caps. These caps, too, were of various shapes; semi-circular, fitting closely to the head, and half-oval, projecting somewhat beyond the head, or of a more pointed conical shape. (Compare that of Odysseus, Fig. [39], and the sailors, Fig. [40], where, as is often the case, it has a narrow, lower brim.) It is evident from the drawing that the material must have been skin, which was the commonest next to felt. These caps were often fastened with strings below the chin, and there was sometimes a bow at the apex by which they could be hung up.