Thus the word mitra in its later usage came to signify a cap or bonnet, instead of a turban; and it is needless to observe that the priests of a religion comparatively modern, when they adopted the term, would have taken it in the sense which was current at their own day. Now, though the common people were not permitted to wear high bonnets, nor of any other than a soft and flexible material, the kings and personages of distinction had theirs of a lofty form, and stiffened for the express purpose of making them stand up at an imposing elevation above the crown of the head. In the national collection at Paris there is preserved an antique gem, engraved by Caylus (Recueil d'Antiq., vol. ii. p. 124.), on which is engraved the head of some Oriental personage, probably a king of Parthia, Persia, or Armenia, who wears a tall upstanding bonnet, mitred at the top exactly like a bishop's, with the exception that it has three incisions at the side instead of a single one. These separate incisions had no doubt a symbolical meaning amongst the native races, although their allusive properties are unknown to us; but it is not an unwarrantable inference, nor inconsistent with the customs of these nations as enduring at this day, to conclude that the numbers of one, two, or three, were appropriated as distinctions of different degrees in rank; and that their priests, the Magi, like those of other countries where the sovereign did not invest himself with priestly dignities, imitated the habiliments as they assumed the powers of the sovereign, and wore a bonnet closely resembling his in form and dignity, with the difference of one large mitre at each side, in place of the three smaller ones.
If this account be true respecting the origin of the mitre, it will lead us by an easy step to determine the place where it was first used—at Antioch, the "Queen of the East," where, as we are told in the Acts of the Apostles, the followers of Christ were first called "Christians;" thus indicating that they were sufficiently numerous and influential to be distinguished as a separate class in that city, while those in Rome yet remained despised and unknown. Antioch was the imperial residence of the Macedonian dynasty, which succeeded Alexander, who himself assumed the upright bonnet of the Persian king (Arrian. iv. 7.), and transmitted it to his successors, who ruled over Syria for several hundred years, where its form would be ready at hand as a model emblematic of authority for the bishop who ruled over the primitive church in those parts.
The tiara of the popes has, in like manner, an Eastern origin; but instead of being adopted by them directly from its native birth-place, it descended through Etruria to the Pagan priesthood of ancient Rome, and thence to the head of the Roman Catholic Church. The τιάρα of the Greeks, and tiara of the Latins, expresses the cloth cap or fez of the Parthians, Persians, Armenians, &c.,
which was a low scull-cap amongst the commonalty, but a stiff and elevated covering for the kings and personages of distinction (Xen. Anab. ii. 5, 23.). This imposing tiara is frequently represented on ancient monuments, where it varies in some details, though always preserving the characteristic peculiarity of a tall upright head-dress. It is sometimes truncated at its upper extremity, at others a genuine round-topped bonnet, like the Phrygian cap when pulled out to its full length, and stiffened so as to stand erect—each a variety of form peculiar to certain classes or degrees of rank, which at this period we are not able to decide and distinguish with certainty. But on a bas-relief from Persepolis, supposed to have belonged to the palace of Cyrus, and engraved by Ferrario (Costume dell' Asia, vol. iii. tav. 47.), may be seen a bonnet shaped very much like a beehive, the exact type of the papal tiara, with three bands (the triregno) round its sides, and only wanting the cross at the summit, and the strawberry-leaved decoration, to distinguish it from the one worn by Pio Nono: and on a medal of Augustus, engraved on a larger scale in Rich's Companion to the Latin Dictionary, art. Tutulus, we find this identical form, with an unknown ornament of the top, for which the popes substituted a cross, reappearing on the skull of a pagan priest. I may add that the upright tiaras represented on works of ancient art, which can be proved, or are known to be worn by royal personages, are truncated at the summit; whence it does not seem an improper inference to conclude that the round and conical ones belonged to persons inferior to the kings alone in rank and influence, the Magi; which is the more probable, since it is clear that they were adopted by the highest priests of two other religions, those of Pagan and of Christian Rome.
If space admits, I would also add that the official insignia and costume of a cardinal are likewise derived from the pagan usages of Greece. Amongst his co-religionists he is supposed to symbolize one of the Apostles of Christ, who went forth ill clothed and coarsely shod to preach the Gospel; whereas, in truth, his comfortable hat, warm cloak, and showy stockings, are but borrowed plumage from the ordinary travelling costume of a Greek messenger (ἀποστόλος). The sentiment of travelling is always conveyed in the ancient bas-reliefs and vase paintings by certain conventional signs or accessories bestowed upon the figure represented, viz., a broad-brimmed and low-crowned hat (πέτασος, Lat. petasus), with long ties (redimicula) hanging from its sides, which served to fasten it under the chin, or sling it behind at the nape of the neck when not worn upon the head; a wrapping cloak (ἱμάτιον, Lat. pallium) made of coarse material instead of fine lamb's wool; and a pair of stout travelling boots laced round the legs with leathern thongs (ἐνδρομίδες), more serviceable for bad roads and rough weather than their representatives, red silk stockings. All these peculiarities may be seen in the following engravings (Winhelm. Mon. Ined. Tratt., Prelim., p. xxxv.; Id., tav. 85.; Rich's Companion, art. "Ceryx" and "Pallium").
I regret that the nature of your publication does not admit the introduction of woodcuts, which would have enabled me to present your readers with the best of all demonstrations for what I advance. In default of that I have endeavoured to point out the most compendious and accessible sources where the figures I refer to may be seen in engravings. But if any reader of "Notes and Queries" should not have an opportunity of consulting the books cited, and is desirous of pursuing the investigation to satisfy himself, I would willingly transmit to him a drawing of the objects mentioned through Mr. Bell, or any other channel deemed more convenient.
A. Rich, junr.
The Episcopal Mitre (Vol. iii., p. 62.)—Godwyn, in his Moses and Aaron, London, 1631, b. i., c. 5., says that—
"A miter of fine linnen sixteene cubits long, wrapped about his head, and a plate of purple gold, or holy crowne, two fingers broad, whereon was graven Holinesse to the Lord, which was tied with a blew lace upon the forefront of the miter,"
was that "which shadowed and signified the kingly office of our Saviour Christ," in the apparel of the Jewish high priest, and ordered (Lev. xvi. 4.): and again, in his Romanæ Historiæ Anthologia, Oxford, 1631, lib. iii. sec. 1. cap. 8., he says that the