Plutarch makes Aristides speak of Xerxes as sitting under a canopy or Umbrella looking at the sea-fight—
"kathaeenos hupd skiadi chrysae."
Plut. Therm., c. 16 (p. 120),
[Footnote: "Sitting under a golden canopy.">[
and of Cleopatra in like manner—
"upo skiadi chrysopasto."
Plut. Anton., c. 26 (p. 927).
[Footnote: "Under a gold-wrought canopy.">[
From Greece it is probable that the use of the Parasol passed to Rome, where it seems to have been commonly used by women, while it was the custom even for effeminate men to defend themselves from the heat by means of the Umbraculum, formed of skin or leather, and capable of being lowered at will. We find frequent reference to the Umbrella in the Roman Classics, and it appears that it was, not unlikely, a post of honour among maid-servants to bear it over their mistresses. Allusions to it are tolerably frequent in the poets. Virgil's "Munimen ad imbres" [Footnote: "A shelter for the shower.">[ probably has nothing to do with Umbrellas, but more definite mention of them is not wanting. Ovid speaks of Hercules carrying the Parasol of Omphale:—
"Aurea pellebant rapidos umbracula soles,
Quæ tamen Herculeæ sustinuere manus."
—Ov. Fast., lib. ii., 1. 31 I.
[Footnote: "A golden umbrella warded off the keen sun, which even
the hands of Hercules have borne.">[
Martial speaks of a servant carrying the Parasol:—
"Umbellam lusca, Lygde feras Dominæ."
—Mart., lib. xi., ch. 73.
[Footnote: "Mayst thou, Lygde, be parasol-carrier for a publind
mistress.">[
Juvenal mentions an Umbrella as a present:—
"En cui tu viridem umbellam cui succina mittas"
—Juv., ix., 50.
[Footnote: "See to whom it is sent a green umbrella and amber
ornaments">[