Roman sun hat

[Imperial Dave]

Bolton Museum displays rare Roman sun hat following restoration - BBC News https://share.google/kRdzykuc91rBXBz9f

Very interesting although could it double as a helmet liner too?

[Keraunos]

That is interesting - and remarkable that it has survived.  Looks like a Boeotian helmet in shape.  I wonder if, like Englishmen, they went out in the midday sun?

[DBS]

I wonder on what basis they assume Roman rather than Ptolomaic?  Very specific provenance?

[Nick Harbud]

You mean that in ancient times the sun actually shone in Bolton?   

 

[Imperial Dave]

steady on sir....

[Erpingham]

I wonder on what basis they assume Roman rather than Ptolomaic?  Very specific provenance?

The catalogue entry is here https://boltonsegypt.co.uk/object/ancient-egyptian-textile-fragment-from-illahun-dated-ad-395-642-6/

[DBS]

I wonder on what basis they assume Roman rather than Ptolomaic?  Very specific provenance?

The catalogue entry is here https://boltonsegypt.co.uk/object/ancient-egyptian-textile-fragment-from-illahun-dated-ad-395-642-6/

So that suggests a very late fourth to mid seventh century AD date, yet the Beeb quotes the museum as reckoning 30BC... 

Bless.

[DBS]

Just realised - given the range extends to seventh century AD, could it be a Sasanian sun hat?   

[Duncan Head]

There's a very similar hat in Sumner's Roman Military Dress, also from Egypt.

[Duncan Head]

The Textiles and War book that Adrian Nayler just linked to - free download from https://www.archaeopress.com/Archaeopress/Products/9781805830801 - mentions Romano-Egyptian felt hats as possible helmet liners on pp.43-45. However the Bolton example does seem to have a more prominent brim than any of these.

[Imperial Dave]

I did wonder as alluded to whether its just a helmet liner that has a dual purpose...