Pileus (hat)
The pileus (, ; also ' or ' in Latin) was a brimless felt cap worn in Ancient Greece, Etruria, Illyria (Pannonia), later also introduced in Ancient Rome. The pileus also appears on Apulian red-figure pottery. In the 5th century BC, a bronze version began to appear in Ancient Greece and it became a popular infantry helmet. It occasionally had a horsehair crest. The Greek () and Latin were smaller versions, similar to a skullcap. The Albanian traditional felt cap, the plis, worn today in Albania, Kosovo and adjacent areas, originated from a similar felt cap worn by the ancient Illyrians. Name . The word for the cap in antiquity was "pil(l)eus" or "pilos", indicating a kind of felt. Greek πῖλος , Latin , Albanian , as well as Old High German and Proto-Slavic "*pьlstь" are considered to come from a common Proto-Indo-European root meaning "felt". History. Greece. The pilos (Greek: πῖλος, "felt") was a typical conical hat in Ancient Greece among travelers, workmen and sailors, though sometimes a low, broad-rimmed version was also preferred, known as "petasos". It could be made of felt or leather. Pilos caps often identify the mythical twins, or Dioscuri, Castor and Pollux, as represented in sculptures , bas-reliefs and on ancient ceramics. Their caps were supposedly the remnants of the egg from which they hatched. The pilos appears on votive figurines of boys at the sanctuary of the Cabeiri at Thebes, the "Cabeirion". In warfare, the pilos type helmet was often worn by the peltast light infantry, in conjunction with the exomis, but it was also worn by the heavy infantry. The pilos helmet was made of bronze in the same shape as the pilos which was presumably sometimes worn under the helmet for comfort, giving rise to the helmet's conical shape. Some historians theorize  that the pilos helmet had widespread adoption in some Greek cities such as Sparta, however, there is no primary historical source or any archeological evidence that would suggest that Sparta or any other Greek state would have used the helmet in a standardized fashion for their armies. What led historians to believe that the helmet was widespread in places such as Sparta was, amongst other reasons, the supposed advancement of battlefield tactics that required that infantry have full vision and mobility. However, many other types of Greek helmet offered similar designs to the pilos when it came to visibility, such  as the konos or the chalcidian helmets. Etruria. Being of Greek origin the Pilos helmet was worn in the late Etruscan Period by the local armies in the region. Illyria. The pileus hat was worn in Illyria. The Albanian traditional felt cap () originated from a similar felt cap worn by the Illyrians. An Illyrian wearing a pileus has been hesitantly identified on a Roman frieze from Tilurium in Dalmatia; the monument could be part of a trophy base erected by the Romans after the Great Illyrian Revolt (6–9 BCE). A cylindrical flat-topped felt cap made of fur or leather  originated in Pannonia, and came to be known as the Pannonian cap ("pileus pannonicus"). Rome. In Ancient Rome, a slave was freed in a ceremony in which a praetor touched the slave with a rod called a "vindicta" and pronounced him to be free. The slave's head was shaved and a pileus was placed upon it. Both the "vindicta" and the cap were considered symbols of Libertas, the goddess representing liberty. 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 that, "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." 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. In the period of the Tetrarchy, the Pannonian cap ("pileus pannonicus") was  adopted as the main military cap of the Roman army, until the 6th century AD; it was worn by lightly armed or off-duty soldiers, as well as workmen. It often appears in Roman artwork, in particular mosaics, from the late 3rd century AD. The earliest preserved specimen of the hat was found at the Roman quarry of Mons Claudianus, in the eastern desert of Egypt, and is dated to 100-120 AD; it has a dark-green color, and looks like a low fez or pillbox hat.