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The pileus (plural, pilei), also pilleus or pilleum, was, in Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece

The term Ancient Greece refers to the period of History of Greece lasting from the Greek Dark Ages ca. 1100 BC and the Dorian invasion, to 146 BC and the Roman Republic conquest of Greece after the Battle of Corinth ....
, where it was the pilidion, and in Rome
Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC....
, a brimless, felt
Felt

Felt is a non-weave cloth that is produced by matting, condensing and pressing fibers. While some types of felt are very soft, some are tough enough to form construction materials....
 cap, somewhat similar to a fez
Fez (clothing)

The fez , or Tarboosh ?????, not to be confused with North African Checheya, is a red felt hat in the shape of a truncated cone....
. The pilleolus was a smaller cap, similar to a skullcap. It was especially associated with the manumission
Manumission

Manumission is the act of freeing individual Slavery, done at the will of the owner....
 of slaves who wore it upon their liberation. The pileus became emblematic, especially popular in the 18th and 19th centuries (when it was often called a "liberty cap" or Phrygian cap
Phrygian cap

The Phrygian cap is a soft, red, conical hat with the top pulled forward, worn in antiquity by the inhabitants of Phrygia, a region of central Anatolia....
), of liberty
Liberty

Liberty, the freedom to act or believe without being stopped by unnecessary force, is generally considered in modern time to be a concept of political philosophy and identifies the condition in which an individual has the right to act according to his or her own free will....
 and freedom from bondage, appearing on statuary and on heraldic devices.

ncient Rome, a slave was freed by a master in a ceremony that included placing the pileus on the former slave’s shaved head.






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The pileus (plural, pilei), also pilleus or pilleum, was, in Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece

The term Ancient Greece refers to the period of History of Greece lasting from the Greek Dark Ages ca. 1100 BC and the Dorian invasion, to 146 BC and the Roman Republic conquest of Greece after the Battle of Corinth ....
, where it was the pilidion, and in Rome
Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC....
, a brimless, felt
Felt

Felt is a non-weave cloth that is produced by matting, condensing and pressing fibers. While some types of felt are very soft, some are tough enough to form construction materials....
 cap, somewhat similar to a fez
Fez (clothing)

The fez , or Tarboosh ?????, not to be confused with North African Checheya, is a red felt hat in the shape of a truncated cone....
. The pilleolus was a smaller cap, similar to a skullcap. It was especially associated with the manumission
Manumission

Manumission is the act of freeing individual Slavery, done at the will of the owner....
 of slaves who wore it upon their liberation. The pileus became emblematic, especially popular in the 18th and 19th centuries (when it was often called a "liberty cap" or Phrygian cap
Phrygian cap

The Phrygian cap is a soft, red, conical hat with the top pulled forward, worn in antiquity by the inhabitants of Phrygia, a region of central Anatolia....
), of liberty
Liberty

Liberty, the freedom to act or believe without being stopped by unnecessary force, is generally considered in modern time to be a concept of political philosophy and identifies the condition in which an individual has the right to act according to his or her own free will....
 and freedom from bondage, appearing on statuary and on heraldic devices.

History

In Ancient Rome, a slave was freed by a master in a ceremony that included placing the pileus on the former slave’s shaved head. 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:

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 (p??e?? ?e????, Diodorus Siculus
Diodorus Siculus

Diodorus Siculus , was a Roman Greece historian who flourished in the 1st century BC. According to Diodorus' own work, he was born at Agira in Sicily ....
 Exc. Leg. 22 p. 625, ed. Wess.; Plaut.
Plautus

Titus Maccius Plautus , commonly known as Plautus, was a Ancient Rome playwright. His comedy are among the earliest surviving intact works in Latin literature....
 Amphit. I.1.306; Persius, V.82). 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.
Livy

Titus Livius , known as Livy in English language, was a Ancient Rome historian who wrote a monumental history of Rome, Ab Urbe Condita, from its founding through the reign of Augustus in Livy's own time....
 XXIV.32). The figure of Liberty on some of the coins of Antoninus Pius
Antoninus Pius

Titus Aurelius Fulvus Boionius Arrius Antoninus , generally known in English as Antoninus Pius was Roman Emperors from 138 to 161. He was the fourth of the Five Good Emperors and a member of the Aurelii....
, struck A.D. 145, holds this cap in the right hand.


Albanian plis


The traditional white felt conical brimless cap worn by Albanian men and called the plis in the Gheg north derives etymologically from the pileus and perhaps there is a historical cultural connection. The same cap in the Tosk Albanian
Tosk Albanian

Tosk is the southern dialect of the Albanian language. The line of demarcation between Tosk and Gheg is the Shkumbin River. Tosk is the basis of the standard Albanian language....
 south is called qeleshe
Qeleshe

A qeleshe is a traditional skull cap, which is worn by Albanians men, usually from northern highlands of Albania or Kosovo and particularly in the Arberesh villages in Italy....
, as it is felted of lesh, "wool".

See also

  • Phrygian cap
    Phrygian cap

    The Phrygian cap is a soft, red, conical hat with the top pulled forward, worn in antiquity by the inhabitants of Phrygia, a region of central Anatolia....


Sources