PĪLENTUM, a splendid four-wheeled carriage, furnished with soft
cushions, which conveyed the Roman matrons in sacred processions and
in going to the Circensian and other games. The pilentum was probably
very like the HARMAMAXA and CARPENTUM, but open at the sides, so that
those who sat in it might both see and be seen.
PĪLĔUS or PĪLĔUM (πϊλος, πίλημα, πιλωτόν), any piece of felt; more
especially a skull-cap of felt, a hat. There seems no reason to doubt
that felting is a more ancient invention than weaving [TELA], nor
that both of these arts came into Europe from Asia. From the Greeks,
who were acquainted with this article as early as the age of Homer,
the use of felt passed together with its name to the Romans. Its
principal use was to make coverings of the head for the male sex,
and the most common one was a simple skull-cap.--Among the Romans
the cap of felt was the emblem of liberty. When a slave obtained
his freedom he had his head shaven, and wore instead of his hair an
undyed pileus. This change of attire took place in the temple of
Feronia, who was the goddess of freedmen. 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.
The figure of Liberty on some of the coins of Antoninus Pius,
struck A.D. 145, holds this cap in the right hand. The _Petasus_
(πέτασος) differed from the pileus or simple skull-cap in having a
wide brim: the etymology of the word, from πετάννυμι, expresses the
distinctive shape of these hats. It was preferred to the skull-cap as
a protection from the sun.
[Illustration: Petasus, Cap, worn by a Greek Soldier. (From a Greek
Vase.)]