parasols

[richsc]

The note in the clothing thread reminds me: I think it was in the recent remake of the movie Quo Vadis that there are shots of Romans walking around with parasols. What is the evidence for parasols? Who used them, where and when?

[Viventius]

Quoting Croom (2000) again: apparently they're mentioned in Martial (Ep. 14.28) and in the Golden Ass (4.31), Ovid (Art of Love 2.209), Juvenal (Sat 9.50) There's also a wall painting of a women with a tasselled parasol at Pompeii (now in the Musee du Louvre) and a bas relief of one from Avezzano, Italy.

[Viventius]

And I've just found this is Lacus Curtius:

http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/R ... culum.html

Mentions straw hats as well!!!

[Eleatic Guest]

And what about umbrellas?

[Peroni]

Reconstructed parasol here...
http://www.paxaugusta.net/zPhotos/20051 ... eminin.htm

and on this page...
http://www.paxaugusta.net/zPhotos/20060 ... geArte.htm

from the lovely Pax Augusta website.

regards,

[Jona Lendering]

And I've just found this is Lacus Curtius:
http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/R ... culum.html

I hereby nominate LacusCurtius for a special, extraordinary Roman Army "Lifetime Achievement award". Bill Thayer's website is a treasury of useful information.