Alternative petasos?

[geala]

Hello,

I am desperately trying to find someone who makes me a Greek petasos hat (like in the first picture below) but to produce the stiff flap with the strange bend seems to overburden modern hatters.

Now I saw another example of a wide brimmed hat (?) in Hansons "The Wars of the Ancient Greeks" (German edition 2001, S. 54) which could perhaps be easier to be made (second picture). Unfortunately no source is recited, the hat (?) is depicted along drawings of Greek helmets (but to me it looks not like a helmet by itself).

Does anybody know the source where it could be taken from or other sources with similar wide brimmed non-petasos hats? And: is it actually an other hat than petasos hat or just a bad drawn petasos in your opinion?

(A remark:If the cords were really where they are depicted in the drawing and were tied together the wearer would have looked very similar to a pioneer women in the US Wild West c. 1870 AD!? hock: )

[Carlton Bach]

At least one petasos-shaped helmet was excavated, so it is quite possible that this is a helmet.

THen we need to bear in mind that artistic license may influience the way petasoi are depicted. Quite possibly the images we find show us what a petasos was meant to look like, not what it actually looked like most of the time. We also don't know what the Greeks did to their petasoi - starching, ironing, even stiffening with wire are theoretically possible. It might be worthwhiole asking a hatter if the look can be approximated by using any of the tricks of the trade. It is remarkable how well, for example, steam-pressed starched felt holds up.

Looking at the image - what is the second fighter holding in his hand? Looks like a petasos-shaped shield! Maybe it's both helmets. The hats in the picture certainly look very broad-brimmed to me.

[spyros]

I’ve seen petasoi mostly depicted in non-warfare presentations in Greek art. It’s true that only one metal example has been discovered.

The problem is that we don’t know what materials they used. Pylos and the boeotian hat were made from felt (most probably) but petasos is a generic sun hat. It could be weaved out of straw as well as be boiled leather which is technologies that most probably existed.

As for the military example, didn’t the French use an iron leather covered hat during the 30 years war?

Just my two euro cents

[geala]

A lot of cloth covered steel hats were in use in the 17th century AD. It is another proof of the practical intelligence (or restricted possibilities :wink: ) of mankind that the Greeks did exactly the same 2000 years earlier.

A petasos might act as a peculiar "better-than-nothing" protection. But if one had to use it in that manner for me it is very difficult to presume that the guy was wealthy enough to afford a cloth covered bronze petasos.

I'm not so much interested in petasos helmets or military use of petasos. In a fight such wide brimmed hats are not only a pleasure. Instead from missiles I want to protect me from the sun and especially from the rain (I am living in Germany). :lol:

I think a leather petasos would have been much worse than a felt one in the hot sun and also in the rain.

[richard robinson]

In matters of felt I commend everyone to their local Steiner schools who seem able to fabricate any article of clothing from felt.

I often wonder why they are not mentioned more frequently on RAT as felt is an oft discussed fabric and the Steiner folk actually do sometimes make it hard as armour. They also have an appreciation of ancient cultures second to none.

Regards,

Richard R

[Dan Diffendale]

I often wonder why they are not mentioned more frequently on RAT

I don't think I'm familiar with "Steiner schools"...

[richard robinson]

Rudolph Steiner lived during the earlier half of the twentieth century. He was a theosophist that had a theory that childrens development echoed the development of civilisations. His particular branch was called anthroposophy.

he established schools in Germany in the 20s only to be closed dopwn by the national socialists. he migrated to USA where he began schools there.
He returned to Germany post ww2 and schools based on his ideas have now been opened world wide. Try googling for your closest one...........

regards,

Richard R