The kausia or causia () was an
ancient Macedonian flat hat. A
purple
Purple is a color similar in appearance to violet light. In the RYB color model historically used in the arts, purple is a secondary color created by combining red and blue pigments. In the CMYK color model used in modern printing, purple is ...
kausia with a
diadem
A diadem is a Crown (headgear), crown, specifically an ornamental headband worn by monarchs and others as a badge of Monarch, royalty.
Overview
The word derives from the Ancient Greek, Greek διάδημα ''diádēma'', "band" or "fillet", fro ...
was worn by the
Macedonian kings as part of the royal costume.
[Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1898), Causia](_blank)
Name
The name is derived from its keeping off the heat (, ''kaûsis'').
Background
It was worn during the
Hellenistic
In classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Greek history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, which was followed by the ascendancy of the R ...
period but perhaps even before the time of
Alexander the Great
Alexander III of Macedon (; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), most commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip ...
and was later used as a protection against the sun by the poorer classes in Rome.
Depictions of the kausia can be found on a variety of coins and statues found from the
Mediterranean
The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...
to the
Greco-Bactrian kingdom
The Greco-Bactrian Kingdom () was a Ancient Greece, Greek state of the Hellenistic period located in Central Asia, Central-South Asia. The kingdom was founded by the Seleucid Empire, Seleucid satrap Diodotus I, Diodotus I Soter in about 256 BC, ...
and the
Indo-Greeks in northwestern
India
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
. The
Persians
Persians ( ), or the Persian people (), are an Iranian ethnic group from West Asia that came from an earlier group called the Proto-Iranians, which likely split from the Indo-Iranians in 1800 BCE from either Afghanistan or Central Asia. They ...
referred to both the
Macedonians and the rest of the
Greeks
Greeks or Hellenes (; , ) are an ethnic group and nation native to Greece, Greek Cypriots, Cyprus, Greeks in Albania, southern Albania, Greeks in Turkey#History, Anatolia, parts of Greeks in Italy, Italy and Egyptian Greeks, Egypt, and to a l ...
as "Yauna" (
Ionians
The Ionians (; , ''Íōnes'', singular , ''Íōn'') were one of the traditional four major tribes of Ancient Greece, alongside the Dorians, Aeolians, and Achaeans. The Ionian dialect was one of the three major linguistic divisions of the ...
), but made a distinction between "Yauna by the sea" and those "with hats that look like shields" (''Yauna Takabara''), probably referring to the Macedonian kausia hat. According to Bonnie Kingsley the kausia may have came to the Mediterranean as a campaign hat worn by Alexander and veterans of his campaigns in the
Indus but according to Ernst Fredricksmeyer the kausia was too established a staple of the Macedonian wardrobe for it to have been imported from Asia to Macedonia.
A modern descendant of the hat may be the
Pakol: the familiar and remarkably similar men's hat from
Pakistan
Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...
,
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...
and
Jammu and Kashmir.
Gallery
File:Ancient Macedonian soldiers, from the tomb of Agios Athanasios, Greece.jpg, Ancient Macedonian soldiers, from the tomb of Agios Athanasios (Greece) wearing the kausia, grave of Agios Athanasios, 4th century BC
File:Antimachos I.jpg, Coin of Greco-Bactrian king Antimachus I Theos wearing the Macedonian kausia, c.185–170 BC
File:Pompejanischer Maler um 40 v. Chr. 001.jpg, Antigonus II Gonatas wearing the kausia and holding a spear, detail of a fresco in Villa Fannius, c. 40 BC, Archaeological Museum of Naples
See also
*
Clothing in ancient Greece
*
List of hat styles
Hats have been common throughout the history of humanity, present on some of the very earliest preserved human bodies and art. Below is a list of various kinds of contemporary or traditional hat.
List
See also
*List of headgear
References
...
*
Pileus (hat)
The pileus (, ; also or in Latin) was a brimless felt cap worn in Ancient Greece, Etruria, Illyria (especially Pannonia), later also introduced in Ancient Rome. The pileus also appears on Apulian red-figure pottery.
The pilos together with t ...
*
Petasos
*
Konos (helmet)
References
External links
*
{{Historical clothing
Greek clothing
Hats
Culture of Macedonia (ancient kingdom)