Umbrellas and their History | Page 5

female
use--
"aemin men gar son eti kai nun tantion, o kanon, oi kalathiokoi, to
skiadeion." --Aristophanes, Thesmoph., 821. [Footnote: "For now our
loom is safe, our weaving-beam, our baskets and umbrella."]
It occurs frequently on vases, and is in shape like that now used. It
could be put up and down.
"ta d' ota g'an son, nae AL', exepetannuto osper skiadeion, kai palin
xunaegeto." --Arist. Eq., 1347. [Footnote: "But your ears, by Jove, are
stretched out like a parasol, and now again shut up."]
Which the Scholiast explains, _ekteinetai de kai systelletai pros ton
katepeigonta kairon._ [Footnote: "Are opened and shut as need
requires."] For a man to carry one was considered a mark of effeminacy,
as appears from the following fragment of Anacreon:--
"skiadiskaen elephantinaen phorei gunaixin autos." Athenaeus, lib. xii.,
cap. 46, Section 534. [Footnote: "He carries an ivory parasol, as women
do."]
Plutarch makes Aristides speak of Xerxes as sitting under a canopy or
Umbrella looking at the sea-fight--
"kathaeenos hupd skiadi chrysae." Plut. Therm., c. 16 (p. 120),
[Footnote: "Sitting under a golden canopy."]

and of Cleopatra in like manner--
"upo skiadi chrysopasto." Plut. Anton., c. 26 (p. 927). [Footnote:
"Under a gold-wrought canopy."]
From Greece it is probable that the use of the Parasol passed to Rome,
where it seems to have been commonly used by women, while it was
the custom even for effeminate men to defend themselves from the heat
by means of the Umbraculum, formed of skin or leather, and capable of
being lowered at will. We find frequent reference to the Umbrella in the
Roman Classics, and it appears that it was, not unlikely, a post of
honour among maid-servants to bear it over their mistresses. Allusions
to it are tolerably frequent in the poets. Virgil's "Munimen ad imbres"
[Footnote: "A shelter for the shower."] probably has nothing to do with
Umbrellas, but more definite mention of them is not wanting. Ovid
speaks of Hercules carrying the Parasol of Omphale:--
"Aurea pellebant rapidos umbracula soles, Quæ tamen Herculeæ
sustinuere manus." --Ov. Fast., lib. ii., 1. 31 I. [Footnote: "A golden
umbrella warded off the keen sun, which even the hands of Hercules
have borne."]
Martial speaks of a servant carrying the Parasol:--
"Umbellam lusca, Lygde feras Dominæ." --Mart., lib. xi., ch. 73.
[Footnote: "Mayst thou, Lygde, be parasol-carrier for a publind
mistress."]
Juvenal mentions an Umbrella as a present:--
"En cui tu viridem umbellam cui succina mittas" --Juv., ix., 50.
[Footnote: "See to whom it is sent a green umbrella and amber
ornaments"]
Ovid advises a lover to make himself agreeable by holding his
mistress's Parasol:--
"Ipse tene distenta suis umbracula virgis" Ov. Ars. Am., ii., 209.

[Footnote: "Yourself hold up the umbrella spread out by its rods"]
This shows that the Umbrella was of much the same construction as
ours.
A very common use for it was in the theatre, whenever, from wind or
other cause, the velarium or huge awning stretched over the building
(always open to the air) could not be put up:--
"Accipe quæ nimios vincant umbracula soles, Sit licet, et ventus, te tua
vela tegont." --Mart., lib. xiv., Ep. 28. [Footnote: "Take this, which
may shield you from the sun's excessive rays. So may your own sail
shield you, even should the breeze blow."]
By tua vela is to be understood "your own Umbrella." And elsewhere
the same writer gives the advice:--
"Ingrediare viam coelo licet usque sereno Ad subitas nunquam scortea
desit aquas." --Man'., lib. xiv. Ep. 130. [Footnote: "Though with a
bright sky you begin your journey, let this cloak ever be at hand in case
of unexpected showers."]
It will be noticed from the above extracts that the Umbrella does not
appear to have been used among the Romans as a defence from rain;
and this is curious enough, for we know that the theatres were protected
by the velarium or awning, which was drawn across the arena
whenever a sudden shower came on; strange that this self-evident
application of the Umbrella should not have occurred to a nation
generally so ingenious in the invention of every possible luxury.
Possibly the expense bestowed in the decoration of the umbraculum
was a reason for its not being applied to what we cannot but regard as
its legitimate use.
After the founding of Constantinople, the custom of great people
carrying an Umbrella seems to have arisen, but in Rome it appears only
to have been used as a luxury, never as a mark of distinction, Pliny
speaks of Umbrellas made of palm-leaves, but from other sources we
may gather that the Romans--at all events in the days of the

empire--lavished as much splendour on their Umbrella as on all the
articles of their dress. Ovid (as above quoted) speaks of an Umbrella
inwrought with gold, and Claudian