A 2k-year-old sun hat worn by a Roman soldier in Egypt

62 sensiquest 8 8/23/2025, 7:35:31 PM smithsonianmag.com ↗

Comments (8)

lostlogin · 2h ago
So it lasted about 2k years where it was, then was removed, put in storage and damaged by moths in the museum?
metalman · 2h ago
yep, the worlds oldest shirt was found in an ancient rubbish pile in eygypt, nice shirt, but obviosly thrown out from ancient wear and tear.....it NEVER rains in eygypt...or to be exact any area can expect rain once in 400 years or something ludicrous, so ya stuff just sits, and in just the right conditions lasts for millenia, so we have ancient chit chat letters sent back and forth between women that represent the earliest first person dialogs in existance

edit, on reflection there are older summerian letters sent back and forth by traders in....cloth, who had a "shop" in one city/country but the main production was in mesoptsmia proper, and if memory serves the distant trader was a woman asking for more products to sell, and again other chit chat, but both instances required exceptional conditions and the use of very durable materials, papyrus paper and dried and protected clay

goscript · 1h ago
> it NEVER rains in eygypt...or to be exact any area can expect rain once in 400 years or something ludicrous,

The northern part of the country receives some rainfall in the winter. heavy winter rains occasionally cause flooding in Cairo, Ptolemaic Egypt was centered around Alexandria, which gets the most rain in the country - about 200 mm (7.87 in) annually. while that's still relatively low, it's not nearly as extreme as you make it seem.

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_of_Egypt#Rainfall

kibwen · 1h ago
We're never going to let Ea-nasir live this down. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complaint_tablet_to_Ea-n%C4%81...
ChrisMarshallNY · 54m ago
He was complaining to "Lord Bezos," about receiving sub-standard material.

I'll just get my coat...

cwmoore · 1h ago
Great context, but in reminding me of Bob Dylan’s Rainy Day Women #12 & 35, potentially many conversations from even those most auspicious regions went unpreserved.
sokols · 2h ago
Pileus (plis) can be found amongst older Albanians (especially on the north) to this day.
throwaway173738 · 2h ago
It looks like a bucket hat.