---
node: garment_petasos
type: garment
slug: petasos
title: "Petasos"
lead: "The petasos is the broad-brimmed sun hat of ancient Greece, worn by travellers, hunters, and herdsmen against sun and rain. Slung on its cord behind the shoulders when not on the head, it is the hat of the god Hermes."
published: 2026-08-10
updated: 2026-08-10
image_file: petasos.jpg
image_source: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Painter_of_Syracuse_23510_-_Column-Krater_with_Hermes_and_the_Komos_-_Walters_4869_-_Side_A.jpg"
image_author: "Painter of Syracuse 23510"
image_license: "Public domain"
---

## Overview

A petasos is a felt or straw hat with a low crown and a wide, often floppy brim, sometimes with a chin cord so it could hang at the back. Practical rather than formal, it shaded the eyes and shed rain on the road and in the field.

## How it is worn

It is worn tilted on the head for travel and riding and pushed back to hang from its cord over the shoulders indoors or in conversation. Paired with the chlamys cloak and stout boots, it completed the recognisable outfit of the young traveller.

## History

The petasos was in use from the Classical period among ephebes, hunters, and messengers, and Greek art gave it to Hermes, the traveller-god, often winged. It passed to Rome and Macedonia and lies behind the broad hats of many later cultures.