The hat lay flattened and moth-eaten for more than a century in a museum box. Now, the rare 2,000-year-old headpiece (made for a Roman soldier in the searing heat of Egypt) has been restored to something close to its original form and placed on public display for the first time.
The wool hat is believed to date to around 30 B.C., shortly after the death of Cleopatra VII, when Egypt became a province of the Roman Empire. Archaeologists think it was worn by a member of the Roman military, adapted from the Empire’s standard soldier headgear to withstand the punishing desert sun and swirling sandstorms.
Only two other such hats are known to survive: one in Manchester’s Whitworth Art Gallery and another in a museum in Florence, Italy. The Bolton example, experts say, is now the best-preserved of them all.
From Cleopatra’s Egypt to Bolton’s Glass Case
The hat’s journey from antiquity to northern England began with Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie, a pioneering archaeologist nicknamed “the man who discovered Egypt.” Before Petrie, many excavations in Egypt were more like treasure hunts: dig fast, grab the the shiniest artifacts, and ignore the rest. Petrie introduced systematic excavation techniques, precise measurements, and careful recording of everything inside the site, including ‘uninteresting’ items that looked like debris. He treated broken pottery and everyday objects as important as gold and statues, because they told stories about ancient daily life. In 1911, Petrie donated the headpiece to the Chadwick Museum, the first museum in Bolton, a town in Greater Manchester, England.
For all this time, the artifact remained in storage due to its poor state. When conservator Jacqui Hyman first saw it, the hat was little more than a flat, brittle shape, riddled with moth damage.
“I had the unique privilege to handle and investigate the construction and conserve this very rare felt hat,” Hyman told Manchester World. “Planning the appropriate and sensitive treatment was paramount due to its fragility. Damage by moths had resulted in areas of missing felt, but by supporting and stabilising these areas with similar hand-dyed fabric, the original shape of the hat was recreated. Suddenly, a flat, fragile, boxed item had come to life.”
Her work was made possible by a donation from Ritherdon & Co. Ltd, a Darwen-based manufacturer. “It was so exciting to learn that we had such a rare and fascinating object right here on our doorstep,” said company director Ben Ritherdon. “It was a privilege for us to be able to contribute to its conservation.”
A Glimpse Into an Ancient Soldier’s Life in the Desert
Historians at Bolton Museum believe the hat offers a tangible connection to the daily lives of Roman soldiers stationed far from home. Egypt, newly conquered, presented the empire’s legions with an extreme environment. Protection from the desert climate would have been essential, just as armor was in battle.
“This hat was made to be worn — but if only it could talk and tell us who made it and who wore it,” Hyman told the BBC.
Bolton Council’s Executive Cabinet Member for Culture, Nadeem Ayub, was delighted with the achievement. “This remarkable object not only tells a global story, but it also reminds us of the power our museums have to inspire future generations, right here in Bolton.”
The hat now greets visitors at the entrance to Bolton Museum’s Egypt galleries, where it will remain on display until September 2025. For an object that has traveled from the deserts of Ancient Egypt, survived the rise and fall of empires, and spent over a hundred years in storage, it is a moment to reclaim its place in history.
