PILEUS. – A cap of leather or cloth, from the Greek πῦος, used by the Greeks, Etruscans, and Romans. In ancient Christian monuments it is given to Orpheus, the three Babylonian youths, and the Magi; the two soldiers who arrest St Peter in Christian sarcophagi wear the pileus pannonicus.
BIBL.: Wilpert, Pitture, pp. 55–57. Gioacchino Mancini