Under the Weather: How the umbrella went from shielding kings to commoners

摘要

Before umbrellas became commonplace rainy-day halos, they sheltered hallowed royalty. Prototypical umbrellas, made from feathers and leaves, are said to have existed in Egypt as early as 3000 B.C. According to historian T. S. Crawford, these portable canopies may have represented the vault of heaven as well as the divinity and protective power of the king beneath them, and by 1200 B.C., umbrellas had become exclusive to pharaohs and nobles.