The taking of heads and scalps?

[john m roberts]

In the Aenead, Aeneas drapes a lion pelt over his shoulders before fleeing Troy with his father. It must have had some ritual significance. Egyptian priests wore leopard pelts and the curule chair of a magistrate was often draped with pelts. The aquilifer was in charge of a deity and therefore a priest of sorts. But then, in early times the velites wore wolf pelts over their helmets.