The first umbrellas were sunshades or parasols – this is partly because the most advanced civilizations developed in warmer climates. The earliest evidence we have of such umbrellas comes from 2400 BC. In a victory monument to Sargon, king of Akkad (in modern-day Iraq), he is depicted walking ahead of his troops while an attendant holds a parasol over his head to protect him from the sun.
By the first millennium BC, umbrellas had become a status symbol. The wealthiest Egyptians, for instance, looked down on suntans as being characteristic of the ordinary workers in the fields, and the pharaoh and other high-status individuals were often depicted with aides holding a sunshade over them.
The earliest parasols were fairly flimsy and not waterproof, so would have been useless in a rainstorm. For instance, parasols made in China from early in the first millennium BC were made of silk. For an all-purpose umbrella, we have to go forward to the Wei Dynasty (AD 386–533), when umbrellas started to be made of heavy mulberry paper that was oiled to make it resistant to water. From this point onwards the umbrella had a new function: it could protect its owner against a sudden downpour!