Phrygian cap

Phrygian cap
The Phrygian cap is a soft conical cap with the top pulled forward, associated in antiquity with the inhabitants of Phrygia, a region of central Anatolia. In the western provinces of the Roman Empire it came to signify freedom and the pursuit of liberty, perhaps through a confusion with the pileus, the felt cap of manumitted (emancipated) slaves of ancient Rome. Accordingly, the Phrygian cap is sometimes called a liberty cap; in artistic representations it signifies freedom and the pursuit of liberty.

History

Bust of Attis wearing a Phrygian cap (Parian marble, 2nd century AD).

Antiquity
In Antiquity, the Phrygian cap had two connotations: for the Greeks as showing a distinctive Eastern influence of non-Greek "barbarism" (in the classical sense) and among the Romans as a badge of liberty. The Phrygian cap identifies Trojans such as Paris in vase-paintings and sculpture, and it is worn by the syncretic Persian saviour god Mithras and by the Anatolian god Attis who were later adopted by Romans and Hellenic cultures. The twins Castor and Pollux wear a superficially similar round cap called the pileus. The Phrygian cap is sometimes associated with the headdress that was worn by King Midas to hide the donkey ears given to him as a curse by Paris of Troy wearing a Phrygian cap. Marble, Apollo, although according to Ovid, Midas hid his ears beneath a Roman artwork from the Hadrianic period purple turban.[1] Phrygians, however, were shown wearing the (117-138 CE). distinctive peaked cap in illustrations on Greek vases,[2] and such images predate the earliest surviving literary sources: a mid-6th century Laconian cup depicts the capture of Silenus at a fountain house, by armed men in Eastern costume and pointed caps.[3] In vase-paintings and other Greek art, the Phrygian cap serves to identify the Trojan hero Paris as non-Greek; Roman poets habitually use the epithet "Phrygian" to mean Trojan. The Phrygian cap can also be seen on the Trajan's Column carvings, worn by the Dacians, and on the Arch of Septimius Severus worn by the Parthians. In the later parts of Roman history, the god Mithras - whose worship was widespread until suppressed by Christianity - was regularly portrayed as wearing a Phrygian cap, fitting with his being perceived as a Persian god who had "come out of the East".

Phrygian cap The Macedonian, Thracian, Dacian and 12th-century Norman military helmets had a forward peaked top resembling the Phrygian cap called Phrygian type helmets. In late Republican Rome, the cap of freedmen served as a symbol of freedom from tyranny. A coin issued by Brutus in Asia Minor 4442 BC, showed one posed between two daggers[4][5] During the Roman Empire, the Phrygian cap (Latin: pileus) was worn on festive occasions such as the Saturnalia, and by emancipated slaves, whose descendants were consequently considered citizens of the Empire. This usage is often considered the root of its meaning as a symbol of liberty.

Revolutionary icon
In revolutionary France, the cap or bonnet rouge was first seen publicly in May 1790, at a festival in Troyes adorning a statue representing the nation, and at Lyon, on a lance carried by the goddess Libertas.[6] To this day the national emblem of France, Marianne, is shown wearing a Phrygian cap.[7] In 1792, when Louis XVI was induced to sign a constitution, popular prints of the king were doctored to show him wearing the bonnet rouge.[8] The bust of Voltaire was crowned with the red bonnet of liberty after a performance of his Brutus at the Comdie-Franaise in March 1792. The spire of the cathedral in Strasbourg was crowned with a bonnet rouge in order to prevent it from being torn down in 1794. By wearing the red Phrygian cap the Paris sans-culottes made their Revolutionary ardour and plebeian solidarity immediately recognizable. During the period of the Reign of Terror, the cap was adopted defensively even by those who might be denounced as moderates or aristocrats and were especially keen to advertise their adherence to the new regime. The Coat of arms of Haiti, a country established by rebellious slaves, has a Phrygian cap on top of a palm tree. The cap was also incorporated into the symbol of the late 18th century Irish revolutionary organisation the Society of the United Irishmen. The English Radicals of 1819 and 1820 often wore a white "cap of liberty" on public occasions.

Compare the sans-culotte on the left to the culotte-wearer on the right. Both wearing iconic Phrygian caps and tricolor cockades

Banning
During political tumult in France, chief executive Adolphe Thiers "had The Coat of arms of Haiti includes a Phrygian made any display of the Phrygian cap a punishable offense" (along cap on top of a palm tree, signifying the country's foundation by rebellious slaves with singing La Marseillaise and celebrating Bastille Day).[9] The ban [9] was ended in 1870, and by 1880 (as historian Philip Nord tells us), the political climate had changed, previous disapproval ended and "revolutionary symbolsthe cap, the holiday, the anthem--had become constituent parts of a national heritage consecrated by the state and embraced by the public."[9]

Use in American iconography

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United States
The Phrygian cap has been used to symbolize liberty in numerous countries of the Americas. For example, starting in 1793 United States of America coinage frequently showed liberty wearing the cap or, on many 19th Century pieces, holding it on a Liberty Pole. The cap's last appearance on circulating coinage was the Walking Liberty Half Dollar, which was minted through 1947 (and reused on the current bullion American Silver Eagle). The U.S. Army has, since 1778, utilized a "War Office Seal" in which the motto "This We'll Defend" is displayed directly over a Phrygian cap on an upturned sword. It also appears on the state flags of West Virginia (as part of its official seal), New Jersey, and New York, as well as the official seal of the United States Senate, the state of Iowa, the state of North Carolina (as well as the arms of its Senate,[10]) and on the reverse side of the Seal of Virginia.

In 1854, when sculptor Thomas Crawford was preparing models for sculpture for the United States Capitol, Secretary of War Jefferson Davis (later to be the President of the Confederate States of America) insisted that a Phrygian cap not be included on a statue of Freedom on the grounds that, "American liberty is original and not the liberty of the freed slave". The cap was not included in the final bronze version that is now in the building.[11]

The Seal of Iowa showing a red liberty cap at the top of the soldier's flagstaff. The 1847 written description did not specify that the soldier has to wear the cap; thus he is commonly depicted with a Civil War-era Cavalry hat.

Latin America
Many of the anti-colonial revolutions in Latin America were heavily inspired by the imagery and slogans of the American and French Revolutions. As a result, the cap has appeared on the coats of arms of many Latin American nations. The cap had also been displayed on certain Mexican coins (most notably the old 8-reales coin) through the late 19th century into the mid-20th century. Today, it is featured on the coats of arms or national flags of Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Cuba, El Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua and Paraguay. The Phrygian cap in Latin American coats of arms Coat of arms of Argentina Coat of arms of Bolivia Coat of arms of Colombia Coat of arms of Cuba Coat of arms of El Salvador Coat of arms of Haiti Coat of arms of Nicaragua Reverse side of the Flag of Paraguay on the Seal of the Supreme Court

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Literary and popular culture references

Washington Irving propounded the surprise of his famous protagonist, Rip Van Winkle, by noting among the unexpected details of the re-awakened Rip's newly post-revolutionary village a "tall naked pole, with something on it that looked like a red night cap..." The revolutionist protagonists of Robert A. Heinlein's The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress often wear a liberty cap. It is referred to exclusively as such. It becomes a fashion article at one point, and is once placed on a telephone terminal open to the A.I. character "Mike." The English poet and artist William Blake wore a Phrygian cap to demonstrate his solidarity with the French revolutionaries. The popular comic/cartoon characters The Smurfs are famous for their white Phrygian caps. Their leader, Papa Smurf, wears a red one, with other Smurf characters that wear "differently" styled hats, usually still having the Phrygian cap as the crown of their unique headgear. Cornish piskies wear Phrygian caps symbolising proto-Celtic origins and magical powers in Mystic Rose Celtic Fire by Toney Brooks. Christine, the mistreated heroine of Howard Pyle's Cinderella-inspired fairy tale "The Apple of Contentment," wears a Phrygian cap in Pyle's illustrations. The song Then She Appeared by rock group XTC contains the line "Dressed in tricolour and Phrygian cap". French marine explorer and aqua-lung inventor Jacques Cousteau wore a red Phrygian cap. Much in reference to Jacques Cousteau, the main character and his team in the film The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou all don red Phrygian caps. Jaq and Gus, the two main mice characters in the Disney animated feature Cinderella, wear small Phyrgian caps; Jaq wears a red one while Gus wears an aquamarine color. In the popular video game series The Legend of Zelda, the protagonist, Link, wears a green Phrygian cap. Another video game series, Assassin's Creed, mentions the Phrygian cap along with the Masonic Eye in the game Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood. The term Phrygian cap has been adopted to describe a particular type of common anatomical variant of the gallbladder as seen on ultrasound imaging.[12]

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Gallery

Columbia wearing a Phrygian cap, personification of the United States (World War I patriotic poster).

In Byzantium, Anatolian Phrygia lay to the east of Constantinople, and thus in this late 6th-century mosaic from Sant'Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna (which was part of the Eastern Empire), the three Magi wear Phrygian caps, identifying them as generic "easterners".

Bas-relief from 113 AD representing the Dacian King Decebalus, wearing a Dacian cap, Trajan's Column, Rome.

The god Mithras being born from the rock, naked but for the Phrygian cap on his head (Marble, 180-192 AD. From the area of S. Stefano Rotondo, Rome).

Tinted etching of Louis XVI of France, 1792, with a Phrygian cap.

Anonymous bust of Marianne, with the Phrygian cap (Palais du Luxembourg, Paris).

In this 1793 British cartoon by James Gillray, who was deeply hostile to the French Revolution, a Phrygian cap substitutes for Scylla on the dangerous rocky shore, as Britannia's boat navigates between Scylla and Charybdis.

After the 1807 Prohibition of the Slave Trade by the British Parliament, it is Britannia herself now having a claim to be considered an emancipator who has a Phrygian cap at the top of her pole.

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A Phrygian cap on the Seal of the United States Senate.

Columbia holding up a Phrygian cap on an advertisement for the clipper ship Young America

Seated Liberty Dollar, with Phrygian cap on a pole (1868).

Coat of arms of Cuba.

Coat of arms of Argentina

Coat of arms of Nicaragua

Flag of Santa Catarina State

References
[1] [2] [3] [4] Ovid, Metamorphoses 181. Lynn E. Roller, "The Legend of Midas", Classical Antiquity, 2.2 (October 1983:299313) p. 305. Noted in Rolle 1983:304 and note 33. An example from the De Salis collection, in the British Museum, is noted by Jennifer Harris, "The Red Cap of Liberty: A Study of Dress Worn by French Revolutionary Partisans 1789-94" Eighteenth-Century Studies 14.3 (Spring 1981:283312) p. 290, note 9. [5] http:/ / www. uned. es/ geo-1-historia-antigua-universal/ ROMA/ brutus-reverse. jpg [6] Albert Mathiez, Les origines des cultes rvolutionnaires, 17891792 (Paris 1904:34). [7] Richard Wrigley, "Transformations of a revolutionary emblem: The Liberty Cap in the french Revolution, French History 11(2) 1997:131-169. [8] Harris 1981:284, fig. 1. Most of the details that follow are drawn from Ms Harris. [9] Philip G. Nord (1995). The Republican Moment: Struggles for Democracy in Nineteenth-Century France. President & Fellows of Harvard College. [10] "Senate of North Carolina" (http:/ / www. college-of-arms. gov. uk/ Newsletter/ 008. htm), College of Arms Newsletter, No. 8 (March 2006), London: College of Arms, , retrieved 2008-01-13 [11] Gale, Robert L. (1964), Thomas Crawford: American Sculptor, University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, p. 124. [12] Middleton, WD, Kurtz AB, Hertzberg BS. Ultrasound: the requisites 2nd ed. 2004 Mosby pp. 30

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Further reading
Boneta frigian, scitic, persan vs. pileus-ul dacic Liberty cap, Scythian, Persian vs. Dacian's pileus (in Romanian) (http://daco-getica.blogspot.com/2011/01/boneta-frigiana-scitica-persana-vs.html)

External links
Phrygian cap versus Dacian pileus (http://daco-getica.blogspot.com/2011/01/ boneta-frigiana-scitica-persana-vs.html) very detailed description and collection of Phrygian caps (Romanian)

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Image:Bust Attis CdM.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Bust_Attis_CdM.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: User:Jastrow Image:Judgement Paris Altemps Inv8563 n2.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Judgement_Paris_Altemps_Inv8563_n2.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: User:Jastrow File:Sansculottes.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Sansculottes.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Carnby, Dahn, Ecummenic, FSII, Jodo, Maksim, Morgan Riley, Mu, Ultimate Destiny, 4 anonymous edits File:Coat of arms of Haiti.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Coat_of_arms_of_Haiti.svg License: Public Domain Contributors: Lokal_Profil and Myriam Thyes File:Iowa-StateSeal.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Iowa-StateSeal.svg License: Public Domain Contributors: U.S. Government Image:ColumbiaStahrArtwork.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:ColumbiaStahrArtwork.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Paul Stahr Image:Magi (1).jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Magi_(1).jpg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 2.5 Contributors: Nina-no File:Decebalus b.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Decebalus_b.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Anime Addict AA, Bogdan, Codrinb, DenghiComm, Flamarande, Gaius Cornelius, Gun Powder Ma, Mvelam, Pe-Jo, Shakko Image:Mithras petra genetrix Terme.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Mithras_petra_genetrix_Terme.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: user:Jastrow Image:Louis le dernier3.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Louis_le_dernier3.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Anne97432, Beyond My Ken, Durova, 1 anonymous edits Image:Marianne Symbol of french republic 3.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Marianne_Symbol_of_french_republic_3.jpg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 2.5 Contributors: Alexandrin, Bohme, Dachi, Frania Wisniewska, G.dallorto, Lamiot, Olivier2, Wst Image:GillrayBritannia.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:GillrayBritannia.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Awadewit, Eubulides, Infrogmation, Man vyi File:EndOfSlaveTrade.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:EndOfSlaveTrade.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Engraving by Joseph Collyer after a painting by Henry Moses File:Seal_of_the_United_States_Senate.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Seal_of_the_United_States_Senate.svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 2.5 Contributors: Ipankonin File:YOUNG AMERICA.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:YOUNG_AMERICA.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: pantufla File:1868 dollar obv.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:1868_dollar_obv.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Albertomos, Stauba Image:Coat of Arms of Cuba.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Coat_of_Arms_of_Cuba.svg License: Public Domain Contributors: Miguel Terbe Toln File:Coat of arms of Argentina.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Coat_of_arms_of_Argentina.svg License: Public Domain Contributors: Agustn Donado, commisioned by the Seal of the Sovereign General Assembly of 1813 Vector graphics coat by Referencia. Reference. File:Coat of arms of Nicaragua.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Coat_of_arms_of_Nicaragua.svg License: Attribution Contributors: User:C records File:Bandeira_Santa_Catarina.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Bandeira_Santa_Catarina.svg License: Public Domain Contributors: OAlexander (talk) (colours from Manual de Identidade Visual do Governo do Estado do Santa Catarina)

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