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The 'Phrygian cap' or 'Bonnet Phrygien' is a soft, red, conical cap with the top pulled forward, worn in antiquity by the inhabitants of Phrygia, a region of central Anatolia. In paintings and caricatures, it represents freedom, or the search for liberty.

Contents

From Antiquity to the Normans

Revolutionary Icon

American symbolism

List of international coat of arms that include Phrygian caps

Medical term

Literary references

Sources and resources

See also

From Antiquity to the Normans

The Phrygian cap has two connotations: liberty and barbarism (in the classical sense of non-Greekness, or showing a distinctive Eastern influence). It is worn by the syncretic Hellenistic and Roman (though originally Persian) saviour god Mithras, by the Anatolian god Attis, and by the twins Castor and Pollux. 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.
The Macedonian, Thracian, Dacian and 12th century Norman military helmets had a forward peaked top design resembling the Phrygian cap. The same soft cap is seen worn by an attendant in the murals of a late 4th century Thracian tomb at Kazanlak, Bulgaria (illustrated).
During the Roman Empire the Phrygian cap (Latin: pileus) was worn on festive occasions such as the Saturnalia, and by former slaves who had been emancipated by their master and whose descendants were therefore considered citizens of the Empire. This usage is often considered the root of its meaning as a symbol of liberty.

Revolutionary Icon

During the 18th century, the red Phrygian cap evolved into a symbol of freedom, held aloft on a Liberty Pole during the American Revolutionary War. It was also adopted during the French Revolution, and to this day the national emblem of France, Marianne, is shown wearing a Phrygian cap. 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 & 1820 often wore a white "cap of liberty" on public occasions.

American symbolism

Many of the anti-colonial revolutions in North and South 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. An effigy of "Liberty" was shown holding the Liberty Pole and Phrygian cap on some early United States of America coinage (pictured right). It also appears on the State flag of West Virginia, New Jersey and New York, as well as the official seals of the United States Army, the United States Senate (left), and on the reverse side of the Seal of Virginia. 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 of the coats of arms or national flags of Nicaragua, El Salvador, Argentina, Colombia, Haiti, Paraguay and Cuba.

In 1854, when sculptor Thomas Crawford was preparing models for sculpture for the United States Capitol then Secretary of War Jefferson Davis (later to be the President of the Confederate States of America) insisted that a Phrygian cap not be included of a statue of ''Justice'' on the grounds that, "''American liberty is original and not the liberty of the freed slave.''" (Gale, p. 124) The cap was not included in the final marble version that is now in the building.
The seal of Dickinson College, in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, also contains a Liberty Cap. The college, endowed by Founding Father John Dickinson at the behest of Benjamin Rush, was the first to be chartered in the new Republic.
Washington Irving also propounded the surprise of his famous protagonist, Rip Van Winkle, by adding to the details of Rip's newly post-revolutionary village a "tall naked pole, with something on it that looked like a red night cap..."

List of international coat of arms that include Phrygian caps

★ 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

Medical term

''Phrygian cap'' is also a term used for an anatomical variant of the gallbladder seen in 1-6% of patients who have ultrasound exams or contrast studies of their gallbladders. It is caused by a fold or division at the point where the tip of the gallbladder (the head) joins the main part of the gallbladder (the body), and is named for its resemblance to the cap above. Apart from being the chance of being mistaken for stones on ultrasound, it has no other medical implications nor does it predispose one to other diseases.

Literary references

★ 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 popular cartoon characters The Smurfs, are famous for their white phrygian hats.

Sources and resources

Gale, Robert L. ''Thomas Crawford: American Sculptor'', University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, 1964

See also

★ Barretina

★ Liberty cap (Psilocybe semilanceata)

★ Pileus (hat)