The Ancient Liberty Cap – A Yarn Craft
The Ancient Liberty CaP
History of the cap
As you can see in the famous painting by Delacroix, the goddess Libertas is wearing the red cap of liberty as she leads the French people to revolt. Although, this painting is of the French revolution in 1830, not the more famous revolution of 1789.
These caps first originated in Turkey around the year 800 BCE and were known as Phrygian caps. It’s a red, conical cap that narrows into floppy end which falls over to front or side of the head.
In the ancient Roman Republic, these caps were called a pileus and were worn by newly freed slaves. The Roman pileus was less cone-shaped and didn’t have the floppy end like a Phrygian cap. Imagine a modern skull-cap.
Freeing slaves was a common practice in Ancient Rome and the Romans even had a special ceremony for it! A slave would be touched with the vindicta and pronounced freed. Then they would have their head shaved and would wear a pileus as a symbol of freedom.
With the 4th of July commemorating American independence from the English crown and France’s Bastille Day on July 14th, July is a month to celebrate liberty and revolutions.
Libertas--The Roman Goddess
You have probably figured out by now, the Romans had a god or goddess for almost everything. So of course they had a goddess of liberty! Her name was Libertas. Two of her famous symbols were a special rod called a vindicta and a liberty cap. Thousand of years after Rome, this cap was a symbol that both the American colonists and French revolutionaries adopted as a symbol of freedom!
During the final days of the Republic, the cap was used by Roman senators to protest the rise of Julius Caesar. In fact, Brutus (one of Julius Caesar’s murders) used the cap to symbolize freedom and liberty on coins he minted to pay his army. (You can learn more about the coin and see how to maker your own here!)
It’s no wonder these caps would reappear almost two thousand years later in the American and French revolutions. However, by the time the cap re-appeared it had returned to the conical shaped, floppy hat of ancient Turkey.
During the American Revolution, the Sons of Liberty (a group which protested the king’s taxes and encouraged colonial independence) would hang liberty caps from a tall pole. Does the pole remind you anything associated with the goddess Liberty? Well, the pole was intended to represent the vindicta or the special rod used to tap a slave and free them!
In France, revolutionaries often wore the liberty caps and even forced French King Louis XVI to wear one when they stormed his place in 1792. That must have been pretty humiliating for a king who thought he ruled because God had chosen him.
You can also find the red cap of liberty in the art of the 1800s. For example, celling of the United States Capitol rotunda shows President George Washington next to, who? You guessed it, Libertas and she just happens to wearing the famous red liberty cap! So now you know how an ancient Greek and Roman cap became a symbol of revolution, freedom and liberty.
Now we will show you two ways to make your own Liberty Cap!
Easy Liberty Cap
Supplies:
2 pieces of red construction paper
Scissors
Tape, glue stick or double sided tape
Directions:
Step One: Attach two pieces of red paper together using glue or tape
Step Two: Bring the corners of the two pieces together, until a cone shape is formed.
Step Three: Glue the cone together and make a fold at the top.
Step Four: Trim the edges of the bottom of the cap.
If you have any questions, you may watch the video.
Difficult Liberty Cap
Supplies:
Chunky red yarn, 5 or 6 level
Scissors
Directions:
While I can finger-knit pretty well, (I did knit this awesome liberty cap!) I recommend the following directions on YouTube:
You can either end your finger-knitting like the video and make a pileus. Or, you can keep knitting smaller and smaller circles to create the more conical Phrygian style hat.
Happy knitting.