The Phrygian Cap in Greek and Roman Art

 The Phrygian cap later known as a liberty cap is a soft conical cap with the apex bent over, associated in antiquity with several peoples in Eastern Europe and Anatolia, including Phrygia, Dacia, and the Balkans.  By the 4th century BCE (early Hellenistic period) the Phrygian cap was associated with Phrygian Attis, the consort of Cybele, the cult of which had by then become graecified. At around the same time, the cap appears in depictions of the legendary king Midas and other Phrygians in Greek vase-paintings and sculpture. The Phrygian cap also came to be applied to several other non-Greek-speaking peoples ("barbarians" in the classical sense). Most notable of these extended senses of "Phrygian" were the Trojans and other western Anatolian peoples, who in Greek perception were synonymous with the Phrygians, and whose heroes Paris, Aeneas, and Ganymede were all regularly depicted with a Phrygian cap. 

While the Phrygian cap was of wool or soft leather, in pre-Hellenistic times the Greeks had already developed a military helmet that had a similarly characteristic flipped-over tip. These so-called "Phrygian helmets" (named in modern times after the cap) were usually of bronze and in prominent use in Thrace, Dacia, Magna Graecia and the rest of the Hellenistic world from the 5th century BCE up to Roman times. 

The Greek concept passed to the Romans and encompassed not only Phrygians but also the other near-neighbours of the Greeks. On Trajan's Column, which commemorated Trajan's epic wars with the Dacians, the Phrygian cap adorns the heads of Trajan's Dacian prisoners. Parthians appear with Phrygian caps on the 2nd-century CE Arch of Septimius Severus and Gauls in Phrygian caps are depicted on the 2nd-century CE friezes of the 4th century Arch of Constantine. In the tauroctony images of Roman Mithraism, the figures of the god Mithras as well as those of his helpers Cautes and Cautopates are routinely depicted with a Phrygian cap. 

In later centuries, a Phrygian-looking cap became associated with liberty because of its resemblence to the Roman cap of liberty, the Roman pileus, a felt cap worn by manumitted (emancipated) slaves of ancient Rome, and an attribute of Libertas, the Roman goddess of liberty. 

Figure of male with Phrygian cap, earthenware with painted decorations possibly from Palmyra, Syria, 1st-2nd century CE at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, Canada.

Paris of Troy wearing a Phrygian cap on a Roman sarcophagus dating to the Hadrianic period (117-138 CE) courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Marie-Lan Nguyen.

Three wise men" with Phrygian caps to identify them as "orientals" 6th-century, Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo in Ravenna, Italy courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor nina-no.

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Marsyas - Example of Hubris or Free Speech?

Although many of us are familiar with the story of Marsyas, a musically gifted satyr who found an aulos (a type of flute) discarded by Athena and challenged Apollo to a musical contest and lost, being flayed for his hubris, the Romans viewed Marsyas quite differently.  Among the Romans, Marsyas was cast as the inventor of augury and a proponent of free speech and "speaking truth to power". The earliest known representation of Marsyas at Rome stood for at least 300 years in the Roman Forum near or in the comitium, the space for political activity. Depicted as a silen carrying a wineskin on his left shoulder and raising his right arm, The statue was regarded as an indicium libertatis, a symbol of liberty, and was associated with demonstrations of the plebs, or common people. It often served as a sort of kiosk upon which invective verse was posted. 

Marsyas was sometimes considered a king and contemporary of Faunus, portrayed by Vergil as a native Italian ruler at the time of Aeneas.  The plebeian gens of the Marcii claimed that they were descended from Marsyas. In 213 BCE, two years after suffering one of the worst military defeats in its history at the Battle of Cannae, Rome was in the grip of a reactionary fear that led to excessive religiosity. The senate, alarmed that its authority was being undermined by "prophets and sacrificers" in the forum, began a program of suppression. Among the literature confiscated was an "authentic" prophecy calling for the institution of games in the Greek manner for Apollo, which the senate and elected officials would control. The prophecy was attributed to Gnaeus Marcius, reputed to be a descendant of Marsyas. The games were duly carried out, but the Romans failed to bring the continuing wars with the Carthaginians to a victorious conclusion until they heeded a second prophecy and imported the worship of the Phrygian Great Mother, whose song Marsyas was said to have composed that would protect them from invaders. 

The Romans considered the power relations between Marsyas and Apollo reflected the continuing Struggle of the Orders between the elite and the common people, expressed in political terms by optimates and populares. 

However, during the Principate, Marsyas became a subversive symbol in opposition to Augustus, whose propaganda systematically associated him with the silens’ torturer Apollo. Augustus's daughter Julia held nocturnal assemblies at the statue, and crowned it to defy her father.

Apollo and Marsyas ceiling fresco in the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Marsyas the satyr who was flayed alive by Apollo for challenging him to a music contest Roman imperial period copy of 2nd century BCE Greek original that I photographed at the Capitoline Museum in Rome.

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The Sacrifice of Publius Decius Mus

Publius Decius Mus recounts his prophetic dream to his troops during the Latin War by Jacob Matthias Schmutzer, 1733-1811, (PD)

Defend the belief that a public assembly ought to be kept pure, the Campus Martius holy, the body of every Roman citizen undefiled, and the right of liberty unassailable.  M. Tullius Cicero.  Speech before Roman Citizens on Behalf of Gaius Rabirius, Defendant, Against the Charge of treason.  Section 11.

According to Livy, during the Latin War, as the army marched near Capua, it was given to the two consuls in mutual dreams that the army whose general pledged himself and his foemen's host to the Dii Manes and Earth, would be victorious. Upon confirmation from the haruspices the two divulged a plan to their senior officers and their army, that they may not lose heart, for they intended that whosoever's wing should falter first, should so pledge his life to the gods of the underworld and the Earth.

Once the battle was engaged, the left wing began to falter and Decius Mus called upon the Pontifex Maximus, M. Valerius, to tell him the means by which to save the army. The pontifex prescribed the required ritual acts and a prayer (for which see devotio). After performing the religious ritual, the fully armored Decius Mus plunged his horse into the enemy with such supernatural vigor and violence that the awe-struck Latins soon refused to engage him, eventually bringing him down with darts. Even then, the Latins avoided his body, leaving a large space around it; and so the left wing of the Romans, once faltering, now swept into this weakness in the enemy lines. Manlius, conducting the right wing, held fast, allowing the Latins to use up their reserves, before crushing the enemy host between the renewed left and Samnite foederati at their flank, leaving only a quarter of the enemy to flee.

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3rd century Roman Battlefield uncovered in northern Germany

This is really exciting. Apparently, Rome didn't totally withdraw from Germania after the Teutoburg Forest disaster after all.

[Image -The battle in the Teutoburg Forest in 9AD, by H. Knackfuss, 1890. Norddeutsches Schulmuseum, Friesland (School Museum in Northern Germany), courtesy of the Museum and Park at Kalkriese]

"Archaeologists have found an ancient battlefield in Germany that indicates that the Roman Legions were still fighting Germanic tribes deep inside "barbarian" territory as late as the 3rd Century AD – 200 years later than hitherto believed.

The discovery comes as preparations are being made to commemorate the 2,000th anniversary of the famous Battle of Teutoburg Forest in September 2009. In the battle, Germanic guerrilla fighters annihilated three elite Roman Legions, the XVIIth, XVIIIth and XIXth, in September of the year 9 AD.

...the new archaeological discovery, if verified, could mean that the history books must be rewritten, as the newly discovered 3rd Century battlefield is located 100 miles (160 kilometres) further east of the Teutoburg Forest.

..."The find can be dated to the 3rd Century and will definitely change the historical perception of that time," said Dr. Henning Hassmann, director of historic preservation in the state of Lower Saxony.

So far, 600 artefacts have been unearthed that are clearly of Roman 3rd Century origin and dating, says Michael Wickmann, an official in the town of Northeim, where the dig has been conducted over a period of months.

...Initial reports said that DNA fingerprinting evidence indicated that some of the arrows had been made of African wood, which was the preferred wood used in the manufacture of Roman arrows. However, Hassmann said he could not confirm those reports.

It is unknown whether that outpost predates the 9 AD battle of Teutoburg Forest or whether it might be a later tribal camp where Germanic warriors stocked up on Roman-made armaments smuggled or looted from imperial frontier garrisons.

I thought this little "hagiographic view" of Arminius' victory at Teutoburg was like a classical period "Triumph of the Will"

The Battle of Teutoburg Forest between
myth and reality: an hagiographic view

I think a little more objective explanation of the events surrounding the disaster are contained in the History Channel presentation, "Decisive Battles". I really liked this series that used the game engine from "Rome Total War" to recreate a number of important battles in the classical world. I bought the entire set on DVD. I think I would have preferred the "big picture" game images interspersed with reenactment closeups though. It would have given the presentation more of a human touch. If you enjoyed this post, never miss out on future posts by following me by email!