Phrygian Cap

The Phrygian cap is a soft conical cap with the top pulled forward, associated in antiquity with several peoples in Eastern Europe and Anatolia, including Phrygia, Dacia, and the Balkans. In early modern Europe it came to signify freedom and the pursuit of liberty through a confusion with the pileus, the felt cap of manumitted (emancipated) slaves of ancient Rome. Accordingly, the Phrygian cap sometimes is called a liberty cap; in artistic representations it signifies freedom and the pursuit of liberty.

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Image icon An 8th-century Tang dynasty Chinese clay figurine of a Sogdian man, Zoroastrian priest engaging in a ritual at a fire temple?21.82 KB
Image icon Head of Attis wearing a Phrygian cap (Parian marble, 2nd century AD).98.13 KB
Image icon Double-faced Mithraic relief. Rome, 2nd to 3rd century CE (Louvre Museum).242.54 KB