THE ‘PHRYGIAN’, THE PILEUS AND THE LIBERTY CAP
The name Phrygian cap originates from Phrygia, a region in today’s west and central Turkey. It is a soft conical cap with the apex bent over, associated in antiquity with several peoples in Eastern Europe and Anatolia/Asia Minor. By the 4th century BCE (early Hellenistic period) the Phrygian cap was linked to Attis, the son of Cybele, who is often depicted wearing the hat.
Among the Romans, the cap of felt was the emblem of liberty. When a slave obtained his freedom, he had his head shaved and wore instead of his hair an undyed pileus.
Following the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 BCE, the pileusTThe figure of Liberty in this coin of Antoninus Pius (145CE) is holding a pileus (cap of freedom) in the right hand and rod (vindicta) in the left. 
became a symbol of the end of Caesar’s dictatorship and a return to the (Roman) republican system.
These Roman associations of the pileus with liberty and republicanism made the Phrygian cap a symbol of those values in the 18th century. As a result, it became more commonly known as the “liberty cap”.
The Phrygian-style cap was once again ideologically charged when adopted by the French people during the Revolution of 1789. Its use is first documented in 1790 at a festival in Troyes and in Lyon on a lance held by the goddess Libertas. It is a French national symbol to this day with Marianne, the allegory of France, donning a red Phrygian cap in all her depictions. During the time of the Revolution, wearing the bonnet rougeDuring the period of the Reign of Terror (September 1793 – July 1794), 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 caps were often knitted by women known as tricoteuses, who sat beside the guillotine during public executions in Paris and supposedly continued knitting in between executions. The spire of Strasbourg Cathedral was crowned with a bonnet rouge in order to prevent it from being torn down in 1794. was a sign of support to its cause.
A GLOBAL SYMBOL OF FREEDOM
Many of the anti-colonial revolutions in Latin America were inspired by the American and French Revolutions. As a result, the liberty cap has appeared on the coats of arms and coins of many Latin American States.
The coat of arms of Haiti includes a Phrygian cap to commemorate that country’s foundation by slaves who revolted and took back their freedom.
In October 2013, a French tax-protest movement called the “Bonnets Rouges” used the red revolution-era Phrygian cap as a protest symbol. By means of large demonstrations and direct action, which included the destruction of many highway tax portals, the movement successfully forced the French government to rescind the tax.
The Sower wearing a Phrygian cap is a theme of the French euro coins that was carried over from the former franc. All the above uses employ the pileus to imply the idea of freedom and self-determination, much like the Belgian comic characters known as the Smurfs who wear their white Phrygian caps in order to make their own liberty statement: they will never fall in the hands of the evil Gargamel!
A SWISS PILEUS
Jean Robert Gase opened his atelier in Geneva in 1985. He can also be found every Saturday morning at his beautiful stand at Geneva’s flea market in Plein Palais. The exhibited hat is a fiber interpretation of the Phrygian cap and is equipped with a center-topped tassel.