The Phrygian hat is a very trendy piece of clothing nowadays, but it’s so much more interesting because of the symbolism it brings. This hat is full of history and its stories are incredibly old, coming from the ancient civilizations which used to conquer the land that we are currently living on.
To describe it in a few words, the Phrygian cap is a round hat, soft conical cap, more like a hood-like hat with a pointed top which is pulled forward. It is difficult to discover who wore the Phrygian hat for the first time? As the name itself points it out, the inhabitants of Phrygia, a region of central Anatolia, were wearing these hats.
In Antiquity, the Phrygian cap had two connotations: for the Greeks, it was showing a distinctive Eastern influence of non-Greek “barbarism”, while among the Romans, it was seen as a badge of liberty. It is very interesting how this simple common hat has acquired so different and important connotations as various historical events occurred.
Its long history began in the times of the Roman Empire, when it acquired special symbolism, as it came to signify freedom and the pursuit of liberty. This distinctive hat started to appear in more and more artistic representations as a significant sign and symbol. If a man wearing this hat appears in a painting, it is well-known the fact that he’s a Roman citizen, with all the rights and privileges it entails, among others, a free man. Moreover, these hats can be seen on Trajan’s Column, worn by the Dacians.
Its story continued during the French Revolution, when it became an emblem of freedom and liberty. The revolutionaries were wearing these hats because they wanted to show the fact that they are free people and no one can subjugate them in any way. There are many revolutionary pieces of art, like paintings and sculptures, where this hat appears, but the most important of them all is Marianne of France, an icon of the French values who is always depicted wearing a Phrygian hat.
Coming to our times, these caps are seen more like funny pieces of clothing, worn by naughty children or adolescents. The style is still echoed in some types of modern stocking caps, such as the seven dwarves in Walt Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
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