Who Used To Wear The Phrygian Hat?
The Phrygian hat is a clothing item whose history goes way back in the ancient times. It has been first mentioned in the “Iconologia” by Cesare Ripa, where this distinctive cap is depicted. It is described as a special hat which was worn by liberated slaves from ancient Greece and Rome. Although this cap played a rather minor role in the salves liberation, the symbolism that it acquired afterward was quite tremendous for this simple and quite common type of hat. As its name points it out, it is supposed to have been worn by the inhabitants of Phrygia, a region of central Anatolia in antiquity. But the symbols it acquired throughout history turned this common and extremely simple hat into a veritable icon. For the Greeks, the Phrygian cap indicated that the person wearing it was not from mainland Greece, as these hats were worn primarily in Anatolia. For the Romans, the cap acquired additional symbolism, because it was given to manumitted slaves when they received their freedom. Therefo