Topics:��Iconography

Liberty's iconography goes back to Roman images of the goddess of Liberty. She was commonly depicted as carrying a slave cap (or liberty cap) on a liberty pole. The liberty cap is modeled on the soft, red cap worn by freed Roman slaves as a sign of their manumission. The pole is sometimes a rod or scepter, and represents the authority of Liberty (often the cap is seen hoisted on the end of the pole, rather than worn on Liberty's head). The Roman Liberty was often accompanied by a cat (an animal understood to serve no master), flying birds, a broken yoke, crushed or trodden down chains, crowns, or yokes. The nineteenth century generally dispensed with the cat and birds, but held to the other iconic Roman elements, most often the liberty cap and liberty pole, often combined. The liberty bell and the Statue of Liberty are the most important nineteenth-century contributions to the iconography of Liberty.