When the Spirit of America was a Woman: The Goddess of Freedom: from Libertas to Lady Liberty
The Goddess of Freedom: from Libertas to Lady Liberty
by Selena Fox
The honoring of the Goddess of Freedom began more than two thousand years ago among the ancient Romans. They called Her, Libertas, the Latin word for Freedom. Libertas signified freedom of action, freedom from restraint, independence, rights, and related forms of personal and social liberty.
The Roman religion had a large and complex pantheon with a great assortment of Goddesses, Gods, and other sacred forms. Ancient Romans revered and deified certain values, known as Virtues, and Libertas was one of the most important of these. A few of the more than two dozen other private and public Virtues were Hope (Spes), Justice (Justica), Piety (Pietas), and Courage (Virtus). According to their religion, Roman citizens were to uphold Virtues in their personal lives as well as in the culture as a whole.
Libertas as a deity usually took the form of a Goddess. A temple to Her on the Aventine Hill in Rome was dedicated around 238 BCE. Sometimes She merged with the chief Roman God Jupiter, in the form of Jupiter Libertas, whose feast was celebrated on April 13. Libertas also was closely associated with the Goddess Feronia, and some viewed them as aspects of the same Goddess, including the Roman scholar Varro, a contemporary of Cicero. Feronia is thought to have been originally an ancient agricultural and fire Goddess among the Etruscan and/or Sabine peoples. During the Roman Republic, Feronia's feast day was November 13. She was honored in central Italy as the Goddess of freedwomen and freedmen, and She was associated with the granting of freedom to slaves. Part of the passage from slavery into freedom in Roman society involved having the head ritually shaved, being ceremonially tapped by a magistrate with a rod, called a vindicta, and then wearing a cap, known as a pilleus, to symbolize freed status.
Some of the Roman depictions of Libertas have survived to this day on coins and other artifacts. Libertas usually is pictured as a matron in flowing classical dress. She often is shown holding both the Liberty Pole (vindicta) and Liberty Cap (pilleus). In some depictions Libertas wears the Liberty Cap or a crown of Laurel leaves. Sometimes She carries a spear instead of the Liberty Pole. Sometimes the Goddess Liberty is shown with a Cat at Her feet.
Although the Roman empire is no more, the Goddess Liberty still survives. Over the centuries and across cultures, She has continued to signify Freedom in Her appearances in paintings, sculptures, songs, stories, poems, and other literature. In recent centuries, the form She has most often taken is that of Lady Liberty.
Libertas as Lady Liberty began emerging in America during the colonial era as part of the American quest for political independence from Britain. American patriot Paul Revere may have been the first to depict Lady Liberty in that context. In 1766, on the obelisk he created in celebration of the repeal of the Stamp Act, he used the image of Liberty with a Liberty Pole surmounted by a Liberty Cap. Another patriot leader, Thomas Paine, included Her in his poem, the "Liberty Tree," referring to Her as "The Goddess of Liberty." Freedom Goddess depictions not only emerged in America during its Revolution, but a few years later in France during its own Revolution, with the female symbol of the French Republic, the Marianne, depicted wearing the Liberty Cap, and often accompanied by Liberty's Cat.
more at link: https://www.circlesanctuary.org/index.php/circle-magazine/sample-articles/the-goddess-of-freedom-from-libertas-to-lady-liberty
I tried to upload pics on DU but I can't figure out to do it. I had so much more to say about this post.
= new reply since forum marked as read
?v=8CD0DCCE9C26A70
