Libertas

Libertas or Lîber-tas (Latin: "Liberty") was the Roman goddess and embodiment of liberty.

Temples and Derived Inspirations

In 238 B.C.E. during the Second Punic War, having long been a Roman deity along with other personified virtues, Libertas assumed goddess status. Tiberius Gracchus ordered the construction of her first temple on Aventine Hill; census tables were stored inside the temple's atrium. A subsequent temple was built (58-57 B.C.E.) on Palatine Hill, another of the Seven hills of Rome, by Publius Clodius Pulcher. By building and consecrating the temple on the former house of then-exiled Cicero, Clodius ensured that the land was legally uninhabitable. Upon his return, Cicero successfully argued that the consecration was invalid and thus managed to reclaim the land and destroy the temple. In 46 B.C.E., the Roman Senate voted to build and dedicate a shrine to Libertas in recognition of Julius Caesar, but no temple was built; instead, a small statue of the goddess stood in the Roman Forum. [" [http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1389461/Libertas Libertas] ." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2008. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 01 Sep. 2008.]

Libertas, along with other Roman goddesses, has served as the inspiration for many modern-day symbols, including the Statue of Liberty on Liberty Island in the United States of America. According to the National Park Service, the Statue's Roman robe is the main feature that invokes Libertas and the symbol of Liberty from which the Statue derives its name. [cite web |url=http://www.nps.gov/archive/stli/teachercorner/page13.html |title=Robe |publisher=National Park Service |accessdate=2008-09-01]

In addition, money throughout history has born the name or image of Libertas. Libertas was pictured on Galba's "Freedom of the People" coins during his short reign after the death of Nero. [cite web |url=http://artgallery.yale.edu/pdf/perspect/roman_coins.pdf |title=Roman Coins |accessdate=2008-09-01] The University of North Carolina records two instances of private banks in its state depicting Libertas on their banknotes; [Howgego, Christopher. " [Ancient History from Coins". Routledge; New York, NY: 1995. ] [cite web |url=http://dc.lib.unc.edu/u?/numismatics,503 |title=Bank of Fayetteville one-dollar note, 1855 |accessdate=2008-09-01] Libertas is depicted on the 5, 10 and 20 Rappen denomination coins of Switzerland.

Symbols of Libertas

Libertas was associated with the pileus, commonly worn by the freed slave (emphasis added)cite book | coauthors = Tate, Karen and Brad Olson | title = Sacred Places of Goddess: 108 Destinations | publisher = CCC Publishing | date = 2005 | location = | pages = 360 - 361 | url = http://books.google.com/books?id=b7KbLLjzuRgC | isbn = 1888729112] :

: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 (πίλεον λευκόν, Diodorus Siculus Exc. Leg. 22 p625, ed. Wess.; Plaut. Amphit. I.1.306; Persius, V.82). Hence the phrase "servos ad pileum vocare" is a summons to liberty, by which slaves were frequently called upon to take up arms with a promise of liberty (Liv. XXIV.32). The figure of Liberty on some of the coins of Antoninus Pius, struck A.D. 145, holds this cap in the right hand. [Yates, James. Entry "Pileus" in William Smith's "A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities" (John Murray, London, 1875).]

Libertas was also recognized in ancient Rome by the rod ("vindicta" or "festuca"), used ceremonially in the act of "Manumissio vindicta", Latin for "Freedom by the Rod" (emphasis added):

:The master brought his slave before the magistratus, and stated the grounds (causa) of the intended manumission. The lictor of the magistratus laid a rod (festuca) on the head of the slave, accompanied with certain formal words, in which he declared that he was a free man ex Jure Quiritium, that is, "vindicavit in libertatem." The master in the meantime held the slave, and after he had pronounced the words "hunc hominem liberum volo," he turned him round (momento turbinis exit Marcus Dama, Persius, Sat. V.78) and let him go (emisit e manu, or misit manu, Plaut. Capt. II.3.48), whence the general name of the act of manumission. The magistratus then declared him to be free [...] [Long, George. Entry " [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/SMIGRA*/Manumissio.html Manumission] " in William Smith's "A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities" (John Murray, London, 1875).]

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