Liberty. On medals, Liberty holds in her right hand a bonnet, which is her symbol. Everyone knows that this was given to those who were enfranchised. Appian [1] recounts that after the assassination of Caesar, one of the murderers carried around the city a bonnet at the end of a pike, as a sign of liberty . On Mount Aventine, there was a famous temple dedicated to Liberty , with a square in front, around which ranged a portico that people called the atrium libertatis . Under this portico was the celebrated library of Asinius Pollio, who rebuilt that edifice. [2]

Under Tiberius, a statue to Liberty was built in the public square, once the death of Sejanus was known. [3] Josephus reports that after the massacre of Caius, Cassius Chaerea came to ask the consuls for the password, which had not been seen within anyone’s memory, and that the word they gave him was liberty . [4]

Caius having died, a monument to Liberty was built under Claudius’s reign. But Nero plunged the empire into a cruel servitude. His death again spread a general joy. All the people of Rome and the provinces took the bonnet of liberty ; it was a universal triumph. People rushed to represent the image of Liberty everywhere on statues and coins, thinking it was being reborn.

One particular inscription tells us of a new statue of Libert y built under Galba.

Here it is, as it is read in Rome on the marble base that supported that statue:

Imaginum domus Aug. cultoribus signum Libertatis restitutae, Ser. Gal- bae imperatoris Aug. curatores anni secundi, C. Turranius Polubius, L. Calpurnius Zena, C. Murdius Lalus, C. Turranius Florus, C. Murdius Demosthenes . [5]

On the left side of the base is written:

Dedic. id. Octob. C. Bellico Natale Cos. P. Cornelio Scipione Asiatico . [6]

These two consuls were replaced in the year 68 of Jesus Christ.

This statue, or something similar, was the model for so many coins struck during the time of the same emperor, coins that bore on the reverse side, libertas August. libertas restituta, libertas publica . [7] In imitation of the capital, the provinces erected similar statues. In the cabinet of the king of France, there is a Greek medallion of Galba, with the figure of Liberty and the word Έλευθερία. [8]

1. Appian, Greek historian of early second century a.d., author of The Civil Wars, a surviving section of his broader Roman history.

2. Gaius Asinius Pollio (76 b.c.e.–a.d. 4), praetor, commander in Spain, he built Rome’s first public library with booty from the Parthian campaign of 39 b.c.e.

3. Tiberius, Roman emperor (42 b.c.e.–a.d. 37, r. 14–37); Sejanus (20 b.c.e.–a.d. 31), an ambitious military leader and associate of Tiberius.

4. Cassius Chaerea, centurion and tribune in the praetorian guard; mocked by Caius (i.e., Caligula) for his alleged effeminacy, and instrumental in the latter’s murder in a.d. 41.

5. The full text would read: “To the worshippers of the images of the Imperial House, the managers Caius Turranius Polubius, Lucius Calpurnius Zena, Caius Murdius Lalus, Caius Turrandius Florus, and Caius Murdius Demosthenes gave as a gift with their own money, in the second year, this sculpture of Liberty Restored by Servius Galba, Augustus Emperor.” Servius Sulpicius Galba (3 b.c.e.–a.d. 69), Roman emperor, 68–69.

6. The full text would read: “Dedicated on 15 October [a.d. 68] by Caius Bellicus Natalis and Caius Cornelius Scipio Asiaticus, consuls.”

7. “Augustan liberty, restored liberty, public liberty.”

8. Eleutheria: Feast of Liberty.