Headwear for men in Ancient Rome was rare, and usually reserved to coronas and wreaths amongst nobility. The Phrygian cap is defined by its conical shape and folded tip, and was typically worn by freedmen upon manumission. The Romans also associated the garment with ‘Eastern’ cultures throughout Anatolia, Eastern Europe and Asia Minor. During the Imperial Period, the cap became a feature of initiates of the fast-growing cult of Mithras as a somewhat misguided reference to the Phrygian origins of Mithras himself.
Depictions of foreign fashions and iconography, such as this intaglio bears, were a reflection of the growing multiculturalism of Rome in the Imperial Period. As the empire expanded and trade flourished, new peoples, trends and religions arrived in Italy. One of the most significant was the cult of Magna Mater, or Cybele, from Phrygia. The Delphic Oracle decreed that the transfer of her cult statue to Rome would end a series of disasters and provoke victory over Carthage. Ovid discusses the arrival of the goddess’s statue in Book 4 of his Fasti, and emphasises the foreignness of the priests, their customs and their music. Scenes such as this represent a fascinating period of cultural exchange and adaptation in Roman history.
The term intaglio refers to a small image that has been engraved into a gemstone and usually set in a piece of jewellery, most commonly a ring. Such artistic form has its origin in Sumer in the 4th millennium BC, with the appearance of cylinder and stamp seals, whereby decorations and patterns were engraved into soft stones. During the Hellenistic period and the early Roman Empire, the art of intaglio reached its apogee, with there being a steady decline in craftsmanship in the late Imperial Rome, until a revival of interest with the Byzantine and during the Renaissance.
To discover more about Ancient Roman intaglios, please visit our relevant blog post: Engraved Gemstones in Ancient Rome