The Cap of Liberty: Roman Slavery, Cultural Memory, and Magic Mushrooms

Abstract

The commonest psychedelic mushroom growing naturally in Britain, Psilocybe semilanceata, is known in English as the Liberty Cap. This name, which references an ancient Roman social practice, has caused considerable speculation in modern literature. This article provides a conclusive etymology for how a magic mushroom acquired this obscure name.

Notes

1 I would like to thank Dr Sarah Watkinson, Anne Catterall, Geoffrey Kibby, Dr Martyn Ainsworth, and Professor Tim Fulford for guidance on aspects of mycology. My thanks also to Andy Letcher and, in particular, Mike Jay for help and advice on the culture and history of P. semilanceata and its use in Britain.

2 See, for instance: Wakefield and Dennis (1950, 199); Weil (1980, 77); Wilson (1999, 30–32); Colman (2009, 421–22); Letcher (2006, 14); and Ruck, Hoffman, and Celdrán (2011, 59). It is erroneously claimed (Watling 2005, 614) that the name is derived from the resemblance of the mushroom to French helmets during World War I; as this article will show, this is impossible because the name predates the war by nearly 130 years.

3 Ironically enough, ‘pileus’ is the modern scientific term for the head or cap of all mushrooms (Moore-Landecker 1972, 560).

4 The legend indicates the Ides of March (15 March), the date upon which Caesar’s murder took place.

5 The Iconologia was hugely popular. There were nine Italian editions (1593, 1603, 1611, 1613, 1618, 1625, 1630, 1645, and 1764–67) and eight non-Italian editions in other languages: French (1644 and 1766), Dutch (1644 and 1699), German (1704 and 1760), and English (1709 and 1779), many of which were reprinted multiple times (Zimmermann 1995).

6 For the adoption of this symbol in the Netherlands, see Nyquist (2013, 156–61). The shape of the liberty cap was clearly not known in this period—Cesare Ripa’s cap is wide brimmed, while Alciatus’s illustration was actually a reproduction of the coin struck by Brutus in 44 BC.

7 The coin of William of Orange, mentioned earlier, depicted the liberty cap atop a column, and Hogarth’s print also showed Wilkes with the cap upon a pole. Likewise, the Roman writer Appian (1913, bk 2, chap. 119, sec. 1) suggests that the anti-Caesarean conspirators may have borne a pileus upon a spear through the streets of Rome.

8 This is not to say that the cap was utterly reviled in Britain. It continued to appear frequently both as an image and in text. See, for instance, Griffin (2002, 285).

9 My thanks to Mike Jay, who alerted me to this work, which allowed me to bridge the gap between Woodhouse and the mycological texts.

10 This was included among the Literary Remains collection (Cheshire 2009, 296). Southey was confident it would sell well and expressed this in a letter to John Rickman, dated 21 January 1810 (cf. Packer and Pratt 2013, no. 1734).

11 For example: Hay (1887, 171); Massee and Crossland (1905, 108); New York State Museum Annual Report 62, no. 2 (1908), Appendix 5, 37; Morey (1909, 51); New York State Museum Annual Report 65, no. 2 (1911), Appendix 4, 103; Linton (1914, 177); Pegler (1966, 219); and Weil (1977, 136–39).

12 For a summary of mushroom use in Aztec history, see Schultes and Hofmann (1979, 144–53). For the article detailing the 1955 discovery, see Wasson (1957). Letcher (2006) is vital reading for a counter-narrative on Wasson’s discovery.

13 All hallucinogenic fungi contain the chemical psilocin in addition to psilocybin; both are active hallucinogens in humans.

14 For example: https://mycotopia.net/topic/71811-are-these-libs/; http://www.shroomery.org/forums/showflat.php/Number/15317645; http://www.shroomery.org/forums/showflat.php/Number/20040505; http://www.shroomery.org/forums/showflat.php/Number/15128476; http://www.shroomery.org/forums/showflat.php/Number/20765680; and https://mycotopia.net/topic/51736-some-libs/ (all retrieved 11 February 2015).

15 For example: http://www.bluelight.org/vb/threads/346073-Mushrooms-First-time-25-caps; http://www.shroomery.org/forums/showflat.php/Number/11369015; http://www.tribalwar.com/forums/archive/t-670433.html; http://www.cracked.com/funny-4202-shrooms/ (all retrieved 11 February 2015).

16 See http://shroomliberationfront.com/index.php and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzljFySvmRU (retrieved 11 February 2015).

17 See Jake Kotze, ‘The Phrygian Liberty Cap and the Magic Mushroom’: http://mushroom-atlantis.blogspot.co.uk/2006/09/phrygian-liberty-cap-and-magic.html (retrieved 11 February 2015).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Adrastos Omissi

Adrastos Omissi is a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow in the Faculty of History, University of Oxford, UK and a Junior Research Fellow in Classics and Ancient History at Oriel College, University of Oxford. He specializes in the civil wars of the later Roman Empire.