WHAT DOES THE PHRYGIAN CAP SIGNIFY?

A video interview with Dr Lee Merritt explores that question and illustrates that our history is not at all as we are told.

Dr. Lee Merritt began her medical career at the age of four, carrying her father’s “black bag” on house calls, along the back roads of Iowa. In 1980 she graduated from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry in New York, where she was elected to life membership in the Alpha Omega Alpha Honour Medical Society. Dr. Merritt completed an Orthopaedic Surgery Residency in the United States Navy and served 0ver 10 years as a Navy physician and surgeon.

In 1989 she was the only woman to be appointed as the Louis A. Goldstein Fellow of Spinal Surgery at the University of Rochester, Strong Memorial Hospital. Dr. Merritt has been in the private practice of Orthopaedic and Spinal Surgery 1992-2021, has served on the Board of the Arizona Medical Association, and is past president of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons.

As a lifelong advocate of free market, patient-cantered medicine Dr. Merritt had the opportunity to appear on the John Stossel show to speak against Obamacare. She became a "Medical Rebel" after realising that the honourable practice of medicine has been perverted to serve a technocracy whose goal is not wellness, but enslavement.

She is one of Americas Frontline Doctors, and her speech on the "Myth of Masks" was widely viewed, leading to her investigation by the Iowa Board of Medicine, and truncation of her Orthopaedic career.

She is married and the proud mother of two wonderful young men. As a 4th Generation Iowan, in her spare time, Dr. Merritt raises ‘North American Dirt Parrots’ (a pseudonym for chickens), does electro-gardening, and enjoys a rural lifestyle. She has had a long interest in wellness and fitness, and was Fellowship Certified by the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine.

At age 63 she won a female bodybuilding championship in Physique Class—with a lot of help from her friends and patience of her family.

I have enjoyed many of her interviews and shared a few in the past. This one, recorded in November 2024, is about some of the fascinating symbols we find all around us and how they convey clues about the origins of globalist and totalitarian Empires:

I am obliged to

Christian Thomas

for his personal message conveying the link. It just so happens that the Phrygian cap had featured prominently in the old Roman Mithras religion and I featured the significance of that in my post:

EXPOSING ROMAN EMPIRE 2.0

So many times I have found that Dr Merritt has been researching the same roots and branches as myself - it is quite spooky and yet, satisfying too. The Phrygian cap has quite a history!

Significance of the Phrygian Cap

The Phrygian cap is a red soft, conical-shaped bonnet with a forward-leaning top, originating from ancient Phrygia (modern-day Turkey). Its significance has evolved over time, encompassing various cultural, historical, and symbolic meanings. Here are some key aspects:

1. Ancient origins: In Phrygian, Persian, and Scythian cultures, the Phrygian cap was a common headwear made from soft materials like felt. It symbolized Eastern foreigners in Greek and Roman art.

2. Roman association with freedom: In Rome, the Phrygian cap became known as the “pileus,” a symbol of freedom given to freed slaves. This association with liberty was later adopted in the French Revolution.

3. French Revolution and Jacobinism: During the French Revolution, the Phrygian cap became a powerful emblem of liberty and equality. Revolutionaries wore it to signify their fight against oppression, making it a prominent feature in revolutionary art and political imagery.

4. Symbol of republican government: The Phrygian cap is used in the coat of arms of certain republics or republican state institutions, replacing a crown, and thus became a symbol of republican government.

5. National personifications: Many national personifications, such as France’s Marianne, are depicted wearing the Phrygian cap, reinforcing its connection to freedom and republicanism.

6. Contemporary significance: Today, the Phrygian cap remains a widely recognized symbol of freedom, resistance, and revolution, often used in art, literature, and political iconography.

Even the 3 Wise Men were depicted wearing Phrygian caps! The Three Magi, Byzantine mosaic c.  565, Basilica of Sant’Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna, Italy

Hats were a way of identifying foreigners in both life and art. The pileus was a hat popular within the area of Phrygia, an Anatolian kingdom which is now part of modern-day Turkey. It was made of either wool or felt and the top slumped forward. This Phrygian cap, as we call it today, was a way of identifying easterners like Amazons, Dacians (of modern Romania and Serbia), or Phrygians. Ancient artists often depicted mythological figures said to be from the eastern Mediterranean in this headwear, men like the Trojan Aeneas, Ganymede, or Perseus.

The cap was also part of the iconographic clothing worn by the god Mithras, an eastern deity born from a rock who would later become popular in the Roman Mediterranean during the second and third centuries CE. Mithras was an Indo-Iranian god at the centre of a mystery cult — meaning that initiates kept many of the rites and beliefs secret. He was fashioned as a sun-god and bull killer within his Roman context.

And temples, constructed to honour him, called mithraea, were a reflection of the cosmos itself. Often Mithras was depicted in the centre, slaying a bull. Frescoes and reliefs of Mithras preserve the stunning colour that decorated these underground mithraea. Their existence under the earth often helped to preserve the colour so they may be viewed today. By some counts, 400 archaeological sites show evidence for the worshipping of the god and his cosmos.

At first, the Mithraic cults were popular among slaves, freedmen (i.e. slaves that had been manumitted), and Roman soldiers. Women were excluded from participation. Over time, the cult caught on and began to be acknowledged by the upper ranks of the social orders — all the way to equestrians, senators, and the emperor himself. Its early popularity with the hoi polloi has many parallels with the beginnings of Christianity, particularly that the birthday of Mithras was dated to December 25.

[You can read a lot more about how the Phrygian cap has been worn throughout history here: https://www.thisisnotahat.com/history/history-of-hats/before-maga-mithras-phrygian-caps-and-the-politics-of-headwear/]

If you are interested, you can find my earlier posts featuring Dr Merritt here:

and here:

ONWARDS INTO 2025!
xx

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