In news– Recently, the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games doffed its hat to a powerful symbol of the French Republic. The mascots of Paris 2024 are designed like the red Phrygian cap and are called Les Phryges.
History of the liberty cap-
- The origin of the Phrygian cap, also known as the liberty cap and bonnet rouge, is tied to the history of suppressed people.
- According to Encyclopedia Britannica, “The Phrygian cap originated in the ancient country of Phrygia (in modern Turkey), and is represented in ancient Greek art as the type of headdress worn not only by Phrygians but by all inhabitants of Anatolia and of nations farther east.”
- The cap’s floppy design can be traced to the pileus or pilos hats that were given as signs of freedom to Roman slaves.
- In Greek and Roman mythology, the twins Castor and Pollux hatched from an egg and are shown wearing the pileus —just as slaves are seen as being born into a new life with their freedom.
- Headdress became a matter of importance in asserting political identity and loyalty during the French Revolution (1787–99).
- Hats adorned with a tricolour ribbon cockade became symbols of patriotism, while the liberty cap or bonnet rouge became a symbol of the Revolution.
- The French Revolution was also the time that the earliest representations of a woman wearing a Phrygian cap, the allegorical Marianne made an appearance in art.
- During the Third Republic in France, announced in 1870, Marianne began to appear in statues and busts either as a revolutionary figure or a wise woman.
- Incidentally, in some cases, it was thought that the Phrygian cap was too seditious and Marianne was made to wear a diadem or a crown.
- Nonetheless, to this day, the red cap is associated in France with liberty. It is also an international symbol of liberty present in many emblems in North and South America.
Olympic Games-
- The Olympic Games are the world’s only truly global, multi-sport, celebratory athletics competition, with more than 200 countries participating in over 400 events.
- Olympic sports are contested in the Summer Olympic Games and Winter Olympic Games.
- Each Olympic sport is represented by an international governing body, namely an International Federation (IF).
- The International Olympic Committee(IOC) is the guardian of the Olympic Games and the leader of the Olympic Movement.
- The IOC establishes a hierarchy of sports, disciplines, and events.
- According to this hierarchy, each Olympic sport can be subdivided into multiple disciplines, which are often mistaken as distinct sports.
The 2024 Summer Olympics-
- It is officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiadand also known as Paris 2024.
- It is an upcoming international multi-sport event scheduled to take place from 26 July to 11 August 2024 with Paris as its main host city and 16 cities spread across Metropolitan France and one in the French overseas territory of Tahiti as subsites.
- Having previously hosted in 1900 and 1924, Paris will become the second city to host the Summer Olympics three times after London (1908, 1948 and 2012).
- The Games will mark the centenary of the Paris Games of 1924, the sixth Olympic games hosted by France (three in summer and three in winter), and the first Olympic Games in France since the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville.
- 2028 Summer Olympics will be held in Los Angeles.
Source: The Indian Express
