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PHOTO BY MAX SCHULTE The Liberty Pole in down Rochester. When I was a kid, I lost a glove on the McCurdy s department store escalator downtown. I was maybe 9, and my mom was angry. We were late for our bus and I wouldn’t stop talking. We made it barely. As the bus pulled away from East Main and Franklin streets, I looked up at this giant pole, and wondered: What is that thing? Turns out, the concept for Rochester s Liberty Pole began thousands of years ago. The idea draws on concepts from the Roman Empire, including a liberty cap, according to University of Rochester classics professor Cameron Hawkins. The cap, said Hawkins, had a deeper meaning in the ancient world.
4:18 Rochester’s liberty pole is more than a piece of art downtown. As WXXI’s James Brown learned, its symbolism is thousands of years old.
Turns out, the concept for a Liberty Pole began thousands of years ago.
University of Rochester classics professor Cameron Hawkins said the idea draws on concepts from the Roman Empire, including a liberty cap. He said the cap had a deeper meaning in the ancient world.
“There was a soft felt cap known as a pilleus,” said Hawkins. “Former slaves that had been set free would wear that felt cap, so the big moment would be at the funeral of their former master.”