Originally
Liber was an ancient Italic agricultural divinity who presided over the fertility of the fields. Over time he was also identified with the Greek Dionysus and the Roman Bacchus. A. Postumius dedicated a temple to the agricultural deities Liber, his counterpart Libera, and Ceres in 496 BC. Liber had a cult on the Aventine hill and his festival, the
Liberalia, took place in March each year - a popular time during which Roman boys customary assumed the
toga virilis.
The obverse (left) of a
quinarius of
M. Porcius Cato (89 BC) displays the head of Liber wearing an ivy wreath.
