Also called Liber Pater, Bacchus.
Their story
Liber was an old Italian god of fertility and wine, worshipped with Ceres and Libera in a temple on the Aventine founded in 493 BC, which became a centre of the plebeians. At the Liberalia on 17 March old women crowned with ivy sold honey cakes in the streets, and Roman boys put on the plain toga of manhood. He was later identified with the Greek Bacchus. In 186 BC the Senate harshly restricted private Bacchic rites, a story told at length by Livy.
Best times to give to them
- Liberalia, 17 March
- Vinalia, 23 April
- Grape harvest in autumn
What they like being given
- Honey cakes (liba)
- Wine or red grape juice
- Ivy leaves
- Incense
How to honour them
- Mark a young person's coming of age on 17 March with a small shared cake.
- Pour a first glass of the season for him.
- Ask him to loosen what binds you.
How they can help you
- Rites of passage
- Release from constraint
- Celebration and joy
Symbols
- grapevine
- ivy
- wine cup
- thyrsus
The Bacchanalia scandal concerned a Greek-style mystery cult, not the civic worship of Liber.
Sources
- Ovid, Fasti 3
- Livy 39.8-19
- Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities 6.17
More Roman gods
- Jupiter Best and greatest, guardian of Rome
- Mars Father of Rome and guardian of fields
- Mercury Patron of merchants, messages and journeys
- Janus Two-faced god of doors and beginnings
- Saturn King of the golden age and lord of the harvest
- Sol Invictus The unconquered sun, reborn at midwinter
- Neptune Lord of fresh water and the sea
- Vulcan God of fire, both destroying and forging