LIBER AND LIBERA

in Roman religion, a pair of fertility and cultivation deities of uncertain origin. Liber, though an old and native Italian deity, came to be identified with Dionysus. The triad Ceres, Liber, and Libera (his female counterpart) represented in Rome, from early times and always under Greek influence, the Eleusinian Demeter, Iacchus-Dionysus, and Kore (Persephone). At the festival of the Liberalia, held at Rome on March 17, the toga virilis was commonly assumed for the first time by boys who were of age. At the town of Lavinium, a whole month was consecrated to Liber, and the festival activities there were believed to make the seeds grow.