feasts celebrated by the ancient Romans, in honour of Liber or Bacchus, the same with those which the Greeks called DIONYSIA, and Dionysia.

They took their name from liber, i.e., free, a title conferred on Bacchus in memory of the liberty or freedom which he granted to the people of Boeotia; or, perhaps, because wine, whereof he was the reputed deity, delivers men from care, and sets their mind at ease and freedom. Varro derives the name of this feast from liber, considered as a noun adjective, and signifying free; because the priests were free from their function, and eased of all care, during the time of the Liberalia: as the old women officiated in the ceremonies and sacrifices of these feasts.