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Fasces (the plural, almost a '' Plurale Tantum '', of the Latin word ''fascis'', meaning ''bundle'') symbolise summary Power and jurisdiction. The traditional Roman ''fasces'' consisted of a bundle of Birch rods tied together with a red ribbon as a cylinder around an Axe . The ''fasces'' have been used as a symbol of power by numerous governments and other authorities since the end of the Roman Empire . Perhaps their most visible use was by 20th century Italian Fascism , which derives its name from the ''fasces''. However, unlike for example the Swastika , the ''fasces'' have avoided the Stigma associated with being a fascist symbol, and continue to be used to this day much the same as before. ANTIQUITY in Cincinnati, Ohio .]] The ''fasces lictoriae'' ("bundles of the Lictor s") (in Italian, '''fascio littorio''') Symbol ised power and authority ('' Imperium '') in ancient Rome . A corps of ''apparitores'' (subordinate officials) called '' Lictor s'' each carried fasces as a sort of Staff Of Office before a magistrate, in a number corresponding to his rank, in public ceremonies and inspections, and bearers of fasces preceded Praetor s, Propraetor s, Consul s, Proconsul s, Masters Of The Horse , Dictator s, and Caesar s. During Triumph s (public celebrations held in Rome after a military conquest) heroic soldiers — those who had suffered injury in battle — carried fasces in procession. Roman historians recalled that twelve lictors had ceremoniously accompanied the Etruscan kings of Rome in the distant past, and sought to account for the number and to provide etymologies for the name ''lictor''. The symbolism of the fasces at one level suggested strength through unity. The rods symbolized the state's power to punish delinquents. The axe represented the ultimate power of high justice to execute (, the Anatolia n and Minoan double-headed axe. Traditionally, fasces carried within the '' Pomerium '' - the limits of the sacred inner City of Rome - had their axe blades removed. This signified that under normal political circumstances, the '' Imperium ''-bearing magistrates did not have the judicial power of life and death. That power rested, within the city, with the people through the assemblies. Lictor s attending to dictators, however, kept the axe blades even inside the ''Pomerium'' — a sign that a dictator had the ultimate power in his own hands. But in 48 BC , guards holding bladed fasces guided Isauricus to the tribunal of Marcus Caelius , and Isauricus used one to destroy Caelius's magisterial chair ('' Sedia Curulis ''). VARIOUS MODERN AUTHORITIES has displayed the fasces since 1803 ]] The following cases all involve the adoption of the fasces as a symbol or icon; no actual physical re-introduction as a (highly symbolic) implement.
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SEE ALSO reverse.]]
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