Fasces
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Fasces (a plurale tantum, from the Latin word fascis, meaning bundle[1]) symbolise summary power and jurisdiction, or "strength through unity."[2]
The traditional Roman fasces consisted of a bundle of birch rods tied together with a red ribbon as a cylinder around an axe. The symbolism is that whilst each independent rod is fragile, as a bundle they are strong.
Numerous governments and other authorities have used the image of the fasces as a symbol of power since the end of the Roman Empire. Italian fascism, which derives its name from the fasces, arguably used this symbolism the most in the 20th century. However, unlike for example the swastika, the fasces have avoided the stigma associated with fascist symbolism, and many authorities continue to display them.
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[edit] Antiquity
The fasces lictoriae ("bundles of the lictors") (in Italian, fascio littorio) symbolised power and authority (imperium) in ancient Rome. A corps of apparitores (subordinate officials) called lictors 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 praetors, propraetors, consuls, proconsuls, Masters of the Horse, dictators, and Caesars. During triumphs (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.
Believed to be of Etruscan origin, the symbolism of the fasces at one level suggested strength through unity. The bundle of rods bound together symbolizes the strength which a single rod lacks. The axe symbolized the state's power and authority. The rods symbolized the state's obligation to exercise restraint in the excersing of that power. The highest magistrates were known to have their lictors unbind the fasces they carried as a warning that the limit of restraint were being approached. The origin is Etruscan and may have an earlier link to the eastern Mediterranean — such as the labrys, the Anatolian and Minoan double-headed axe, which were later incorporated into the praetorial fasces.
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. However, during times of emergencies when the Roman Empire was placed under a dictatorship (dictatura), lictors attending to the dictator kept the axe blades even inside the Pomerium — a sign that the dictator had the ultimate power in his own hands. But in 48 BC, guards holding bladed fasces guided Vatia Isauricus to the tribunal of Marcus Caelius, and Vatia Isauricus used one to destroy Caelius's magisterial chair (sella curulis).
[edit] The fasces in the United States of America
The following cases all involve the adoption of the fasces as a symbol or icon; no actual physical re-introduction has occurred.
- The reverse of the United States "Mercury" dime (minted from 1916 to 1945) bears the design of a fasces and an olive branch.
- Two fasces appear on either side of the flag of the United States in the United States House of Representatives, representing the power of the lower house and the country.
- The official seal of the United States Senate has as one component a pair of crossed fasces.
- The ceremonial Mace of the House of the United States House of Representatives includes a fasces design.
- Fasces ring the base of the Statue of Freedom atop the United States Capitol building.
- A frieze on the facade of the Supreme Court building depicts the figure of a Roman Centurion holding a fasces, to represent "order." [1]
- At the Lincoln Memorial, Lincoln's seat of state bears the fasces on the fronts of its arms.
- The fasces appears on the state seal of Colorado, USA, beneath the "All-seeing eye" (or Eye of Providence) and above the mountains and mines.
- On the seal of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, a figure carries a fasces; the seal appears on the borough flag.
- Used as part of the Knights of Columbus emblem (designed in 1883)
[edit] Various modern authorities and movements
The following cases all involve the adoption of the fasces as a symbol or icon; no actual physical re-introduction has occurred.
- Napoleon and the French Revolution; this emblem remains on the front cover of French passports and as part of the French coat of arms
- The Spanish gendarmerie Guardia Civil
- In the 1920s, Italian Fascism, adapating aesthetic elements of ancient Rome attempted to portray itself as a revival of its Roman imperial past, adopted the fasces for its symbol, as an emblem of the increased strength of the individual fascis when bound into the entire bundle.
- Both the Norwegian and the Swedish police use double fasces in their logos.
- The Miners Flag also known as the Diggers Banner was the standard of 19th century gold miners in the colony of Victoria, cointinental Australia, included the fasces as a symbol of unity and strength of common purpose. This flag was the symbol of the movement which predated the rebellion at the Eureka Stockade.
[edit] Conspiracy theories
The fasces symbol as seen all over the world (particularly in the United States) has served as evidence for claims made by conspiracy theorists. These theorists generally speak of a New World Order in which secret organizations (mainly the Illuminati) are elusively manipulating or controlling the events of humanity in an attempt to ultimately control the world through fascism.
Through symbology, the fasces and the Eye of Providence are two of the primary symbols used to support the assertions of such conspiracy theories. In this context, the fasces is said to show that those who are in control (those who are conspiring) possess a hidden support for fascism, along with concealed intentions regarding it. The primary group in question is the Illuminati, which is purported to be represented by the Eye of Providence, which (like the fasces) can be seen in important places (such as U.S. government buildings or churches) throughout the world.
[edit] See also
- fascio (usage 1890s to World War I)
- ferula
- Labrys
- staff of office
- fascine
- francisca
