Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

FASCES

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V10, Page 191 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

FASCES , in See also:

Roman antiquities, bundles of See also:elm or See also:birch rods from which the See also:head of an See also:axe projected, fastened together by a red strap. Nothing is known of their origin, the tradition that represents them as borrowed by one of the See also:kings from See also:Etruria resting on insufficient grounds. As the See also:emblem of See also:official authority, they were carried by the See also:lictors, in the See also:left See also:hand and on the left See also:shoulder, before the higher Roman magistrates; at the funeral of a deceased See also:magistrate they were carried behind the bier. The lictors and the fasces were so inseparably connected that they came to be used as synonymous terms. The fasces originally represented the See also:power over See also:life and See also:limb possessed by the kings, and after the abolition of the See also:monarchy, the consuls, like the kings, were preceded by twelve fasces. Within the precincts of the See also:city the axe was removed, in recognition of the right of See also:appeal (provocatio) to the See also:people in a See also:matter of life and See also:death; outside See also:Rome, however, each See also:consul retained the axe, and was preceded by his own lictors, not merely by a single accensus (supernumerary), as was originally the See also:case within the city when he was not officiating. Later, the lictors preceded the officiating consul, and walked behind the other. See also:Valerius Publicola, the See also:champion of popular rights, further established the See also:custom that the fasces should be lowered before the people, as the real representatives of See also:sovereignty (See also:Livy ii. 7; See also:Florus i. 9; See also:Plutarch, Publicola, io); lowering the fasces was also the manner in which an inferior saluted a See also:superior magistrate. A See also:dictator, as taking the See also:place of the two consuls, had 24 fasces (including the axe even within the city) ; most of the other magistrates had fasces varying in number, with the exception of the censors, who, as possessing no executive authority, had none. Fasces were given to the See also:Flamen Dialis and (after 42 B.c.) even to the Vestals.

During the times of the See also:

republic, a victorious See also:general, who had been saluted by the See also:title of imperator by his soldiers, had his fasces crowned with See also:laurel (See also:Cicero, See also:Pro Ligario, 3). Later, under the See also:empire, when the See also:emperor received the title for life on his See also:accession, it became restricted to him, and the laurel was regarded as distinctive of the imperial fasces (see See also:Mommsen, Roraisches Staatsrecht, i., 1887, p. 373).

End of Article: FASCES

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
FARUKHABAD, FARRAKHABAD, or FURRUCKABAD 		[next]
FASCIA (Latin for a bandage or fillet)

Site © 2006 - Net Industries