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THRONE

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Originally appearing in Volume V26, Page 892 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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THRONE , a royal, viceregal, or episcopal See also:

chair of See also:state See also:standing upon a See also:dais or See also:platform. Formerly the platform, with the steps leading up to it, was comprised in the significance of the word—hence the See also:familiar expression to " See also:mount the throne." The ceremonial See also:induction of a See also:sovereign into his throne is one of the usual solemnities of a See also:coronation, while enthronization of the See also:bishop in his See also:cathedral is the final observance in the making of a diocesan. The throne, which is of immemorial antiquity, is the universal ancestor of all chairs, which were for See also:long symbols of authority and See also:rule. In See also:early days and in See also:Oriental countries thrones were of barbaric magnificence. See also:Solomon's was of See also:ivory " overlaid with the best See also:gold." There were two figures of lions at the sides, with two other lions on each of the six steps. The remains of a throne in See also:rock-crystal were found in the ruins of See also:Sennacherib's See also:palace. The See also:Persian throne made for Abbas the See also:Great was of See also:white See also:marble. This monarch appears to have had a See also:nice See also:taste in thrones, for in 16o5 he presented one to the See also:Russian See also:tsar Boris which is covered with sheets of gold and decorated with See also:precious stones and pearls. Tsar See also:Michael Feodorovitch, grandfather of See also:Peter the Great, outdid even this magnificence, for his " See also:golden throne" is set with eight thousand turquoises, fifteen See also:hundred rubies, four great amethysts and two large topazes. One of the glories of See also:Delhi, until it was sacked by See also:Nadir Shah, was the " See also:peacock throne," the vajue of which was estimated, perhaps with some Eastern exuberance, See also:breast, hopping over the grass for a few yards, then pausing to at twelve millions See also:sterling. It was ascended by See also:silver steps and detect the See also:movement of a See also:worm, and vigorously seizing the stood on golden feet set with jewels. It obtained its name from same a moment after, is one of the most familiar See also:sights.

Hardly the two open peacocks' tails composed of magnificent diamonds, less well-known is the singular See also:

nest built by this See also:bird—a deep rubies, and other stones which formed See also:part of its See also:appurtenances. See also:cup, lined with a thin but stiff coating of fragments of rotten Apparently it was made for Shah Jahan by the See also:French designer See also:wood, ingeniously spread, and plastered so as to See also:present a of the Taj Mahal. According to that veracious chronicler, smooth interior—in which its See also:sea-See also:green eggs spotted with See also:black See also:Sir See also:John See also:Mandeville, the seven steps of the throne of Prester are laid. An early breeder, it builds nest after nest during the John were respectively of See also:onyx, crystal, green See also:jasper, See also:amethyst, See also:season, and there can be few birds See also:mole prolific. Its ravages See also:sardonyx, cornelian and See also:chrysolite. They were bordered with on ripening fruits, especially strawberries and gooseberries, gold and set with pearls. The throne itself was of gold enriched excite the enmity of the imprudent gardener who leaves his with jewels. Ranjit Singh's golden throne—it is of wood crops unprotected by nets, but he would do well to stay the covered with plates of gold—is in the See also:possession of the See also:British See also:hand of revenge, for no bird can or does destroy so many snails, See also:Crown. See also:European thrones were usually more modest in concep- as is testified to the curious observer on inspection of the stones tion and less barbaric in See also:execution than those, real or legendary, that it selects against which to dash its captures—stones that of the See also:East. The See also:medieval emperors of See also:Byzantium had, how- are besmeared with the slime of the victims and bestrewn with ever, imbibed a See also:good See also:deal of the Orient, and their famous the fragments of their shattered shells. Nearly all the See also:young throne, which is supposed to have been imitated from, as well thrushes reared in the British Islands—and this expression as named after, that of Solomon, was guarded by golden lions, includes the See also:storm-swept isles of the See also:Outer See also:Hebrides, though which See also:rose to their feet and roared when some artful mechanism I not those of See also:Shetland—seem to emigrate as, soon as they are was set in See also:motion. An exceedingly See also:ancient chair of state is the so-called throne of Dagobert (see CHAIR). The most See also:recent writers on this remarkable relic suggest that it is a See also:bronze copy of Dagobert's golden throne.

However that, may be, there can be no doubt that it possesses at least one illustrious See also:

modern association, for See also:Napoleon sat in it when he distributed the first decorations of the See also:Legion of See also:Honour in his See also:camp at See also:Boulogne in 1804. The throne which Napoleo' had made for himself was a heavy gilded chair with an abundance of See also:Egyptian See also:ornament, lions' heads and imperial eagles. One of the many curiosities of a See also:conclave for the electing of a See also:Pope is that every See also:cardinal present occupies a throne, since, during the vacancy of the See also:Holy See, each member of the Sacred See also:College is a potential sovereign. When the See also:election has taken See also:place the See also:canopy of every throne is lowered, with the exception of that occupied by the new pontiff. The palaces of the great See also:Roman nobles contained—and still in some cases contain—a throne for use in the event of a visit from the pope. The papa] throne itself is an See also:antique bronze chair which stands in St Peter's. Embassies frequently contain a throne for the use of the sovereign in whose territory the See also:building technically stands. No ancient throne-chair pertains to the British See also:monarchy; the coronation chair is not, properly speaking, a throne, since it is used only during a portion of the coronation ceremonies. The actual throne of Great See also:Britain is the oaken See also:Gothic chair in the See also:House of Lords occupied by the sovereign at the opening and See also:prorogation of See also:parliament. THRUM-EYED, a botanical See also:term for See also:flowers which occur in two forms, one of which shows the stamens in the mouth of the Corolla, as in the See also:primrose, contrasted with See also:pin-eyed (q.v.).

End of Article: THRONE

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