Part 1 (2/2)

Apart from the direct Scripture evidence on the subject, this bearing of distinguis.h.i.+ng standards is what might be expected in a military organization such as that of the Israelites, just as we find them using warlike music. It is interesting to note that even the particular trumpet signals to be used for the a.s.sembling and advance of the troops, and in cases of alarm in time of war, are carefully prescribed,[3] while the a.s.sociation of their military standards with the trumpet is indicated in the exclamation of Jeremiah: ”How long shall I see the standard and hear the sound of the trumpet?”[4]

[3] Numbers x. 3.

[4] Jer. iv. 21.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 4.--An a.s.syrian Standard. Fig. 5.--Another a.s.syrian Standard.]

As the standard was among all nations regarded with reverence, so the standard-bearer was selected for his strength and courage. So important was this considered that Isaiah, in describing the ruin and discomfiture that was about to fall on the King of a.s.syria, could find no stronger expression than to say that his overthrow would be ”as when a standard-bearer fainteth.”[5]

[5] Isa. x. 18.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 6.--a.s.syrian Standards and Standard-bearers.]

The standards of the a.s.syrians, like those of the Egyptians, consisted of figures fastened on the end of spears or staffs; but of these very few varieties have been yet discovered. Layard says[6] that ”standards were carried by the a.s.syrian charioteers. In the sculptures they have only two devices [Figs. 4, 5, 6]: one a figure, probably that of a divinity, standing on a bull and drawing a bow; in the other, two bulls running in opposite directions. These figures are inclosed in a circle and fixed to a long staff ornamented with streamers and ta.s.sels. The standards appear to have been partly supported by a rest in front of the chariot, and a long rope connecting them with the extremity of the pole.

In a bas-relief of Khorsabad this rod is attached to the top of a standard.” The interesting ill.u.s.tration given in Fig. 6 is from a sculpture in which these standards are represented with the figures of the standard-bearers, and in which also the ropes or supports of the staff are indicated.

[6] _Nineveh and its Remains._

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 7.--a.s.syrian Standards.]

There were, however, varieties in the forms of the a.s.syrian standards other than those mentioned by Layard. In the annexed cut (Fig. 7) the one to the left is from a sculpture in the British Museum. The others are given on the authority of Botta.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 8.--Persian Standard. Fig. 9.--Turkish Horse-tail Standard.]

The Persians, like the a.s.syrians, carried their standards, in battle, on staffs or spears attached to chariots. Their royal standard was a golden eagle with wings expanded carried on the end of a spear. They had also a figure of the sun which they used on great occasions when the king was present with the army. Quintus Curtius describes one of these figures of the sun, inclosed in a crystal, as making a very splendid appearance above the royal tent. But the proper royal standard of the Persians for many centuries, until the Mahommedan conquest, was a blacksmith's leather ap.r.o.n, around which the people had been at one time rallied to a successful opposition against an invader (Fig. 8). Many other national standards have had their origin in similar causes. Something which was at hand was seized in an emergency, and lifted up as a rallying point for the people, and afterwards adopted from the attachment which clung to it as an object identified with patriotic deeds. In this way originated the horse-tails borne as a standard by the modern Turks (Fig.

9). Under the old system, among that people, the distinction of rank between the two cla.s.ses of pachas was indicated by the number of these horse-tails, the standards of the second cla.s.s having only two tails, while those of the higher had three. Hence the term a pacha of two tails or three. A further mark of distinction appears to have been the elevation of one of the tails above the others, and the surmounting of each with the crescent, as shown in Fig. 10.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 10.--Standard of Pacha.]

The Romans had various forms of standards, some composed entirely of fixed figures of different devices, including figures of animals. The eagle, according to Pliny, was the first and chief military ensign. In the second consuls.h.i.+p of Caius Marius (B.C. 104) the eagle (Fig. 11) alone was used, but at a subsequent period some of the old emblems were resumed. These were the minotaur, the horse, and the wild boar; and on the Trajan Column we find as one of their standards the historic wolf (Fig. 12).

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 11.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 12.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 13.--Roman Standards.]

One of the most ancient of the Roman standards had an origin similar to that of the ap.r.o.n of the Persians and the horse-tails of the Turks. It was derived from a popular rising which took place in the time of Romulus, and was composed of a wisp of hay attached to the end of a pole (as seen in Fig. 13), and carried into battle. From its name, _manipulus_, the companies of foot soldiers, of which the _hastati_, _principes_, and _triarii_ of each legion were composed, came to be called maniples--_manipuli_. Another standard borne by the Romans was a spear with a piece of cross wood at the top with the figure of a hand above, and having below a small round s.h.i.+eld of gold or silver, as shown in Fig. 13. On this circle were at first represented the warlike deities Mars and Minerva, but after the extinction of the commonwealth it bore the effigies of the emperors and their favourites. From these coin-shaped devices the standards were called _numina legionum_. The eagle was sometimes represented with a thunderbolt in its claws, of which an example will be seen in Fig. 13. Under the later emperors it was carried with the legion, which was on that account sometimes termed _aquila_. The place for this standard was near the general, almost in the centre.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 14.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 15.]

<script>