Fasces

Fasces (English: /ˈfæsiːz/, Latin: ; a plurale tantum, from the Latin word fascis, meaning 'bundle'; Italian: fascio littorio) is a bound bundle of wooden rods, sometimes including an axe with its blade emerging. The fasces had its origin in the Etruscan civilization and was passed on to ancient Rome, where it symbolized a magistrate's power and jurisdiction. The axe originally associated with the symbol, the Labrys (Greek: λάβρυς, lábrys) the double-bitted axe, originally from Crete, is one of the oldest symbols of Greek civilization. To the Romans, it was known as a bipennis.The unofficial but common National Emblem of France is backed by a fasces, representing justiceLes Grands Palais de France Fontainebleau Great Seal of France, 1848Most visibly, fasces bestride the U.S. flag in the House chamber of the US CapitolAbove the door leading out of the Oval OfficeMercury dime reverse1989 U.S. Congress Bicentennial commemorative coin reverse, depicting mace of the United States House of RepresentativesThe mace of the United States House of Representatives, designed to resemble a fascesThe seal of the Senate, note the crossed fasces at the bottomThe seal of the United States Tax CourtThe Lincoln Memorial with the fronts of the chair arms shaped to resemble fascesFlanking the image of Lincoln at the Gettysburg Address memorialThe seal of the Administrative Office of the United States CourtsAbove the door to Chicago's City HallThe flag of the New York City borough of BrooklynAt the entrance to San Francisco's Coit TowerShoulder Sleeve Insignia of the 18th MP BrigadeShoulder Sleeve Insignia of the 42nd MP BrigadeStatue of George Washington at the site of his inauguration as first president of the United States, now occupied by Federal Hall National Memorial, includes a fasces to the subject's rear rightHoratio Stone's 1848 statue of Alexander Hamilton displays a fasces below Hamilton's handShoulder Sleeve Insignia of U.S. Army Reserve Legal CommandPortion of The Apotheosis of Washington, a fresco mural suspended above the rotunda of the United States Capitol Building.The coat of arms of the Swiss canton of St. Gallen has displayed the fasces since 1803Flag of the National Fascist Party of Italy (1915 - 1945). Fascism used the fasces as its political symbol.Greater coat of arms of Italy of 1929-1943, during the Fascist era, bearing the fascesFragment of the facade of the building of the Silesian Parliament in KatowiceThe original flag of the British Union of FascistsGuardia Civil (Spain)The Grand Coat of Arms of Vilnius, Lithuania bearing the fascesThe emblem of the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service, bearing the fascesThe emblem of the Russian Federal Bailiffs Service, bearing the fasces Fasces (English: /ˈfæsiːz/, Latin: ; a plurale tantum, from the Latin word fascis, meaning 'bundle'; Italian: fascio littorio) is a bound bundle of wooden rods, sometimes including an axe with its blade emerging. The fasces had its origin in the Etruscan civilization and was passed on to ancient Rome, where it symbolized a magistrate's power and jurisdiction. The axe originally associated with the symbol, the Labrys (Greek: λάβρυς, lábrys) the double-bitted axe, originally from Crete, is one of the oldest symbols of Greek civilization. To the Romans, it was known as a bipennis. The image has survived in the modern world as a representation of magisterial or collective power, law and governance. The fasces frequently occurs as a charge in heraldry: it is present on the reverse of the U.S. Mercury dime coin and behind the podium in the United States House of Representatives; and it was the origin of the name of the National Fascist Party in Italy (from which the term fascism is derived). During the first half of the 20th century both the fasces and the swastika (each symbol having its own unique ancient religious and mythological associations) became heavily identified with the authoritarian/fascist political movements of Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini. During this period the swastika became deeply stigmatized, but the fasces did not undergo a similar process. The fact that the fasces remained in use in many societies after World War II may have been due to the fact that prior to Mussolini the fasces had already been adopted and incorporated within the governmental iconography of many governments outside Italy. As such, its use persists as an accepted form of governmental and other iconography in various contexts. (The swastika remains in common usage in parts of Asia for religious purposes which are also unrelated to early 20th century European fascism.) The fasces is sometimes confused with the related term fess, which in French heraldry is called a fasce. A few artifacts found showing a thin bundle of rods surrounding a two-headed axe point to a possible Etruscan origin for fasces, but little is known about the Etruscans themselves. Fasces symbolism might be derived via the Etruscans from the eastern Mediterranean, with the labrys, the Anatolian, and Minoan double-headed axe, later incorporated into the praetorial fasces. There is little archaeological evidence for precise claims. By the time of the Roman Republic, the fasces had developed into a thicker bundle of birch rods, sometimes surrounding a single-headed axe and tied together with a red leather ribbon into a cylinder. On certain special occasions, the fasces might be decorated with a laurel wreath. The symbolism of the fasces could suggest strength through unity (see Unity makes strength); a single rod is easily broken, while the bundle is very difficult to break. This symbolism occurs in Aesop's fable 'The Old Man and his Sons'. A similar story is told about the Bulgar (pre-Bulgarian, proto-Bulgarian) Khan Kubrat, giving rise to the Bulgarian national motto 'Union gives strength' (Съединението прави силата). However, bundled birch twigs could also symbolise corporal punishment (see birching). The fasces lictoriae ('bundles of the lictors') symbolised power and authority (imperium) in ancient Rome, beginning with the early Roman Kingdom and continuing through the republican and imperial periods. By republican times, use of the fasces was surrounded with tradition and protocol. A corps of apparitores (subordinate officials) called lictors each carried fasces before a magistrate, in a number corresponding to his rank. Lictors preceded consuls (and proconsuls), praetors (and propraetors), dictators, curule aediles, quaestors, and the Flamen Dialis during Roman triumphs (public celebrations held in Rome after a military conquest).