SPQR
Why did the legions during Imperial Rome continue to march under the SPQR banner? I can't really find anything about this on Google etc etc, but it seems hypocritical to continue to use the SPQR after the Republic era. From what I understand the Senate still existed, but they didn't have any real power. I did read somewhere it was still used on coinage as well. Any insight into this would be very useful.
Re: SPQR
Tradition more than anything, I suppose. The propaganda at the time of Augustus' time of emperor was that he was the 'saviour' of the republic, not someone who had replaced it with an entirely new order. The senate did continue to exist even into Byzantine times, even though it was less powerful than before. Even when the character of the Empire became increasingly "autocratic", it probably didn't occur to anyone that the name ought to be changed.
Incidentally, SPQ "X" has been used by many European cities since the middle ages.
Re: SPQR
Really?Originally Posted by Kralizec
I had no clue about this. Any examples of cities, particularly from the Middle Ages, that have used the SPQ"x" banner?
Ja mata, TosaInu. You will forever be remembered.
Proud
Been to:
Swords Made of Letters - 1938. The war is looming in France - and Alexandre Reythier does not have much time left to protect his country. A novel set before the war.
A Painted Shield of Honour - 1313. Templar Knights in France are in grave danger. Can they be saved?
Re: SPQR
Apparently, some German cities used SPQR or SPQ"X" in their coat of arms (or elsewhere) either to signify their roots in a roman colony (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weil_der_Stadt) or to signify their character as a self-administered free city (Hamburg or Bremen f.e.) analogous to Rome.
I don't know about cities outside of Germany, though.
Re: SPQR
There's a list of places that have the SPQx part on the wiki page - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SPQR#Modern_use
Ja mata, TosaInu. You will forever be remembered.
Proud
Been to:
Swords Made of Letters - 1938. The war is looming in France - and Alexandre Reythier does not have much time left to protect his country. A novel set before the war.
A Painted Shield of Honour - 1313. Templar Knights in France are in grave danger. Can they be saved?
Re: SPQR
As I understand it, the emperor's legal claim to authority was that the senate "voluntarily" (ahem) granted him authority, and (theoretically, though not in practice) could take his authority away. In theory, the senate was still in charge. Its the old distinction between de facto and de jure.
In those simple times there was a great wonder and mystery in life. Man walked in fear and solemnity, with Heaven very close above his head, and Hell below his very feet. God's visible hand was everywhere, in the rainbow and the comet, in the thunder and the wind. The Devil too raged openly upon the earth; he skulked behind the hedge-rows in the gloaming; he laughed loudly in the night-time; he clawed the dying sinner, pounced on the unbaptized babe, and twisted the limbs of the epileptic. A foul fiend slunk ever by a man's side and whispered villainies in his ear, while above him there hovered an angel of grace . . .
Arthur Conan Doyle
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