Draconarius

Draconarius - Reenactment at the Roman Festival 2013, Augusta Raurica

The draconarius was a type of signifer who bore a cavalry standard known as a draco in the Roman army.

Name

Strictly speaking, the word draconarius denotes the bearer of the military standard on which a dragon was represented.^[1] The term passed into Christian usage, and was applied to the bearer of the labarum in battle, and also to cross-bearers in church processions. ^[2]

Dragon ensign

From the conquered Dacians, the Romans in Trajan's time borrowed the dragon ensign which became the standard of the cohort as the eagle was that of the legion.^[3] Of Dacian, Sarmatian in origin, the draco was later generally introduced in the fourth century as a Roman standard.^[4]

It consisted of a bronze dragon head with a fabric body similar in shape to a tail behind it. Wind flowed through the gaping mouth and billowed out the cloth tail much like a modern windsock. It is thought that some form of whistle was mounted in the dragon's neck to make a terrifying noise when galloping.

Notes

1. Smith & Cheetham 1875, p. 579.
2. Tyrwhitt 2005, p. 197.
3. Yust 1953, p. 570.
4. Den Boeft & Den Hengst 1987, p. 97.

See also

• Dacian Draco
• Draco (military standard)
• Clan of Ostoja
• Dacian warfare
• Aquilifer
• Signifer
• Imaginifer
• Vexillarius
• Draconarius spiders

References

• Den Boeft, J.; Den Hengst, D. (1987). Philological and historical commentary on Ammianus Marcellinus XX: Volume 4 edited by H. C. Teitler. John Benjamins Pub Co. ISBN 978-90-6980-012-7.
• Smith, Sir William; Cheetham, Samuel (1875). Dictionary of Christian antiquities:. Little, Brown and Company.
• Tyrwhitt, Richard (2005). The Art Teaching of the Primitive Church with an Index of Subjects, Historical and Emblematic. Kessinger Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4179-7439-9.
• Yust, Walter (1953). Encyclopaedia britannica: a new survey of universal knowledge:. Encyclopaedia Britannica.

External links

• The Draco, the Late Roman military standard