Fasces

A fasces image, with the axe in the middle of the bundle of rods.

Fasces (/ˈfæsiːz/, (Italian: Fasci, Latin pronunciation: [ˈfa.skeːs], a plurale tantum, from the Latin word fascis, meaning "bundle")^[1] 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 image has survived in the modern world as a representation of magisterial or collective power. The fasces frequently occurs as a charge in heraldry, it is present on an older design of the Mercury dime and behind the podium in the United States House of Representatives, it is used as the symbol of a number of Italian syndicalist groups, including the Unione Sindacale Italiana, and it was the origin of the name of the National Fascist Party in Italy (from which the term fascism is derived).

It should not be confused with the related term fess, which in French heraldry is called a fasce.

Origin and symbolism

Little is known about the Etruscans, but a few artifacts have been found showing a thin bundle of rods surrounding a two-headed axe.^[2] 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.^[3]

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 suggested 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 Khan Kubrat, giving rise to the Bulgarian National motto "Union gives strength" (Съединението прави силата). The axe represented the power over life or death through the death penalty, although no Roman magistrate could summarily execute a Roman citizen after passage of the laws of the twelve tables.^[4] Bundled birch twigs symbolise corporal punishment (see birching).

Republican Rome

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)

According to Livy, the lictors were likely an Etruscan tradition, adopted by Rome.^[5] The highest magistrate, the dictator, was entitled to twenty-four lictors and fasces, the consul to twelve, the proconsul eleven, the praetor six (two within the pomerium), the propraetor five, and the curule aediles two.

Another part of the symbolism developed in Republican Rome was the inclusion of a single-headed axe in the fasces, with the blade projecting from the bundle. The axe indicated that the magistrate's judicial powers (imperium) included capital punishment. Fasces carried within the Pomerium—the boundary of the sacred inner city of Rome—had their axe blades removed; within the city, the power of life and death rested with the people through their assemblies. During times of emergency, however, the Roman Republic might choose a dictator to lead for a limited time period, who was the only magistrate to be granted capital punishment authority within the Pomerium. Lictors attending the dictator kept the axes in their fasces even inside the Pomerium—a sign that the dictator had the ultimate power in his own hands. There were exceptions to this rule: in 48 BC, guards holding bladed fasces guided Vatia Isauricus to the tribunal of Marcus Caelius, and Vatia Isauricus used one to destroy Caelius's magisterial chair (sella curulis).

An occasional variation on the fasces was the addition of a laurel wreath, symbolizing victory. This occurred during the celebration of a Triumph - essentially a victory parade through Rome by a returning victorious general. Previously, all Republican Roman commanding generals had held high office with imperium, and so, already were entitled to the lictors and fasces.

Usage

The term is related to the modern Italian word fascio, used in the twentieth century to designate peasant cooperatives and industrial workers' unions.

Numerous governments and other authorities have used the image of the fasces for a symbol of power since the end of the Roman Empire. It also has been used to hearken back to the Roman republic, particularly by those who see themselves as modern-day successors to the old republic and/or its ideals.

The Ecuadorian coat of arms incorporated the fasces in 1830, although it had already been in use in the coat of arm of Gran Colombia since 1821.

Italian Fascism, which derives its name from the fasces, arguably used this symbolism the most in the twentieth century. The British Union of Fascists also used it in the 1930s. The fasces, as a widespread and long-established symbol in the West, however, has avoided the stigma associated with much of fascist symbolism, and many authorities continue to display them, including the federal government of the United States.

Fasces in the United States

National Guard Bureau insignia

Several offices and institutions in the United States have incorporated representations of the fasces into their iconography.

The reverse of the Mercury Dime, the design used until the adoption of the current FDR dime in 1945, features a fasces.
In the Oval Office, above the door leading to the exterior walkway, and above the corresponding door on the opposite wall, which leads to the president's private office. Note: the fasces depicted have no axes, possibly because in the Roman Republic, the blade was always removed from the bundle whenever the fasces were carried inside the city, in order to symbolize the rights of citizens against arbitrary state power (see above).
Two fasces appear on either side of the flag of the United States behind the podium in the United States House of Representatives.
The official seal of the United States Senate has as one component a pair of crossed fasces.
Fasces ring the base of the Statue of Freedom atop the United States Capitol building.
A frieze on the facade of the United States Supreme Court building depicts the figure of a Roman centurion holding a fasces, to represent "order".^[6]
The grand seal of Harvard University inside Memorial Church is flanked by two inward-pointing fasces. The seal is located directly below the 112 m (368 ft) steeple and the Great Seal of the United States inside the Memorial Room. The walls of the room list the names of Harvard students, faculty, and alumni who gave their lives in service of the United States during World War I along with an empty tomb depicting Alma Mater holding a slain Harvard student.
The National Guard uses the fasces on the seal of the National Guard Bureau, and it appears in the insignia of Regular Army officers assigned to National Guard liaison and in the insignia and unit symbols of National Guard units themselves. For instance, the regimental crest of the 71st Infantry Regiment (New York) of the New York National Guard consisted of a gold fasces set on a blue background.
The Mace of the United States House of Representatives, designed to resemble fasces, consists of thirteen ebony rods bound together in the same fashion as the fasces, topped by a silver eagle on a globe.
The main entrance hallways in the Wisconsin State Capitol have lamps that are decorated with stone fasces motifs. In the woodwork before the podium of the speaker of the assembly is carved several double-bladed fasces, whereas in the woodwork before the podium of the senate president are several single-bladed fasces.
At the Lincoln Memorial, Lincoln's seat of state bears the fasces—without axes—on the fronts of its arms. Fasces also appear on the pylons flanking the main staircase leading into the memorial.
The official seal of the United States Tax Court bears the fasces at its center.
Four fasces flank the two bronze plaques on either side of the bust of Lincoln memorializing his Gettysburg Address at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
The fasces appears on the state seal of Colorado, U.S., beneath the "All-seeing eye" (or Eye of Providence) and above the mountains and mines.
The hallmark of the Kerr & Co silver company was a fasces.
On the seal of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, a figure carries a fasces; the seal appears on the borough flag. Fasces also can be seen in the stone columns at Grand Army Plaza and on a flagpole in Washington Square Park.
Used as part of the Knights of Columbus emblem (designed in 1883).
Many local police departments use the fasces as part of their badges and other symbols. For instance, the top border of the Los Angeles Police Department badge features a fasces. (1940)
Commercially, a small fasces appeared at the top of one of the insignia of the Hupmobile car.
A fasces appears on the statue of George Washington, made by Jean-Antoine Houdon that is now in the Virginia State Capital. Fasces are used as posts of the 1818 cast-iron fence surrounding the capitol building.
Columns in the form of fasces line the entrance to Buffalo City Hall.
VAW-116 have a fasces on their unit insignia.
San Francisco's Coit Tower has two fasces-like insignia (without the axe) carved above its entrance, flanking a Phoenix.
The seal of the United States Courts Administrative Office includes a fasces behind crossed quill and scroll.
In the Washington Monument, there is a statue of George Washington leaning on a fasces.
A fasces is a common element in U.S. Army Military Police heraldry, most visibly on the shoulder sleeve insignia of the 18th Military Police Brigade and the 42nd Military Police Brigade.
Two monuments erected in Chicago at the time of the Century of Progress Exposition are adorned with fasces. The monument to Christopher Columbus (1933) in Grant Park has them on the ends of its exedra. The Balbo Monument in Burnham Park, (1934) a gift from Benito Mussolini, has the vandalized remains of fasces on all four corners of its plinth.^[7]

Most visibly, fasces bestride the U.S. flag in the House chamber of the US Capitol
Mercury dime reverse
1989 U.S. Congress Bicentennial commemorative coin reverse, depicting mace of the United States House of Representatives
The mace of the United States House of Representatives, designed to resemble fasces
The seal of the Senate, note the crossed fasces at the bottom
The Lincoln Memorial with the fronts of the chair's arms shaped to resemble fasces
The emblem of the Knights of Columbus
The seal of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts
Above the door to Chicago's City Hall
Shoulder Sleeve Insignia of the 18th MP Brigade
Shoulder Sleeve Insignia of the 42nd MP Brigade
Statue 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 right

Fasces in France

The unofficial but common National Emblem of France is backed by a fasces, representing justice

A review of the images included in Les Grands Palais de France Fontainebleau ^[8]^[9] reveals that French architects used the Roman fasces (faisceaux romains) as a decorative device as early as the reign of Louis XIII (1610–1643) and continued to employ it through the periods of Napoleon I's Empire (1804–1815).

The fasces typically appeared in a context reminiscent of the Roman Republic and/or of the Roman Empire. The French Revolution has used many references to the ancient Roman Republic in its imagery. During the First Republic, topped by the Phrygian cap, the fasces is a tribute to the Roman Republic and means that power belongs to the people. It also symbolizes the "unity and indivisibility of the Republic",^[10] as stated in the French Constitution. In 1848 and after 1870, it appears on the seal of the French Republic, held by Liberty. There is the fasces in the arms of the French Republic with the "RF" for République française (see image below), surrounded by leaves of olive tree (as a symbol of peace) and oak (as a symbol of justice). While it is used widely by French officials, this symbol never was officially adopted by the government.^[10]

The fasces appears on the helmet and the buckle insignia of the French Army's Autonomous Corps of Military Justice, as well as on that service's distinct cap badges for the prosecuting and defending lawyers in a court-martial.

Other modern authorities and movements

Benito Mussolini's tomb is flanked by marble fasces.

Flag of the National Fascist Party of Italy; Fascism used the fasces as its political symbol

Greater coat of arms of Italy of 1929-1943, during the Fascist era, bearing the fasces

The coat of arms of the Swiss canton of St. Gallen has displayed the fasces since 1803

Guardia Civil (Spain)

The Grand Coat of Arms of Vilnius, Lithuania bearing the fasces

Fragment of the facade of the building of the Silesian Parliament in Katowice

The following cases all involve the adoption of the fasces as a symbol or icon, although no physical re-introduction has occurred.

Aiguillettes worn by aides-de-camp in many Commonwealth armed forces bear the fasces on the metal points; the origin of this is unknown, as the fasces is an uncommon symbol in British/Commonwealth heraldry and insignia.
Napoleon and the French Revolution; this emblem remains on the front cover of French passports and as part of the French coat of arms.
The badge of the Spanish gendarmerie Guardia Civil includes a fasces.
Both the Norwegian and Swedish police have double fasces in their logos.
The Miners Flag (also known as the "Diggers' Banner"), the standard of nineteenth-century gold-miners in the colony of Victoria, in Australia, included the fasces as a symbol of unity and strength of common purpose. This flag symbolized the movement prior to the rebellion at the Eureka Stockade (1854).
The coat of arms of Ecuador, which also features on its national flag, has included a fasces since 1822.
The coat of arms of Cameroon features two fasces which form a diagonal cross.
The coat of arms of Cuba features a fasces.
The third flag of Gran Colombia, a former nation in South America, depicted a large fasces entwined with several arrows.
The coat of arms of Norte de Santander, a department of Colombia, and of its capital Cúcuta, both feature a fasces.
The coat of arms of the Romanian Police features two crossed fasces.
The Grand Coat of Arms of Vilnius, Lithuania features a fasces.
The crests of many collegiate fraternities and sororities feature the fasces, including those of Chi Phi, Alpha Phi Delta, Sigma Alpha Mu, and Psi Upsilon.
The symbol of the National Party (Uruguay) (Partido Nacional) includes a fasces.
On the entrance of the Royal Palace of Laeken in Belgium.
The British Union of Fascists originally used the fasces on their flag until adopting the Flash and Circle.

The original flag of the British Union of Fascists

Sources

Tassi Scandone Elena, Verghe, scuri e fasci littori in Etruria - Contributo allo studio degli insignia imperii. Volume n. 36 della Biblioteca di Studi Etruschi dell'Istituto Nazionale di Studi Etruschi ed Italici, Istituti Editoriali e Poligrafici Internazionali, Pisa - Roma, 2001. ISBN 88-8147-263-5. Pp. 272, con VII tavv. f.t.
Salvatori Paola S., L’adozione del fascio littorio nella monetazione dell’Italia fascista, in «Rivista italiana di numismatica e scienze affini», CIX, 2008, pp. 333–352.

Notes

↑ Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary: fasces
↑ Haynes, S. (2000). Etruscan civilization: A cultural history. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum.
↑ "Fasces". 2011-03-26. Retrieved 2011-04-13.
↑ Livius.org, fasces
↑ Livy, Ab urbe condita, 1:8
↑ |url=http://www.supremecourthistory.org/04_library/subs_volumes/04_c01_e.html |date=20051128162002 The Supreme Court Historical Society Archive copy at the Wayback Machine
↑ Bach, Ira and Mary Lackritz Gray, ‘’A Guide to Chicago’s Public Sculpture’’, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1983 p. 11-12
↑ Les Grands Palais de France Fontainebleau, I re Série, Styles Louis XV, Louis XVI, Empire, Labrairie Centrale D'Art Et D'Architecture, Ancienne Maison Morel, Ch. Eggimann, Succ, 106, Boulevard Saint Germain, Paris, 1910
↑ Les Grands Palais de France : Fontainebleau , II me Série, Les Appartments D'Anne D'Autriche, De François I er, Et D'Elenonre La Chapelle, Labrairie Centrale D'Art Et D'Architecture, Ancienne Maison Morel, Ch. Eggimann, Succ, 106, Boulevard Saint Germain, Paris, 1912
1 2 Site of the French Presidency Archived November 4, 2012, at the Wayback Machine.

External links

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