A FALCON STANDARD
A solider in battle would carry the standard (Fig. 43), not ast first as a national or regimental emblem, but as a life-saving, i.e. victory-bringing, device. Even to this day the king in person presents the flag to his regiments with elaborate ceremonial; but it is not recognized that he actually presents to his soldiers a symbol of his own life-protecting powers. For the flag is the lineal descendant of the coloured streamers of the earliest standard (Fig. 42), which in turn was supposed to represent the king’s umbilical cord. As the representative of the king, the animated standard could also seize the king’s enemies (Fig. 44). Originally all the symbols of the standard represented the king, but as tow of them expressed his dual nature, as king of Upper Egypt and king of Lower Egypt, the standards acquired a secondary significance as territorial badges, not merely of kingdoms but also of disctricts or nomes.
From
Human History by G. Elliot Smith |
