Fasces on the reverse of the US dime

A statue of Cincinnatus, returning the Roman fasces

The fasces lictoriae ("bundles of the lictors") (in Italian, fascio littorio) were, in ancient Rome, a symbol of power and authority (imperium). They were carried by guardians callled lictors before a magistrate, in a number corresponding to his rank, in public ceremonies and inspections, and preceded praetors, propraetors, consuls, proconsuls, Masters of the Horse, dictators, and caesars. Roman historians recalled that the Etruscan kings of Rome in the distant past, had been ceremoniously accompanied by twelve lictors, and sought to account for the number and provide etymologies for the name lictor.

Fasces were made of wooden rods tied together as a cylinder around an axe. The symbolism of the fasces is that of strength through unity. The rods symbolized the state's power to punish delinquents. The axe represented the power to decapitate, had a long history in the eastern Mediterranean: see Labrys, the Anatolian and Minoan double-headed axe. The fasces were borne by heroic soldiers (they had to have been injured in battle) during the triumphs (public celebrations held in Rome after a military conquest).

Traditionally axe blades were removed from fasces inside the Pomerium, the limits of the City of Rome. Lictors attending to Dictator, however, kept the axe blades even inside the city.

At the Lincoln Memorial, Washington DC, Lincoln's seat of state bears the fasces on the fronts of its arms

Fasces have been adopted as a symbol by various powers over the years:

• Napoleon following the French Revolution; this emblem is still kept on the front cover of French passports.
• The Spanish police Guardia Civil.
• In the 1920s, the fasces became the symbol of Italian Fascism.
• Used as part of the Knights of Columbus emblem (designed in 1883)

fasces on the flag of the Swiss canton of St. Gallen.

Related Topics

• fascio (usage 1890s to World War I)
• Labrys

External links

• A definition (http://home.uchicago.edu/~janie/fasces.htm)
• Fasces in flags (http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/fasces.html)

de:Rutenbündel mit Beil it:Fascio littorio sv:Fasces zh:法西斯