The Cross of Christ versus The Roman Standard

7th December 2006

At a prayer meeting for The Gate Club, Inc. my friend Linda said she was receiving a vision.  We encouraged her to share it, and this was the gist of her vision:

            “I’m seeing the cross of Christ, but something seems to be coming out of the sky – it looks like a sceptre – but then as it is put into the ground it looks more like the cross of Christ.  I don’t understand this, but it looks like the cross is a scepter being put into the earth.”

From this vision, I found my mind doing somersaults.  Her statement reminded me of my favorite cartoon series, Asterix, wherein Caesar has his legions put a roman standard into any/every territory that he invaded.

I suddenly realized that God had put His own ‘stake’ into the ground – that when Jesus was put on the cross, paying for our salvation and the earth’s redemption – He was raising a ‘standard’ declaring to the entire planet that He was now Lord of all.

Dating from 1661, (with later additions), the Sovereign’s Sceptre with the Cross signify the British Sovereign’s temporal power.  Held in the left hand during coronation, the sceptre is 36.5 inches long, and mainly consists of gold, decorated with enamel and almost 400 precious stones, including the Cullinan I diamond (Star of Africa – found in South Africa), which is just over 530 carats.

An interesting thought: all the monarchs/rulers had the ‘sceptres’ in their left hands at their coronation, which were then moved to be held in the right hand after being crowned.  If God is the author of this idea, then it would appear correctly.  For if the cross is the scepter in the left hand (where the heart is and God so loved the world), then the idea of Jesus being seated at the right hand of God after His resurrection would be accurate, even in this.

Compare The Cross of Christ with Caesar’s (Roman) Standard

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staff_of_office):  

            A staff of office is a staff, the carrying of which often denotes an official’s position, a social rank or a degree of social prestige.  

            A staff is a large, thick stick or stick-shaped object used to help with walking or as a status symbol or a weapon.  An older plural form of staff, based on the archaic variant word stave, is staves.  In American English the usual plural form has become staffs, however British and International English regard both as acceptable and “staves” as preferred. 

            Church sidesmen or dodsmen bear sticks or rods or wands of office; bishops may wield their croziers or crooks; monarchs often have a sceptre signifying their office.  A gold or silver-topped cane can express social standing (or dandyism).  Teachers or prefects in schools traditionally carried less elaborate canes which marked their right (and potential threat) to administer canings, and military officers carry a residual threat of physical punishment in their swagger sticks.  The conductors of orchestras have in their batons symbols of authority as well as tools of their trade.

The Purpose of a Standard

References:
https://www.worldhistory.org/Roman_Standard
https://historycooperative.org/the-roman-standards

• Used to easily identify a group:
  • “² Every man of the children of Israel shall pitch by his own standard, with the ensign of their father’s house: far off about the tabernacle of the congregation shall they pitch.”  Numbers 2:2 (KJV)
• Used to show rank, favor and prestige:
  • Caesar separated his military into legions, each one having their own standard.
• Used as a rallying point.
• Used as a means of communication in battle.
• They were precious:
  • Caesar’s military would go to war for their retrieval.
• They were worshipped:
  • Used in religious festivals; decorated with garlands and anointed with oils.
  • Some had the image of the emperor who was worshipped.

The Parallels – the cross of Christ is our Standard

As you read the following article, keep in mind how you view the cross of Christ and its significance in your life.  You will find many parallels between yourself and the ancient Romans, especially as you consider that we are in a spiritual war – and we are ‘of the Kingdom of Heaven’, or ‘citizens of Heaven’.  Consider the parallel between the Roman Soldier’s uniform and how we are to dress in the ‘Armor of God’. The most significant difference is that the cross of Christ paid the way for your eternal salvation and open communication and communion with God:

The Roman Standards
https://roman-empire.net/army/standards by Franco Cavazzi

There is nothing quite comparable in modern armies to the Roman standards, signa, except perhaps the regimental colours. They performed the function of being a recognition signal and a rallying point. Army units required a device to watch and follow in battle conditions and the soldiers also needed to recognize their own at a glance.

Roman standards were held in awe. They were symbols of Roman honour. So much so that to recover lost standards Roman leaders might engage on campaigns. For example a special campaign was launched against the Germans to recover the standards lost by Varus in the Teutoburger Wald.

The standards also played an important part in pitching and striking a camp. The site for a camp being selected, the first act was to set up the standards by thrusting their pointed ends into the ground. When camp was struck the standards were plucked out by means of the large projecting handles. It would have been understood to be a serious omen had they stuck fast in the ground and the men might even refuse to move, saying that the gods meant them to stay there.

Standards also played an important part in the many religious festivals which the army scrupulously observed. On these occasions they were anointed with precious oils and decorated with garlands, special battle honours and laurel wreaths might have been added. It is hardly surprising that it has been said that the Army actually worshipped their standards.

In the line of battle the signa had key positions. This is clear from Caesar who often referred to the ante and post signani, these being the troops in front of and behind the standards.

Orders relating to standards were also given for movements, as in the African was, when during one engagement the troops became disorganized and were commanded not to advance more than four feet beyond their standards.

Another important function was in the systems of signals in the battlefield. Commands were relayed through the standard-bearers and the trumpeters, the cornicines. A blast from the cornu drew the soldiers’ attention to their standard, where it was carried they would follow in formation. A limited number of signals by up and down or swaying movements were indicative of pre-arranged commands to the ranks. 

When one comes to the standards themselves and their various types and patterns throughout imperial times there are some serious gaps in current knowledge.

It can though be assumed that animal standards were used by Roman legions from earliest times and that they gradually became rationalized. The republican is reputed by the historian Pliny the elder to have had five standards, an eagle, a wolf, a Minotaur, a horse and a boar. Marius made the eagle supreme because of its close associations with Jupiter, and the remainder were relegated or abolished. In late republican times the eagle standard (aquila) was made of silver and a golden thunderbolt was held in the claws of the eagle., but later it was made entirely of gold and carried by the senior standard bearer, the aquilifer.

It was the eagle standard which bore the famous Roman abbreviation SPQR. The letters stand for senatus populusque romanus which means ‘the senate and the people of Rome’. Hence this standard represented the will of the Roman people and stated that the soldiers acted on their behalf. The abbreviation SPQR remained a potent symbol throughout the history of the empire, as the senate remained to be seen as (theoretically) the highest authority during the times of the emperors. 

While the eagle was common to all legions, each unit had several of its own symbols. These were often associated with the birthday of the unit or its founder or of a commander under whom it had won a particular victory. These symbols were signs of the Zodiac. Thus the bull signifies the period 17th April to 18th May, which was sacred to Venus the goddess mother of the Julian family; similarly the Capricorn was the emblem of Augustus. Thus, II Augusta, one of the British legions, displayed the Capricorn for as its name denotes it was founded by Augustus. Further II Augusta also bore symbols of Pegasus and Mars. That of Mars in particular more than likely signifying some oath taken to the god of war in times of peril.

The imago was a standard of special importance, bringing the emperor into a closer relationship with his troops. This standard bearing the image of the emperor was carried by the imaginifer. In later times it also had portraits of other members of the ruling house.

The aquila and the imago were in special care of the first cohort, but there were other standards for each century.

The maniple was a very ancient division of the legion consisting of two centuries. And for this division, too, there was a standard. The Romans themselves seem to have no information about the origins of this standard and it was supposed to have derived from a pole with a handful of straw tied to the top. The hand (manus) at the top of this standard had a significance, although it may not have been understood by the later romans themselves. Military salute? Divine protection? Below the hand is a crossbar from which could be hung wreaths or fillets and attached to the staff, in vertical array, are discs bearing numbers. The precise significance of these numbers is not understood but they might have indicated the numbers of the cohort, century or maniple.

The standard which most closely resembles the modern flag is the vexillum, a small square piece of cloth attached to a cross-bar carried on a pole. It is a type of standard more commonly born by cavalry, the senior standard bearer of an ala being known as the vexillarius. Different coloured pieces of cloth could be hung from the vexillum, the red flag denoting that battle was about to begin.

Finally it should be noted that the standard bearers wore animal skins over their uniforms. This follows Celtic practice. The Suebi for instance wore boar masks. The heads of the animals were carried over the bearers’ helmets so that the teeth were actually seen on the forehead.