Why did the kings in ancient days carry a 'sceptre'?

Question

The history books say a great deal about those days kings and they all carry a sceptre. why?

Answer 1

it is a symbol of authority just as a crown would be. it is still used today by kings in Africa. it isn't something they carry around with them all the time. it is more something that is for special occasions.

Answer 2

Scept re known as Rajdand in ancient India symbolised royal authority. It preceded the King inthe durbar and was given a standing ovation when the royal messengers carried it. Sceptre is shown in the hand of Lord KartikeyaLord Murugan}.

The sceptre still is the symbol of authority of the President/Governor and entered the parliament/assembl with the speaker and then the proceedings start. There have been cases when during some melleee ensuing in the legislature the Opposition forcibly snatchs the sceptre symbolically taking over the ruling governmnent authority. It is followed by a chase of the sceptre carrier by the legislature guards, r ecovered,replaced in its proper place and then only regular work resumes.This is nothing but parody in a democracy of the practice prevailing when king was the head of state.The earlier it is dispensed with better but the desire of maintaining relations with the past prevents it.

Answer 3

quite, a plenty later date could be greater precise. We have fun the date we declared independence, no longer the date the assertion replace into quite ratified nor the date we quite won independence. we are taught to forget with regard to the incontrovertible fact that we could have nonetheless lost the conflict and then asserting our independence interior the Revolution could have been ineffective as we'd have remained colonies of Britian. we are additionally incorrectly taught that the 2d Continental Congress signed the assertion on July 4, 1776, to that end ratifing it on that date. try August 2, 1776, it extremely is the extremely date of ratification. to confirm that a record to extremely be ratified those ratifying it may sign their names to it to make the ratification expert, numerous the delegates did no longer sign until August 2d with in easy terms Hancock signing July 4th. yet we had to win the conflict as a fashion to truly income our independence. which skill a date of October 19, 1781 whilst Cronwallis surrendered to Washington, bringing the conflict to an end. then you definately seem to September 3, 1783 whilst the Treaty of Paris replace into ratified, formally ending the conflict and asserting the colonies a sparkling, self sustaining us of a.

Answer 4

Mike P. is half right. It was originally a mace type weapon because the king was the baddest guy around and usually claimed the throne via killing the current king or during the shakeup when a king died. Over the years it became more symbolic and then fancy.

Answer 5

Antiquity
A rod or staff has long represented authority. Among the early Greeks the sceptre was a long staff, such as Agamemnon wielded (Iliad, i) or was used by respected elders (Iliad, xviii. 46; Herodotus 1. 196), and came to be used by judges, military leaders, priests and others in authority. It is represented on painted vases as a long staff tipped with a metal ornament. When the sceptre is borne by Zeus or Hades, it is headed by a bird (illustration, right). It was this symbol of Zeus, the father of Olympus, that gave their inviolable status to the kerykes, the heralds, who were thus protected by the precursor of modern diplomatic immunity. When, in the Iliad Agamemnon sends Odysseus to the leaders of the Achaeans, he lends him his sceptre.

Among the Etruscans sceptres of great magnificence were used by kings and upper orders of the priesthood, and many representations of such sceptres occur on the walls of the painted tombs of Etruria. The British Museum, the Vatican and the Louvre possess Etruscan sceptres of gold, most elaborately and minutely ornamented.

The Roman sceptre probably derived from the Etruscan. Under the Republic an ivory sceptre (sceptrum eburneum) was a mark of consular rank. It was also used by victorious generals who received the title of imperator, and its use as a symbol of delegated authority to legates apparently was revived in the marshal’s baton. Under the empire the sceptrum Augusti was specially used by the emperors, and was often of ivory tipped with a golden eagle. It is frequently shown on medallions of the later empire, which have on the obverse a half-length figure of the emperor, holding in one hand the sceptrum Augusti, and in the other the orb surmounted by a small figure of Victory.

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Christian Era

1873 Portrait of Emperor Peter II of Brazil, holding the very large Imperial Sceptre, and invested with other items of the Brazilian Crown JewelsWith the advent of Christianity the sceptre was often tipped with a cross instead of with an eagle, but during the Middle Ages the finials on the top of the sceptre varied considerably.

In England from a very early period two sceptres have been concurrently used, and from the time of Richard I they have been distinguished as being tipped with a cross and a dove respectively. In France the royal sceptre was tipped with a fleur de lys, and the other, known as the main de justice, had an open hand of benediction on the top.

Sceptres with small shrines on the top are sometimes represented on royal seals, as on the great seal of Edward III, where the king, enthroned, bears such a sceptre, but it was an unusual form; and it is of interest to note that one of the sceptres of Scotland, preserved at Edinburgh, has such a shrine at the top, with little images of Our Lady, Saint Andrew and Saint James in it. This sceptre was, it is believed, made in France about 1536, for James V. Great seals usually represent the sovereign enthroned, holding a sceptre (often the second in dignity) in the right hand, and the orb and cross in the left. Harold appears thus in the Bayeux tapestry.

The earliest English coronation form of the 9th century mentions a sceptre (sceptrum), and a staff (baculum). In the so-called coronation form of Ethelred II a sceptre (sceptrum), and a rod (virga) appear, as they do also in the case of a coronation order of the 12th century. In a contemporary account of Richard I’s coronation the royal sceptre of gold with a gold cross, and the gold rod (virga) with a gold dove on the top, enter the historical record for the first time. About 1450 Sporley, a monk of Westminster, compiled a list of the relics there. These included the articles used at the coronation of Saint Edward the Confessor, and left by him for the coronations of his successors. A golden sceptre, a wooden rod gilt and an iron rod are named. These survived till the Commonwealth, and are minutely described in an inventory of the whole of the regalia drawn up in 1649, when everything was destroyed.

For the coronation of Charles II of England new sceptres were made, and though slightly altered, they continue in use. They are a sceptre with a cross called "St Edward’s sceptre", a sceptre with a dove, and a long sceptre or staff with a cross of gold on the top called "St Edward’s staff". To these, two sceptres for the queen-consort, one with a cross, and the other with a dove, have been subsequently added

Answer 6

A symbolic sign of authority.

Answer 7

A sign of authority that is still used today.

Answer 8

As a sign of their military power

Answer 9

to accentuate their movements and to hit people on the head

Answer 10

made him look more important