DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.29463#0019
making were Asiatic in origin, and some of the best traits of Asian
ffags were used by the Turks, in combination and often with elabo-
ration. Arab Musfims influenced the Turks in a fundamentaf way,
but pre-Musiim Turkish tradition was also important, as were influ-
ences from Mesopotamia, Anatofia, and Persia. In general, the flag
was a product of Asia, but even European influences cannot be
ignored when looking at Turkish flag design.
Europeans had developed different types of state and of military
signs, although the latter did take on strong Oriental characteristics.
The most typical case here is that of the Romans, who, in creating
their own powerful state, developed a rich system of legal and sacred
rules concerning war.^ The oldest recorded military sign of the
Romans was a bundle of straw fixed to a spear (warn^M/My). In the
later years of the Roman republic, the Roman legions fought under
the signs of zoomorphic vexilloids: figures of a wolf, eagle, boar,
horse, or Minotaur on top of a pole. These signs were venerated
almost as gods, all ordinary military activities being carried out in
front of them as if in front of a temple; they were credited as carriers
of magical forces, had the rights of asylum, and witnessed the oath.
It is clear that the loss of these signs in battle was considered a
disaster; when they were deliberately thrown off into the enemy's
ranks, this was a dramatic signal for attack and recapture. This
sacred rite of the standard was continued in various other state
systems, particularly the Turks'. The poles of Roman standards were
also decorated with symbols. Use of a variety of animals on the
standards was stopped in 104 B.c. by the Consul Marius, who or-
dered that the eagle (silver and then gold) be the sole emblem. The
top of the pole was often spearlike, with a laurel wreath below;
sometimes the symbol of a hand was placed on the top, or beneath
the eagle, the symbol of a thunderbolt (representing Jove). Later on,
a small horizontal bar with two metal hangings on a cord or with a
small piece of fringed cloth, blue or purple, was included. There was
a set of other symbols placed along the staff: round metal medallions
(j&Aa/crac), medallions with busts of emperors, symbolic towers, crowns,
crescents, dragons' heads, and tassels under a metal cone. Some of
these were certainly of Oriental origin. Unquestionably Oriental was
a three-dimensional dragon (&aco) used by Roman cavalry, then by
Carolingian soldiers, and still seen as late as in the Bayeux Tapestry,
with its illustration of the Battle of Hastings.^ This dragon, made of
3
ffags were used by the Turks, in combination and often with elabo-
ration. Arab Musfims influenced the Turks in a fundamentaf way,
but pre-Musiim Turkish tradition was also important, as were influ-
ences from Mesopotamia, Anatofia, and Persia. In general, the flag
was a product of Asia, but even European influences cannot be
ignored when looking at Turkish flag design.
Europeans had developed different types of state and of military
signs, although the latter did take on strong Oriental characteristics.
The most typical case here is that of the Romans, who, in creating
their own powerful state, developed a rich system of legal and sacred
rules concerning war.^ The oldest recorded military sign of the
Romans was a bundle of straw fixed to a spear (warn^M/My). In the
later years of the Roman republic, the Roman legions fought under
the signs of zoomorphic vexilloids: figures of a wolf, eagle, boar,
horse, or Minotaur on top of a pole. These signs were venerated
almost as gods, all ordinary military activities being carried out in
front of them as if in front of a temple; they were credited as carriers
of magical forces, had the rights of asylum, and witnessed the oath.
It is clear that the loss of these signs in battle was considered a
disaster; when they were deliberately thrown off into the enemy's
ranks, this was a dramatic signal for attack and recapture. This
sacred rite of the standard was continued in various other state
systems, particularly the Turks'. The poles of Roman standards were
also decorated with symbols. Use of a variety of animals on the
standards was stopped in 104 B.c. by the Consul Marius, who or-
dered that the eagle (silver and then gold) be the sole emblem. The
top of the pole was often spearlike, with a laurel wreath below;
sometimes the symbol of a hand was placed on the top, or beneath
the eagle, the symbol of a thunderbolt (representing Jove). Later on,
a small horizontal bar with two metal hangings on a cord or with a
small piece of fringed cloth, blue or purple, was included. There was
a set of other symbols placed along the staff: round metal medallions
(j&Aa/crac), medallions with busts of emperors, symbolic towers, crowns,
crescents, dragons' heads, and tassels under a metal cone. Some of
these were certainly of Oriental origin. Unquestionably Oriental was
a three-dimensional dragon (&aco) used by Roman cavalry, then by
Carolingian soldiers, and still seen as late as in the Bayeux Tapestry,
with its illustration of the Battle of Hastings.^ This dragon, made of
3