DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.29463#0024
ditionally organized into units carrying Hags of Hve colors: red, yel-
low, biue, white, and biack, each hue having ancient associations of
cosmological and philosophical nature.^ Red stood for the sun; the
red phoenix for the South, for summer, and noon. In philosophical
speculations, the phoenix represented the male principle—Yang.
Yellow stood for the earth and China itself, while the yellow dragon
was imbued with the female principle—Ying. The constant combat
of Yang and Ying kept the world in balance. The yellow phoenix
represented also the Chinese emperor. Blue stood for the sky; the
blue dragon, for the East, spring, and morning. White stood for the
moon, the West, autumn, and evening, their emblem being the white
tiger. Finally, black was connected with the North, winter, and night,
their symbol being the tortoise, known as the Black Warrior. The Hve
colors for Hags in China corresponded to the traditional belief that
the number Hve signihed a sense of strength and completeness, the full
gamut of possible or desirable options within a certain sphere of action.
In the thirteenth century, when the Mongols took over China and
founded the Yuan dynasty, the nomadic signs, with horse- and yak-
tail standards, were adopted by the Chinese, and, vice versa, the cloth
Hags of China began to wave over the victorious riders of the steppes.
All these ensigns moved westward with the subsequent migrations of
the Mongols and the Turks, although it is also true that some Hags
had already been made much earlier by Iranian and Arab tribes. It
is not easy to say whether these innovations were indirectly caused
by Chinese inHuence or whether they came about independently.
Very little is known about old Iranian signs. Most probably they
showed some traces of ancient Mesopotamian culture, charged with
typical motifs of mythical, astral, and magic origin. A metal standard
from third-millennium Iran with an eagle Hnial, published by
W. Smith, is a unique specimen of that kind.'' It has a Held with the
incised design of a ruler sitting on a throne, with another Hgure in
front and lions beneath. The majesty of the king, having close con-
tact with the gods, became a speciality of Persian state symbolism. In
the Achaemenian period, a peculiar type of vexilloid was used in the
Persian army, as documented in Greek vase painting: two stiff panels
(possibly of metal) with "envelope" patterns, probably black and red,
Hxed on the top of a staffT' From other sources we know that the
eagle was also applied on Achaemenian Hags. (It should be noted
that at that time the Greeks only rarely, and then only at sea, em-
8
low, biue, white, and biack, each hue having ancient associations of
cosmological and philosophical nature.^ Red stood for the sun; the
red phoenix for the South, for summer, and noon. In philosophical
speculations, the phoenix represented the male principle—Yang.
Yellow stood for the earth and China itself, while the yellow dragon
was imbued with the female principle—Ying. The constant combat
of Yang and Ying kept the world in balance. The yellow phoenix
represented also the Chinese emperor. Blue stood for the sky; the
blue dragon, for the East, spring, and morning. White stood for the
moon, the West, autumn, and evening, their emblem being the white
tiger. Finally, black was connected with the North, winter, and night,
their symbol being the tortoise, known as the Black Warrior. The Hve
colors for Hags in China corresponded to the traditional belief that
the number Hve signihed a sense of strength and completeness, the full
gamut of possible or desirable options within a certain sphere of action.
In the thirteenth century, when the Mongols took over China and
founded the Yuan dynasty, the nomadic signs, with horse- and yak-
tail standards, were adopted by the Chinese, and, vice versa, the cloth
Hags of China began to wave over the victorious riders of the steppes.
All these ensigns moved westward with the subsequent migrations of
the Mongols and the Turks, although it is also true that some Hags
had already been made much earlier by Iranian and Arab tribes. It
is not easy to say whether these innovations were indirectly caused
by Chinese inHuence or whether they came about independently.
Very little is known about old Iranian signs. Most probably they
showed some traces of ancient Mesopotamian culture, charged with
typical motifs of mythical, astral, and magic origin. A metal standard
from third-millennium Iran with an eagle Hnial, published by
W. Smith, is a unique specimen of that kind.'' It has a Held with the
incised design of a ruler sitting on a throne, with another Hgure in
front and lions beneath. The majesty of the king, having close con-
tact with the gods, became a speciality of Persian state symbolism. In
the Achaemenian period, a peculiar type of vexilloid was used in the
Persian army, as documented in Greek vase painting: two stiff panels
(possibly of metal) with "envelope" patterns, probably black and red,
Hxed on the top of a staffT' From other sources we know that the
eagle was also applied on Achaemenian Hags. (It should be noted
that at that time the Greeks only rarely, and then only at sea, em-
8