Sceptre

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Scepter
)
For other uses, see Sceptre (disambiguation).
Persia
on his throne, holding a sceptre and lotus

A sceptre (or scepter in American English) is a staff or wand held in the hand by a ruling monarch as an item of royal or imperial insignia, signifying sovereign authority.

Antiquity

Further information: Pharaoh § Scepters and staves

Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia

The Code of Hammurabi stela depicts the god Shamash holding a staff.
Jupiter in the Hermitage
, holding the sceptre and orb.

The

2nd Dynasty tomb of Khasekhemwy in Abydos. Kings were also known to carry a staff, and Pharaoh Anedjib
is shown on stone vessels carrying a so-called mks-staff. The staff with the longest history seems[clarification needed] to be the heqa-sceptre (the "shepherd's crook").

The sceptre also assumed a central role in the Mesopotamian world, and was in most cases part of the royal insignia of sovereigns and gods. This continued throughout Mesopotamian history, as illustrated in literary and administrative texts and iconography. The Mesopotamian sceptre was mostly called ĝidru in Sumerian and ḫaṭṭum in Akkadian.[1]

The Biblical Book of Genesis refers to the sceptre of Judah.

“The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.”

— Genesis 49:10 KJV[2]

In the

King of Persia
.

"When the king saw Esther the queen standing in the court, she obtained favor in his sight; and the king held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand. So Esther came near, and touched the top of the scepter."

— Esther 5:2

Greco-Roman world

Sengol sceptre in the new Indian Parliament

Among the early

Ancient Greek: σκῆπτρον, skeptron, "staff, stick, baton") 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. It was this symbol of Zeus, the king of the gods and ruler 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 parley with the leaders of the Achaeans
, he lends him his sceptre.

Among the Etruscans, sceptres of great magnificence were used by kings and high priests. 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, elaborately and minutely ornamented.

The Roman sceptre probably derived from the Etruscan. Under the

baton
.

Under the

emperor, holding in one hand the sceptrum Augusti, and in the other the orb surmounted by a small figure of Victory
.

India

The codes of the just and the cruel sceptre are found in the ancient

Chola kings, to use a symbolic sceptre during coronations.[7]

One such sceptre was presented to Jawarhal Nehru on 14 August 1947 by the Thiruvavaduthurai Adheenam symbolising the transfer of power as followed by Ancient Hindu Kings.

Sengol in the newly inaugurated Indian Parliament. The presentation of the sceptre to the first Indian Prime Minister in 1947 was claimed as a 'symbol of transfer of power from British to India',[11] which has been stirred up debates among few historians, who point to the lack of sources that portray the event as an official event.[12]

Christendom

Boris III of Bulgaria
Brazilian Crown Jewels

With the advent of Christianity, the sceptre was often tipped with a cross instead of with an eagle. However, during the Middle Ages, the finials on the top of the sceptre varied considerably.[citation needed]

In

fleur de lys, and the other, known as the main de justice, had an open hand of benediction on the top.[citation needed
]

Sceptres with small shrines on the top are sometimes represented on royal seals, as on the great seal of

Saint James the Great in it. This sceptre was, it is believed, made in France around 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 Godwinson appears thus in the Bayeux Tapestry.[citation needed
]

The earliest English coronation form of the 9th century mentions a sceptre (sceptrum), and a staff (baculum). In the so-called coronation form of

regalia drawn up in 1649, when everything was destroyed.[citation needed
]

For the coronation of Charles II of England, new sceptres with the Cross and the Dove were made, and though slightly altered, they are still in use today. Two sceptres for the queen consort, one with a cross, and the other with a dove, have been subsequently added.[citation needed]

The flags of Moldova and Montenegro have sceptres on them, clasped by eagles.

See also

References

  1. ISBN 978-88-94926-03-3
    .
  2. ^ Genesis 49:10
  3. ^ Tirukkuṛaḷ verses 541–560
  4. ISBN 8120600223
    .
  5. ^ "What is Sengol, symbol of Chola legacy set to stand tall in India's new parliament?". WION. Retrieved 2023-05-24.
  6. ISBN 978-01-44000-09-8
    .
  7. ^ "What is Sengol, symbol of Chola legacy set to stand tall in India's new parliament?". WION. Retrieved 2023-05-24.
  8. ISSN 0040-781X
    . Retrieved 2023-05-28.
  9. ^ [1] Sengol belittled
  10. ^ [2] Hindu-Museum failed to label correctly
  11. ^ "Sengol a transfer of power".
  12. ^ "Congress says 'Sengol' not power transfer symbol, BJP alleges insult to culture". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
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