Signum
（
σημεῖον). The Roman name for a military standard, usually
consisting of a badge (
insigne) on a staff, carried by legions, maniples,
and cohorts, as distinct from the
vexillum (q. v.). The
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Roman Standards. (Guhl and Koner.)
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latter was a square flag fastened on a cross-bar carried by the cavalry and allied
infantry detachments. The earliest Roman standard is said to have been a bundle of hay (
manipulus) on a staff (
Plut. Rom.
8). In the time of the manipular arrangement (see
Legio;
Manipulus), each maniple had its
peculiar
insigne, the eagle (the sign of the first
manipulus), the
wolf, the Minotaur, the horse, or the
boar. After Marius had made the eagle (q.v.) the standard representing the signum of
the whole legion, the forms of other animals were no longer employed. Instead of them the
maniples had a spear with an outstretched hand upon the point. Afterwards the signa were also
furnished with a
vexillum and with various ornaments on the pole,
especially round plates, often with representations of gods, emperors, and generals. The
cohorts, probably as early as the time of Caesar, had particular signa; after Trajan they
borrowed from the Parthians the
draco. This was the image of a large
dragon fixed upon a lance, with gaping jaws of silver, and with the rest of its body formed of
coloured silk. When the wind blew down the open jaws, the body was inflated (Veget.
De
Re Militari, ii. 13; Ammian. Marcell. xvi. 10, 7). This last is to be seen on
monuments among the standards of foreign nations, who also had a standard resembling a
mediæval banner. On the march and in an attack with close columns, the signa were
carried in the first line; in a pitched battle, behind the front rank. See
Domazewski,
Die Fahnen im römischen Heere (1885).
The Greeks carried no regular standard, but a scarlet flag (
φοινικίς) was sometimes raised as a signal for joining battle both on land and sea
(
Polyaen.iii. 9, 27;
Thucyd. i. 49). The Persians carried a golden eagle as a royal standard (
Xen. Anab. i. 10, 12), and the Parthians had
banners of silk. See
Vexillum.
