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==History== {{Main|History of flags}} [[File:Bronze flag, Shadad Kerman, Iran.JPG|upright|thumb|right|Bronze flag Derafsh Shahdad found in [[Shahdad]], Iran, third millennium BC]] The origin of the flag is unknown<ref>Inglefield, p. 39.</ref> and it remains unclear when the first flag was raised.<ref name="archive.org">{{Cite book |last=Smith |first=Whitney |url=http://archive.org/details/flagsthroughages00smit |title=Flags through the ages and across the world |date=1975 |publisher=New York |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-07-059093-9 |pages=33}}</ref> Ships with vexilloids were represented on predynastic Egyptian pottery {{circa|3500 BC}}.<ref name="archive.org"/> In antiquity, [[field sign]]s that can be categorised as [[vexilloid]] or "flag-like" were used in warfare, originating in [[ancient Egypt]] or [[Assyria]].<ref name="Britannica">[https://www.britannica.com/topic/flag-heraldry Flag | heraldry]. ''Encyclopedia Britannica''. Retrieved February 15, 2019.</ref> Examples include the [[Sassanid]] battle standard [[Derafsh Kaviani]], and the standards of the [[Roman legion]]s such as the [[aquila (Roman)|eagle]] of [[Augustus Caesar]]'s [[Legio X Fretensis|Xth legion]] and the [[Draconarius|dragon standard]] of the [[Sarmatians]]; the latter was allowed to fly freely in the wind, carried by a horseman, but depictions suggest that it bore more similarity to an elongated [[dragon kite]] than to a simple flag. While the origin of the flag remains a mystery, the oldest flag discovered is made of bronze: a [[Derafsh]] or 'flag-like' Shahdad, which was found in [[Shahdad]], Iran, and dates back to {{Circa|2400 BC}}. It features a seated man and a kneeling woman facing each other, with a star in between. This iconography was found in other Iranian Bronze Age pieces of art.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qsmtxmD5kWcC&q=shahdad+standard&pg=PA19|title=Susa and Elam. Archaeological, Philological, Historical and Geographical Perspectives.: Proceedings of the International Congress Held at Ghent University, December 14β17, 2009.|first1=Katrien De|last1=Graef|first2=Jan|last2=Tavernier|date=7 December 2012|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-9004207400|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Qbnyh2YH2KQC&q=shahdad+standard&pg=PA24|title=Art of the Bronze Age: Southeastern Iran, Western Central Asia, and the Indus Valley|first1=Holly|last1=Pittman|first2=Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York|last2=N.Y.)|date=12 December 1984|publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art|isbn=9780870993657|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6lDgYxV0DN8C&q=shahdad+standard&pg=PA227|title=Leaving No Stones Unturned: Essays on the Ancient Near East and Egypt in Honor of Donald P. Hansen|first1=Donald P.|last1=Hansen|first2=Erica|last2=Ehrenberg|date=12 December 2017|publisher=Eisenbrauns|isbn=9781575060552|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M2QMAQAAMAAJ&q=shahdad+standard|title=Shahdad: archaeological excavations of a bronze age center in Iran|first1=Ali|last1=Hakemi|first2=Istituto italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente Centro Scavi e Ricerche|last2=Archeologiche|date=12 December 1997|publisher=IsMEO|isbn=9788120410176|via=Google Books}}</ref> Flags made of cloth were almost certainly<ref name="Britannica"/> the invention of the ancient peoples of the [[Indian subcontinent]] or the [[Zhou dynasty]] of [[Ancient China]]. Chinese flags had iconography such as a red bird, a white tiger, or a blue dragon, and royal flags were to be treated with a level of respect similar to that given to the ruler. Indian flags were often triangular and decorated with attachments such as a [[yak]]'s tail and the state umbrella.{{Explain|reason=The term ''state umbrella'' needs explanation.|date=July 2023}} Silk flags either spread to the Near East from China or it was just the [[silk]] itself, later fashioned by people who had independently conceptualized a rectangular cloth attached to a pole.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Smith |first=Whitney |url=http://archive.org/details/flagsthroughages00smit |title=Flags through the ages and across the world |date=1975 |publisher=New York |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-07-059093-9 |pages=41}}</ref> Flags were probably transmitted to Europe via the [[Muslim world]], where plainly coloured flags were used due to [[Aniconism in Islam|Islamic proscriptions]]. They are often mentioned in the early history of Islam and may have been copied from India.<ref name="Britannica"/> In Europe, during the [[High Middle Ages]], flags came to be used primarily as a [[heraldic flag|heraldic device]] in battle, allowing easier identification of a knight over only the heraldic icon painted on the shield. Already during the high medieval period, and increasingly during the [[Late Middle Ages]], [[city state]]s and [[medieval commune|communes]] such as those of the [[Old Swiss Confederacy]] also began to use flags as field signs. Regimental flags for individual units became commonplace during the [[Early Modern period]]. [[File:Sujagi (1871).jpg|upright|left|thumb|''[[Sujagi]]'' of [[Eo Jae-yeon]], captured in 1871]] During the peak of the [[age of sail|sailing age]], beginning in the early 17th century, it was customary (and later a legal requirement) for ships to fly flags designating their nationality;<ref>Articles 90β94 of the [[UN Convention on the Law of the Sea]]</ref> these flags eventually evolved into the national flags and [[maritime flags]] of today. Flags also became the preferred means of [[communication]]s at sea, resulting in various systems of flag signals; ''see, [[International maritime signal flags]]''. Use of flags beyond a military or naval context began with the rise of [[nationalism]] by the end of the 18th century, although some flags date back earlier. The flags of countries such as Austria, Denmark or Turkey have legendary origins while many others, including those of Poland and Switzerland, grew out of the heraldic emblems of the Middle Ages. The 17th century saw the birth of several [[national flag]]s through revolutionary struggle. One of these was the flag of the Netherlands, which appeared during the [[Eighty Years' War|80-year Dutch rebellion]] which began in 1568 against Spanish domination.<ref>Inglefield, p. 48.</ref> Political change and social reform, allied with a growing sense of nationhood among ordinary people, led to the creation of new nations and flags all over the world in the 19th and 20th centuries.<ref>Inglefield, p. 50.</ref> {{Clear}}
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