Editing Fasces

{{Short description|Bound bundle of wooden rods, sometimes with an axe}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2024}}
[[Image:Fasces.svg|thumb|upright=0.4|A fasces image, with the axe in the middle of the bundle of rods]]
A '''fasces''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|f|æ|s|iː|z}} {{respell|FASS|eez}}; {{IPA|la|ˈfaskeːs|lang}}; a {{lang|la|[[plurale tantum]]}}, from the [[Latin]] word {{lang|la|[[wikt:en:fascis#Latin|fascis]]}}, meaning 'bundle'; {{langx|it|fascio littorio}}) is a bound bundle of wooden rods, often but not always including an axe (occasionally two axes) with its blade emerging. The fasces is an Italian symbol that had its origin in the [[Etruscan civilization]] and was passed on to [[ancient Rome]], where it symbolized a [[King of Rome|Roman king]]'s power to punish his subjects,<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Pearson |first1=Patricia O'Connell |title=World History: Our Human Story |last2=Holdren |first2=John |date=May 2021 |publisher=Sheridan Kentucky |isbn=978-1-60153-123-0 |location=Versailles, Kentucky |pages=152}}</ref> and later, a [[magistrate]]'s [[Power (social and political)|power]] and [[jurisdiction]]. The axe has its own separate and older origin. Initially associated with the [[labrys]] ({{langx|grc|λάβρυς|lábrys}}; {{langx|la|bipennis|links=no}}),{{efn|The term for a single-bladed axe is {{lang|grc-Latn|hēmipélekys}} "half-{{lang|grc-Latn|pélekys}}", {{lang|grc-Latn|pélekys}} ({{lang|grc|πέλεκυς}}) being a synonym of {{lang|grc-Latn|lábrys}}; e.g. [[Iliad|Il]]. 23.883.}} the double-[[Axe#Parts of the axe|bitted axe]] originally from [[Crete]], is one of the oldest symbols of [[Greek civilization]].

The image of fasces has survived in the modern world as a representation of magisterial power, law, and governance. The fasces frequently occurs as a [[Charge (heraldry)|charge]] in [[heraldry]]: it is present on the reverse of the U.S. [[Mercury dime]] coin and behind the podium in the [[United States House of Representatives]] and in the [[Seal of the united states senate|Seal of the U.S. Senate]]; and it was the origin of the name of the [[National Fascist Party]] in Italy (from which the term ''[[fascism]]'' is derived).

During the first half of the twentieth century, both the fasces and the [[swastika]] (each symbol having its own unique ancient religious and mythological associations) became heavily identified with the [[Fascism|fascist]] political movements of [[Benito Mussolini]] and [[Adolf Hitler]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Fasces Mussolini-Hitler mark |url=https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fasces_Mussolini-Hitler_mark.jpg |website=[[Wikimedia]]|date=4 November 2006 }}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Winkler |first=Martin M. |year=2009 |title=6. Nazi Cinema and Its Impact on Hollywood's Roman Epics: From Leni Riefenstahl to Quo Vadis |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/30/oa_monograph/chapter/1145302 |website=[[Project MUSE]] |publisher=[[Ohio State University Press]] |pages=14 |via=[[Johns Hopkins University]]}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |year=1938 |title=Partisan Review |url=https://bu.userservices.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/delivery/01BOSU_INST:AlmaGeneralView/121027668920001161?lang=en&viewerServiceCode=AlmaViewer |journal=[[Partisan Review]] |volume=6 |issue=1 |pages=40 |via=[[Boston University Libraries]]}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite web |year=2007 |title=FEBRER 1937 |url=https://libraries.ucsd.edu/speccoll/swpostcards/dp257.p75_1937_12.html |access-date=2024-05-08 |publisher=[[University of California, San Diego]]}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite web |title=A drawing of a fasces by Giuseppe Barberi (1746–1809) of Italy |url=https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/the-rise-of-italian-fascism-and-its-influence-on-europe/sources/1357 |access-date=2024-05-08 |website=[[Digital Public Library of America]] |language=en}}</ref> This is due to Mussolini's more active usage of the symbol and the campaigns of Hitler, [[Nazism|Nazis]], and [[Anti-fascism|anti-fascists]] alike to make various allusions and comparisons between the two [[dictator]]s to associate Hitler with Mussolini and his symbolism.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" /><ref name=":4" /> During this period the swastika became deeply stigmatized, but the fasces did not undergo a similar process outside Italy.

The fasces remained in use in many societies after [[World War II]] because it had already been adopted and incorporated into the iconography of numerous governments outside Italy, prior to Mussolini. Such iconographical use persists in governmental and various other contexts. In contrast, the swastika remains in common usage only in Asia, where it originated as an ancient [[Hindu]] symbol, and in [[Navajo]] iconography, where its religious significance is entirely unrelated to, and predates, early 20th-century European fascism.{{Citation needed|reason=Historical evidence shows otherwise|date=March 2025}}

== Symbolism ==
[[File:Roman armour and accessories.png|thumb|A print depicting Roman armour and accessories including two versions of the fasces (seen in the lower right)]]
The fasces, as a bundle of rods with an axe, was a grouping of all the equipment needed to inflict corporal or capital punishment. In [[ancient Rome]], the bundle was a material symbol of a [[Roman magistrate]]'s full civil and military power, known as {{lang|la|[[imperium]]}}. They were carried in a procession with a magistrate by [[lictor]]s, who carried the fasces and at times used the birch rods as punishment to enforce obedience with magisterial commands.{{sfn|Brennan|2022|pp=2, 12}} In common language and literature, the fasces were regularly associated with certain offices: [[praetors]] were referred to in Greek as the {{Transliteration|grc|hexapelekys}} ({{literally|six axes}}) and the [[Roman consul|consuls]] were referred to as "the twelve fasces" as literary [[metonymy]].{{sfn|Brennan|2022|p=1}} Beyond serving as insignia of office, it also symbolised the [[Roman Republic]] and its prestige.{{sfn|Brennan|2022|p=2}}

After the classical period, with the [[Fall of the Roman Empire|fall of the Roman state]], thinkers were removed from the "psychological terror generated by the original Roman fasces" in the antique period. By the [[Renaissance]], there emerged a conflation of the fasces with a Greek [[fable]] first recorded by [[Babrius]] in the second century AD depicting how individual sticks can be easily broken but how a bundle could not be.{{sfn|Brennan|2022|p=3}} This story is common across Eurasian culture and by the thirteenth century AD was recorded in the ''[[Secret History of the Mongols]]''.{{sfn|Brennan|2022|p=4}} While there is no historical connection between the original fasces and this fable,<ref>{{harvnb|Brennan|2022|p=4|ps=. "It must be stressed that, in historical terms, there is no close connection between the Roman fasces and the Aesop fable... other than the attractive coincidence that each involves a bundle of sticks".}}</ref> by the sixteenth century AD, fasces were "inextricably linked" with interpretations of the fable as one expressing unity and harmony.{{sfn|Brennan|2022|p=4}}

== In the ancient world ==
[[File:2Postumia Denarius. A.POST A.F S.N ALBIN Hispania HISPAN, Togate figure fasces legionary eagle.jpg|thumbnail|Aquila (Legionary eagle), toga figure, and fasces on reverse side of coinage]]
[[File:Ascia bipenne da alto dignitario, da tomba del littore a vetulonia, 610 ac ca.jpg|thumb|Earliest depiction of a fasces, c. 610 BC, discovered as a grave good in Vetulonia in 1897]]

=== Origin ===
The English word ''fasces'' comes from [[Latin]], with singular {{lang|la|fascis}}.<ref>{{cite web |title=fasces |url=http://www.webster.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?va=fasces |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930201552/http://www.webster.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?va=fasces |archive-date=2007-09-30 |website=Merriam-Webster Dictionary }}</ref> The word is usually used in its plural to refer to magisterial insignia, but is sometimes used to refer to [[bushel]]s or bundles in an agricultural context. This word itself comes from the [[Proto-Indo-European language|Indo-European]] root {{PIE|*bhasko-}}, referring to a bundle.{{sfn|Brennan|2022|pp=12–13}}

The earliest archaeological remains of a fasces are those discovered in a necropolis near the Etruscan hamlet now called [[Vetulonia]] by the archaeologist [[Isidoro Falchi]] in 1897.{{sfn|Brennan|2022|p=8}} The discovery is now dated to the relatively narrow range of 630–625&nbsp;BC, which coincides with the traditional dating of Rome's legendary fifth king [[Lucius Tarquinius Priscus]].{{sfn|Brennan|2022|p=10}} An [[Etruscan civilization|Etruscan]] origin, furthermore, is supported by ancient literary evidence: the poet [[Silius Italicus]], who flourished in the late 1st century AD, posited that Rome adopted many of its emblems of office – viz the fasces, the [[curule chair]], and the {{lang|la|[[toga praetexta]]}} – specifically from Vetulonia.{{sfn|Brennan|2022|pp=9–10}} A story of Etruscan origin is further supported by [[Dionysius of Halicarnassus]] in his [[antiquarian]] work, ''[[Roman Antiquities]]''.{{sfn|Brennan|2022|p=11}}

=== Rome ===

==== Regal period ====
Ancient Roman literary sources are unanimous in describing the ancient [[Roman Kingdom|kings of Rome]] as being accompanied by twelve lictors carrying fasces. Dionysius, in ''Roman Antiquities'', gave a complex story explaining this number: for him, the practice originated in [[Etruria]] and each bundle symbolised one of the twelve Etruscan [[city-state]]s; the twelve states together represented a joint military campaign and were given to the Etruscan king of Rome, Tarquinius Priscus, on his accession to the throne.{{sfn|Brennan|2022|p=11}} While [[Livy]] concurred with Dionysius' story, he also relates a different story ascribing fasces to the first Roman king – [[Romulus]] – who selected twelve to correspond to the twelve birds which appeared in [[augury]] at the [[founding of Rome]].{{sfn|Brennan|2022|p=12}}

Later stories gave different aetiologies: some described fasces as coming from [[Latium]], others from Italy in general. [[Macrobius]], writing in the 5th century AD, have the Romans taking fasces from the Etruscans as spoils of war rather than adopted by cultural diffusion. In general, it seems that by the sixth century BC, fasces had become a common symbol in central Italy and Etruria – if not also into southern Italy, as Livy implies{{sfn|Brennan|2022|p=14}} – for royal prestige and coercive power.{{sfn|Brennan|2022|p=12}} The ancient Roman literary record largely depicts the fasces of their time as carried largely symbolically by lictors who were present primarily to defend their charges from violence. However, the same stories depict fasces far more negatively in the context of tyrannies or regal displays.{{sfn|Brennan|2022|pp=14–15}}

Plutarch, in his [[Parallel Lives|''Life of Publicola'']], describes an incident in which [[Lucius Junius Brutus]], the first [[Roman consul]], has lictors scourge with rods and decapitate with axes – components of the fasces – his own sons who were conspiring to restore the Tarquins to the throne.<ref>{{harvnb|Brennan|2022|p=16}}, citing Plut. ''Pub.'' 6.</ref> After Brutus' alleged death in battle, Publicola then passed reforms subordinating magisterial use of fasces for coercion to the people: consuls would lower the fasces before the people during speeches and there would be appeal to the people against a magistrate ordering capital or corporal punishment.{{sfn|Brennan|2022|p=18}}

==== Republican period ====
[[File:Q. Servilius Caepio (M. Junius) Brutus, denarius, 54 BC, RRC 433-1.jpg|thumb|right|Denarius minted by [[Marcus Junius Brutus]] depicting a personification of [[Libertas]] on left and Lucius Junius Brutus with [[lictor]]s carrying bladed fasces on right{{sfn|Crawford|1974|p=455}}{{Sfn|Tempest|2017|loc=Plate 4}} ]]
[[File:S Paolo FLM - nel chiostro fasci pretore 1120843.JPG|thumb|Rome, cloister of San Paolo, outside wall: marble panel depicting six fasces]]

During the republic, the Romans used the number of fasces accompanying a magistrate to mark out rank and distinction. The two consuls each had 12 lictors, as did the traditional [[Roman dictator|dictators]].{{sfn|Brennan|2022|p=50}} The late republican dictators – of which [[Sulla]] was the first – were accompanied by 24 lictors and fasces.<ref>{{harvnb|Brennan|2022|pp=20–21}}, adding that [[Julius Caesar]] during his dictatorship, was voted 72 fasces for his triumphs, but also noting that this backfired politically.</ref> However, the consuls alternated initiative by month. The consul without initiative would retain a negative on the other consul's actions but would be preceded only by an {{lang|la|accensus}} and be followed by lictors bearing reduced fasces.{{sfn|Brennan|2022|p=50}}

Praetors normally held six fasces and were so described on campaign in Greek sources. There were, however, some exceptions. After 197&nbsp;BC, praetors sent to [[Hispania]] were dispatched with [[proconsul]]ar status and therefore received twelve fasces. Around the same time, in the {{lang|la|[[lex Plaetoria]]}}, the number of fasces accompanying a praetor in court was reduced to merely two, possibly because a praetor in court "with six fasces might seem imperious".{{sfn|Brennan|2022|p=54}}

By the late second century BC, magistrates who had won victories abroad that were proclaimed {{lang|la|[[imperator]]}} – a victory title – were decorated with [[Laurus nobilis|laurel]]. This acclamation was a necessary prerequisite for celebrating a [[Roman triumph|triumph]], a prestigious award for which commanders might wait years.{{sfn|Brennan|2022|p=30}} Within the {{lang|la|[[pomerium]]}}, Rome's sacred city boundary, the magistrates normally removed the axes from their fasces to symbolise the appealable nature of their civic powers.{{sfn|Drummond|2015}} However, an exception was made during a triumph, when the triumphing general's military auspices were extended into the city so that he could make sacrifices at the [[Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus|Temple of Jupiter]] on the [[Capitoline Hill]]. The laurels decorating the triumphator's axed fasces were removed and decided in a ceremony, placing them in the lap of the cult statue of the Capitoline Jupiter.{{sfn|Brennan|2022|p=31}}

During the republic, only persons possessing {{lang|la|imperium}} were granted full complements of fasces; the number granted to promagistrates for their analogous rank was not diminished.{{sfn|Drummond|2015}} Lieutenants exercising delegated {{lang|la|imperium}} were, in the late republic, regularly granted two fasces.{{sfn|Brennan|2022|p=94}} When others were sometimes assigned lictors as bodyguards or otherwise to assist in official duties, they probably did not carry fasces.<ref>{{harvc |last=Staveley |first=Eastland Stuart |last2=Lintott |first2=Andrew |c=lictores |in=OCD<sup>4</sup> |year=2012 }}</ref> Italian municipal officials during the republic were usually accompanied by local lictors, but these lictors did not carry fasces until imperial times.{{sfn|Brennan|2022|p=25}}

Popular resistance to magistrates during the late republic sometimes took the form of mobs smashing magisterial fasces. In 133&nbsp;BC, [[Tiberius Gracchus]] incited a mob to take and break a praetor's fasces; two praetors, a certain Brutus and Servilius, were dispatched in 88&nbsp;BC to order [[Lucius Cornelius Sulla]], then consul, to desist from his march on Rome and had their insignia of office defaced and destroyed; [[Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus]]'s lictors were set upon in 59&nbsp;BC when he – along with some [[plebeian]] tribunes – attempted to veto [[Julius Caesar]]'s [[Lex Julia agraria|land reform bill]] during their joint consulship, leading to his lictors' fasces being lost entirely.{{sfn|Brennan|2022|pp=78–79}} This last breaking of fasces was "a ritualistic act of symbolic violence (the People thus disposing of tokens of the imperium that was in their gift) that substituted for direct physical violence against the person of the consul".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Morstein-Marx |first=Robert  |title=Julius Caesar and the Roman people |date=2021 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/9781108943260 |isbn=978-1-108-94326-0 |page=138 |s2cid=242729962 |quote=There are only a few acts of breaking fasces recorded, and all of them carry the message that the people refused to acknowledge the consular authority any longer. }}</ref>

==== Imperial period ====
[[File:Caracalla, sestercius, AD 202-204, RIC IV 422A.jpg|thumb|[[Sestertius]] of [[Caracalla]], 202–204. The reverse depicts the emperors Caracalla and [[Septimius Severus|Septimius]] on a platform (central characters); on the right is a lictor holding the new curved fascis.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mattingly |first1=Harold |last2=Sydenham |first2=Edward A |title=Roman Imperial Coinage: Pertinax to Geta |volume=4 pt 1 |location=London |publisher=Spink & Son |year=1936 |page=281 }}</ref>]]
During the [[Roman Empire]], the number of people who were entitled to fasces and lictors expanded. Fasces were first granted to [[Vestal Virgin]]s by the Senate in 42&nbsp;BC when the six vestals were allowed one lictor each.{{sfn|Brennan|2022|p=95}} They were joined by fasces granted to the three major {{lang|la|[[Flamen|flamines]]}} (high priests). Single lictors also preceded members of the {{lang|la|[[sodales Augustales]]}}, who were priests of the [[Roman imperial cult|imperial cult]].{{sfn|Brennan|2022|p=96}} At the death of the first emperor, [[Augustus]], in AD 14, his widow [[Livia]] was voted a lictor by the Senate, though sources disagree as to whether she ever exercised the privilege.<ref>{{harvnb|Brennan|2022|p=97}}, explaining that while [[Cassius Dio]] reports Livia was voted a lictor, [[Tacitus]] says [[Tiberius]] flatly refused to allow her use of one.</ref>

The division of the Roman provinces into [[imperial province|imperial]] and [[senatorial province]]s, with Augustus holding proconsular imperium over the imperial provinces and administering them through legates, also further expanded the number of fasces.{{sfn|Brennan|2022|p=97}} Augustus appointed legates with {{lang|la|imperium [[propraetor|pro praetore]]}} as governors, each of which was granted five lictors. When Italy was divided into [[Augustan regions of Italy|fourteen regions]] in 7&nbsp;BC, the {{lang|la|curator}} of each region was granted two lictors while in office and on station. After the creation of the {{lang|la|[[aerarium militare]]}} (military treasury) in AD&nbsp;6, the three ex-praetors administering it were each granted two lictors as well.{{sfn|Brennan|2022|p=98}} Municipal magistrates' lictors also gained fasces during the imperial period.{{sfn|Brennan|2022|p=25}}

By the reign of the [[Severan dynasty|Severans]] at the start of the third century, fasces had been redesigned. Depicted on a sestertius struck {{circa|AD&nbsp;203}}, fasces no longer took the form of a bundle of sticks, but rather took the form of a long curved stick or two of such sticks bound together. The number of fasces granted to imperial governors titled proconsul stayed at twelve into the late fourth century AD; governors of the rank {{lang|la|[[consularis]]}} received five fasces, but most governors – with the rank {{lang|la|[[praeses]]}} – had no fasces at all.{{sfn|Brennan|2022|p=53}} This later form persisted through to the [[Eastern Roman Empire]]: the Byzantine antiquarian, [[John the Lydian]], writing in the sixth century AD described fasces as "long rods evenly bound together" with red straps and axes held aloft.{{sfn|Brennan|2022|pp=47, 229 n. 37|ps=, referencing coin RIC IVa 422A.}} Into the mediaeval period, Byzantine emperors remained guarded by men – by the 14th century, the [[Varangian Guard]] – carrying staves and axes.{{sfn|Brennan|2022|p=49}}

== Post-classical reception ==
[[File:V&A - Raphael, The Conversion of the Proconsul (1515).jpg|thumb|Raphael's ''Conversion of the Proconsul'' (1515), depicting fasces to the left of the magistrate]]

While the Latin word {{lang|la|fasces}} did not fall out of use in the mediaeval period, its technical meaning was forgotten. By the end of the first millennium, it was glossed as "somehow connot[ing] 'supreme power' or 'official honours{{'"}}.{{sfn|Brennan|2022|p=111}} For example, {{circa|1439}}, [[Jean de Rovroy]], when translating [[Frontinus]]' [[Stratagems (Frontinus)|''Stratagems'']], was deceived by a [[false cognate]] and thought {{lang|la|fasces}} referred to ribbons Roman magistrates would wear on their heads; such misconceptions were apparently common, and dated back to the 11th century.{{sfn|Brennan|2022|p=111}} Visual representations of the bundle itself were rare – the 11th century AD [[Junius manuscript]] excepted – until the Renaissance.{{sfn|Brennan|2022|pp=110–11}}

=== Renaissance ===
Renaissance humanists, especially those who read more Latin, however, quickly became well-informed on fasces and their legal technicalities, including the customary removal of axes within the city, lowering before the people, and alternation by the consuls. By the first decade of the 16th century, references to fasces in a more Roman context started to appear.{{sfn|Brennan|2022|p=112}} At the same time, recognisable depictions started to reappear in Italy, such as [[Raphael]]'s painting ''Conversion of the Proconsul'' ({{circa|1515}}).{{sfn|Brennan|2022|pp=113–14}}

By the mid-1500s, the fasces also began to symbolise other things which would have been "unimportant or even unknown to the Romans".{{sfn|Brennan|2022|p=116}} [[Pope Clement VIII]]'s reassertion of Papal juridical authority after the [[Sack of Rome (1527)|sack of Rome]] in 1527 started iconographic developments that would associate fasces with personifications of [[Justice]].{{sfn|Brennan|2022|p=118}}

[[File:Blason Jules Mazarini (alias Mazarin) (1602-1661).svg|thumb|Coat of arms of [[Cardinal Mazarin]], the first to include fasces on arms in modern times{{sfn|Brennan|2022|p=126}}]]

Syncretism of fasces with the [[Aesop's Fables|Aesop fable]] of a bundle of sticks being harder to break than each stick alone associated fasces also with domestic concord and in art with personifications of [[Concordia (mythology)|Concord]].{{sfn|Brennan|2022|pp=119–20}} This symbology also merged with that of justice in that unbinding the rods and axes promoted reflection over just action.{{sfn|Brennan|2022|p=122}} In this context, [[Cardinal Mazarin]] placed fasces on his coat of arms, "the first individual in the modern era to do so".{{sfn|Brennan|2022|p=126}}

From here, depictions of fasces exploded. Antje Middeldorf-Kosegarten, in ''Reallexikon zur Deutschen Kunstgeschichte'',

{{Blockquote|
charts for the post-Ripa period [after 1603] a proliferation of the fasces as symbol across almost every conceivable visual medium, from architectural sculpture to decorative arts, in paintings of every type, on monuments that range from honorific arches to tombs, as well as in medallic art and engravings...{{sfn|Brennan|2022|p=128}}
}}

By the mid-seventeenth century, fasces had become "well established throughout Europe as a catch-all symbol for stable and competent governance". It also expanded to symbolise competent corporate governance.{{sfn|Brennan|2022|p=133}} Yet, due to a massive expansion in meaning, the symbol seemed to have died by the 1760s, muddled as little more than a reference to the past.{{sfn|Brennan|2022|p=135}}

=== Revolution ===
[[File:George Washington by Jean-Antoine Houdon - DSC05829.JPG|thumb|A bronze cast of [[Jean-Antoine Houdon]]'s statue of [[George Washington]]. Washington's left arm rests on a cloak over fasces with thirteen rods.{{sfn|Brennan|2022|p=140}} ]]

As an emblem, fasces made their way to the colonies in [[British colonization of the Americas|British North America]].{{sfn|Brennan|2022|p=138}} There, during the [[American Revolution]], the fasces' symbology as referencing strength through unity was adopted as a symbol of the united colonial effort against British rule.{{sfn|Brennan|2022|pp=138 et seq}}

Fasces similarly came to adopt a privileged symbology during the [[French Revolution]]. First referring to the 83 [[Departments of France|departments]] of 1789, as a symbol of unity, it came to be associated with [[Liberté, égalité, fraternité|''fraternité'']] and a united French people.{{sfn|Brennan|2022|pp=142–43}} Topped with a [[Phrygian cap]], fasces were seen as a reference to the "imagined spirit of the early Roman republic [and] its assertion of ideals of liberty and justice against tyranny".{{sfn|Brennan|2022|p=144}} In France, however, use of fasces as a symbol declined starting with the establishment of the [[French Consulate|Consulate]] in 1799 through to the proclamation of the [[French Second Republic|Second Republic]] in 1848.{{sfn|Brennan|2022|pp=153–55}}

Similar usage proliferated in the aftermath of the French Revolution. Haiti, in its revolution against France, coined with many depictions of fasces, as did [[First Mexican Republic|Mexico]] during its first republic, Ecuador, Chile, and the [[Roman Republic (18th century)|Roman Republic]] of 1798.{{sfn|Brennan|2022|p=152}}

== Modern usage ==
[[File:Eagle with fasces.svg|thumb|right|An [[eagle]] perching on a fasces, a common [[Fascist symbolism|symbol of]] [[fascist]] regimes<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.scribd.com/document/373053697/Fascist-Symbolism | title=Fascist Symbolism &#124; PDF &#124; Far Right Politics &#124; Third Position }}</ref>]]

Numerous governments and other authorities have used the image of the fasces as a symbol of power since the end of the [[Roman Empire]]. It also has been used to hearken back to the Roman Republic, particularly by those who see themselves as modern-day successors to that republic or its ideals.

[[Coat of arms of Ecuador|The Ecuadorian coat of arms]] incorporated the fasces in 1830, although it had already been in use in the [[Coat of arms of Gran Colombia#Third version|coat of arms]] of [[Gran Colombia]].

=== Italy ===
The Italian word ''[[fascio]]'' ({{plural form}}: ''fasci''), etymologically related to ''fasces'', was used by various political organizations in the late 19th and early 20th centuries with the figurative meaning of "league" or "union".

[[Italian Fascism]], which derives its name from the fasces, arguably used this symbolism the most in the twentieth century. The [[British Union of Fascists]] also used it in the 1930s. The fasces, as a widespread and long-established symbol in the West, however, has avoided the [[social stigma|stigma]] associated with much of [[fascist symbolism]] (except in Italy, where exhibiting the fasces can lead to an indictment) and many authorities continue to display them, including the federal government of the United States.

<gallery>
Image:War flag of the Italian Social Republic.svg|War flag of the [[Italian Social Republic]]
Image:Flag of the National Fascist Party (PNF) variant 2.svg|Flag of the [[National Fascist Party]]
Image:Flag of Italian Fascism.svg|Italian Fascist flag first seen used in the early 1920s with this depiction being one variant of such flags that were the Italian tricolour flag with a fasces in the middle of it
Image:Fascist_Eagle.svg|Eagle perched on fasces, as adorned on caps and helmets of [[Fascist Italy (1922–1943)|Fascist Italy]]
File:Roundel of Italy (1922–1940).svg|Fuselage roundel used on aircraft of the [[Regia Aeronautica|Italian air force]] during the Fascist period
File:Italy-Royal-Airforce.svg|Roundel used on the wings of aircraft of the Italian air force during the Fascist period
</gallery>

=== France ===
A review of the images included in ''Les Grands Palais de France : Fontainebleau''<ref>''Les Grands Palais de France : Fontainebleau'', I re Série, Styles Louis XV, Louis XVI, Empire, Labrairie Centrale D'Art Et D'Architecture, Ancienne Maison Morel, Ch. Eggimann, Succ, 106, Boulevard Saint Germain, Paris, 1910</ref><ref>''Les Grands Palais de France : Fontainebleau '', II me Série, Les Appartments D'Anne D'Autriche, De François I er, Et D'Elenonre La Chapelle, Labrairie Centrale D'Art Et D'Architecture, Ancienne Maison Morel, Ch. Eggimann, Succ, 106, Boulevard Saint Germain, Paris, 1912</ref> reveals that French architects used the Roman fasces (''faisceaux romains'') as a decorative device as early as the reign of [[Louis XIII]] (1610–1643) and continued to employ it through the periods of [[Napoleon I]]'s Empire (1804–1815).

The fasces typically appeared in a context reminiscent of the [[Roman Republic]] and of the [[Roman Empire]]. The [[French Revolution]] used many references to the ancient [[Roman Republic]] in its imagery. During the [[French First Republic|First Republic]], topped by the [[Phrygian cap]], the fasces is a tribute to the Roman Republic and means that power belongs to the people. It also symbolizes the "unity and indivisibility of the Republic",<ref name="elysee1">{{cite web |title=Le Faisceau de licteur |year=2009 |url=http://www.elysee.fr/president/la-presidence/les-symboles-de-la-republique-francaise/le-faisceau-de-licteur/le-faisceau-de-licteur.5979.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121104072203/http://www.elysee.fr/president/la-presidence/les-symboles-de-la-republique-francaise/le-faisceau-de-licteur/le-faisceau-de-licteur.5979.html |archive-date=2012-11-04 |website=Présidence de la République |language=fr }}</ref> as stated in the [[French Constitution]]. [[French Revolution of 1848|In 1848]] and [[Government of National Defense|after 1870]], it appears on the [[Seal (emblem)|seal]] of the French Republic, held by the figure of [[Liberty (personification)|Liberty]]. There is the fasces in the [[Coat of arms of France|arms of the French Republic]] with the "RF" for ''République française'' (see image below), surrounded by leaves of [[olive tree]] (as a symbol of [[peace]]) and [[oak]] (as a symbol of [[justice]]). While it is used widely by French officials, this symbol never was officially adopted by the government.<ref name="elysee1"/>

President [[Valéry Giscard d'Estaing]] placed one on his presidential flag.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.elysee.fr/la-presidence/le-faisceau-de-licteur | title = Le faisceau de licteur | website = elysee.fr| date = 20 November 2012 }}.</ref> In 2015, a logo representing a stylized fasces was used for internet communication by the Presidency of the French Republic.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.bfmtv.com/politique/elysee/le-nouveau-logo-de-la-communication-de-l-elysee-fait-bien-rire-les-internautes_AN-201503300129.html | title = Le nouveau logo de la communication de l'Elysée fait bien rire les internautes | website = bfmtv.com| date = 31 March 2015 }}.</ref> Since 1870, it has also appeared on the badges of deputies and senators known as barometers, which they place conspicuously on their vehicles.

<gallery>
File:Arms of the French Republic.svg|The unofficial but common [[coat of arms of France]] depicts a fasces, representing justice
Image:French fasces.jpg|Images from ''Les Grands Palais de France : Fontainebleau ''
Image:French fasces 00.jpg|
Image:Nanine Vallain - Liberté.jpg|[[Nanine Vallain]], ''Liberté'', 1794
Image:Consulate Seal of Napoleon Bonaparte.png|[[French Consulate]] Seal of [[Napoleon Bonaparte]], 1799
Image:Great Seal of France.svg|[[Great Seal of France]], 1848
</gallery>

=== United States ===
[[File:Seal_of_the_United_States_Senate.svg|thumb|[[Seal of the United States Senate]] with two fasces at bottom]]

Since the original founding of the United States in the 18th century, several offices and institutions in the United States have heavily incorporated representations of the fasces into much of their iconography.

==== Federal fasces iconography ====
[[File:1943D Mercury Dime reverse.jpg|thumb|The reverse of the Mercury dime, with a fasces]]
[[File:Emancipation Memorial.jpg|thumb|Emancipation Memorial]]

* On the podium of the [[Emancipation Memorial]] in Washington D.C., beneath [[Abraham Lincoln]]'s right hand
* The reverse of the [[Mercury Dime]], the design used from 1916 until the adoption of the current FDR dime in 1945, features a fasces.
* On the obverse of the 1896 $1 [[Educational Series]] note there is a fasces leaning against the wall behind the youth.
* In the [[Oval Office]], above the door leading to the exterior walkway, and above the corresponding door on the opposite wall, which leads to the president's private office; the fasces depicted have no axes, possibly because in the [[Roman Republic]], the blade was always removed from the bundle whenever the fasces were carried inside the city, in order to symbolize the rights of citizens against arbitrary state power (see above)
* Two fasces appear on either side of the [[flag of the United States]] behind the podium in the [[United States House of Representatives]], with bronze examples replacing the previous gilded iron installments during the remodeling project of 1950.<ref>{{Cite web |author=Office of the Historian |title=Furniture |website=US House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives |url=https://history.house.gov/Exhibitions-and-Publications/Capitol/1951-Present/Furniture/ |access-date=2020-02-27 |publisher=US House of Representatives }}</ref>
* The [[Mace of the United States House of Representatives]] resembles fasces and consists of thirteen ebony rods bound together in the same fashion as the fasces, topped by a silver eagle on a globe
* The official [[seal of the United States Senate]] has as one component a pair of crossed fasces.
* Fasces ring the base of the [[Statue of Freedom]] atop the [[United States Capitol]] building.
* A frieze on the facade of the [[United States Supreme Court building]] depicts the figure of a Roman [[centurion]] holding a fasces, to represent "order".<ref>{{cite web |last=Skefos |first=Catherine Hetos |title=The Supreme Court gets a new home |date=1975 |website=Journal of Supreme Court History |publisher=Supreme Court Historical Society |url=http://www.supremecourthistory.org/04_library/subs_volumes/04_c01_e.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051128162002/http://www.supremecourthistory.org/04_library/subs_volumes/04_c01_e.html |archive-date=2005-11-28 }}</ref>
* The [[National Guard of the United States|National Guard]] uses the fasces on the seal of the [[National Guard Bureau]], and it appears in the insignia of Regular Army officers assigned to National Guard liaison and in the insignia and unit symbols of National Guard units themselves; for instance, the regimental crest of the [[71st Infantry Regiment (New York)]] of the New York National Guard consisted of a gold fasces set on a blue background.
* At the [[Lincoln Memorial]], Lincoln's seat of state bears the fasces—without axes—on the fronts of its arms; fasces also appear on the pylons flanking the main staircase leading into the memorial.
* The official [[Seal (emblem)|seal]] of the [[United States Tax Court]] bears the fasces at its center.
* Four fasces flank the two bronze plaques on either side of the bust of Lincoln memorializing his [[Gettysburg Address]] at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
* The seal of the United States Courts Administrative Office includes a fasces behind crossed quill and scroll.
* In the Washington Monument is a statue of George Washington leaning on a fasces.
* A fasces features prominently in the regimental insignia and coat of arms of the [[Military Police Corps (United States)|United States Military Police Corps]], as well as on the insignias of the [[14th Military Police Brigade|14th]], [[18th Military Police Brigade|18th]], and [[42nd Military Police Brigade|42nd]] [[List of United States Army Military Police Corps units|Military Police Brigades]].
* A fasces appears on the [[shoulder sleeve insignia]] of the [[United States Army Reserve Legal Command|US Army Reserve Legal Command]].
* Seated beside George Washington, a figure holds a fasces as part of ''[[The Apotheosis of Washington]]'', a fresco mural suspended above the rotunda of the [[United States Capitol Building]].

==== State, local and other fasces iconography ====
[[File:MN Supreme Court Chamber, ornate woodwork on railing-02.jpg|thumb|Ornate woodwork on railing in [[Minnesota Supreme Court]] Chamber]]

* The main entrance hallways in the [[Wisconsin State Capitol]] have lamps that are decorated with stone fasces motifs; in the woodwork before the podium of the speaker of the assembly, several double-bladed fasces are carved, and in the woodwork before the podium of the senate president are several single-bladed fasces.
* The grand seal of [[Harvard University]] inside Memorial Church is flanked by two inward-pointing fasces; the seal is located directly below the {{convert|368|ft|m|adj=on}} steeple and the [[Great Seal of the United States]] inside the Memorial Room; the walls of the room list the names of Harvard students, faculty, and alumni who gave their lives in service of the [[United States]] during [[World War I]] along with an empty tomb depicting [[Alma Mater]] holding a slain Harvard student.
* The fasces appears on the [[Seal of Colorado|state seal of Colorado]], US, beneath the "All-seeing eye" (or [[Eye of Providence]]) and above the mountains and mines.
* The hallmark of the [[Kerr & Co]] silver company was a fasces.
* On the seal of the [[New York City]] borough of [[Brooklyn]], a figure carries a fasces; the seal appears on the borough flag; fasces also can be seen in the stone columns at [[Grand Army Plaza]] and on a flagpole in [[Washington Square Park]].
* The symbol is used as part of the [[Knights of Columbus]] emblem (designed in 1883, replaced by a bayonet from 1926 to 1947).
* Commercially, a small fasces appeared at the top of one of the insignia of the [[Hupmobile]] automobile.
* A fasces appears on the [[George Washington (Houdon)|statue of George Washington]] by Jean-Antoine Houdon that is now in the Virginia State Capitol; fasces are used as posts of the 1818 cast-iron fence surrounding the capitol building.
* Columns in the form of fasces line the entrance to [[Buffalo City Hall]].
* In [[Newark Penn Station]], the exit to Raymond Plaza West is bordered on both sides by {{convert|10|ft|m|0|adj=on}} vertical fasces (each with a double axe-head).
* [[VAW-116]] have a fasces on their unit insignia.
* [[San Francisco]]'s [[Coit Tower]] has two fasces-like insignia (without the axe) carved above its entrance, flanking a [[Phoenix (mythology)|phoenix]].
* Two monuments erected in [[Chicago]] at the time of the [[Century of Progress Exposition]] are adorned with fasces; the monument to [[Christopher Columbus (Grant Park)|Christopher Columbus]] (1933) in [[Grant Park (Chicago)|Grant Park]] has them on the ends of its [[exedra]]; the ''[[Balbo Monument]]'' in [[Burnham Park (Chicago)|Burnham Park]], (1934) a gift from [[Benito Mussolini]], has the vandalized remains of fasces on all four corners of its [[plinth]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bach |first1=Ira |last2=Gray |first2=Mary Lackritz |title=A guide to Chicago's public sculpture |publisher=University of Chicago Press |location=Chicago |year=1983 |pages=11–12 |isbn=978-0-2260-3398-3 }}</ref>

==== Examples of US fasces iconography ====
<gallery>
File:State of the Union entrance 2011.jpg|Fasces bestride Speaker's rostrum in the [[United States House of Representatives|House chamber]] of the [[United States Capitol]]
File:Kennedy children visit the Oval Office, October 1962.jpg|Above the door leading out of the [[Oval Office]]
File:Mace of the U.S. House of Representatives (front).png|The [[mace of the United States House of Representatives]], designed to resemble a fasces
File:1989CongressBicentennialDollarBreverse.tif|[[Modern United States commemorative coins#1989|1989 US Congress Bicentennial commemorative coin]] reverse, depicting [[mace of the United States House of Representatives]]
File:Seal of the United States Tax Court.svg|The seal of the [[United States Tax Court]]
File:Lincoln Memorial Inside.jpg|The [[Lincoln Memorial]] with the fronts of the chair arms shaped to resemble fasces
File:LincolnGett.JPG|Flanking the image of Lincoln at the [[Gettysburg Address]] memorial
File:US-Courts-AdministrativeOffice-Seal.svg|The seal of the [[Administrative Office of the United States Courts]]
File:Fasces on City Hall Chicago.jpg|Above the door to [[Chicago City Hall|Chicago's City Hall]]
File:Flag of Brooklyn, New York.svg|The flag of the New York City borough of [[Brooklyn]]
File:Looking up at Coit Tower.jpg|At the entrance to San Francisco's [[Coit Tower]]
File:George Washington Statue at Federal Hall.JPG|Statue of [[George Washington]] at the site of his inauguration as first president of the United States, now occupied by [[Federal Hall National Memorial]], includes a fasces to the subject's rear right
File:AlexanderHamiltonUSCapStat.jpg|Horatio Stone's 1848 statue of [[Alexander Hamilton]] displays a fasces below Hamilton's hand
File:United States Army Reserve Legal Command CSIB.png|Shoulder sleeve insignia of [[United States Army Reserve Legal Command|US Army Reserve Legal Command]]
File:Flickr - USCapitol - Apotheosis of Washington, Science.jpg|Portion of ''[[The Apotheosis of Washington]]'', a fresco mural suspended above the rotunda of the [[United States Capitol Building]]
File:USAMPC-Regimental-Insignia.png|Regimental Insignia of the [[Military Police Corps (United States)|United States Military Police Corps]].
File:14MPBdeSSI.jpg|Shoulder sleeve insignia of the [[14th Military Police Brigade]]
File:18th Military Police Brigade SSI.svg|Shoulder sleeve insignia of the [[18th Military Police Brigade]]
File:42nd Military Police Brigade SSI (2004-2015).png|Shoulder sleeve insignia of the [[42nd Military Police Brigade]]
</gallery>

=== Modern authorities and movements ===
* The collar of the Latvian [[Order of the Three Stars]] is decorated with fasces that is supported by lion and griffin
*[[Benito Mussolini]]'s tomb is flanked by marble fasces

The following cases involve the adoption of the fasces as a symbol or icon, although no physical re-introduction has occurred.
* [[Aiguillette]]s worn by [[aide de camp|aides-de-camp]] in many Commonwealth armed forces bear the fasces on the metal points; the origin of this is unknown, as the fasces is an uncommon symbol in British and Commonwealth heraldry and insignia
* The [[Miners Flag]] (also known as the "Diggers' Banner"), the standard of nineteenth-century gold-miners in the colony of Victoria, in Australia, included the fasces as a symbol of unity and strength of common purpose; this flag symbolized the movement prior to the rebellion at the [[Eureka Stockade]] (1854)
* The [[British Union of Fascists]] originally used the fasces on their flag until adopting the [[Flash and Circle]]
* The coat of arms of [[Republic of Ecuador|Ecuador]], which also is featured on its national flag, has included a fasces since 1822
* The coat of arms of [[Cameroon]] features two fasces that form a diagonal cross
* The coat of arms of [[Republic of Cuba|Cuba]] features a fasces
* The third flag of [[Gran Colombia]], a former nation in [[South America]], depicted a large fasces entwined with several arrows
* The coat of arms of [[Norte de Santander]], a department of [[Colombia]], and of its capital [[Cúcuta]], both feature a fasces
* The coat of arms of the [[Romanian Police]] features two crossed fasces
* The Grand Coat of Arms of [[Vilnius]], [[Lithuania]] features a fasces
* The crests of many collegiate [[fraternities|fraternities and sororities]] feature the fasces, including those of [[Chi Phi]], [[Alpha Phi Delta]], [[Sigma Alpha Mu]], [[Phi Beta Sigma]], and [[Psi Upsilon]]
* The academic seal of [[American University Washington College of Law]] prominently features a fasces
* The symbol of the [[National Party (Uruguay)]] (Partido Nacional) includes a fasces
* On the entrance of the [[Royal Castle of Laeken]] in Belgium
* The emblem of the Spanish gendarmerie [[Guardia Civil (Spain)|Guardia Civil]] includes a fasces
* Both the [[Norwegian Police Service|Norwegian]] and [[Swedish police]] have double fasces in their coats of arms
* The emblems of the Russian [[Federal Penitentiary Service]] and [[Federal Bailiffs Service (Russia)|Federal Bailiffs Service]] include fasces in the double-headed eagle's left foot
*Insignia of the [[Philippine Constabulary]] was include fasces
* The coat of arms of the [[Batavian Republic]] features a fasces
* Both the logo and flag of [[Patriot Front]] feature a fasces.

<gallery>
Image:Coat of arms of canton of St. Gallen.svg|The coat of arms of the Swiss [[canton of St. Gallen]] has displayed the fasces since 1803.
Image:Greater coat of arms of the Kingdom of Italy (1929-1944).svg|Greater coat of arms of Italy of 1929–1943, during the Fascist era, bearing the fasces
Image:Flag of the British Union of Fascists (original).svg|The original flag of the [[British Union of Fascists]]
File:Flag of the British Union of Fascists (alternate).svg|An alternate flag of the British Union of Fascists
Image:Emblem of the Spanish Civil Guard.svg|Emblem of the [[Guardia Civil]], a law enforcement agency from [[Spain]]
Image:Grand Coat of arms of Vilnius.svg|The Grand Coat of Arms of Vilnius, Lithuania, bearing the fasces
Image:Emblem of the Federal Penitentiary Service.svg|The emblem of the Russian [[Federal Penitentiary Service]], bearing the fasces
Image:Emblem of the Federal Bailiffs Service.svg|The emblem of the Russian [[Federal Bailiffs Service (Russia)|Federal Bailiffs Service]], bearing the fasces
File:Insignia of the Philippine Constabulary.svg|Insignia of the [[Philippine Constabulary]], bearing the fasces
File:Element uit de vlag van de marine van de Bataafse Republiek.svg|[[Dutch Maiden]], the national symbol of the [[Batavian Republic]], bearing the fasces
File:Polisen vapen bra.svg|Coat of arms of the [[Swedish Police Authority]]
File:Coat of arms of the Norwegian Police Service.svg|alt=Coat of arms of the Norwegian Police Service.|Coat of arms of the [[Norwegian Police Service]]
File:Elewacja Sejmu Śląskiego - Fasces.JPG|Fragment of the façade of the building of the [[Silesian Parliament]] in [[Katowice]]
File:Fasci.jpg|Fasces on railings at [[Alexander Garden]] in [[Moscow]]
File:Konstituciya RSFSR 1918.jpg|Cover of the [[Soviet Russia Constitution of 1918]]
</gallery>

== See also ==
{{Div col}}
* [[Fascine]] (bundle of wood or other material used in earthworks)
* [[Papal ferula]]
* [[Obol (coin)|Obol]] – a unit of Ancient Greek currency, originally represented through a bundle of rods before being replaced with a coin of the same name
* [[Francisca]]
* [[Labrys]]
* [[Law and order (politics)]]
* [[Staff of office]]
* [[Yoke and arrows]]
* [[1107 Lictoria]]
* [[The Old Man and his Sons|The Bundle of Sticks]] – an [[Aesop's Fable]] whose moral is that there is strength in unity
{{Div col end}}

== Notes ==
{{Notelist}}

== References ==
=== Citations ===
{{Reflist|20em}}

=== Sources ===
{{Refbegin|30em}}
* {{Cite book |last=Brennan |first=T Corey |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Dr-CEAAAQBAJ |title=The fasces: a history of ancient Rome's most dangerous political symbol |date=2022 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-764488-1 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Crawford |first=Michael Hewson |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w0pmAAAAMAAJ |title=Roman republican coinage |date=1974 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-07492-6 }}
* {{cite web |last=Drummond |first=Andrew |title=fasces |date=2015-12-22 |url=https://oxfordre.com/classics/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.001.0001/acrefore-9780199381135-e-2639 |website=Oxford Classical Dictionary |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.013.2639 |isbn=978-0-19-938113-5 |access-date=2022-12-21}}
* {{Cite book |title=The Oxford classical dictionary |year=2012 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bVWcAQAAQBAJ |editor-first1=Simon |editor-last1=Hornblower |display-editors=etal |isbn=978-0-19-954556-8 |edition=4th |oclc=959667246 |publisher=Oxford University Press |ref={{harvid|OCD<sup>4</sup>|2012}} }}
* {{Cite journal |last=Marshall |first=Anthony J |date=1984 |title=Symbols and showmanship in Roman public life: the fasces |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1088896 |journal=Phoenix |volume=38 |issue=2 |pages=120–141 |doi=10.2307/1088896|jstor=1088896 |url-access=subscription }}
* {{cite book |last=Tempest |year=2017 |first=Kathryn |title=Brutus: the noble conspirator |publisher=Yale University Press |place=London |isbn=978-0-300-18009-1 |url={{googlebooks|mmo3DwAAQBAJ|plainurl=y}}}}
{{Refend}}

== External links ==
{{Commons}}
{{EB1911 poster|Fasces}}
* {{Cite web |last=Brennan |first=T Corey |date=2023-07-16 |title=The Fasces: Ancient Rome's Most Dangerous Political Symbol |url=https://antigonejournal.com/2023/07/roman-fasces/ |access-date=2023-07-19 |website=Antigone |language=en-GB}}
* {{Cite web |last=Lendering |year=2003 |first=Jona |website=Livius.org |title=Fasces |url=https://www.livius.org/fa-fn/fasces/fasces.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140220191134/http://www.livius.org/fa-fn/fasces/fasces.html |archive-date=2014-02-20 }}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Ancient Roman government]]
[[Category:Fascist symbols]]
[[Category:Heraldic charges]]
[[Category:National symbols of France]]
[[Category:National symbols of the United States]]
[[Category:Political symbols]]