The lictors, the fellows in the back with the bundles of sticks and an axe, were assigned as a magistrate’s authority as representatives of the people of Rome. They were a mixture of bodyguards and show-pieces. If a fellow comes by with a bunch of lictors following him or clearing a path for him, you know he’s an official of the Republic!
The stern looking soldier with the vine-staff is a centurion, a commander of ~80 troops, and that vine-staff was one of the key symbols of his authority - not least because he was empowered to hand out beatings to unruly soldiers with that staff!
Lictors or centurion?
The lictors, the fellows in the back with the bundles of sticks and an axe, were assigned as a magistrate’s authority as representatives of the people of Rome. They were a mixture of bodyguards and show-pieces. If a fellow comes by with a bunch of lictors following him or clearing a path for him, you know he’s an official of the Republic!
The stern looking soldier with the vine-staff is a centurion, a commander of ~80 troops, and that vine-staff was one of the key symbols of his authority - not least because he was empowered to hand out beatings to unruly soldiers with that staff!
tl;dr; us men have always loved our sticks
Also known as fasces. Y’all may have heard that word before…
Damn fascists, they ruined the fasces!
Lictor? I barely knew her!