Everything about Sceptre totally explained
A
sceptre or
scepter is a symbolic ornamental
staff held by a ruling
monarch, a prominent item of kingly
regalia. It resembles a
mace.
Antiquity
A rod or staff has long represented
authority. The sceptre of the King of Persia is mentioned in the biblical
Book of Esther. Among the early
Greeks the sceptre 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's headed by a bird. It was this symbol of Zeus, the father 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 the leaders of the Achaeans, he lends him his sceptre.
Among the
Etruscans sceptres of great magnificence were used by kings and upper orders of the
priesthood, and 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, most elaborately and minutely ornamented.
The Roman sceptre probably derived from the Etruscan. Under the
Republic an ivory sceptre (
sceptrum eburneum) was a mark of
consular rank. It was also used by victorious generals who received the title of
imperator, and its use as a symbol of delegated authority to
legates apparently was revived in the marshal’s
baton.
Under the empire the
sceptrum Augusti was specially used by the emperors, and was often of ivory tipped with a golden
eagle. It is frequently shown on medallions of the later
empire, which have on the obverse a half-length figure of the
emperor, holding in one hand the
sceptrum Augusti, and in the other the
orb surmounted by a small figure of
Victory.
Christian Era
With the advent of
Christianity the sceptre was often tipped with a cross instead of with an eagle, but during the
Middle Ages the
finials on the top of the sceptre varied considerably.
In
England from a very early period two sceptres have been concurrently used, and from the time of
Richard I they've been distinguished as being tipped with a cross and a dove respectively. In France the royal sceptre was tipped with a
fleur de lys, and the other, known as the
main de justice, had an open hand of benediction on the top.
Sceptres with small shrines on the top are sometimes represented on royal seals, as on the great seal of
Edward III, where the king, enthroned, bears such a sceptre, but it was an unusual form; and it's of interest to note that one of the sceptres of
Scotland, preserved at
Edinburgh, has such a shrine at the top, with little images of
Our Lady,
Saint Andrew and
Saint James in it. This sceptre was, it's believed, made in France about 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 appears thus in the
Bayeux tapestry.
The earliest English coronation form of the 9th century mentions a sceptre (
sceptrum), and a staff (
baculum). In the so-called coronation form of
Ethelred II a sceptre (
sceptrum), and a rod (
virga) appear, as they do also in the case of a coronation order of the 12th century. In a contemporary account of
Richard I’s coronation the royal sceptre of gold with a gold cross, and the gold rod (
virga) with a gold dove on the top, enter the historical record for the first time. About 1450 Sporley, a monk of
Westminster, compiled a list of the relics there. These included the articles used at the coronation of Saint
Edward the Confessor, and left by him for the coronations of his successors. A golden sceptre, a wooden rod gilt and an iron rod are named. These survived till the
Commonwealth, and are minutely described in an inventory of the whole of the regalia drawn up in 1649, when everything was destroyed.
For the coronation of
Charles II of England new sceptres were made, and though slightly altered, they continue in use. They are a sceptre with a cross called "
St Edward’s sceptre", a
sceptre with a dove, and a long sceptre or staff with a cross of gold on the top called "St Edward’s staff". To these, two sceptres for the queen-consort, one with a cross, and the other with a dove, have been subsequently added.
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