10-27-2005, 08:59 PM
Hi Matt,
True, the Romans tended to never completely phase out anything. But I thought I read that Marius introduced new standards such as the eagle standard. I'm not sure if he substituted these new standards in place of the old ones. But that's a topic for another thread.
Anyway, it's still a theory that it originally represented maniples and survived into the principate in spite of this. It's plausible but there's no way of knowing for sure, is there :?:
It could also be a symbol of salutation like I said
Quote:Symbols can last for a VERY long time- even after their original meaning has been lost. I see no reason that the manus atop a signum couldn't have been a throwback to the old maniple.
True, the Romans tended to never completely phase out anything. But I thought I read that Marius introduced new standards such as the eagle standard. I'm not sure if he substituted these new standards in place of the old ones. But that's a topic for another thread.
Anyway, it's still a theory that it originally represented maniples and survived into the principate in spite of this. It's plausible but there's no way of knowing for sure, is there :?:
It could also be a symbol of salutation like I said
Jaime