Byzantine Heraldry - Ceremonial Insignia

Ceremonial Insignia

From the 6th century until the end of the empire, the Byzantines also used a number of other insignia. They are mostly recorded in ceremonial processions, most notably in the 10th-century De Ceremoniis, but they may have been carried in battle as well. When not used, they were kept in various churches throughout Constantinople. Among them were the imperial phlamoula of gold and gold-embroidered silk, and the insignia collectively known as "sceptres" (σκῆπτρα, skēptra), which were usually symbolical objects on top of a staff. A number of them, the so-called "Roman sceptres" (ῥωμαϊκὰ σκῆπτρα, rhōmaïka skēptra) resembled to old vexilla, featuring a hanging cloth (βῆλον, vēlon, from Latin velum). Further insignia of this type included the eutychia or ptychia (εὐτυχία or πτυχία), which probably bore some representation of Victory.

A further group, collectively known as skeuē (σκεύη), is mentioned in the De Ceremoniis, mostly old military standards handed down through the ages. They were the laboura (λάβουρα), probably a form of the labarum; the kampēdiktouria (καμπηδικτούρια), descendants of the batons of the late Roman drill-masters or campiductores; the signa (σίγνα, "insignia"); the drakontia (δρακόντια) and the banda. Thedrakontia are clearly the descendants of the old Roman draco, and the term draconarius for a standard bearer survived into the 10th century. It is not certain, however, what the later standards looked like. According to the description of Niketas Choniates, they still included the windsock that was the draco′s distinctive feature, but this may be a deliberate archaicism. At any rate, the use of the dragon as an image is attested well into the 14th century.

Kodinos also enumerates various banners and insignia used in imperial processions: one named archistratēgos (ἀρχιστράτηγος, "chief general"); another with images of renowned prelates and eight streamers known as oktapodion (ὀκταπόδιον, "octopus"); another in the form of a cross with the images of St. Demetrius, St. Procopius, St. Theodore Tiro and St. Theodore Stratelates; another depicting St. George on horseback; another in the shape of a dragon (δρακόνειον, drakoneion); and another with the emperor on horseback. A pair of each was carried in processions, while only a single example was taken along on campaign. These in turn were preceded by the dibellion (διβέλλιον), the emperor's personal ensign, whose name – most likely a mixed Greek-Latin compound meaning "double velum" – apparently describes a forked pennon, evidently of Western European origin.