National Personifications

National Personifications

A national personification is an anthropomorphism of a nation or its people; it can appear in both editorial cartoons and propaganda.

Some early personifications in the Western world tended to be national manifestations of the majestic wisdom and war goddess Minerva/Athena, and often took the Latin name of the ancient Roman province. Examples of this type include Britannia, Germania, Hibernia, Helvetia and Polonia. Representations of the everyman or citizenry—rather than of the nation itself—are Deutscher Michel and John Bull.

A national personification is not the same as a national animal, although in some cartoons the national animal rather than the human personification is used to represent a country.