The vexillum was a flag

Flag

A flag is a piece of fabric with a distinctive design that is usually rectangular and used as a symbol, as a signaling device, or decoration. The term flag is also used to refer to the graphic design employed by a flag, or to its depiction in another medium.The first flags were used to assist...

-like object used in the Classical Era

Classical antiquity

Classical antiquity is a broad term for a long period of cultural history centered on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ancient Greece and ancient Rome, collectively known as the Greco-Roman world...

 of the Roman Empire

Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....

. The word is itself a diminutive for the Latin word, velum, sail, which confirms the historical evidence (from coins and sculpture) that vexilla were literally "little sails" i.e. flag-like standards. In the vexillum the cloth was draped from a horizontal crossbar suspended from the staff; this is unlike most modern flags in which the 'hoist' of the cloth is attached directly to the vertical staff. The bearer of a vexillum was known as a vexillarius

Vexillarius

The Vexillarius can mean one of three things:First, a Vexillarius or Vexillifer was one of the signiferi in a Roman legion. His duty was to carry the Vexillum, a military standard displaying the name and emblem of the legion. This standard consisted of a woven fabric banner, hung on a crossbar...

or vexillifer. Just as in the case of the regimental colors or flag of Western regiments, the vexillum was a treasured symbol of the military unit that it represented and it was closely defended in combat

Combat

Combat, or fighting, is a purposeful violent conflict meant to establish dominance over the opposition, or to terminate the opposition forever, or drive the opposition away from a location where it is not wanted or needed....

.

Nearly all of the present-day regions of Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 preserve the use of vexilla. Many Christian processional banners are in the vexillum form; usually these banners are termed labara

Labarum

The labarum was a vexillum that displayed the "Chi-Rho" symbol ☧, formed from the first two Greek letters of the word "Christ" — Chi and Rho . It was used by the Roman emperor Constantine I...

  after the standard adopted by the first Christian Roman emperor Constantine I

Constantine I

Constantine the Great , also known as Constantine I or Saint Constantine, was Roman Emperor from 306 to 337. Well known for being the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity, Constantine and co-Emperor Licinius issued the Edict of Milan in 313, which proclaimed religious tolerance of all...

 which replaced the imperial eagle with the "Chi-Rho" symbol ☧.

The term Vexillum is also used by the Legion of Mary

Legion of Mary

The Legion of Mary is an association of Catholic laity who serve the Church on a voluntary basis. It was founded in Dublin, Ireland, as a Roman Catholic Marian Movement by layman Frank Duff. Today between active and auxiliary members there are in excess of 10 million members worldwide making it...

 as the term for its standard. A small version is used on the altar and a full size Vexillum leads processions.

See also

• Aquila
  Aquila
  Aquila is the Latin and Romance language word for eagle and may also refer to:-Signs and symbols:* Aquila , a Roman military standard* Latin name for the Eagle -Places:...
  
  
• Inquisitor vexillum
  Inquisitor vexillum
  Inquisitor vexillum is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Turridae, the turrids....
  
  , a sea snail species
• Vexilla Regis
  Vexilla Regis
  The "Vexilla Regis" is a Latin hymn by the Christian poet Venantius Fortunatus, Bishop of Poitiers. It takes its title from its opening stanza:...
  
  , early Christian hymn whose first line uses this word
• Vexilloid
  Vexilloid
  "Vexilloid" is a term used tenuously to describe vexillary objects used by countries, organizations, or individuals as a form of representation other than flags. Coined by Whitney Smith in 1958, he defined a vexilliod as:...
  
   - the concept in general as used in other empires
• Vexillology
  Vexillology
  Vexillology is the scholarly study of flags. The word is a synthesis of the Latin word vexillum, meaning 'flag', and the Greek suffix -logy, meaning 'study'. The vexillum was a particular type of flag used by Roman legions during the classical era; its name is a diminutive form of the word velum...
  
  , or the study of flags, which derives its name from this word
• Vexillum (botany), the large upper petal of a papilionaceous
  Papilionaceous
  Papilionaceous is a flower from the Papilionaceae family with a corolla, usually with five petals that include a large upper petal, the vexillum, enclosing two lateral wings resembling a butterfly and a lower keel petals which are united.The charecteristic aestivation of this flower is vexillary...
  
   flower
• Vexillum (gastropod)
  Vexillum (gastropod)
  Vexillum is a genus of sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Costellariidae.-Species:Species within the genus Vexillum include:* Vexillum albolineatum Cossignani & Cossignani, 2007* Vexillum arabicum Turner, 2008...
  
  , a genus
  Genus
  In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
  
   of snail
  Snail
  Snail is a common name applied to most of the members of the molluscan class Gastropoda that have coiled shells in the adult stage. When the word is used in its most general sense, it includes sea snails, land snails and freshwater snails. The word snail without any qualifier is however more often...
  
  s in the family Costellariidae
  Costellariidae
  Costellariidae sometimes called the "ribbed miters" is a taxonomic family of minute to medium-sized predatory sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks. This family of snails is also sometimes referred to as Vexillum miters...
  
  

External links

• Worldwide supplier of Flags and Flagpoles.
• The Cisalpina Historical Reenactment Group Web Site.
• The Roman Hideout
• http://www.redrampant.com/roma/vexillum.html The Roman Vexilla
• http://flagspot.net/flags/xf-etym.html#vex Vexillium