When were the lictors abolished?
Upvote:1
The last mentions of Lictors accompanying Roman emperors known to me are from the reign of Andronikos I Komnenos, so they were most likely around at least until the crusader sack of Constantinople of 1204. They are well-attested in the 6th century and we even have several original late antiquity depictions of fasces. So they actually existed long after the existing answers claim.
I disagree with the claim presented in Felix Goldberg's answer:
My present guess is that Heraclius might have abolished them as part of his reforms that swept a lot of the Roman heritage away
This is a dramatic misunderstanding of Heraclius. Heraclius never did anything with the intention of "sweeping a lot of the Roman heritage away". Mr. Goldberg is presumably basing this on a misunderstanding of Heraclius finally making Greek the main administrative language of the Empire, without knowing the context and details behind this. Heraclius firmly considered himself a Roman and would surely be shocked that he is being credited by someone with "sweeping the Roman heritage away".
Upvote:3
Here is what I came up with so far. The lictors are mentioned in the Theodosian Code (This is from footnote n.46 in this paper). More evidence for them at the end of the 4th century CE can be adduced from Gibbon who says that one Ammonius "expired under the rod of the lictor". I don't know what was Gibbon's reference for that but he can be trusted to get such things right.
So we know that lictors were still in vogue in the 5th century. When did they disappear? My present guess is that Heraclius might have abolished them as part of his reforms that swept a lot of the Roman heritage away. But that's just a guess, I'll keep looking for a real answer.
I also found this tantalizing pointer:
For the fullest account of the lictors, see Mommsen, Romisches Staatsrecht, i. 355, 374 (3 r d ed., 1887).
Perhaps someone can look it up...
Upvote:4
I have not been able to find any evidence that Lictors were ever disbanded in Ancient Rome, in fact they seem to have been active well into the 5th century.
Once Augustus came to power their roles were gradually replaced by the praetorian guard, marking their decline as an organisation.
After the fall of Rome, most Roman administrative positions from the republican era, such as the consulship lapsed making the position of Lictor irrelevant.
More post
- 📝 Why did so few militaries use semi automatic rifles as their standard issue infantry weapon?
- 📝 Historical accuracy of gulag archipelago
- 📝 How did the primary means of communication between the British government in Delhi and UK change during WW2?
- 📝 How a kingdom or an empire formed?
- 📝 What did indigenous North Americans trade amongst themselves before Europeans arrived?
- 📝 Is it true that Newton ordered the hanging of counterfeiters?
- 📝 How is the photography printing on newpaper is possible in the WW2 era?
- 📝 Did Hellenic-Romans have Ancient Greek heritage?
- 📝 When else has an incumbent president alleged election fraud by a challenger?
- 📝 How many electric light companies operated in New York in 1887?
- 📝 What do these artillery shell stamps indicate?
- 📝 Nymphodorus of Syracuse
- 📝 Why were Morocco and Tunisia made a French protectorate, but Algeria annexed as part of France?
- 📝 Have American gangsters ever helped their government in war time out of patriotism?
- 📝 Dunkirk Little ship requisition documents
- 📝 Why are church reformist centers all outside the boundary of the original Roman Empire?
- 📝 Were there originally seats in the elevators in the Eiffel Tower?
- 📝 What calendars were used in Eastern Rome?
- 📝 How serious was Fermat's statement about the ancients?
- 📝 Were Draco’s laws particularly “draconian” at the time they were enacted?
- 📝 How did U-boats enter and exit the submarine pens at Brest?
- 📝 What did Hitler say in Mein Kampf about the possibility of other nations allying against Germany in response to her aggression?
- 📝 How to explain the Khalkhin Gol outcome in view of Soviet weakness and Japanese strength at that time?
- 📝 Why did families in 6th century Mecca send their babies to be raised in the desert?
- 📝 When and how was West/East-German citizenship determined in the early years of post-war Germany?
- 📝 What would slaves in the Roman Empire call their masters?
- 📝 Why did the Indian National Congress fail to convince Indian minorities to support united India
- 📝 In Battle of Zama, how did Hannibal's use of war elephants lead to a Roman Victory?
- 📝 When and why did war chariots stop being used?
- 📝 Post-war indictment of ex-Confederates in the Confederate States of America
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 When were the heresy laws abolished in England?
- 📝 When were the lictors abolished?
- 📝 When did the Romans finally acknowledge that they were living in an empire?
- 📝 Were there ethnic Russians in Alaska when the US purchased it 1867? Did they stay?
- 📝 When and where were the first coins made showing the currency or a face value?
- 📝 When did the English and Americans realize that vegetables were healthy?
- 📝 What were the “passports” that diplomats requested when declaring war?
- 📝 When were US Presidential candidates' names first shown on the ballot?
- 📝 Where were the western legions when the Roman empire fell?
- 📝 Easter Islands: were the Islanders starving when found?
- 📝 What were the factors that aided Margaret Thatcher in her victory against the trade unions when her predecessors failed?
- 📝 When were the first timezones established?
- 📝 What were the conditions that Pieter Stuyvesant found when he arrived in America?
- 📝 When were the first mosques established in Constantinople?
- 📝 Was there ever a war mission where the personnel were instructed to surrender when the mission complete?
- 📝 What happened when the Çatalhöyük burial holes were full and the houses had no more room?
- 📝 What alternate north-south supply routes did the Soviet Union have when the Volga and Stalingrad were under attack?
- 📝 When was the last moment that Dutch, German and Swiss German were the same language?
- 📝 When were the different stories of Hindu gods written?
- 📝 When were the "War Relief Toy Works" set up and by whom?
- 📝 Which personal weapons, if any, were carried by the 1606 Janszoon expedition when it landed in Australia?
- 📝 When the Chinese were driven out of modern Vietnam in AD 938, did an Vietnamese ethnic identity already exist?
- 📝 When was the last time there were border controls, customs, or border patrols inside what is now the contiguous US?
- 📝 When were both minuscule and majuscule letters used for the first time in the same Latin manuscript?
- 📝 When were the first deaths from the Spanish Flu Pandemic?
- 📝 Why did the Queen of Hawai'i surrender, when two thirds of the registered voters were in favour of signing the new constitution in 1893?
- 📝 When were the 'last' pagans in northern Europe converted to christianity?
- 📝 When the outbreak of World War II was foreseeable, were any European commoners able to pre-emptively emigrate?
- 📝 When were 1942 lend-lease trucks sold to the public?
- 📝 When were the Germans aware of British airborne radar during WWII?