Baton (symbol)

The ceremonial baton is a short, thick stick-like object, typically in wood or metal, that is traditionally the sign of a field marshal or a similar very high-ranking military officer, and carried as a piece of their uniform. The baton is distinguished from the swagger stick in being thicker and effectively without any practical function. Unlike a staff of office, a baton is not rested on the ground. Unlike a royal sceptre, a baton is typically flat-ended, not crowned on one end with an eagle or globe.

The origin of the commander's baton is remote but common to all pastoral societies and the ones in Egypt and Rome are manifest through art. It used to be believed that the type of decorated prehistoric artefacts called bâton de commandement had this role in the European Upper Palaeolithic, but archaeologists have discarded this theory. In western Europe most are later variations of the ones consuls received and that represented the overall command of those tied to the fasces that represented the Roman tribes that comprised the Roman people. With time they came to be extended to the commanders that held supreme authority, civilian and military over the provinces of the republic, and later under the dictatorships and finally the emperor.

A short, heavy, white baton was the symbol of the imperial mandate given to a Roman military legate. He held it high proclaiming "above your head and mine" to represent the emperor.

It is possible that the Spartan cipher rod, scytale, also had a related military status, pre-dating the Roman baton, but the first detailed reference in Plutarch dates from the Roman period.

Batons were given to top commanders in most European armies from at least the Renaissance, as a revival of classical practice. They were typically presented by the monarch, and latterly were often elaborate pieces of metalwork, though earlier portraits show plain batons of wood, often longer and thinner than later examples. They were also typically carried by monarchs when portrayed in military dress. The French kings, and Napoleon, provided Marshals of France with ornate batons, typically of blue velvet with metal fleurs-de-lys before the French Revolution, then stars or Napoleonic bees.

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