Lituus

A Lituus is a curved or spiral rod ending. He is of Italian origin and Etruscan- usually made ​​of wood or metal. Originally the Lituus Amtsinsignie of the Roman kings. He later became a sign imperatorischer power and the emblem of the Princeps.

More significant, however, is the cultic function of Lituus. The rod was a cult object and Insignia of the augurs. From them the Lituus was used as a designation of the regions of the sky or of the templum. Of great importance is also the rod from a mythological point of view, because according to legend, Romulus thus setting the various regions of the city of Rome. In the iconography of the Lituusstab is often the symbol for pundits to works of art and coins. In mathematics, the Lituus spiral named after the bar.

A similar rod already numbered among the regalia of the pharaohs. Today's crook as one of the regalia of a bishop of the Roman Catholic Church also dates back to the Lituus. All of these bar forms had probably developed from the simple shepherd's crook.