Friday 20 September 2013

Roman knot



What does the Roman Empire have to do with the Stafford Knot?
I was watching a TV programme about Rome, and suddenly this image appeared - and I was able to take a photo of the TV screen.

SPQR simply means the 'Senate & People of Rome', and was the inscription carried on the Roman legionnaires' standards. 
But I've not been able to work out what the knot shape above it in this photo refers to. (The programme was no help, and not even specific about where this plaque is).

It looks like a Stafford Knot to me; though I know it's probably not.

1 comment:

  1. Just watched a BBC4 program about King Alfred and the Saxons [ part 2] and I saw exactly what your photo shows. The program told of how one of King Alfred's ancestors King Ina of Wessex went to visit the Popo in Rome and indeed founded the SchulaSaxona in the 8th. Century. About a hundred years later, King Alfred aged about 5 was received by the Pope of the time just after the SchulaSaxona had been rebuilt after fire. King Alfred's daughter Aethelflaed later became Lady of Mercia and restored many towns in the Midlands, including Stafford, Tamworth, Derby after defeating the Vikings. I don't know, but it seems to me that the connection of the Stafford Knot goes back at least this far, but who had the knot first- Romans or Saxons?

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