The lictors of Roman antiquity were a class of citizens that had very specific responsibilities and were held in high regard. Historical research suggests that Roman lictors carried out the resposibilities of a body guard and those of a legislative assistant. They were exclusively reserved for prominent high-ranking citizens, such as senators, magistrates, consuls, pro-consuls, tribunes, legates, etc.
Lictors would accompany and attend to their respective employer like a slave attended to their master - although lictors were citizens, well-respected, and were often educated. They followed their charge everywhere in public affairs, and were even entrusted to carry out menial tasks as a proxy if their prominent charge could not be present.
In the early days of the Roman Republic, lictors carried out their guardian duties literally; they carried around a bundle of rods which could be disassembled and used for whipping, scourging, beating, or non-lethal punishment in general. In addition to the rods, an axe was included as well for the use of capital punishment. This curious artifact was called a fasces. Inside the sacred precincts of Rome, the axehead was either removed, or sheathed as the ability to carry out capital punishment did not lay with any one single man. Outside of Rome, the axe head was most likely revealed.
This faces artifact would eventually come to be synonymous with 'power' and 'authority' in Roman antiquity, and still does to this day. The mint of the United States features a fasces on some coins and seals to evince the same governmental 'power' and 'authority' that was typified in ancient Rome.
As the Republic aged, and gave way to the empire, the fasces were no longer used as an article of punishment, and merely became a status symbol. Anyone who was anyone in ancient Rome had lictors, and those lictors carried fasces.
Product includes:
- Belt (dForce)
- Left / Right Boot
- Small Cloak (dForce)
- Trousers (dForce)
- Tunic (dForce)
- 1 Fasces Prop
- 2 Pose presets
- 2 Boot Material presets
- 2 Fasces Material presets
*Roman Lictor is a dForce product and will not work well without it. For extreme poses, additional tweaking of poses may be required to prevent dForce explosions or any other irregulatities.
**Hide the fasces prop during simulation of the Pose Presets - it will distort the clothing mesh if revealed. Un-hide once simulation is complete.
***Hide the boots for faster simulation times, since these clothing items are high-poly mesh and are not dForce.