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son of Nun.'...And in later times those who removed Arrow on the other and was "on behalf of the COM-
from Phoenicia with Dido came to the inhabitants of MUNITY of the said Realm" (more correctly "the
Libya as to kinsmen. And they willingly allowed them populace").
to found and hold Carthage...Later on the Romans
gained the supremacy over all of them in war and set- Moreover, the Declaration of Arbroath (1320) with the
tled the Moors at the extremity of the inhabited land of Lion Seal was for "the whole community" of Scotland.
Libya and made the Carthaginians and the other Libyans The suggestion that the Rampant Lion represented the
subject and tributary to themselves. And after this the king is untenable because the Declaration included the
Moors won many victories over the Vandals and gained statement that they would dethrone the King if he were
possession of the land now called Mauretania, extend- not true to Scotland's independence.
ing from Gadira as far as the most of Libya which
remained."
The Scottish Flag is the Lion
Rampant
Some time ago efforts were made to prevent the flying
of the Lion Rampant Flag, and to indulge in such patri-
otic fervour is still frowned upon in some quarters.
Whatever the objection the reason offered lay in the
false impression that it is the flag of the Sovereign, and
that the Saltire is the national flag of Scotland.
St. Andrew's flag (the Saltire) came into being in con- The Saltire was first used as a Banner on the Blue Blan-
sequence of an historical event in the 9th century. ket -- a trades flag. It is the flag of Scotland's St. An-
However, it seems not to have been so well known in drew, just as there is St. George's cross for England
its usage until the 16th century. On the other hand and St. Patrick's for Ireland, though some say that St.
there is confirmation from the Lyon office that the Patrick did not have a flag. These are national Saints
Lion Rampant was well known abroad in the 14th cen- and their flags are often seen flying from church build-
tury. This would not have been possible were it only to ings. The three lions passant is England's national (not
be seen in the presence of the King of Scots. Royal) flag, as the Lion Rampant is the national (not
Royal) flag of Scotland.
The Lion Rampant was used on Scotland's Seal after
the death of Alexander III and the Seal referred to Prior to 1603 there never was any claim made by roy-
thereon as "The Seal of Scotland assigned to the Gov- alty for possession of the Lion Rampant Flag, neither
ernment of the Realm." It was also used as such by Sir has a claim been made now. The Sovereign's claim for
William Wallace [Braveheart] and Sir Andrew Moray, the Royal Standard of four quarterings is correct, and
neither of whom claimed the Crown. The Seal was ap- should not be used by anyone else, for it symbolizes
pended on Wallace's letter to the Hanseatic League the nations concerned: the lions passant of England,
(1297); the Lion Rampant on one side, a Bow and the harp of Ireland and Scotland's Lion Rampant.
Herodotus
Herodotus was an early geographer (c. 484-410 B.C.), who has been styled the "father of history." Although his
knowledge was limited by the meagre information then available, this Greek writer and map-maker left much that
has proved useful in assisting modern historians to reconstruct the world of his time. He mentions a race of peo-
ple, then living in Scythia, as being of the same nation known to the Persians as Sakai. The Behistun Rock in-
scriptions prove that the Sakai (or Sacae) were the Gimiri or Khumri carried captive by the Assyrians. The
Khumri were the House of Omri (Israel) and the fact that Herodotus, in his day, placed them in Scythia -- the
large area to the north of the Black and Caspian Seas -- links them to the Celto-Saxon people who migrated
westwards from that locality. -- Wake Up! August, 1980.
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