The Long Life of the Dragon Standard

Several pieces of surviving art depict Roman soldiers, especially cavalry, using dragon standards. This one is on Trajan's column. 

The Arch of Gallerius. The Latin word for these was draco.

As you can see, the standard consisted of a solid head mounted on a pole, from which trailed a cloth windsock. This is a gravestone from England, with a drawing showing what we think the stone looked like before the plow ran over it.

The solid part of one of these survives, found in a fort in Germany.

Here's a modern reconstruction.

The Greek historian Arrian tells us that these are "Scythian," which was by his time the Greek generic term for steppes peoples; modern historians think they were actually introduced to Rome by Sarmatian cavalry in Roman service.

I was moved to write about these when I discovered that they endured in Europe well into the Middle Ages. This is a Carolingian illustration of the 9th century.

King Harold's men in the Bayeux Tapestry.

And a fourteenth-century illustration showing King Arthur. Fascinating.