new awards...

[KiheBard at aol.com]

In a message dated 97-06-25 04:09:54 EDT, some delinquent wrote:

> - does anyone have information about when "campaign ribbons" attached
>    to a battle standard came into use?

The practice of displaying unit honors on unit standards dates back 
at the LEAST to Roman Imperial times.  I believe that their are mentions
of such in the early Roman Republic, the Alexandrian hosts, and 
I have a vague recollection of a parallel practice in Homeric record
(cf. _The Iliad_ and mention of emblems displayed upon the ship 
masts[?] to commemorate events in which that ship's company was 
successful)

There were extreme penalties for the survivors of a Legion
that lost its standards, the "eagles". One of those penalties was
the unit being stripped of earlier awards when the eagles were
replaced, at the least until the lost standards were recovered by
military action of the unit involved. 

(Above statements from memory, and note that I am currently 
involved in a self-study course concentrating upon the Legions
and the many bits of lore which have been preserved about them.)

Amra