This here is Lord Mayor's Dinner at Guildhall on 11/09/1829 (year according to the notice of the British Museum). The dinner was organized by William Thompson who was the Lord Mayor of London from 1828 to 1829. The dinner was held in honor of his predecessor Matthias Prime Lucas.
Above them hungry folks, we have a beautiful ceiling. As you can see, upper walls are decorated with various flags.
Two of the flags have four letters - SPQL. In the historical context, there is only one meaning to these four letters:
The Londonian EmpireI was gonna write up a bunch of BS about some Londonian Empire the PTB forgot to tell us about but this is not how the story goes. Unfortunately, the suggested reality is not as exciting.
In reality, this here below, is the only only extant Roman vexillum (so they say). The PTB dated it with 3rd century AD. I did not find any official info on this flag's history. Here is what I did find:
KD: The one and only, ancient Roman flag, discovered in 1911 in Egypt, dated to 3rd century AD and now located in Russia. These are some usual TPTB tricks.
With the above "unverified" reference in mind, take a look at this:
SPQP #1I wanted to welcome you to the ancient Republic of Paris. It has never been a republic, but it was a member of the club enjoying the protection of the union.
SPQAThis time we will visit the ancient Republic of Antwerp. It has never been a republic, but it could be a member of the club, and enjoy the protection of the union.
And this here is my favorite one. Could Mexico City be a member of the same club we know today under the disguise of two names: the ancient Roman Empire and the Holy Roman Empire?
The reason I consider SPQM (with M for Mexico) to be significant is this - by the time Columbus "discovered" America (with Dark Ages factored in), any SPQx abbreviation applied to Mexico should sound like a bunch of historical BS of historic proportions. Yet, we somehow have it.
Oh, and by the way. Meet the founding fathers of the world famous Mexico City.
And these are your average Azteca Indians in front of "his Highness".
To complete the picture I wanted to add a comical mention of SPQx.
This here is one additional reference to the German city of Cologne. Dumb luck was the reason I ran into this Cologne example. I'm pretty sure that with diligent research, additional European cities could display similar traits.
In other words, all the way up to ~1780s, people could run into something like this in the streets. Who would have thought that entire cities were into role playing in the late 18th century?
Could we have some (poorly edited out) toga wearers in this photograph?
KD: I think I'm gonna stop here. We have as many of these SPQx's as there were cities and towns who purchased a club membership in the Roman Empire (or, if you prefer, the Holy Roman Empire) union. I can make only four conclusions out of the above mess:
- The Lord Mayor of London
Two of the flags have four letters - SPQL. In the historical context, there is only one meaning to these four letters:
- SPQL - Senātus Populusque Londinii - The Senate and People of London ... the Londonian Empire?
- As in Senātus Populusque Rōmānus for SPQR - The Senate and People of Rome ... the Roman Empire!
The Londonian Empire
SPQR
-the official break down-
SPQR, an abbreviation for Senātus Populusque Rōmānus is an emblematic abbreviated phrase referring to the government of the ancient Roman Republic.-the official break down-
- Senātus Populusque Rōmānus - In Latin, Senātus is a nominative singular noun meaning "Senate".
- Populusque is compounded from the nominative noun Populus, "the People", and -que, an enclitic particle meaning "and" which connects the two nominative nouns.
- The last word, Rōmānus ("Roman") is an adjective modifying the whole of Senātus Populusque: the "Roman Senate and People", taken as a whole.
- Thus, the phrase is translated literally as "The Roman Senate and People", or more freely as "The Senate and People of Rome".
The Vexillum
The vexillum was a flag-like object used as a military standard by units in the Ancient Roman army. The word vexillum is a derivative of the Latin word, velum, meaning a sail, which confirms the historical evidence (from coins and sculpture) that vexilla were literally "little sails": flag-like standards. In the vexillum, the cloth was draped from a horizontal crossbar suspended from a staff.- I guess, this image is supposed to go along with the narrative. They call it The Flag of the Roman Empire.
- This Roman Vexillum standard was discovered in Egypt in 1911.
- This one is the only one to survive from the ancient world, now in the Pushkin museum.
- Considering that all "ancient" images are "dated" too, how would the narrative writers know what the flag of the Roman Empire could look like? By the way, why don't they call it the flag of the Roman Republic?
- Oops. My apologies, this is not a flag, this is a vexillum.
Republic, Empire and Senate
The Senate of the Roman Empire was a political institution in the ancient Roman Empire. After the fall of the Roman Republic, the constitutional balance of power shifted from the Roman Senate to the Roman Emperor. Beginning with the first emperor, Augustus, the Emperor and the Senate were technically two co-equal branches of government. In practice, however, the actual authority of the imperial Senate was negligible, as the Emperor held the true power of the state.- 509 BC–27 BC
- Western: 27 BC – 476 AD
- Eastern: 27 BC - 1453 AD
- The Roman Republic was not a nation-state in the modern sense, but a network of towns left to rule themselves (though with varying degrees of independence from the Roman Senate) and provinces administered by military commanders.
- It was ruled, not by emperors, but by annually elected magistrates (Roman Consuls above all) in conjunction with the Senate.
- KD: This is oxymoronic. So... did towns rule themselves, or by annually elected magistrates in conjunction with the Senate?
- The 200 years (of the Empire - KD) that began with Augustus's rule is traditionally regarded as the Pax Romana ("Roman Peace"). During this period, the cohesion of the empire was furthered by a degree of social stability and economic prosperity that Rome had never before experienced.
- Uprisings in the provinces were infrequent but put down "mercilessly and swiftly" when they occurred.
- The term SPQR should only be applicable for the Republic, because during the empire "the actual authority of the imperial Senate was negligible, as the Emperor held the true power of the state". Per the official narrative, the imperial Senate appears to be pretty worthless. In this case, why would an Emperor of the Roman Empire even have SPQR (mentioning senate and people) on the Empire flags?
- Simultaneously, the PTB wants this line to be present "a network of towns left to rule themselves".
- Here is one of the reasons why.
SPQx
Let's start with basics. Per the PTB, the acronym SPQR is an emblematic abbreviated phrase referring to the government of the ancient Roman Republic. Once again, the PTB (imho) did not plausibly explain why this acronym found its way into the everyday governance of the Roman Empire. Additionally, the narrative adjusters attempted to address the unexplainable:- The title's date of establishment is unknown, but it first appears in inscriptions of the Late Republic, from c. 80 BC onwards.
- Beginning in 1184, the Commune of Rome struck coins in the name of the SENATVS P Q R.
- From 1414 until 1517, the Roman Senate struck coins with a shield inscribed SPQR.
- Yet... per the PTB "the acronym SPQR is an emblematic abbreviated phrase referring to the government of the ancient Roman Republic."
- I guess we are supposed to ignore the existence of such SPQx's altogether. These are simply decorations, right?
With the above "unverified" reference in mind, take a look at this:
- SPQx is sometimes used as an assertion of municipal pride and civic rights.
- LOL, says who? Wouldn't it be convenient for the PTB if that's how it really was?
- But then we verify with every individual independent x-town and see if it had people and senate at the time...
- Further down the page we get a long list of cities associated with SPQx.
- Senatus Populusque X
- The Senate and People of X
The Hanseatic League
I am not implying that our ancient Rome and this Hanseatic League were one and the same, but when we come back to SPQx's, I want you to keep this information in mind:- The Hanseatic League was a commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and market towns in Northwestern and Central Europe.
- Growing from a few North German towns in the late 1100s, the league came to dominate Baltic maritime trade for three centuries along the coasts of Northern Europe.
- Hansa territories stretched from the Baltic to the North Sea and inland during the Late Middle Ages, and diminished slowly after 1450.
Back to SPQx
Essentially, we have a simple issue of historical inconsistency preached by the treacherous Powers That Be. In one case SPQx stands for the entire Empire (or Republic if you wish):- SPQR - The Senate and People of Rome - "an abbreviated phrase referring to the government of the ancient Roman Republic"
- SPQx - The Senate and People of X - "an abbreviated phrase referring to the government of the ancient X Republic"
SPQx's
Let's take a looks at some of these X's our pseudo-historians would rather not have. Naturally, when something throws a wrench into your made up narrative, why would you want to attract public attention to it?- X can be any letter. We can have (e.g.) 15 SPQN's, as long as the name of the city starts with "N", and the city was a part of the club.
SPQS
I'm gonna start with Sienna, because this is what originally caught my attention. This London thing simply pushed me closer to writing this article.- SPQS: Senātus Populusque Sienus - The Senate and People of Sienna - a republic?
- SPQL: Senātus Populusque Londinii - The Senate and People of London - a republic?
- SPQN: Senātus Populusque Neāpolis - The Senate and People of Naples - a republic?
SPQP #1
- SPQP: Senātus Populusque Parisiensis - The Senate and People of Paris - a republic?
SPQA
- SPQA: Senātus Populusque Antverpiensis - The Senate and People of Antwerp - a republic?
And this here is my favorite one. Could Mexico City be a member of the same club we know today under the disguise of two names: the ancient Roman Empire and the Holy Roman Empire?
- SPQM: Senātus Populusque Mexicanus - The Senate and People of Mexico City - a republic?
- SH Article: Moctezuma II... the Holy Roman Emperor?
The reason I consider SPQM (with M for Mexico) to be significant is this - by the time Columbus "discovered" America (with Dark Ages factored in), any SPQx abbreviation applied to Mexico should sound like a bunch of historical BS of historic proportions. Yet, we somehow have it.
Oh, and by the way. Meet the founding fathers of the world famous Mexico City.
- An excerpt from The History of the Indies of New Spain showing the founding of Tenochtitlan.
- And never mind that officially Tenochtitlan was founded in 1325 AD.
To complete the picture I wanted to add a comical mention of SPQx.
SPQC
May be we deserve the history we have. If at some point, the PTB was able to sell us the below narrative, we truly are an ignorant bunch, deserving nothing else. There are many archaeological and historical facts supporting the notion, that the "ancient Roman" style vanished just prior to the beginning of the 19th century. For example, try to find a Roman bust discovered prior to 1750s.This here is one additional reference to the German city of Cologne. Dumb luck was the reason I ran into this Cologne example. I'm pretty sure that with diligent research, additional European cities could display similar traits.
In other words, all the way up to ~1780s, people could run into something like this in the streets. Who would have thought that entire cities were into role playing in the late 18th century?
KD: I think I'm gonna stop here. We have as many of these SPQx's as there were cities and towns who purchased a club membership in the Roman Empire (or, if you prefer, the Holy Roman Empire) union. I can make only four conclusions out of the above mess:
- #1. It's either SPQR aka Senātus Populusque Rōmānus had nothing to do with the Ancient Rome and Roman Empire/Republic,
- but had everything to do with the actual city of Rome, or...
- #2. we had hundreds of tiny (ancient and holy) town-empires identifiable by SPQx aka Senātus Populusque X.
- #3. Tenochtitlan somehow became a member of the Roman club years before Columbus discovered America.
- #4. With this factored in, our ancient Roman club did not exist prior to 14th-15th centuries.