Throne
This article is about royal thrones; for the order of angels by the same name see thrones.A
throne is the official
chair or seat upon which a
monarch is seated on state or ceremonial occasions. "Throne" in an abstract sense can also refer to the
monarchy or
the Crown itself, an instance of
metonymy, and is also used in many terms such as "
the power behind the throne."
Thrones have been the symbol of
monarchs and
gods since
ancient times. The throne was used for
coronation ceremonies and to lift the king up above all others present. Thrones were since then directly associated with royal power.
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The throne of the Emperor of China was seen as the center of the world, and the series of gates and passages a visitor to the Forbidden City needed to pass before reaching the emperor was intended to awe. |
The
Greeks (according to
Homer) were known to place additional, empty thrones in the royal
palaces and
temples so that the gods could be present when they wished to be. The most famous of these thrones was the
throne of Apollo in
Amyclae.
The Romans also had two thrones- one for the
Emperor and one for the goddess
Roma whose statues were seated upon thrones, which became centers of worship.
The
Hittites considered thrones to be gods themselves.
The Bible mentions many thrones. God was seated upon a throne and so was King
Solomon (as God's representative on earth): "Moreover the king made a great throne of
ivory, and overlaid it with the best
gold" (
Kings 10:18).
In Medieval times the throne of Solomon was associated with
Mary. The ivory of the throne represented purity, the gold represented divinity and the six steps of the throne stood for the six
virtues.
In the
New Testament,
Jesus promised his
Apostles that they would sit upon "twelve thrones", judging the
twelve tribes of Israel (
Matthew 19:28).
John's
Revelations states: "And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away"
The
Angel Gabriel also refers to this throne in
Gospel of Luke (1:32-33):He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the
Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end."
In the
Old Testament Isaiah mentions the same throne:
Isaiah (9:6-7):For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the Throne of
David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.
Main article: cathedra
The very term
Holy See, officially used in diplomacy for the Vatican, clearly presents the papal position as a throne; indeed the Holy Father is an elected monarch, both under canon law as supreme head of the church and under international law as
head of state -styled sovereign pontiff- of the
Vatican City State (symbolic remnant within Rome, for convenience, of the
Papal State, that was for centuries one of the largest political powers on the divided Italian peninsula).The throne upon which the
Pope is traditionally seated is located in the
apse of the
St. John Lateran, his
cathedral.
The pope was also carried on occasions in a portable throne, the
sedia gestatoria, originally part of the elaborate, ostentatious pomp believed to be the most direct heir of pharaonic splendour including fans made from ostrich feathers, but it was abandoned by pope John Paul II. Even
Saint Peter, the first pope, sat on an armchair, the
cathedra Sancti Petri, the relic of which is kept in
Saint Peter's Basilica.
However, an ecclesiastical throne is not at all unique to the pope: every
bishop of the
Roman Catholic Church and most bishops of churches where episcopal offices exist (mainly Orthodox and Anglican) also largely maintain a tradition stretching back to Antiquity) to sit on a throne, called
cathedra, traditionally in the apside, which symbolizes his power to teach the faith (hence the expression "ex cathedra", from the explicative authority, notably the extremely rarely used procedure required for a papal declaration to be 'infallible' under
Canon law; in several language the word deriving from
cathedra is commonly used for an academic teaching mandate, the professorial chair).
After this cathedra (throne), which can be as elaborate and precious as fits a secular prince (even if the prelate is not a
prince of the church in the secular sense), his main church is called a
cathedral; the word
basilica -from the Greek
basilikos 'royal'-, though in Roman Antiquity a secular public hall, now refers to the presence there of a papal canopy, part of his
regalia, and applies mainly to many cathedrals and Catholic churches of similar importance and/or splendor.
On the Indian subcontinent, the term
gadi was reserved for the throne of a Hindu
princely state's ruler, while their Muslim colleagues throned on a
musnaid, even though both were in the shape of a divan.
In the 'regency' (nominally an Ottoman province, de facto an independent realm) of the
Bey of Tunis, the throne was called
kursi.
In some countries today which retain a monarchy, thrones are still used and have important symbolic and ceremonial meaning. However many modern day monarchies have dispensed with the usage of such symbolism as
crowns, thrones and
coronations.
Among the most famous thrones still in usage are
St Edward's Chair, on which the
British monarch is crowned, and the thrones used by monarchs during the state opening of parliaments in the
United Kingdom,
Denmark,
The Netherlands,
Canada, and
Japan (see above) among others.
Some republics use distinctive throne-like chairs in some state ceremonial. The
President of the United States sits on a distinctive high-backed white-clothed chair in the
Oval Office in the
White House when meeting distinguished visitors in front of the media.(The visitor sits in a matching chair.) The
President of Ireland sits on a former
viceregal throne during his or her
inauguration ceremony while
Lords Mayor of many
British and
Irish cities often preside over local councils from throne-like chairs.
*
The Throne of SolomonEurope
*
The Throne of Apollo in
Amyclae*
St. Edward's Chair in
Westminster Abbey,
London, where
British monarchs are crowned. It at one time contained the
Stone of Scone (also called the
Stone of Destiny) upon which the Kings of
Scotland were crowned
* The
Throne of Charlemagne in the cathedral at
Aachen,
Germany* The papal
sedia gestatoriaAfrica
* the
Golden Stool of the
Ashanti* the
Throne of David of the
Emperors of
EthiopiaAsia
* the
Dragon Throne of the
Emperors of
China* the
Chrysanthemum Throne of the
Emperors of
Japan* the
Phoenix Throne of the
Kings of
Korea* the
Lion Throne of the
Dalai Lama of
Tibet* the Lion Throne of
Sikkim* the
Peacock Throne of the
Mughal Emperors, later became:
* the
Peacock Throne of the
Persian Shahs
* the
Takht-e Marmar of the
Persian Shahs
* the Peacock Throne of
Korea* the Peacock throne at
Montchobo, then at
Ava, ancient capitals of
Burma* the
Saridhaleys 'ivory throne' and the
sighsana 'lion throne' of the
Maldives sultanate
* the sandalwood throne, at
Bikaner Fort
* the
throne of David, at the Cathedral of St. Mary of Zion, in
Axum, ancient capital of orthodox Coptic
Ethiopia
*In slang, a common sit-down
toilet is also called a throne.
*One of the Angel choirs is an order called
Ophanim or 'Thrones', said to carry God's heavenly throne - other choir names expressing power in secular terms include Powers, Principalities, Dominions
*
Enthronement*
RoyalArk- here India
