_Did the Carians use Heraldic Devices?_ (Vol. vi., p. 556.).--Perhaps the
following, from an heraldic work of Dr. Bernd, professor at the University
of Bonn, may serve to answer the Queries of MR. BOOKER.
Herodotus ascribes the first use, or, as he expresses it, the invention of
signs on shields, which we call arms, and of the supporter or handle of the
shield, which till then had been suspended by straps from the neck, as well
as of the tuft of feathers or horse-hair on the helmet, to the Carians; in
which Strabo agrees with him, and, as far as regards the supporters and
crest, Ælian also:
"Herodot schrieb den ersten Gebrauch, oder wie er sich ausdrückt, die
Erfindung der Zeichen auf Schilden, die wir Wappen nennen, wie auch der
Halter oder Handhaben an den Schilden, die bis dahin nur an Riemen um
den Nacken getragen wurden, und die Büsche von Federn oder Rosshaaren
auf den Helmen, den Cariern zu, worin ihm Strabo (_Geogr._ 14. I. §
27.), und was die Handhaben und Helmbüsche betrifft, auch Ælian (_Hist.
Animal._ 12. 30.), beistimmen."--Bernd's _Wappenwissen der Griechen und
Römer_, p. 4. Bonn, 1841.
On Thucydides i. 8., where mention is made of Carians disinterred by the
Athenians in the island of Delos, the scholiast, evidently referring to the
passage cited by MR. BOOKER, says:
[Greek: Kares prôtoi heuron tous omphalous tôn aspidôn, kai tous
lophous. tois oun apothnêskousi sunethapton aspidiskion mikron kai
lophon, sêmeion tês heureseôs.]
From Plutarch's _Artaxerxes_ (10.) may be inferred, that the Carian
standard was a cock; for the king presented the Carian who slew Cyrus with
a golden one, to be thenceforth carried at the head of the troop.
For full information on the heraldry of the ancients, your correspondent
can scarcely do better than consult the above-quoted work of Dr. Bernd.