National personification
Britannia arm-in-arm with
Uncle Sam symbolizes the British-American alliance in
World War I. The two animals, the
Bald eagle and the
Barbary lion, are also national personifications of the two countries.
The Liberty of Oudiné in memory of the Argentine centenary of the
May Revolution (1810-1910).
A national personification is an anthropomorphic personification of a state or the people(s) it inhabits. It may appear in political cartoons and propaganda.
Some personifications in the Western world often took the Latin name of the ancient Roman province. Examples of this type include Britannia, Germania, Hibernia, Hispania, Helvetia and Polonia.
Examples of personifications of the Goddess of Liberty include Marianne, the Statue of Liberty (Liberty Enlightening the World), and many examples of United States coinage. Another ancient model was Roma, a female deity who personified the city of Rome and his dominion over the territories of the Roman Empire.
Examples of representations of the everyman or citizenry in addition to the nation itself are Deutscher Michel, John Bull and Uncle Sam.
Gallery
-
Iudaea Capta, "Conquered Judaea", commemorative coin issued by the Roman emperor Vespasian (left) after the Jewish War
-
An early example of national personification in a gospel book dated 990: Sclavinia, Germania, Gallia, and Roma, bringing offerings to Emperor Otto III.
-
Italia und Germania (1828) by Johann Friedrich Overbeck.
-
In this Allegory depicting the 1576 Pacification of Ghent by Adriaen Pietersz van de Venne, the seated women represent a short-lived unity among the embattled provinces of what would become the present-day Belgium and Netherlands
-
1909 cartoon in Puck shows (clockwise) US, Germany, Britain, France and Japan engaged in naval race in a "no limit" game.
-
Columbia depicted in an American Committee for Relief in the Near East poster defending an Armenian woman beneath her flag.
Personifications by country or territory
Location
|
Image
|
Personification
|
Animal used for the same purpose
|
Albania
|
|
Mother Albania
|
Double-headed eagle
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Americas
|
|
Personification of the Americas
|
American alligator
|
Argentina
|
|
Allegory of the Republic, Gaucho
|
|
Armenia
|
|
Mother Armenia
|
|
Australia
|
|
Little Boy from Manly
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Boxing kangaroo
|
Austria
|
|
Austria
|
Double-headed eagle
|
Bangladesh
|
|
Bangamata
|
Bengal tiger
|
Belgium
|
|
La Belgique, Manneken Pis
|
Brabantic Lion, Leo Belgicus
|
Bhutan
|
|
|
Thunder Dragon
|
Brazil
|
|
Efígie da República
|
|
Bulgaria
|
|
Mother Bulgaria
|
Double-headed eagle
|
Cambodia
|
|
Preah Thong and Neang Neak
|
|
Canada
|
|
Mountie, Johnny Canuck, Canada Bereft (Vimy Memorial).
Canada was often personified as a young woman in 19th and early 20th century editorial cartoons, called simply "Canada", "Miss Canada", or sometimes "Mother Canada".
|
Canadian beaver
|
Chile
|
|
Huaso, Roto, Doña Juanita
|
Condorito
|
China and Taiwan
|
|
|
Chinese dragon, Snow Lion (Tibet)
|
Colombia
|
|
Juan Valdez
|
|
Croatia
|
|
Mother Croatia
|
|
Cuba
|
|
La República
|
|
Czechia
|
|
Čechie, Czech Vašek, Honza, Svejk.
|
Czech lion
|
Denmark
|
|
Holger Danske, Mother Denmark
|
|
Dominican Republic
|
|
Conchoprimo
|
|
Egypt
|
|
Mother of the World
|
Sphinx
|
El Salvador
|
|
Salvador del Mundo
|
|
Europe
|
|
Europa or Europa regina
|
Finland
|
|
Finnish Maiden
|
Finnish lion
|
France
|
|
Marianne
|
Gallic rooster
|
Georgia
|
|
Mother of a Georgian
|
|
Germany
|
|
Germania, Deutscher Michel
|
Reichsadler, Bundesadler, Berliner Bär (Berlin), Bavarian Lion (Bavaria), Marcher Eagle (Brandenburg), Prussian Eagle (Prussia)
|
Greece
|
|
Hellas
|
|
Haiti
|
|
Ezili Dantor, Katrin
|
Hungary
|
|
The Lady of Hungaria
|
Turul
|
Iceland
|
|
The Lady of the Mountains
|
|
India
|
|
Bharat Mata
|
Bengal tiger, Asiatic lion, Indian Elephant, Indian peafowl
|
Indonesia
|
|
Ibu Pertiwi
|
Garuda Pancasila
|
Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan
|
|
Rostam
|
Lion and sun
|
Ireland
|
|
Ériu, Banba, Fódla, Kathleen Ni Houlihan, Hibernia, The Old Woman of Beare
|
|
Israel
|
|
Srulik
|
|
Italy
|
|
Italia turrita, Roma (Roman Empire)
|
Italian wolf, Lion of Saint Mark (Venice)
|
Japan
|
|
|
Green Pheasant, Koi
|
Kazakhstan
|
|
Altin Adam
|
|
Kenya
|
|
Wanjiku
|
|
Korea ( North Korea and South Korea - despite mutual enmity, both states lay claim to the same historical heritage)
|
|
|
Korean Tiger, Chollima
|
Kyrgyzstan
|
|
Manas
|
|
Latvia
|
|
Milda
|
|
Lebanon
|
|
Abu Abed
|
|
Lithuania
|
|
Lietuva
|
|
Low Lands or Benelux (Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg)
|
|
|
Leo Belgicus
|
Malaysia
|
|
Hang Tuah
|
Malayan tiger
|
Malta
|
|
Melita
|
|
Mexico
|
|
Mexican Motherland, La China Poblana
|
Golden eagle
|
Mongolia
|
|
Genghis Khan
|
|
Montenegro
|
|
Fairy of Lovćen, Mother Montenegro
|
|
Morocco
|
|
|
Barbary Lion
|
Netherlands
|
|
Dutch Maiden
|
Dutch Republic Lion, Leo Hollandicus, Leo Belgicus
|
Nepal
|
|
Gurkha, Sherpa
|
Yeti
|
New Zealand
|
|
Zealandia,
|
Kiwi
|
Nicaragua
|
|
El Güegüense
|
Motmot
|
North Macedonia
|
|
Mother Macedonia
|
Lioness
|
Norway
|
|
Mother Norway, Ola & Kari Nordmann, Nór
|
|
Palestine
|
|
Handala
|
|
Peru
|
|
Peruvian Motherland
|
Vicuña
|
Philippines
|
|
La Madre Filipinas, Juan dela Cruz
|
Philippine Carabao
|
Poland
|
|
Polonia
|
White eagle
|
Portugal
|
|
Zé Povinho, Efígie da República, Guardian Angel of Portugal
|
Rooster of Barcelos
|
Romania
|
|
România
|
Lynx
|
Russia
|
|
Mother Russia, General Winter
|
Russian bear
|
San Marino
|
|
Liberty, Saint Marinus
|
|
Serbia
|
|
Mother Serbia
|
Serbian eagle
|
Singapore
|
|
|
Merlion
|
Slovakia
|
|
Jánošík
|
|
Slovenia
|
|
Kralj Matjaž
|
|
South Africa
|
|
The Lady of Good Hope
|
Springbok
|
Spain
|
|
Hispania
|
Hispanic Lion
|
Sri Lanka
|
|
Sri Lanka Matha (Mother Sri Lanka)
|
|
Suriname
|
|
Mama Sranan (Mother Suriname), a 1965 sculpture by Jozeph Klas in the center of Paramaribo, of a mother figure holding five children representing Suriname's ethnic groups in her arms.
|
|
Sweden
|
|
Mother Svea (Moder Svea)
|
|
Switzerland
|
|
Helvetia
|
Cow
|
Thailand
|
|
Siam Devadhiraj
|
White elephant
|
Ukraine
|
|
Cossack Mamay
|
Ruthenian Lion
|
United Kingdom
|
|
Britannia, John Bull
|
Bulldog
|
United States
|
|
Columbia, Lady Liberty, Lady Justice
|
Bald Eagle, American Buffalo, Timber rattlesnake (American Revolution, obsolete)
|
Uruguay
|
|
Efigie de la República
|
|
Venezuela
|
|
Juan Bimba (obsolete)
|
|
Vietnam
|
|
Lạc Long Quân and Âu Cơ
|
Vietnamese Dragon, Lạc Bird
|
See also
References
- ^ "Il Tempio di Venere e Roma" (in Italian). Retrieved 12 September 2023.
- ^ Eric Hobsbawm, "Mass-Producing Traditions: Europe, 1870-1914," in Eric Hobsbawm and Terence Ranger, eds., The Invention of Tradition (Cambridge, 1983), 263-307.
- ^ Ahmed, Salahuddin (2004). Bangladesh: Past and Present. APH Publishing. p. 310. ISBN 8176484695. Retrieved July 11, 2012.
- ^ "NATIONAL SYMBOLS". Bangladesh Tourism Board. Bangladesh: Ministry of Civil Aviation & Tourism. Archived from the original on 2016-12-28. Retrieved 2015-09-10.
- ^ Couvreur, Manuel; Deknop, Anne; Symons, Thérèse (2005). Manneken-Pis : Dans tous ses états. Historia Bruxellae (in French). Vol. 9. Brussels: Musées de la Ville de Bruxelles. ISBN 978-2-930423-01-2.
- ^ Emerson, Catherine (2015). Regarding Manneken Pis: Culture, Celebration and Conflict in Brussels. Leeds: Taylor & Francis Ltd. ISBN 978-1-909662-30-8.
- ^ McGill, Robert (2017). War Is Here: The Vietnam War and Canadian Literature. McGill-Queen's Press. p. 37. ISBN 9780773551589. Retrieved 17 May 2019.
- ^ Barber, Katherine (2007). Only in Canada You Say: A Treasury of Canadian Language. Oxford University Press Canada. p. 70. ISBN 9780195427073.
- ^ "Library and Archives Canada". Library and Archives Canada.
- ^ Hassanabadi, Mahmoud. "Rostam: A Complex Puzzle: A New Approach to the Identification of the Character of Rostam in the Iranian National Epos Shāhnāme".
- ^ Dallmayr, Fred (25 August 1999). Border Crossings: Toward a Comparative Political Theory. ISBN 9780739152546.
- ^ Heck, Isabel. "Le mythe de Siyâvosh: rapports entre l'épopée nationale de ferdowsi et des récits populaires en Iran (The myth of Siyâvosh: relationships between the national epic of Ferdowsi and popular stories in Iran)" (PDF) (in French). Retrieved 2024-02-08.
- ^ O'Rourke Murphy, M. & MacKillop, J. (2006). An Irish Literature Reader: Poetry, Prose, Drama.
- ^ Minahan, James B. (2009). The Complete Guide to National Symbols and Emblems. ABC-CLIO. p. 436. ISBN 9780313344978.
- ^ Blashfield, Jean F. (2009). Italy. Scholastic. p. 33. ISBN 9780531120996.
- ^ ""Saint Mark", Franciscan Media". Archived from the original on 8 October 2020. Retrieved 30 July 2018.
- ^ Liok Ee Tan (1988). The Rhetoric of Bangsa and Minzu. Monash Asia Institute. p. 14. ISBN 978-0-86746-909-7.
- ^ Melanie Chew (1999). The Presidential Notes: A biography of President Yusof bin Ishak. Singapore: SNP Publications. p. 78. ISBN 978-981-4032-48-3.
- ^ Minahan, James B. (2009). The Complete Guide to National Symbols and Emblems. Greenwood. p. 101. ISBN 978-0313344961.
- ^ Subba, Sanghamitra. "Love it or hate it, it's abominable".
- ^ Phillips, Jock. "South African War memorial, Waimate".
- ^ Dingwall, R. "Southern Man (Dunedin Airport)", Otago Sculpture Trust, 19 November 2011. Retrieved 14 July 2017.
- ^ A Manifesto from the Provisional Government of Macedonia, 1881, Our mother Macedonia became now as a widow, lonely and deserted by her sons. She does not fly the banner of the victorious Macedonian army
- ^ Bulgarian graphic representation of Bulgaria, East Rumelia and North Macedonia
- ^ "Kunstschatten: Mama Sranan - Parbode Magazine". Archived from the original on 2016-04-14. Retrieved 2016-03-30.
- ^ Valance, Marc. (Baden, 2013) Die Schweizer Kuh. Kult und Vermarktung eines nationalen Symbols, p. 6 ff.
Further reading
- Lionel Gossman. "Making of a Romantic Icon: The Religious Context of Friedrich Overbeck's 'Italia und Germania.'" American Philosophical Society, 2007. ISBN 0-87169-975-3.
External links
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