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14:11 ·
The mirror image of this staff sign is sometimes found protruding from the headdresses of hieroglyphic kings and gods that appear on old Egyptian stone reliefs and paintings. It is also known as th augurs' staff, lituus. An augur was a Roman religious official whose task was to foretell the future with the help of signs in nature, etc.
The Christians adopted  in their symbolism and used it for their bishops' croziers, i.e. the staffs carried by bishops and abbots, symbolizing their rank baculus pastoralis, the shepherd's staff. As a sign of high rank could as well be drawn counter clock-wise.
See  , below.
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