For the Greek heralds, see Ch. Ostermann, _De praeconibus Graecorum_ (1845); for the Roman Praecones, Mommsen, _Römisches Staatsrecht_, i. 363 (3rd ed., 1887); also article PRAECONES in Pauly's _Realencyclopädie_ (1852 edition); for the Fetiales, monographs by F. C. Conradi (1734, containing all the necessary material), and G. Fusinato (1884, from _Atti della R. Accad. dei Lincei_, series iii. vol. 13); also Marquardt, _Römische Staatsverwaltung_, iii. 415 (3rd ed., 1885), and A. Weiss in Daremberg and Saglio's _Dictionnaire des antiquités_. (J. H. F.)
[1] These heralds are regarded by some as a branch of the Eumolpidae, by others as of Athenian origin. They enjoyed great prestige and formed a hieratic caste like the Eumolpidae, with whom they shared the most important liturgical functions. From them were selected the [Greek: dadouchos] or torch-bearer, the [Greek: hierokêryx], whose chief duty was to proclaim silence, and [Greek: ho epi bômô], an official connected with the service at the altar (see L. R. Farnell, Cults of the Greek States, iii. 161; J. Töpffer, _Attische Genealogie_ (1889); Dittenberger in _Hermes_, xx.; P. Foucart, "Les Grands Mystères d'Eleusis" in _Mém. de l'Institut National de France_, xxxvii. (1904).
HERALDRY. Although the word Heraldry properly belongs to all the business of the herald (q.v.), it has long attached itself to that which in earlier times was known as armory, the science of armorial bearings.
_History of Armorial Bearings._--In all ages and in all quarters of the world distinguishing symbols have been adopted by tribes or nations, by families or by chieftains. Greek and Roman poets describe the devices borne on the shields of heroes, and many such painted shields are pictured on antique vases. Rabbinical writers have supported the fancy that the standards of the tribes set up in their camps bore figures devised from the prophecy of Jacob, the ravening wolf for Benjamin, the lion's whelp for Judah and the ship of Zebulon. In the East we have such ancient symbols as the five-clawed dragon of the Chinese empire and the chrysanthemum of the emperor of Japan. In Japan, indeed, the systematized badges borne by the noble clans may be regarded as akin to the heraldry of the West, and the circle with the three asarum leaves of the Tokugawa shoguns has been made as familiar to us by Japanese lacquer and porcelain as the red pellets of the Medici by old Italian fabrics. Before the landing of the Spaniards in Mexico the Aztec chiefs carried shields and banners, some of whose devices showed after the fashion of a phonetic writing the names of their bearers; and the eagle on the new banner of Mexico may be traced to the eagle that was once carved over the palace of Montezuma. That mysterious business of totemism, which students of folk-lore have discovered among most primitive peoples, must be regarded as another of the forerunners of true heraldry, the totem of a tribe supplying a badge which was sometimes displayed on the body of the tribesman in paint, scars or tattooing. Totemism so far touches our heraldry that some would trace to its symbols the white horse of Westphalia, the bull's head of the Mecklenburgers and many other ancient armories.