History of flags

act with the intent of disguising the actual source of responsibility and pinning blame on a second party

thumb|The Labarum of Constantine I, reconstructed from the depiction on a follis minted . The three dots represent "medallions" which are said to have shown portraits of Constantine and his sons. The labarum ( or λάβουρον) was a vexillum (military standard) that displayed the "Chi-Rho" symbol ☧, a christogram formed from the first two Greek letters of the word "Christ" (, or Χριστός) – Chi (χ) and Rho (ρ). It was first used by the Roman emperor Constantine the Great.

thumb|The only extant Roman vexillum, 3rd Century AD. Pushkin Museum|Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Russia.|alt= The vexillum (; : vexilla) was a flag-like object used as a military standard by units in the Roman army. A common vexillum displayed imagery of the Roman aquila on a reddish backdrop.

timeline of the flags of current sovereign nations

thumb|A Historical reenactment|reenactor, equipped as a vexillifer, with a vexillum standard

list of flags used within the United States throughout history