Flag of Benin Empire may be the best flag depicting a decapitation in the history of the world

This flag, for the long-defunct Benin Empire, may just be the ne plus ultra of sigils. I think that when I am god-emperor of some distant land, I shall install it as my standard.

Flag of the Benin Empire (via Kottke)

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semiotix

It’s not bad, but it needs to be contemporized. There’s plenty of room in that red field for bold white capital letters reading PWNED or LOL STFU.
Teller

I thought it was a universal Mind the Sword sign.
Cathryn Miller

This is not , and never has been, the flag of any Benin Empire.
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  This is not , and never has been, the flag of any Benin Empire.
  
  And you know this because…..?
angusm

“I knight thee Sir … oops, sorry about that.”
- Phikus
  
  Your comment garnered a genuine LOL.
CANTFIGHTTHEDITE

@ Cathryn Miller

Are you saying we can’t trust the Institute for Benin Studies?
freshacconci

That beats the hell out of the pussy Canadian and American flags. Maple leaves and stars? Sounds like multi-colored marshmallow bits.
Xeni Jardin

@ Darcy Casselman – IIRC this is from the 17th c Benin Empire, a former state in Nigeria, not the republic of Benin / Dahomey = not from what is modern-day Benin.
Gabriel

On dit Â«nec plus ultraÂ», pas Â«ne plus ultraÂ». Pffff.
Stefan Jones

This flag is begging to be modded in all sorts of ways.

And animated.
jfrancis

I love how the violence in old drawings is often committed by people with such neutral expressions.
The Unusual Suspect

Okay, this even beats my previous favourite flag, that of the Isle of Man:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_the_Isle_of_Man.svg
Anonymous

Corsica’s flag has a decapitated black enemy king, just the head, which is blindfolded. Sorta sells the island, don’t it?
Kibble

I’m going to mod this flag by writing “FART” on one side and “BONER” on the other!
avraamov

‘Okay, this even beats my previous favourite flag, that of the Isle of Man’

which HAS been animated:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xu_6hdGZ6gU&feature=related
eli

Ridiculous:

The sardinian flag boasts no less than FOUR severed heads.
wobblesthegoose

It’s good, but it has nothing on the implied violence of having an AK-47 on your flag like Mozambique: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Mozambique
- Robert Johnson
  
  @wobblesthegoose
  The thing that makes Mozambique’s flag striking is that it depicts an unusually modern weapon for a symbol. Look at the Great Seal of the United States and find a bird of prey clutching arrows.
  
  But where other symbols might be explained away as depicting preparedness for outside threats, this flag demonstrates naked violence–making it the most honest banner for government I’ve seen.
Phikus

I like how the guy being decapitated looks like he could have been offering a handshake at the time. We come in peac…
- Vengefultacos
  
  Actually, I thought it looked like the decapitatee was doing some sort of song and dance number. I guess it the kingdom was a tough audience for vaudeville.
  - Phikus
    
    Touche! ;D
Brainspore

Is the guy on the left holding a sword or is that the T-1000?

I personally always liked the shipwreck on the Bermuda flag. Some countries would try to gloss over the fact that they were (quite literally) founded by accident, but not them.
phisrow

Iron and Blood.
jesse

This flag depicts people known as beninjas.
neillie

Gabriel?

On dit ‘Nec plus ultra’, oui. On dit aussi ‘NE plus ultra’. Les deux sont tout a fait superduper et supercool. Peut Ãªtre pas en France, mais pour le monde entiere d’ailleures, ca marche tres bien, merci beaucoup, bon nuit et au revoir.

Pfff.
MadMolecule

Looks like a less dramatic version of Thurber’s classic “Touche!” cartoon.
Ian70

Our flag has a leaf on it. I like ours better.
jdf

There can be only one!
- Talia
  
  *shakes a tiny fist*
Darcy Casselman

I wish I knew about this when I was doing my grade 10 French project on Benin. Tracing this onto an overhead transparency would have been so much more awesome than my list of major exports.
Halloween Jack

That reminds me a lot of some pirate flags that I’ve seen.
zapan

Obligatory Latin nazi : The correct expression is neC plus ultra (there is no better).
timothy

Is it certain that the flag image is in the public domain? You might have to pay compensation to the Obo, of the House of Chiefs, for the use of the image. Or permission may be denied and you could be served with a take down notice! Take down that flag, imperialist oppressor!
Bray_beast

A friend once told me that my flag would be a minotaur fucking a centaur. I don’t know what that says about me, but I always envisioned it looking a lot like this.
Jellodyne

History lesson — the person depicted on the left with the sword is Benin. What is less known is that the person depicted on the right is named Jerry, and the country used to be named for them both.