The ''akakia'' (, , literally or "not-wickedness". ''a-'' "not" or "against", ''kakia'' "wickedness"), previously known as an ''anexikakia'' ("enduring wickedness", "forgiveness", "forbearance", "patience") was a cylindrical purple silk roll containing dust which is depicted in wall mosaics and on coinage as being held by

Byzantine emperor The foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD marks the conventional start of the Eastern Roman Empire, which Fall of Constantinople, fell to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as legitimate rulers and exercised s ...

s during ceremonies. It symbolized the mortal nature of all men. It possibly developed from the ''mappa'', the cloth used by the

Roman consul The consuls were the highest elected public officials of the Roman Republic ( to 27 BC). Romans considered the consulship the second-highest level of the ''cursus honorum''an ascending sequence of public offices to which politicians aspire ...

s to start the races at the hippodrome.

Sources

* {{Byzantine-stub Byzantine regalia