Throne

Accordingly, many thrones are typically held to have been constructed or fabricated out of rare or hard to find materials that may be valuable or important to the land in question.

In the west, a throne is most identified as the seat upon which a person holding the title King, Queen, Emperor, or Empress sits in a nation using a monarchy political system, although there are a few exceptions, notably with regards to religious officials such as the pope and bishops of various sects of the Christian faith.

Changing geo-political tides have resulted in the collapse of several dictatorial and autocratic governments, which in turn have left a number of throne chairs empty.

The word throne itself is from Greek θρόνος (thronos), "seat, chair",[4] in origin a derivation from the PIE root *dher- "to support" (also in dharma "post, sacrificial pole").

[6] In Ancient Greek, a "thronos" was a specific but ordinary type of chair with a footstool, a high status object but not necessarily with any connotations of power.

The Achaeans (according to Homer) were known to place additional, empty thrones in the royal palaces and temples so that the gods could be seated when they wished to be.

Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, in his work De Coelesti Hierarchia (VI.7), interprets this as referring to one of the ranks of angels (corresponding to the Hebrew Arelim or Ophanim).

This concept was expanded upon by Thomas Aquinas in his Summa Theologica (I.108), wherein the thrones are concerned with carrying out divine justice.

Ex cathedra refers to the explicative authority, notably the extremely rarely used procedure required for a papal declaration to be 'infallible' under Roman Catholic canon law.

As a mark of distinction, Roman Catholic bishops and higher prelates have a right to a canopy above their thrones at certain ecclesiastical functions.

In the Roman Catholic Church, the pope is an elected monarch, both under canon law as supreme head of the church, and under international law as the head of state—styled "sovereign pontiff"—of the Vatican City State (the sovereign state within the city of Rome established by the 1929 Lateran Treaty).

Until 1870, the pope was the elected monarch of the Papal States, which for centuries constituted one of the largest political powers on the divided Italian peninsula.

The pope's throne (Cathedra Romana) is located in the apse of the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran, his cathedral as Bishop of Rome.

In the apse of Saint Peter's Basilica, above the "Altar of the Chair" lies the Cathedra Petri, a throne believed to have been used by St Peter himself and other earlier popes; this relic is enclosed in a gilt bronze casting and forms part of a huge monument designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini.

This practice has fallen out of use with the 1960s and 1970s reform of Papal liturgy and, whenever the pope celebrates Mass in St. Peter's Basilica, a simpler portable throne is now placed on platform in front of the Altar of the Confession.

Whenever Pope Benedict XVI celebrated the Liturgy of the Hours at St Peter's, a more elaborate removable throne was placed on a dais to the side of the Altar of the Chair.

When the pope celebrates Mass on the basilica steps facing St. Peter's Square, portable thrones are also used.

Originally, the sedia was used as part of the elaborate procession surrounding papal ceremonies that was believed to be the most direct heir of pharaonic splendor, and included a pair of flabella (fans made from ostrich feathers) to either side.

Near the end of his pontificate, Pope John Paul II had a specially constructed throne on wheels that could be used inside.

In European feudal countries, monarchs often were seated on thrones, based in all likelihood on the Roman magisterial chair.

It is shaped as a high-backed chair with arm rests, and adorned with ivory and walrus bone plaques intricately carved with mythological, heraldic and life scenes.

The term gadi[11] or gaddi (Hindustani pronunciation: [ˈɡəd̪ːi], also called rājgaddī) referred to a seat with a cushion used as a throne by Indian princes.

The original throne was subsequently captured and taken as a war trophy in 1739 by the Persian king Nadir Shah and has been lost ever since.

[14] The Golden Throne or Chinnada Simhasana or Ratna Simahasana in Kannada is the royal seat of the rulers of the Kingdom of Mysore.

In Burma, the traditional name for a throne is palin, from the Pali term pallaṅka, which means "couch" or "sofa."

[17] In Vietnamese folk religion, the gods, deities and ancestral spirits are believed to seat figuratively on thrones at places of worship.

In an abstract sense, the Phoenix Throne also refers rhetorically to the head of state of the Joseon dynasty (1392–1897) and the Empire of Korea (1897–1910).

The term also can refer to very specific seating, such as the takamikura (高御座) throne in the Shishin-den at Kyoto Imperial Palace.

It sits atop a seven-stepped dais with a proscenium arch above and the symbol of the imperial family behind (the two-headed eagle).