Flag of Greece of alternating blue and white - or silver - stripes on (several centuries-old) Kallergis' coats of arms is well documented, no depiction of the above described pattern (with the nine stripes and the cross) survives. The stripe-pattern of the Greek flag is visibly similar to that used (though with different colors) in several other flags that have appeared over the centuries, most notably that of the British East India Company's pre-1707 flag or the flag of the United States. Flags as they are known today did not exist in antiquity. Instead, a variety of emblems and symbols ("semeion", pl. "semeia")
Flag of Ethiopia with the first letter of his own name (the Amharic letter "ም") on the central stripe. In 1914, the flag was reversed to its current flag. The flag's tri-colour scheme has existed since the early 19th century, and the colours red, yellow, and green have carried special importance since at least the early 17th century. The royal flag often featured the emblem of a Lion of Judah, a crowned lion carrying a cross centred in the banner's yellow midsection. The flag is understood to be a link between the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, the peoples, and the nation that was