Papal tiara on the "sedia gestatoria" (portable throne), was based on the Byzantine imperial ceremonies witnessed in medieval Constantinople. Medieval tarot cards included a card showing a woman wearing a papal tiara and known as the "Popess or Papess" or the "High Priestess". The meaning and symbolism of the card is uncertain. The crowned woman has variously been identified as Pope Joan (a woman who according to a medieval and later Protestant legend had disguised herself as a man and been elected pope; some cards also show a child, and the Pope Joan legend pictured her as found out when she gave
History of the chair Roman chairs were of marble, also adorned with sphinxes. The curule chair was originally very similar in form to the modern folding chair, but eventually received a good deal of ornament. The most famous of the very few chairs which have come down from a remote antiquity is the reputed Chair of Saint Peter in St Peter's Basilica at Rome. The wooden portions are much decayed, but it would appear to be Byzantine work of the 6th century, and to be really an ancient sedia gestatoria. It has ivory carvings representing the labours of Hercules. A few pieces of an