Vexilología y estética: análisis de cuatro emblemas del mundo antiguo y moderno

This article develops an exploratory aesthetic analysis of the flag as an object of political representation, examining the problematic —and therefore promising— relationship between vexillology and institutional frameworks. Based on the analysis of a small corpus of flags and standards from diverse historical and geographical contexts, this study examines how symbols, historiography, culture, and territory combine to form decisive dimensions for understanding the shaping of peoples’ identities. The results demonstrate that each flag embodies —through compositional, chromatic, and stylistic elements— long-term historical processes, wherein wars, treaties, independence movements, annexations, agreements, and periods of peace leave enduring traces on the visual structure of national emblems. Furthermore, the study incorporates philosopher Jacques Derrida’s theory of the border, showing that the border —as an aesthetic-ontological margin— is not merely a peripheral element but a space of inscription where symbolic reliefs, cenotaphs, and material vestiges accumulate to underpin the flag’s profound significance. The study’s most significant conclusion is that flags and standards should be understood as aesthetic devices that simultaneously serve as vehicles for historical memory and institutional representation, capable of linking identity, visual sensibility, and political organization within the framework of a instituting vexillology