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Lady Justice (Iustitita, the Roman Goddess of Justice and sometimes, simply "Justice") is a personification of the moral force that underlies the legal system. Since the Renaissance, Justitia has frequently been depicted as a bare-breasted woman carrying a sword and scales, and sometimes wearing a blindfold. Her modern iconography, which frequently adorns courthouses and courtrooms, conflates the attributes of several goddesses who embodied Right Rule for Greeks and Romans, blended with Roman blindfolded Fortuna (Greek Tyche).
In Antiquity, Dike, daughter of Themis, was imagined carrying scales: "If some god had been holding level the balance of Dike" is an image in a fragment of Bacchylides.
Notes
Due to the fact that blindfolds were a commonly worn by the blind to cover their eyes, some assume Lady Justice herself is blind. This led to the creation and now common usage of the (rarely disputed) phrase "Justice is blind".
External links
- DOJ Seal - History and Motto
- Origin of Lady of Justice
- Images of the Goddess of Justice
- Photos of Lady Justice:
