Origins of a name

Tuesday

About mid morning we drove to downtown Cincinnati and went for a walk along the Ohio River, before heading to the cathedral for another in their series Live Music at lunch. We walked through International Friendship Park, then along to Yeatman’s Cove, where you find this statue, relating to the origin of the city’s name. Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus was a Roman patrician, statesman, and military leader of the early Roman Republic, who became a legendary figure of Roman virtue. Despite his old age, he worked his own small farm until an invasion prompted his fellow citizens to call for his leadership. He came from his plough to assume complete control over the state but, upon achieving a swift victory, relinquished his power and its advantages and returned to his farm. His success and immediate resignation of his near-absolute authority with the end of this crisis has often been cited as an example of outstanding leadership, service to the greater good, civic virtue, humility, and modesty - characteristics which often seem to be sadly lacking amongst our present day politicians! As a result, he has inspired a number of organizations and other entities, some named in his honor. One of these in the 18th c. was the Society of the Cincinnati, made up of Revolutionary war heroes. One of its members was Arthur St.Clair, the governor of the Northwest Territory, and in 1790 he changed the name of the city from its original name, Losantiville to Cincinnati in honor of the Society. In the statue, Cincinnatus is shown at his plough, holding the Fasces, a bound bundle of wooden rods, sometimes including an axe with its blade emerging. a symbol of a magistrates power and jurisdiction in Ancient Rome.
The pig, Lucius (Lucky) Quinctus Pigasus (!), which stands close by, is a remnant from the Big Pig Gig of 2000, when hundreds of decorated fiberglass pigs adorned the city streets for several months. The significance of pigs recalled Cincinnati's annual Flying Pig Marathon and the city's former nickname of "Porkopolis", dating from the mid–19th century, when the Cincinnati meat packing industry was foremost in the country.