Content note: Photograph of Mussolini on horseback in colonial Libya with Libyan men carrying fasces. This object is shown as it was published. Why
Mussolini on horseback with the 'Sword of Islam', flanked by two Libyan fasces-bearers, Tripoli, March 1937
Mussolini sits on a horse in Tripoli with a sword held upright at his shoulder; in front of him two Libyan men in cloaks and caps carry bundled fasces over their shoulders like lictors. Commons describes the sword as the Sword of Islam. An Islamic emblem and Roman state iconography are placed around one figure in a single frame, borrowing the standing of each for him.
- Date
- March 1937
- Period
- Interwar
- Made by
- Italian colonial government of Libya and the Fascist regime; photograph published in L'Illustrazione Italiana
- Country
- Fascist Italy
- Medium
- Photograph
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Fascist Italy
- Leader
- Benito Mussolini
- Audience
- Mixed
- Purpose
- Persuade or win support
- Themes
- Empire and colonialism, Religion
- Techniques
- Transfer
- Leader
- Benito Mussolini
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- Wikimedia Commons (from L'Illustrazione Italiana, 28 March 1937), retrieved October 2, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (Italian simple photograph, 1937; Commons PD-Italy, PD-1996)
Photographer unknown; L'Illustrazione Italiana, 28 March 1937. Via Wikimedia Commons.
Text on the object
No printed or legible text on this object.
Checked against the committed image: no captions, signs or lettering are visible in the frame.
