Great Seal of Virginia
Great Seal of Virginia
Official State Seal of Virginia
State Seal of Virginia
- Adopted
- 1776 (Virginia Convention)
- Central figure
- Virtus (Roman warrior goddess)
- Motto
- Sic Semper Tyrannis
- Legislation
- Va. Code Ann. § 1-500
Virginia State Seal History and Origin
The Great Seal of Virginia was designed at the Virginia Convention of 1776, which met in Williamsburg beginning in May of that year. Virginia was moving toward independence before the rest of the colonies: the Convention adopted the Virginia Declaration of Rights on June 12, 1776, followed by Virginia's first constitution on June 29, 1776. The seal was designed and adopted during the same session, before the Continental Congress approved the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776.
The seal is attributed primarily to George Mason, the Virginia statesman who also drafted the Virginia Declaration of Rights. Mason drew on classical Roman imagery to create a visual argument about tyranny and its consequences. George Wythe, who later signed the Declaration of Independence and taught law to Thomas Jefferson, also contributed to the design. The Virginia Convention approved the seal on July 5, 1776.
Virginia calls itself a Commonwealth rather than a State, a distinction it shares with only three other U.S. states: Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts. The seal reflects this self-conception: Virginia did not wait to be granted identity by a federal government. It created its own symbols and its own constitutional order before the United States existed.
Great Seal of Virginia Meaning
The Great Seal of Virginia makes an argument rather than a description: Virtus, a Roman warrior goddess, stands over a fallen tyrant under the motto 'Sic Semper Tyrannis' (Thus Always to Tyrants). Designed in June 1776, weeks before the Declaration of Independence, the seal was a statement about what had just happened and what always happens to tyranny.
What the Virginia State Seal Symbols Mean
The Virginia seal has two faces. The obverse carries the central political image of Virtus over Tyrannus. The reverse shows three allegorical figures representing the qualities that follow from the defeat of tyranny.
Virtus
Tyrannus (The Fallen Tyrant)
Sic Semper Tyrannis (State Motto)
Libertas, Ceres, and Aeternitas (Reverse)
Previous Versions of the Virginia State Seal
The composition of the Virginia state seal has remained essentially unchanged since 1776. The figures of Virtus and Tyrannus, the motto 'Sic Semper Tyrannis,' and the reverse figures of Libertas, Ceres, and Aeternitas have been consistent elements since the Virginia Convention adopted the design.
What changed was the rendering. Nineteenth-century engravings vary in posture, anatomy, lettering, and border ornament. In 1931, sculptor Charles Keck produced the modern standard form, and in 1949 Virginia formally assigned its colors.
Can You Identify All 50 State Seals?
Most state seals share similar imagery — eagles, shields, agriculture, and Latin mottos. Telling them apart requires spotting the small details: a specific figure, a founding year, an unusual animal. The State Seals Quiz covers all 50 and shuffles both the questions and answer positions every round.
Take the State Seals QuizVirginia State Symbols
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