Composed of a long spear, overlaid with gold, and a banner covered with rich embroidery of precious stones and richly interlaced with gold. The Monogram of Christ was fixed on the top of the Labarum. According to the legend, St. Maximillian and Bonosus saved the Labarum when Julian the Apostate tried to take the Sign of Christ off it. It had served only as the military standard of the western part of the Empire, up to the defeat of Licinius, when it became the formal flag of the whole Roman Empire. After Julian, the Emperor Jovian reestablished Christian symbols. The use of Labarum may be traced up to the late Byzantine age.