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Hasta, a spear, lance, or pike -- a weapon derived by the Romans from the Etrurians, who called it Corim. By the Sabines it was named Quiris, whence Romulus received the designation of Quirinus, as Ovid affirms--
Sive quod hasta Quiris priscis est dicta Sabinia, Bellicus a telo venit in astra Deus.
The Sabines called their kings Coritos, that is to say Joves hastatos, because the spear was with them the attribute of royalty. Per ea tempora (says Justin), Reges hastas pro diademate habebant, quas Graeci sceptra dixere.
The Hasta was the symbol not only of power, fortitute and valour, but also of majesty and even divinity. Inverted or reversed it denoted tranquillity.--Havercamp, ad Morell. Thesar. Fam. p. 458
Hasta Pura was a spear staff without an iron head--as in Virgil,
Ille, vides, para juvenis qui nititur hasta.
Whereupon Servius remarks, that the ancient Romans presented a spear, without an iron point, to him who had conquered for the first time.--Spanheim (Pr. i. p 455), says the hasta pura, as a kind of scepter, is an indication of power both divine and human. It is one of the insignia of the Gods, and of the Emperors and Augustae afer their apotheosis, implying that they had become objects of worship. It is generally found in the hands of female divinities and personifications; as the war-spear is in those of warriors and heroes.