The West and the Eagle
How one bird came to dominate state symbolism for millennia
For anyone who has looked at enough flags or historical symbols, one animal seems to pop up much more frequently than others. That animal is the eagle or the “King of Birds.” It exists on the coat of arms of numerous countries including Germany, Russia, Austria, Mexico, and most notably in modern times, the United States. If we flipped through history books to look at the heralds of the hundreds of kingdoms, duchies, and principalities that existed in Medieval Europe, we’ll find that the eagle was by far the most common bird depicted (alongside the lion as the most common “beast”). Aside from its majestic nature, why exactly did the eagle come to dominate national symbolism, especially in the West?
The Imperial Eagle in Antiquity
Archaeologically, the earliest evidence of eagle motifs were found in Mycenaean and Hittite ruins. One of the earliest instances of the eagle used as an imperial standard was during the Persian Achaemenid Empire, where the eagle represented Cyrus the Great. The eagle continued to serve as a symbol of the Achaemenid family since Achaemenes himself (the semi-mythical founder of the Achaemenid dynasty) was said to have been raised by an eagle.
The Greeks/Macedonians who went on to conquer the Achaemenids used the eagle as a symbol of Zeus, the king of the gods. This religious connotation went on to influence the Roman military standard (Aquila) ultimately becoming a silver or bronze eagle. Famous author and commander Pliny the Elder recorded the five original standards as: the eagle, the ox with the head of a man, the wolf, the horse, and the boar. However, after the Marian Reforms in 104 B.C.E., the standard was consolidated to just the eagle, which was said to be the only bird that could not be struck by lightning due to Jupiter’s (Roman Zeus) favor. The eagle eventually became a formidable symbol of the Roman Empire’s power, a symbol that would have a lasting legacy on many famous imperial powers to come.
Medieval Proliferation of the Eagle
After the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 453 C.E., the Byzantine Empire continued the tradition of using the aquila for royal purposes, as the heirs to the Roman legacy. The single-headed eagle was kept until the late 13th century when the Palaiologos dynasty eventually adopted a double-headed eagle as a symbol of imperial power instead. The two heads represent the East (Constantinople) and the West (Rome), as well as the secular and spiritual authority of the emperor.
The Byzantine Empire lasted until the fall of Constantinople in 1453 C.E., when the Russian Tsardom and the Holy Roman Empire both adopted double-headed eagles in their emblems as symbolic claimants to the continuation of the Roman Empire. The Habsburg Dynasty dominated the throne of the Holy Roman Empire from the 15th century until the late 18th century, with the double-headed eagle always serving as a symbol of their imperial authority (although it can be argued how much functional power the Holy Roman Emperor ever had at any given point). Even after the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, the eagle continued its legacy in the Austrian Empire, which was still run by the Habsburgs.
However, the use of the eagle in European heraldry preceded the fall of the Byzantine Empire. Tradition has it that the eagle, in the Roman fashion, was a symbol erected by Charlemagne himself, thus becoming the symbol of imperial power thereafter. There is evidence of the use of the eagle as early as the 13th century, especially in Germany, often as a means of displaying imperial connection. This is why many regions and cities even in countries like Poland and Czechia, which were previously under the control of the Holy Roman Empire at one point or another, still have the eagle in their coat of arms today.
In Russia, the double-headed eagle served as the coat of arms for the Russian Empire up until the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, when the Communists weren’t too keen on adopting an imperial symbol into its official state imagery. Ironically, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the double-headed eagle was once again adopted as the state emblem in Russia.
Napoleon Bonaparte, the first emperor of the French Empire, paid direct tribute to the Roman legions of old by adopting the golden eagle as not only a military standard but also as the animal in the imperial coat of arms. In his own words, the eagle would be cast “in the manner of antiquity.” Napoleon no doubt fashioned himself as the Caesar or Augustus of his time, hoping to restore the glory of the Roman Empire like most ambitious European rulers before him and to come.
United States — The New Roman Republic
In contemporary times, perhaps the most prominent eagle as a national symbol is the bald eagle of the United States.
After signing the Declaration of Independence, the Continental Congress decided that it needed a new national seal for official documents. A dream team consisting of Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson, as well as an artist named Pierre Eugene du Simitiere was assembled to tackle this issue. Unfortunately, none of the men besides du Simitiere had experience in heraldry and offered up quite complex seal proposals. Franklin proposed Moses parting the Red Sea, Jefferson proposed the Children of Israel and early Britons, while Adams proposed Hercules as a symbol of strength. Thankfully, du Simitiere submitted a much more conventional design with a shield accompanied by Liberty and an American soldier on its sides.
The Continental Congress would go through several more years and committees before finally settling on the bald eagle design we know today. Charles Thomson, who was Secretary of the Continental Congress at the time, designed the seal in 1782. The Bald Eagle was chosen as an endemic eagle to North America. The eagle holds arrows and olive branches to signify war and peace, but it always faces towards the olive branches to signify the United States’ preference for peace. One can speculate that choosing the eagle as a national symbol might have also been an homage to the Roman Republic, which the United States government emulated in many ways, although there is no official documentation supporting this statement.
Other Uses of the Eagle in National Symbolism
Of course it’s ignorant to say that Europe and its (former) colonies had a monopoly on the use of the eagle in national symbolism. Aside from the Persian example given earlier in the article, there are many other examples of non-European states adopting the eagle as an emblem.
In the 12th century, the Ayyubid ruler Saladin used an eagle as his official emblem, and now the Eagle of Saladin is also in the coat of arms in Egypt, Iraq, and Palestine. The modern Indonesian coat of arms also sports an eagle, which is supposed to represent the Garuda, a legendary bird-like creature in Hindu and Buddhist texts (functionally the bird is modeled after the Javan hawk-eagle). The Mexican coat of arms depicts an eagle devouring a snake, which reflects an old Aztec legend where Tenochtitlan (modern day Mexico-City) was supposedly founded after the Aztec people saw an eagle eating a snake on top of a lake.
Conclusion
It’s interesting to see how the eagle, as a symbol, spread from the emulation of past empires but also how it sprung up independently in disparate times and locations around the world. For many European states (and possibly the United States), the prolific use of the eagle no doubt had its foundation in the legacy of Rome as a symbol of power and imperialism. However, the number of examples outside the European context also serves as confirmation that people all around the world consider the eagle as a symbol of strength, authority, and limitless potential.
References
Chariton, Jesse D. 2011. “The Mesopotamian Origins of the Hittite Double-Headed Eagle,” 13.
Jaques, Susan. 2018. The Caesar of Paris. Simon and Schuster.
Mark, Joshua. 2014. “Roman Standard.” Ancient History Encyclopedia. February 19, 2014. https://www.ancient.eu/Roman_Standard/.
Shahbazi, A. Shapur. 2011. “DERAFŠ.” Encyclopaedia Iranica. November 21, 2011. https://iranicaonline.org/articles/derafs.
“The Double-Headed Eagle: The Omnipresent Emblem of the Habsburgs.” n.d. Die Welt Der Habsburger. Accessed January 25, 2021. https://www.habsburger.net/en/chapter/double-headed-eagle-omnipresent-emblem-habsburgs.
“The Great Seal — National Museum of American Diplomacy.” n.d. Accessed January 26, 2021. https://diplomacy.state.gov/explore-online-exhibits/the-great-seal/.
“The Imperial Eagles of the First and Second Empires.” n.d. Napoleon.Org. Accessed January 26, 2021. https://www.napoleon.org/en/history-of-the-two-empires/objects/imperial-eagles-first-second-empires/.
Victoria and Albert Museum, Digital Media webmaster@vam ac uk. 2011. “Russia & the Double-Headed Eagle.” Victoria and Albert Museum, Cromwell Road, South Kensington, London SW7 2RL. Telephone +44 (0)20 7942 2000. Email vanda@vam.ac.uk. January 13, 2011. http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/r/russia-double-headed-eagle/.
