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Roman ornament with an aquila (100–200 AD) from the Cleveland Museum of Art A modern reconstruction of an aquila. An aquila (Classical Latin: [ˈakᶣɪla]; lit. ' eagle ') was a prominent symbol used in ancient Rome, especially as the standard of a Roman legion. A legionary known as an aquilifer, the "eagle-bearer", carried this standard.
Aquila is a constellation on the celestial equator. Its name is Latin for ' eagle ' and it represents the bird that carried Zeus/Jupiter's thunderbolts in Greek-Roman mythology . Its brightest star, Altair , is one vertex of the Summer Triangle asterism .
The Aquila was the eagle standard of a Roman legion, carried by a special grade legionary known as an Aquilifer, from the second consulship of Gaius Marius (104 BC) used as the only legionary standard. It was made of silver, or bronze, with outstretched wings. The eagle was not immediately retained as a symbol of the Roman Empire in general in ...
The earliest predecessors of the symbol can be found in Mycenaean Greece and in the Ancient Near East, especially in Mesopotamian and Hittite iconography. Most modern uses of the emblem are directly or indirectly associated with its use by the Palaiologos dynasty of the Byzantine Empire, a use possibly derived from the Roman Imperial Aquila.
The Late Roman army in the late 3rd century continued to use the insignia usual to the Roman legions: the eagle-tipped aquila, the square vexillum, and the imago (the bust of the emperor on a pole). In addition, the use of the draco, adopted from the Dacians, was widespread among cavalry and auxiliary units. Few of them seem to have survived ...
Eagles are an exceptionally common symbol in heraldry, being considered the "King of Birds" in contrast to the lion, the "King of Beasts". Whereas the lion (e.g. England) usually represents authority, the eagle is the symbol of power.
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There were three main types of standard (Aquila, Vexillum, Signum). Several throughout its history include: Aquila, the emblem of the Roman legion whose adoption Pliny the Elder attributes to the general Gaius Marius. Each legion had an eagle, or aquila, carried by an aquilifer;