EAGLE IN ART AND SYMBOLISM. The Persians and other ancient nations sqch as the Assyrians and Egyptians all utilized the eagle's form in art, Xenophon tells us that eagles were on the Persian ensigns. The ancient armies of the Romans had the eagle carried as a standard, hence they used the teen "eagle" to designate their legions. In the Greek mythology we find an eagle as attendant on Zeus; it held in its claws the god's lightning bolts (fultnen), and it was an eagle that car ried off Ganymede on its wings. In ancient times the eagle was often considered as symbol of the soul's flight after death. In early Chris tian art the eagle was used to personify Saint John the Evangelist, with his wonderful divine vision and spiritual flights. Strange to say, the early Christians often adopted the pagan carved gems containing representations of the heavy bearded Zeus and his eagle as symbols of God the Father and his Apostle, whether wittingly or not is matter for conjecture. One favored form in Christian iconography represents the Evangelist in human form but with an eagle's head.
When Rome became an empire the eagle's form was used in picturing an emperor's apotheosis. Probably for this reason Napoleon Bonaparte made prolific use of the majestic bird as a decorative motif in his palaces when he became emperor; in 1804 he adopted it as ensign for his victorious armies. The eagle to this day is almost inevitably present in war and triumphal trophies.
In America, the eagle has long since figured as symbol of the republic, and a ten-dollar gold coin is named after it.
In heraldry, the eagle became an armorial charge quite early (about the period of Char lemagne). For this purpose its appearance had to be considerably transformed. It took on a very attenuated form, the displayed wing feathers becoming few and distinctly separated, so that, depicted on the shield of a knight, its outline would he visible a long distance off. In this heraldic form, Germany, Austria, Prussia, France (as empire) adopted the eagle.
The double-headed eagle device is a bearing in Russian, Austrian and German arms. In the latter two cases the twin heads refer to the assumption of power, both east and west. This double-headed heraldic bird (Doppeladler) is held in such reverence by the Teutonic race as sometimes to figure "nimbed," that is with the Catholic halo surrounding each head. In Christian iconography a double-headed eagle represents Elisha, the prophet.
In ecclesiastical art the term eeagle" is applied to a piece of church furniture — the lectern (q.v.) (reading desk) of brass or carved wood in the form of an eagle with wings displayed to hold the Bible on its back It represents, of Saint John the Evangelist. See LECTERN.