Eye on the Sky
For millennia man has looked up at the skies with awe, noting the effortless manner with which the eagle glides upon the thermals and made master of all he surveys. The animal kingdom appears to have been uniquely generous to the eagle, marking its fierce and feathered symmetry with an aire of majesty― allowing no other creature to soar higher nor endowed with sharper eyesight or fashioned with more murderous talons. The eagle is an agent of death like no other, an assassin swooping down from impossible heights and in utter silence it slays with surgical precision. Apart from the lion, no other animal is featured as widely and numerously as the national symbol of countries, military units & special forces, coat of arms of monarchies, sovereign states and not to mention as logos of modern companies.
A most historic beast
The eagle has graced the military banners of the ancient world’s greatest superpowers: Egypt, Babylon and Rome, just as today the bald eagle is the most recognized emblem of the United States. For Rome, the most enduring and militaristic of civilizations, the eagle emblem was venerated to the level of near-fanaticism. An “aquila” (Latin for “eagle”) was an eagle standard carried into war, usually in gold, borne by an “aquilifer” (eagle-bearer) and each legion carried such a standard. This was the ultimate symbol of Rome’s martial supremacy. Losing a battle and consequently losing one of these eagle standards was the gravest of occurrences and shook their societies to the core. No expense was spared and they would put entire nations to the sword to regain their beloved eagle standard.