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The Imperial Eagle

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The eagle as a imperial symbol looks like it existed since the Carolingian times. Charlemagne used it at the top of its ships' mast and put a bronze picture of it atop the palace of Aix. Since the end of the 13th century A.D., Charlemagne was often symbolically represented by a shield of arms both from the Empire -- with a eagle -- and France -- the fleurs de lys. The eagle of the heraldry is the golden eagle. The latter is one of the most powerful predators in the avian world. Already a symbol (with two heads) by the Hittites, the eagle was the bird of Zeus and, in Rome, that of Jupiter. Germans as far as they were concerned, regarded it as the symbol of the supreme being and it sat at the top of Yggdrasil, the ash tree that spanned the universe, with a squirrel the messenger between the eagle and a serpent at the bottom of the tree. Many cultures considered the golden eagle as the link between humanity and the gods. A golden eagle can stare directly at the Sun. The heraldic influence of the eagle in Europe lies with the Romans for whom this symbol had become that of the legions and, more generally, of Rome. Upon the death of a emperor, the latter's corpse was cremated and a eagle liberated above the ashes to bring the soul to heaven. The eagle was thus taken over by the Byzantine Empire and then the Holy Roman Empire. The double-headed eagle reappeared in Byzantium under the Palaiologians -- as that symbol was already their familial heraldic since 1000 A.D. -- to symbolize their domination over the East and West. Several Central Asian peoples, mainly the Kazaks, Kyrgyzs and Mongolians, still use the golden eagle for hunting as the hunters who practice that are called 'Berkutchis'

Website Manager: G. Guichard, site Learning and Knowledge In the Carolingian Times / Erudition et savoir à l'époque carolingienne, http://schoolsempire.6te.net. Page Editor: G. Guichard. last edited: 9/27/2017. contact us at ggwebsites@outlook.com
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