MML Computer-Assisted Translation

Article from the Fitzwilliam Museum - The Eagle

Silke Mentchen and Annemarie Kunzl-Snodgrass

The eagle is one of [1] the most popular [2] symbols of all time. Even today the king of the birds constitutes the arms of such different States as the USA, Mexico, Germany, Austria, Poland, Syria and Indonesia [3] In the past the eagle very often represented the highest sovereignty, alongside[4] the lion. Coins automatically reflect the highest authorities and the public sphere, as[5] by definition the value and acceptance of a coin must always be guaranteed [6] by an authority or by the state. So coins are not only sources for economic history or a medium for art work, but they can also give us extensive information about - official - religion and cult, political thought, and ideology.

The eagle was not only connected to German imperial[7] tradition, but also to any Western imperial ideology basing its ideas on the Roman Empire. Thus Napoleon Bonaparte sought to establish a French Empire in Europe intended to be as glorious as the Roman Empire. This also explains the choice of the eagle as their arms by the newly established United States of America. The Mexican eagle on a cactus, however, refers directly to an Aztec myth[8] about the foundation of Mexico.