Byzantine Double Headed Eagle

A Byzantine embroidered double headed eagle dating from the late 14th century. It was probably either from an altar cloth or a podea, the panel that is hung below an Orthodox icon. A Byzantine embroidered double headed eagle dating from the late 14th century. It was probably either from an altar cloth or a podea, the panel that is hung below an Orthodox icon. Copyright Metropolitan Museum of Art (Rogers Fund, 1912), MMA acc. no. 12.104.1.

The double headed eagle is an ancient Anatolian symbol that dates back to the period of the Hittites (Anatolia; second millennium BC), if not earlier. By the medieval period the double headed eagle was widely used for heraldic images within the Byzantine Empire (c. 330-1453), and hence also in the Holy Roman Empire (962-1806), as well as the Russian Empire (1721-1917).

It was, for example, made into the official emblem of the Russian state by Ivan III (r: 1462-1505) in the late fifteenth century. In the Byzantine Empire the eagle represented the power of the emperor, while its two heads represented the emperor’s authority of secular and religious matters respectively. It should be noted that this emblem was also copied on both secular and religious items that had nothing to do with the royal courts.

Metropolitan Museum of Art online catalogue (retrieved 7th May 2016).

GVE

Last modified on Wednesday, 24 May 2017 16:56
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