Miscellaneous. 521 



represented with its head plain, that is to say, not crested ; it is 

 in appearance the same as the attendant bird of the " King of 

 Gods and Men," and is generally represented as standing at the foot 

 of his throne, or sometimes as the bearer of his thunder and light- 

 ning. Indeed he also often appears perched on the top of his 

 sceptre. He is always considered as the attribute or emblem of 

 " Father Jove." 



So likewise the same noble bird is the attendant on Jupiter's cup- 

 bearer, Ganymedes ; for, according to the well- known fable, that 

 great god sent his eagle to carry off the youth Ganymedes in his 

 claws from earth to the celestial regions. 



A good copy of this bird of Jupiter, called by Virgil and Ovid 

 " Jovis armiger," from an antique group, representing the Eayle 

 and Ganymedes, may be seen in Bell's ' Pantheon,' vol. i. Also 

 ** a small bronze eagle, the ensign of a Roman legion," is given in 

 Duppa's 'Travels' (in Sicily, &c., 2nd edition, 1829), tab. 4. That 

 traveller states that the original bronze figure is preserved in the 

 museum of the "Convent of St. Nicholas (d' Arena) at Catania." 

 This convent is now called " Convento di S. Benedetto," accord- 

 ing to Mr. G. Dennis, in his ' Handbook of Sicily,' published by 

 Murray : at p. 399, he thus mentions this ensign as " a Roman 

 Legionary Eagle in excellent preservation." From the second 

 century before Christ, the Eagle is said to have become the sole 

 mihtary ensign ; and it was mostly small in size, because Florus 

 (lib. iv. cap. 12) relates that an ensign- bearer, in the wars of Julius 

 Caesar, in order to prevent the enemy from taking it, pulled off the 

 eagle from the top of the gilt pole, and hid it, by placing it under 

 cover of his belt : — " tertiam (aquilam) signifer prius, quam in manus 

 hostium veniret, evulsit ; mersamque intra baltei sui latebras gerens, 

 in cruenta palude sic latuit." 



In later times, the eagle was borne with the legion, which, indeed, 

 occasionally took its name, " Aquila." 



This Eagle, which was also adopted by the Roman emperors for 

 their imperial symbol, is considered to be the Aquila heliaca of Sa- 

 vigny, which greatly resembles our Golden Eagle (A. chrysa'etos) 

 \n plumage, though of a darker brown. It inhabits North Africa 

 and Palestine, and is but rarely found in Europe. A living speci- 

 men may now be seen in the Zoological Gardens, in Regent's Park. 



Next as regards the Crested Eagles. 



Being lately engaged on a memoir on Baalbec, the ancient He- 

 liopolis, or *' Sun City " of Syria, I was desirous, if possible, of 

 ascertaining whether the Crested Eagle, which is well sculptured 

 on the soffit of a door in the Temple of Apollo or the Sun, could 

 be accounted a real species, or only an imaginary one carved after 

 a fancied design of the sculptor. The bird is engraven in Pococke's 

 •Description of the East' (vol. ii. plate 16), and is described as 

 '1\ feet in height, and 1 1 feet in extent from the tips of the out- 

 spread wings. The same sculptured bird is also given, on a some- 

 what larger scale in plate 34 of Wood's ' Baalbec' Moreover, 

 on the soffit of the door of the cella of the Temple of the Sun, 



Ann. l^ Mag. N. Hist. Ser.3. Vol.\\\\. 34 



