Any opinions on what may have happened to all the Legionary Eagles after the glory days? Don't know if this has been discussed on here yet. I have never heard of any recovered originals. Doubtless most were captured by enemies sooner or later,especially in the later declining years. I imagine them being displayed as trophies of war,or sold off and bartered as plunder. Have any pieces of suspected originals been spotted? Any insight at all as to there possible fates after the collapse of the Western Empire will be appreciated? Thanks all!
You're quite right in your assumptions. Of course some were lost to the Romans as war-booty, but we also know they would try to recapture them. We also have some ideas that some where put in sacred temples in Rome. Altogether in my personal oppinion we don't know much as most just are lost to plunders, as they were (even without the 'sacreteness') very valuable items.
I would suspect they were all melted down for the precious metal.....
In 2000 years al lot could have happened to them even if they were kept in a temple. when cristianity came they would not worship on them so later they disappeard, sold, melted down or everything you can think of, nobody knows.
Ave Fratres!
Well...I just keep thinking that one of these days, one will turn up. What with complete parade helmets showing up, maybe one of these hobbyist metal detector folks will find a Legionary Eagle. You know the line " Hope springs eternal....."
Regards from an Unseasonably Warm Balkans
Arminius Primus, aka Al
Quote:I would suspect they were all melted down for the precious metal.....
hock:
I suspected as much too. Damn Barbarians! I even picture them lingering around for some time in temples of the East,like in Persia,or the Russian steppes,displayed with other captured arms in a warlord's mead hall,or even in Nobles' private collections during the Dark Ages. I am surprised that none have surfaced in an ancient cathederal or in church architecture.
They are all hidden in Area LI
Quote:They are all hidden in Area LI
Ahhh,I knew it!-lol
Didn't you guys see Raiders of the Lost Ark? The eagles are stored right next to the Ark of the Covenant--further identified as Area Fifty One in the fourth Indiana Jones movie. :lol: (I forget it's name. Something about a crystal skull. What a waste of Kate Blanchett.)
Anyway, it would be really nice if one was preserved.
yeah, Ron, that's what I said, "Area LI" (Regio quinquagintus unus) :lol:
Even I got that one. :roll: I was agreeing.
OK, back to the thread. There were only very few eagles around to begin with. Having only one per legion, one has only to look at the total number of legions at one time to realise these were very rare items even their own time. Of the hunderds of thousands of helmets, swords, coins etc, only relatively few have survived and most only by accidental loss or burial which could not be reclaimed. Being presumably made of precious metal, they would indeed have been melted down once their function was lost, and being very sacred, were unlike to have been lost in the intermediate period. Only eagles captured and hidden away in a so far undiscovered treasure hoard which in its own time went unrecovered (like a gravegift or buried in a sacked and demolished town) would have stood chance of survival.
That's a good point about the relative scarcity, and if that supposition is right, that the eagle of a particular legion might be kept in that legion for perhaps centuries (of time, not men), it makes them even scarcer.
Suppose, out of all the fifty or so different legions throughout the history of Rome, civil wars, conquests, and so forth, there were only EVER fifty, spread out over seven or eight hundred years. If would figure they would not turn up often in the archeological record.
And there there is also the reuse of the eagles, as legions were disbanded, renamed or even wiped out altogether. It adorned their standard, but may not have been exclusive to any one legion over centuries. As long as the legion continued to exist, it stayed with that legion, but were they disbanded, it found another perch. This may mean there were ever only 20 or so eagles.
Yes, that's probably exactly correct. I believe they attached supernatural characteristics to the object...which could be why if the eagle of a legion was lost, that legion was disgraced to a certain extent until it was recovered. Naturally, though, in 500AD Spain, locals would likely just regard it as a very expensive, easily coinable chunk of gold.