Eagle on the Yoke of Dareios\' chariot

[Jona Lendering]

But Pierre Briant said in his book from Cyrus to Alexander that the eagle is the animal that is well attested as symbol for royal power by the Achaemenids.

Yes, on page 111, referring to the story by Aelian that Achaemenes was raised by an eagle (an interesting story, mirrored in Firdausi's Shahname, where the Simurgh-bird raised the father of Rustam). He also refers (on page 242) to Xenophon, Anabasis 2.1.1, where an eagle is presented as an omen. On page 1021-1022, he presents Harmatta's theory that the eagle mentioned by Curtius Rufus is in fact the Babylonian Anzu - a theory which Briant finds hard to accept. Still, he does not contradict Harmatta's statement that the golden eagle appears under Artaxerxes II - but there is no reference, and it can not be found in Plutarch's Life of Artaxerxes II.

Still, Briant is god. Even if he does not mention sources more convincing than Aelian, he may be right. But I remain skeptical. In any case, the eagles on the drawings of the standards above are based on a piece of blueish stone (below) - they are not the golden eagles mentioned by Harmatta, and there is no evidence (at least not that I know of) that this blueish bird represents the royal standard.