What is wrapping around the feathers of the grip?

[stevesarak]

To add to the speculation, read the text from fig 8. Lyon bowl. Your eagle may be a ram's head, the origin of the design being Celtic and the figure shown Cernonnus.

http://www.ceisiwrserith.com/therest/Ce ... spaper.htm

The symbol of the healing or possibly Hesperides.
In Greek mythology, the Hesperides (Greek: Ἑσπερίδες) are nymphs who tend a blissful garden in a far west corner of the world, located, according to various sources, in the Arcadian Mountains in Greece, near the Atlas mountains in Libya, or on a distant blessed island at the edge of the ocean. According to the Greek poet Stesichorus, in his poem the "song of Geryon", and the Greek geographer Strabo, in his book Geographika (volume III), the Hesperides are in Tartessos, a location placed to the south of Iberia (Spain). The Greek poet Hesiod said that the ancient name of Cádiz was Erytheia, another name for the Hesperides. Others situate the gardens of Hesperides in the region located between Tangier (formely Tinjis) and Larache in Morocco.

It could be either or none. With what I’ve seen so far, I tend to think it’s not military.

It could still be part of a scepter, I’m not sure what they liked like back then. Just out of curiosity, with what we’ve seen of other sculptures, does that face look more Roman or Greek?

Either way, it an interesting piece and I want to say thanks for the information and the links, I learned something new.