Since then, the double-headed eagle has appeared from time to time both in East and West. The double-headed eagle is an old birdie, and its first images (carved in stone) are attributed to the Hittites who lived in the Middle East in the 13th century B.C. What’s all this about? Isn’t one head enough? Heritage of the Hittites and Byzantium Still, this is not unique: Serbia, Albania and Montenegro also have coats of arms with two-headed birds. Russia’s eagle, however, is special – it’s double-headed, with each head looking in opposite directions. Meanwhile, a black eagle is on Germany’s coat of arms. In the U.S., the Great Seal features a bald eagle holding 13 arrows and an olive branch. Roman legions held standards with the glorious birds when going into battle, and even today many countries have eagles on their official coats of arms. The eagle has been emblazoned on the insignia of numerous empires. “He is the king of birds just like the lion is believed to rule all animals, and he is associated with the cult of the sun,” Georgy Vilinbakhov, head of Russia’s Heraldic Council, explains. An eagle on a country’s coat of arms is quite common – this bird is as popular a national symbol as the lion.
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