From one of my Facebook groups. Truly a majestic icon.

That is a fantastic picture...Thanks for posting it here...Cheers, RickO

@jmlanzaf said:
Truly an icon of the Roman Empire.

Ok, we are dying to know how you will transform our national bird into something else on Coumbus Day

@DCW said:

@jmlanzaf said:
Truly an icon of the Roman Empire.

Ok, we are dying to know how you will transform our national bird into something else on Coumbus Day

This is an interesting, if not complete, discussion:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eagle_(heraldry)

On a related but separate note, I've always considered the Buffalo Nickel to be the first 100% American coin. With a Native American on one side and the American Bison on the other side, it has no neo-classical iconography.

In some ways, given the continued use of neo-classical imagery even after the Buffalo Nickel, other than commems and the ATB and State quarters, U.S. coins maintain a neo-classical flair to this day. The reverse of the dime is neo-classical. Monticello is neo-classical architecture. Even the shield usage on the cent is not strictly American. Eagle on the reverse of the half. Etc.

I'm almost surprised there hasn't been more of a push in modern times to strip away the neo-classical flair of coins and currency to replace them with something of more indigenous design.

@DCW said:
We have all heard the story of Ben Franklin and his reverence for the Turkey. And thank god there were other founding fathers.
The eagle is ours, dude.

LOL. The eagle is ours but not uniquely ours. It's been used by so many civilizations that it is embarrassingly common as a symbol. Germany, Austria still use it to this day and were using it long before us. Italy used it, even after the Roman empire. It is used in various middle eastern cultures as well.

@DCW said:
It's called the American Bald Eagle for a reason:

Now that's just stubborn chauvinism.

@mannie gray said:

@jmlanzaf said:

@DCW said:

@jmlanzaf said:
Truly an icon of the Roman Empire.

Ok, we are dying to know how you will transform our national bird into something else on Coumbus Day

One of the reasons that Benjamin Franklin preferred the indigenous turkey was that it was truly American. The eagle is not really a distinctly American icon, it is a neo-classical appropriation going back to the Roman Empire, at least.

The eagle, yes.
But bald eagles are indigenous only to North America.

Yes, including Canada and Mexico. And those same Eagles were symbols to pre-Columbian Native American tribes.

@mannie gray said:

@jmlanzaf said:

@mannie gray said:

@jmlanzaf said:

@DCW said:

@jmlanzaf said:
Truly an icon of the Roman Empire.

Ok, we are dying to know how you will transform our national bird into something else on Coumbus Day

One of the reasons that Benjamin Franklin preferred the indigenous turkey was that it was truly American. The eagle is not really a distinctly American icon, it is a neo-classical appropriation going back to the Roman Empire, at least.

The eagle, yes.
But bald eagles are indigenous only to North America.

Yes, including Canada and Mexico. And those same Eagles were symbols to pre-Columbian Native American tribes.

Well obviously Canada and Mexico are included in North America.
But I don't think the Roman Empire officially stretched that far.

I dont know, that flat earth people might believe it.

The Ben Franklin turkey story is more tongue-in-cheek than anything else. He wasn’t seriously proposing changing the national bird.

The story is part of American mythology now.

On the fourth of july, we can discuss how Liberty was also appropriated from the Romans