Talk:Aquila (Roman)

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Related task forces... Classical warfare task force (c. 700 BC–c. 500 AD)

[edit] The Ball

"Another figure used in the standards was a ball (pila), supposed to have been emblematic of the dominion of Rome over the world (Isid. Orig. xviii.3); "

That doesn't make sense if the ball is a symbol of the globe. Did the Romans believe the world was round? If not, then how could they have used a ball as a representation of the world? Comatose51 04:30, 1 October 2005 (UTC)

The Romans knew that the world was round, that the ancients generally belived the world to be flat is itself something of an myth. The more usual word for ball in this sense would be globus. See picture of coin in pilum article. I really don't know about the role of an orb for aquila, but the Sovereign's Orb has been a symbol of power for a very long time. Gaius Cornelius 07:22, 1 October 2005 (UTC)

Note 1 is wrong, taken from Webster. it was not Caesar who concealed any eagle. Florus talks abnout the Teotoburg disaster (the clades variana) and about an aquilifer who concealed his eagle that way... only to die and loose it in the marshes.80.103.130.197 01:06, 12 December 2006 (UTC)