Byzantine Eagle

#byzantine #eagle #mosaic from the 5th or 6th century AD

This shows how Greek and Roman techniques endured into the Byzantine era. I would have thought this was Roman or Hellenistic at first sight but it is Byzantine era.

Another Eagle Coin

I'm still working on the Swallow Song notes and translation so here's another #eagle #coin

This one is Hellenistic and was issued by one of the Ptolemies. Note the lettering and that the eagle is holding Zeus' thunderbolts. The Greeks excelled at Sculpture on a small scale as well as large!

Sicilian Eagle Coin

#greekcoinage #greekcoins #eagle

In  keeping with our #bird theme here is a particularly beautiful #Sicilian #coin depicting two eagles from one of the Greek Colonies on that island . I have no why a grasshopper is in the background! Note that the prey is an HARE not a rabbit!

Zeus and his Eagle

#eagle #zeus #greek #ceramics #archaic #naucratispainter

Naucratis Painter 560 BCE Zeus and his eagle

Zeus is depicted as a male aristo with long hair and a cloak with elaborate patterning.

The consensus or Majority opinion is that his eagle was a Golden Eagle seen as the King of the birds because it was one of the largest bird species known to the Greeks.

A note on technique. The reds and blacks are a clay slip of iron oxides. The higher the iron content the darker the slip. The yellow ochre lines are a technique called sgraffito of making lines by scratching thru the slips down to the base clay with some kind of stylus.