Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary/Aquila

Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary, and Greek Lexicon (Rich, 1849)

AQUILA. The eagle, the principal ensign of the Roman legion (Plin. H. N. x. 5.), made of silver or bronze, and with expanded wings, as shown in the example (Aquila/1.1), from an original published by La Chausse (Recueil d'Antiq. Romaines, v. 15.). The manner in which it was carried is shown by the illustration to the following word.

2. (αἰετός, ἀετός, ἀέτωμα). In architecture the triangular face included by the horizontal and sloping cornices of a pediment, to which latter it formed, as it were, a support (sustinentis fastigium aquilae. Tac. Hist. iii. 71.). The term is properly Greek (Pausan. i. 24. 5. Id. v. 10. 20.), and corresponds to the Latin TYMPANUM; unless the latter word was employed when the part consisted of a mere naked face unadorned with sculpture; and the former, when the surface was broken by bas-reliefs; for the name originated in a very early Greek practice of carving an eagle in the pediment of a temple, especially of those which were dedicated to Jupiter, as in the example (Aquila/2.1) from a bas-relief of the Villa Mattei at Rome. In Etruscan or other edifices of araeostyle construction, the aquila was formed of wood, in order to lighten the pressure upon the architrave; a circumstance which caused the conflagration of the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, when the Capitol was besieged by Vespasian. Tac. Hist. l. c.

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  Aquila/1.1
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  Aquila/2.1