Eagle of Saladin Sketch from Cairo Citadel

The Eagle of Saladin ( ar, نسر صلاح الدين, known in

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

as the Egyptian Eagle ( ar, النسر المصري ), and the Republican Eagle ( ), is a

heraldic eagle The eagle is used in heraldry as a charge, as a supporter, and as a crest. Heraldic eagles can be found throughout world history like in the Achaemenid Empire or in the present Republic of Indonesia. The European post-classical symbolism of the ...

that serves as the coat of arms of many countries;

coat of arms of Egypt The coat of arms of Egypt () is known as the Republican Eagle or Egyptian Golden Eagle, is a heraldic golden eagle, facing the viewer's left ( dexter). The eagle's breast is charged with an escutcheon bearing the red-white-black bands of the fl ...

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...

, Palestine, and of the

Southern Transitional Council The Southern Transitional Council (STC; ''al-Majlis al-Intiqālī l-Janūbiyy'') is a secessionist organization in South Yemen. The 26 members of the STC include the governors of five southern governorates and two government ministers. It was f ...

of South Yemen. Since the Egyptian Revolution of 1952, the eagle has been an iconic symbol of

, and of

Arab nationalism Arab nationalism ( ar, القومية العربية, al-Qawmīya al-ʿArabīya) is a nationalist ideology that asserts the Arabs are a nation and promotes the unity of Arab people, celebrating the glories of Arab civilization, the language a ...

, particularly in

Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

states that underwent

anti-imperialist Anti-imperialism in political science and international relations is a term used in a variety of contexts, usually by nationalist movements who want to secede from a larger polity (usually in the form of an empire, but also in a multi-ethnic so ...

political change from the 1950s onwards. It was formerly the national symbol of the now defunct

United Arab Republic The United Arab Republic (UAR; ar, الجمهورية العربية المتحدة, al-Jumhūrīyah al-'Arabīyah al-Muttaḥidah) was a sovereign state in the Middle East from 1958 until 1971. It was initially a political union between Eg ...

North Yemen North Yemen may refer to: * Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen (1918–1962) * Yemen Arab Republic The Yemen Arab Republic (YAR; ar, الجمهورية العربية اليمنية '), also known simply as North Yemen or Yemen (Sanaʽa), was a ...

, South Yemen, and the

Libyan Arab Republic Muammar Gaddafi became the ''de facto'' leader of Libya on 1 September 1969 after leading a group of young Libyan Army officers against King Idris I in a bloodless coup d'état. After the king had fled the country, the Revolutionary Comma ...

Origin of the eagle

Inspired by the ancient eagle depicted on Egyptians temples from the Pharaonic era,

Saladin Yusuf ibn Ayyub ibn Shadi () ( – 4 March 1193), commonly known by the epithet Saladin,, ; ku, سه‌لاحه‌دین, ; was the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty. Hailing from an ethnic Kurdish family, he was the first of both Egypt and ...

, the first Sultan of Egypt, took the animal as a symbol of strength, and carried a yellow flag emblazoned with an eagle as his personal standard. The

Cairo Citadel The Citadel of Cairo or Citadel of Saladin ( ar, قلعة صلاح الدين, Qalaʿat Salāḥ ad-Dīn) is a medieval Islamic-era fortification in Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the Capital city, capital of Egypt ...

, built during Saladin's reign, has a large eagle on its west wall believed to depict Saladin's emblem. Speculated by the Ottoman explorer

Evliya Çelebi Derviş Mehmed Zillî (25 March 1611 – 1682), known as Evliya Çelebi ( ota, اوليا چلبى), was an Ottoman explorer who travelled through the territory of the Ottoman Empire and neighboring lands over a period of forty years, recording ...

to have originally been double-headed, the eagle on the Citadel wall is today headless. The course lines on the eagle do not correspond with those on the wall, suggesting that it was moved to its present location substantially after Saladin's rule, possibly during the rule of Muhammad Ali, when the upper part of the wall was rebuilt. The double-headed eagle symbol was used on coins of

al-Adil I Al-Adil I ( ar, العادل, in full al-Malik al-Adil Sayf ad-Din Abu-Bakr Ahmed ibn Najm ad-Din Ayyub, ar, الملك العادل سيف الدين أبو بكر بن أيوب,‎ "Ahmed, son of Najm ad-Din Ayyub, father of Bakr, the Just ...

, Saladin's brother who succeeded him as Sultan.

Modern history

The Egyptian Revolution of 1952 was characterised by a profound reassertion of

Egyptian nationalism Egyptian nationalism is based on Egyptians and Egyptian culture. Egyptian nationalism has typically been a civic nationalism that has emphasized the unity of Egyptians regardless of their ethnicity or religion. Egyptian nationalism first manifes ...

, and later the regional

under Gamal Abdel Nasser's rule, the latter particularly in the context of the

Arab-Israeli conflict The Arab citizens of Israel are the largest ethnic minority in the country. They comprise a hybrid community of Israeli citizens with a heritage of Palestinian citizenship, mixed religions (Muslim, Christian or Druze), bilingual in Arabic an ...

. Drawing direct parallels between this conflict and the

Crusades The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were ...

, the leaders of Egypt's revolution connected their own declared efforts of Arab liberation with those of the medieval Saladin who, as Egypt's sultan, had united Arab forces against the Crusaders in Palestine. Simultaneously, Egypt's revolutionary government under

Muhammad Naguib Mohamed Bey Naguib Youssef Qutb El-Qashlan ( ar, الرئيس اللواء محمد بك نجيب يوسف قطب القشلان, ; 19 February 1901 – 28 August 1984), also known as Mohamed Naguib, was an Egyptian revolutionary, and, along ...

and Gamal Abdel Nasser, both veterans of the Palestine War, introduced the Arab Liberation Flag bearing the colours of red, white, black, and green associated with the Rashidun Caliphate of Medina, the Umayyad Caliphate of Damascus, the Abbasid Caliphate of Baghdad, and Egypt's own Fatimad Caliphate of Cairo. In the centre of the flag they placed the Eagle of Saladin, rendered in gold. Henceforth, both the Eagle of Saladin, and the Arab Liberation Flag would become symbols linked inextricably with republican Egypt, and the wider cause of Arab nationalism. When Egypt united with Syria in 1958 to form the

, the Eagle of Saladin became the new state's coat of arms, whilst the Arab Liberation Flag was taken as the basis for the flag. Even though the Egyptian-Syrian union ended abruptly in 1961 after a coup d'etat in Syria, the Eagle remained a potent symbol for those aspiring for Arab unity. Following the toppling of the monarchy of North Yemen in 1962, the Eagle became the

national symbol A national symbol is a symbol of any entity considering and manifesting itself to the world as a national community: the sovereign states but also nations and countries in a state of colonial or other dependence, federal integration, or even an e ...

of the new Yemen Arab Republic, and later of the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen in South Yemen in 1967. Likewise, Iraq's 1963 Ramadan Revolution by the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party led to Iraq also adopting the Eagle as Iraq's

coat of arms of Iraq The Emblem of Iraq since Baath's coups d'état features a golden black eagle looking towards the viewer's left dexter. The eagle is the Eagle of Saladin associated with 20th-century pan-Arabism, bearing a shield of the Iraqi flag, and holding ...

. Conversely, the

adopted the Eagle in 1969, however, it was later supplanted by the Hawk of Quraish when, along with Egypt, and Syria, Libya established the

Federation of Arab Republics The Federation of Arab Republics (FAR; ar, اتحاد الجمهوريات العربية, , ) was an unsuccessful attempt by Muammar Gaddafi to merge Libya, Egypt and Syria in order to create a unified Arab state. Although approved by a r ...

in 1972. The State of Palestine was the most recent state to adopt the Eagle of Saladin, doing so upon its declaration of statehood in 1988.

Current national emblems using the Eagle of Saladin

File:Coat of arms of Egypt (Official).svg,

Coat of arms of Egypt The coat of arms of Egypt () is known as the Republican Eagle or Egyptian Golden Eagle, is a heraldic golden eagle, facing the viewer's left ( dexter). The eagle's breast is charged with an escutcheon bearing the red-white-black bands of the fl ...

File:Coat of arms of Iraq.svg,

Coat of arms of Iraq The Emblem of Iraq since Baath's coups d'état features a golden black eagle looking towards the viewer's left dexter. The eagle is the Eagle of Saladin associated with 20th-century pan-Arabism, bearing a shield of the Iraqi flag, and holding ...

File:Coat of arms of Palestine (alternative).svg,

Coat of arms of Palestine The coat of arms of Palestine may refer to the emblem used by the State of Palestine and Palestinian National Authority (PNA) or to the emblem used by the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). Official description The government of Palestine ...

File:Emblem of Yemen.svg,

Emblem of Yemen The national emblem of Yemen depicts a golden eagle of Saladin with a scroll between its claws. On the scroll is written the name of the country in ar, الجمهورية اليمنية or ("The Yemeni Republic"). The chest of the eagle contai ...

File:The Somali National Army Logo.svg, alt=, Lesser emblem of the

Somali Armed Forces The Somali Armed Forces are the military forces of the Federal Republic of Somalia. Headed by the president as commander-in-chief, they are constitutionally mandated to ensure the nation's sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity. Ch ...

File:Emblem of Somaliland.svg,

National emblem of Somaliland The national Coat of arms, emblem of Somaliland ( so, Astaanta Qaranka Somaliland, ar, شعار أرض الصومال), was introduced on 14 October 1996 along with the flag of Somaliland, when it was approved by the National Conference. It was ...

References

External links

The emblem of Egypt's flag, A.R.E. - The Golden Eagle of Egypt

Flags of the World (website) Flags of the World (abbreviated FOTW or FotW) is an Internet-based vexillological association and resource. Its principal project is the Internet's largest website devoted to vexillology, containing comprehensive information about various flags, ...

{{Arab nationalism Saladin Cairo Egyptian culture Heraldic eagles Fauna of Egypt 1952 in Egypt Egyptian Revolution of 1952 National symbols National symbols of Egypt National symbols of Iraq National symbols of the State of Palestine National symbols of Yemen

Origin of the eagle

Modern history

Current national emblems using the Eagle of Saladin

See also

References

External links