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The Silchester eagle is a Roman bronze casting dating from the first or second century CE, uncovered in 1866 at
Calleva Atrebatum Calleva Atrebatum ("Calleva of the Atrebates") was an Iron Age oppidum, the capital of the Atrebates tribe. It then became a walled town in the Roman province of Britannia, at a major crossroads of the roads of southern Britain. The modern villa ...
in
Silchester Silchester is a village and civil parish about north of Basingstoke in Hampshire. It is adjacent to the county boundary with Berkshire and about south-west of Reading. Silchester is most notable for the archaeological site and Roman town of ...
, Hampshire, England. It was purchased in 1980 by Reading Museum in Berkshire where it remains on display .


History

The Silchester eagle was discovered, wingless and damaged, on 9 October 1866 by Rev J. G. Joyce during the excavation of a Roman basilica where it was likely part of a larger statue. It stands approximately high and has a hollow space inside which was accessed through a (now missing) square lid located on the top of the back of the bird. It was found buried in a layer of charred wood, leading the discoverer to believe that it might have been the sacred eagle of a Roman legion and had been hidden for safekeeping in the rafters of the aerarium (treasury). However, more recent archaeologists have suggested that the piece may have been intended as nothing more than scrap metal by the Romans at the time that it was lost, and was awaiting being recycled when the aerarium burnt down. The curve of the feet suggests that the eagle's
talon Talon or talons may refer to: Science and technology * Talon (anatomy), the claw of a bird of prey * Brodifacoum, a rodenticide, also known as the brand Talon * TALON (database), a database maintained by the US Air Force * Talon, an anti-vehicle- ...
s had grasped a globe that was probably held in the hand of a statue, possibly of Jupiter.


See also

*'' The Eagle of the Ninth'', the 1954 novel by Rosemary Sutcliff that was inspired by the Silchester eagle * ''The Eagle'', the 2011 film based on the novel


References


External links

{{Commons category-inline, Silchester Eagle Archaeological artifacts Eagles Roman Britain Ancient Roman military standards Birds in art