The first Roman emperor, Augustus (27 BC-14 AD), brought the idea of the eagle as an imperial symbol from Egypt to Rome. From then on the eagle appeared on Roman military standards, too – for that eagles guaranteed victory was known from numerous representations of those birds with wreaths in their claws or beaks.
Here the eagle is shown on the reverse of a Roman tetradrachm from the 3rd century. The bird is depicted almost from the front, with its head turned and holding a victory wreath in its beak. The coin was minted in Syria and issued by Emperor Geta (209-212), who is represented on the obverse.