Vassar College Digital Window @ Vassar Senior Capstone Projects 2014 Jupiter's Legacy: The yS mbol of the Eagle and Thunderbolt in Antiquity and Their Appropriation by Revolutionary America and Nazi Germany Justin S. Hayes
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalwindow.vassar.edu/senior_capstone Part of the Ancient History, Greek and Roman through Late Antiquity Commons Recommended Citation Hayes, Justin S., "Jupiter's Legacy: The yS mbol of the Eagle and Thunderbolt in Antiquity and Their Appropriation by Revolutionary America and Nazi Germany" (2014). Senior Capstone Projects. 261. http://digitalwindow.vassar.edu/senior_capstone/261 This Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by Digital Window @ Vassar. It has been accepted for inclusion in Senior Capstone Projects by an authorized administrator of Digital Window @ Vassar. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Jupiter's Legacy: The Symbol of the Eagle and Thunderbolt in Antiquity and Their Appropriation by Revolutionary America and Nazi Germany Siddhartha Hayes GRST 360-04 Senior Thesis Introduction The thunderbolt and the eagle, the armament and armour-bearer of Jupiter – these symbols had profound cultural significance to the ancients. At first one may think that what was sacred for the Romans has no bearing on modern society, but in truth these icons retain much of their meaning and importance even over two-thousand years later. The Western world has been obsessed with and reverent towards ancient Rome since its fall, and consequently, many different groups have associated themselves with the Latin city and its people, holding aloft its ideas and culture in an attempt to take up the legacy of the “best and greatest” power.