AQUILA (IN CHRISTIAN ARCHAEOLOGY). — The eagle appears in early Christian art only as an ornamental motif, as in a cubicle of the Catacomb of Callisto in Rome, or on an ivory pyxis discovered at Carthage, now in the Museo Civico of Livorno, or on the sarcophagus of Junius Bassus. In some Roman and Gallic sarcophagi depicting the Resurrection, the eagle with outstretched wings holds aloft with its beak or talons a triumphal wreath encircling the monogram of Christ in the Constantinian form. In such cases, G. B. De Rossi recognized an allusion to the classical insignia of the Roman legions, since it is connected with the laurel wreath that encircles the *signum Christi* raised on Constantine’s labarum.
Later, the eagle is found in the mosaic floors of the baptisteries of Capua and Valence, perhaps in reference to Psalm 102:5: *“Your youth shall be renewed like the eagle’s.”* In the East, it sometimes symbolizes the resurrection of the deceased, as shown by some Coptic steles in the Cairo Museum or the Resurrection of Christ in the paintings of Athribis and Bawit. In the funerary museums of Palestine, both concepts are found together. As a symbol of resurrection and apotheosis, the eagle is noted by St. Ambrose (PL 16, 420) and St. Maximus of Turin (PL 57, 369); as such, it appears at the feet of Christ on the Antioch Chalice, see ANIMALE; APOTROSI.