An aquila , or eagle , was a prominent symbol used in ancient Rome , especially as the standard of a Roman legion . A legionary known as an aquilifer , or eagle-bearer, carried this standard. Each legion carried one eagle.
The eagle was extremely important to the Roman military, beyond merely being a symbol of a legion. A lost standard was considered an extremely grave occurrence, and the Roman military often went to great lengths to both protect a standard and to recover it if lost; for example, see the aftermath of the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest , where the Romans spent decades attempting to recover the lost standards of three legions.
For a historical reference, you can check out this web site [link removed by eBay] . For those who are interested in joining a Roman Legion organization go to [link removed by eBay] or email me about joining this Legion at niximperial(at)aol.com . Thanks. " I have about 200 new custom made and designed items I will put up for sale, as well as my sword and sandal movie prop collection, my military miniature figure collection painted by Russian masters, my World War II collection, my ancient coin and ancient military artifact collection and other various military "militaria" items". These will all be listed under the Terry Nix Collection III in the near future, so please keep checking back or you will miss that one of a kind item.