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3300 BCE
Bronze Age, Iron Age and ancient far east
Polycephalous mythological beasts are very frequent in the Bronze Age and Iron Age pictorial legacy of the Ancient Near East, especially in the Assyrian sphere. These latter were adopted by the Hittites. -
600 BCE
Middle Ages
After the Bronze Age collapse, there is a gap of more than two millennia before the re-appearance of the double-headed eagle motif. The earliest occurrence in the context of the Byzantine Empire appears to be on a silk brocade dated to the 10th century, it was likely manufactured in Islamic Spain, Bulgaria and France. The symbolism of the double-headed eagle depicting empires, imperialistlic thoughts. -
102
First use of the double headed eagle in Byzantine
The early Byzantine Empire continued to use the (single-headed) imperial eagle motif. The double-headed eagle appears only in the medieval period, by about the 10th century in Byzantine art, but as an imperial emblem. The double-headed eagle design also affects the later flag designs on many Eastern European, and Balkan flags. -
1101
Adoption of Christian Europe
After the collapse of the Byzantium, many countries depicted themselves that they were successors of the previous Byzantium Empire. The adoption of Christian Europe was most focused, espically it's well known in the Holy Roman Empire, Serbia, and Russia at around the 12th century. It's most focused around the Russian Empire and the Holy Roman Empire. -
1190
Serbia's adoption of double-head eagle
In Serbia, the Nemanjić dynasty adopted a double-headed eagle by the 14th century recorded by Angelino Dulcert in 1339. -
1220
Adoption in Muslim world
The double-headed eagle motif was adopted in the Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm and the Turkic beyliks of medieval Anatolia in the early 13th century. -
1300
Reichsadler ("Imperial Eagle" in German)
Originated from a proto-heraldic emblem that was believed to have been used by Charlemagne, the first Frankish ruler whom the Pope crowned as Holy Roman Emperor in AD 800, and derived ultimately from the Aquila. An early depiction of a double-headed in a heraldic shield, attributed to Frederick II of Hohenstaufen, is found in the Chronica Majora, depicts the double-headed Imperial Eagle as the coat of arms of the King of Germany. The flag sooner influences on the German nationalism. -
1400
Holy Roman Empire adoption
Sometime around AD 1400, the Holy Roman Empire would abandon the use of the Western Roman Empire's single head eagle, replacing it with the Byzantium's double-head eagle. The design would later affect the further designs of soon known, Germany and Austria's coat of arms design. Such design would soon also affect Christian religion, colonies and motherland culture, hoping for a Roman universal value and European great power influences. -
Begin of modern use
Albania, Serbia, Montenegro and Russia have a double-headed eagle in their coat of arms. In 1912, Ismail Qemali raised a similar version of that flag. The flag has gone through many alterations, until 1992 when the current flag of Albania was introduced. The double-headed eagle is now used as an emblem by a number of Orthodox Christian churches, espeically in Greece and Albanian Orthodox churches. -
Albanian double-headed eagle
The Kastrioti family in Albania had a double-headed eagle as their emblem in the 14th and 15th centuries. Some members of the Dukagjini family and the Arianiti family also used double-headed eagles, and a coalition of Albanian states in the 15th century, later called the League of Lezhë, also used the Kastrioti eagle as its flag. -
Russian consitution's double-headed eagle
After the fall of Constantinople, the use of two-headed eagle symbols spread to Grand Duchy of Moscow after Ivan III's second marriage, to the last prince of Tver, Mikhail III of Tver (1453–1505), was stamping his coins with two-headed eagle symbol. It was restored in 1993 after the fall of Soviet Union, and the consitutional crisis and remain to present, although it's replaced with gold instead of silver.