Imperial Eagle

SCI Name:  Aquila heliaca
Protonym:  Aquila heliaca Descr.Egypte 1 p.82 pl.12
Taxonomy:  Accipitriformes / Accipitridae / Aquila
Taxonomy Code:  impeag1
Type Locality:  Upper Egypt.
Author:  Savigny
Publish Year:  1809
IUCN Status:  Vulnerable

DEFINITIONS

AQUILA
(Accipitridae; † Golden Eagle A. chrysaetos) L. aquila  eagle  ?<  aquilus  dark-coloured; the Golden Eagle was the emblem of the Roman legions, whose standards or eagles bore the likeness of an eagle with raised wings; "Aquila. Genus 9.  ...  Genus Aquilinum ...  Digiti quatuor, membranis destituti; tres scilicet antici, posticus unus; omnes circiter usque ad exortum discreti: Crura ad calcaneum usque plumosa: Rostrum breve, primum rectum, dein aduncum; ad basin cute nuda tectum: Caput plumosum.  ...  **1. L'AIGLE  ...  AQUILA." (Brisson 1760): based on "Aquila" of many previous authors; "Aquila Brisson, Orn., 1, 1760, p. 28, 419.  Type, by tautonymy, Aquila Brisson = Falco chrysaëtos Linné." (Peters, 1931, I, p. 253).
Var. Aquilla, Aquilo.   
Synon. Aetos, Aetus, Afraetus, Cassinaetus, Chrysaetus, Euaquila, Micraetus, Morphnaetos, Psammoaetus, Pteroaetus, Taphaetus, Uroaetus.

aquila
L. aquila  eagle  ?<  aquilus  dark-coloured.
● "XIII. AIGLE COMMUN.   FALCO AQUILA.  ...  Aquila Valeria. ARISTOTE, Hist. anim.  Falco fulvus. LINNÉ, Syst. nat.  Chrysaëtos, cauda albo cincta. RAY, Syn.  ...  En Tartarie on leur apprend à chasser les lièvres, les renards et même les loups" (Daudin 1800) (syn. Aquila chrysaetos).
● "66. PELECANUS.  ...  Aquilus.  2. P. cauda forficata, corpore nigro, capite abdomineque albis. Amœn. acad. 4. p. . .   Pelecanus Aquilus. Osb. iter. 292.  Alcyon major pulla, cauda pulla, cauda longiore bifurca. Brown jam. 483.  Cari pira Laët. amer. 575.  Man of var.[sic] Sloan. jam. I. p. 30.  Avis Rabo focardo. Pet. gaz. t. 45. f. 1.?  Frigate bird. Alb. av. 3. p. 75. t. 80. male.  Habitat in Insula Adscensionis aliisque pelagicis, vitam agens Diomedeæ exulis, cui similis." (Linnaeus 1758); from the very sharp, eagle-like bill of the Ascension Frigatebird (Fregata).

heliaca
Gr. ἡλιακος hēliakos  of the sun, solar  < ἡλιος hēlios  sun (cf. ἑλειος heleios  kind of hawk mentioned by Hesychius); "AQUILA heliaca.  L'Aigle de Thèbes.  AQUILA PHLEGYA nigricans, jugulo saturatiore; vertice cerviceque fulvis" (de Savigny 1809); the eagle was venerated in ancient Egypt and Syria (Aquila).