Aetos Dios

"Eagle of God" -- The golden
eagle endlessly associated with Zeus.

On three separate occasions in *Troidai*,
Ganymede either sees or hears an eagle: once while hiding on the balcony of Women’s House, once on the evening he’s
attacked by Ilos, and once more following
the assault of the war-god. A later conversation
with Diwos suggests that, on each
of these occasions, the eagle’s presence represented the sky-god keeping watch
over the boy.

At the end of *Troidai*, Ganymede again
encounters the eagle during his exile in Grenikos.
On this occasion however, the eagle lands atop an oak tree and fixes Ganymede
with its gaze. It is only on approaching the tree and bird that he discovers Diwos
sitting beneath the oak.

Early in *Theidai*,
Ganymede picks up this image again, speculating that the shepherds he left behind
invented the story his being carried off by an eagle, ostensibly to avoid
accusations of murder, which they were plotting. When he encounters the eagle
after joining the Undying,
Ganymede comes to understand that it represents Diwos’ attention being focused
upon mortal matters, if not the sky-god’s actual presence in the vicinity. In
the latter regard, Ganymede finds the eagle perched atop buildings Diwos
occupies; once in Wilusa confronting Poseidaon, and again in Thebai while
seducing Alkmenë.

It is only in *Ilidai* that Ganymede
and *Aetos Dios* become inextricably
connected to one another. Having determined the gods mean to destroy their own
half-mortal children, Ganymede throws himself from *aither*, only to be
caught by *Aetos Dios* and carried
safely back to Troas. Thereafter,
the eagle seems to become Ganymede’s faithful companion, first accompanying him
on Hektor’s whirlwind tour of Anatolia, then building a nest atop Diwos’ temple in Ilion. As the story and
impending war progress, *Aetos Dios* transports
Ganymede over vast distances in surprisingly little time. Though he maintains the
eagle is nothing more than a very large but otherwise normal bird, the
implication that Diwos sent his favorite pet to serve as guardian-chaperon are
replete.

Ultimately, Ganymede leaves *Aetos Dios* with Aineias, noting that the eagle remained ever-loyal to
Dardanos’ heirs thereafter. By implication, it was therefore this same eagle or
one of his descendants who followed Aineias’ successors into the west,
eventually becoming the pride-filled emblem of Rome.

**Myth & Legend:** Antoninus Liberalis records the legend
of Periphas, a legendary king of Attica and dutiful priest of Apollo. Zeus
became envious of Periphas’ popularity and sought to destroy him, but Apollo
interceded. Zeus therefore transformed Periphas into an eagle, making him king
of all birds and guard of his sacred scepter.

In other accounts, the eagle
was a creation of Gaia. He appeared
before Zeus at the start of Titanomachy,
which was taken as an omen of Olympian
victory. Zeus thereafter used the emblem of a golden eagle on his war standard.

*Iliad* states that
Ganymede was carried off by the gods in general, while Apollodorus, Virgil,
Ovid, and Lucian all maintain that Zeus abducted the boy himself, possibly
in the form of a giant eagle, or that he sent an eagle to carry the boy off.