Eagles

Four eagles are perched in the corners of the capital; with their beaks they peck the pointed ends of the blossoms that hang from the corner volutes (only the head in the south-west corner has survived). Their wings meet vertically in the middle axis of each side. The uniqueness of this capital consists of the letters inscribed on each of the console blocks: A/QI/L/A, i.e. aquila, “eagle”. The word is in the singular, whereas on W04MS60 the plural aves (“birds”) can be read.
This “eagle” refers to the text in the Book of Revelation (8:13 and 12:13-14): “And I heard an eagle crying with a loud voice, as it flew in midheaven, ‘Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth’ […]. And when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had borne the male child. But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle that she might fly from the serpent into the wilderness, to the place where she is to be nourished […] “. The eagle, moreover, is the symbol of the Evangelist John, who is represented as orant in the midst of the angels who vanquish the dragons on the adjacent capital. The spatial proximity of the two representations cannot be a coincidence.
Two fishes placed back to back decorate the bevelled impost block on each side. Their mouths are tied together with a cord, as usual for the iconography of this sign of the zodiac (pisces). An explanation for the connection between impost and capital has not yet been found.

Revelation John L QI A inscription sign zodiac pisces fish eagle