Aquilæ duæ, una ab ortu, altera ab occasu conveniunt

The Bird as the central motif. From Atalanta Fugiens.

Matthaus Merian, attributed, for Michael Maier, 1618. Engraving.

Public domain, 1618 printing · Web copy 1400 by 1302 px · Internet Archive, Getty Research Institute copy, leaf 200

What is happening

Michael Maier, 1618 “Aquilæ duæ, una ab ortu, altera ab occasu conveniunt.” Atalanta Fugiens, Emblema XLVI, page 193, the motto printed over the engraving.

Symbolica, 2026 Maier’s Latin, put into English here: Two eagles meet, one from the east and one from the west.

Key · 1 motif

The motifs the picture carries, filed by role. The marks on the picture itself come with the entry.

1The Birdcentral motif as it reads here: Emblema XLVI

The picture

The two eagles alighting on the hands of the bearded figure between them. By eye

Not yet decoded: the motifs are tagged by eye and the readings above are quoted from their sources. The marks on the picture and the sourced notes come with the entry.

Also carrying the Bird

12 works carry it. The closest 6 are here. The symbol.

In the same series

Atalanta Fugiens, 1618

Record

Source

Internet Archive, Getty Research Institute copy, leaf 200

Rights

Public domain. The book was printed at Oppenheim in 1618 and its author, engraver, printer and publisher have been dead for more than three centuries; the Getty Research Institute's scan of it on the Internet Archive carries no further restriction.

Restoration

None. A 1400 by 1302 pixel web copy made from the source file; nothing retouched, nothing upscaled.

Series

Atalanta Fugiens, 1618

Artist

Matthaus Merian, engraver and publisher, 1593 to 1650, to whom the fifty plates of Atalanta Fugiens are attributed by tradition rather than by signature

Titled here

Aquilæ duæ, una ab ortu, altera ab occasu conveniunt. Internet Archive catalogues it as: Emblema XLVI, from Atalanta Fugiens, page 193

Checked

the Science History Institute's catalogue of the same 1618 Oppenheim printing, 4 September 2026: Maier as author, de Bry as publisher, Galler as printer, Merian as engraver, and Public Domain Mark. The engraving is attributed to Merian by tradition and is not signed. The image here is from the Getty Research Institute's scan of the same edition on the Internet Archive; the leaf is named in the source line. Not seen in the hand.

By email · free

One symbol a week, decoded.

This picture is free at full size from its source, linked above. What an address gets is the Sunday letter: one picture, one symbol marked on it, what it meant and who said so, and the master files of the decoded plates as they are verified. Leave any time.

Cite

Symbolica, “Aquilæ duæ, una ab ortu, altera ab occasu conveniunt”, Matthaus Merian, attributed, for Michael Maier, 1618. thesymbolica.com/work/aquil-du-una-ab-ortu-altera-ab-occasu-conveniunt/