In heraldry and vexillology, the double-headed eagle (or double-eagle) is a charge associated with the concept of Empire. Most modern uses of the symbol are directly or indirectly associated with its use by the late Byzantine Empire, originally a dynastic emblem of the Palaiologoi. It was adopted during the Late Medieval to Early Modern period in the Holy Roman Empire, Albania and in Orthodox principalities (Serbia and Russia), representing an augmentation of the (single-headed) eagle or Aquila associated with the Roman Empire. In a few places, among them the Holy Roman Empire and Russia, the motif was further augmented to create the less prominent triple-headed eagle. The motif has predecessors in Bronze Age art, found in Illyria, Mycenaean Greece, and in the Ancient Near East, especially in Hittite iconography. It re-appeared during the High Middle Ages, from around the 10th or 11th centuries, and was notably used by the Eastern Roman Empire, but 11th or 12th century representations have also been found originating from Islamic Spain, France and the Serbian principality of Raška. From the 13th century onward, it became even more widespread, and was used by the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum and the Mamluk Sultanate within the Islamic world, and within the Christian world by the Holy Roman Empire, Serbia, Albania and Russia. History The double-headed eagle first originated in the mighty Sumerian city of Lagash in 3800 BC and was the symbol for the god of Lagash, Ninurta son of Enlil.From cylinders taken from the ruins of this ancient city, the double-headed eagle seems to have been known to the kings of the time as the Storm Bird.The story recorded on these cuneiform cylinders clearly proves that the double-headed eagle of Lagash is the oldest royal crest in the world. Bronze Age 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. Use of the double-headed eagle in Hittite imagery has been interpreted as "royal insignia". A monumental Hittite relief of a double-headed eagle grasping two hares is found at the eastern pier of the Sphinx Gate at Alaca Hüyük. For more examples of double-headed eagles in the Hittite context see Jesse David Chariton, "The Function of the Double-Headed Eagle at Yazılıkaya." In Mycenaean Greece, evidence of the double-eagle motif was discovered in Grave Circle A,