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The origins of the ''Bicephalous Eagle'', some say, are from the Lascaris Emperors who had adopted this emblem from a figure hewn into the stone wall of a Hittite fortress in Asia Minor. The ''Bicephalous Eagle'' of the Second Rome, is quite distinct from the ''Augustan Eagle'' of the First Rome. It was introduced into Russia, the Third Rome, as dowry for the marriage of Sophia Palaeologos.--->

The yellow with a black crowned ''double-headed eagle'' flag, was the symbol of the Paleologues, the last Greek-speaking "Roman" (i.e. Byzantine) dynasty to rule from Constantinople. Emperor Michael VIII Paliologos recaptured Constantinople from the Crusaders in 1261, from a state based in Asia Minor; the double-headed eagle symbolized the dynasty's interests in both Asia and Europe, and was kept despite the fact that virtually all of the Asian possessions were gobbled up by the Ottomans within a generation of the recapture of the City. Michael's descendants stayed on the Byzantine throne until the City and the Empire fell to the Ottomans in 1453.

This flag had in the two centuries of Paleologan rule become identified not just with the dynasty but with the Empire itself and, more generally, with institutions and cultural ideas outside the Byzantine Empire that still remained centered on Constantinople.

The following gallery shows heraldic usages of the double-headed eagle in the history of the [[Orthodox Church]], including:<br>

From 1497, on the double-headed eagle proclaimed a Russian sovereignty equal to that of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. The first remained evidence of the double-headed eagle officialised as an emblem of Russia is on the great prince's seal, stamped in 1497 on a Charter of share and allotment of independent princes' possessions. At the same time the image of gilded double-headed eagle on red background appeared on the walls of the Palace of Facets in the Kremlin.

The two-headed Byzantine Eagle is currently the emblem on the Flags of the [[Church of Constantinople|Patriarchate of Constantinople]] and of [[Mount Athos]], as well as those of Serbia, Albania and Montenegro. It has also become the Coat of Arms of modern States including Serbia, Russia, Albania, and most recently Montenegro.

Therefore, the Serbian eagle is depicted in silver. Russia also had the eagle in silver but they changed it to gold ''(probably in the 15th century after the marriage of Ivan III, Grand Duke of Moscow with Sophia Palaeologina, the daughter of the last Byzantine Emperor & after the fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans),'' to justify their claim as the "third Rome". Austria on the other hand, earned the right to bear the byzantine eagle, after the marriage of the first German Emperor Otto I in 972, with the niece of Byzantine Emperor Ioannis Tzimiskes, Theophano ''(and of course the Austrian Empire claimed to be the continuation of the Holy Roman Empire of the Germans)''. They adopted the byzantine eagle, in black though, as the "shadow of the Imperial Eagle".<ref>Military Photos. [http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?t=112459 Byzantine Army and Navy Ranks.]</ref>.

The two-headed eagle appears on the '''coat of arms''' of the following countries<ref>Wikipedia. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_headed_eagle Double-headed eagle].</ref>:

* [[Byzantine Empire]] (historical)

* [[w:Serbia|Serbia]]

* [[w:Montenegro|Montenegro]]

* Flag of the [[Church of Constantinople|Ecumenical Patriarchate]] of Constantinople.