In short: strength, freedom, a sharp eye and a fresh start. That's what an eagle tattoo means to most people who wear one, and those readings come from Greek myth, the Bible and the bird itself. The pose (a head, open wings or a dive) decides which one yours says.
Look at an eagle just above the eye. A ridge of bone juts out there like the brim of a cap. It shades the eye and gives the bird that stern look, as if it disapproves of your shoes. On our brushstroke eagle head, it's the big dark stroke across the stare. The reputation starts there.
What an eagle tattoo means
Nobody sat down and decided what the eagle stands for. It came from the bird: people watched it hunt, climb out of sight and lock onto its prey. Myth did the rest.
Strength and courage
Strength starts with Zeus. In ancient Greece, the eagle was the bird of the king of the gods. On skin, people tend to make it say courage instead: the nerve to go for it when you're hesitating. Nobody gets an eagle tattoo to rule over the office coffee machine.
The dive carries that reading best. Head down, talons out, it has already made up its mind.
Freedom, and the view from up there
In Europe, the golden eagle lives mostly in the mountains, and when you do spot one, it's usually soaring above the ridges. So people link it to freedom and perspective: when you can take in the whole valley at once, the small stuff shrinks. People often pick one after a move, a career change or a decision they made without asking anyone.
The wings do a lot of that work. A golden eagle spreads them 5 ft 11 in to 7 ft 8 in (1.8 to 2.34 m), wider than most people can stretch their arms. On your back, 4.4 inches (11.2 cm) is enough to get the point across.
A very good eye
Call someone eagle-eyed and you mean nothing gets past them. On skin, people read it as clear sight, or a goal you won't take your eyes off. The real question is how much better the bird sees than you do.
Twice as well, at best. That's what the researcher Elizabeth Reymond found when she measured the eyesight of Australia's wedge-tailed eagle, in work published in 1985. The “four to eight times” you'll read everywhere is a myth. Twice is still a lot: a license plate you can read from 65 feet (20 m), it could read from 130 feet (40 m).
A perched eagle never looks like it's dozing, either, so people made it a guardian. Your tattoo won't keep watch over anyone. At best, it'll remind you to keep your eyes open.
A fresh start
This one comes from the Bible, from an image in the Psalms:
“Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's.” (Psalm 103:5, King James Version)
People come back to it after an illness, a breakup, a year spent rebuilding. The psalm promises nothing to your arm. It offers an image, and that's often what you're after.
Eagle tattoo ideas: head, wings or dive
All those readings fit in one bird, so what an eagle tattoo means on you comes down to the pose. A head stares back, open wings soar, a dive charges. The style follows: brushstrokes for power, fine line for detail, one solid shape for the very small.
The brushstroke head, 7.4 in (18.7 cm)
The fine line soaring eagle, 4.4 in (11.2 cm)
The little diving eagle, 1.3 in (3.4 cm)
The head: “I see you”
This is the pose of the stare, and of strength. Painted in the style of Japanese ink wash, it goes for big strokes instead of feathers. At 7.4 inches (18.7 cm), it wants a wide stretch of skin: a shoulder blade, the upper arm, a thigh.
Open wings: “I'm free”
This is the eagle for moving on, and for seeing the bigger picture. In fine line, every feather gets its own stroke, which is why it stands 4.4 inches (11.2 cm) tall. Any smaller and two lines drawn too close would merge into one. You can have tiny or you can have feathers. Not both.
The dive: “I'm going in”
This is the eagle for the moment you decide. Drawn as one solid silhouette, it stays crisp at 1.3 inches (3.4 cm), where a fine drawing would blur into a blot. It's the most discreet of the three.
The eagle and the snake
This fight goes back a long way. In Book 12 of Homer's Iliad, the Trojans watch an eagle fly past with a live snake in its talons. The snake twists around, bites it near the neck, and the eagle drops it in the middle of the troops. Traditional tattooing later made the duel one of its great classics.
The duel is real, too. In Europe, the short-toed snake eagle lives on snakes, which make up 70 to 96 percent of its prey, depending on the study. You won't find that design among our eagles, but it can be made as a custom jagua tattoo.
Every pose is in our eagle tattoo collection.
Where an eagle sits best on you
On skin, too, an eagle needs some sky. The big pieces want a wide, slightly curved surface. The little dive slips in wherever a large design would be too much.
| Pose | Size | Where to put it |
|---|---|---|
| The head | 7.4 in (18.7 cm) | shoulder blade, upper arm, thigh |
| The wings | 4.4 in (11.2 cm) | between the shoulder blades, forearm, calf |
| The dive | 1.3 in (3.4 cm) | wrist, ankle, shoulder |
Good news: the shoulder, forearm and upper back are among the spots where a tattoo holds up best. Hands and feet get washed and rubbed more, so they lose the design faster.
Try one before you commit
The simplest way to find out if an eagle suits you is to live with one. A jagua temporary tattoo goes on in 2 minutes and looks pale at first, then turns blue-black over 24 to 36 hours. It stays on for 1 to 2 weeks, depending on the spot and your skin (here's how long temporary tattoos last, and why).
If the eagle you have in mind isn't one of ours, a custom jagua tattoo is made in 3 to 4 weeks, with a minimum of 3 pieces. One limit, though: we don't make eagles taken from coats of arms or political emblems, old or co-opted.
Whichever you pick, it'll disapprove of your shoes.
The eagle's stare, minus the needle.
Jagua ink that turns blue-black in 24 to 36 hours. On in 2 minutes, on your skin for 1 to 2 weeks: long enough to try a pose before you choose.
Waterproof · No needles · PPD-free · Vegan
What people ask before getting an eagle
Is an eagle tattoo good or bad?
Good, by nearly every reading. A plain eagle reads as the bird, and the bird has an easy reputation. The catch is copying one from an existing emblem, because the design then carries that emblem's history with it.
What do the eagle and the snake mean?
Usually a fight between good and evil, or courage facing danger. Most people read the eagle as the side that wins, so the design says you came out on top. It's a reading, not a rule.
What does an eagle symbolize?
It's long been called the king of birds, so it tends to stand for power. In Christian art, it's also the emblem of Saint John the Evangelist. Of the four figures that stand for the four Gospels (a man, a lion, an ox and an eagle), the eagle is his.
