The god bent his head that the armies must be saved
not die in blood. That instant he launched an eagle –
truest of Zeus’s signs that fly the skies – a fawn
clutched in its talons, sprung of a running doe,
but he dropped it free beside the handsome shrine
where the Achaean soldiers always sacrificed to Zeus.
– Homer
The Iliad, Book 8, lines 281-286. Zeus feels sorry for the weeping Agamemnon, who appeals to the god as Hector calls for torches to burn the Greek ships. Zeus sends Agamemnon an omen that his armies are to be saved – an eagle carrying a fawn in its talons and dropping it free at the shrine where the Achaeans sacrifice to Zeus.