Coat of arms of the Arab Union

The coat of arms of the Arab Union (Arabic: شعار الاتِّحاد العربي shu‘ār al-ittiḥād al-‘arabī) is the official coat of arms (heraldic achievement) of the Union of Arab Republics (UAR; informally the Arab Union). According to the 1999 constitution, it is officially known as the Republican Eagle (النسر الجمهوري an-nasr al-jamhūrī) and is based on a much older heraldic eagle known most commonly as the Eagle of Saladin (compare Hawk of Quraish). Despite having evolved from ancient heraldic eagles and similar achievements and eventually adopted as the personal standard of Saladin, the first Sultan of Egypt, in the early-to-mid-20th century the symbol became closely associated with anti-imperialism in the region and Arab nationalism. During the 1952 Egyptian Revolution which overthrew the monarchy, Gamal Abdel Nasser adopted a modern iteration of the Eagle of Saladin as the symbol of the new state and thus became a symbol of republicanism amongst the Arabs in general. Following the establishment in 1958 of the Arab Union, with Nasser as its first president, the Eagle of Saladin or Republican Eagle became the official coat of arms, which it has remained to the present day.