The corporate seal of the City of New York portrays the cosmogony of the mesocosmic universe, that is, the City of New York. At the center, or axis mundi, of this cosmos is the circular seal, imitative of the eternal shape of the sun. Mircea Eliade, historian of religion at the University of Chicago, recognized the symbolic value of the sun, “The sun does not share in becoming; although always in motion, the sun remains unchangeable; its form is always the same.” Reflecting the values of autonomy and power, of sovereignty, of intelligence, the corporate seal contains all the familiar features of the full heraldic achievement -- Crest, Arms, Supporters, and Motto. On the Arms appears “saltire wise, the sails of a windmill. Between the sails, in chief a beaver, in base a beaver, and on each flank a flour barrel”; above the Arms is the Crest depicting “an American eagle with wings displayed, upon a hemisphere”; two Supporters hold this shield -- “Dexter, a sailor…his left arm bent, his left hand resting on the top of the shield. Sinister, an Indian of Manhattan, his right arm bent, his right hand resting on top of the shield. Together, “shield and supporters rest upon a horizontal laurel branch”; and “upon a ribbon encircling the lower half of the design the words” is the Motto, “Sigillum Civitatis Novi Eboraci,” meaning Seal of the City of New York.”