Annuit cœptis is one of two mottos on the reverse side of the Great Seal of the United States. Taken from the Latin wordsannuo, "to nod" or "to approve", and coeptum, "commencement, undertaking", it is translated, favors our undertakings" or has favored our undertakings".
In 1782, Sam Adams appointed a design artist, William Barton of Philadelphia, to bring a proposal for the national seal. For the reverse, Barton suggested a thirteen-layered pyramid underneath the Eye of Providence. The mottos which Barton chose to accompany the design were Deo Favente and Perennis. The pyramid and Perennismotto had come from a $50 Continental currency bill designed by Francis Hopkinson. Barton explained that the motto alluded to the Eye of Providence: "Deo favente which alludes to the Eye in the Arms, meant for the Eye of Providence." In western art, God is traditionally represented by the Eye of Providence, which principally symbolizes God's omniscience. When designing the final version of the Great Seal, Charles Thomson kept the pyramid and eye for the reverse side but replaced the two mottos, using Annuit Cœptis instead of Deo Favente. When he provided his official explanation of the meaning of this motto, he wrote:
Change from ''Deo Favente'' to ''Annuit Cœptis''
Annuit Cœptis is translated by the U.S. State Department, the U.S. Mint, and the U.S. Treasury as, "He has favored our undertakings". However, the original Latin does not explicitly state who is the subject of the sentence. Robert Hieronimus, a scholar of American iconography, has argued that Thomson's intent was to find a phrase that contained exactly 13 letters to fit the theme of the seal. On the obverse was E Pluribus Unum, along with 13 stars, 13 horizontal stripes, 13 vertical stripes, 13 arrows, 13 olive leaves, and 13 olives. The pyramid under the motto, Annuit Cœptis, has 13 layers. According to Hieronimus, Annuit Cœptis has 13 letters and was selected to fit the theme. Deo Favente had only ten letters. However, Annuit cœptis is written with a ligature on the seal, forming actually only 12 characters.
Classical source of the motto
According to Richard S. Patterson and Richardson Dougall, Annuit cœptis and the other motto on the reverse of the Great Seal, Novus ordo seclorum, can both be traced to lines by the Roman poetVirgil. Annuit cœptis comes from the Aeneid, book IX, line 625, which reads, Iuppiter omnipotens, audacibus adnue coeptis. It is a prayer by Ascanius, the son of the hero of the story, Aeneas, which translates to, "Jupiter Almighty, favour bold undertakings", just before slaying an enemy warrior, Numanus. The same language also occurred in an earlier poem of Virgil, the Georgics. In line I.40 of that work is the phrase "da facilem cursum atque audacibus annue cœptis". The line is addressed to Caesar Augustus and translates to "give an easy path and nod at our audacious undertakings."
