The Great Seal of the State of California was adopted at the California state Constitutional Convention of 1849 and has undergone minor design changes since then, the last being the standardization of the seal in 1937. The seal shows Athena in Greek mythology, the goddess of wisdom and war, because she was born an adult, and California was never a territory; a California grizzly bear, the official state animal, feeding on grape vines, representing California's wine production; a sheaf of grain, representing agriculture; a miner, representing the California Gold Rush and the mining industry; and sailing ships, representing the state's economic power. The word Eureka, meaning "I have found it", is the California state motto.
California historical coat of arms (illustrated, 1876)
1849 illustration of the Seal of California that accompanied Bayard Taylor's description
Marc J. Rowe's interpretation of the Seal of California
A circa 1888 image of Fort Point for comparison with representations of the fort on the following renditions of the Seal of California
Eureka is an interjection used to celebrate a discovery or invention. It is a transliteration of an exclamation attributed to Ancient Greek mathematician and inventor Archimedes.
Archimedes exclaiming Eureka. In his excitement, he forgets to dress and runs nude in the streets straight out of his bath (drawing by Pietro Scalvini, engraving by Carlo Orsolini, 1737)
16th-century illustration of Archimedes in the bath, with Hiero's crown at bottom right
The Seal of California, featuring the word "EUREKA" above the spear of the goddess Minerva, from 1870
