Annuit Coeptis appears above the eye on the reverse of the Great Seal of the United States.
The reverse of the Great Seal shows an unfinished pyramid beneath an eye surrounded by rays of light. The Latin phrase Annuit Coeptis is placed above the eye, while Novus Ordo Seclorum appears below the pyramid. The phrases are commonly translated in ways connected with providence and a new order of the ages.
The seal’s obverse features the bald eagle, a shield, an olive branch, and arrows. E Pluribus Unum appears on a scroll in the eagle’s beak, so it is often mistakenly identified as the motto on the reverse.
Congress adopted the design of the Great Seal in 1782. The reverse is rarely displayed in official government use, which makes its wording less familiar than the symbols on the obverse.