Athena’s Owl

My youngest daughter is getting a tattoo of Athena’s owl. I did a little checking as per her request and Athena is the Greek goddess of Wisdom. If it were a Jeopardy question, I would have got the money on that one. That's about all I knew.  So, I did some Internet snooping.  According to hoaryredpoll in his blog The Night Jar, he states, “As well as the patron goddess of the city of Athens. If you look closely, you will find she always has an owl with her.” He continues,

“Why the owl? 1) The light that reflects off their eyes in the dark which gave the appearance of an ‘inner light’ or Wisdom and 2) This is the most likely cause, a particular species of Owl was common on top of the Acropolis of Athens. Since that hilltop was dedicated to Athena, the Greeks took the fact that there were so many owls present as them being sacred to Athena. As a result the owl and Athena have been linked and the owl has come to represent Wisdom in many later cultures, heck right down to owl in Winnie the Pooh,” one of my daughter’s favorite bedtime stories as a young child.

“But what kind of owl was Athena’s owl? The most likely candidate is the Little Owl (Athene noctua). Even the Latin name, translates to “Athena’s Night” or “Athena of the Night”. At about 9″ it is perhaps slightly larger than a Northern Saw-Whet Owl.” This little owl has yet another tie to my daughter.

When we first moved to Weston, there was empty land where we would walk our dog. Nested above in the street lights were the tiny owls, just about 9" tall. How adorable they were we’d say, until one night one of them swooped down and hovered first over our heads then a few inches from our dogs head. They look pretty, sweet, and cuddly up close.  They are extremely territorial. We found if they feel threatened, they will go to the mat with an enemy that could crush them.  We were afraid of the little owls and didn’t understand their needless overreaction.

Not that my daughter is asking me for a nod of approval, but if she was, I’d say, “Go for it.”

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