![]() ![]() Owls were commonly reproduced by Athenians in vases, weights and prize amphoras for the Panathenaic Games. In any case, the city of Athens seems to have adopted the owl as proof of allegiance to its patron virgin goddess, who, according to a popular etiological myth reproduced on the West pediment of the Parthenon, secured the favor of its citizens by providing them with a more enticing gift than Poseidon. On the other hand, Cynthia Berger theorizes about the appeal of some characteristics of owls-such as their ability to see in the dark-to be used as symbol of wisdom while others, such as William Geoffrey Arnott, propose a simple association between founding myths of Athens and the significant number of little owls in the region (a fact noted since antiquity by Aristophanes in The Birds and Lysistrata). Nilsson, suggest that she may descend from a Minoan palace goddess associated with birds and Marija Gimbutas claim to trace Athena's origins as an Old European bird and snake goddess. Some mythographers, such as David Kinsley and Martin P. The reasons for the association of Athena and the owl are uncertain. ![]() ![]() Attributed to the Brygos Painter (circa 490–480 BC). Athena holding a helmet and a spear, with an owl. ![]()
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