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In Greek mythology, a little owl (Athene noctua) traditionally represents or accompanies Athena, the virgin goddess of wisdom, or Minerva, her syncretic incarnation in Roman mythology.^[2] Because of such association, the bird—often referred to as the "owl of Athena" or the "owl of Minerva"—has been used as a symbol of knowledge, wisdom, perspicacity and erudition throughout the Western world.^[3]^[4]

Classical World

Ancient Greece

The reasons for the association of Athena and the owl are uncertain. Some mythographers, such as David Kinsley and Martin P. Nilsson, suggest that she may descend from a Minoan palace goddess associated with birds^[5]^[6] and Marija Gimbutas claim to trace Athena's origins as an Old European bird and snake goddess.^[7]^[8]

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^[3] 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).^[9]

In any case, the city of Athens seems to have adopted the owl as proof of allegiance to its patron virgin goddess,^[9]^[10] who, according to a popular origin 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.^[11]

Owls were commonly reproduced by Athenians on vases, weights and prize amphoras for the Panathenaic Games.^[9] The owl of Athena even became the common obverse of the Athenian tetradrachms after 510 BC and according to Philochorus,^[12] the Athenian tetradrachm was known as glaux (γλαύξ, little owl)^[13] throughout the ancient world and "owl" in present-day numismatics.^[14]^[15] They were not, however, used exclusively by them to represent Athena and were even used for motivation during battles by other Greek cities, such as in the victory of Agathocles of Syracuse over the Carthaginians in 310 BC—in which owls flying through the ranks were interpreted as Athena's blessing^[3]—or in the Battle of Salamis, chronicled in Plutarch's biography of Themistocles.^[16]

Rome

The association between the owl and the goddess continued through Minerva in Roman mythology, although the latter sometimes simply adopts it as a sacred or favorite bird. For example, in Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Corone the crow complains that her spot as the goddess' sacred bird is occupied by the owl, which in that particular story turns out to be Nyctimene, a cursed daughter of Epopeus, king of Lesbos.^[17]

As for ancient Roman folklore, owls were considered harbingers of death if they hooted while perched on a roof, and placing one of its feathers near someone sleeping could prompt him or her to speak and reveal their secrets.^[2]

As a philosophical metaphor

The philosophical use of the metaphor of the mind as a night owl goes at least as far back as an analogy in Aristotle's Metaphysics between the day-blind eyes of bats and human intellect (Aristo., Met. II 993 b9–11). This more negative epistemological metaphor of a night owl was long transmitted through the philosophical tradition, e.g. Thomas Aquinas (Summa contra gentiles, quaestio 45).

In affirmative contrast, the 19th-century German idealist philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel famously noted that "the owl of Minerva spreads its wings only with the falling of the dusk"; philosophy comes to understand a historical condition just as it passes away.^[18] Philosophy appears only in the "maturity of reality", because it understands in hindsight.

Philosophy, as the thought of the world, does not appear until reality has completed its formative process, and made itself ready. History thus corroborates the teaching of the conception that only in the maturity of reality does the ideal appear as counterpart to the real, apprehends the real world in its substance, and shapes it into an intellectual kingdom. When philosophy paints its grey in grey, one form of life has become old, and by means of grey it cannot be rejuvenated, but only known. The owl of Minerva takes its flight only when the shades of night are gathering.
— G.W.F. Hegel, Philosophy of Right (1820), "Preface"; translated by S W Dyde, 1896

Klaus Vieweg describes it as "one of the most beautiful metaphors of the history of philosophy" in his Hegel biography.^[19] In a recent reconstruction, Hegel's affirmative metaphor, in opposition to the philosophical tradition, seems to originate between Goethe and a relative unknown, philosophical writer Jacob Hermann Obereit around 1795 in Jena, where Hegel stayed shortly after, giving lectures.^[20]

References

^ Grabham, Sue (1995). "Greece: People and History". Encyclopedia of Lands & Peoples. London: Kingfisher. p. 105. ISBN 1-85697-292-5.
^ ^a ^b Eason, Cassandra (2008). Fabulous Creatures, Mythical Monsters, and Animal Power Symbols: A Handbook. Westport, CT, USA: Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 71. ISBN 9780275994259. The Roman goddess of wisdom Minerva has the owl as her sacred creature, as does her ancient Greek counterpart Athena. Athena was often depicted with an owl, which was considered a symbol of wisdom in both cultures. The best known image of Athena's owl, the Little Owl, is seen on ancient Athenian coins dating from the fifth century BCE. To the Romans an owl feather placed near sleeping people would prompt them to speak in their sleep and reveal their secrets. However, in Rome the owl was considered a harbinger of death if it perched on a roof or on a public building and hooted. The deaths of several Roman emperors, including the assassination of Julius Caesar, were signaled by an owl landing on the roof and hooting.
^ ^a ^b ^c Berger, Cynthia (2005). Owls. Mechanicsburg, PA, USA: Stackpole Books. p. X. ISBN 9780811732130. Minerva's owl wisdom.
^ Deacy, Susan J.; Villing, Alexandra (2001). Athena in the Classical World. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill. ISBN 978-9004121423.
^ Kinsley, David (1989). The goddesses' mirror: visions of the divine from East and West. New York: SUNY Press. p. 141. ISBN 9781438409139.
^ Nilsson, Martin Persson (1950). "The Minoan-Mycenaean religion and its survival in Greek religion". Acta Regiae Societatis Humaniorum Litterarum Lundensis. 9. Biblo & Tannen Publishers: 491. ISBN 9780819602732. ISSN 0347-5123. Retrieved 19 May 2013.
^ Gimbutas, Marija (1982). The Goddesses and Gods of Old Europe, 6500-3500 B.C.: Myths and Cult Images (2 ed.). Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 147–150. ISBN 9780520253988. Retrieved 19 May 2013.
^ Gimbutas, Marija (2001). Robbins Dexter, Mirijam (ed.). The living goddesses. Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 157–158. ISBN 9780520927094. Retrieved 19 May 2013.
^ ^a ^b ^c Arnott, William Geoffrey (2007). Birds in the Ancient World from A to Z. London: Routledge. pp. 84–85. ISBN 9780415238519.
^ Sacks, David (1995). Murray, Oswyn (ed.). A dictionary of the ancient Greek world. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 41. ISBN 9780195112061. Retrieved 20 May 2013. athens name owl athena.
^ Palagia, Olga (1998). "The Pediments of the Parthenon". Monumenta Graeca et Romana. 7. Brill: 40. ISBN 9004111980. ISSN 0169-8850. Retrieved 19 May 2013.
^ Philochorus: Scholion to Aristophanes, Birds 1106.
^ Thompson, D'Arcy Wentworth. A glossary of Greek birds. Oxford, Clarendon Press 1895, pp 45–46.
^ Philip Harding: The story of Athens: The Fragments of the Local Chronicles of Attika.
^ Kraay, C.M. The archaic owls of Athens: classification and chronology.
^ Rich, John; Rich, John; Shipley, Graham, eds. (2012). War and Society in the Greek World. London: Routledge. ISBN 9781134807833.
^ Anderson, William Scovil (1998). Ovid's Metamorphoses, Books 1-5. Tulsa: University of Oklahoma Press. p. 301. ISBN 9780806128948.
^ Smith, John E. (30 October 2009). "When Dusk Is Only Dusk". New York Times. Retrieved 28 February 2013. Hegel's claim, however, bestows no special importance on a closing phase; it refers instead to the end of an era, which is confirmed as such by the appearance of philosophical critique and appraisal that involves making explicit the ideas and beliefs that drove that era but could not be fully articulated until it was over
^ Vieweg, Klaus (2019). Hegel. Der Philosoph der Freiheit. (= The Philosopher of Freedom.). München. p. 470.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^ Jörg Hüttner and Martin Walter. "Die Eule der Minerva aus vorhegelscher Perspektive: Obereits Avertissement (1795) an Goethe. (= The Owl of Minerva from a pre-hegelian perspective: Obereit´s Avertissement 1795 to Goethe.)". Hegel-Studies (2020). 53/54: 301–318.

External links

The Owl of Minerva Issue #2939 of Existential Comics

[1] Grabham, Sue (1995). "Greece: People and History". Encyclopedia of Lands & Peoples. London: Kingfisher. p. 105. ISBN 1-85697-292-5.

[Eason_2008-2] Eason, Cassandra (2008). Fabulous Creatures, Mythical Monsters, and Animal Power Symbols: A Handbook. Westport, CT, USA: Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 71. ISBN 9780275994259. The Roman goddess of wisdom Minerva has the owl as her sacred creature, as does her ancient Greek counterpart Athena. Athena was often depicted with an owl, which was considered a symbol of wisdom in both cultures. The best known image of Athena's owl, the Little Owl, is seen on ancient Athenian coins dating from the fifth century BCE. To the Romans an owl feather placed near sleeping people would prompt them to speak in their sleep and reveal their secrets. However, in Rome the owl was considered a harbinger of death if it perched on a roof or on a public building and hooted. The deaths of several Roman emperors, including the assassination of Julius Caesar, were signaled by an owl landing on the roof and hooting.

[Berger_2005-3] Berger, Cynthia (2005). Owls. Mechanicsburg, PA, USA: Stackpole Books. p. X. ISBN 9780811732130. Minerva's owl wisdom.

[Deacy_2001-4] Deacy, Susan J.; Villing, Alexandra (2001). Athena in the Classical World. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill. ISBN 978-9004121423.

[Kinsley_1989-5] Kinsley, David (1989). The goddesses' mirror: visions of the divine from East and West. New York: SUNY Press. p. 141. ISBN 9781438409139.

[Nilsson_1950-6] Nilsson, Martin Persson (1950). "The Minoan-Mycenaean religion and its survival in Greek religion". Acta Regiae Societatis Humaniorum Litterarum Lundensis. 9. Biblo & Tannen Publishers: 491. ISBN 9780819602732. ISSN 0347-5123. Retrieved 19 May 2013.

[Gimbutas_1982-7] Gimbutas, Marija (1982). The Goddesses and Gods of Old Europe, 6500-3500 B.C.: Myths and Cult Images (2 ed.). Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 147–150. ISBN 9780520253988. Retrieved 19 May 2013.

[Gimbutas_2001-8] Gimbutas, Marija (2001). Robbins Dexter, Mirijam (ed.). The living goddesses. Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 157–158. ISBN 9780520927094. Retrieved 19 May 2013.

[Arnott_2007-9] Arnott, William Geoffrey (2007). Birds in the Ancient World from A to Z. London: Routledge. pp. 84–85. ISBN 9780415238519.

[Sacks_1995-10] Sacks, David (1995). Murray, Oswyn (ed.). A dictionary of the ancient Greek world. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 41. ISBN 9780195112061. Retrieved 20 May 2013. athens name owl athena.

[Palagia_1998-11] Palagia, Olga (1998). "The Pediments of the Parthenon". Monumenta Graeca et Romana. 7. Brill: 40. ISBN 9004111980. ISSN 0169-8850. Retrieved 19 May 2013.

[12] Philochorus: Scholion to Aristophanes, Birds 1106.

[13] Thompson, D'Arcy Wentworth. A glossary of Greek birds. Oxford, Clarendon Press 1895, pp 45–46.

[14] Philip Harding: The story of Athens: The Fragments of the Local Chronicles of Attika.

[15] Kraay, C.M. The archaic owls of Athens: classification and chronology.

[Rich_2012-16] Rich, John; Rich, John; Shipley, Graham, eds. (2012). War and Society in the Greek World. London: Routledge. ISBN 9781134807833.

[Anderson_1998-17] Anderson, William Scovil (1998). Ovid's Metamorphoses, Books 1-5. Tulsa: University of Oklahoma Press. p. 301. ISBN 9780806128948.

[Smith_2009-18] Smith, John E. (30 October 2009). "When Dusk Is Only Dusk". New York Times. Retrieved 28 February 2013. Hegel's claim, however, bestows no special importance on a closing phase; it refers instead to the end of an era, which is confirmed as such by the appearance of philosophical critique and appraisal that involves making explicit the ideas and beliefs that drove that era but could not be fully articulated until it was over

[19] Vieweg, Klaus (2019). Hegel. Der Philosoph der Freiheit. (= The Philosopher of Freedom.). München. p. 470.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

[20] Jörg Hüttner and Martin Walter. "Die Eule der Minerva aus vorhegelscher Perspektive: Obereits Avertissement (1795) an Goethe. (= The Owl of Minerva from a pre-hegelian perspective: Obereit´s Avertissement 1795 to Goethe.)". Hegel-Studies (2020). 53/54: 301–318.

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@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-{{Short description|Symbol of the Greek goddess}}
+{{Short description|Symbol burat of the Greek goddess}}
-{{redirect|Owl of Minerva|the scientific journal|The Owl of Minerva (journal)}}
+{{redirect|Owl of Minerva|the  scientific journal|The Owl of Minerva (journal)}}
-[[File:Tetradrachm Athens 480-420BC MBA Lyon.jpg|thumb|250px|Silver [[tetradrachm]] coin at the [[Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon]] depicting the owl of Athena (circa 480–420{{nbsp}}BC). The inscription "ΑΘΕ" is an abbreviation of ΑΘΗΝΑΙΩΝ, which may be translated as "of the Athenians". In daily use the [[drachma|Athenian drachmas]] were called ''glaukes'' (γλαῦκες, owls). This silver coin was first issued in 479{{nbsp}}BC in Athens after the [[Achaemenid Empire|Persians]] were defeated by the [[Ancient Greece|Greeks]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|last=Grabham|first=Sue|title=Greece: People and History|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Lands & Peoples|year=1995|publisher=[[Macmillan Publishers|Kingfisher]]|location=London|page=105|isbn=1-85697-292-5}}</ref>]]
+[[File:Tetradrachm Athens 480-420BC MBA Lyon.jpg|thumb|250px|Silver [[tetradrachm]] coin at the [[Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon]] depicting the owl of Athena ({{circa|480}}–420{{nbsp}}BC). The inscription "ΑΘΕ" is an abbreviation of ΑΘΗΝΑΙΩΝ, which may be translated as "of the Athenians". In daily use the [[Ancient drachma|Athenian drachmas]] were called ''glaukes'' (γλαῦκες, owls). This silver coin was first issued in 479{{nbsp}}BC in Athens after the [[Achaemenid Empire|Persians]] were defeated by the [[Ancient Greece|Greeks]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|last=Grabham|first=Sue|title=Greece: People and History|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Lands & Peoples|year=1995|publisher=[[Macmillan Publishers|Kingfisher]]|location=London|page=105|isbn=1-85697-292-5}}</ref>]]
-In [[Greek mythology]], a [[little owl]] (''Athene noctua'') traditionally represents or accompanies [[Athena]], the virgin goddess of wisdom, or [[Minerva]], her [[syncretism|syncretic]] incarnation in [[Roman mythology]].<ref name="Eason_2008">{{cite book|last=Eason|first=Cassandra|title=Fabulous Creatures, Mythical Monsters, and Animal Power Symbols: A Handbook|year=2008|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|location=Westport, CT, USA|isbn=9780275994259|page=71|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s4AP30k4IFwC&q=Minerva's%20owl%20wisdom&pg=PA71|quote=The Roman goddess of wisdom Minerva has the owl as her sacred creature, as does her ancient Greek counterpart Athena. Athena was often depicted with an owl, which was considered a symbol of wisdom in both cultures. The best known image of Athena’s owl, the Little Owl, is seen on ancient Athenian coins dating from the fifth century{{nbsp}}BCE. To the Romans an owl feather placed near sleeping people would prompt them to speak in their sleep and reveal their secrets. However, in Rome the owl was considered a harbinger of death if it perched on a roof or on a public building and hooted. The deaths of several Roman emperors, including the assassination of Julius Caesar, were signaled by an owl landing on the roof and hooting.}}</ref> Because of such association, the bird—often referred to as the "'''owl of Athena'''" or the "'''owl of Minerva'''"—has been used as a symbol of knowledge, wisdom, perspicacity and erudition throughout the  [[Western world]].<ref name=Berger_2005>{{cite book|last=Berger|first=Cynthia|title=Owls|year=2005|publisher=Stackpole Books|location=Mechanicsburg, PA, USA|isbn=9780811732130|page=X|url=https://archive.org/details/owls0000berg|url-access=registration|quote=Minerva's owl wisdom.}}</ref><ref name=Deacy_2001>{{cite book|last1=Deacy|first1=Susan J.| author-link = Susan Deacy |last2=Villing|first2=Alexandra|title=Athena in the Classical World|year=2001|publisher=Brill|location=Leiden, Netherlands|isbn=978-9004121423}}</ref>
+In [[Greek mythology]], a [[little owl]] (''Athene noctua'') traditionally represents or accompanies [[Athena]], the virgin goddess of [[wisdom]], or [[Minerva]], her [[syncretism|syncretic]] [[incarnation]] in [[Roman mythology]].<ref name="Eason_2008">{{cite book|last=Eason|first=Cassandra|title=Fabulous Creatures, Mythical Monsters, and Animal Power Symbols: A Handbook|year=2008|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|location=Westport, CT, USA|isbn=9780275994259|page=71|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s4AP30k4IFwC&q=Minerva's%20owl%20wisdom&pg=PA71|quote=The Roman goddess of wisdom Minerva has the owl as her sacred creature, as does her ancient Greek counterpart Athena. Athena was often depicted with an owl, which was considered a symbol of wisdom in both cultures. The best known image of Athena’s owl, the Little Owl, is seen on ancient Athenian coins dating from the fifth century{{nbsp}}BCE. To the Romans an owl feather placed near sleeping people would prompt them to speak in their sleep and reveal their secrets. However, in Rome the owl was considered a harbinger of death if it perched on a roof or on a public building and hooted. The deaths of several Roman emperors, including the assassination of Julius Caesar, were signaled by an owl landing on the roof and hooting.}}</ref> Because of such association, the bird—often referred to as the "'''owl of Athena'''" or the "'''owl of Minerva'''"—has been used as a symbol of knowledge, wisdom, perspicacity and erudition throughout the  [[Western world]].<ref name=Berger_2005>{{cite book|last=Berger|first=Cynthia|title=Owls|year=2005|publisher=Stackpole Books|location=Mechanicsburg, PA, USA|isbn=9780811732130|page=X|url=https://archive.org/details/owls0000berg|url-access=registration|quote=Minerva's owl wisdom.}}</ref><ref name=Deacy_2001>{{cite book|last1=Deacy|first1=Susan J.| author-link = Susan Deacy |last2=Villing|first2=Alexandra|title=Athena in the Classical World|year=2001|publisher=Brill|location=Leiden, Netherlands|isbn=978-9004121423}}</ref>
 ==Classical World==
-===Greece===
+=== Ancient Greece===
-{{Details|Athena}}
+{{Further|Athena}}
-[[File:Athena owl Met 09.221.43.jpg|thumb|200px|[[Athena]] holding a helmet and a spear, with an owl. Attributed to the [[Brygos Painter]] (circa 490–480{{nbsp}}BC). The [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]].]]
+[[File:Athena owl Met 09.221.43.jpg|thumb|200px|[[Athena]] holding a helmet and a spear, with an owl. Attributed to the [[Brygos Painter]] ({{circa|490}}–480{{nbsp}}BC). The [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]].]]
 The reasons for the association of Athena and the owl are uncertain. Some [[mythographer]]s, such as David Kinsley and [[Martin P. Nilsson]], suggest that she may descend from a [[Minoan religion|Minoan palace goddess]] associated with birds<ref name=Kinsley_1989>{{cite book|last=Kinsley|first=David|title=The goddesses' mirror: visions of the divine from East and West|year=1989|publisher=SUNY Press|location=New York|isbn=9781438409139|page=141|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b0jmXOPBXkwC&q=athena%20minoan%20palace%20goddess&pg=PA141}}</ref><ref name=Nilsson_1950>{{cite journal|last=Nilsson|first=Martin Persson|title=The Minoan-Mycenaean religion and its survival in Greek religion|journal=Acta Regiae Societatis Humaniorum Litterarum Lundensis|year=1950|volume=9|page=491|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-OwRuSQQYi0C&q=athena%20minoan%20palace%20goddess&pg=PA491|access-date=19 May 2013|author-link=Martin P. Nilsson|publisher=Biblo & Tannen Publishers|isbn=9780819602732|issn=0347-5123}}</ref> and [[Marija Gimbutas]] claim to trace Athena's origins as an [[Old Europe (archaeology)|Old European]] bird and snake goddess.<ref name=Gimbutas_1982>{{cite book|last=Gimbutas|first=Marija|title=The Goddesses and Gods of Old Europe, 6500-3500 B.C.: Myths and Cult Images|year=1982|publisher=University of California Press|location=Berkeley|isbn=9780520253988|pages=147–150|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zKFFOoPlyjIC&q=old%20european%20bird%20goddess%20athena&pg=PA147|edition=2|author-link=Marija Gimbutas|access-date=19 May 2013}}</ref><ref name=Gimbutas_2001>{{cite book|last=Gimbutas|first=Marija|title=The living goddesses|year=2001|publisher=University of California Press|location=Berkeley|isbn=9780520927094|pages=157–158|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7DfI39EDbMcC&q=athena%20bird%20goddess&pg=PA158|author-link=Marija Gimbutas|editor1-first=Mirijam|editor1-last=Robbins Dexter|access-date=19 May 2013}}</ref>
 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<ref name=Berger_2005 /> while others, such as [[William Geoffrey Arnott]], propose a simple association between [[Myth of origins#Founding myth|founding myth]]s of [[Athens]] and the significant number of little owls in the region (a fact noted since antiquity by [[Aristophanes]] in ''[[The Birds (play)|The Birds]]'' and ''[[Lysistrata]]'').<ref name=Arnott_2007>{{cite book|last=Arnott|first=William Geoffrey|title=Birds in the Ancient World from A to Z|year=2007|publisher=Routledge|location=London|isbn=9780415238519|pages=84–85|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b4pN4OApWw4C&q=aristophanes%20owl&pg=PA84}}</ref>
-In any case, the city of [[Athens]] seems to have adopted the owl as proof of allegiance to its patron virgin goddess,<ref name=Arnott_2007 /><ref name=Sacks_1995>{{cite book|last=Sacks|first=David|title=A dictionary of the ancient Greek world|year=1995|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|isbn=9780195112061|page=[https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofanci00sack/page/41 41]|url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofanci00sack|url-access=registration|quote=athens name owl athena.|editor1-first=Oswyn|editor1-last= Murray|access-date=20 May 2013}}</ref>  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]].<ref name=Palagia_1998>{{cite journal|last=Palagia|first=Olga|title=The Pediments of the Parthenon|journal=Monumenta Graeca et Romana|year=1998|volume=7|page=40|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GFNuxcVKLIkC&q=Athena%20Poseidon%20gifts%20Athens&pg=PA40|access-date=19 May 2013|publisher=Brill|isbn=9004111980|issn=0169-8850}}</ref>
+In any case, the city of [[Athens]] seems to have adopted the owl as proof of allegiance to its patron virgin goddess,<ref name=Arnott_2007 /><ref name=Sacks_1995>{{cite book|last=Sacks|first=David|title=A dictionary of the ancient Greek world|year=1995|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|isbn=9780195112061|page=[https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofanci00sack/page/41 41]|url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofanci00sack|url-access=registration|quote=athens name owl athena.|editor1-first=Oswyn|editor1-last= Murray|access-date=20 May 2013}}</ref>  who, according to a popular [[origin 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]].<ref name=Palagia_1998>{{cite journal|last=Palagia|first=Olga|title=The Pediments of the Parthenon|journal=Monumenta Graeca et Romana|year=1998|volume=7|page=40|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GFNuxcVKLIkC&q=Athena%20Poseidon%20gifts%20Athens&pg=PA40|access-date=19 May 2013|publisher=Brill|isbn=9004111980|issn=0169-8850}}</ref>
-Owls were commonly reproduced by Athenians in vases, weights and [[Panathenaic amphora|prize amphoras]] for the [[Panathenaic Games]].<ref name=Arnott_2007 />
+Owls were commonly reproduced by Athenians on vases, weights and [[Panathenaic amphora|prize amphoras]] for the [[Panathenaic Games]].<ref name=Arnott_2007 />
 The owl of Athena even became the common obverse of the Athenian [[tetradrachm]]s after 510{{nbsp}}BC and according to [[Philochorus]],<ref>Philochorus: Scholion to Aristophanes, ''Birds'' 1106.</ref> the Athenian [[tetradrachm]] was known as ''glaux'' (γλαύξ, little owl)<ref>[[D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson|Thompson, D'Arcy Wentworth]]. ''[https://archive.org/stream/glossaryofgreekb00thomrich#page/46/mode/2up A glossary of Greek birds]''. Oxford, Clarendon Press 1895, pp{{nbsp}}45–46.</ref> throughout the ancient world and "owl" in present-day [[numismatics]].<ref>Philip Harding: The story of Athens: The Fragments of the Local Chronicles of Attika.</ref><ref>Kraay, C.M. The archaic owls of Athens: classification and chronology.</ref> They were not, however, used exclusively by them to represent Athena and were even used for motivation during battles by other Greek cities, such as in the victory of [[Agathocles of Syracuse]] over the [[Carthage|Carthaginian]]s in 310{{nbsp}}BC—in which owls flying through the ranks were interpreted as Athena's blessing<ref name=Berger_2005 />—or in the [[Battle of Salamis]], chronicled in [[Plutarch]]'s biography of [[Themistocles]].<ref name=Rich_2012>{{cite book|editor1-last=Rich|editor1-first=John|editor2-last=Rich|editor2-first=John|editor3-last=Shipley|editor3-first=Graham|title=War and Society in the Greek World|year=2012|publisher=Routledge|location=London|isbn=9781134807833}}</ref>
 ===Rome===
-{{Details|Minerva}}
+{{Further|Minerva}}
-The association between the owl and the goddess continued through [[Minerva]] in [[Roman mythology]], although the latter sometimes simply adopts it as a sacred or favorite bird. For example, in [[Ovid]]’s ''[[Metamorphoses]]'', [[Cornix]] the [[crow]] complains that her spot as the goddess' sacred bird is occupied by the owl, which in that particular story turns out to be [[Nyctimene (mythology)|Nyctimene]], a cursed daughter of [[Epopeus]], king of [[Lesbos]].<ref name=Anderson_1998>{{cite book|last=Anderson|first=William Scovil|title=Ovid's Metamorphoses, Books 1-5|year=1998|publisher=University of Oklahoma Press|location=Tulsa|isbn=9780806128948|page=301|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t12AuG0q144C&q=Ovid%20owl%20athena&pg=PA301}}</ref>
+The association between the owl and the goddess continued through [[Minerva]] in [[Roman mythology]], although the latter sometimes simply adopts it as a sacred or favorite bird. For example, in [[Ovid]]’s ''[[Metamorphoses]]'', [[Corone (crow)|Corone]] the [[crow]] complains that her spot as the goddess' sacred bird is occupied by the owl, which in that particular story turns out to be [[Nyctimene (mythology)|Nyctimene]], a cursed daughter of [[Epopeus]], king of [[Lesbos]].<ref name=Anderson_1998>{{cite book|last=Anderson|first=William Scovil|title=Ovid's Metamorphoses, Books 1-5|year=1998|publisher=University of Oklahoma Press|location=Tulsa|isbn=9780806128948|page=301|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t12AuG0q144C&q=Ovid%20owl%20athena&pg=PA301}}</ref>
 As for ancient Roman folklore, owls were considered harbingers of death if they hooted while perched on a roof, and placing one of its feathers near someone sleeping could prompt him or her to speak and reveal their secrets.<ref name="Eason_2008" />
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 ==As a philosophical metaphor==
 The philosophical use of the metaphor of the mind as a ''night owl'' goes at least as far back as an analogy in Aristotle's ''Metaphysics'' between the day-blind eyes of ''bats'' and human intellect (Aristo., Met. II 993 b9–11). This more ''negative'' epistemological metaphor of a ''night owl'' was long transmitted through the philosophical tradition, e.g. [[Thomas Aquinas]] (''Summa contra gentiles'', quaestio 45).
+[[File:Greek euro coin.jpg|thumb|161x161px|Owl of Minerva referenced on the Greek [[1 euro coin]]]]
 In affirmative contrast, the 19th-century [[German idealism|German idealist]] philosopher [[Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel]] famously noted that "the owl of Minerva spreads its wings only with the falling of the dusk"; philosophy comes to understand a historical condition just as it passes away.<ref name="Smith_2009">{{cite news|last=Smith|first=John E.|title=When Dusk Is Only Dusk|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/01/books/review/Letters-t-WHENDUSKISON_LETTERS.html?_r=0|access-date=28 February 2013|newspaper=New York Times|date=30 October 2009|quote=Hegel’s claim, however, bestows no special importance on a closing phase; it refers instead to the end of an era, which is confirmed as such by the appearance of philosophical critique and appraisal that involves making explicit the ideas and beliefs that drove that era but could not be fully articulated until it was over}}</ref> Philosophy appears only in the "maturity of reality", because it understands in hindsight.
 {{Cquote|Philosophy, as the thought of the world, does not appear until reality has completed its formative process, and made itself ready. History thus corroborates the teaching of the conception that only in the maturity of reality does the ideal appear as counterpart to the real, apprehends the real world in its substance, and shapes it into an intellectual kingdom. When philosophy paints its grey in grey, one form of life has become old, and by means of grey it cannot be rejuvenated, but only known. The owl of Minerva takes its flight only when the shades of night are gathering.|||[[G.W.F. Hegel]], ''[[Philosophy of Right]]'' (1820), "Preface"; translated by S W Dyde, 1896}}
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 ==See also==
 {{Portal|Ancient Greece|Myths|Philosophy}}
-* [[Little owl]] (''Athene noctua'')
 * [[Nyctimene (mythology)|Nyctimene]]