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Cook, Arthur B.
Zeus: a study in ancient religion (Band 3,1): Zeus god of the dark sky (earthquake, clouds, wind, dew, rain, meteorits): Text and notes — Cambridge, 1940

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https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14698#0876

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The owl of Athena 781

at Berlin dating from the latter part of the fifth century (pi. lx)1
shows a worthy citizen of Athens obviously fascinated by the
uncanny bird ! And well he might be, for the owl was the goddess
herself in animal form—thea glaukopis Athene'1. Whatever that
phrase denoted or connoted to the readers and even to the writers
of the Homeric poems3, it was certainly a line of pre-hexameter
verse4 describing Athena in all probability as a ' goddess with the
eyes, or face, or aspect, of an owl.' On this showing it points
back wards to a time when it was believed that Athena could take
shape as a bird. Homer makes her appear on sundry occasions
as a pigeon5, a hawk6, a kite or a shearwater7, a vulture8, a

1 Furtwangler Vascnsamml. Berlin ii. 836 no. 2993 from Nola. Height o-33m.
FUrtwangler notes: ' L. eine eigentiimliche Saule ohne Kapitell (Holz-Pfeiler); davor
r- Kin niedeier Pfeiler, darauf eine Eule (Anathem?). R. gegentiber ein bartiger Mann
im Mantel nach 1., mit Stock.' I am indebted to Mr A. D. Trendall for the photograph
reproduced in my pi. lx. He tells me that the vase belongs to a group of local Cam-
Panian imitations of Attic ware, for a list of which see J. D. Beazley Greek Vases in
Poland Oxford 1928 p. 77 n. 5.

" The tags yXavK&Tris 'Atirjvij and deb. yXavKwircs 'Aflfjuj are both frequent, alike in
Wad and Odyssey, but always at the end of the hexameter and normally in the nominative
case. On occasion we find the accusative y\a\)Kwia.v 'A9t\vt]v (Od. 1. 156, h. Ap. 314,

Aphr. 8) or y\a.vn<i>nil' ' A81)vt)v (h. Ap. 323), the genitive 'AO-qvai-qs yXavKiiiriooi
6. 88, A. Heph. 2), the dative 'Ati-qvai-q yXavailiTiSi (II. 9. 390, 11. 729, 23. 769).
duller phrases are IlaXXdS' 'Ad-qvai-qv... \ yXavKUTiv (A. A/A. 28. 1 f.), Aids yXavKwiriSi
KoiPy (Od. 2. 433), Kovpy yXavKwmdi Kai Ad irarpi (Od. 24. 518), and even y\avKiiiri5i
Koijprj without mention of Zeus (//. 24. 26). On the other hand, yXavKuiris can be used
by itself in nominative (//. 8. 406, Od. 6. 47), vocative (//. 8. 420, Od. 13. 389),
accusative (//. 8. 373, Od. 3. 135, 24. 540), and genitive (A. AtA. 28. 10). See further

• dueling Lexicon Hoinencum Lipsiae 1885 i. 36 and 259.

For the analogous usage of fjowins 7rdTcia"Hpi) see supra i. 444.

" Here opinions differ widely. Welcker Gr. Gbtterl. i. 303 f. thinks that the epithet
y^auKuins relcrs to 'den feurigen Aether.' E contra, R. Hildebrandt ''' A6i]vq r\ai««7ris'
PhUologus 188S xlvi. 201 — 209 argues for 'Athena of the grey-green water,' 77 6(6. tt/s
VWktjs daKaoaqs (cp. 11. 16. 34). Other contentions in C. W. Lucas De Minervae
Cognomemo FAA/TROIIIS observationes philologuae Bonnae i83i=/'a'. Philologische Be-
"'erkungen uber die AtAcne Glaucopis Bonn 1S31 pp. 1—21 ('of fiery, brilliant eyes'),
reller—Robert Gr. Myth. i. 193 f., Gruppe Gr. Myth. A'el. pp. 1198 n. 3, 1219 n. 3,

• Jessen in tauly—Wissowa Keal-Enc. vii. 1404—1407. After all this stir H. J. Rose
Handbook of Greek Mythology London 1928 p. 109 (with n. 27 011 p. 129J remains

c°ntent with 'dear grey-eyes.'

6 Supra i. 444, ii. 384 n. o. 5 5- 778 (with Hera).

ll- 7- 58 ff. (with Apollon). D'Arcy W. Thompson A Glossary of Greek Birds Oxford
95 p. 16 took aiymiis in Homer and later writers to mean 'vulture.' But Sir W. M.
t lmsay Asianic Elements in Greek Civilisation London 1927 pp. 60—71 adduces strong
eaSons lor thinking that the Homeric aiyviriol were 'hawks,' not vultures at all.
s II- '9- 350 f. The word apri) is equated with Ikt'wos, 'kite,' by Hesych. s.v.
JT'f)' e'6os <Woi>...?) IktXvov. Kpijres, Tzetz. chil. 5. 413 {- lKT~imi °f""s t£s iaTlv< Sv,reP
ne ""^ «Ptt)^, I bpw&fav ri vebrna to. twv a\eKTopiSw». But H. Stuart Jones in the
, L>ddell and Scott, on the strength of Aristot. Aist. an. 9. 1. 609 a 23 f., etc., says
"known bird of prey, prob. shearwater.' More in D'Arcy W. Thompson op. cit. p. 35 f.
0d- 3- 371 f. 1 render <p-qvq by 'vulture' as supra ii. 112:. So too D'Arcy
 
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