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)

The owl of Athena 825

arid the numismatic type is unfortunately wingless1. Mrs Strong2
with greater caution speaks of'the winged Minerva' as an 'adapta-
tion of a Greek model of the fifth century' and in that respect
compares the (wingless) Minerva of the Forum Transitorium3.
C- Picard4 too is content to recognise a 'Minerve ailee,' aptly citing
the similar goddess from Bulla Regia in Numidia5.

Finally, in the fifth stage of her evolution Athena becomes
Purely anthropomorphic. But even then the owl is retained as an
^tribute or adjunct. Goddess and bird, originally connected by a
bond which amounted to identity, were never wholly separated.
Their association might of course be expressed in a great variety
of ways. In point of fact, however, it commonly took shape in
Certain art-types of long-standing sanctity and significance, the
hhd appearing on the pillar, on the head, on the hand of the
goddess, or duplicated and attached to her chariot.

Of the owl on a pillar I have already spoken6. It conforms to
the wide-spread type of bird-on-column7, which can be traced back
to 'Minoan' times8 and, as M. P. Nilsson9 justly claims, implies
ne epiphany or embodiment of the deity concerned.

The owl on the head of Athena is indeed attested by two

inscriptions (p. 494 n. 1) (add one literary reference, in Aetna 581) concludes:
nefly, tne w;ngec] goddess Qf Ostia represents a fusion of the Parthenos type and the
t,lctory motif, whether this fusion be derived from a Greek Athena Nike or be due to
^ originality of the Roman artist. In all probability it stands for Minerva Victrix and
for Roma Victrix. For the only other known Roman example of a winged Athena
to h represents Minerva and not Roma, and the conception of Minerva Victrix appears
have been more popular under the fempire than that of Roma Victrix, particularly
°m the reign of Domitian on.'
^ Unless it can be maintained that the winged but nameless figure on Domitian's
"T^, ^su^ra P- 821 fig. 630) was also a Minerva Victrix.
5, 5" Strong Art in Ancient Rome London 1929 ii. 67.
Re' Blumner in the Ann. d. Inst. 1877 xlix. 8, Mon. d. Inst, x pi. 40, 1 and 2,
Lond10'1 Reliefs »• 37°> E- Strong Roman Sculpture from Augustus to Constantine
nell..0n l9°7 P- 145, ead. La scultura romana da Augusto a Costantine (trad. G. Gian-
Firenze 1923 i. I32 pl. M.

w;., r" Plcard La sculpture antique de Phidias a I'ere byzantine Paris 1926 ii. 446> 451
hJZ- 178.

5 L- Po

i0t, 1' omssot in the Catalogue du Musee Alaoui {Supplement) Paris 1910 p. 57 no.

L. ! 33> 3 and no. 1018 pl. 33, 2, Reinach RCp. Stat. iv. 172 no. 8 ('Traces d'ailes'),
foUn(j /gnoni in Ausonia 1910 v. 89 ff. with figs. 16, 17, and 18 (two marble statues

'7 pl.

*ignoni

Nv'ngs a a temP^e of Apollon at Bulla Regia represent Minerva. One gave her marble
°thei- ha u"ral Crown- a shield on her right arm, and a cornu copiae in her left hand. The
6 Sub wings, now lost).

8 Sir T r' 778 "- 7 S"f"'a '• 34 U 66, 83, ii. 1133 n. 1.

Palace ofAr EvanS the A""- Brit- Sch- Ath- '901 —1901 viii. 28 ff. fig. 14, id. The
" Nil S London 1921 i. 222 f. fig. 166, F.
Nlls*°n Min.-Myc. Rel. p. 2g? ff.