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)

830 The owl of Athena

Or, holding the owl in her raised right hand and the spear in her
lowered left (figs. 641, 642)1. This last pose occurs also in plastic art.
An Attic bronze statuette of early fifth-century style, lent by the
Earl of Elgin to the British Museum (fig. 639)a, represents Athena
in the act of letting the bird fly. And a relief in Pentelic marble,
dating from c. 465 B.C. and now preserved in the Lanckoronski
Palace at Vienna (fig. 640)3, adds Gorgon-shield and boundary-herm

Fig. 64L Fig. 642.

to indicate that the scene is her own precinct on the Akropoh5-
Once more it is obvious that the owl sent forth from the hand of
the goddess is comparable with the small running figure on the arm
of the Cauloniate Apollon4 or with winged Eros on the arm °^
Aphrodite5—in short, embodies the very soul of Athena.

An engraved cornelian at Berlin—good work of the GraecO'
Roman period—shows Athena with helmet, spear, and shiel°>
standing in a chariot drawn by a pair of owls (fig. 643)6. Just s°
Zeus was drawn by eagles7 and Apollon by swans8. These

(owl in left, spear in right); 39 and 41 Athens, 42 J. Anderson ( = my fig. 638) (ovv' 1
right, spear in left); 38 and 40 Athens (with shield). ^

1 Hunter Cat. Coins ii. 77 no. 229 pi. 35, 5 (with snake), Imhoof-Blumer a"
P. Gardner op. cit. Hi. 133 pi. aa, 4 Rhousopoulos (with snake) (cp. my fig- , jj'
J. N. Svoronos op. cit. pi. 84, 1 J. Anderson, 2 Berlin ( = my fig. 642), 3 Athens, 4 HifS '
5 London, 6 Berlin (3—6 with snake). B. Pick in the Index to Svoronos p. vl 5
'ArchigetisV. _ gg

2 A. Conze 'Athena mit der Eule' in the Festschriftfiir Otto Benndorf Wien ' ^
p. 176 f. pi. 9, Reinach Rip. Stat. iii. 85 no. 3, E. J. Forsdyke in The Illustrated Lo11
News for March 24, 1934 p. 464 with three good photographs showing the statuette
front, back, and three-quarter position. My fig. 639 is from the official photograph-

3 H. Schrader 'Athena mit dem Kauzchen' in the Jahresh. d. oest. arch. Inst' r?
xvi. 1—32 with a fine heliogravure ( = my fig. 640).

4 Supra ii. 1040 ff. figs. 888—890.
6 Supra ii. 1043^ fig. 892.

6 Miiller—Wieseler Denkm. d. alt. Kunst ii. 3. 176 pi. 22, 241, Inihoof-Blu11^^
O. Keller Tier- und PJlanzenbilder auf Mtinzen und Gemmen des klassischen

A 61*9

Leipzig 1889 p. 129 pi. 20, 62, Furtwangler Geschnitt. Steine Berlin p. 247 n°'
pi. 48. My fig. 643 is drawn (scale f ) from a cast in the collection of T. Cades.
Supra ii. 462 n. o fig. 362.
8 Supra ii. 460 n. 2 (a) fig. 358.