Owl Symbolism

Almost every culture has a myth or symbolism attatched to owls. Why is this? Good or bad, owls affect us in a way that most animals do not. The Greeks and Romans, known for their myths, had conflicting views of the owl. The Greek goddess Athene, the Goddess of Wisdom and War, had the owl as her symbol, and the owl was thought to protect Greek armies in war. This was probably the origin of the "wise owl". The Greeks even put the owl on their coins, seen below.

The Romans felt differently about owls, giving them an evil connotation. They believed that an owl's hoot signalled death, and supposedly the deaths of Julius Caeser, Augustus, Aurelius, and Agrippa were preceded by the hoot of an owl. The Romans also began the association of owls with witches, saying that witches transformed into owls and sucked the blood of babies.

The English adopted the Roman point of view, associating owls with death; they also used owl eggs to cure alcoholism. In the Western world, American Indians also had conflicting sentiments about the owl. The Hopi Indians assigned the owl as their God of Death and Guardian of Fires. The Kwagulth people of the Northwestern coast believed that owls were the almalgamation of a dead person and their recently released soul. To Cajuns in Louisiana, owls should be respected because they were deceased elders. No matter what you personally believe about owls, popular culture has adopted the Roman/ English standpoint, depicting owls as representatives of death and evil, for example in the movie "Labyrinth", and the David Lynch creations "Twin Peaks" and "Fire Walk With Me". All of these obsessions with owls facinates me, and if anyone has more info on owl symbolism, please email me and let me know.