by C.AeliusEricius on Thu Feb 05, 2004 7:19 pm
This is one of the basics, like the eagle being Jove's. Now the peacock being sacred to Juno has to be a later attribution since peacocks would not have been in the Med area until 4th Century b.c.e. or later.
Strix is the screech owl. Apecific type of owl. I don't know which owls are in the Med countries, but I know there are a number of species. But don't get hung up on details, the ancients were as flexible, in day to day life, as contemporary folk are. One thing to kkep in mind with the screech owl is that screeching. All of a sudden, out of a quite night you hear that SCREEEECH! If it didn't have an official bad omen connected to it, the sudden thumping of your heart would assign one. I think a possible reason for the owl being connected to wisdom is the other type of owl. The ones that sit silently, looking at the world with those big, knowing eyes.
That's my two coppers.
Valete.
C. Aelius Ericius.
Roman.