Athena's FamiliarSolid brass owl with striking blue eyes. In ancient Greece, the owl was linked to Athena, the Goddess of Wisdom, and for centuries the animal has symbolized a higher plane of spiritual and intellectual learning. Later, the Roman author Pliny The Elder referred to the mostly nocturnal owl as "the monster of the night" because of the animals appearance when people are made helpless by darkness and at their most vulnerable. Owls were at that time imbued