The Birds Have It

Fascinating.  Wondering, now, whether the preoccupation I've had with birds over the past week or more (just some beautiful images of them that I framed, and wondering where to put up in my in-progress redecoration of my bedroom -- well, you know, something on the 'ether'... and maybe that the robins have been back in my neck of the woods in Wisconsin for 3 weeks already, singing their heads off every morning as I make the long trek to the bus stop to go to drudgery at the office...

From Past Horizons, Adventures in Archaeology
February 15, 2012

The birds in the Iliad help warriors and kings make difficult decisions and satisfy the basic human need for self-esteem and security.
This is the conclusion of a new doctoral thesis from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, that analyses 35 bird scenes in Homer’s Iliad from around 700 B.C.
In the Iliad, gods use birds to disguise themselves and as transmitters of messages to humans.

Similarly, humans use birds as signs and symbols that they interpret to acquire knowledge about the presence and identities of gods and their intentions for the future. Birds therefore have a very important function as intermediaries between humans and their gods.
‘The birds are central in the event structure of the Iliad. They often appear in dangerous and important war situations and prior to risky journeys. Receiving a positive bird sign from the gods in those situations strengthened the warriors’ fighting spirit and ability to fight, but it also evoked a sense of relief since it indicated that the god was with them,’ says the author of the thesis Karin Johansson.
In her thesis, Johansson identifies the different bird species that are included in the Iliad and shows that they are carefully selected to fit into the particular situations and environments where they appear. The most common species are the peregrine falcon, the rock dove and the golden eagle, but also the so-called bearded vulture, with is very uncommon today.

‘It is important to identify the birds and pay attention to their behaviour and characteristics. The specific species are also chosen to convey and add specific information. If we neglect these details, we also lose important parts of the messages,’ says Johansson.

Johansson’s research on Homer’s birds is unique, since previous research mainly has focused on the symbolic functions of the birds and on whether a bird is a transformed god or should be interpreted as a mere metaphor. The ornitological identities, behaviour and characteristics of the birds have never been given much attention in the past. Johansson’s thesis sheds light on how the birds in the Iliad challenge the modern scientific division of ‘nature’ and ’culture’ and to some extent the way we think, since the birds are both birds in a zoological sense and signs and symbols at the same time.

‘Focusing on the birds in the Iliad helps us better understand the deepest wishes, reliefs and fears of the human characters, it also helps us understand how deeply rooted the birds are in the persons’ lives and way of thinking. The situations and events in the Iliad centre around war and others dangers in life, and there is no doubt that the birds are very important to the human characters in those situations,’ says Johansson.

Source: University of Gothenburg

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Hmmmm, well, whatever...

The focus of this thesis is extremely narrow.  It says nothing, for instance, to the much older use of birds in imagery, ritual and legend in cultures than the Greeks, such as Egypt and Sumer, for instance.



Call me biased, but it seems to me that the very earliest images of birds ever recorded [in paintings or carved] by mankind were of bird-goddesses, sometimes also known as eye-goddesses. Some scholars equate eye-goddess images to owls...  Just saying.

We still have the Sacred Bird with us today, in the image of the Holy Dove, for instance, in Roman Catholic iconography. 

The Dove in Symbolism

Here's an informative and reader-friendly article on the meaning of the dove, a very ancient symbol for the Mother Goddess, in ancient cultures in the Middle East from Biblical Archaeology online. Image: Walters Art Museum, Baltimore In addition to its symbolism for the Holy Spirit, the dove was a popular Christian symbol before the cross rose to prominence in the fourth century. The dove continued to be used for various church implements throughout the Byzantine and medieval period, including the form of oil lamps and this 13th-century altar piece for holding the Eucharistic bread. The Enduring Symbolism of Doves From Ancient Icon to Biblical Mainstay by Dorothy D. Resig Few symbols have a tradition as long and as rich as the dove. A particular favorite in art and iconography, the dove often represents some aspect of the divine, and its use has been shared, adapted and reinterpreted across cultures and millennia to suit changing belief systems. From the ancient world to modern times, this simple bird developed layer upon layer of meaning and interpretive significance, making it a complex and powerful addition to religious texts and visual representations. Image: Naos, Ardon Bar Hama. A dove and two bird-like female figures perch atop this clay house shrine from the Iron Age. The dove was widely recognized throughout the Ancient Near Eastern world as a symbol of the mother goddess Asherah and her counterparts Astarte and Tanit. In the Ancient Near East and Mediterranean world, the dove became an iconic symbol of the mother goddess. Small clay shrines from the Iron Age Levant depict doves perched atop the doorways of these mini-temples. On one example from Cyprus, the entire exterior of the goddess’s shrine is covered with dovecotes. The doves represented feminine fertility and procreation, and came to be well-recognized symbols of the Canaanite goddess Asherah and her counterpart Astarte, as well as her Phoenician and later Punic embodiment, Tanit. First-century B.C. coins from Ashkelon bore a dove, which represented both the goddess Tyche-Astarte and the city mint. In Rome and throughout the Empire, goddesses such as Venus and Fortunata could be seen depicted in statues with a dove resting in their hand or on their head. Rest of article.