What does it mean when you see or hear an owl?
In ancient Greece the owl stood for wisdom and was the bird of Athena. In Roman writing and in British and Irish folklore, an owl near a house was read as an omen of death. The same bird carries both meanings.
Last reviewed October 20, 2026
What each tradition says
Greece, from around 750 BCE to late antiquity (the sixth century CE)
Greek myth and religion
The owl belonged to Athena, goddess of wisdom and craft, and appeared on Athenian coins. This is the origin of the owl as a symbol of wisdom, which is still the first thing most people say about it.
Italy, from around 750 BCE to the fourth century CE
Roman religion
The Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder calls the owl a funereal bird, hated in public auspices, and says that seeing one in a city or by day is a dire omen. He also records that when an eagle-owl got into the shrine on the Capitol hill, the city was ritually purified.
Britain and Ireland, collected mostly in the nineteenth century
British and Irish folklore
A folklore volume from Poyntzpass in Northern Ireland records that if a barn owl flies past a house, someone in the household is sure to die. Birds near a house, owls and crows especially, figure often in British and Irish death omens, and the versions differ from place to place.
How to weigh it
An owl hunting at night calls because it is marking territory or finding a mate, and the sound carries a long way. The omen reading and the wisdom reading are two cultures looking at the same bird and describing different things. Neither tells you anything about your own week.