Bird Gods in Ancient Europe 



Why, I asked myself, should certain birds 

 have been allotted to certain gods and god- 

 desses in the Greek and Roman mythology ? 

 Why should the eagle go with Zeus, the pea- 

 cock with Hera, the dove with Venus, the 

 swan with Apollo, the woodpecker with Ares, 

 the owl with Pallas Athene ? 

 It could not be mere chance 

 that so many gods and god- 

 desses had each their attendant 

 bird; the attribution was too 

 regular ; it was done too much on a system. 

 What was the original meaning of it all ? 



Aphrodite, drawn in a chariot to which doves 

 are harnessed, is the goddess of spring, of that 

 season when the male dove shines in his finest 

 feather and makes himself even more ardent in 

 his courtship than before. She is the goddess 

 of love-making. Doves are forever making 

 love and caressing each other. Chaucer speaks 

 of " the wedded turtil with her hearte trewe." 

 The male struts and cooes and, unrebuffed by 



6 



