I forgot about this thread but someone told me that the owl could symbolize Lilith, the alleged first wife of Adam.
In Hebrew-language texts, the term lilith or lilit (translated as "night creatures", "night monster", "night hag", or "screech owl") first occurs in a list of animals in Isaiah 34.[15] The Isaiah 34:14 Lilith reference does not appear in most common Bible translations such as KJV and NIV. Commentators and interpreters often envision the figure of Lilith as a dangerous demon of the night, who is sexually wanton, and who steals babies in the darkness. In the Dead Sea Scrolls 4Q510-511, the term first occurs in a list of monsters. Jewish magical inscriptions on bowls and amulets from the 6th century AD onward identify Lilith as a female demon and provide the first visual depictions of her.
And since I mentioned the owl in Harry Potter, Harry's mother was called Lily, etymologically, there is no relation but I could see it used as a secret meaning.
And just to add about lilies. I'm sure they were touted as Diana's favourite flower in the run up to her marriage to Charles. Though reading now, they say it is the forget-me-not. Hmm, lest me try.
Diana’s iconic bouquet—designed by the since closed Longmans Florist and a gift from the Worshipful Company of Gardeners—was said to contain the following flowers:
They asked for one of white lilies and roses from the royals and another of pink flowers from the company.
And while mentioning the white rose, it is the symbol of the House of York...
rose-en-soleil.jpg (14.63 KiB) Viewed 359 times
The Rose en Soleil, or Sun in Splendor, the device first used by Edward IV upon his accession to the throne, combining the White Rose of the House of York with the Sun emblem used by his royal predecessor, Richard II.
...as in the War of the Roses, and Richard III...
ROYGBIV.png (106.08 KiB) Viewed 359 times
ROYGBIV is an acronym for the sequence of hues commonly described as making up a rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. There are several mnemonics that can be used for remembering this color sequence, such as the name "Roy G. Biv" or sentences such as "Richard of York Gave Battle in Vain".
...and New York, named after York in Yorkshire, of the House of York, and the York Rite.
The owl, being artificial creation of the Tyrell (prob not in reality) is introduced by Racheal (Sean Young)....at the Tyrell Corporation.
Later the owl is seen again indifferent to the death of it's creator....at the hands of a Nexus 6 (also artificial)
Make of that what you will. It is Hollywood so likely esoteric in meaning and conveys plot points in the film.
"More real, than real is our motto here at Tyrell"
Just to throw my 2cents in....my observation of the Owl and how it lives might give clues to some one, sure exceptions to a rule can be found but here are some generalizations.
Owls go hungry when its raining. They rely on dryness of air to go unheard during flight and will not hunt with wet wings.,they don't want prey to hear or see them coming so are "silent" hunters, relying mainly on the cover of darkness and use the method of ambush to suprise their prey by calculating the prey' and making finely tuned predictions on the prey's use of hearing and sight, it knows it's prey well enough to anticipate it's weaknesses of not knowing it's own enviroment or inability to observe the hunter. Stealth.
Owls are "watchers" and intentive "listeners" scanning the enviroment from their perch "higher up" for signs of movement and listening for sounds of movement.
Owls prefer secluded woodland to hunt for prey, using the dampening of sound reflections to place where a sound originates from (the original ASMR hearing) so they appreciate silence.
The Burney Relief (also known as the Queen of the Night relief) is a Mesopotamian terracotta plaque in high relief of the Isin-Larsa period or Old-Babylonian period, depicting a winged, nude, goddess-like figure with bird's talons, flanked by owls, and perched upon two lions.
The relief is displayed in the British Museum in London, which has dated it between 1800 and 1750 BCE. It originates from southern Mesopotamia, but the exact find-site is unknown. Apart from its distinctive iconography, the piece is noted for its high relief and relatively large size making it a very rare survival from the period. The authenticity of the object has been questioned from its first appearance in the 1930s, but opinion has generally moved in its favour over the subsequent decades.
This is how they write history backward, that thing is allegedly 4000 years old but it was only discovered relatively recently.
Identification
A different photograph of the relief
The figure was initially identified as a depiction of Ishtar (Inanna)[nb 15][2] but almost immediately other arguments were put forward:
Lilitu
The identification of the relief as depicting "Lilith" has become a staple of popular writing on that subject. Raphael Patai (1990)[30] believes the relief to be the only existent depiction of a Sumerian female demon called lilitu and thus to define lilitu's iconography. Citations regarding this assertion lead back to Henri Frankfort (1936). Frankfort himself based his interpretation of the deity as the demon Lilith on the presence of wings, the birds' feet and the representation of owls. He cites the Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh as a source that such "creatures are inhabitants of the land of the dead".[31] In that text Enkidu's appearance is partially changed to that of a feathered being, and he is led to the nether world where creatures dwell that are "birdlike, wearing a feather garment".[1] This passage reflects the Sumerians' belief in the nether world, and Frankfort cites evidence that Nergal, the ruler of the underworld, is depicted with bird's feet and wrapped in a feathered gown.
However Frankfort did not himself make the identification of the figure with Lilith; rather he cites Emil Kraeling (1937) instead. Kraeling believes that the figure "is a superhuman being of a lower order"; he does not explain exactly why. He then goes on to state "Wings [...] regularly suggest a demon associated with the wind" and "owls may well indicate the nocturnal habits of this female demon". He excludes Lamashtu and Pazuzu as candidate demons and states: "Perhaps we have here a third representation of a demon. If so, it must be Lilîtu [...] the demon of an evil wind", named ki-sikil-lil-la[nb 16] (literally "wind-maiden" or "phantom-maiden", not "beautiful maiden", as Kraeling asserts).[32] This ki-sikil-lil is an antagonist of Inanna (Ishtar) in a brief episode of the epic of Gilgamesh, which is cited by both Kraeling and Frankfort as further evidence for the identification as Lilith, though this appendix too is now disputed. In this episode, Inanna's holy Huluppu tree is invaded by malevolent spirits. Frankfort quotes a preliminary translation by Gadd (1933): "in the midst Lilith had built a house, the shrieking maid, the joyful, the bright queen of Heaven". However modern translations have instead: "In its trunk, the phantom maid built herself a dwelling, the maid who laughs with a joyful heart. But holy Inanna cried."[33] The earlier translation implies an association of the demon Lilith with a shrieking owl and at the same time asserts her god-like nature; the modern translation supports neither of these attributes. In fact, Cyril J. Gadd (1933), the first translator, writes: "ardat-lilî (kisikil-lil) is never associated with owls in Babylonian mythology" and "the Jewish traditions concerning Lilith in this form seem to be late and of no great authority".[34] This single line of evidence being taken as virtual proof of the identification of the Burney Relief with "Lilith" may have been motivated by later associations of "Lilith" in later Jewish sources.
The association of Lilith with owls in later Jewish literature such as the Songs of the Sage (1st century BCE) and Babylonian Talmud (5th century CE) is derived from a reference to a liliyth among a list of wilderness birds and animals in Isaiah (7th century BCE), though some scholars, such as Blair (2009)[35][36] consider the pre-Talmudic Isaiah reference to be non-supernatural, and this is reflected in some modern Bible translations:
Isaiah 34:13 Thorns shall grow over its strongholds, nettles and thistles in its fortresses. It shall be the haunt of jackals, an abode for ostriches. 14 And wild animals shall meet with hyenas; the wild goat shall cry to his fellow; indeed, there the night bird (lilit or lilith) settles and finds for herself a resting place. 15 There the owl nests and lays and hatches and gathers her young in her shadow; indeed, there the hawks are gathered, each one with her mate. (ESV)
Today, the identification of the Burney Relief with Lilith is questioned,[37] and the figure is now generally identified as the goddess of love and war.[38]
Ishtar
50 years later, Thorkild Jacobsen substantially revised this interpretation and identified the figure as Inanna (Akkadian: Ishtar) in an analysis that is primarily based on textual evidence.[20] According to Jacobsen:
The hypothesis that this tablet was created for worship makes it unlikely that a demon was depicted. Demons had no cult in Mesopotamian religious practice since demons "know no food, know no drink, eat no flour offering and drink no libation."[nb 17] Therefore, "no relationship of giving and taking could be established with them";
The horned crown is a symbol of divinity, and the fact that it is four-tiered suggests one of the principal gods of the Mesopotamian pantheon;
Inanna was the only goddess that was associated with lions. For example, a hymn by Enheduanna specifically mentions "Inanna, seated on crossed (or harnessed) lions"[nb 18]
The goddess is depicted standing on mountains. According to text sources, Inanna's home was on Kur-mùsh, the mountain crests. Iconographically, other gods were depicted on mountain scales as well, but there are examples in which Inanna is shown on a mountain pattern and another god is not, i.e. the pattern was indeed sometimes used to identify Inanna.[39]
The rod-and-ring symbol, her necklace and her wig are all attributes that are explicitly referred to in the myth of Inanna's descent into the nether world.[40]
Jacobsen quotes textual evidence that the Akkadian word eššebu (owl) corresponds to the Sumerian word ninna, and that the Sumerian Dnin-ninna (Divine lady ninna) corresponds to the Akkadian Ishtar. The Sumerian ninna can also be translated as the Akkadian kilili, which is also a name or epithet for Ishtar. Inanna/Ishtar as harlot or goddess of harlots was a well known theme in Mesopotamian mythology and in one text, Inanna is called kar-kid (harlot) and ab-ba-[šú]-šú, which in Akkadian would be rendered kilili. Thus there appears to be a cluster of metaphors linking prostitute and owl and the goddess Inanna/Ishtar; this could match the most enigmatic component of the relief to a well known aspect of Ishtar. Jacobsen concludes that this link would be sufficient to explain talons and wings, and adds that nudity could indicate the relief was originally the house-altar of a bordello.[20]
Ereshkigal
In contrast, the British Museum does acknowledge the possibility that the relief depicts either Lilith or Ishtar, but prefers a third identification: Ishtar's antagonist and sister Ereshkigal, the goddess of the underworld.[41] This interpretation is based on the fact that the wings are not outspread and that the background of the relief was originally painted black. If this were the correct identification, it would make the relief (and by implication the smaller plaques of nude, winged goddesses) the only known figurative representations of Ereshkigal.[5] Edith Porada, the first to propose this identification, associates hanging wings with demons and then states: "If the suggested provenience of the Burney Relief at Nippur proves to be correct, the imposing demonic figure depicted on it may have to be identified with the female ruler of the dead or with some other major figure of the Old Babylonian pantheon which was occasionally associated with death."[42] No further supporting evidence was given by Porada, but another analysis published in 2002 comes to the same conclusion. E. von der Osten-Sacken describes evidence for a weakly developed but nevertheless existing cult for Ereshkigal; she cites aspects of similarity between the goddesses Ishtar and Ereshkigal from textual sources – for example they are called "sisters" in the myth of "Inanna's descent into the nether world" – and she finally explains the unique doubled rod-and-ring symbol in the following way: "Ereshkigal would be shown here at the peak of her power, when she had taken the divine symbols from her sister and perhaps also her identifying lions".[43]
