In
Greek mythology, Aegolius (
Ancient Greek: Αἰγωλιός,
romanized: Aigо̄liós) is a
Cretan man who attempted to steal from
Zeus, the king of gods, and was punished for it. He was transformed into an owl.
Mythology
The Cretan Aegolius and three other men,
Cerberus,
Celeus and
Laius entered the sacred cave of
Zeus in Crete where the young god had been born and brought up with the aim to steal some of the sacred honey produced by Zeus's bee nurses. Zeus thundered and stripped them of their brazen armors. He meant to kill them all, but
Themis and the
Moirai advised him against that, as the cave was a holy place and no one should be killed in it. So Zeus turned them all into birds instead; Aegolius became an aegolius owl.[1][2][3][4]