Bring Owls To Athens Meaning

(idiomatic) To undertake a pointless venture, one that is redundant, unnecessary, superfluous, or highly uneconomical.

Example: Who brings owls to Athens? — Euelpides, in Aristophanes' Birds (English translation by Ian Johnston)
Forgive me, then, for bringing owls to Athens as a thanks-offering. — Goethe, in a letter to Wilhelm von Humboldt (English translation by Louis H. Gray)
Perhaps we have not been sufficiently aware that talking about access and its implications in Scandinavia is like bringing owls to Athens. — Herbert Burkert ([1])