Rainbows and peacocks

A Sassanian dish, 400-600AD, Iran, Currently in Al Thani collection...

What is exactly depicted here? Some would say just an exotic dancer. I think that this is a depiction of the goddess Anahita, Zoroastrian goddess of water and fertility...

I already talked about Anahita in my post "Anahita" about this Sassanian dish, which again depicts her "holding a scarf above her head"...

In that article, I proposed that the scarf is symbolic depiction of a rainbow. 

Rainbow which is in Iran only seen during the rain season, which in most of Iran is Oct/Nov - Apr/May...

I also proposed that this is the tree of life that is depicted growing out of her scarf (rainbow) because it is the rainbow creating rain that is the source of life in Iran...

I then backed my claim by this other Sassanian dish which depicts the same tree of life, this time without Anahita as it's source, but instead flanked by two ibex goats, the goats of rain...

Ibex goats are animal calendar marker for the Oct/Nov, the beginning of the rain season in Iran, because Oct/Nov is when ibex goats start mating in Iran, mating which is characterised by vicious male goat fights...

I talked about symbolism of ibex goats in many of my posts, like 

Europe:

"Pitys", "Goat in European culture", "Patera of Rennes"... 

Levant:

"The tree of life/light", "Lachish animal calendar"...

Mesopotamia:

"Feast plaque from Louvre", "Green pastures", "Problems with Abzu", "Relief from Dur Sharrukin", "Goatfish"...

Iran: 

"Flamingos from Susa", "Goat carrier", "Iranian goat of rain", "Strider", "A vessel from Tepe Hissar"...

Above the goats, we can see some birds: 

Male and female peafowl

Male and female pheasants 

Why?

Well because both of these bird species start their mating season in Mar/Apr...

And this is important why?

Well, because all that rain (and snow) that falls during the cool wet season cause the water flow of the rivers in Iran to suddenly start increasing in Mar/Apr which leads to the floods in Apr/May/Jun...

Flow chart for the Zayandehrud River that flows through Isfahan. It suddenly increases in Mar/Apr. 

And here is Aries Ram, with blue (water) horns, lying in water...Describing exactly what is happening in Mar/Apr...In Aries...

Talked about it in my post "Sagittarius from Isfahan", about an amazing 14th c. Isfahan zodiac... 

Floods that Anahita as the goddess of water was also linked to...

We find Anahita with rainbow in Iron Age Iran...Bronze disc from Luristan, Western Iran. 8th century BC depicting a goddess holding a scarf (rainbow) above here head...

And in Bronze Age Iran...Chlorite carved flask, Jiroft culture, Western Iran, 3rd millennium BC depicting a goddess holding a rainbow above here head...

I talked about this in my post "Jiroft flood vase"...

Here is the whole flood vase design:

Bronze Age Anahita? Goddess of water? Standing on bulls...

In Taurus? Apr/May? The time of the annual flood? It seems like this is what is depicted here, considering that the goddess is holding a water scarf (rainbow) and the same water is depicted flowing out of bulls heads...

I talked about the link between bulls and annual flood in Iranian art in my post "Dedicated to Inshushinak", about this 3200 years old Elamite ceremonial silver pouring vessel with handle and double spout in the form of two bulls...

So peacocks and pheasants start mating right at the time when the water levels in Iranian rivers start to rise...

This is why, on our original Al Thani dish, Anahita is holding a scarf with the peacock feathers "eyes" designs above her head, and is flanked by two peacocks...

BTW, in India, where peacocks come from, they breed during the monsoon season, and are believed to "call the rain to come"...

I talked about this in my post "Makara", about the mount of the old monsoon god Varuna, who was mainly just imagined as a crocodile, but was sometimes imagined as a complex "creature" (animal calendar marker), with a peacock tail...

BTW, do you see the star and the moon next to the Bronze Age Anahita? 

That's symbol of Sirius..The original star of Inanna/Ishtar, before Venus took over...

I talked about this takeover in my post "Sirius the mother of Venus"... 

I explained why, based on Sumerian Inanna mythology, only Sirius could have been the original star of Inanna/Ishtar in my posts: "Inanna and Sukaletuda", "The brightest star"...

The brightest star which is visible in winter sky over Iran together with the winter moon...

I talked about the winter wet moon in my post "Moon god Nana/Sin"...

Sirius disappears from the night sky in Apr/May...The time of the fertility bringing annual flood...The emptying of the winter moon...Which is why we find this symbol right next to Bronze Age Anahita holding a rainbow...And which is why in the Sumerian epic "Inana and Šukaletuda" we read that Inana "stretched herself like a rainbow across the sky, and reached thereby as far as the earth"...

Cause Bronze Age Anahita was the same goddess as Bronze age Inanna/Ishtar...

It seems that I am not the only one linking Inanna/Ishtar with Anahita. I recently came across this article which actually explores the possibility that Anahita could actually be Inanna/Ishtar in disguise...

To read more about ancient animal and plant calendar markers, start here…Then check my twitter threads I still didn't convert to blog post...I am way way behind...

Not us

High status families in late Neolithic and Bronze Age Germany kept slaves from other tribes which were genetically unrelated to them... 

Also, analysis of strontium and oxygen deposits in bone revealed that the men remained in the community across multiple generations. The women, in contrast, were largely born outside the area – some coming from region more than 350 km away, on the other side of the Alps...

This custom of marrying women from "unrelated" clans was preserved in the Balkans until recently. Men from my paternal grandfather's village always used to marry women from villages "across the river" who were "not one of us"...

Interestingly, the article entitled "History of Diplomacy" from Encyclopedia Britannica says that:

"...the earliest diplomatic negotiations occurred during the time of the earliest tribal societies which had to negotiate marriage, trade and hunting rights."

Diplomats are sent to the foreigners as the first contact (before all other) to represent us, (stand for us,  before us). Interestingly Greek word for embassy is "πρεσβεία" pronounced "presvia" which in Serbian literally means "before all other"??? I talked about this in my post "Embassy"...

Serbian wedding customs have preserved the memory of the time when getting a woman to marry was dangerous business. Wedding parties going to get the bride from her house to groom's house are little clan armies, armed to the teeth and ready for battle. I talked about this in my post "Wedding party graveyards"...

 

Dedicated to Inshushinak

3200 years old Elamite silver pouring vessel with handle and double spout in the form of two bulls. Found in Kalmakareh Cave in Lorestan province, Iran, currently in a private gallery in Kuwait...

Elamite inscription engraved on the vessel states that the vessel is an offering by the King Shutruk Nakhunte to Inshushinak, the Lord is the protector of his city Susa...

The god Inshushinak is believed to be the Elamite equivalent of the Sumeran/Akkadian god Ea/Enki, the god of fresh water...Enki who is (in) Abzu, the source of water in Tigris and Euphrates...This dude... 

I talked about this in my posts "Problems with Abzu", "Shamash young and old", "When Utu steps up into heaven"

Ea/Enki who was also the god of the annual flood. Flood whose symbol was "Ea's/Enki's boat". 

I talked about this in my posts "Clay boat from Shuruppak", "A person in a little boat", "Feast plaque from Louvre", "Rain and flood", "Enki's little boat"...

The annual flood which was also known as "The Carp flood". Why? Cause during the flood, giant Mesopotamian carp migrate upstream for spawning. 

This is why Ea/Enki was often depicted with streams full of fish swimming towards him, toward Abzu. I talked about this in my post "Goatfish"...

Which is why we find carp (men), Apkallu, as Ea's/Enki's henchmen...

I talked about this in my posts "Apkallu", "Basalt water basin from Assur", "Kassite seal with Apkallu"...

Ok...What the hell any of this has to do with our Elamite silver pouring vessel with spouts in the form of two bulls? Guess when Tigris and Euphrates flood? In Apr/May, Taurus...

Now as you could have seen on the above map, Susa lies east of Tigris, between two rivers, 

Karkheh (Flow chart article)

Daz (Flow chart article)

whose flows also peak in Apr/May, Taurus

In "Enki and the world order" we read:  "...Father (Ea)/Enki...he stood up full of lust like a rampant bull, lifted his penis, ejaculated and filled the Tigris [and Euphrates] with flowing water. He was like a wild cow mooing for its young in the wild grass..." Some scene 🙂

Why "like a wild cow mooing for its young"?  Cause Apr/May, Taurus, the peak of the Bull Enki's ejaculation (annual flood), is an animal calendar marker, not a constellation...

Apr/May, Taurus, Bull (it really should be Calf), the beginning of the calving season of the wild eurasian cattle. 

Talked about it in many of my posts...

And to tie all together: Why Ea/Enki, the god of fresh water and the annual "carp flood" standing on a bull? Cause Tigris and Euphrates and their tributaries, like Karkheh and Daz flood in Apr/May, in Taurus, when big carp swim upstream for spawning...

I talked about this in my post "Adda seal"...

So, I think that this could explain why a ceremonial Elamite "silver [water] pouring vessel" dedicated to the Elamite god Inshushinak who was the equivalent of Ea/Enki, god of water and annual flood, would have "double spout in the form of two bulls"...What do you think?

Here is another, older (3000BC), ceremonial Elamite water pouring vessel with the same symbolism...And the same meaning...I talked about it in my post "Elamite water bull"...

BTW, Do you see that vessel that the bull man is holding? 

Spouted silver bowl decorated with entwined serpents. Southeastern Iran Mid 3rd millennium BC. From Al-Sabah collection. 

I talk about it in my post "Snake water bowl" in which I try to answer the question: Why were water gods in Mesopotamia (Enki) and Elam (Napiriša, Inshushinak) linked to snakes?

To read more about ancient animal and plant calendar markers, start here…Then check my twitter threads I still didn't convert to blog post...I am way way behind...

Animals march three by three

Sumerian limestone bowl fragment with three ibex goats following a lion...3300-3100 BCE, Currently in the Detroit Institute of Arts...

What's all this about?

Well, I think, climate in Mesopotamia and annual lifecycle of the depicted animals...

I am so sorry only a fragment of this bowl has survived. But I could bet that the original bowl had 

3 ibex goats, following 3 lions, following 3 bulls, following 3 leopards...

Why?

Check this post out. It is about a copper bowl from the same period and the same area...And about the climatic year in Sumer and Elam, and local Sumerian/Elamite animal calendar markers for the four seasons...

A Sumerian or Elamite Copper Bowl. Early 3rd Millennium B.C.E., H. 9.2 cm., D. 16.2 cm.

To read more about ancient animal and plant calendar markers, start here…Then check my twitter threads I still didn't convert to blog post...I am way way behind...

Clay boat from Shuruppak

Clay boat model dated to 2200-2000 BC from Shuruppak, modern Tell Fara, an ancient Sumerian city situated about 55 kilometres south of Nippur on the banks of the Euphrates. Currently in the Penn Museum...

Here's the real thing, a boat made from reed bundles...

I talked about these boats in my post "Canals" where I talked about how knowing the best time to cut reed for boat building can helps us understand why the sun god Shamash is depicted with reed cutting knife.

This is the same type of boat in which the god of water and annual flood is depicted sailing down Tigris and Euphrates...2300–2150 BC. 

Talked about it in my post "Enki's little boat" where I discussed interesting animal calendar markers from the poem describing Enki's boat trip...

Here is the same Enki's flood boat, from a Sumerian Early Dynoastic seal, also depicting the goat (mating of wild goats, Oct/Nov, beginning of the wet season) and bull (calving of wild cattle, Apr/May, end of the wet season, beginning of the annual flood). 

I talked about it in my post "Rain and flood"...

This is also the same boat shown here as being Enki...I talked about this amazing seal in this post "Fertility goddess with poppies". Lots of animal and plant calendar markers everywhere...Including grain (important 🙂)...

And the same flood boat depicted on this perforated votive limestone plaque dated to ca. 2700-2650BC currently in Louvre...I talked about this in my post "Feast plaque from Louvre"...

So boat from Shuruppak is the symbol of???

Look at this: "Shuruppak became a grain storage and distribution city and had more silos than any other Sumerian city"...

Boat in the Grain storage...Check this post, "A person in a little boat", about the same "Little boat" depicted on this Proto-Elamite tablet from Iran, dated to 3400-3100 BC...

Is that grain sticking out of the butt of the "person in the little boat"? Apr/May, the beginning of the flood, is also the beginning of the grain harvest, and Jul/Aug, the end of the flood, is also the end of the grain harvest...Interesting...

To read more about ancient animal and plant calendar markers, start here…Then check my twitter threads I still didn't convert to blog post...I am way way behind...

Kassite bird demon

A Kassite period (1595-1155 BC) seal depicting a "bird-demon" 🙂, holding two ibexes, by their hind legs. 

Found in Iraq, UChicago, A29439. The description reads: "Marduk, great lord, on the servant who reverences you show mercy."

What is really depicted here?

First, who is the birdman? Did you know that originally rain god was in Mesopotamia imagined as a giant storm bird, giant black eagle? Why?

Eagle dance...

Montenegro 1963AD

Syria, 1800BC

Eagle (vulture) couples dance above the mountains at the beginning of their mating season, which coincides with the beginning of the rain season in Fertile Crescent...I talked about this in my post "Eagle dance"...

The storm bird eventually became anthropomorphised, and became first a birdman and then a storm god with a pet eagle...

Who is the mysterious "birdman" depicted with his hands tied behind his back, being judged by Enki, Sumerian god of water and the annual flood? This article, "The judgement of the birdman" tries to answer this question...

Birdman=Old thunder god, starts flying over Mesopotamia in Oct/Nov. The rain that the Birdman brings supports the tree of life. This is also when Ibex goats start to mate. 

Which is why ibex became "The goat of rain"...

I talked about symbolism of ibex goats in many of my posts, like 

Europe:

"Pitys", "Goat in European culture", "Patera of Rennes"... 

Levant:

"The tree of life/light", "Lachish animal calendar"...

Mesopotamia:

"Feast plaque from Louvre", "Green pastures", "Problems with Abzu", "Relief from Dur Sharrukin", "Goatfish"...

Iran: 

"Flamingos from Susa", "Goat carrier", "Iranian goat of rain", "Strider", "A vessel from Tepe Hissar"...

This is also when gazelles start to mate. 

Hence gazelles flanking the tree of life on this Akkadian cylinder seal which also depicts a birdman. I talk about this seal in my article, "Mysterious creature"...

Speaking of gazelles, you'll like this 🙂:

This is a wall painting from a provincial palace on the Assyrian borderlands, c. 9th - 7th century BC, depicting a "demigod holding animals that urinate on him to purify him". OMG...Winter animal calendar markers (gazelle) and winter moon...Rain season...I talk about this in my post "Pissing gazelles"...

Gazelles, are identical calendar markers as ibex goats depicted on the Kassite seal. They both have the same mating season, starting in Oct/Nov, when rain (bird) arrives...

Anyway, the same "birdman holding ibex goats" scene is also found in Bactria.  Here is winged vulture guy holding two winged ibex goats...From Bactrian seal, end of 3rd beginning of 2nd millennium BC...I talked about it in my post "Fluffy"...

Finally, this Kassite seal, (18th-12th centuries BC) from Syria, currently in the National Museum of Damascus, spells the link between vultures, ibex goats and Enki, the God of the source of fresh water...The full analysis can be found in my post "Kassite seal with Apkallu"

See the same tree of life? Anyway, time to go. 

For the end: My post "Pero", in which I proposed that the root of the name of the Slavic thunder god Perun is "pero" = feather, which would make Perun = Feathered one, and not from PIE perkwus, meaning "oak" or "mountain"...

To read more about ancient animal and plant calendar markers, start here…Then check my twitter threads I still didn't convert to blog post...I am way way behind...