Temple of Isis on Philae Island

This painting by the 19th century French painter Théodore Frère depicts the Philae Island, located near the First Cataract of the Nile in Upper Egypt, with the central structure being the oldest temple, temple of Isis, built by Psamtik II (595 BC – 589 BC)...

The temple was the last temple built in the classical Egyptian style. It was also the place where the last known Egyptian hieroglyphic inscription (394 AD), and the last known Demotic inscription (452 AD) were found...

Finally, it was the last functioning pagan temple in Egypt (the temple was closed down in AD 537).

The temple of Isis was Christianised by carving lots of Coptic crosses into its walls and columns...

My favourite being this one. Why? Cause Christians also carved a star just above the cross...And this is actually an astonishing find. Why? Here's why:

Christ as the sun-god Helios/Sol, 3rd c. AD, Vatican. Christ is born on Winter Solstice, (re)birth day of the sun (god), he enters Jerusalem on a donkey, "animal of the (sun) gods and kings", and gets put on a cross, symbol of the sun (god). Interesting...I talked about this in my post "Alexamenos graffito"...

I often wondered if early (Hebrew) Christians did know that cross represented sun god Shamash? 

I talked about this in my posts "The cross of Shamash" and "Sun god tablet"...

You know Shamash, the solar deity of the early Hebrews, to whom they dedicated their first temple (according to their own scriptures)...

Zodiac, with Helios in its center. 6th c. synagogue at Beit Alpha, Israel. Why? Well:

"Josiah removed from the entrance of the LORD's Temple the horse statues...and burned the chariots...which...kings of Judah dedicated to the sun..." 

I talked about this in my post "Sun god from the first temple"...

The First (solar) Temple was built on a threshing floor. Threshing floors were used in the past as solar observatories. Now if you wanted to make a (solar) temple on a solar observatory, and "orient" it (make it to face east), if you wanted to make a "House of God" to face the "House of (Sun) God", how would you do it? Like this:

The two little sticks could then be deified and called Boaz and Jachin...I talked about this in my post "Boaz and Jachin"...

Solar temple dedicated to a Sun god in a chariot pulled by 4 horses...I originally thought that this god was some kind of local Helios...But since then I learned that Shamash also traveled in a chariot pulled by four equids...

I talked about this in my posts "Sun god from Tell Brak" and "Shamash playing with solar horse"... 

So the Sun God that Josiah says the Jews worshiped in the First Temple was most likely Shamash...They still do worship him BTW...

Remember this post, "The tree of life, light", about the origin of the Hanukah (Winter Solstice) celebration? And the link between Yahweh and Shamash, the old Semitic (Akkadian) sun god...

Now in this post, "Menorah from Nipur", about this 3rd mill. BC seal from Nipur, I postulated, based on the fact that Shamash is depicted sitting between two bulls, that the Shamash worshipped through Menorah was Sun in Taurus, Apr/May. The good sun, the sun of life...

But I completely missed the fact that the two bulls have erections, which means they symbolised Jul/Aug, the start of the beginning of the mating season of wild cattle...I talked about this important "detail" in my post "Tree huggers", about this strange moulded plaque, Babylonian, ca. 2000–1600 BC. 

And I also, for some weird reason, ignored the fact that Shamash is holding the reed cutting knife. I talked about the importance of the reed cutting knife in my post "Canals", where I explain why Shamash holds reed cutting knife when he is depicted standing in an empty canal/river bed. About Jul/Aug being the best time to cut reed in Mesopotamia if you want to make long lasting reed boats, houses and canal dams...BTW, see how he is standing between two lions, in Leo...

Both pointing to the fact that the Shamash of the Menorah is Shamash in Jul/Aug...See how Shamash has (mostly) 3 heat waves coming from each shoulder? Togehter whith his head, that is 7...7 months of the Sumerian summer...With the head in Jul/Aug, the hottest part of the year...

Sun in Jul/Aug. Nergal...The deified destructive "burning" sun, which was depicted as a lion man

because Jul/Aug, Leo, is the hottest and driest part of the year in Mesopotamia...

Talked abut Nergal in my post "Winged superhuman hero"...

Nergal the god of death...Is Jahveh?

As I said, I often wondered if the early Christians did know that cross represented sun god, and I had a feeling that they did. And this particular cross with the star above it proves that at least some of them did know...

Cause carving this cross with the star above it into the column of the temple of Isis only makes sense if they knew that the cross represented Sun. And that the star represented Sirius. And that together, sun and star represented Isis, Sirius rising with the sun in Leo (Jul/Aug).

So what did the person who carved this cross and star really want to tell the world? A lot...

EGYPT. Drachm. Antoninus Pius. AD 138-161. Zodiac series. Lion springing right; above, star and radiate and draped bust of Helios right...

The star is of course Sirius, which rises before the sun in Jul/Aug, Leo. 

This is the same as:

Sirius in Leo, also known as Ishtar...For those who will say "Ishtar was the morning star", yes she was, in Leo (Jul/Aug), when Sirius rose in the morning with the sun...Which is why Ishtar stands on a lion (with sun above the lion) and why Ishtar is known as "The Lioness of heaven"...

I talked about deified Sirius in many of my posts...

You can start here: You know how everyone thinks that Inanna/Ishtar (Morning Star) is Venus and how I think that it was originally Sirius, and only later became Venus?

Well, it seems that Ancient Egyptians preserved the proof of this switch in their myths about Sopdet...

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

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...

Alchemical and rosicrucian compendium

Alchemical and rosicrucian compendium, c. 1760...

Very very interesting scene...Which proves that (at least some) people in 1760 knew the real meaning of griffin: complex animal calendar marker for autumn...

Let me explain why I think so:

On the left we see an adult sun (god) riding on a lion. I would suggest that this is Sun in Leo, Jul/Aug...Apollo...

If you want to know why I think so, check my article "Lions of Delos" first. It talks about the Lions of Delos, the burning destructive sun in Jul/Aug, Leo, and the fact that both Nergal and Apollo are linked to lions...

And then the rest of these articles about Apollo and his links to Nergal:

"Palil". About "Palil" a nickname of Nergal, the terrible, burning, destructive sun of Jul/Aug, Leo...And about the origin of the name Apollo and its meaning...

"Lord of the flies". About Nergal and Apollo as "The lords of the flies"...And about Jul/Aug, Leo, being the peak of the fly and fly born diseases season in Northern Hemisphere...

"Lions of Delos". About the Lions of Delos, the burning destructive sun in Jul/Aug, Leo, and the fact that both Nergal and Apollo are linked to lions. 

"Apollo and dolphins". About Jul/Aug, Leo being the "best time to sail in Eastern Mediterranean", and the link between dolphins and Lions...and Apollo...

"Marble throne of Apollo". About snakes (symbols of sun's heat), dragons (symbols of burning sun's heat) and terrible sun gods, Nergal and Apollo who are dragons themselves...

"Apollo and Python". About why Python followed Apollo after his birth? Cause snakes are solar animals...According to the Delphian tradition, Apollo was born on the 7th day of the month of Bysios (Jan/Feb)

"White raven". About the black and white raven legend which is found in both Nergal and Apollo mythology, Egyptian vultures and the twins that guard the gates of hell. And some other weird stuff...

"Threshing floor of Apollo". About the threshing floors as solar observatories/temples, about the threshing floor of Apollo from Delphi, about Jul/Aug, Leo, being the holy month of Apollo, and about solar bonfires...

"Apollo the great archer". About why Apollo was the terrible "far shooting" archer...About arrow and bow constellation from Mesopotamia, Ishtar, Sirius, and Jul/Aug, the season of Perseid meteor shower...

"Apollo Sminthius". About Apollo and peak infectious diseases season, Jul/Aug

Lion marks the period Jul/Aug because this is when the main mating season of Eurasian lions starts...Talked about lion as an animal calendar marker in many of my posts...

Lion/Leo marks the hottest time of the year on the northern hemisphere. After that the weather starts getting cooler. I talked about this in my post "Lion eating sun", in which I analysed this detail from the Alchemical and Rosicrucian compendium - c.1760...

Now back to our original image. 

On the right we see a baby with two faces, one looking forward and one looking backward, holding a shield with  the sun head identical to the one the lion rider has. He is riding on a griffin, whose front half is an eagle and the back half is a lion...

I would suggest that this is Janus, sun on Winter Solstice/New Year, at the time of death of the old Sun (Solar year) and the time of birth of the new Sun (Solar Year)...

I talked about Janus in my post "Janus"...

And I talked about his Sumerian predecessor Isimud in my post "Adda seal"...

The two faced one arrives in Europe after the end of autumn, Jul/Aug - Oct/Nov. This is what griffin represents, Autumn, the time between the mating of Eurasian lions (starts in Jul/Aug)

and mating of Eurasian Vultures (starts in Oct/Nov).

The oldest griffin that I know of is depicted on this 3000 BC Proto-Elamite seal.  

I talk about griffin as an animal calendar marker in many of my posts...

The riders point their lances at each other, Apollo points at the Janus's sun shield, and Janus points at Apollo's head, basically indicating that they are one and the same, just at two different points in time...

I am not sure what why Apollo carries moon shield...Maybe it is to depict the cooling which starts in Jul/Aug and which "brings" rains at the end of autumn? I talked about the link between moon and rain in my post "Moon god Nana Sin":

Why was moon (god) so important to Mesopotamians? This article tries to answer this question. Spoiler: Cause the moon that was worshiped was not just any moon. The moon that was worshipped was the crescent moon that points upwards, aka "wet moon"...

 Or maybe just to symbolise summer moons...

Anyway, I just thought this was interesting. What do you think? 

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...

Lion eating sun

A lion eating the sun. Detail from the Alchemical and Rosicrucian compendium - c.1760. Credit:  Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library.

The end of Jul - beginning of Aug, Leo, is the hottest time of the year in the northern hemisphere. From that moment on, the earth begins to cool...This is also the time of the year when the characteristics of the sunlight actually change...I talked about this in my post "Transfiguration"...

But there are other possible meanings of this image. In Mesopotamia Jul/Aug, Leo, is hottest and driest part of the year...

Which is why lion was the symbol of Nergal, the deified destructive "burning" sun in Leo, that brings drought, disease and death. He was actually depicted as a lion man and held a lion sceptre...

Talked abut him in my post "Winged superhuman hero"...

BTW, Jul/Aug is marked by a lion because the main mating season of eurasian lions starts in Jul/Aug...

In the "THE ASIATIC LION: A study of ecology and behaviour" by Paul Joslin we can read that based on the observation of the large number of wild lions, the mating season of the Asiatic lions starts in August and lasts until October. 

Jul/Aug is the middle of the hot dry half of the year (Apr/May - Oct/Nov), the old Sumerian summer. Which is why Sumerian dragons have lion body and seven snake heads. Snake being the symbol of sun's heat. I talked about this first in my post "Seven headed dragon" The oldest depiction of a Hero(es) killing a 7 headed dragon dragon...Mesopotamia, 2200BC...With 7 snake heads...One for each hot month of Mesopotamian summer...They are killing the 4th head. Apr/May, May/Jun, Jun/Jul, Jul/Aug...  

Leo...The time when Sirius rises with the sun..Do you see "The Lady" (of heaven), Inanna/Ishtar, standing under a star (Sirius) 🙂...

Here is Inanna/Ishtar, deified Sirius, which rises with the sun (morning star) in Leo, Jul/Aug, the hottest time of the year. Which is why she is depicted standing on a lion with the sun above lion's head and is known as "The Lioness of heaven"...

I talked about Inanna/Ishtar as Sirius in many of my posts...

Same girl, same beast (summer)...

Woman of the Apocalypse...I gave Full symbolic analysis of the Chapter 12 of the Book of Revelation in my post "Apocalypse"...

Here is another depiction of the lions eating the sun. See seven stars? Seventh month, Jul/Aug, Leo? Or seven months of old Sumerian summer, Apr/May - Oct/Nov? 

This is same "Beast" was also depicted like this...

I talked about this in my post "Angra Mainyu"...

The beginning of the Eurasian lion main mating season marks the beginning of autumn and the mating season spans the whole of autumn (Aug,Sep,Oct)...

Which is why lion is also the symbol for autumn. I talked about this in my post "Symbols of the seasons"... 

So on our original image, if the head of the lion represents Jul/Aug, the beginning of autumn, then the lion tail represents the Oct/Nov, the end of autumn...

Do you see all the birds flying away above the lion's tail? Autumn bird migration season starts in Jul/Aug and ends in Oct/Nov, the season marked by Leo...

But also, do you see that there are actually 7 birds. Could these be 7 doves of Pleiades, which become visible int the night sky in Oct/Nov, at the end of the summer. I talked about Doves and Pleiades in many of my posts...

Some people would ask what cold be the connection between Mesopotamian lion/sun symbolism and Medieval European lion/sun symbolism. 

The answer is Apollo, the terrible sun god, who was directly linked to lions and Nergal...

You should check my articles about Apollo if you want to fully understand what I am talking about here:

"Palil". About "Palil" a nickname of Nergal, the terrible, burning, destructive sun of Jul/Aug, Leo...And about the origin of the name Apollo and its meaning...

"Lord of the flies". About Nergal and Apollo as "The lords of the flies"...And about Jul/Aug, Leo, being the peak of the fly and fly born diseases season in Northern Hemisphere...

"Lions of Delos". About the Lions of Delos, the burning destructive sun in Jul/Aug, Leo, and the fact that both Nergal and Apollo are linked to lions. 

"Apollo and dolphins". About Jul/Aug, Leo being the "best time to sail in Eastern Mediterranean", and the link between dolphins and Lions...and Apollo...

"Marble throne of Apollo". About snakes (symbols of sun's heat), dragons (symbols of burning sun's heat) and terrible sun gods, Nergal and Apollo who are dragons themselves...

"Apollo and Python". About why Python followed Apollo after his birth? Cause snakes are solar animals...According to the Delphian tradition, Apollo was born on the 7th day of the month of Bysios (Jan/Feb)

"White raven". About the black and white raven legend which is found in both Nergal and Apollo mythology, Egyptian vultures and the twins that guard the gates of hell. And some other weird stuff...

"Threshing floor of Apollo". About the threshing floors as solar observatories/temples, about the threshing floor of Apollo from Delphi, about Jul/Aug, Leo, being the holy month of Apollo, and about solar bonfires...

"Apollo the great archer". About why Apollo was the terrible "far shooting" archer...About arrow and bow constellation from Mesopotamia, Ishtar, Sirius, and Jul/Aug, the season of Perseid meteor shower...

"Apollo Sminthius". About Apollo and peak infectious diseases season, Jul/Aug

Not convinced? Check this out:

 IONIA. Miletos. Circa 340-325 BC. Drachm. 

Front: Laureate head of Apollo. 

Back: Lion with eight-pointed star above

This coin, I think, confirms my hypothesis that Apollo was Sun in Leo...Basically, Greek version of Mesopotamian Nergal...

That's that. 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...

Great Hili Tomb

Recently I came across this post on X: Did you know these ancient carvings of oryx antelopes in Hili Archaeological Park date back to the Bronze Age? What do you think they symbolised?

Hmmmm...I have a funny feeling that animal calendar markers can help us...Lets see what local climate and behaviour of Arabian oryx can tell us...

The above carving adorns one of the entrances of the Great Hili Tomb, a monumental Bronze Age communal burial site dating to approximately 2500–2000 BC...

This archaeological park is located in Al Ain, Emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. So we are talking about North-Eastern Arabia...

The climatic chart for Abu Dhabi looks like this...

The climatic chart for Oman looks like this...

We can see that the year is divided into cool, wet season (Oct/Nov - Apr/May) and hot, dry season (Apr/May - Oct/Nov)

Ok, soooo....

This is Arabian orix. 

In Arabian peninsula, "most births occur in Oct-May". Right during the cool/wet season...

So I would say that the local population probably linked oryx with rain, fertility, life in some way...

BTW, it looks like one of the figures is holding something in its left hand. Grain? Why do I say this? Cause in Oman grain is sown in Oct/Nov and is harvested in Mar/Apr/May, peaking in Apr/May...

Now check this out: "As additional behavioural adaptation to the desert climate Arabian oryx exhibit a switch from diurnal to nocturnal activity in response to high ambient temperatures and water shortage"...You can read more about it here...

What that means is that oryx is in our (human) world (daytime, people are diurnal) during the cool, wet season, and  are in the otherworld (nighttime) during the hot, dry season...

The hot dry season ruled by Mot, the god of death and the underworld...

In the deserts of Levant, Middle East and Arabia, it was The Sun who was "The God of Death". It is in climate and nature it produces, that we find the root of all our religions... 

You can read more about it in my post "Oldest Arabic poem" about over 2000 years old poem about the god of death Mot...  

Sooo...What do you think? 

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...