Fallow deer

Just came across this interesting paper which states that Fallow deer (both European and Persian) was part of the "Neolithic Package" together with cattle, sheep, goats, and pigs...

This means that Neolithic farmers brought these deer with them when they migrated, like to Mediterranean islands Chios and Rhodes. Interestingly, the deer taken to Neolithic Chios and Rhodes derived not from nearby Anatolia, but from the Balkans...

The paper then goes to say that it was specifically fallow deer, and not just any deer, that was originally associated with the cult of Artemis...

This is explicitly depicted on many artefacts, like this Boeotian red-figure calyx, dated to 450–425 BC, depicting Artemis riding in a chariot pulled by fallow deer does, currently in Louvre...

From the paper: "There is debate about the geographical genesis of the Artemis myth but the possibility she originated in the Balkans is given credence by the density of both fallow deer remains and Artemis-related paraphernalia depicting fallow deer"...

Further on, the paper, citing "Approaches to Artemis in Bronze Age Greece" goes to say that:

"In Late Minoan Crete (c.1550–1100 BCE), Linear B texts mention not only fallow deer but also provide the earliest reference to Artemis (10, 53)"

Hinting that the link between fallow deer and Artemis already existed in Bronze Age Crete...

Possibly this link also existed in Bronze Age Anatolia. 

This Beautiful Hittite, fallow deer shaped vessel, dated to ca. 14th–13th century BC, is currently in the Met Museum.

Along the rim of the vessel is an engraved relief depicting some kind of (religious) scene. 

There is an ongoing discussion about whether the sitting deity depicted on the stag rhyton is a god or a goddess, unfortunately the hieroglyphs above the deity's head does not help the discussion.

The current consensus leans favourably for it being a female. And I agree it is. Here is why:

Is this a dead fallow deer behind the seated deity separated from the seated deity by two spears? A dead fallow deer lying under a stylised date palm tree with a quiver hanging on the wall above it? 

This is why this could be interesting. 

First we need to determine which fallow deer it is, European or Persian. Persian fallow deer (Dama mesopotamica) is today only found in Iran and Israel, but it inhabited parts of Anatolia, particularly the southern regions bordering Syria and the Levant, during the Bronze Age. They were widespread in Southwest Asia at that time and co-existed in Anatolia with the European fallow deer (Dama dama), though their distribution was limited by human activity...

Now the mating season of Persian fallow deer is Jul/Aug - Sep/Oct and the mating season of European fallow deer is Sep/Oct...

This would make fallow deer animal calendar marker for autumn, Jul/Aug - Oct/Nov, in Anatolia. I already talked about this in my post "Deer and bee", in which I analysed this Silver tetradrachm of Ephesos, dated to 390–380 BC.   

This coin also depicts a fallow deer lying under a date palm tree...Date palm tree is a plant calendar marker for Jul/Aug first appearing in Mesopotamia. Date harvest season starts in Jul/Aug, in Leo, when Lion (autumn) kills (ends) Bull (summer) and lasts until Oct/Nov. I gave full symbolic analysis of this seal in my post "Lion killing bull under palm tree"...

I talked about date palm as a plant calendar marker in many of my posts...

So fallow deer lying (dead) under a date palm tree is an animal calendar marker for Jul/Aug, Leo...

BTW, Leo (Jul/Aug), originally had nothing to do with stars either. It is the ancient animal calendar marker marking the beginning of the main mating season of the Eurasian lions. 

Talked about lion as an animal calendar marker in many of my posts...

Now fallow deer was directly linked to Artemis from the Minoan times. And Artemis is also linked with bow and arrow and lions...

I talked about this in many of my posts. 

Like my post "Winged Artemis", about this shard of a late 7th c. BC amphora, found on the island of Paros, showing a winged Artemis holding a lion by its tail and ear, surrounding by what looks like sun symbols, swastikas and crosses...Artemis in Leo, Jul/Aug...

Or my post "Artemis Orthia", about this drawing of an archaic carving of a chariot on ivory plaque from the Sanctuary of Artemis Orthia in Sparta. The chariot is pulled by winged (solar) horses and is driven by a female (goddess?) charioteer. A lion is depicted lying behind the horses...Again, Artemis in Leo, Jul/Aug...

Artemis, the twin sister of Apollo, the destructive sun (dragon) of Jul/Aug, Leo, whose holy month was Jul/Aug and who was also linked to lions...Apollo...The dragon...This dude:

Marble Throne of Apollo, Roman, late 1st c. AD. Currently in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Whoever made this, knew who Apollo really was and wanted to show Apollo in his true shape (serpent, dragon), sitting on his throne. 

I talked about Apollo, the god of the sun in Leo, Jul/Aug, the Greek equivalent of Mesopotamian Nergal, in this series of posts: "Palil", "Lord of the flies", "Lions of Delos", "Apollo and dolphins", "Marble throne of Apollo", "Apollo and Python", "White raven", "Threshing floor of Apollo", "Apollo the great archer", "Apollo Sminthius"

Artemis, the twin sister of Apollo, who was also the terrifying archer of whom it is said: 

"I will remember and not be unmindful of Apollo who shoots afar. As he goes through the house of Zeus, the gods tremble before him and all spring up from their seats when he draws near, as he bends his bright bow..."

Artemis, the feared archer herself, and the girl whom Hera accuses of being "a lioness between women"...Strange...But familiar? At least it should be...Ever heard of the Lioness of heaven? Ishtar? This girl...

I talked about her in my posts "Gisgis relief", "Sirius the mother of Venus", "Apocalypse", "The brightest star", "Inana and Šukaletuda"...

Artemis, who liked showing off by holding two lions, like on this Ancient Greek jug from Louvre, dated to 560-550 BC...

BTW, between two lions means "In Leo"...Oh and do you see how she is flanked by two spear men (two spears)?

The reason why Artemis is standing in Leo, Jul/Aug, is because Artemis is just another name for the ancient Archer Warrior Goddess, Ishtar...Deified Sirius in Leo, Jul/Aug...

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"...

For those who will still say Ishtar is Venus and not Sirius. This post, "Sirius the mother of Venus", and linked articles might be of interest: 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 mythology. 

Meet Sopdet...

Sopdet, the personification of Sirius, was the consort of Sah, the personification of Orion. And their child was Sopdu, the personification of Venus, "Lord of the East" (Venus as morning star)....

Ta Ta Taaaaaaa!!!!

And the reason why deified Sirius goddesses are archers is this: In Mesopotamia, Sirius was seen as an arrow and the surrounding stars were seen as a bow...And they were stars of Jun/Jul/Aug...

I already talked about this in my post "The brightest star" about the link between Sirius and Inanna...

So Jul/Aug, the time of the year ruled by Nergal/Apollo, and his twin sister Ishtar/Artemis is the time when Sirius (bow and arrow) rises with the sun...

But why did Mesopotamians see Sirius as arrow? Remember my post "Invisible archer"? If arrows are shooting down from the night sky, there must be an [invisible] archer shooting them from up there...  

This article was about Orion and Orionids meteorite shower. Orionids shoot down on earth during Sep/Oct/Nov. But there is another meteroite shower that rains light arows down on earth in Jul/Aug. Perseid Meteor shower...

And guess when this meteor shower is most intense? When the most light arrows are being shot down on earth? Right before dawn. You can even see them at dawn, together with Sirius and the sun...Destructive sun of Leo, Nergal, Apollo...

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

Now knowing all this might help us determine who is actually sitting goddess depicted on our Hittite rhyton...I think it is most likely some Hittite version of Ishtar/Astarte/Asherah/Artemis...

One other thing. I presume the bird sitting on the hand of the seated deity is a Peregrine falcon. 

Peregrine falcons migrate over Turkey, following mapped bird migration route used by all the birds migrating over Turkey, northwards in Apr/May/June and southwards in Sep/Oct/Nov.

Interesting, right? The deity standing on the stag is also holding a peregrine falcon...

This means that all the animal calendar markers depicted on this image point at Aug/Sep/Oct...So who is sitting pretty in Sep sipping (what?)...

The grape harvest season in Anatolia, Turkey, generally falls in Aug/Sep/Oct...

BTW, do you see the mushroom shaped thingy in front of the seated deity? The main mushroom season in Anatolia and across Turkey is autumn, specifically Sep/Oct/Nov...How interesting...

Now this is climate chart for Çorum province, the old Hittite heartland. The autumn rains arrive in Sep/Oct/Nov...

Interesting, right? Considering that there is a guy pouring water libation in front of the god standing on a stag and holding a peregrine falcon...

To read more about ancient animal and plant calendar markers, which are at the root of all our mythologies, start here…Then check my twitter threads I still didn't convert to blog post...I am way way behind...

Chalcedony stamp

Neo Babylonian, 625-539BC, blue chalcedony pyramidal stamp seal with a goat-fish. Before it a rhomb and above its back a crescent. Currently in The Museum of Fine Arts Boston...

And no one knows what all these symbols together mean...So let me try to decipher this quickly:

Rhomb is a symbol for a date fruit. Date harvest season starts in Jul/Aug, in Leo, when Lion (autumn) kills (ends) Bull (summer) and lasts until Oct/Nov. I first encountered this symbol when I talked about date harvest in my post "Lion killing bull under date palm", but at that time I didn't know what rhomb means...

Rhomb also symbolises the womb of the Mother of Grain (Inanna/Ishtar) which produces food when "the seed of the Sky Father" (rain) fertilises her. I talked about this in my post "Rhomb"...

Sumerians actually explicitly state that Inanna is the "Mother of grain". In "The Courtship of Inanna and Dumuzi" we read:

As for me, Inanna

Who will plow my vulva?

Who will plow my high field?

Before my lord, Dumuzi ...

I poured out grain before him

I poured out grain before my womb...

I talk about "Mother of Grain" from various cultures in many of my posts...

Inanna/Ishtar was also 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 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"...

Now Sirius is visible in the night sky from Oct/Nov to Apr/May...

Oct/Nov, when rains arrive to Mesopotamia. 

Apr/May, when flood arrives to Mesopotamia.

Goatfish, the sacred animal of Enki, is a complex animal calendar marker for the wet season in Mesopotamia...Between the mating season of wild goats and the mating season of giant Mesopotamian carps...I talked about this in my post "Goatfish"...

In Mesopotamia, during the harvest which started in Apr/May, a man and a woman performed ritual sexual act on a threshing floor, imitating Inanna (earth, womb) and Enki (sweet water, seed) consummating their holy marriage to produce grain. I talked about it in my post "Sacred marriage on the threshing floor"...

So that was rhomb, goatfish...What about the crescent? In Mesopotamia, the crescent moon points upwards during the wet half of the year...Which is why it became the symbol of the moon god Nana/Sin. The most important Mesopotamian god linked with rain, water, green pastures and (cattle) fertility...I talked about this in my post "Moon god Nana/Sin"...

The same wet half of the year also marked by the rhomb and by the goatfish...

I love that they used blue (water) stone to depict all this...

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...

Winged Artemis

Shard of a late 7th c. BC amphora, found on the island of Paros, showing a winged Artemis holding a lion by its tail and ear, surrounding by what looks like sun symbols, swastikas and crosses...

What does this all mean?

Well, if we want to figure this out we have to start in Mesopotamia, with Nergal. 

Nergal, the deified destructive "burning" sun, was depicted as a lion man, because Jul/Aug, Leo, is the hottest and driest part of the year in Mesopotamia...

Talked abut him for the first time in my post "Winged superhuman hero"...

BTW, Leo (Jul/Aug), originally had nothing to do with stars either. It is the ancient animal calendar marker marking the beginning of the main mating season of the Eurasian lions. 

Talked about lion as an animal calendar marker in many of my posts...

This is why "Behind a lion", "On a lion", "Between lions" means in Jul/Aug, in Leo. I talked about this in many of my posts, like this one for instance, about this interesting shard from a Hittite vessel with a depiction of a god (?) standing on a lion with a plant above lion's head. Currently Museum of Anatolian Civilisations, Ankara, Turkey. 

Anyway, in Greece, the "terrible" sun god, Nergal, became The "terrible" sun god Apollo...

I explained this in detail in this series of post about the link between Nergal and Apollo:

1. "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...

2. "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...

3. "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. 

4. "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...

5. "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...

6. "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)

7. "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...

8. "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...

9. "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...

10. "Apollo Sminthius". About Apollo his arrows that cause plague and peak infectious diseases season, Jul/Aug

This transformation of Nergal into Apollo went through an an intermediary, Syrian god Resheph...I talked about this in my article "Apollo - Resheph"...

Now Artemis, the Twin Sister of Apollos, is holding the ear and tail of the lion deliberately, to indicate that she is standing in Jul/Aug, in Leo...Lion here is symbolic depiction of the sun in Leo...Apollo...Nergal...

So if Apollo is Nergal, Sun god Shamash in Leo, Jul/Aug, who is Artemis, Apollo's twin sister? Well, who is the twin sister of the sun god Shamash?

She is this girl

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"...

For those who will still say Ishtar is Venus and not Sirius. This post, "Sirius the mother of Venus", and linked articles might be of interest: 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 mythology. 

Meet Sopdet...

Sopdet, the personification of Sirius, was the consort of Sah, the personification of Orion. And their child was Sopdu, the personification of Venus, "Lord of the East" (Venus as morning star)....

Ta Ta Taaaaaaa!!!!

Identification of Artemis as Greek version of Ishtar is not that difficult really when you think about it...I talked about the identity of Artemis in Detail in my post "Artemis Orthia", about this drawing of an archaic carving of a chariot on ivory plaque from the Sanctuary of Artemis Orthia in Sparta. The chariot is pulled by winged (solar) horses and is driven by a female (goddess?) charioteer. A lion is depicted lying behind the horses...Again, in Leo...

Finally, about suns, crosses and swastikas. Check this post, "Boeotian solar pyxis", about this late 7th c. BC Boeotian clay pyxis depicting the "(Mysterious) Mistress of the Animals and some animals" 🙂 that explains the reason why cross and swastika are solar symbols, just like horses and serpents...

I also talked about solar cross in my post "Ponte Sodo fibula" about this amazing Etruscan gold disc fibula, from the Necropolis of Ponte Sodo, Vulci, Etruria, Italy. 650 BC 

And I talked about solar cross in my post "Alexamenos graffito" in which I explain why this graffito depicting Christ with a donkey head is not actually a mockery of Christ...

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)...

BTW, cross was originally symbol of Mesopotamia Sun god Shamash...

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

I talked about this in my posts "The cross of Shamash" and "Sun god tablet" and "Temple of Isis on Philae Island"...

Shamash, whose destructive aspect is Nergal, Shamash in Leo...

Anyway, I think that all of this makes it pretty clear who is depicted on the Paros amphora. 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...

Teaching Rocks solar boat

The "Solar Boat" petroglyph from the Teaching Rocks site in Peterborough, Ontario. 

Vastokas and Vastokas (1973) dated the entire site to ca 500-1100 C.E., though other researchers, such as Jack Steinbring (1975), note its resemblance to known Archaic rock art at the Jeffers Petroglyph Site in southwestern Minnesota. 

Sources:

Vastokas and Vastokas, Sacred art of the Algonkians: A Study of the Peterborough Petroglyphs, 1973, pp. 121-129

Jack Steinbring, Taxonomic and Associational Considerations of Copper Technology During The Archaic Tradition, 1975

What is the meaning of this scene?

Lake Ontario is generally navigable for small boats from late May through Sep, with the peak boating season occurring between Jun and Aug...

Hence "sun boats"...

I talked about the navigation on the great lakes and animal calendar markers used to depict sailing and mining calendars in this post "Mishipeshu", about this amazing deified composite animal calendar maker from Great Lakes, USA...

Some people, are of the opinion that the Teaching Rocks site's boats have much more in common with Neolithic-Bronze Age rock art traditions of Siberia, northern Russia, and the Baltic's hunter-gatherers and pastoralists than they do with historic Algonquin boat art. 

The ground stone and slate toolkit used around eastern Ontario during the Mid-Late Archaic also matches those other regions, too. So they propose that the site is multi-component site, spanning the Mid-Late Archaic to late Mississippian times...

And they say that if some of the boats from the Teaching Rocks site do date to the Archaic period, then they're the only know petroglyph representations of Old Copper Complex boats...

Some other people say that the boats depicted on Teaching Rocks could be bark canoes (like the ones depicted below in the Codex Canadensis), which were very widespread in the region and almost never survive in the archaeological record...

They also say that boats depicted in Siberian petroglyphs seem different. They often had a rectangular silhouette and almost always an elk head shaped figurehead...

BTW, I talked about Northern Russian Bronze Age petroglyph animal calendar and why Elk was used as symbol for sailing in my post "Bes" about petroglyphs from Lake Onega in Russia. In it also explain why elk head was used as a symbol for the sailing season...

The proponents of the Siberian - North American cultural link point at the Altai region or the Amur River region petroglyphs. The image shows two boats from Shalabolino, Krasnoyarskiy kray, Russia. Similar, but different, showing regional variants going from west to east...

Very interesting. And these boats seem to have the sun column too...I talked about the sun boats petroglyphs from the Baltic region in my post "Sun eyes" about the solar cult in Early Bronze Age Baltic.... 

The sailing in this part of the world is also only possible during the hot half of the year, Apr/May - Oct/Nov...

Anyway, I don't know how old the Teaching Rocks site solar boat petroglyph is, but I definitely know what it depicts...

That's it. 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...

PS: Speaking of Ontario, who here remembers "The wolves of Ontario"?