Copper plaque showing date palm full of dates, growing out of a lion standing on a pedestal. Dedication to the south Arabian moon god Almaqah, Sabaean, 1st c. BC - 2nd c. AD. British Museum. Date palm harvest starts in Leo...Jul/Aug 🙂 More in: https://oldeuropeanculture.blogspot.com/2021/10/lion-killin-bull-under-date-palm.html
I posted this a while ago and came across it yesterday while looking for something and while rereading it I noticed that the plaque was dedicated to the Moon God...
Veneration of the Moon God came to Arabia from Mesopotamia/Iran where Moon God Sin was the most important god of the pantheon. I explained why in my article "Mon good Nana Sin" about this amazing 2294-2270 BC Old Akkadian Cylinder Seal. This is an amazing seal, because it confirms something I suspected for a while, but wasn't 100% sure until now: why was the moon god so important to the people from Ancient Mesopotamia...
In short, for the lazy ones, I postulated that the god Sin was the god of the "Wet moon", upward pointing crescent moon, the moon of the wet, cool, half of the year (rain season) in Mesopotamia, Oct/Nov-Apr/May...
This is symbolically depicted using animal calendar markers on this Neo Babylonian, 625-539BC, blue chalcedony pyramidal stamp seal with a goat-fish with a rhomb before it and a crescent moon above it. I presented the fool symbolic analysis of this seal in my post "Chalcedony seal"...
For the lazy ones, 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"...
Rhomb 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"...
Rhomb is also 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...
And Inanna/Ishtar was directly linked to the date palm precisely because the date harvest started in Jul/Aug, Leo...I will explain why later...
The rain season in Saba peaks in Jul/Aug, in Leo...Which was also the time when Sabaeans made pilgrimages to Almaqah's temple in Ma'rib to ask for his blessing of water...
Here is something interesting: Almaqah is commonly considered a moon god, but apparently that is not cool any more, at least according to Britanica:
"Garbini and Pirenne have shown that the bull's head and the vine motif associated with him [Almaqah] may have solar and Dionysiac attributes..."
"...He [Almaqah] was therefore a male counterpart of the sun goddess Shams / Ishtar / Isis, who was also venerated in Saba, but as a tutelary goddess of the royal Egyptian dynasty".
Eeeee???
Istanbul, Museum of the ancient Orient. Relief showing the standard bucrania with stylised greenery between the horns, two dragons and the desired result of the myth and its ritual, that is, the transformation of the sacrificed bull into sprouting vegetation/fertility...
Eeeee???
In ancient South Arabia, Almaqah, the moon god, was associated with bulls, which were considered sacred animals. Bulls were offered in sacrifice, and their heads "were linked to Almaqah's worship".
No one of course has any idea why and how...
Now look at this: As I said already, palm tree is a plant calendar marker for Jul/Aug, when Lion (autumn) kills (ends) Bull (summer).
What is the best way to depict a dead bull? I guess like this: A Roman mosaic featuring a lion with the head of a bull, found on the floor of one of the Terrace Houses at Ephesus, Turkey...
I already talked about the meaning of the bull head in combination with a palm tree in my article "Date beer" about this 3rd millennium BC seal found in the Hurian city of Urkesh located in northeastern Syria..
Now remember Sabaeans made sacrifices to Almaqah in Jul/Aug, in Leo...When rains arrive to Yemen. Rains that make plants grow out of the cut off bull's head...
Oh, and grapes harvest in Yemen starts in Aug...After the bull's head is cut off...
BTW, those dragons depicted on both sides of bull heads. They are not there randomly. Jul/Aug, Leo, is the time of fire breathing dragons...Since (at least) Sumerian times. I talked about this in my post "Seven headed dragon", in which I explained why the dragon depicted on this Tell Asmar seal, dated to 2200 BC, has lion body and 7 snake heads.
For the lazy ones, cause snake is the symbol of sun's heat, there were 7 summer months in Mesopotamian calendar, and the hottest part of summer was Jul/Aug, Leo...
I talk about dragons in various Eurasian mythologies in many of my blog articles...
As for Ishtar (and her twins from Arabia and other parts of Eurasia), she is also associated with lions...I talked about it in my post "Silver seal from Gonur Tepe" in which I talk about this cool Silver seal from Gonur Tepe, Turkmenistan, dated to late 3rd-early 2nd mill BC. Depicting a winged goddess riding on a lioness...
For the lazy ones, Ishtar was the 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 wrote many articles where I explained why "The morning star" is Sirius and "morning star" is Venus and how they are related and how they differ and why Inanna/Ishtar was originally definitely Sirius. You can start with "Sirius the mother of Venus".
For the lazy ones, 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:
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)....
For the Ancient Egyptians, the most important annual event, annual flood, which irrigated the land made it fertile, was linked to lions and lionesses...And Sirius...
I talked about this in my articles "Sphinx" and "Giza lioness" in which I give full symbolic analysis of the Sphinx mythology and its origin as Leo, animal calendar marker for Jul/Aug, the start of the peak of the Nile flood...
All in all, very interesting...And suddenly few things I looked at before now make a lot more sense. Like this fresco from the house of M. Gavius Rufus in Pompei. The ruling Dionysus with the thyrsus, with Apollo/Helios in corona radiata, Aphrodite and other deities...
With dead bull's head, bucrania, at his feet...When does the grape harvest start in Greece/Italy? In Aug...After the bull's head is cut off...
And this 2nd c. AD Roman mirror of the goddess Diana from Art Institute, Chicago, depicting Diana sitting on a rock before a garlanded altar with a small herm, her quiver nearby...And chained bucrania which everyone seems to ignore cause they have no idea what to make of it...
Diana is Roman version of Artemis, the TWIN sister of Apollo. They are both linked with lions and Leo, Jul/Aug...When Lion of autumn kills the bull of summer. Hence the dead bull's head...
Apollo is directly linked with lions and sun in Leo, Jul/Aug. As a matter of fact Jul/Aug was the month dedicated to Apollo.
IONIA. Miletos. Circa 340-325 BC. Drachm.
Front: Laureate head of Apollo.
Back: Lion with eight-pointed star above
This coin confirms my hypothesis that Apollo was Sun in Leo...Basically, Greek version of Mesopotamian Nergal...
I explain why this is the case in these articles:
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
Artemis, the Greek Ishtar, was also linked with lions and was even called "lioness among women" by Hera.
Boeotian stele, 7th c. BC, representing a "Potnia Theron", (Sketch) Athens, National Museum. Pic by Julianna Lees.
