Shamash young and old

"When Utu/Shamash steps up into heaven, fresh waters shall run out of the ground for you..." from "Enki and Ninhursanga"

Cylinder seal discovered at Ur and dated to the time of Sargon (2340-2160 BC) or to the time of Shar-kali-sharri (2224-2199 BC). De Clercq collection...

The description found in the Notes on the Sargonid Cylinder Seal, Ur 364 by Edith Porada: 

The seal depicts three gods:

First god in a "shrine" surrounded by streams of flowing water

Second god with rays issuing from one shoulder, wearing a flounced kilt, holding a mace and ascending a stepped mountain topped by a gate or a temple

Third god with rays issuing from both shoulders, wearing a long pleated skirt, holding a curved notched weapon or a saw dagger, standing with one foot on a back of a lion with upcurving wings, the other foot on a small god who kneels with one foot on the ground...

Very interesting indeed...But I would disagree with some of the stuff said above. 

These are not three gods. These are two gods, one of them depicted in two "stages" a young and old.

First god is Enki, the Sumerian god of sweet water. He is depicted sitting imprisoned inside abzu, the source of the two great rivers...

That source is the snow that falls on the "holy mountains" located North East of Mesopotamia during the winter...Anatolian highlands and Zagros Mountains...

I can hear pretty much every Sumerologist screaming at this point: Abzu means "the underground waters of the Aquifer"!!! This commonly accepted meaning of the term Abzu is actually a result of a mistranslation...We have Sumerian ab=water and zu=knowledge, deep, far...Abzu can then mean both deep water and far away water...Considering that the source of Tigris and Euphrates is far away from Mesopotamia, in the Anatolian highlands and Zagros Mountains, the proper translation of the term Abzu is far away water...

I mean this is actually spelled for us in the Early Dynastic Za-me hymns where we read:

"Abzu ki kur-gal men-nun-an-ki den-nu-de4-mud zà-me": Abzu, place that is a big mountain, princely crown of the heaven and earth. To the lord Nudimmud (Enki), (give) praise! 

This line can be found in this great paper: "Ancient Near Eastern Gods Enki and Ea: Diachronical Analysis of Texts and Images from the Earliest Sources to the Neo-Sumerian Period"

Anyway I am going to write another post specifically about Enki and Abzu, so watch this space...

So the first god is Enki/Ea.

The second god is young Utu/Shamash, the young sun. See how he has sun heat rays emanating only from one of his shoulders??? He is depicted on this seal in a short tunic climbing the sacred mountain towards imprisoned Enki...To free him...

This climbing of the mountain by the sun god represents the heating up of the higher and higher regions of the holy mountains in the spring. The heating up which results in the snowmelt, which is the main source of the water in the Tigris and Euphrates rivers...This is the "freeing of Enki" and it happens during the spring. You can see how the water levels in Tigris and Euphrates river system are suddenly sharply rising starting from Feb...Water level charts for

Tigris

Euphrates

Enki is finally free (the water levels peak) in Apr/May, at the beginning of summer.  In Taurus...Which is why Shamash is depicted as a golden bull with long flowing "lapis lazuli" (water stone) beard...

"Enki placed in charge of the whole of heaven and earth the hero, the youth Utu (Shamash), the bull standing triumphantly, audaciously, majestically...the great herald in the east of holy An...with a lapis-lazuli beard, rising from the horizon..." from "Enki and the world order"

Shamash/Utu is also depicted as a bull with a tail made of wheat...

Because it is in Taurus, the water bull, that the grain harvest begins in Mesopotamia...

Summer, which starts in Taurus, is symbolised by a bull, because both calving (begins in Apr/May) and mating (begins in Jul/Aug) of Wild Eurasian cattle takes place during the summer, May to August...I talked about this in my post "Ram and bull"...

Which is why, in "Enki and the world order" we read: "...Father Enki...he stood up full of lust like a rampant bull, lifted his penis, ejaculated and filled the Tigris with flowing water. He was like a wild cow mooing for its young in the wild grass..."

So Enki, the god of fresh water, gets freed by Shamash, "the triumphant bull with lapis lazuli beard". And the first thing he does, he starts wanking 🙂 And the moment of his ejaculation, the moment of his climax, the moment of the peak water levels in the rivers he fills with his heavenly semen, is also the moment when "wild cows moo for their young in the wild grass"...In Taurus...

It is interesting that the Young Utu/Shamash carries a scepter...Why is this interesting? Have a look at this:

Modern impression from a greenstone cylinder seal from Sippar, c. 2300 BC...Currently in The British Museum... 

Here is Shamash (the sun god), in full power (represented by sun heat rays emanating from both shoulders), standing "between two columns with a lioness and a lion". 

The same scepter carried by the Young Utu/Shamash can be seen abandoned to the left of the left column with the lion...Instead of the scepter, Old Utu/Shamash is holding a serrated knife...A reed cutting knife...That is very important...And I explain why in this post about Mesopotamian irrigation "Canals"...

Here is the same dude, Old Utu/Shamash on our original seal, "standing with one foot on a back of a lion with upcurving wings..."

If someone is standing "between the lions" or "on a lion", that just means that he is standing in Leo, end of July, beginning of August...

And, Leo is a solar year calendar marker which marks the beginning of the main mating season of the Eurasian lions. 

Leo is the hottest and driest part of the year in Mesopotamia. The time of maximum heat, maximum drought. Which is why the Old Utu/Shamash has sun heat rays emanating from both of his shoulders.

This is also the time of the lowest water levels in Tigris and Euphrates river system...Water level charts for

Tigris

Euphrates

Which is why the Old Utu/Shamash is standing in an empty river (canal) bed...Perfect time to cut reeds and repair irrigation canals...Hence serrated reed cutting knife...For full discussion check my post about Mesopotamian irrigation "Canals"...

So this is what I think is depicted on our Ur seal...What do you think?