Depicted as violent, delighting in war, she was also establisher of peace. She was also portrayed as highly sexual & fertile, but also referred to as virgin & maiden. Fiercely loyal to her brother Baal, she takes revenge against Mot, god of the underworld, for (briefly) taking Baal's life. According to the Ugaritic text, "She seized divine Mot, with a knife she split him...with fire she burnt him; with millstones she ground him; with a sieve she sifted him; on the steppe she abandoned him.."
She was imported into Egypt by the Hyksos rulers. So who was Anat?
According to old poems from the area, Mot was equated to the sun. I talked about this in my post "Oldest Arabic poem"...
This is the climatic year in Levant. You can see that it is divided into two halves: the wet season (Nov-Apr) and the dry season (May-Oct) dominated by the blazing sun...
In ancient Levant, the wet season was the time when Baal/Hadad ruled the world. But every year, in May, Mot would usurps the throne of Baal/Hadad, kill Baal, and turn the world into hell...
Mot had a brother, Yam, the sea god, also enemy of Baal. The seafaring season in Levant (Apr-Sep) corresponds with the dry season, the season ruled by Mot...Also with mating season of horses, which were the symbol of Yam.
I talked about this in my post "Trojan horse"...
Anat "put an end to Yam, the beloved of El, and to other enemies of Baal including a 7 headed serpent"...
Interesting...
Like this 7 headed serpent (dragon) from Mesopotamia? Which has the body of a lion (Leo is the symbol of the the hottest part of the year)...And seven snake heads (snake is the symbol of the sun's heat, and 7 heads represent 7 months of the Mesopotamian summer)...With Shamash (sun god) sun rays rising from his back?
I talked about this cylinder seal in my post "Seven headed dragon"...
Who's the girl standing under the star, looking at "heroes killing the 4th snake head of the dragon with 7 snake heads"? Well Ishtar/Inanna of course...The warrior goddess standing on a lion...Under a star...Sirius rising with the sun in Leo...
I talked about her in my post "Ninshubur"...
'The yellow ones of Mot' Mot's henchmen who are slain by Baal/Hadad upon his return...Who are these "yellow ones"?
Look at these pictures:
Summer (May-Oct), ruled by Mot, the time of death in Levant.
Winter (Nov-Apr), ruled by Baal/Hadad, the time of life in Levant
Anat also kills: Arsh, a monstrous attendant of Yam, the sea god and "the darling of the gods"...Apparently his name means "towards the land"...Who is Arsh? Who does Anat kill?
I would suggest that Arsh is the deified "etesian winds" season.
The etesian winds are the prevailing annually recurring summer winds, blowing over large parts of Greece, the Aegean Sea and eastern Mediterranean. The name derives from the Greek 'etesios', annual. They blow steadily from northern to northwestern directions, bringing cold continental air and clear skies between end of May and beginning of October...
They blow from the north "towards the land" in Levant and Egypt...During the sailing season...When this "monstrous attendant of Yam, the sea god" is killed, the dry season dominated by the sun, Mot, ends too...And Baal/Hadad comes back to power...The storms and rains return...
Anat also kills Atik, the calf of El, and the enemy of Baal/Hadad...
The calving season of wild Eurasian cattle, Aurochs starts in Apr/May...
This period is marked by a bull, calf, cow with calf...Taurus. This is one of the oldest animal calendar markers, which is found all over Eurasia and North Africa. I talked about this in my post "Ram and Bull"..
Taurus announces the beginning of the hot, dry season, dominated by the sun, Mot and the end of the cool, wet season dominated by rain, Baal/Hadad.
Anat also kills Ishat (Light, Fire) and Zabib (Flame) the Goddesses of fire or flame, the daughters of El, the king of the Gods and servants of Yam/Mot, the enemy of Ba'al, the storm God. Naturally...The fire, flame (heat) of the sun scorches the land and turns it into this: Mot's hell.
I love the fact that Ishat (fire), the goddess of fire and drought, is known as "the bitch of the gods"...In Slavic folklore, the hottest part of the year, end of Jul beginning of Aug, is knows as "kresovi" (fires)...This is also the mating season of the old Canaan dogs...
You know, dog days...When Dog Star, Sirius, rises with the sun...In Leo...Sounds familiar?
I talked about this in my post "Dog days"...
Anat kills Mot after "seven years of drought"...This is a "poetic" version of "seven months of drought"...This story originates in Mesopotamia, and there, summer, dry season says "In my working term of duty, which is seven months of the year"...I talked about this in my post "Seven headed dragon"...
Anat finds Mot, and cuts, winnows, and sows him like grain. Have a look at this:
Mesopotamian agricultural calendar.
Levantine agricultural calendar.
Mot's reign, dry season, starts with grain harvest, in Apr/May...In the middle of that period, in Leo, Jul/Aug, after harvest, threshing, winnowing, storing...of the grain is all done, Anat arrives...Mot's reign, the dry season, ends with grain sowing, in Oct/Nov...
Which is when Anat kills Mot and Baal rules again...For a while...
And you know what also spans 7 months? The time between the sowing and harvesting of grain. During which time you open 7 sealed grain storage pithos jars...7 seals...
Interestingly, the opening of the 7th seal happens in Aries, the end of the lambing season of wild sheep...So the lamb opens the 7th seal...I talked about this in my post "Seven seals"...
After Anat kills Mot and his goons, Baal/Hadad, the Rain god, ascends back to the throne...
Accompanied by his daughters:
Pidray - daughter of the mist, daughter of light (lightning)...
Tallay - she of dew, daughter of drizzle...
Arsay - she of the earth, daughter of [ample flows]...
Ybrdmy - she/he who serves up water...
"You know, dog days..."
ReplyDeleteA torch in a dog's mouth was a representation of the star Sirius in the mouth of the great dog, Canis major.
The Icelandic name for the star Sirius was Lokabrenna, “Loki's Torch.”
Compare Loki to finnish "lokki", wolf.
Another interpretation of Loki gives him the function of a lightning god.
As personification of fire as well as of mischief, Loki (lightning) is often seen with Thor (thunder)
The greek word for wolf lukos is close to the word for light leukos. In latin the word for wolf is lupus, and that for light - lucis (also lucifer)
The shortest days of the year in the Slavic tradition are called "wolf feasts. And on the same days a Christmas tree with candles is traditionally set up. Also street fireworks are arranged. Obviously, all this has something to do with the fact that the word for wolf is lupus, and that for light - lucis (also lucifer)
DeleteWhat is interesting is that the mating season of wolves (Jan/Feb) is the opposite to the dog mating season (Jul/Aug)...Even though the dogs directly descend from wolves...
DeleteMy money is ready and waiting for you to put together a book on this animal calendar interpretation of things...love it
ReplyDeleteI'd be interested to see if it works in any sense with Altai figures or Mayan art etc.