Iranian goat of rain

I want to thank Gabriella Brusa-Zappellini, Great Italian Archaeologist, for posting excerpts from this book. 

The most prominent place on the cover was of course given to the virile "Goat of rain" standing between two zig zag lines symbolizing flowing water...

This goat was of course interpreted by archaeologists as "decorative design'...But in fact it is a calendar marker. The beginning of the mating season of the Ibex goats (Oct/Nov) announces the beginning of winter and the beginning of the rain season in Mesopotamia and Western Iran.

Iraq

Western Iran

I talked about this in my post about Tepe Hissar pottery, "Strider", "Winged bull with Ibex horns", "Goat in a tree", "Jumping goat"...And many more...

This symbol directly links Ibex goat fertility and nature fertility in general. Ibex goat's semen, and rain, heavenly semen...

Another guy with a flower under it's horns...

And two very stylized goats with flowers under their horns...

Here we see plants growing out of Ibex's horns...Why? Goat of rain...And rain is what makes plants grow in this part of the world...

Is this a field under the horns of the Goat of rain? These kind of things are usually interpreted as fields...Field which depends on rain that the magic goat brings every Oct/Nov...

While some Ibex designs are quite realistic

Others are abstract . This is Ibex coming out of the flowing water, river, which the rain it brings fills...

The cross under the goat's horns...A stylized flower...Or a marker on its own...Like on this Elamite seal about which I talked about in my post "Maltese cross seal from Elam"...

See, goats and cross...

Another cross under the Ibex horns...

This is a cool design...Again Ibex standing on top of flowing water...

What's better than one Ibex standing on top of flowing water? Two Ibexes standing on top of flowing water...

Eventually, we arrive to almost completely abstracted depiction of three ejaculating Ibexes

How about this. Four ibex goats...

Finally. Look at these Ibex horns

And then look at this

And then look at this. No head needed...

Remember, these are Neolithic and Early Bronze Age designs...Cool, right?