Love this. Fallow deer killing a snake. One of many amazing 6th c. AD mosaics from Theodorias (Qasr Libya)...
Snake is an animal calendar marker of the beginning of summer, Apr/May, because this when the most common Eurasian snakes, vipers, begin their mating season...
Persian fallow deer is an animal calendar marker for the beginning of autumn, Jul/Aug, because this is when Persian fallow deer begin their mating season...
Persian fallow deer don't eat snakes...
So if we look at this image as a calendar marker, we see autumn ending summer? No idea if this is what the author wanted to show or is this drug induced nightmare?
It is very interesting that among the various scenes depicted on the mosaics, we see depictions of deified Tigris and Euphrates??? In 6th century AD Libya?
So there is definitely some kind of link to Mesopotamia here, where we find Persian fallow deer...
By the way, these mosaics were all found in a church...
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