Theseus ring

The "Theseus ring". Gold Mycenaean signed ring from the Acropolis of Athens, 15th c. BC. Currently in NAMAthens.

First I doubt this ring was made on the Mainland...It was most likely made on Minoan Crete, based on what is depicted on it...Was bull leaping a popular activity in Mycenae? Or is this just another looted Minoan treasure? I talked about this in my post about the legendary battle depicted on the Combat Agate...

But this is not what makes this ring interesting...

You know how summer (May/Jun/Jul) starts in Taurus (Apr/May)? And how bull is the symbol of summer, because summer starts with calving of wild Eurasian cattle and ends with mating of wild Eurasian cattle?

And you know how autumn (Aug/Sep/Oct) starts in Leo (Jul/Aug)? And how lion is the symbol of autumn, because main mating season of Eurasian lions starts in Leo and spans the whole of autumn?

I talked about symbols of the seasons in this post. 

Both Taurus and Leo are ancient animal calendar markers which originally had nothing to do with stars, and have been used to mark the same times of the year since Neolithic...More about ancient animal and plant calendar markers, start here then check the rest of the blog posts I still didn't add to this page, and finally to to @serbiaireland and check my twitter threads I still didn't convert to blog post...I am 9 months behind now...

Now if we look at the scene depicted on the ring, the bull is walking away from a green branch and towards a lioness...Why?

Well green branches usually depict spring, or wet season in general, the old winter which in Crete starts in Oct/Nov and ends in Apr/May...

Now in Crete, Oct/Nov is also the time when wild ibex goats start mating....

Hence ibex goats featuring so prominently on Minoan and "Mycenaean" artefacts...as Goat of Rain which makes Crete green...Like on this ring, another one most likely pilfered from Crete...

Officially: "Golden ring depicting goat sacrifice", Mycenaean, 1500BC. I don't think so. Ibex was in Minoan, and later Mycenaean culture linked to rain season and regeneration of nature. This could be sacrificing to the Goat (of rain) which makes Crete green (see green branches growing from the goat's back?), not of a goat...

So in Minoan Crete, and later Mycenaean continuation of Minoan culture, we find goat and bull as two opposing symbols. Like on this larnax

Because they symbolise beginning of cool, wet season (goat) and hot dry season (bull)...

Anyway, so what we have depicted on the Theseus ring is bull, walking away from the green branch (symbol of the cool wet half of the year), towards lion, symbol of the hottest part of the hot, dry half of the year, Jul/Aug, and symbol of autumn...Nice...