Under the blazing Sun-Sirius

Sumerian Seal, Ur III period (22nd to 21st century BC)...Check every source related to this seal and all you find is: Gilgamesh...Weeeell...

Again we see bull (symbol of summer, May/Jun/Jul, which starts in Taurus, Apr/May) and lion (symbol of autumn, Aug/Sep/Oct, which starts in Leo, Jul/Aug)...I talked about symbols of the seasons in this post...

The Taurus and Leo here have nothing to do with stars. These are ancient animal calendar markers which have been used since Neolithic all over Eurasia and North Africa, and which are derived from mating or birthing seasons of depicted animals. 

Taurus, Bull, Cow and calf, Calf - Beginning of the calving season of Eurasian wild cattle, Apr/May

Leo, Lion, Lioness, Lion and lioness, Two lions - Beginning of the main mating season of Eurasian lions, Jul/Aug

The star between them is Ishtar (The Lady of heaven, Sirius) Because Sirius rises with the sun, pretending to be The Morning Star, during Jul/Aug, at the end of summer (bull) and at the beginning of autumn (Lion)...I talked about this in my post "Ninshubur"...

This period is marked by Leo, the beginning of the main mating season of the Eurasian lions. And this is why Ishtar, Inanna, who was known as "Lioness of heaven", is depicted riding on a lion...We find this Lion Lady all over Eurasia and North Africa...I talked about it in my post "Assumption of Mary"...

In Mesopotamia, the climatic year is divided into two halves: 

hot, dry half (Apr/May - Oct/Nov)

cool, wet half (Oct/Nov - Apr/May)

The hottest, driest part of the year is in the middle of the hot, dry half of the year, in Jul/Aug, at the end of summer, symbolised by bull and at the beginning of autumn, symbolised by lion. Between bull and lion...

So the star between bull and lion is both Sirius and Sun...

This is the time of the Dragon...Also known as Nergal, the god of death, the destructive sun of Leo...Who was even depicted as a lion man...

Dragon, which is here depicted between bull and lion...According to the official description of the seal, apparently "unrelated to the other figures in the scene" 🙂...Just a decoration...

I talked about this in my post "Is that you Gilgamesh"...

But something super important happens in Apr/May, beginning of summer marked by Taurus, bull...

Tigris and Euphrates flood. 

The water flow tables for Tigris and Euphrates...

The flow peaks in Taurus...At the beginning of summer. The season dominated by the sun...Hence the Bull, symbol of summer, symbol of the sun, with lapis lazuli beard, symbol of flowing water...The water bull...

The reason why the water flow peaks at that time of the year is because these rivers are mostly filled by the snowmelt from the mountains to the east and north of Mesopotamia, which peaks in Apr/May. It is basically sun filling the two rivers with water...Which is why the above bull head with lapis lazuli beard is thought to depict Shamash, Sun God...I talked about this in my post "Shamash young and old"...

I talked about the symbolic link between bull and sun in my post "Solar bull"...

The "Debate between Winter and Summer" says that: "By hand Winter guided the spring floods, the abundance and life of the Land, down from the edge of the hills. He set his foot upon the Tigris and Euphrates like a big bull and released them into the fields"...I talked about this in my post "Rain and flood"...

Anyway, this is the meaning of the two flows of water pouring out of the bull's snout on our seal...The two flows usually seen coming out of Enki, the god of fresh water and the source of Tigris and Euphrates...Here depicted standing on a bull...

So finally, what's with the guy riding the Bull and fighting the Lion? 

You can see that the water flow coming out of the bull ends under the lion...The flood that peaks in Taurus ends by the time Leo arrives. Leo marks the beginning of the period with the lowest water level in Tigris and Euphrates...

So I believe that the guy riding the bull is symbolically saying "Summer, which starts in Taurus, good"...And the guy fighting the lion is symbolically saying "Autumn, which starts in Leo, bad"...

This is the same as the obsession of the Persian kings with killing lions. Well they were't really killing lions. They were symbolically killing dry season, Angra Mainyu, which starts in Apr/May, Bull, peaks in Jul/Aug, Leo and ends in Oct/Nov, Scorpio/Eagle... I talked about this in my posts "The king killing Angra Mainyu" and "Angra Mainyu"...

If you want to know 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...