The hand...Relief from Dur Sharrukin (the Assyrian capital in the time of Sargon II of Assyria), "detail of a throne???", ca 721 -705 BC...
The only throne depiction from Dur Sharrukin I found is this one. The "figure" holding a goat and poppies (???) is the same, but there is no giant hand behind...So where is the original image from?
Is the Assyrian god holding Ibex, the Goat of Rain?
And Poppies?
And why?
Remember this guy, a Urartian contemporary of this Assyrian dude, also holding poppies, but standing on a bull???
He is standing on a bull, holding ripe poppies, because poppy harvest takes place during Taurus (Bull), Apr/May...I talked about him in my post "Poppies"...
Bull is an animal calendar marker, which marks the beginning of the calving season of Wild Eurasian Cattle (Aurochs), Apr/May...I talked about this in my post "Ram and bull"...
Goat is an animal calendar marker, which marks the beginning of the mating season of the Wild Goats (Ibex), Oct/Nov...I talked about this in my post "Iranian goat of rain"...
The goat and bull are two opposite animal calendar markers, marking two most important natural events in Mesopotamia...
The goat (Oct/Nov) marks the beginning of the rain season in Mesopotamia and the bull (Apr/May) marks the end of the rain season in Northern Iraq, where Assyrian capital is located...
Bull also marks the time when Tigris and Euphrates reach their peak water level 6 months later, in Apr/May...
I talked about this in my post "Rain and flood"...
Water flow charts
Tigris
Euphrates
The gestation period of the Ibex goats that live in Northern Mesopotamia is 150 days...So the first baby goats appear just before the water levels peak in the two Holy Rivers....
Remember this guy, Enki/Ea, the god who ejaculates Tigris and Euphrates? This happens in Taurus (peak water level) right when the baby Ibex goats are being born?
Which is why Enki is depicted sitting on his throne, and either being the source of two grate river or holding a jar which is the source of the two great rivers...
Guess what is the present being brought to Enki? A baby goat...
The goat carrier was always the king...Carrying a goat was a symbol of royalty...Which is why we find inscriptions like this: "The year in which Ammisaduqa, the king, had made the image of him carrying a kid against his chest"...I talked about this in my post "Goat carrier"...
Guess what else happens during the inundation of Tigris and Euphrates, right after the first baby goats are born? Poppy harvest...
Interesting...I would love to find out where the original image is actually from. If anyone knows please let me know.
Google image search for similar images yields and article on NationalWorld website on Afghanistan opium farming. Poppies used to be throughout Europe and my Grandmother grew them in Calgary when she arrived from the western part of the Ukraine. The seeds are sweetened with honey to make a filling for bread dessert. They are high in protein and have a nutty taste. My cousin Larry called the RCMP on her and they destroyed her garden plot sometime around 1965.
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