Surya's wives

This very happy looking dude (no wonder he is happy, he has two gorgeous babes sitting on his laps) is no other than the Vedic Sun God Surya. You could say he is positively "beaming" with pride and excitement..And I guess pretty glad to have few extra hands...

Ok who are the babes? Well that's complicated (like every threesome is)...Thankfully, we have Rig Veda, the ultimate Indian tabloid of the time to tell us all about it. Here it goes:

It all started when Tvastar, the Holy Artificer, the creator of cosmos, and few other things, threw a Svayamvara party for his daughter Saranyu...

Svayamvara, as the readers of Rig Vedas are well aware, is a special party during which a girl of marrying age is supposed to pick her future husband from the assembled eligible suitors...

Well, as our readers know, Saranyu was a stunner, so pile of good looking, rich and powerful young men attended her Svayamvara, all hoping to get her hand (and elbow, and shoulder and)...

Among the potential husbands was Surya, under the name of Vivasvan. Surya was hot, hot, hot...I mean he was sizzling...Not surprising for a sun god, some readers might say...And of course Saranyu, picked him. So they get married...

So, the newly weds had steamy passionate relationship full of hot sex...Surya was walking around beaming more and more, cause he got picked by such a stunner who is also great in bed...But then one day, after Saranyu gave birth to Ashvin twins, she suddenly decides to leave...

It turns out, Surya got too hot. And he was all: look at me, I'm so hot...blah blah blah...To the point where Saranyu couldn't stand him any more...But in fairness, what did Saranyu expect (I can hear some of our readers say). She married a sun god...Cause he was hot...

Anyway, before she left, Saranyu arranged "services" of a woman called Savarna, to replace her in Surya's bed. [Or maybe gods arranged this, it all happened all of a sudden before our reporters could get to the Surya's mansions]...Savarna was "similar" to Saranyu, but mortal...

Surya of course didn't notice the swap. [All he was interested was my body, Saranyu said later to our reporter. He didn't care about me as a person. So he was easily fulled by a body double]...And so he went on banging his gorgeous "wife". But  Savarna bears him no children...

Saranyu in the meantime goes back to her father, Tvastar, complaining about Surya: He is just unbearable, I can't even look at him any more...Beaming, beaming, beaming...Uhhhh...

But her father basically tells her: 

"What are you complaining about, you wanted a hottest guy you got the hottest guy...Go back to your husband...And as for the beaming, I'll give him a call and tell him to turn it down a notch...Ok? Good girl!"

[Men 😠, Saranyu later remarked]

So what's all this about...I think climate in India...The climate in India is pretty much hot all the time...The sun, Surya, rules the place...Hence the bling, and the babes...

Here is yearly temperature and precipitation for New Delhi...

The [super important] bit that changes twice a year, are the prevailing winds. During the summer, between Apr and Sep they blow from the sea northwards. And during the winter, between Oct and Mar they blow from the mountains southwards...

Summer winds bring rain. They make rivers swell and rush and make land fertile... 

Winter winds bring drought. They make rivers dry out and make land barren...

I talked about these winds in my post "Ganesha"...

What does this have to do with Surya's wives?

Saranyu is the female form of the adjective saraṇyú, meaning "quick, fleet, nimble", used for wind and flowing water in the Rigveda. Saranyu has also been described as "the swift-speeding storm cloud"...

The name of her replacement Savarna, means "same-kind"...She is not the same as Saranyu, but similar to Saranyu...She is a wind, but not the same wind...

One of the main differences in the between the two, at least in Vedas, is that Saranyu is fertile while Savarna is barren... 

Saranyu is the wet summer monsoon which makes the land fertile...

Savarna is the dry winter monsoon which makes the land barren...

I wonder if this is the reason that one of Surya's consorts is depicted with bare breasts (as in breastfeeding mother) and the other one with covered breasts...Don't know, but If I wanted to depict two Indian seasons, that's how I would do it...Sexy...🙂

PS: Tvastar did call Surya. This is the recording of the conversation obtained by one of our reporters: 

"Son, my daughter came to me today, and burst my ear complaining about you...I am hoping you do understand that when my only daughter is unhappy, that makes me unhappy...And when I am unhappy someone usually gets hurt. You do understand that? Good. So I assume she will not come complaining again?" 

Surya knew better than to mess with the godfather of the universe...See how temperatures drop after the end of the rain season...

Watering papyrus

Here is another very interesting object I've stumbled across in Louvre last weekend 

It is a Hellenistic stela dated to the 4th-3rd c. BC, found in Umm al-Amad, Lebanon. The important bit of the description is circled in red

 

So...A ritual "watering of papyrus" by two (semi?) naked women...Anyone heard of this ritual? 

I can bet that this is a fertility related ritual considering papyrus is watered by (semi?) naked women 🙂 That and the fact that it "recalls the Egyptian motif of annual renewal"...

But what does "Egyptian motif of annual renewal" mean? Well check this article: "Cow and calf ivory", in which I talk about the importance of papyrus in Egyptian mythology. Why it is directly linked to the annual flood. It is basically a plant calendar marker that marks the beginning of the rising of the water level in the river Nile, because the papyrus start flowering at that exact time...

Here is Hathor/Mehet Weret (Great Flood), emerging from the flowering papyrus...

Hence "annual renewal"...

Hence "ritual watering of papyrus"...The ritual imitation of the flood...Very interesting indeed...

I wonder if people in Umm al-Amad knew what this all meant? This stela is definitely not an import from Egypt. It was made locally. Depicting local people performing ritual papyrus watering...Which makes no sense in Lebanon...

Anyway another great example of a transplanted deified calendar marker. This time plant calendar marker...

To read more about ancient animal and plant calendar markers, start here…then check the rest of the blog posts related to animal calendar markers I still didn't add to this page, and finally check my twitter threads I still didn't convert to blog post...I am 9 months behind now...

Goat and snake from Körtik Tepe

Two very interesting objects from the 10,000BC  Pre-Pottery Neolithic B site Körtik Tepe, located in the Diyarbakır district of Turkey. Thanks to @MattSibson for the great info about early Anatolian sites...

To understand what these two objects represent, we need to look at the climate in the Körtik Tepe area

You can see that the climatic year in the area is divided into hot, dry half (roughly Ap/May - Oct/Nov) and the cool, wet half (roughly Oct/Nov - Apr/May)

Now lets have a look at these two objects. 

The object on the left is engraved with the depiction of two Ibex goats and a tree...

Ibex goats, which start mating, and fighting, in Oct/Nov, at the beginning of the rain season in the area of Körtik Tepe...

So Goats (of rain) with tree (of life)...

I talked about the depictions of the Goats of Rain in early Anatolian sites in my post "Goats and tree of life from Çatalhöyük"...

The object on the right is engraved with the depiction of three snakes. 

And not just any snakes, Vipers, which start mating in Apr/May, at the beginning of the drought season in the area of Körtik Tepe...

So Snake (of drought)...

These two objects are depicting two animal calendar markers:

Goat, marking the beginning of the cool, wet season in the area of Körtik Tepe (Oct/Nov), 

Snake, marking the beginning of the hot, dry season the in the area of Körtik Tepe (Apr/May)...

So goat and snake...

To read more about ancient animal and plant calendar markers, start here…then check the rest of the blog posts related to animal calendar markers I still didn't add to this page, and finally check my twitter threads I still didn't convert to blog post...I am 9 months behind now...

Goats and tree of life from Çatalhöyük

Wall painting from a house in Çatalhöyük (7500-6500 BC) showing a fruit tree and ibexes/wild goats...From "Flora Unveiled: The Discovery and Denial of Sex in Plants" by Lincoln Taiz, Lee Taiz

Tree of life with ibexes, goats of rain? Most definitely...Why goats of rain?

Because Bezoar Ibex goat which live in the Çatalhöyük area, start their mating season in Oct/Nov. Their mating season is characterised by vicious male goat fights. The head banging can be heard from miles away, so it is difficult to miss...

And in Eastern Mediterranean, Eastern Anatolia, Middle East, Iran, Central Asia, this is when the rains arrive after hot dry summer and autumn...The rains that are source of life, arrive when Ibexes start mating...Hence goat of rain and tree of life...Çatalhöyük climate chart...

Goat of rain from Gobekli Tepe (9500-8000BC)..With zig zag line symbolizing flowing water...

In the area of Gobekli Tepe, the rains also arrive when ibex goats start mating, Oct/Nov...

Decorated stone vessel from Ayanlar Hoyuk (9000BC) with, again, goat of rain and zig zag lines...

Ayanlar Hoyuk (Urfa) climate chart...

Again the rains arrive when Ibex, goat of rain starts mating...

And so "The Goat of Rain"...

Eastern Mediterranean

Climate Crete

Articles that talk about the Goat of Rain in Eastern Mediterranean: "Pan, Goat of rain", "Goat riding thundergod", "Cornucopia", "Sanctuary rhyton", "Theseus ring"...

Middle East

Articles that talk about the Goat of Rain in Iraq: "A goat in a tree", "Scarlet ware goat", "Relief from Dur Sharrukin"...

Iran

Articles that talk about the Goat of Rain in Iran: "Anahita", "A vessel from Tepe Hissar", "Goat petroglyphs from Iran", "Dancing goatmen from Luristan"...

Central Asia

Articles that talk about the Goat of Rain in Central Asia: "Fluffy"...

To read more about ancient animal and plant calendar markers, start here…then check the rest of the blog posts related to animal calendar markers I still didn't add to this page, and finally check my twitter threads I still didn't convert to blog post...I am 9 months behind now...

Utu or Enki

Today I was told about this incredible book called "Seal cylinders of Wester Asia". And while flicking through it, I came across this page  and on it, I saw these 5 images which basically blew my mind...

These five details from cylinder seals basically depicted everything I have been writing about the relationship between Utu/Shamash, the Mesopotamian sun god, and Enki/Ea, the Mesopotamian god of sweet flowing water and annual flood...

So from right to left:

Enki sitting on his throne, holding a jar which represents Abzu, the source of Tigris and Euphrates. The two rivers are represented by the two flowing streams emerging from the jar...

Enki sitting on his throne, actually being Abzu, the source of Tigris and Euphrates. The two flowing streams representing Tigris and Euphrates are actually emerging from Enki's sides...

The fish depicted swimming towards Enki (they always swim towards Enki) are giant Mesopotamian carps, who migrate up the river during the annual flood, and mate in the upper reaches of Tigris and Euphrates during the peak of the flood (Apr/May)...

I talked about this in my post about the origin of the goat fish symbol

So far so normal...Enki, the god of flowing water, with water flowing out of him...But then we come to the middle image, and things get "weird"...In a good way...

This image depicts Utu/Shamash, the sun god, sitting on a throne. 

He is identifiable by the sun heat rays emanating from his shoulder and the serrated reed cutting knife he is holding in his hand. More about this in my post "Canal"...

But weirdly, on the above seal we also see fish swimming towards Utu/Shamash...Which is only seen on depictions of Enki/Ea...Why? Well because, it is Utu/Shamash who releases Enki/Ea, the sweet water, from his icy prison on top of the sacred mountains, Abzu...

Over 70% of all the water flowing down Tigris and Euphrates comes from the snowmelt. Snowmelt which is caused by Utu/Shamash. I talked about this in my post "Shamash young and old"

The snowmelt peaks at the beginning of summer, Apr/May, in Taurus... 

Which is why Tigris and Euphrates flood also reaches its peak in Apr/May, in Taurus... 

Which is why Utu/Shamash was depicted as a golden bull (Sun in Taurus) with flowing lapis lazuli beard (flowing water)...

I talked about this in my posts "Solar bull", "Elamite water bull", "Butt chewing", "Killing of the bull of heaven"...And many others...

By the way, this is the old Taurus, the original Taurus, which has nothing to do with constellations. The old animal calendar marker, marking the beginning of the calving period of the wild Eurasian cattle. I talked about it in my posts "Ram and bull", "Cow and calf ivory"...And many others...

Anyway, I talked about this "strange" Mesopotamian belief that Utu/Shamash is the provider of sweet water and filler of wells, which turned out to be exactly what happens every year in spring, in my post "When Utu steps up into heaven"...

And it is during that exact time when Utu/Shamash is releasing Enki/Ea, that the giant Mesopotamian carp are swimming upstream towards Abzu...Which is why we see fish swimming towards Utu/Shamash, who is at that time in Abzu with Enki/Ea...

As I said above, the flood peaks when Utu/Shamash climbs to the top of the mountains...When the heat of the sun melts the snow there. At the beginning of summer...And the next picture shows Shamash sitting on top of a mountain...

The holy mountain, which is Abzu, which is Enki/Ea, which is the source of Tigris and Euphrates

Finally, the last picture shows a composite god, sitting on a chair, with both sun heat rays emanating from one of his shoulder (Utu/Shamash) and a stream of water pouring out of his side (Enki/Ea)...

This last image basically tells us that Sun is the source of flowing water...Which sounds very very strange, but it is actually true. At least in Mesopotamia...

I am actually still in shock that someone had collected these 5 pics, put them in exactly correct order to describe all this, without knowing what they were doing or what they were looking at...

And that I have found it today by pure fluke (thanks to @ourtown2 and our talk about chariots)...

To read more about ancient animal and plant calendar markers, start here…then check the rest of the blog posts related to animal calendar markers I still didn't add to this page, and finally check my twitter threads I still didn't convert to blog post...I am 9 months behind now...

Snake hiding behind a tree

Double-sided stamp seal: snake behind tree; winged dragon, ca. late 3rd–early 2nd millennium B.C. Currently in the Met Museum...

I just love this: "snake behind tree" 🙂 "winged dragon" 🙂 What is actually depicted on this seal?

First the "winged dragon"...It is actually winged lion, the symbol of the hot dry half of the year (Apr/May-Oct/Nov) in Central Asia. 

I talked about this in my post "Lion radiating heat", "Summer and winter BMAC seal", "Nude winged hero dominating snakes"...

And the extreme heat of the hottest part of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, in Jul/Aug, Leo...

Now "snake"...Snake is the symbol of sun's heat...Snakes are the only true solar animals. They are in our world when sun is in our world (day and hot part of the year) and they are in the underworld when sun is in the underworld (night and cold part of the year)...

I talked about this in my posts "Bactrian snakes and dragons", "Enemy of the sun", "Chthonic animal", "Letnitsa treasure",  "Wolf and snake"...

That snake as a symbol is directly linked to the sun, can be seen from this Bactrian seal: 

Sun god, with a cool hairdo and with sun heat rays coming out of his shoulders, just like Sumerian Utu and Akkadian Shamash. And snakes instead of hands...And a snake belt...Just so we all know that snake is a solar animal...

Snakes hibernate during the cold part of the year and come out only when the ground and air get sufficiently warm...Over 60 degrees° Fahrenheit (16° C)...Which in the area of the old Bactria is Apr/May...

And that is the exact same time when wild alliums start to bloom in Central Asia...Like these, Allium karataviense Regel...

Plant data from "Medicinal Plants of Central Asia: Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan"

There are many other wild alliums found in the area of old Bactria. 

Like 

Yellow Allium Obliquum

Purple Allium Przewalskianum. 

They all flower during the hot part of the year...You can find the list of (all?) of them here (search for Central Asia) https://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/AllAlliums

Alliums have always been used in Central Asia as food (Source Edible Alliums of Uzbekistan) and as medicines (Source Wild Allium species (Alliaceae) used in folk medicine of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan)

Why do I think this is a flower and not a tree? Cause wild flowers appear as calendar markers on other Bactrian artifacts...

I talked about this in my post "Tulip goddess" about this mobile perfume or cosmetic bottle depicting a winged goddess among flowering tulips. Bactrian, the end of the 3rd, beginning of the 2nd millennium BC, Louvre Museum...

The "allium" leaves on the seal don't match the true allium leaves. That made me wonder if I identified the flower correctly as allium. But you can see that the leaves on tulips depictions are also cerated and don't really match the actual leaves. So I am sticking with it 🙂

Unless one of you has a better match? Anyway, as a calendar marker, flowering of the first alliums and the emergence of the first snakes from hibernation marks the time of the winged dragons (lions)...Hot part of the year...

To read more about ancient animal and plant calendar markers, start here…then check the rest of the blog posts related to animal calendar markers I still didn't add to this page, and finally check my twitter threads I still didn't convert to blog post...I am 9 months behind now...