Green stone cylinder seal; A walking bull, below which is a smaller horned animal (Ibex goat btw) and above the bull is a branch. Jemdet Nasr or Old Elamite period (3100 to 2900 BC). Currently in the British Museum.
Meaning? Apparently, according to the museum experts: "we have no idea"...
Let me try:
Remember this post, "Problems of Abzu"? I completely forgot about it 🙂 This post tries to answer the question: Why was Enki, Sumerian god of fresh water and annual flood, called both "Goat of Abzu" and "Bull of Abzu"? Abzu being source of fresh water in Mesopotamia...In short: Because the rains season in Mesopotamia starts when wild goats start to mate and ends when wild cattle start to calve 🙂
Rain that falls during the rain season is what makes Mesopotamia and Iran green and fertile...So maybe this is what is depicted on this green cylinder seal with goat, bull and branch???
But maybe the "branch" isn't just a branch. Maybe it is the symbol for grain...
Grain harvest in Mesopotamia and Elam started in Apr/May, Taurus...Hence the "bull and grain" symbolism found all over the place...I talked about it in my post "Bull carrying granary"...
Oh, and guess when the grain was sown? At the end of autumn, Oct/Nov, is when the first rains arrive, brought by the goat of rain. Here is rain god Ninurta/Ningirsu, who was, in the earliest records, also agriculture god, giving plough to the people...I talked about this in my post "Black basalt stone of Esarhaddon"...
So is this what this seal depicts? Small goat (grain seeds are sown). Big bull (grain ears are harvested)...
I don't know if either of these two "potential interpretations" are correct, but to me they are definitely better than "" we get from British Museum...
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...
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