Demeter with dove

Terracotta statuette of Demeter enthroned with a turtle-dove. The cult image of the harvest goddess was likely venerated in a sanctuary. From Sicily, 5th century BC. Milan Archaeological Museum. Pic by Gareth Harney

Demeter was Olympian goddess of grain harvest...Why was the goddess of harvest associated with turtle doves? I would like to answer this question in this article...

Well I think that Demeter was associated with turtle doves for the same reason she was associated with snakes...Because the grain harvest season in Ancient Greece started in Apr/May, when the most common Eurasian snakes start to mate...

I talked about Demeter and snakes in my posts "Who are Persephone's parents" and "Demeter riding a panther"...

This is the same reason she was associated with opium poppies...Because opium poppies harvest in Ancient Greece started in Apr/May, at the same time when grain harvest started...

I talked about Demeter and poppies in my posts "Poppies and pomegranates", "Kubaba with grain and poppies", "Demeter riding a panther"...

As I said, snakes and opium poppies are animal and plant calendar markers for Apr/May, the beginning of the grain harvest season in Eastern Mediterranean - Levant - Mesopotamia - Iran area...

I believe that turtle doves are also such calendar marker.

This is European Turtle Dove. Beautiful bird...

Despite its name it is actually native to both Europe and Western Asia...

Now remember, animal calendar markers are ancient calendar markers derived from the annual mating (most often) or birthing or migrating or hibernating habits of the animal in question...

The breeding season of European turtle doves starts in Apr and lasts until Sep. So it overlaps with the grain harvest season in Europe and Western Asia...Which is why, I think, this bird is associated with Demeter...Goddess of grain harvest...

By the way, doves were also associated with Inanna/Ishtar...Who was also associated with grain...

Now in Iraq, apart from European Turtle Dove, we also find Eurasian Collared Dove...

In Iraq, in it's native range, turtle dove nests between Apr and Aug... Again overlapping with the grain harvest season in Mesopotamia...

So both most common Mesopotamian dove types start their nesting at the beginning of the grain harvest in Mesopotamia...Which is why, I think, dove was Inanna's bird. I will write another article specifically about Inanna/Ishtar and doves...Tonight I will stope here. Time for bed 🙂

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...