Two lions killing bull

Pre-Achaemenid Silver Compound Zoomorphic Vessel. Silver, 8th-6th c. BC. Currently in the Miho Museum, Japan. 

This unusual vessel features a pair of rampant lions, interlocked forelegs on each other's shoulders, standing on a prone bull...

The lion that treads on the bull's head has a round opening in the back of its snarling mouth that serves as a spout. The second lion has a small circular hole in its head through which the vessel can be filled. This hole was once sealed with a now missing stopper...

Wow...Really cool...But what does this all mean? The museum page says: "The absence of any clear religious imagery suggests that this object has a political or dynastic symbolism"....I would beg to differ...🙂

Bull and Lion are two of the 4 most common symbols of the seasons:

Ram, marks lambing of Eurasian wild sheep

Bull, marks calving of Eurasian wild cattle

Lion, marks mating of Eurasian lions

Goat, marks mating of Eurasian wild goats

I talked about this in my post "Symbols of the seasons"...

Taurus (Apr/May), originally had nothing to do with stars. It is the ancient animal calendar marker marking the beginning of the calving season of the Wild Eurasian cattle...I talked about it in these (and many other) articles:  "Ram and bull" "Cow and calf ivory"...

Leo (Jul/Aug), originally had nothing to do with stars either. It is the ancient animal calendar marker marking the beginning of the mating season of the Asiatic lions. I talked about this in these (and many other) articles: "Lion radiating heat", "Mahishasuramardini"...

And here is something interesting that I only found out today: As opposed to the African lions, who live in mixed male female groups, Asiatic male lions live separately, in groups of (mostly) two, and they only mix with females during mating season. You can read about it in this Nature article...

Lion killing bull is an ancient (religious) symbol...More precisely, ancient deified calendar marker for the end of Jul, beginning of Aug. When autumn (Aug/Sep/Oct, starts in Leo, Jul/Aug) ends (Kills) summer (May/Jun/Jul, starts in Taurus, Apr/May)...

Silver vessel in the form of a lion killing a bull. Western Iran, 7th-6th c. BC. Exhibition "Splendours of the Ancient East: Antiquities from the Al-Sabah collection"...

We find this scene depicted throughout the part of Eurasia where Asiatic (actually Eurasian) lions once lived. So what is so amazing about Jul/Aug that it's animal calendar marker deserved to be deified? Check these two charts. What happens in Jul/Aug?

This is Nergal, the deified destructive "burning" sun, was depicted as a lion man, because Jul/Aug, Leo, is the hottest and driest part of the year in Mesopotamia...Talked abut him in my post "Winged superhuman hero"...

That lion killing bull was a calendar marker became crystal clear to me when I saw this: composite Bull-Lion, bronze, Iran, 1500-1000 BC. Currently in the Cleveland Art Museum. The meaning of this object is unknown. It is presumed that it has served as an object of worship in a temple or shrine...I talked about this object in my post "Bull lion"...

Worship of who? Shamash (Sun) of course...As Nergal, in Jul/Aug, the point when summer (bull) and autumn (lion) meet (one body with two heads)... 

Now what is interesting is that for later Achaemenid Persians, Nergal, The Lion Man, became "Angra Mainyu", The Devil...I talked about this in my post "Angra Mainyu"

Which had to be killed...

Why were Persian kings so obsessed with killing lions? Well they were't really killing lions. They were symbolically killing dry season...Which starts in Apr/May, Bull, peaks in Jul/Aug, Leo and ends in Oct/Nov, Scorpio/Eagle...I talked about it in my post "King killing Angra Mainyu".

You can read more about the religious symbolism of the Lion killing Bull scene in these articles:

"Mystery seal", "Cypriot stamp seal with cow and calf", "Black basalt stone of Esarhaddon", "Angra Mainyu", "Bull leaping in Syria", "Lion killing bull under date palm", "Butt chewing"

And so...Just another lion killing bull scene, with a twist? 

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...