Winter deer

Winter deer...Iran, 14th - 10th century BC...

Why winter deer?

Judging by the antlers, these are red deer, most likely the subspecies known today as Caspian red deer...

Deer, including red deer, shed and regrow their antlers annually...

Red deer antlers become fully grown right in time for the beginning of their mating season, rut, which lasts between late Sep and early Nov, and peaks in Oct. Red deer rut is marked by loud stag mating roars and wild stag fights for females...

This is not something you would easily miss...And just as the red deer mating season gets into the full swing, the rains arrive to Iran...Life giving rains...Guess when the rains stop? Right after the red deer shed their antlers...

So from the point of view of animal calendar markers, in Iran, red deer with fully grown antlers is equivalent to ibex goat, the goat of rain, the most depicted animal in the ancient Iranian art.

Ibex head, Iran, 5th-4th c. BC. I want to thank Gabriella Brusa-Zappellini for posting the pic...

Posts about Ibex, the "Goat of Rain": 

Europe:

"Pitys", "Goat in European culture", "Patera of Rennes"... 

Levant:

"The tree of life/light", "Lachish animal calendar"...

Mesopotamia:

"Feast plaque from Louvre", "Green pastures", "Problems with Abzu", "Relief from Dur Sharrukin", "Goatfish"...

Iran: 

"Flamingos from Susa", "Goat carrier", "Iranian goat of rain", "Strider", "A vessel from Tepe Hissar"...

The both have mating seasons, characterised by loud, vicious male fights, which start around the beginning of the rain season...

A perfect alarm clocks for the beginning of winter (Nov,Dec,Jan), and the cool, wet half of the year...

BTW, deer with fully grown antlers is also a symbol of winter in Europe too...For the same reason...

And so is Ibex goat...For the same reason...

Article explaining the link between Mountain Ibex Goats, #Capricorn zodiac sign, #Yule Goat, #Krampus and all the other Christmas related goat characters and masks: "Krampus"...

Sooo...Merry Christmas, to all, regardless whether your presents are brought to you on a sled pulled by deer or goat...🙂

That's it. To read more about ancient animal and plant calendar markers, start here…Then check my twitter threads I still didn't convert to blog post...I am way way behind...