Lakonian snake eagle kylix

Lakonian Black-Figure Kylix depicting a snake eagle flying to the left, gripping the neck of a snake in its beak and clutching the serpent's long, undulating body in its talons. 530 BC. Currently in the Getty Villa.

From the Getty page: "In the Iliad, the poet Homer described an omen seen by the Trojans as they were attacking the Greek forces. Signifying the eternal conflict of the forces of the earth and the sky, the motif of the battling eagle and snake was used throughout antiquity"...

The eagle fighting a snake can of course be seen as the depiction of the fight between the forces of earth and sky. But is this the only meaning of this image?

Eagle-Snake struggle mosaic from the palace of the Emperor Justinian I  (527-565), Istambul.

This is a complex animal calendar marker for the thunderstorm season in Europe Apr/May -  Sep/Oct...

when migratory snake eagles can be seen in Europe...

I talked about this in my post "Eagle snake struggle"...

The snake eagle is also a migratory species in Western Anatolia, where Troy is located...So the only time when the Trojans could have seen a snake eagle flying over the battlefield carrying a snake in its beak was during the summer, Apr/May - Sep/Oct...Significant? 🙂

The same animal calendar marker, snake eagle carrying a snake in its beak, used for the same time of the year, on this complex Mesopotamian calendar encoded using animal and plant calendar markers. 

I talked about it in my post "Adda seal"...

The same symbol (animal calendar marker), eagle fighting snake, depicted on this gold plaque excavated from the Majiayuan cemetery in Zhangjiachuan, Gansu Province, China and dated to 5th-3rd c. BC. 

I talked about this beautiful object in my post "Snake eagles from Inner Mongolia"...

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...

Apollo and Python

Drawing after a lost Apulian red figure amphora showing Leto with Apollo and Artemis pursued by Python (early 4th century BC). 

It is interesting that according to the Delphian tradition, Apollo was born on the 7th day of the month of Bysios (Jan/Feb). Interesting why ?

Remember this post, "The marble throne of Apollo" in which I talked about why Apollo is actually a deified Serpent/Dragon, deified symbols of sun's heat...

Marble Throne of Apollo, Roman, late 1st c. AD.

Whoever made this, knew who Apollo really was and wanted to show Apollo in his true shape (serpent, dragon), sitting on his throne. 

In this post I mentioned that Apollo's (Python's) oracle  in Delphi only gave prophecies during the nine warmest months of the year. During winter months, Apollo was said to have deserted his temple. Why?

Cause snakes (including Python) are in our world when sun (god Apollo) is here (day, hot half of the year) and they are in the underworld when sun (god Apollo) is there (night, cold half of the year)...

In Greece, snake season is Feb/Mar - Oct/Nov

Feb/Mar is just after Apollo's birthday, Jan/Feb, beginning of spring. Spring which is brought by the re(birth), return of the sun (god Apollo) from the land of the dead...

So snakes again follow sun (god Apollo) to our world. Just like Python does on the above Apulian vase. BTW, did you notice that Apollo is stretching his arms towards Python? As if he wants to play with the serpent/dragon, his alter ego, and is saying: "Can we keep it?! Please!"🙂

Now I wrote about the birth of Apollo before in several of my posts. Like for instance "Cygnus"... 

When Apollo was born, "swans circled Delos seven times"...Young Sun God is born on winter solstice...And during second millennium BC, the formative period of the Greek mythology, Cygnus (Swan) constellation rose with the sun around winter solstice. The same time which migratory singing swans from Northern Europe spent in Greece...

I still believe that like all sun gods, Apollo was also born on Winter Solstice, Dec/Jan, beginning of the new Solar Year, and that what Delphian tradition calls Apollo's birthday is actually the day of his arrival from the land of the dead (end of winter, beginning of spring)...

Another interesting thing about Delphic version of the Apollo's birth is that he was born on the 7th day of the month of Bysios. Also, while usually Greek festivals were celebrated at the full moon, all the feasts of Apollo were celebrated on the 7th day of the month...

Why? No one knows, but "the emphasis given to that day (sibutu) indicates a Babylonian origin"...

That's interesting...BTW, when Apollo was born, swans circled above the new born god 7 times...Why? As a sing that he will be playing 7 string lyre? Why? No one knows...

BTW, I talked about Animal and plant calendar markers embedded into the story about the birth of Hermes, particularly the part related to him making the first lyre, which he later swapped with Apollo for the caduceus in my post "Lyre of Apollo". 

And I just realised by Apollo is dragging the lyre with him everywhere...It again has to do with Mesopotamia. Will write about it soon...If I don't forget 🙂

Anyway, Apollo and number 7...Hmmmm....

Apollo-Helios wearing a crown with 7 rays of light and a halo, fresco from Pompei, currently in the Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples, Campania, Italy.

So what's with number 7 and Apollo, who, (I proposed) is a no other than deified Serpent/Dragon, deified destructive sun's heat? Remember this?

In Mesopotamia, summer lasted seven (hot) months...Which is why local dragon (dragon = symbol of summer), had seven snake heads (snake = symbols of sun's heat)...Oh, and look, we also have dragon killer(s) and the princess 🙂. I talked about this in my post "Seven headed dragon"...

For the same reason we have this...

Vedic Sun God Surya was usually depicted riding a chariot harnessed by seven usually white horses. Or by a white horse with seven heads...I talked about this in my post "Hayagriva"...

And finally this. A reminder of the last apocalypse...Please count the heads...From my post "Apocalypse"...

Soo...I think we all learned few interesting things here 🙂 BTW, Apollo is the seven headed dragon...If you want to know what I am talking about check these posts: "Palil", "Lord of the flies", "Lions of Delos", "Apollo and dolphins", "Marble throne of Apollo", "White raven", "Threshing floor of Apollo", "Apollo the great archer"...More coming...

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...

Cygnus

When Apollo was born, "swans circled Delos seven times"...Young Sun God is born on winter solstice...And during second millennium BC, the formative period of the Greek mythology, Cygnus (Swan) constellation rose with the sun around winter solstice. Source: Stellarium app

The Swans of Apollo were "Singing swans" which "when the singers would sing hymns to Apollo, would join the chant in unison"...The only swans that "sing" are whooper swans...

These are migratory birds, which spend warm, sunny half of the year (Mar/Apr/May-Oct/Nov) in the northern regions of Eurasia, and cold, dark half of the year (Oct/Nov-Mar/Apr/May) in the southern (Greece) and western (Ireland) regions of Eurasia...

Which is why in Greece we find "Singing swans" linked to the birth of the Young Sun God Apollo at winter solstice...I talked about this in my post "The singers of Apollo"...

And why "swans always hovered over the head of Aengus", The Young God, who is said to reside "for one night and one day" inside Newgrange, Neolithic temple built in Ireland to capture the rising sun on day of the Winter Solstice. I talked about this in my post "The young one"...

This is also why the Old Sun God (which became The Devil) from Neolithic Karelia (North of Russia) was depicted standing between swans arriving from the land of the dead in the Spring and departing to the land of the dead in the autumn...

Land of the dead, according to the local folklore, being "somewhere south-west"...Where migratory whooper swans spend winters...I talked about this in my post "Bes"...

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...

Apollo the Great archer

Apollo armed with bow and arrows. Why?

"I will remember and not be unmindful of Apollo who shoots afar. As he goes through the house of Zeus, the gods tremble before him and all spring up from their seats when he draws near, as he bends his bright bow..."

"Leto...then...unstrings his bow, and closes his quiver, and takes his archery from his strong shoulders in her hands and hangs them on a golden peg against a pillar of his father's house..."

This is an excerpt from "Homeric hymn to Apollo".

So, ever wandered why Apollo was known as the "far shooting" and why "bow and arrow" were his main symbols? Like for instance, on this Marble Throne of Apollo, Roman, late 1st c. AD. 

BTW, whoever made this, knew who Apollo really was and wanted to show Apollo in his true shape (serpent, dragon), sitting on his throne. With his bow and arrows. You can find the full analysis of this object and the explanation why Apollo is the Serpent/Dragon in my post "Marble throne of Apollo"...

Anyway, I did wander, and I couldn't figure it out. Until yesterday. Let me explain: 

I knew that Apollo "was a god plague and pestilence" just like Nergal. I wrote about this in my post "Lord of flies", about Beelzebub, the lord of the flies, who was identified by Jews and Christians with Satan...In this article I showed that behind this nickname hides the old Mesopotamian God of Death, Nergal, The Destructive Sun of Jul/Aug, Leo, the time of droughts, flies and epidemics...

Leo, which was also the time of the year dedicated to Apollo. I talked about this in my post "Threshing floor of Apollo" about Halos, the sacred threshing floor of Apollo in Delphi. And about Apellaios, Jul/Aug, the sacred month of Apollo...

But I couldn't understand why Apollo "was a god who could bring...deadly plague with his arrows". I couldn't connect the plague and arrow(s) in any way.

And then I read this paper "The Best of the Olympians: The Character of Apollo in the Homeric Epics and Hymns"...

And in it there was a bit about how Apollo persuaded Cretans to go to Crisa and become priests in his temple. He first turned himself into a dolphin (important) and jumped on their ship. I talked about it in my post "Apollo and dolphins" about this  490 BC Etruscan hydria from Vulci, which shows Apollo in the centre, holding his lyre, seated on the Delphic tripod...with a dolphin to either side of the tripod...

But then we reed that: "There, from the ship the far-working lord Apollo leapt, seeming like a star at mid-day: many sparks flew from him, and the beam reached to heaven"...

The author of the paper says that "We may contrast this image, where Apollo is like a star at mid-day, with the similes that describe Achilles at the peak of his antagonism toward this god at the end of the Iliad..."

"Where the beam from the flame emitted from his head reaches the sky, and where an image of asterism later compares the hero to the brightest star in the night sky, a baneful signifier of Troy’s eventual destruction and perhaps his own..."

"It is the most brilliant light, but it produces a deadly sign and brings much fever to wretched mortals." 

Wow. Apollo was actually directly linked to Sirius?

Now remember that I proposed that Apollo was actually Nergal,  the Mesopotamian god of war, pestilence and death, the personification of the destructive sun's heat in Leo, Jul/Aug?

I explained why Apollo was so terrible, and why everyone was so scared shitless when he was around, in my post "Lions of Delos" about the lions from the 600 BC Temple of Apollo from Delos and about why Apollo was linked to lions, and Leo, Jul/Aug...

Guess which star rises with the sun in Leo, Jul/Aug? Sirius...The morning star in Leo. Hence Inanna/Ishtar (personification of Sirius), also known as the lioness of heaven, standing on a lion, with sun above the lion, in Leo... I talked about it in my post "Inanna and Sukaletuda"...

Interestingly, in Mesopotamia, Sirius was seen as an arrow and the surrounding stars were seen as a bow...And they were stars of Jun/Jul/Aug...

I already talked about this in my post "The brightest star" about the link between Sirius and Inanna...

So Jul/Aug, the time of the year ruled by Nergal/Apollo, is the time when Sirius (bow and arrow) rises with the sun. Now I know why Ishtar, the lady that rides on lions, is armed with bow and arrows...BTW, Jul/Aug was also start of date harvest...Hence palm tree...

I talked about palms and lions in my post "Cylinder seal with a monster", about this Elamite seal (Iran), ca. 11th–9th century BC. 

See the Shamash cross above the lion? That is the sun cross. I talked about this in my post "The cross of Shamash"...

But why did Mesopotamians see Sirius as arrow? Remember my post "Invisible archer"? If arrows are shooting down from the night sky, there must be an [invisible] archer shooting them from up there...  

This article was about Orion and Orionids meteorite shower. Orionids shoot down on earth during Sep/Oct/Nov. But there is another meteroite shower that rains light arows down on earth in Jul/Aug. Perseid Meteor shower...

And guess when this meteor shower is most intense? When the most light arrows are being shot down on earth? Right before dawn. You can even see them at dawn, together with Sirius and the sun...Destructive sun of Leo, Nergal, Apollo...

And guess what coincides with the time when the far shooting Apollo is rising in the east, with his "bow and arrow" (Sirius) while his golden arrows rain down on earth? The pestilence season...As I explained in my post about the lord of the flies...

Interesting, right? So this is why Apollo was the feared archer whose arrows brought plague...

Also, remember this? Artemis was also armed with bow and arrows...

Also Artemis, of the original, archaic type, before people forgot her real meaning, from the Artemis temple in Corfu...She is the twin sister of the sun god, Apollo 🙂 

Gorgon...Interesting name...🙂 In Slavic languages it means "The burning one"...Check my post "Ognjena Marija", About the special incarnation of virgin (goddess) Mary, Burning Mary, which is celebrated in...Jul/Aug...

Ko razume shvatiće...🙂

Will write more about this soon...

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...

Threshing floor of Apollo

Threshing floor, Naxos, Greece...

Today, while reading "Delphi and Cosmovision: Apollo's Absence At the Land of the Hyperboreans and the Time for Consulting the Oracle", I discovered that Delphic calendar started with the month of Apellaios, the month dedicated to Apollo. As you would expect it to be in Delphi, The Apollo Central...

But what I didn't expect to see is that in Delphi, Apellaios started with the first new moon after summer solstice, which means that this month of Apollo basically covered Jul/Aug, Leo...Why? Cause this is another confirmation that Apollo was indeed, like I suggested, Nergal...

Who's Nergal? This dude:

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", "Palil", "Lord of flies", "Angra Mainyu"...and many other...

In Greece, the "terrible" sun, Shamash as Nergal,  became Apollo. The "terrible" sun god Apollo..."As he [Apollo] goes through the house of Zeus, the gods tremble before him and all spring up from their seats when he draws near, as he bends his bright bow". This is an excerpt from the Homeric "Hymn to Delian Apollo"... 

I explained why Apollo was so terrible, and why everyone was so scared shitless when he was around, in my post "Lions of Delos" about the lions from the 600 BC Temple of Apollo from Delos. 

No wonder then that this month of the terrible Apollo was also the main time to perform Hekatomb, the sacrifice of 100 bulls to Apollo, the (Lion/Dragon) god...

Lion killing bull...The scene we see depicted all over the Old World, with no explanation...Like on this coin from Cilicia, Tarsos Mazaios Satrap 361-334BC...Autumn (starts in Leo) ends (kills) summer (starts in Taurus)...

The animal calendar marker marking Jul/Aug, Nergal time.

Some posts that talk about the meaning of the "Lion killing bull" scene:  "Mystery seal", "Cypriot stamp seal with cow and calf", "Black basalt stone of Esarhaddon", "Angra Mainyu", "Bull leaping in Syria", "Adda seal", "Lion killing bull under date palm", "Butt chewing"...

Those wondering why Apollo, the Dragon god...Check my post "Marble throne of Apollo" out. 

Marble Throne of Apollo, Roman, late 1st c. AD. Currently in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art 

Whoever made this, knew who Apollo really was and wanted to show Apollo in his true shape (serpent, dragon), sitting on his throne. 

Anyway, why did I start this post with a picture of a threshing floor? Because the word Apellaios is derived from the Doric word apella (ἀπέλλα) which originally meant wall, enclosure of stones, and later assembly of people within the limits of this enclosure...

Threshing floors (circular walled enclosures) were used as communal gathering places until recently. So I wonder if the original "apellas" took place on threshing floors? I talked about it in my posts "Shield of Achilles", "Oro", "Bogovo gumno, God's threshing floor"...

Threshing floors were also used as solar observatories, and The First Temple in Jerusalem, which later, according to the Jewish sources, turned out to be a solar temple, most likely dedicated to Shamash, was built on a threshing floor.

If you wanted to make a (First) Temple on a Threshing Floor, and "orient" it (make it to face east), if you wanted to make a "House of God" to face the "House of (Sun) God", how would you do it?

I taled about this in my posts "Sun god from the first temple", "Boaz and Jachin", "The tree of life/light", "Menorah from Nipur"...

Threshing floors were also used as ceremonial platforms. I talked about this in my post "Sacred marriage on the threshing floor" and "Jerusalem of gold".

 And so it is not surprising that in Delphi we also find a sacred threshing floor.

This threshing floor (Halos), marks the spot where Apollo killed Python. Did Apollo (sun god) kill Python (solar snake) on a threshing floor (solar observatory)? Anyways, this threshing floor was the place where plays honouring Apollo were staged.

This threshing floor was also the place where Septerion, the ritual re-enactment of the murder of Python by Apollo, took place once every eight years.

Hmmm...According to Hesiod threshing in Greece took place around the time of the summer solstice. I talked about this in my post "Hesiod on grain". Which is why the new year started right after that, during the month of Apollo...

Apellaios, Jul/Aug, Leo, when, according to "Pindar's Paeans: A Reading of the Fragments with a Survey of the Genre", Septerion ritual took place, right before the start of the Pythian games, which took place in August...

BTW, what did that hut, that was supposed to represent Python's lair, look like? No one knows...Like this I presume? 

Like a bonfire...

Like bonfires still lit all over Europe around Summer Solstice...

Sometimes with the solar wheel placed on top of it...Talked about it in my post "Burning rolling wheel" 

So, in Jul/Aug, the hottest time of the year in Greece, Greeks celebrated the victory of the (destructive) Sun God Apollo over a dragon (symbol of the destructive sun's heat) by lighting a bonfire 🙂, on a threshing floor (solar observatory) using torches...🙂 Funny that...

You might also like my post about the black and white ravens of Apollo, another strange Apollo legend which has its parallel in Nergal legends and which can only be explained through animal calendar markers. 

In this post you will find that "the gates of hell" in Mesopotamia were guarded by twins, linked to Gemini constellation, and "closely related to Nergal"...

Just like Dioskuri who guard Summer Solstice, the gates of Apellaios, Jul/Aug, Time of Apollo, the Scary God of art and music and healing...Apparently...

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...