Kassite bird demon

A Kassite period (1595-1155 BC) seal depicting a "bird-demon" 🙂, holding two ibexes, by their hind legs. 

Found in Iraq, UChicago, A29439. The description reads: "Marduk, great lord, on the servant who reverences you show mercy."

What is really depicted here?

First, who is the birdman? Did you know that originally rain god was in Mesopotamia imagined as a giant storm bird, giant black eagle? Why?

Eagle dance...

Montenegro 1963AD

Syria, 1800BC

Eagle (vulture) couples dance above the mountains at the beginning of their mating season, which coincides with the beginning of the rain season in Fertile Crescent...I talked about this in my post "Eagle dance"...

The storm bird eventually became anthropomorphised, and became first a birdman and then a storm god with a pet eagle...

Who is the mysterious "birdman" depicted with his hands tied behind his back, being judged by Enki, Sumerian god of water and the annual flood? This article, "The judgement of the birdman" tries to answer this question...

Birdman=Old thunder god, starts flying over Mesopotamia in Oct/Nov. The rain that the Birdman brings supports the tree of life. This is also when Ibex goats start to mate. 

Which is why ibex became "The goat of rain"...

I talked about symbolism of ibex goats in many of my posts, like 

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"...

This is also when gazelles start to mate. 

Hence gazelles flanking the tree of life on this Akkadian cylinder seal which also depicts a birdman. I talk about this seal in my article, "Mysterious creature"...

Speaking of gazelles, you'll like this 🙂:

This is a wall painting from a provincial palace on the Assyrian borderlands, c. 9th - 7th century BC, depicting a "demigod holding animals that urinate on him to purify him". OMG...Winter animal calendar markers (gazelle) and winter moon...Rain season...I talk about this in my post "Pissing gazelles"...

Gazelles, are identical calendar markers as ibex goats depicted on the Kassite seal. They both have the same mating season, starting in Oct/Nov, when rain (bird) arrives...

Anyway, the same "birdman holding ibex goats" scene is also found in Bactria.  Here is winged vulture guy holding two winged ibex goats...From Bactrian seal, end of 3rd beginning of 2nd millennium BC...I talked about it in my post "Fluffy"...

Finally, this Kassite seal, (18th-12th centuries BC) from Syria, currently in the National Museum of Damascus, spells the link between vultures, ibex goats and Enki, the God of the source of fresh water...The full analysis can be found in my post "Kassite seal with Apkallu"

See the same tree of life? Anyway, time to go. 

For the end: My post "Pero", in which I proposed that the root of the name of the Slavic thunder god Perun is "pero" = feather, which would make Perun = Feathered one, and not from PIE perkwus, meaning "oak" or "mountain"...

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...