Cup of Nestor

Cup of Nestor from Mycenae

"There was also a cup of rare workmanship which the old man had brought with him from home, studded with bosses of gold; it had four handles, on each of which there were two golden doves feeding, and it had two feet to stand on." - Iliad, book 11.

Dove was sacred to Demeter. 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.

The reason for that is that nesting season of doves overlaps with the grain harvest season. I talked about this in my post "Demeter with dove"...

Dove was also sacred to Inanna/Ishtar. 1800-1600 BC pottery cup, Syria. The rounded body tapering to a flat base, with 26 bird heads. Similar objects were interpreted as votive objects dedicated to Ishtar/Inanna, who was also linked to grain and doves. I talked about this in my post "Inanna and dove"...

The start of the nesting season of doves which overlaps with the start of grain harvest also overlaps with the heliacal rising of Pleiades...

Which is why according to the Greek mythology, the Pleiades are the seven daughters of Atlas, whom Zeus transformed first into doves, and then into stars...

I talked about this in my post "Pleiades"...

How what does any of this have to do with the Cup of Nestor from Mycenae? Did you know that Asherah, Levantinge version of Inanna/Ishtar/Demeter was linked to "high places". These were holy grounds of sort, but no one  knows what they were really...And Asherah pole stood in the middle of these "high places". Like the central pole on a threshing floor?

I talked about this in my post "Sacred marriage on the threshing floor"...BTW, this is what Homer says about Demeter, the goddess of grain harvest, and threshing floors:

"And even as the wind carries chaff about the sacred threshing-floors / of men that are winnowing, when fair-haired Demeter / amid the driving blasts of wind separates the grain from the chaff"...

You can find this quote in "A Compendium of Similes in the Iliad and Odyssey"...Which is why Eugene Vanderpool in "ΕΠΙ ΠΡΟϒΧΟΝΤΙ ΚΟΛΩΝΩΙ: The Sacred Threshing Floor at Eleusis" proposes that threshing floors were sacred to Demeter and were in fact her temples..

Why am I talking about Asherah? Asherah was Levantine Ishtar and Ishtar was linked with lions...The reason for this is that Inanna/Ishtar was actually deified Sirius, which rises in the morning before the sun in Leo (Jul/Aug),...Which is why Ishtar stands on a lion (with sun above the lion) and is known as "The Lioness of heaven"...I talked about this in detail in my post "Inanna and Sukaletuda"...

And what does this have to do with Mycenaean dove cup? Well, was the cup dedicated to Demeter or to Asherah/Ishtar/Inanna? Remember the Ishtar/Innana dove cups? 

This stands above the main gate in Mycenae: A pole between two lions...Asherah/Ishtar/Inanna pole?

Threshing floor pole? BTW, Jul/Aug, Leo is when grain harvest ends in Mesopotamia and the Eastern Mediterranean...

So was Mycenaean Demeter actually Asherah/Ishtar/Inanna? I think so...They are one and the same goddess, The Mother of Grain...I talked about the mother of grain in many of my posts...

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... 

Poseidon pursuing Demeter

Symbolic analysis  of this Tetradrachm minted in Byzantium, Thrace, ca 240–220 BC. 

It depicts:

Veiled head of Demeter, wreathed with corn

Poseidon seated right on rock, holding aphlaston in extended right hand and trident over shoulder

So why Demeter and Poseidon?

According to Greek mythology, Demeter's daughter Persephone was abducted by Hades and taken to the underworld. I talked about the abduction of Persephone in my post "Abduction of Persephone". This is my favourite depiction of the abduction of Persephone by Hades. Fresco from the small royal tomb at Vergina, 340 BC, Macedonia, Greece.

While Demeter was searching for her daughter, Demeter was "pursued" by Poseidon, her brother, who "lusted after her"...Poseidon pursuing a woman, 480-450BC. Currently in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Manhattan NY. Could this unidentified "woman" actually be Demeter?

To escape Poseidon, Demeter turned herself into a mare and hid among the mares of Oncius, king of Thelpusa in Arcadia. But Poseidon turned himself into a stallion and mated with Demeter, fathering Arion, a magic stallion...I'll talk more about Arion in one of my next posts...

This myth makes no sense, until you realise that here we are here dealing with horse as an animal calendar marker for the beginning of grain harvest season and sailing season in the Eastern Mediterranean...

Poseidon was god of the sea, storms...and horses. This is reflected in his epithets: Nauklarios (Ναυκλάριος) "belonging to the ship-owners", Pelagikos (Πελάγίκος) "belonging to the sea"...and Hippeios (ἲππειος) "belonging to a horse"...

Sailors prayed to Poseidon for a calm seas and safe voyage, "sometimes drowning horses as a sacrifice"...

In Greek art, Poseidon rides a chariot that was pulled by a hippocampus or by horses that could ride on the sea...

Poseidon is apparently "...more often regarded as the tamer of horses, but in some myths he is their father, either by spilling his seed upon a rock or by mating with a creature who then gave birth to the first horse..."

In Arcadia, one of the most conservative parts of Ancient Greece, Poseidon was worshipped as a stallion...

Why? Why?

Cause mating season of horses, marked by wild stallion fights, also marks the sailing season in the Eastern Mediterranean. Both start in Apr/May and finish in Sep/Oct...

I talked about this in my post "Trojan horse", in which I asked a question: was Trojan horse "hypos" - a wooden horse left as tribute, or  "hypos" - a wooden boat with a horse head used for transporting tributes...

So that would explain Poseidon part of the the myth. But what about Demeter?

Demeter is the mother of grain, deified grain harvest. Persephone is the grain, deified grain seed.

Grain seeds are sown in Oct/Nov and are harvested (given birth to) starting from Apr/May

Why are opium poppies sacred to Demeter, goddess of grain harvest, while pomegranates are sacred to her daughter, Persephone? Check this chart out...More details can be found in my post "Poppies and pomegranates"...

It is during this period between the sowing and harvesting that Demeter is looking for Persephone. 

And it is towards the end of this period, most likely in Apr/May, when the horse mating season starts, that Poseidon (as a stallion) elopes with Demeter (as a mare)...Guess what begins in Apr/May? Grain harvest season...

Hesiod declares: "When the Pleiades, daughters of Atlas, are rising, begin the harvest". At the mid 8th century BCE in Bœotia, the heliacal rising of the Pleiades occurred about 47 days after spring equinox, which corresponds approximately to the first week of May...I talked about this in my post "Hesiod on grain"...

Grain harvest season, when Demeter brings Persephone back from the underworld (sown grain seed, sprouts, grows, ripens, gets harvested), while stallions are prancing around fighting for mares...

Ever seen this? Demeter in her horse-drawn chariot with her daughter Persephone, driving between two prancing stallions. I wonder why??? 🙂 Selinunte, Sicily 6th c. BC

And so, Demeter with beautiful golden hair full of ripe ears of grain and Poseidon holding a trident and aphlaston...aphlaston...the most sacred part of every Ancient Greek warship...Interesting...Very interesting...I will talk about this in one of my next posts...

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...

Mother of grain from Mari

This alabaster stele [my comment: depicting the Mother of Grain, see more further down the thread], was presented in 2012 catalog of the Phoenix Ancient Art, as a cult plaque originating from the Near East and dating from the beginning of the third millennium BC...

According to Professor Michel Al-Maqdissi, an expert in oriental archaeology at the universities of Damascus and Saint-Joseph des Jésuites in Beirut, this stele almost certainly came from the ancient Mesopotamian city of Mari...

Located in Syria, not far from the Iraqi border, Mari was literally devastated by the wild searches and massive looting that took place before and after Daesh/Isis proclaimed its Islamic caliphate...

The offices of the Phoenix Ancient Art were raided by the customs in 2016 and a number of archaeological objects were seized under the suspicion that they were looted in the Middle East and smuggled into Europe...

The owner of the Phoenix Ancient Art was later sentenced in Switzerland for forging documents in order to disguise the true origin of the artefacts he was selling. You can read more about this here...

Now the interesting bit. The mother of grain? What the hell is the Mother of Grain? Well she is Mother Earth of course...Our stele from Mari also has eyes and vulva as well as water, plants, buildings and people...

What is the best way to symbolically depict "Mother Earth"? Place moutains, plants and animals between eyes and  a pubic triangle. Decorated bone depicting slightly bewildered "Mother Earth", 6th - 5th millennium BC, Hagoshrim, Southern Levant. From my post "Eyes"...

 

But Mother of Grain is a special version of Mother Earth. She is the mother earth of the grain farmers...

We know this because the plant depicted on the stele from Mari is grain...

I first talked about Mother of Grain in my post "Mother of grain"...

Mother of grain...Grain seed and vulva symbolism from Vinča, Starčevo and Lepenski vir cultures...Link between female fertility and earth/grain field fertility...

The same symbol, grain growing out of a vulva can be seen on these levantine pendants

Golden pendant with the image of Hathor. From Tel el Adjul. Gaza, middle of the 2nd mill BC. 

Similar pendants with a depiction of grain growing from the vulva. 

I wrote about them in my post "Hathor grain pendants"...

And then I talked about mother of grain in my post "Sabi Abyad venus"...

A figurine from the Late Neolithic and Early Halaf Village at Sabi Abyad, Northern Syria, part of Fertile Crescent. dated to 7th mill BC...Depicting Mother Earth turning into Mother of Grain...

And then in my post "Altyn Tepe mother of grain"...

How to depict "Mother of Grain"? Like a voluptuous woman (Mother) whose vulva (where new life come from) is horizontal (like Earth, Field) with horizontal lines (furrows) with plant (Grain) growing out of them. Altyn Tepe, BMAC,  3200-2000 BC...  

An I talked about the mother of grain in my post "Mother of grain from Yarim Tepe"...

Figurine of a nude "woman"? Or a depiction of the "Mother of grain"? Yarim Tepe, Iraq. Ubaid period, 5000-4000 BCE. Iraq Museum... Interpretation from: 

And finally i talked about the mother of grain in my post "Arjoune venus"...

An early Halaf culture figurine from the Arjoune site in Syria. It is made from a natural pebble, and it depicts a female form, with large eyes and long hair. And a square pubic area...Grain field?...Mother of grain?  

The Mother of Grain had a name in Mesopotamia: Inanna:

As for me, Inanna,

Who will plow my vulva?

Who will plow my high field?

Before my lord, Dumuzi,

...

I poured out grain before him,

I poured out grain before my womb...

From: "The Courtship of Inanna and Dumuzi"

I talked about Inanna and grain in many of my posts...

Just as Inanna says herself, we are supposed to see the vulva depicted on the stele from Mari as a grain field. Hence two grain symbols depicted on both sides of it...

We are also supposed to see the buildings as temple granaries, again because of the grain symbols depicted on top of these buildings...

We are also supposed to see this feature as an irrigation canal. People from Mari used canal irrigation extensively...You can read more about it here...

In which case this is feature is supposed to be seen as the Euphrates river...

As for the little minions, they are supposed to be seen as people from Mari...I talked about them in my post "Eye idols from Tell Brak"...

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...

Blue bull with golden horns

Stone figurine of a bull with a golden horns, Gilan, Iran, 1st mill BC.  The bull's blue(ish) stone body and golden horns suggest (to me at least🙂) that here we have an animal symbol linked with water and sun...And Taurus...  Why? Here's why:

This is the chart of the monthly flow of the Sefid Rud river, which flows through Gilan province of Iran from this article…You can see that the river is from Feb fed by snowmelt, which peaks in Apr/May, in Taurus...

Taurus which marks the beginning of summer, season symbolised by a bull...And ruled by the sun...I talked about this in my post "Symbols of the seasons"...

Taurus which originally had nothing to do with stars. It is an ancient animal calendar marker, which originally marked the beginning of the calving season of wild Eurasian cattle...

I talked about this in many of my articles, for instance "Cow and calf ivory", "Foundation peg of the goddess Nanshe", "Elamite water bull", "Human bull hybrid", "White calf", "Calydonian boar"...

It is the sun rising elevation 

and rising temperature which causes the snowmelt which fills the rivers with water.

And so, symbolically, every spring, the sun god Utu / Shamash climbs the holy mountain (Abzu, source of water) to free Enki / Ea, the god of sweet water from his icy prison and release the waters...

I talked about this in my posts "Shamash young and old", "When Utu steps up to heaven", "Problems of Abzu"...

Snowmelt which is the main water source for both Iranian rivers and Tigris and Euphrates.

Tigris and Euphrates annual flood (fed by snowmelt caused by the sun) peaks in Taurus, beginning of summer...

Hence Utu/Shamash depicted as a golden bull's head (sun) with lapis beard (flowing water). How do we know this is Utu/Shamash? Cause in "Enki and the world order" we read  "Utu/Shamash...the great herald in the east of holy An...with a lapis-lazuli beard, rising from the horizon..."  

I talked about this in my posts "Butt chewing", "Maran", "Lyres of Ur", "Solar bull"...

The Iranian blue bull with golden horns is most likely the Iranian symbolic equivalent of this golden bull Sun/Water bull Utu/Shamash or Enki/Ea, cause Enki was also known as "Great lord...Enki...great bull of the Abzu"...

BTW, I talked about Elamite/Iranian symbolic links between bulls and flood/water in my posts "Dedicated to Inshushinak", "Elamite water bull", "Harness ring from Luristan"...

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...

Vishap stones

I was re-reading my article about the mysterious (Early Medieval???) Glavica hill cemetery in Montenegro, which contains some very strange fish shaped slab tombstones...

So I googled "fish shaped stones" and this popped out:

This weird looking thing is one of many so called "dragon stones" from Armenian highlands. The local Armenians used the term vishap stone and the local Kurds and Turks used the term azhdahak stone, both words meaning dragon....

The large majority of these monumental decorated stone stelae are found in Armenia around the lake Sevan. Few are also found in Turkey, South Georgia and Azerbaijan. You can read more about it here.

They were first documented in 1909. In this article we can read that:

"During excavations in Garni, N.Ya. Marr heard stories from local residents about vishaps, some kind of stones, images of snakes and dragons, lying high in the mountains. To clarify this information, N.Ya. Marr and Ya.I. Smirnov undertook a trip to the mountains..."

"...And indeed on one of the indicated locations they discovered stone statues, which once stood upright, but were at some point in the past knocked down and and ended up being covered with earth, so that many of them had to be dug up..."

This is a great video about the dragon stones from the Karmir Sar site by Dr Arsen Bobokhyan...Here are few interesting bits:

A lot of the Vishap stones originally stood in centres of circular structures made of stones, and were found toppled over them.

Earliest possible date for Vishaps construction, based on the bones found under the base of one of the stones is around 5000BC. Latest date for the knocking down of vishaps, based on the analysis of the organic remains found under fallen stones is around 1000BC.

There are indication that at least some of the Vishap stones were still venerated well after Christianity arrived to Armenia, as some of them were Christianised, as late as the 13th century AD

Based on their shape and iconography, three main classes of dragon stones have been identified:

Stones carved like a fish.

Stones carved as if a hide of a bovid had been draped or spread on them.

Stones which are carved like a fish, but with a bovid hide draped on it. And birds.

Now, what the hell are these stones? No one knows...

They are all located next to water, rivers, lakes and irrigation canals. So some archaeologists believe that they were in some way used during the rituals related to water and irrigation.

One thing that can help us understand what these stones were depicting, are Armenian legends about Vishap (dragon). In all of them, Vishap is associated with water. In one legend, Vishap's tail, when it hit the ground, outlined where the canals for irrigation should be dug.

According to another legend, a huge Vishap (dragon) lived in lake Van. When vishap was a thousand years old, the angels, who kept watch over the lake, picked him up from the water and carried him to the sun, the heat of which burned vishap and scattered the ashes on the ground.

Another version of this legend says that there are two types of Vishaps (dragons). The celestial vishaps descend into lakes and seas, and those who live in the water ascend into the sky, creating storms.

An old Vishap (dragon), who lived in lake Van. When time came for him to ascend to the sky, it flew into the sun and burned down, turning into black ash. The ashes were scattered over the lake, and it became black, after which the lake was called SEV Van (Black Van).

According to another legend, the drought happens at the time when Vishap (dragon) closes the path of the heavenly waters. In order for the heavenly waters to start flowing again, a protector of the people, the thunder hero, must kill Vishap (dragon).

So in Armenian mythology, we find the God of fire, thunder and war, Vahagn, the Dragon-Fighter, who immediately after birth defeats the dragon and saves the universe from destruction...

Later, Vahagn became St George, the victorious, the Dragon Slayer...

Some ethnographic studies propose that Vishap (dragon) was once worshiped in Armenia as the source of water, rain and fertility. 

Very interesting. Here is why:

In the past, during spring droughts, Serbs used to go to mountain lakes to pray for rain to "a dragon living in the lake, who swallowed the rain"...I talked about this in my post "Dragon who stole the rain"...

They also sacrificed a lamb to the dragon...On St George's day...The same sacrifice given to St George, the Dragon killer, on St George's day...I also talked about this in my post "Aries must die"...

In Armenian legends, Vishap is described as "water dragon with poisonous saliva". The name Vishap, might derive from an ancient Iranian term vi-šāpa, "having poisonous juices", used in reference to snakes...

Interesting, a snake = dragon...

As I said many times, snake is a pure solar animal. It is in our world when sun is here (day, hot half of the year) and it is in the underworld when sun is there (night, cold half of the year)...I talked about it in my posts "The chthonic animal", "Enemy of the sun"...

They saw snake as a solar animal, symbol of sun's heat in Mesopotamia too...

Because sun's heat is strongest in Leo, is the reason why in Iraq, in Tell Asmar, people depicted dragons with lion body. But also with seven snake heads, one of each sunny, hot month of the old Sumerian summer...I talked about this in my post "Seven headed dragon"...

Oh look, dragon killers and princess...

We find the same snake-sun symbolism in Central Asia...This is 3rd millennium BC, Bactrian seal depicting the sun god (see heat rays emanating from his shoulders) holding snakes, symbols of sun's heat...I talked about this in my post "Nude winged hero dominating snakes"...

Snake is also an animal calendar marker for Apr/May, beginning of summer, domain of the sun. Why? Cause the mating season of the most common Eurasian snakes starts in Apr/May...

Hence Apollo, Caduceus topped by intertwined snakes, Hermes...I talked about this in my post "Lyre of Apollo"

So back to Vishap, poisonous water dragon...

There is a Serbian belief that "a dragon was just an old snake" and that "a snake got wings when it lived over 100 years, after which it flew away to live in lakes and waters"...Just like a Dragon to whom Serbs prayed for rain...

Slavic word zmaj (zmay) meaning dragon is masculine version of the word zmija (zmeeya) meaning snake...They are one and the same...symbol of sun's heat...More about snakes and dragons in Slavic folklore can be found in my post "Letnitsa treasure"... 

So that explains the snake=dragon=water bit from Vishap legends. But why was bull depicted on Vishap (dragon, snake) stones? Check this out:

Here is my favourite Bactrian seal. It depicts a snake with two heads: a dragon (left) and a bull (right)...Symbolically equating dragon (summer sun) and bull (summer starts in Taurus) and linking both with the sun's heat, symbolised by a snake body...I talked about this in my post "Bactrian snakes and dragons"...

And: There South Slavic legends about people sacrificing girls to a lake monster. The monster was at the same time a dragon and a bull, Taurus = Beginning of summer, Bull = Symbol of summer, Dragon = Burning summer sun.

I talked about this in my post "Water bull"...

What does all this have to do with Armenian dragon/snake stones? Well, if we look at the climate chart for the lake Sevan area, we can see that the peak  of the rain season starts in Apr/May, Taurus.

Taurus (Apr/May), the ancient animal calendar marker which marks the time of the year when Wild Eurasian cattle used to start calving... I talked about it in my post "Cow and calf ivory"...

This is why in Armenia thunder god Theispas arrives riding on a bull...Basically animal calendar marker became god's vehicle...And as I said few times before, it is the sacred animal that is often sacrificed (sent) to the god.

In this case, bull. And people who built thes Vishap stones definitely knew about the link between bull and flowing water, as on a lot of the Vishap stones we see sacrificed bull spewing flawing water...

BTW, The water flow of the rivers in the area around the Lake Sevan, varies significantly during the year. In general, snow and ice melt result in spring floods during spring and summer, while the flow is lower in autumn and winter...Typical river discharge chart from the area

As you can see, the peak flooding season also starts in Taurus, Apr/May...Hence the bull depicted on Armenian Vishap (dragon) stones, spewing water...

Also, see how the Armenaian thunder god has a sun above his head? Why? Cause Taurus marks the beginning of summer, the hot part of the year...Which is why we have the equating of bull (symbol of summer sun) with dragon (symbol of destructive summer sun) in Serbian folklore...

And which is why in Armenian mythology, Vishap (Dragon) can give and withraw heavenly water...As you could see from the lake Sevan climate chart, the bull/dragon of summer usually brings rains, but sometimes the rains might not come, cause bull/dragon is angry...

Anyway, amazing, I can hear you say...But why were the Vishap stones shaped like fishes? And why were they shaped (as suggested) like catfish, barbel and trout, all local to the lake Sevan?

Guess what happens in the lake Sevan right after Taurus ends (and bull gets sacrificed)? These fishes start migrating either to the shallows (catfish, barbel) or up the rivers that feed the lake (barbel, trout) for spawning...In May/Jun...Peak of the rain and flood season...

Ok, but what about the pairs of long legged birds (it is proposed that these are storks) that are depicted on some of the Vishap stones? 

Well, Storks arrive to the lake Sevan area in Mar/Apr, rebuild their nests, and start nesting in Apr/May...

Storks leave the lake Sevan area right when the water level in the rivers goes down to the minimum, during the hottest time of the year, in Jul/Aug...Their presence in the lake Sevan area marks the rain/flood season in the area...The season ruled by Vishap, the Water Dragon...

So, if we put it all together

snake/dragon

bull

fish

stork

we get a complex animal calendar marker for the rain/flood season in the lake Sevan area where Vishap stones were made...

Interesting, right?

PS: Seal impression found in a "file room" at the ground floor of one of two large administrative buildings at the site of Acemhöyük, near modern Aksaray, Turkey. It was dated to c. 1750 BC...From this article...

The author proposes that the obelisk depicted on the seal is one of the Vishap (Dragon) stones from Armenian highlands that I talked about yesterday. Read the thread, then check the symbols depicted on the seal...

The seal description from the article [my comments]:

The image is a tripartite composition. Within a braided circle [wavy lines, flowing water?], we see a standing man on the left, an obelisk-shaped object in the middle and a sitting woman on the right...

We recognise here the classic elements of an adoration scene, with a male adorant (presumably the owner of the seal) performing ritual offerings in front of an enthroned goddess...

In this case, however, the ritual act is mediated by the obelisk-shaped artefact that conspicuously occupies the center of the scene and that appears to be the actual recipient of the adorant’s offerings...

This "obelisk" is a pointed, elongated object standing on a base, incised with parallel grooves and adorned with two protruding horned bovine heads and the dangling foreleg of a bovine, to be probably interpreted as the lateral view of a leg pair...

[Don't forget the bull head, left of the top of the obelisk and the bird, right of the top of the obelisk]

[What is the think the goddess is holding in her hand? Symbol for lightning?]

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...