Rhubarb and Ibex

3rd mill BC cup made in Western Iran, by the people of the Jiroft culture. According to this paper by Maryam Rezghirad from the University of Tehran, "It depicts ibex goats and a tree of life". Here are some interesting excerpts from the text:

I'll answer all of the questions at the end.

Quote: According to "The History of Iran in Achaemenid Period (From the History Collection of Cambridge)" by Gershevitch: "This animal (Ibex) was once worshiped as the incarnation of human and herd fertility...

Me: Why?

Quote: Motifs of the goat have long been a symbol of water, rain, abundance and guardian of the moon... 

Me: Why?

Quote: According to "The Concepts of the Mithras and Moon in Pre-Historical Potteries" by Abdollahian: "Horned animals such as Ibex are the symbol of fertility due to their horns’ resemblance of the crescent"... 

Me: Why is moon linked with fertility?

Quote: "Zoroastians" by Mazdapour: "When the first people Mashya and Mashyana had grown out of a rhubarb plant, ibex protected them and suckled them. For this reason, the goat is the symbol of fertility and growth".

Me: Why rhubarb and Ibex? 

Answers:

To understand any of this, we need to look at the climate in Iran and Mesopotamia, the annual variation of the angle of the crescent moon in the sky over Mespotamia and Iran, annual lifecycle of Ibex goats and rhubarb. Don't forget rhubarb...

In Iran/Mesopotamia, rains arrive when Ibex goats begin to mate, in Oct/Nov...

The ibex mating season is marked by wild male goat head banging, the sound of which can be heard from miles away...Not something you would easily miss if you lived in the area...

As I said once before, all our mythologies are the result of the fact that people are very good at noticing patterns in nature while simultaneously being very bad at distinguishing between correlation and causation 🙂

In Iran and Mesopotamia the fact that the beginning of the ibex goats mating season announced the beginning of the rain season resulted in ibex goat becoming "symbol of water, rain, abundance...and fertility"...

Ibex became "Goat of rain"...Which is, to me, best depicted on this 5000-4000BC vessel from Tepe Hissar, Northeastern Iran...I talked about this in my post "Vessel from Tepe Hissar"...

I talked about symbolism of ibex goats as animal calendar markers for winter/rain season 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"...

And it is that rain, that supports (the tree) of life...Hence goats and trees of life for everyone in Eastern Mediterranean, Levant, Mesopotamia, Iran, Central Asia...The same climate, the same ibex annual lifecycle, the same mythology...I talked about this in my post "Bactrian Bronze Age menorah", in which I talked about this cool Bactrian bronze stamp, dated to 2400BC-1600BC...

It was in Iran where we find the earliest transition from Goat of rain to God of rain...Through a goat man...I talked about this in my post "Master of animals from Tepe Giyan", in which I talked about this cool "Master of Animals" stamp seal from Tepe Giyan, Iran, dated to 5000-4000 BC, and depicting the eternal struggle between the rain goat and the sun serpent/dragon...

Actually this transformation of the goat of rain into god of rain started much earlier, most likely in the 9th millennium BC...I talked about this in my post "Zawi Chemi Shanidar"... 

What about the link between the rain, fertility, moon and ibex goats? 

To understand this, we need to know that this rain, fertile moon, is not just any moon. Its the upward pointing crescent moon. Crescent moon points upwards only during the wet half of the year...

Which is why it became the symbol of the moon god Nana/Sin. The most important god in Mesopotamia...Also linked with rain, water and fertility...

I talked about this here in my post "Moon god Nana/Sin" in which I analysed this cool Old Akkadian Cylinder Seal, dated to 2294-2270 BC...

And so winter Ibex goat brings rain and winter moon catches it...Rain which makes plants grow...As depicted on this Sassanian gem stone...

Finally, rhubarb...According to this article the wild rhubarb grows in Iran between Apr/May and May/Jun. 

When it is picked by the locals and turned into delicious food, like "Khoresh-e Rivas" – Lamb Rhubarb Stew. Here's the recipe...

Now the wild rhubarb picking season coincides with the end of the rain season, and with the beginning of the ibex birthing season (Oct/Nov + 160 days gestation)...

Which means that the first mortals born out of the rhubarb plant could indeed be suckled by lactating ibex goats...

Fun...

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...