A very interesting Minoan vessel found in Mesa Mouliana and dated to 1200-1100BC. Do you see the two nipple like things just under the spout? And wavy lines originating from each "nipple " and [my interpretation] symbolising the flow of water (milk of Mother Earth)?
This object is extremely stylised version of this. Ceramic vessel form Crete dated ca 2200-2000 BC. Probably during rituals the liquid would pour out of her breasts symbolically providing nourishment. It’s believed to represent the mountain goddess of Crete...
Both objects are in the Archaeological museum in Heraklion, Crete, Greece.
What was poured out of this vessel was drinking water. I explained why in my post "Anavlochos mountain" about ancient Mother Earth sanctuaries found on it.
Now here is something that just occurred to me. Look at this beauty: Minoan jug decorated with flying swallows and small breast-like buttons - 1700-1650 BC, discovered in Akrotiri, Santorini. Currently at the Prehistoric Thera Museum, Santorini, Greece
Similar kind of jug, with nipples, but instead of water pouring out of the nipples, a swallow in flight is depicted on the jug's belly. Why? I already talked about swallows as animal calendar marker for Apr/May, the beginning of summer, in Minoan art in my post "Minoan spring fresco". In it I analysed the animal (swallow) and plant (lily) calendar markers depicted on the "Spring Fresco" from the Akrotiri Site at Thera (Santorini), dated to 1550 – 1500 BC, and I suggested that based on the link between swallows nesting season and the lily blooming season, the fresco should be called "Summer fresco"...
But just now, I discovered that swallows were also linked with saffron crocuses. This is a strainer found in room 3 of the Xeste 3 house in Akrotiri. It is decorated with swallows flying over flowering saffron crocuses...The pic is from this paper...
Crocus flowers in Oct/Nov and is used in Minoan art as a plant calendar marker for Oct/Nov. I talked about this in my post "Male - female Minoan vessel", where I analysed this 16th c. BC Minoan vessel found on Thera, Akrotiri, depicting (according to the museum curators) on one side wild goats and saffron crocuses and on the other side dolphins and sea grass...
What is very very interesting is that swallows are summer visitors to Crete, arriving in Apr/May and leaving in Oct/Nov...
Minoans were maritime people and the swallow migrations marking the beginning and the end of the sailing season must have had a special place in Minoan culture...This veneration of swallows was also found in Ancient Greece. I talked about it in my post "Herald of spring". Did you know that Ancient Greeks had a constellation swallow (Ancient Greek: χελιδών). "...The sun entered into this constellation, when the swallow appeared in Greece as the herald of Spring..."
And the same link between swallows and sailing was found in Roman culture and later European cultures...I talked about it in my post "Swallow tattoo"...
The period between the arrival of swallows (Apr/May) and the departure of swallows (Oct/Nov) marks the hot, dry half of the year on Crete.
How can this explain the nipple jugs with swallows? Well, the swallow migrations divide the year into female (Wet, Cool, Yin, Sowing - Creating life, No Sailing, Peace) and male (Dry, Hot, Yang, Harvesting - Destroying life, Sailing, War) halves...
The wet half being linked to the (earth) goddess, symbolised by saffron crocuses, goats and boobs 🙂 and the dry half being linked to the (sea/sun) god, symbolised by lilies, bulls and no boobs 🙂...
This is seriously cool...BTW, I already talked about the calendric symbolism of flowers in Minoan art in my post "Three Minoan flowers"...
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...
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