Ibex cup from Susa

Cup with zoomorphic handle in a shape of an Ibex, wild goat. Discovered in Susa, Iran and dated to 2100-1550 BC. Currently in Louvre... 

On the back of the cup are two Ibex, wild goats, carved in bas-relief, kneeling on either side of a (palm) tree, and forming the palm tree branches with their horns...

This back "decoration" is very interesting indeed. Palm tree was the symbol for the "Tree of Life" in the region where this cup was found...The fact that the Ibex goats were positioned in such a way as to form the branches of the "Tree of Life" is not accidental...

In the region where this cup was found, the climatic year is divided into hot, dry summer and cool, wet winter.

The rain season starts in Oct/Nov, which coincides with the beginning of the mating season of Ibex, wild goats...Mating season which is marked by vicious male goat fights...

This is why Ibex, wild goat, became a symbol of the cool, wet half of the year...And life that the rain that falls during the wet season makes possible...Hence, Ibex, wild goat, symbolically forming the branches of the "Tree of Life" with their horns...

The same symbolism can be found in Iran 2500 years later. Two Sassanian wall relief slabs dated to the 5th-6th c. AD, depicting rampant ibex goats flanking "the tree of life"...

I talked about this in my post "Sassanian goats with the tree of life"...

I talked about the significance of ibex goats in the mythology of Susa in my posts "Jackals from Susa" and "Flamingoes from Susa" in which I provide symbolic analysis of these two super cool vessels made between 4200BC and 3500BC...

I also talked about Ibex mythology in Eurasia in many of my other posts...

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...