A toast to Inanna

A small lapis lazuli disc, 2100-1900 BC, Trans-Elamite period, Southeastern Iran. Currently in Louvre...

What does it depict? Some say "a pair of lovers sharing a drink"...I would disagree. Here is why:

One side of the disc depicts a bare chested woman seating on a stool. She wears a skirt with a hatching pattern. Facing her, a kneeling bare chested man wearing a plain skirt who presents her with a cup...

Crescent moon and star above...

The other side of the disc depicts the man, now seating on a stool. Facing him is the same woman, kneeling on the ground and drinking from the same cup...

Star and crescent moon above...

Now what is interesting is that as the star is always above the woman and the crescent moon is always above the man. Which I think identifies these figures as 

Star - (Elamite version of) Inanna

Crescent moon - (Elamite version of) Sin

Another interesting thing is that the man (Sin) gives the cup to the woman (Inanna) and that she then drinks from it...What could that mean?

To figure this out we need to look at the climate in Mesopotamia/Iran and the way crescent moon sets during the year. 

In Mesopotamia/Iran the climatic year is divided into a hot dry half (Apr/May - Oct/Nov) and cool wet half (Oct/Nov - Apr/May)...

During the winter, the ecliptic plane intersects the western horizon at its steepest, most vertical angle at sunset. Because a waxing crescent Moon follows right behind the Sun along this steep line, it sits directly above the Sun. This makes the crescent look like a upright bowl (the "wet moon") that sinks straight down into the horizon...

So basically, in Mesopotamia/Iran, the crescent moon points upwards during the wet season, the season which turns parched, dry wasteland into fertile grazing and farm land. This is why Moon god Sin was so venerated. I talked about this originally in my post "Moon god Nana - Sin"

BTW, Jan/Feb, when the Wet Moon starts approaching it's most vertical position is also the beginning of the snowmelt in the Iranian mountains...And snowmelt is the main contributor to the annual flood of Tigris and Euphrates...

I talk about the Wet Moon and why Moon Gods were so important in places where winter is the rainy part of the year in many of my other posts too...

Inanna was directly linked to land fertility, particularly with cattle, grain, date fertility. I talked about this in my posts "Inanna in Egypt", "Chalcedony stamp", "Rhomb", "Mother of grain", "Sacred marriage on the threshing floor"...and many others...

"Man — despite his artistic pretensions, his sophistication, and his many accomplishments — owes his existence to a six-inch layer of topsoil and the fact that it rains."

So, for (Mother) earth to become fertile and to produce grain and grass/cattle it needs (to drink) water (rain/snow melt). And I think that this is what is symbolically depicted through "the woman (Inanna) drinking from the cup given to her by the man (Sin)"...

I already talked about this symbolism of drinking from a cup in my post "Tulip goddess", in which I give symbolic analysis of this cool seal depicting a seated female figure (goddess? ) drinking out of a goblet - next to a tulip, bronze seal, late 3rd - early 2nd mill BC, (BMAC), Afghanistan. Currently in a Private collection Linenthal, San Francisco. Tulips as calendar markers for snowmelt/flood season in Central Asia... 

And in my post "Lapis lazuli water seal", in which I analyse the scene depicted on this amazing Lapis lazuli seal from the point of view of the local climate and animal calendar markers. The seal was made between 2400BC and 2000BC in Eastern Iran. Currently in the British Museum...

Oh and the fact that the disc we are talking about was made from lapis lazuli (water stone) is another indicator that the scene we are seeing depicted on it is not just a depiction of a couple having few casual drinks...

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

So golden bull's head (sun) with lapis beard (flowing water)  

I talked about this in my posts "Shamash young and old", "When Utu steps up to heaven", "Problems of Abzu", "Butt chewing", "Maran", "Lyres of Ur", "Solar bull"...

So, to conclude, the disc depicts the symbolic drinking of the cup (rain, snowmelt) by Inanna (Earth) filled by Sin (Wet Moon)...

PS: The goddess is probably Proto Anahita who was linked to Isthar/Inanna. Talked about her in my post "Rainbows and peacocks", in which I provide symbolic analysis of this Sassanian dish, 400-600AD, Iran, Currently in Al Thani collection. Half way down the post you will see the same Elamite goddess in a skirt with a hatching pattern resembling sheep skin kaunakes holding a rainbow...

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...