Kassite seal with Apkallu

Kassite seal (18th-12th centuries BC) from Syria. National Museum of Damascus. Not 100% sure about provenance, so any confirmation would be welcome. But I am 110% sure about the meaning of the symbols we see depicted on this amazing seal...

In the centre we have a  male figure, wearing a long skirt and a horned hat (which identifies him as a god). Which god? Well, the same god depicted on this water basin from Assur: Ea/Enki. I talked about it in my post "Basalt water basin from Assur"

Enki is flanked by Apkallus, the holy carp (men) of Enki...I talked about them and what they represent in my post "Apkallu"...In short they are deified giant Mesopotamian carp, these monsters...Which every year, during the annual flood, swim upstream for spawning...Towards Abzu, the source of Tigris and Euphrates...And Enki, who is (in) Abzu...

On the water basing from Assur the water is pouring out of two jars in the sky, which represent rain clouds. On our seal, the water is instead pouring out of the two beaks of the two headed eagle which is depicted flying above the god...Why?

This is climate in Syria. 

You can see that in Syria, climatic year is divided into hot, dry and cool, wet half...The end of the dry half and the beginning of the wet half is marked by the arrival of first rains, in Oct/Nov...

Rains arrive exactly when old world vultures start their mating flying routines...

Which from the ground look like "double headed eagle"...Hence water pouring out the the beaks of the double headed eagle...It's an animal calendar marker for the beginning of the vulture mating season and the beginning of the rain season...

Another depiction of this areal eagle dance which brings rain

Eagle dance...

Montenegro 1963AD

Syria, 1800BC

Eagle (vulture) couples dance above the mountains at the beginning of their mating season, which coincides with the beginning of the rain season in Fertile Crescent...I talked about this in my post "Eagle dance"...

This is why the rain (god) was in Mesopotamia originally imagined as huge black eagle, then as an eagle man, then as a man with a pet two headed eagle...I talked about it in many posts, this one "Mysterious creature" is a good starting point...

The water flowing out of the eagle's beaks is followed by two prancing male Ibex goats. Why? Well, the beginning of the rain season in Mesopotamia also coincides with the beginning of the mating season of the Ibex goats which live in the North-Eastern mountains...

Mountains which are Abzu, the source of the two great rivers. Mountains which are Enki who is (in) Abzu...Majority of the water from Tigris and Euphrates comes from the snowmelt from these mountains...

I talked about this in my post "Problem with Abzu" and many other...

Hence mountain goats of (rain) water depicted on the shoulders (slopes) of Enki/Ea/Abzu...Actually some people suggest that this god is actually Assur, and not Enki/Ea...Actually, they are both the same deified source of fresh water, under different names. I talked about this in my post "Assur"...

Some say that this is also Assur...Sure 🙂 Assur, the great imposter...One of many...

Why did so many Mesopotamian "Supreme" gods have an attribute "The Great Mountain"? Cause they all wanted to be Enki...But there is only one Enki, who is (in) Abzu, "place that is a big mountain"...All the others are just imposters...I talked about this in my post "Great imposter"...

"Abzu, place that is a big mountain, princely crown of the heaven and earth. To the lord Nudimmud (Enki), (give) praise!"

Enki/Ea, the god of sweet water standing between two mountains, with trees and flowers...Enki is identifiable by the fact that he is holding two jars from which a water is pouring out, and which are symbols of the source of Tigris and Euphrates... 

Super important image...

So water flows through two great rivers from eagle / goat to fish...Here is why:  

Goatfish, the sacred animal of Enki, the Sumerian god of fresh water, is a complex animal calendar marker for the wet half of the year in Mesopotamia...Between the mating season of wild goats and the mating season of giant Mesopotamian carps...I talked about this in my post "Goatfish"...

And the water out of Enki/Ea/Abzu/Mountains and flows towards "the tree of life" which in Mesopotamia is a palm tree, which grows out of the jar representing a spring, a well, an irrigation channel...I talked about this in my post "When Utu steps up into heaven"...

A date palm is also a plant calendar marker for Jul/Aug, when Leo (symbol of autumn) kills Taurus (symbol of summer)...cause this is when date harvest starts in Mesopotamia...I talked about this in my post "Lion killing bull under palm tree"...

This is also when the annual Tigris and Euphrates flood ends, and the drought season starts...

So this seal is basically a hydrological calendar for Mesopotamia, where significant dates are depicted using animal and plant calendar markers...

To read more about ancient animal and plant calendar markers, start here…then check the rest of the blog posts related to animal calendar markers I still didn't add to this page, and finally check my twitter threads I still didn't convert to blog post...I am 9 months behind now...

Basalt water basin from Assur

God of fresh water and annual flood Ea/Enki flanked by fish-cloaked Apkallus. Part of the 7th century BC basalt water basin from Assur, Iraq. Pergamon Museum, Germany...

Ea/Enki is often depicted as the source of the two great rivers, Tigris and Euphrates, which either flow out of his shoulders, or out of a cup that he holds in his hands...Enki is (in) Abzu, The Northern mountains/highlands, the source of Tigris and Euphrates...

I love the fact that on the relief from the water basin from Assur, the water is depicted flowing out of the "jugs" in the sky (rain), into the "jug" held by Enki/Ea (Abzu, mountains/highlands which are source of Tigris and Euphrates) and then out of it as two great rivers...

What about the fish dudes?

Fish are often depicted swimming towards Enki. I talked about this in my posts "Adda seal", "Goatfish", "Utu and Enki"...

These are giant Mesopotamian carps, migratory fish which migrate upstream, towards Enki who is (in) Abzu, the source of Tigris and Euphrates, for spawning during the flood...Hence the expression "carp flood" found in Mesopotamian texts...

These were then seen as Enki's messengers, and on the Stella of the Vultures, we can read that they were "sent with messages to Enki"...You can read about this in my post "Goatfish".

These giant fish were eventually turned into Apkallu, which are on the Assur basin seen "facing" Enki. Apkallu were seen as proxies through whom Enki, the god of wisdom and civilisation, established civilisation in Lower Mesopotamia...Basically Neolithic settlers from Anatolia...I talked about them in my post "Apkallu"...

 

So that wasn't so difficult to understand, right? Well if you know what animal calendar markers are and how to interpret them...

Oh and what about the things Apkallu are holding in their hands? They are buckets. Containing "holy" water. Which is then sprinkled by Apkallu using a pine cone.  

Pine cone is a plant calendar marker for Oct/Nov. Because this is when pine nut harvest starts in Eastern Mediterranean and Western Asia...

Pine nut harvest season

Oct/Nov is also when the rain (holy water) season starts in Eastern Mediterranean and Western Asia...Including Mesopotamia...

Sprinkling of holy water (usually on a tree of life) from the water bucket then becomes extremely symbolically important...

To read more about ancient animal and plant calendar markers, start here…then check the rest of the blog posts related to animal calendar markers I still didn't add to this page, and finally check my twitter threads I still didn't convert to blog post...I am 9 months behind now...

Apkallu

Gold and lapis lazuli carps found in the grave of the Sumerian Queen Puabi who was buried in Ur around 2500BC...

Gold for sun and blue for water...

The latest data from Ancient Mesopotamian city of Girsu  shows that agriculture built around system of irrigation canals existed for a 1000 years before the first city was built...

Which is "surprising" as it was believed that it was agriculture that was the catalyst for emergence of the first Mesopotamian cities and civilisation...Apparently something else triggered this development, "but we don't know what"...

Maybe city building fashion was brought to Mesopotamia by outsiders? Ever heard of Apkallu, the "seven sages (demigods)" who brought civilisation to Sumer?

Their names are very interesting:

"He who finished the plans for heaven and earth",

"He who was endowed with comprehensive intelligence",

"He who was allotted a good fate",

"He who was born in a house",

"He who grew up on pasture land",

"He who built the city of Eridu",

"He who ascended to heaven"

I wonder if these were 7 sages, or just 7 epithets of the original culture heroes, who brought civilisation to Mesopotamia...From the same place from where grain was brought to Mesopotamia...From Levant via Anatolia...I talked about it in my post "How grain came to Sumer"...

Anatolia is where before any city was built in Mesopotamia, we find cities like Çatalhöyük...

Where people "endowed with comprehensive intelligence", who were "born in a house" and "grew up on pasture land" and who were "allotted a good fate" to bring them to Sumer where they "conjured the city of Eridu" before they "ascended (went back) to heaven"...

BTW, heaven was by Sumerians seen as a mountain...Most likely the Northern Mountains from which Tigris and Euphrates emerge...So "ascending (going back) to heaven" just means "going back north"...I talked about this in my posts "When Utu steps into heaven", "Eagle dance", "Descending to Hades"...

Ok...I can hear you mumbling...Where are the animal calendar markers? How disappointing... 🙂

Guess what Apkally were depicted as? Fish men...You know "The Amphibians aliens"...

They were of course aliens...But in a sense "not from lower Mesopotamia" and not "not from Earth"...

And they were not fish-men. They were men wearing skins and heads of giant Mesopotamian carps. These monsters...

Remember my post "Goatfish" about the meaning of the symbol of Goatfish? 

Symbol for the wet season in Mesopotamia, which starts with rain, when goats mate, and ends with flood, when carps mate...

In it I talked about the fact that carp swimming upstream for spawning was believed to be them "swimming back to their master, Enki/Ea, god of fresh water and annual flood, who resides in Abzu, source of fresh water"...

That identifies Abzu as the Northern mountains and highlands. I talked about this in my post "Problems with Abzu" and "The great imposter"...

In the "Poem of Erra", we can read this line:

"Where are the seven Apkallu of the apsu, the holy carp, who are perfect in lofty wisdom like Ea's their lord..."

This clearly states that apkallu belong to Enki/Ea...And that they are fish (men)...

Enki/Ea, god of sweet water and the annual flood is shown here holding two jars with water flowing out of them, which represent the sources of Tigris and Euphrates...Standing on a carp fish...I talked about this in my post "Carp surfer"...  

Now Enki/Ea was seen as the actual source of wisdom and civilisation, and Apkallu were just his proxies, through whom he transmitted knowledge...

And considering that Enki/Ea was in Abzu, which was up north, somewhere at the "source of sweet water", Apkallu made their annual upstream "pilgrimage" from which they returned with more "knowledge from the source"...

And so did the actual giant carp. They swim up the rivers, towards river sources, towards Abzu, for spawning, every Apr/May, during the annual Tigris and Euphrates flood. Which is why in "A study of Sumerian faunal conception..." we can read that an Ur III text calls Enki "the (wielder of) the a-eštub (carp flood)”...

Back to our golden (sun) and lapis (water) fish. Why sun and water and fish? 

It is Utu/Shamash who releases Enki/Ea, the sweet water, from his icy prison on top of the sacred mountains, Abzu...

Over 70% of all the water flowing down Tigris and Euphrates comes from the snowmelt. Snowmelt which is caused by Utu/Shamash. I talked about this in my post "Shamash young and old"...

The snowmelt peaks at the beginning of summer, Apr/May, in Taurus... 

Which is why Tigris and Euphrates flood also reaches its peak in Apr/May, in Taurus... 

Which is why Utu/Shamash was depicted as a golden bull (Sun in Taurus) with flowing lapis lazuli beard (flowing water)...

I talked about this in my posts "Solar bull", "Elamite water bull", "Butt chewing", "Killing of the bull of heaven"...And many others...

By the way, this is the old Taurus, the original Taurus, which has nothing to do with constellations. The old animal calendar marker, marking the beginning of the calving period of the wild Eurasian cattle. I talked about it in my posts "Ram and bull", "Cow and calf ivory"...And many others...

Anyway, I think this is kind of interesting...To read more about ancient animal and plant calendar markers, start here…then check the rest of the blog posts related to animal calendar markers I still didn't add to this page, and finally check my twitter threads I still didn't convert to blog post...I am 9 months behind now...

PS: Before there were fishmen in Mesopotamia, there were fishmen in the Balkans...I talked about this in my post: "Mesolithic sturgeon fishermen"