Dedicated to Inshushinak

3200 years old Elamite silver pouring vessel with handle and double spout in the form of two bulls. Found in Kalmakareh Cave in Lorestan province, Iran, currently in a private gallery in Kuwait...

Elamite inscription engraved on the vessel states that the vessel is an offering by the King Shutruk Nakhunte to Inshushinak, the Lord is the protector of his city Susa...

The god Inshushinak is believed to be the Elamite equivalent of the Sumeran/Akkadian god Ea/Enki, the god of fresh water...Enki who is (in) Abzu, the source of water in Tigris and Euphrates...This dude... 

I talked about this in my posts "Problems with Abzu", "Shamash young and old", "When Utu steps up into heaven"

Ea/Enki who was also the god of the annual flood. Flood whose symbol was "Ea's/Enki's boat". 

I talked about this in my posts "Clay boat from Shuruppak", "A person in a little boat", "Feast plaque from Louvre", "Rain and flood", "Enki's little boat"...

The annual flood which was also known as "The Carp flood". Why? Cause during the flood, giant Mesopotamian carp migrate upstream for spawning. 

This is why Ea/Enki was often depicted with streams full of fish swimming towards him, toward Abzu. I talked about this in my post "Goatfish"...

Which is why we find carp (men), Apkallu, as Ea's/Enki's henchmen...

I talked about this in my posts "Apkallu", "Basalt water basin from Assur", "Kassite seal with Apkallu"...

Ok...What the hell any of this has to do with our Elamite silver pouring vessel with spouts in the form of two bulls? Guess when Tigris and Euphrates flood? In Apr/May, Taurus...

Now as you could have seen on the above map, Susa lies east of Tigris, between two rivers, 

Karkheh (Flow chart article)

Daz (Flow chart article)

whose flows also peak in Apr/May, Taurus

In "Enki and the world order" we read:  "...Father (Ea)/Enki...he stood up full of lust like a rampant bull, lifted his penis, ejaculated and filled the Tigris [and Euphrates] with flowing water. He was like a wild cow mooing for its young in the wild grass..." Some scene 🙂

Why "like a wild cow mooing for its young"?  Cause Apr/May, Taurus, the peak of the Bull Enki's ejaculation (annual flood), is an animal calendar marker, not a constellation...

Apr/May, Taurus, Bull (it really should be Calf), the beginning of the calving season of the wild eurasian cattle. 

Talked about it in many of my posts...

And to tie all together: Why Ea/Enki, the god of fresh water and the annual "carp flood" standing on a bull? Cause Tigris and Euphrates and their tributaries, like Karkheh and Daz flood in Apr/May, in Taurus, when big carp swim upstream for spawning...

I talked about this in my post "Adda seal"...

So, I think that this could explain why a ceremonial Elamite "silver [water] pouring vessel" dedicated to the Elamite god Inshushinak who was the equivalent of Ea/Enki, god of water and annual flood, would have "double spout in the form of two bulls"...What do you think?

Here is another, older (3000BC), ceremonial Elamite water pouring vessel with the same symbolism...And the same meaning...I talked about it in my post "Elamite water bull"...

BTW, Do you see that vessel that the bull man is holding? 

Spouted silver bowl decorated with entwined serpents. Southeastern Iran Mid 3rd millennium BC. From Al-Sabah collection. 

I talk about it in my post "Snake water bowl" in which I try to answer the question: Why were water gods in Mesopotamia (Enki) and Elam (Napiriša, Inshushinak) linked to snakes?

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...

A person in a little boat

Proto-Elamite tablet, Iran 3400-3100 BCE...Interestingly, the other side depicts "A person in a little boat" with a giant fish swimming underneath...Pic by Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin.

Soooo what is depicted on this tablet?

Well, this must have been something important, cause there is another tablet with the same scene imprinted on it...Pic by Jacob L. Dahl

First a thought that the "person" is Enki (or his local equivalent), the god of fresh water, and annual flood, in his little boat, the symbol of the annual flood of the rivers in Mesopotamia and Iran. I talked about it in my post "Feast plaque from Louvre"...

This would tie with the giant fish, which would then be a giant Mesopotamian carp, which swims upstream during the annual flood to its spawning grounds in the upper reaches of Tigris and Euphrates and their tributaries...

I talked about this in my post "Apkallu"...

But something was funny about the "person" in the boat. The position of the arms is commonly seen on mother goddesses squeezing their breasts. Like this Elamite one from the 2nd millennium BC from Met Museum...

Also, is this a "pregnant" belly? So could this "person" in the boat be a female? And what is that sticking out of the person's butt (sorry back 🙂)? Is this symbol for grain? This thing

So how does this "grain goddess" fit into the "boat floating on the carp flood"? Well this is the water level chart in Tigris and Euphrates system...The water level peaks in Apr/May...

And this is Mesopotamian grain harvest calendar...

This is Inanna/Ishtar speaking: 

"...Before my lord, Dumuzi,

I poured out plants from my womb.

I placed plants before him,

I poured out plants before him.

I placed grain before him,

I poured out grain before him,

I poured out grain before my womb..."

I talked about this in my article "Mother of grain"...

BTW, every year during the harvest, a man and a woman performed ritual sexual act on a threshing floor, imitating Inanna (earth, womb) and Enki (sweet water, seed) consummating their holy marriage. I talked about this in my article "Sacred marriage on the threshing floor"...

Soooo...Is this Inanna (or some local equivalent) arriving in Enki's little boat floating on the waters of the "carp flood"? I would love to know what is written on this tablet...Do we know how to read Proto-Elamite script?

That's it. 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...

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...

Goatfish with ram head

Have you ever seen this symbol? It consists of a goatfish, which on its back, close to its tail, has a pedestal with a ram's head...

What does this mean? Apparently, no one really knows. 

Well, let's see if Animal Calendar Markers can help us solve this "mystery"

This symbol is found on several Mesopotamian Kudurru boundary stones. This particular example is from the Stele of Marduk-apla-iddina which records the grant to Marduk-apla-iddina I  (ca 1171-1159 BC) by Kassite king of Babylon, Meli-Shipak II (ca. 1186–1172 BC )

Anyway...Remember my post "Goatfish", about the meaning of the symbol of Goatfish? Symbol for the wet season in Mesopotamia, which starts with rain, when ibex goats mate (Oct/Nov), and ends with flood, when carps mate (Apr/May)...

This is why Goat-Fish is the symbol of Enki/Ea, the god of fresh water and the annual flood, who is sometimes depicted standing on Goat-Fish...

Now towards the end of the wet period, Oct/Nov-Apr/May, in Mar/Apr, close to the fish tail of the goatfish, we find Aries, Ram...

Animal calendar marker that marks the end of the lambing season of the wild and domestic sheep...And the beginning of the milking season...Very important time of the year...I talked about the origin of Aries in my post "Aries must die"... 

Great, but why is Ram combined with Goat-Fish, symbol of wet season? Because it is "during the sheep lambing season" Feb/Mar/Apr, that the snowmelt suddenly intensifies in mountains surrounding Mesopotamia...

And the water level in Mesopotamian rivers suddenly starts to rise...

So we have Goat (Oct/Nov) -- Ram (Mar/Apr) -- Fish,Carp (Apr/May)...

Makes sense?

PS: To see that I am not seeing things, actually, that I am seeing things the way the ancient Mesopotamians and Iranians saw them, check my post about Islamic zodiac from Isfahan. Here is the relevant bit: 

The combination of the snowmelt and rainfall results in sudden increase of the Zayandehrud river water level starting in Mar/Apr...In Aries...The also the rainiest time of the year in Isfahan...

Monthly flow chart for the Zayandehrud River, from the paper "An overview of the hydrology of the Zayandeh Rud Basin" 

Aries ram, depicted as a wild sheep, mouflon, with blue (water like) horns, lying in water...Describing exactly what is happening in Isfahan in Mar/Apr...In Aries...

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...