Eyeballs platter

I while back I came across this late 6th or early 7th c. AD Sassanian silver bowl. 

It shows a king sitting on a throne, feasting, surrounded by musicians and servants. We can see a platter with two boar heads in front of the throne and...What the hell is this??? A plate of eyeballs??? 🙂

I suggested that these were not in fact eyeballs, but Naan Gerdooee ~ Persian Walnut Cookies, or some similar type of pastry

Then, @Nazdorove posted a comment to my post reminding me of animal and plant calendar markers 🙂 and telling me that maybe I should check this plate and see if any are present in the depicted scene...Maybe that could help us determine what the mystery balls stacked on the plate are...

So I looked at the scene more carefully, and, I could see something very interesting: The "king" was seated on a throne whose legs are shaped like rams...

And the harp played by one of the musicians also has a ram's head. Why? I think this is a ceremonial throne and a ceremonial harp...What ceremony are we talking about here? Well...Ram...Aries...Arrives after Spring Equinox...Nowruz...Persian New Year...

Kind of an important event in the Persian calendar...Actually, the most important event...Ram is the animal calendar marker for spring, cause it is in the spring that sheep lambing season takes place...

This is why Aries marks Mar/Apr. Cause this is when the lambing season ends and milking season starts and the flocks are moved to the highland pastures. I talked about this in my posts "April" and "Aries must die"...

Why are these animals found as symbols of the seasons in Eurasia and North Africa, since Neolithic, despite Precession? I talk about it in my post "Symbols of seasons"...

But in Iran, one more thing happens in Mar/Apr...The river discharges suddenly start to increase, as a result of spring rains and snowmelt.

Hence Ram depicted lying in water from the "Zodiac from Isfahan". I talked about it in my post "Sagittarius from Isfahan"...

BTW, we find the same animal calendar marker, with the same meaning, in Ancient Mesopotamia too...Goatfish marks the wet half of the year, from the start of the mating season of ibex goats (Oct/Nov) to the start of the mating season of giant Mesopotamian carp (Apr/May) which is when the annual flood peaks. 

The water level in Tigris and Euphrates starts to increase in Mar/Apr, when wild sheep lamb season ends. I talked about this in my post "Goatfish with ram head"

The "King" sitting on the ram throne is having drink poured into his chalice...This could be wine, which becomes ready for drinking at the end of spring, beginning of summer (Mar/Apr/May)...Right on time for New Year festival...

Or it could be water...Symbolically depicting flowing water season...

The other servant is bringing a platter, with what looks like a cockerel, with all its feathers...Definitely not intended to be food...

If it is a cockerel, then it's another animal calendar marker for Mar/Apr.

Europe...

Cockerel was the sacred bird of Perun, Slavic thunder god, used in magic rituals for protection agains lightning.

Why? Maybe cause chicken main mating season is during the period of 14+ daylight hours.

Which is the main thunderstorm season in Europe??? I talked about this in my post "Pero"...

India

Red junglefowl (Gallus gallus), the ancestor of the domestic chicken...

Has a fixed annual mating season, which overlaps with the Zebu cattle mating season...

Hence, on Indus Valley civilisation pot, it is placed on the Zebu bull's back...I talked about this in my post "Kharif and Rabi season"...

China...

The real reason why The Lord of Thunder, was depicted as a cockerel is because of the China's latitude and the reproductive cycle of wild chickens, which is governed by the amount of sunlight, and at China's latitude starts in Apr/May...

Which is when the thunderstorm season starts too...

I talked about this in my post "Lei Kung"...

Interestingly, the platter placed before the "King" sitting on his Ram (spring) throne, contains two Boar heads (winter)...

Wild boar is one of the symbols of winter...Cause they mate during the winter...I talked about this in my posts: "When fish swim up Danube", "Achaemenid lion boar seal", "Souvetaurilia", "Sirens", "Summer and winter BMAC seals"...

So how can any of this help us to figure out what is on the front platter? We all know these are not eyeballs 🙂 I was joking...But what are they?

Fruit? Most people suggested pomegranates, which originate in Iran. But pomegranates season is winter...Not spring...

The fruits which are in season during Nowruz (Persian New Year festival) are bitter oranges (narenj). These things...

They are used for making sirups and in cooking and are not eaten as fruit...

So what are these round things neatly piled on the platter? I went to see what traditional cookies are made for Nowruz, and this pic popped out 🙂 Toot, Persian Mulberry Marzipan Candy...Looks familiar? 🙂

Today it's made with sugar, but originally it could have been made with crushed nuts, dates and honey...Similar to these Italian pistachio cookies...

 

And so...Thanks to @Nazdorove we might have solved the mystery of the "eyeballs" platter...What do you think?

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...

Asphodelus

In Greek Mythology the Asphodelus  is the most famous plant associated with the dead of the Underworld. It was planted on graves. Persephone was said to have worn a crown of Asphodelus flowers. Its association with death may be due to its greyish leaves. 

Homer's "ASPHODEL MEADOW" (ἀσφοδελὸν λειμῶνα), "where the spirits of the dead dwell" (Od. 24.14), could be a result of an ancient confusion between ἀσφόδελος (the plant name) and σφοδελός, or rather σποδελός, meaning "ashen"... 

The Ancient Greek word "σποδός" is regularly used in Greek poetry for the ashes of the dead, and for the ashes used in the act of mourning for the dead. It is also commonly used in funerary epigrams for the ashes of the dead contained in a vessel, in the earth...

The Hades (as in land of the dead) was always portrayed as a dark, gloomy, and mirthless place. So the translation of the "dead wondering through asphodel meadows" as "dead wondering through ash-filled meadows" fits the context well...

You can find the full discussion in "Homer’s Asphodel Meadow" by Steve Reece. 

Steve Reece does say that this could actually be a kind of play on words, considering that there was a definite association between white asphodel flower and the dead...

For instance Eustathius says that "the asphodel is suitable for the dead because it was to be found growing on tombs"...

This epigram, traditionally attributed to Aristotle, was apparently often found inscribed on Ancient Greek tombs: "On my back I hold many-rooted asphodel..."

According to the ancient historians, asphodel was also associated with Persephone (Kore): "Rhodians garland with asphodel Kore"...

Considering that Persephone (Kore) was the queen of the dead and the wife of Hades, the god of the dead, this association is understandable...

But, Persephone (Kore) is associated with many different plants, and the story about her abduction by Hades is full of plant and animal references. I discuss them in the article "Abduction of Persephone" which tries to determine when did the abduction take place? 

Yes we are back to animal and plant calendar markers. It is interesting that when abducted, Persephone was picking flowers...roses, crocus, violets, iris, hyacinth, narcissus. But asphodel was not one of them...You can find exactly which flowers Kore was picking in the "Homeric hymn to Demeter"...

Based on all the animals and plans mentioned in the description of the abduction scene, as well as other botanical references linked to Persephone, I proposed that the abduction took place in the autumn...Oct/Nov...And that it happened on Crete. Most likely Minoan Crete...

Which would explain why asphodel is not among the flowers blooming in the meadow where Persephone was abducted. The White Asphodel is found all over Crete in large populations from sea level to around 1300m. Flowering time is from early March to June depending on altitude...

And here we come to (to me at least) very interesting Greco-Roman bas relief, depicting Persephone and Hades on a throne of the underworld...Currently in the National Museum of Magna Graecia, Reggio Calabria...

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

Now what is very interesting about this relief, and which only became apparent to me now, is that the three things held by Persephone and Hades are all animal and plant calendar markers, all pointing to the same time of the year, Apr/May, beginning of summer...

Persephone in one hand holds ripe grain, ready for harvest. The grain harvest in Ancient Greece, as Hesiod tells us, began in Taurus, (Apr/May), at the beginning of summer. I talked about it in my post "Hesiod on grain"...

In the other hand Persephone holds a cockerel...Why? I talked about the link between the grain, the dead and the chicken which, which once obviously existed in Ancient Greek mythology, and which was preserved until today in Slavic folklore, in these articles: "Pluto", "Diduch", "Cock bashing", "The third death"...

But there is another thing that I didn't get before. The original, wild fowl from which all our chicken descend, used to have a single mating season starting in Apr/May, during the grain harvest in Greece. I talked about it in my posts "Kharif and Rabi season", "The city of cockerels", "Lei Kung", "Son of thunder", "Pero"...

I wonder did the original early chickens, that were brought into Europe in the early 1st millennium BC still have a single mating season? Which overlapped with the grain harvest season? Is this why Persephone holds both ripe grain and a cockerel?

But we are here supposed to be talking about Asphodel flowers. And apparently, on the Hades and Persephone throne relief, Hades holds blooming Asphodel plant...Which also flowers during the grain harvest season...

Very interesting. Considering that on Crete, Cyprus, Levant, Middle East, Central Asia, Iran...the climatic year is divided into two halves, the hot and dry half (Apr/May - Oct/Nov) and cool and wet half (Oct/Nov - Apr/May)...

And the hot dry half, which begins with the grain harvest, chicken mating season and the blooming of Asphodel, is the time of death...The time of droughts caused by the burning summer sun...When sun ascends to its throne...

The sun which was in Mesopotamia personified by the god of death Nergal. I talked about this in my post "Winged super human hero", "Angra Mainyu"...

The sun which was in Levant personified by the god of death Mot. I talked about this in my posts "Oldest Arabic poem", "Anat"...

And in Minoan Greece by what name?

Remember this article: "Trojan horse"? In it I talked about the fact that both Phoenicians and Greeks had the same triad of gods...And that where we find Mot in Levant we find Hades in Greece...

The hot dry half of the year is also the time of snakes and fire breathing dragons, both symbols of sun's heat. Both for some "weird" reason linked to Persephone/Demeter. Well, not really weird. Snake is the main symbol of sun, sun's heat...And an animal calendar marker for Apr/May, because this is when the main snake mating season begins in Europe...I talked about this in my post "Who are Persephone's parents"...

Very interesting...Finally, do you remember the belief in "thirsty dead"? Why are the dead always thirsty? Cause the land of the dead is a hot, dry, dusty desert ruled by the blazing summer sun???

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...

Lei Kung

Meet Lei Kung (Lei Gong), the Lord (God) of Thunder in Chinese folk religion, Chinese mythology and Taoism... 

He is usually depicted holding a chisel and a mallet.

Sometimes he is depicted holding a chisel and a mallet while standing on a drum...

And sometimes he is depicted holding a chisel and a mallet surrounded with a "necklace of drums"...

He uses mallet to strike the drum(s) which is how he makes thunder. According to the geographical book Shanhaijing 山海經 from the Han period 漢 (206 BCE-220 CE), the drum(s) were made from the skin of the "Kui", the "thunder beast"...

One of the depictions of the "thunder beast" was that it resembled a "monkey with a human face"...Interestingly, some descriptions of the Lord of Thunder also say that he "looked like a monkey, or that he had a human body and a head of a monkey"...

I talked about "Kui" in my post "Monkey man mirror", about this interesting Eastern Han Empire bronze mirror...

In this article, I proposed that the figure depicted together with the dragon, was a monkey.

A golden snub-nosed monkey... 

Now, I think that this could actually be Kui, or Lei Kung...Same thing really...

One thing I have to say is that maybe I was wrong when I said that the monkey was the animal calendar marker for the mating season of golden snub-nosed monkey, Which is in Oct, at the end of the rain and thunderstorm season in China...

Knowing now that The Lord of Thunder was imagined as a monkey or a human with a face of monkey, I think that whatever monkey animal calendar marker marked, it had to be linked to either the beginning (Apr/May) or the peak (Jul/Aug) of the thunderstorm season in China...

And, as mating peaks in the month of October, and gestation takes 6–7 months, the majority of the golden snub-nosed monkeys gives birth from in Apr/May...

Sudden appearance of mothers with babies is not something you can not notice...Right at the beginning of the thunderstorm season...Hence Thunder Monkey God???

"Kui" the "thunder beast" from whose skin the Yellow Emperor made the "thunder drum", was also described as a "one legged ox with no horns". Interestingly, in "Journal Of The North China Branch Of The R S A 1923 Vol Liv" we read that the Lord of Thunder was "sometimes depicted with cow's horns, although they were sometimes omitted"...

Considering the identical depictions of the Lord of Thunder and the "thunder beast", there's no wonder that Guo Pu 郭普, a Jin period 晉 (265-420) commentator to the Shanhaijing, explained that the thunder beast "Kui" was nothing else than the thunder god...

The "ox like thunder beast" and The Lord of Thunder with "cow's horns" fit well with early depictions of Qilin, the Chinese Unicorn, the mount of the Minister of Thunder, which very much resemble a winged bull...

I talked about Qilin in my post about "The Minister of Thunder"...

In it I explained that the reason why Thunder God(s) in China are linked to cattle, is because the main thunderstorm season in China starts in Taurus...

Taurus being the ancient animal calendar marker, found through out Eurasian and North Africa, since Neolithic, used to mark Apr/May, the beginning of the calving season of the Eurasian wild cattle...You can read more about the original meaning of Taurus in my post "Cow and calf ivory"...

Anyway, Shanhaijing also says that in Lake Leize 雷澤 (Zhenze 震澤, modern Taihu 太湖) there were dragon gods. They had the body of a dragon and the head of a human. They used their bellies as drums to produce the sound of thunder...

Dragon's in China are linked to rain and thunder...I wrote about this in my post "White thundercloud"...

And Lei Kung is sometimes depicted riding on a Dragon...

As you can see, The Lord of Thunder is sometimes depicted with an axe instead of a hammer...

Now axe has been linked with thunder gods in Eurasia since at Neolithic...This could have something to do with the fact that flint, the material early axes were made of, produces sparks when struck...I talked about this in my post "Kataibates"...

Now I wonder how far back can this link between thunder gods and stone axes be found in China...

My friend @realgavinlee posted the pic of this Neolithic Yangshao culture pot "decorated" with a fish and a stone axe...

Why? You don't use axes to kill fish...But fish, carp, is directly linked with rain and thunder in China...I talked about this in my post "Dragon gate"...

So is this a symbolic depiction of the link between thunderstorm season and carp?

Anyway, if you haven't noticed by now, The Lord of Thunder has a beak...And wings...And claws...Apparently these are raptor beak, wings and claws, "which resemble those of the Indian divine bird Garuda"...

But actually I believe that these are beak, wings and claws of a cockerel...Apparently, Lei Kung was "sometimes depicted with a cock’s head, wings and claws"...

There is a legend that can be found in the book Sanjiao soushen daquan 三教搜神大全. dating from the Ming period 明 (1368-1644), that "explains" why the Lord of Thunder would look like a cockerel:

A man was preparing a chicken as a meal for his mother. Suddenly he was slain by a thunder strike, whereupon he transformed into a divine cock, that was no one else than the Master (Lord) of Thunder, Lei Kung.

Straight our of Marvel comics 🙂

The real reason why The Lord of Thunder, was depicted as a cockerel is because of the China's latitude and the reproductive cycle of wild chickens, which is governed by the amount of sunlight, and at China's latitude starts when the thunderstorm season starts, in Apr/May...

I wrote about this my post about "The Son of Thunder", the guy who was either Lei Kung's son, or Lei King's alter ego...

He was born out of an egg, and liked to hide inside hens...For some reason...

Now about the wings, the early descriptions say that The Lord of Thunder had "leathery bat wings"...

There is even a Taoist legend that says that "after many days of meditation, Deng Bowen suddenly turned into a bat like demon, The God of Thunder". You can read about it in "China: A Religious State"...

What is the link between thunder (god) and bats? Temperate zone bat year is divided into two halves: active (Apr/May-Oct/Nov) and hibernation (Oct/Nov-Apr/May). The most noticeable event during the active period, bat swarming, starts in the middle of the active period, in Aug.

This is climatic year in China in Xian, Hunan, Sechuan...

And this is the thunderstorm frequency chart...

We can see that this is also the peak of the thunderstorm and rain season...So no wonder Thunder God was seen as the "bat like demon"...

BTW, did you know that in China, "bats flying in clouds" is a symbol of prosperity...I wonder why? 🙂 18th c. Chinese Imperial Vase with Bats and Clouds...

And I guess "bats flying in clouds with dragons" is even more auspicious...17th c. Vase with Dragons and Bats amid Clouds...

Now there is another animal that the Lord of Thunder was imagined as: pig. Sources from the Tang period describes him as a creature with the "appearance of a pig"...

Now there are two possible explanations for this, from the animal calendar markers point of view. First is the obvious one: this has something to do with the mating or birthing of wild boar...

Wild boar mates during the winter, Nov-Jan...Hmmm....And wild boar piglets are born between March and May...The rain and thunderstorm season in China starts in Apr/May...

So I think that here we are looking at the pig animal calendar marker marking peak wild boar birthing season...Lots of little piglets everywhere...Important in a place where we believe pigs were domesticated...By presumably catching piglets and raising them in captivity...

And considering that this invasion of piglets coincides with the beginning of the rain and thunderstorm season, we have Thunder god looking like a pig...Simple...But...

But there is another possible explanation for the "Thunder god has a head of a pig" statement...And it has nothing to do with pigs, but with bats...Remember, The Lord of Thunder was a "bat like demon"...Left, bat head, Right, wild boar head...

This is a website that lists all the bat species living in China...How many have heads that look like pig's heads?

Is it possible that this "looks like a pig" is a misunderstanding, misinterpretation of looks like a bat? Or am I just seeing things?

Anyway, Lei Kung (Lei Gong) started his life as a mortal and only became the God of Thunder after eating a magic peach (apricot) after which he grew wings and got supernatural strength...

You can read about it in "29 Chinese Mysteries"...Just like "The Son of Thunder", his alter ego...

Makes no sense, right? Well, as I explained in my post about "The Son of Thunder", apricots and peaches picking season starts in May, beginning of the thunderstorm season...And the time when bats emerge from hibernation...

Anyway, once the Lord of Thunder acquired his powers, he became a strongman, tasked by the Jade Emperor to punish people who have committed crimes, so to scare people shitless into being good...You can read about this in "Waiting for a Thunderbolt"... 

For a comic relief (but not just for that), I will paste here a brilliant retelling of a story about the Jade Emperor and the Lord of Thunder, from the site entitled "Fuck Yeah, Chinese myths!" 🙂 It's a classic:

One day, the Jade Emperor was chillin’ in Heaven and he was all, “Hmm, I think I totally gotta check out what’s goin’ on in the world, 'cause I have to like, totally make sure that no one is bein’ a douche.”

But when he saw what was happenin’ on earth, he was like, so freakin’ pissed 'cause errbody was bein’ a douche to one another.

The worst part was, he saw two robbers robbin’ stuff from a travelling salesman, and he was like, “K, that’s it. I’ve had enough with this shit. Lei Gong! I totally summon you!”

Lei Gong was all, “Wassup Chief?” And when he heard what had happened, he was really pissed off too. The sky turned black and Lei Gong used his hammer and chisel to warn the robbers, but it wasn’t enough.

Then, he used his iron spear which shot out electricity and killed them. All the peeps saw, and they were like, scared shitless and didn’t dare rob from anyone else no more.

And so Lei Gong was patrolling the city, striking villains down, doing his thang, and he saw this woman throw a bowl of rice into a ditch. 

And Lei Gong was upset 'cause this woman was so clearly wasting food, and he struck her dead. That was the end of that, right? Wrong!

See, Lei Gong made a big mistake. The woman who threw out the rice wasn’t throwing out rice at all - she was throwing out the husks of rice, which was pretty useless anyway.

In fact, this woman was a really filial daughter-in-law, and she was drinkin’ rice husk soup or somethin’ 'cause the rice that was previously in the soup was given to her mother-in-law to eat as porridge!

The Jade Emperor was all, “Lei Gong, dude, seriously - you gotta check this stuff out before you strike peeps down, man!”

Lei Gong was all, “Yeah, I know. Sorry.”

“Don’t worry, I got this,” the Jade Emperor said, and he swept his hand, and the girl Lei Gong killed was in front of them! To compensate for Lei Gong’s blunder, she became his wife and was called Dian Mu or the Goddess of Lightning.

Dian Mu was bestowed with the power of lightning. She made lightning with the two mirrors she held in her hands. And to prevent Lei Gong from making more mistakes, she would use her lightning flashes to brighten up errything.

This let her husband have a proper look at who he should strike, and then thunder would soon follow.

Aaaaaand this is why lightning comes first before thunder.

The end....

That's how you retell mythological stories...

Now this last bit about Dian Mu "being killed by Lei Gong after throwing rice husk" is very interesting...

In the main rice growing areas of China, rice harvest spans Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep...This is the peak of the rain and thunderstorm season...

In this paper "Variation of Rainfall Over South China Through the Wet Season" we can read that in Southern China, according to the agricultural calendar, which hasn't changed for thousands of years, the first rice harvest took place during the rainfall dip, at the end of Jun...

Rice harvest is followed by threshing and winnowing, separation of husks from seed...After which the husks are thrown away...

And so it is possible, that the story about Dian Mu being killed by overzealous Lei Kung, while she was throwing rice husks into the river, is another, this time plant calendar marker for the thunderstorm season...The domain of The Lord of Thunder...

That's it for now. Hope you enjoyed 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...