7 maidens

Recently I watched a tv program called "The Silk Roads - Wonders of Azerbaijan" by Bettany Hughes. In it she talked about this ancient petroglyph from Gobustan, which, if I remember correctly, she called "7 maidens"...

Unfortunately I can only find this copy of this program online in, I guess, Azerbaijani, so I can't confirm this myself. If anyone has access to the English version, I would really appreciate if you cold confirm this for me. Thanks. Or alternatively, I would rally appreciate if @bettanyhughes could confirm that this is indeed what she called the petroglyph in question. And if she could clarify if this was a nickname given to the petroglyph by the local archaeologists, or was it her own poetic invention 🙂

The reason why I ask is that on the highlighted image from the program, I could only see 6 figures, not 7. Is there a 7th figure that wasn't highlighted, or that is not visible from the angle from which the petroglyph was filmed?

Why I would like to determine if there are indeed "7 maidens" depicted on this petroglyph, is because in the program, Bettany proceeded to talk about how "the meaning of the petroglyph is unknown".

Now if there are indeed 7 female figures depicted on this petroglyph (I guess we think they are females because of the public triangles ???, but they could just be as easily men wearing some kind of weird loincloths), then maybe I could offer a possible explanation...

Is this a bovine, depicted behind the human figures? It certainly looks like one. If so, then the meaning of the "7 maidens" petroglyph could be the "7 sisters", the Pleiades, which rise with the sun in Apr/May...

Apr/May, when wild Eurasian cattle start to calve...

Which is why this time of the year is is still marked with a bovine, Taurus...

I talked about this animal calendar marker in many of my posts, for instance "Cow and calf ivory", "Foundation peg of the goddess Nanshe", "Elamite water bull", "Human bull hybrid", "White calf", "Calydonian boar"...

According to this paper, "Agricultural Practices at Mentesh Tepe (Kura Valley, Azerbaijan) during the Neolithic, Chalcolithic and Bronze Age: An Overview from Sickle Elements and Botanical Remains", the main Neolithic, Bronze Age crop grown in Azerbaijan was barley, which was sown in the Oct/Nov, and harvested in May/Jun...Using sickles with composite stone blades...

Basically small sharp stone flakes, inserted into crescent shaped wooden frame...Something like this.

These sickles evolved from wild ass, deer jaw bones. 

We know that some primitive jaw bone sickles actually had long handles.

The sickles then evolved into wild ass, deer jawbones with artificial flint teeth

Then into artificial wooden jawbones with artificial flint teeth

And finally into serrated (toothed) jawbone shaped piece of metal...

I talked about the evolution of sickles in my post "Sickle"...

So it is quite possible that the things held by the figures are long handle sickles...Or maybe what is depicted on this rock engraving from Azerbaijan is something like this: Cain (farmer) killing Abel (shepherd) with a "ass jawbone", [my comment: the earliest form of a sickle]. 

New York, Pierpont Morgan Library: Ms 43, Huntingfield Psalter, XII Century, fol. 8. Pic from "Cain's Jaw-Bone that Did the First Murder"

Taking all this into account, is this image a calendar marker for harvest your barley when wild cattle starts to calve and Pleiades rise with the sun? I talked about Pleiades, barley harvest and animal calendar markers in my post "Pleiades". In it, explained why, according to the Greek mythology, the Pleiades, the seven daughters of Atlas, were transformed by Zeus first into doves, and only then into stars...

It's all to do with the link between doves and grain harvest (goddess)...Like Demeter, who was depicted on this terracotta statuette enthroned with a turtle-dove on her lap. The cult image of the harvest goddess was likely venerated in a sanctuary. From Sicily, 5th century BC. Milan Archaeological Museum. Pic by Gareth Harney

I explained this link in my posts "Demeter and dove" and "Cup of Nestor"...

This link between grain goddess and doves also existed in Mesopotamia, where Inanna was also linked with doves. 1800-1600 BC pottery cup, Syria. The rounded body tapering to a flat base, with 26 bird heads. Similar objects were interpreted as votive objects dedicated to Ishtar/Inanna. 

I talked about this in my post "Inanna and dove"... 

The reason why doves are linked with grain goddesses and with pleiades is because doves, both European and Asian, nest during the grain harvest which starts in Apr/May, when pleiades rise with the sun, in Taurus...

But maybe there are no 7 but indeed only 6 figures depicted on this petroglyph, and they are not female but male figures with (admittedly weird) loin cloths, and these are not sickles they are holding but battle axes...

In which case this is just a depiction of a bovine hunt 🙂

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...

Hathor grain pendants

Golden pendant with the image of Khathor. From Tel el Adjul. Gaza, middle of the 2nd mill BC.

Gold pendant depicting goddess, dated 1400-1200 BC. It is 4.9 cm in height and was found in Ugarit, Syria. Louvre Museum, Paris, France. See grain growing out of her pubic area? 

A group of gold and electrum pendants, found in Levant and dated to the Middle-Late Bronze Age, depicting "female form reduced to head with Hathor wig and body, with breasts navel and pubic triangle". Pic from "Western Asiatic Treen Goddesses"...

According to the paper author: "A branch grows from the pubic triangle...The branch is not easily distinguished, it may represent the tree as a whole, an offshoot or a frond"...

I would propose that the "branch" growing out of the vulva is not a branch at all, but a stylised depiction of grain...And that this would make this "female figure" a symbolic depiction of "Mother of grain"...

The paper author then says that "These Syrian-Palestinian pendants have been associated with an Old Assyrian silver pudendum dedicated to Ishtar...In this light, these...pendants should be seen as signifying the sexual aspect of a local goddess, whose symbol was the tree..."

I would say that these pendants should be seen as depicting a local goddess of (grain) fertility (grain growing out of her womb), who was a mixture of Hathor and Ishtar/Inanna...Hathor, because of the headdress and because she is directly linked to the grain fertility through flood. I talked about this in my post "Cow and calf ivory"...Inanna because declares herself to be the Mother of Grain:

"...Before my lord, Dumuzi,

I poured out plants from my womb.

I poured out plants before him.

I poured out grain before him,

I poured out grain before my womb..."

You should check the article "Inanna and dove" as well as the articles linked from this article, which all talk about Inanna and her link to grain...

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...

Dog rider

Goddess Isis, "who was connected with water", riding on a dog and holding a sistrum, from the Iseum temple from Savaria, Pannonia Provincia (Hungary).

The dog is Sotis, Sirius star constellation. 

During New Kingdom period Isis took attributes of the Goddess Hathor, the Holy Cow...

One of them being sistrum which was sacred to Hathor...

Sistrum was a sacred instrument whose handle was shaped like a papyrus flower with Hathor's head...

Papyrus was sacred to Hathor...Because the flowering of papyrus announces the beginning of the annual Nile flood. I talked about this in my post "Holy cow":

Shaking of sistrum was supposed to resemble sound of the papyrus flowers shaken by the arriving Hathor (Flood)...

BTW, the reason why Hathor, the Holy Cow is depicted emerging from flowering papyrus, is because wild cattle calving season starts in Apr/May, right when papyrus start to flower...I talked about this in my posts "Lotus and papyrus", "Cow and calf ivory" and "Goddess on a horse"...

The link between papyrus and sistrum was pretty explicitly depicted on this chalice depicting a sistrum with Hathor's head on top of a papyrus flower handle and more papyrus flowers growing out it. 1070–712 BC. Currently in the Met Museum... 

And on this wall painting, from the KV1 tomb of the Twentieth Dynasty pharaoh Ramesses VII, depicting a sistrum with papyrus flowers growing out of it...

So Isis, "who was connected with waters" is carrying sistrum, sacred to Hathor, "who was linked to the Nile Flood"... But why is Isis riding on a dog? Cause the annual Nile flood peaks during Dog Days, end of Jul, beginning of Aug, when Sirius, Dog Star rises with the sun...

Why is the week around the end of Jul, beginning of Aug called Dog days? Why is Sirius called Dog Star? Cause natural old dog breeds mating season starts at the beginning of Aug...I talked about this in my post "Dog days"...

So Isis, "associated with waters" holding sistrum and riding on a dog...

BTW, did you know that Ishat (fire), the Canaanite goddess of fire and drought, was known as "the bitch of the gods"...Jul/Aug, the "Dog days" is the hottest and driest time of the year in Canaan...Same dog symbol, different hydrology, different meaning of the symbol...I talked about this in my post "Anat"...

Now interestingly, in Zoroastrianism, the Dog Star or Sirius, which is known as "Tishtrya", is also the Yazata (Divinity) of rainfall/fertility...Very strange considering that Jul/Aug is hottest and driest part of the year in Persia too...Well...I talked about this in my post "Tishtrya"...

This linking between Sirius and rain season is much better suited to India, where Jul/Aug, Dog Days, is he peak of the Monsoon Rain Season...No wonder then that in Indian mythology we find "Bitch of the gods" linked to water...I talked about this in my post "The bitch of the gods"...

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...

Sphinxy

In 1989 film When Harry Met Sally, Harry Burns says: You know, I have a theory that hieroglyphics are just an ancient comic strip about a character named Sphinxy...

This is a drawing of the eastern wall relief from the mid 3rd mil BC tomb of Ptahhotep in Saqqara.

I talked about it in my post "Papyrus harvest time", in which I tried to determine when the Ancient Egyptians harvested papyrus, which apparently is not known. 

I based my argument on the plant calendar markers found on the relief from Ptahhotep's tumb.

But this relief is turning to be more interesting than I originally thought. As it seems that this "comic strip" contain quite a few additional animal and plant calendar markers...

Today I will like to talk about this part of the relief. I will again be using the drawings from this page from this great site "osirisnet.net"...

First register contains herdsmen and scenes with cattle, one of which is calving. The narrow sub-register above contains tethered calves...

Second and third registers contain various groups of cattle which are led or driven before Ptahhotep. The third register being the particularly interesting one...

Fourth register shows "the superintendent of the corn store leading a flock of cranes"? Followed by two rows, the upper division containing three sorts of geese then a group of swans...and lots of other birds numbering in total more than 600,000 based on the accompanying text...

Sooo...What's the big deal here? Well, I think that this part of the relief is depicting a (known? unknown?) ceremony, festival, which (I think) included bull sacrifice, which took place during Shemu (Mar/Apr/May), the grain harvest season in Ancient Egypt...

Why do I think this? Because of the animal calendar markers depicted together in this scene: wild cattle calving which takes place while "the superintendent of the corn store" "leads" huge number of wild birds towards Ptahhotep, most importantly common cranes and swans...

Let's start from the end: common cranes and swans. Both of these birds are winter visitors to Egypt, which arrive in Oct/Nov and leave in Mar/Apr...

You can find information about the autumn and spring migration of the common cranes in Egypt in these books:

"The Birds of the Egyptian Western Desert" by Steven M. Goodman

"A handbook to the birds of Egypt" by G.E. Shelley

So the only time when these birds could have been "led" by "the superintendent of the corn store" in Egypt is between Oct and Apr...

It is interesting that it is "the superintendent of the corn store" that leads these migratory birds "in huge numbers", considering that the spring northward migration of these birds out of Egypt, coincides with Shemu (Mar/Apr/May), the grain harvest season in Ancient Egypt...

Guess what else happens during this period, more precisely Apr/May? The calving season of the Wild Eurasian cattle. Which is why cow and calf is an ancient animal calendar marker for Apr/May. Today this period is marked by Taurus. I talked about this in my post "Cow and calf ivory"...

So all these animal calendar markers point at Apr/May, harvest time...Was there a festival that took place during that time, during which bulls were sacrificed? What are these things that look like some kind machete to me...

Not sure if Egyptians had anything like that...Anyone knows?

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...

Flower of life

"Limestone Stela depicting Canaanite goddess worshipping the Tree of Life. Tell Beit Mirim, 14th Century BCE, Hecht Museum, University of Haifa Israel"...

Hmmm...Tree of life...Not really...Plant of life...Certainly...Why? Here is why:

The Goddess is most likely some Levantine version of the Egyptian Goddess of Fertility, Hathor (pose, horned disk)...

The Goddess is not "worshiping the Tree of Life". She is standing surrounded by Nilotic lotuses...Well, first these are not lotuses. They are Blue Water Lilies, wrongly called Blue Lotus, even though they don't belong to the lotus family...

These beautiful blue flowers, native to the Nile marshlands, were believed to be "magic flowers", and were worshiped by the Egyptians...

For those who believe that these flowers were worshiped because they contained hallucinogenic chemicals: "Blue lotus flower (Nymphaea caerulea) is a psychoactive (not hallucinogenic!!!) plant, also known as blue Egyptian lotus, blue water lily, and sacred blue lily. It's been used in traditional medicine for thousands of years as a natural aphrodisiac (!!! the important bit), sleep aid, and anxiety reliever"

Now here is the reason why Blue lotus (Blue water lily) was such and important symbol: its flowering season is Jul-Sep. When the Nile water level reaches its peak. During the annual Nile flood...When Hathor, who was also called Mehet-Weret (The great flood) finally arrives...

Which is why on the Canaanite stela, Hathor, the Goddess of fertility, who is also called Mehet-Weret (The great flood), is depicted standing in the deep waters of the flooding river Nile, surrounded by long flower stems of the Blue lotuses. How do we know she is standing in the water? These long flower stems grow from the bottom of the river all the way to the surface...Vertically...And the goddess stands among the stems...So...

And the Goddess is pointing at at one of these flowers...As if to say: This is the flower of life, because it flowers during the flood, which is the source of life...And I am this flood...

I talked about lotus and papyrus flowers and why they were worshiped in Ancient Egypt in these posts: "Goddess on a horse", "Lotus and Papyrus", "Cow and calf ivory"...

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...

Lotus and papyrus

A bowl whose base is adorned with a lotus flower and the body with a procession of cows, possibly symbols of the goddess Hathor, through a setting of lotus flowers. Egypt, 775-653 BC. Currently in the Brooklyn Museum...

I explained why Hathor was represented as a cow in my article about "Cow and calf ivory".

In short, it is because of how the water level of the Nile is linked to the reproduction cycle of the wild Eurasian Auroch cattle, the ancestors of the domesticated cattle...

This is the annual river Nile flow chart.

The water level starts to rise in May/Jun, just after the wild Eurasian cattle (aurochs) start calving (Apr/May)...

The Nile water level rises through the summer, until it reaches its peak in Jul/Aug, when the flood starts. And aurochs start mating...

Normally, Hator and her cows are depicted emerging from the papyrus flowers thickets...

This is because Hathor has an alter ego, Mehet-Weret, another "Cow goddess", whose name means "Great Flood"...The rising of the water level of the river Nile which culminates in the Great Flood, starts in May/Jun...Which is just after the papyrus plant flower season peaks... 

Hence, Hathor/Great Flood, emerging from the papyrus thickets...

So why are cows on the Brooklyn Museum bowl depicted walking through lotus flowers? Well, first these are not lotus flowers. They are water lilies, wrongly called Blue Lotus, even though they don't belong to the lotus family...

These beautiful blue flowers, native to the Nile marshlands, were believed to be "magic flowers", and were worshiped by the Egyptians...

Blue water lily flowering season is from July until September. When the Nile water level reaches its peak. During the annual Nile flood...When Hathor, who was also Mehet-Weret (The great flood) finally arrives...

Hence papyrus (the beginning of the Nile flood) and lotus (the peak of the Nile flood), the sacred flowers of Egypt...The most depicted plants in Egyptian art. 

This is why the Egyptian god Hapi, who was the god of the annual flooding of the Nile in ancient Egyptian religion, was associated with papyrus and lotus flowers, and is often depicted as twins, tying papyrus and lotus flowers together

This is interpreted as "unity between Lower Egypt, whose symbol was papyrus flower, and Upper Egypt, whose symbol was lotus flower"...But really this is Nile, which rises between flowering of papyrus and flowering of lotus, which is what connects and unites Egypt...

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...