Dog coin

Coin minted in the 3rd century BC on the Greek Island of Kea depicting Dog Star Sirius...

Apparently, the people from Kea "offered sacrifices to the Dog Star, Sirius to bring cooling breezes while awaiting the reappearance of Sirius in summer"...

First, lets answer the question: why was Sirius known as the Dog Star...

When our mythologies were made out of animal calendar markers, Sirius, the Dog Star rose with the sun in Jul/Aug, when mating season of the old primitive dog breeds began...

We find this embedded into myths in:

Egypt: Article about "Dog days"...

Mesopotamia: Article about "Tishtrya"...

India: Article about "The bitch of the gods"...

Second, why were people of Kea praying to the Dog Star for the "cool breeze"...

To understand this we first have to look at the location and climate on Kea. 

You can see that Jul/Aug, the Dog Days, is the hottest and driest time of the year...

Luckily, the cool Meltemi (Etesian winds), seasonal trade winds which blow from the Balkans towards Egypt, peak in their strength during Jul/Aug...Right during the Dog (Star) days...

I talked about these winds in my post "Three sacrifices" about sacrifices performed by the Greeks before sailing to and from Troy. 7th c. BC Mykonos pithos. It contains the oldest depiction of the Trojan Horse, the way Homer described it in Iliad...

To read more about ancient animal and plant calendar markers, which are at the root of all our mythologies, start here…Then check my twitter threads I still didn't convert to blog post...I am way way behind...

PS: I need to read this article thoroughly...when I get time...Very interesting article about winds and currents in the Aegean and how they affected seafaring during 3rd millennium BC...Pic by Zde. Clay boat model, 2300–1900 BC, found on Mochlos, Crete...Greece...

Dog saves the grain

A folk tale from Solčava, Slovenija:

"When Adam and Eve had to leave Paradise God gave them a hoe and said they're only allowed to cultivate as much soil as they can reach with a hoe without moving from the spot they're standing on. 

Tall wheat grew from hoed ground and it had grain from the bottom to the top. But first people got greedy, they wanted even more and dug further. God got angry, grabbed the wheat at the ground and drew his fingers up, removing the grain from the stem.

Almost at the top God paused, giving people a chance to ask forgiveness. But they didn't! Before God could tear all of the grain off the wheat stem a dog came. It asked the Creator to be merciful toward people and leave them enough grain to make bread.

God listened to the dog's plead and that's the reason wheat only has grain at the top and that's why dog has the right to a piece of bread too."

In this Slovenian legend, presented originally by @another_barbara, a great account well worth following, a dog saves Adam and Eve from god's wrath and stops god from removing all the seeds from grain stalks.  

Traditional wheat harvest in Slovenia started in Jul, traditionally called in local dialects "mali srpan" (little sickle), and peaked in Aug, traditionally called in local dialects "veliki srpan" (big sickle). Which means that threshing (removing seeds from stalks) takes place in Jul/Aug...

The days at end of Jul beginning of Aug, the hottest time of the year, the time of fire breathing dragons which represent destructive sun's heat, are known locally as "kresovi" (fires, torches, bonfires). 

They are also known as dog days. This is because when our mythologies were made out of animal calendar markers, Sirius, the Dog Star rose with the sun in Jul/Aug, when mating season of the old dog breeds began...

We find this embedded into myths in:

Egypt: Article about "Dog days"...

Mesopotamia: Article about "Tishtrya"...

India: Article about "The bitch of the gods"...

This is symbolically depicted here: Medieval standing stone from Ubusko, Hercegovina. Dog fighting horned snake, dragon. Dog days (end of summer beginning of autumn), is the hottest period of the year in the Northern hemisphere, the time of fire breathing dragons. After the dog days, the Northern hemisphere starts to cool...

I think that it is this overlap between the dog days and the harvest/threshing days explains the role dog plays in this Slovenia legend. What do you think?

BTW

Here is a very interesting depiction of the garden of eden story. The tree is oak. And next to Adam and Eve we see grain and a lamb. 

Is the expulsion from the garden of eden faint memory of what happened during Neolithic agricultural revolution? 

I talked about this first in my post "Christmas trees from the Garden of Eden"...

Since then I learned that this area of Upper Mesopotamia was indeed the original Garden of Eden where the transformation from hunter-gatherers to farmers took place...

I talked about this in my post "How grain came to Sumer"...

To read more about ancient animal and plant calendar markers, which are at the root of all our mythologies, start here…Then check my twitter threads I still didn't convert to blog post...I am way way behind...

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...

Cypriot stamp seal with cow and calf

Conoid stamp seal, Late Cypriot III. Cyprus (?), ca. 13th–12th c. BC. Currently in the Met Museum. Official description: lions (?) attacking a cow suckling a calf...Actually, this is a complex animal calendar marker, marking the beginning of August...

First, cow suckling its calf...It is a symbol for Apr/May, the time when wild Eurasian cattle start to calve...

I talked about this in my posts "Cow and calf ivory", "Foundation peg of the goddess Nanshe" and many others...

Apr/May is also the time when the wild cows began to lactate...I talked about this in my post "Dairy farming seal", about this 3200-3000 BC. Late Uruk-Jemdet Nasr period seal

This is also the time when the grain harvest starts in Middle East, Levant...And Cyprus...I talked about this in my posts "Bulls and grain bowls", "Hesiod on grain"...and many others...

So an important calendar marker indeed...Which we today know as Taurus, Bull, but which I always thought should have been a cow and a calf...I talked about Taurus and why this part of the year is marked by a bull in my post "Ram and bull"

Now summer (May, Jun, Jul) starts with calving of wild Eurasian cattle, and ends with mating of wild Eurasian cattle...Which is why bull has been the symbol of summer all over Eurasia and North Africa since at least Neolithic. I talked about this in my post "Symbols of the seasons"...

Autumn (Aug, Sep, Oct), starts in Leo, animal calendar marker which marks Jul/Aug, the time when the main mating season of Eurasian lions begins...

Lion mating season spans the whole of autumn, which is why lion has been the symbol of autumn all over Eurasia and North Africa since at least Neolithic...

Summer ends at the end of Jul, and autumn begins at the beginning of Aug. Symbolically, lion (autumn) kills bull (summer)...Usually depicted as a lion chewing on the butt of a bull...

Or in the case of this Cypriot seal, lion jumping on  the back of the cow suckling its calf...

I talked about lion killing bull symbol in my post "Under blazing Sun - Sirus"...

And in my post "Winged superhuman hero (Nergal)"

And in my post "Lion killing bull under date palm"

Do you see how there is a dog standing under the palm tree? Why? For the same reason the animal "attacking" the cow from the front on the Cypriot seal definitely isn't a lion...I think that it could be a dog...Viewed from the top...Why? 

Because mating season of the oldest domesticated dog breeds, begins during dog days, end of Jul beginning of Aug...

When our mythologies were made out of animal calendar markers, Sirius, the Dog Star rose with the sun during dog days...

This has been preserved in mythologies from Egypt, I talked about this in my post "Dog days", Mesopotamia, I talked about this in my post "Tishtrya", India, I talked about this in my post "The bitch of the gods", Levant, I talked about this in my post "Anat"...

So both lion and dog (both animal calendar markers for the beginning of autumn) attack  bull (animal calendar marker for summer) at the same time, now, beginning of August...

What about the fish? If this is Cypriot seal, then I would propose that the fish is Tuna...Whose mating season in Mediterranean sea peaks in Jul/Aug which is also the beginning of the main Tuna fishing season in the Mediterranean sea... I talked about this in my post "Tuna coin from Akanthos"...

But maybe I am wrong...You never know with these ancient artifacts...Maybe I am just reading too much into it all...

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...

Lord of the flies

Beelzebub, the lord of the flies was identified by Jews and Christians with Satan...From בַּעַל (baʿal, "lord, master") + זְבוּב (zvuv, "fly"), appearing in the Hebrew Scriptures as the purported name of a deity worshipped by the Philistines in Ekron...

Wiktionary says this about Beelzebub:

"It's likely this was not the god's actual name and instead was a polemic against the deity, a derogatory term used by Hebrews for an enemy god, possibly by associating the figure with defecation (hence flies)"...

I will in this article like to argue that this was indeed not a name of the Philistine deity, but the deity's attribute...I will also argue that even though we don't know what Philistines called this deity themselves, we know who that deity was: Nergal, the destructive sun...I talked abut him in my post "Winged superhuman hero"...

Nergal was not just "The destructive sun of the late summer early autumn (Jul/Aug)", he was also the god of plague. As the God of Pestilence, Nergal set loose the plague among the peoples. Not a Biblical one...A regular, annual one...

One of his symbols was the fly, the insect that brings pestilence to whole populations...And in Mesopotamia, like everywhere else, the annual peak in the fly population causes the annual peak of infectious diseases that they spread...

And that peak falls in Jul/Aug, in Leo, the seat of Nergal, The Lion Man, the Destructive Sun of the drought season at the end of summer beginning of autumn, the god of death and disease, The Lord of Flies...

Here are some stats for you:

Blow fly and house fly numbers in Mesopotamia peak in Jul/Aug/Sep.

These flies transmit at least 65 diseases to humans, including typhoid fever, dysentery, cholera, poliomyelitis, tularemia...

Typhoid fever in Iraq is a seasonal disease, with the majority of cases occurring starting from Jul...

Dysentery and cholera outbreaks typically follow seasonal increase in water contamination starting from Jul with the peak in Sep...

The reason why these diseases peak in Jul/Aug, Leo, is because this is the time of the year of maximum heat and minimum precipitation...The time of the year when Nergal, The Lion Man, The Destructive Sun, causes droughts and dries up the wells and causes water contamination...

Polio season starts in May, peaks in Jul, Aug, Sep...

Tularemia appears to have a clear seasonal pattern, with most cases occurring in the summer and early autumn months, Jul, Aug, Sep...

All of these diseases spread by ordinary flies...But, don't forget Sandflies. 

Sandfly numbers peak in Jul/Aug...In Iraq, a bite from an infected sand fly transmits Leishmania infantum, the parasite that causes Sandfly fever. Symptoms include fever, rash, diffuse muscle pain, headache, loss of appetite, nausea and vomiting...

Malaria Transmission is confined almost exclusively to the northern region of Iraq. The season running from May to October, with the peak in July and August...

And so...Back to our friend Beelzebub, The Lord of Flies of the Philistines...I Levant, the climate is very much the same as in Mesopotamia...And the lifecycle of the flies is the same too...Meaning the sick season in Levant is also Jul/Aug...The time of droughts...

That Beelzebub is indeed the nickname of the Destructive Sun God, who is also the god of plague, diseases, can be seen from the fact that there is an Ugaritic text which depicts Ba'al expelling flies, which are the cause of a person's sickness...

Ba'al being the Rain god, the enemy of the God of Death, Mot, who btw was equated to the sun...So, rain comes, the well water gets clean and safe for drinking again, the sickness season ends...

I talked Baal (Rain) - Mot (Sun) in my articles "The oldest Arabic poem" and "Anat"

BTW, if you are wondering why would people anywhere worship a god of death...Millennia of hardship, suffering, wars, deceases, droughts, deaths, destruction...

Ethnographer interviewing an old peasant woman, Serbia first half of 20th century.

Gran, do you believe in god?

Of course I do my son. Who wouldn't believe in god?

And are you afraid of god, gran?

Of course I am my son. Who wouldn't be afraid of an evil force? 

The same hottest, "driest time of the year = fly population peak = disease peak" correlation exists in Greece...Where we find Apollo, The Sun God, tho was also the God of Plague...And who was, possibly 🙂 derived from Nergal...Check my article "Palil" out for more details...

Greeks tell us that it is the rising of the Dog Star that brings sickness:

Sirius rises late in the dark, liquid sky

On summer nights, star of stars,

Orion's Dog they call it, brightest

Of all, but an evil portent, bringing heat

And fevers to suffering humanity.

This is the excerpt from Homer's Iliad. When this poem was written, Sirius, the Dog Star, used to rise in Leo, Jul/Aug, during Dog Days, the time of the year ruled by the Destructive Sun, Nergal...Apollo...

Why dog star? Why dog days?

Cause when our mythologies were made out of animal calendar markers, Sirius, the Dog Star rose with the sun in Jul/Aug, the time when mating season of the old primitive dog breeds began...Mythologised dog calendar markers:

Egypt: "Dog days", Mesopotamia: "Tishtrya", India: "The bitch of the gods"

Why Leo?

Cause when our mythologies were made out of animal calendar markers, Asiatic lions mating season started in Jul/Aug and spanned the whole of Autumn (Aug/Sep/Oct)...Which is why autumn starts in Leo (Jul/Aug). I talked about this in my post "Angra Mainyu"...

And why lion is the symbol of autumn...I talked about this in my post "Symbols of seasons"...

Basically, dog and lion are equivalent animal calendar markers, both marking Jul/Aug...The seat of Nergal, the god of death...Who was associated with dogs 🙂 But I will talk about this in one of my future articles...I think this is quite enough for today...

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...