Chalcedony stamp

Neo Babylonian, 625-539BC, blue chalcedony pyramidal stamp seal with a goat-fish. Before it a rhomb and above its back a crescent. Currently in The Museum of Fine Arts Boston...

And no one knows what all these symbols together mean...So let me try to decipher this quickly:

Rhomb is a symbol for a date fruit. Date harvest season starts in Jul/Aug, in Leo, when Lion (autumn) kills (ends) Bull (summer) and lasts until Oct/Nov. I first encountered this symbol when I talked about date harvest in my post "Lion killing bull under date palm", but at that time I didn't know what rhomb means...

Rhomb also symbolises the womb of the Mother of Grain (Inanna/Ishtar) which produces food when "the seed of the Sky Father" (rain) fertilises her. I talked about this in my post "Rhomb"...

Sumerians actually explicitly state that Inanna is the "Mother of grain". In "The Courtship of Inanna and Dumuzi" we read:

As for me, Inanna

Who will plow my vulva?

Who will plow my high field?

Before my lord, Dumuzi ...

I poured out grain before him

I poured out grain before my womb...

I talk about "Mother of Grain" from various cultures in many of my posts...

Inanna/Ishtar was also deified Sirius, which rises with the sun (morning star) in Leo, Jul/Aug, the hottest time of the year. Which is why she is depicted standing on a lion with the sun above lion's head and is known as "The Lioness of heaven"...

I talked about deified Sirius in many of my posts...

You can start here: You know how everyone thinks that Inanna/Ishtar (Morning Star) is Venus and how I think that it was originally Sirius, and only later became Venus?

Well, it seems that Ancient Egyptians preserved the proof of this switch in their myths about Sopdet...

I talked about this in my post "Sirius mother of Venus"...

Now Sirius is visible in the night sky from Oct/Nov to Apr/May...

Oct/Nov, when rains arrive to Mesopotamia. 

Apr/May, when flood arrives to Mesopotamia.

Goatfish, the sacred animal of Enki, is a complex animal calendar marker for the wet season 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"...

In Mesopotamia, during the harvest which started in Apr/May, 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 to produce grain. I talked about it in my post "Sacred marriage on the threshing floor"...

So that was rhomb, goatfish...What about the crescent? In Mesopotamia, the crescent moon points upwards during the wet half of the year...Which is why it became the symbol of the moon god Nana/Sin. The most important Mesopotamian god linked with rain, water, green pastures and (cattle) fertility...I talked about this in my post "Moon god Nana/Sin"...

The same wet half of the year also marked by the rhomb and by the goatfish...

I love that they used blue (water) stone to depict all this...

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...

Mountain god with streams

Fragments of an ivory frieze, representing a "mountain god with streams, surrounded by trees". Middle Assyrian Period (14th century BC.). Found in the New Palace of Assur. Vorderasiatisches Museum of Berlin...

Who is this "Mountain god"? And what is really depicted here?

Let me try to explain:

Remember this:

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 "The great imposter"...

So this is Enki, the god who is simultaneously said to "rule Abzu" and "to be Abzu", Abzu being the source of Tigris and Euphrates"...

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

In them I explained that because the source of Tigris and Euphrates is in the mountains north east of Mesopotamia, Abzu is described as a mountain...

You can see that on both depictions, there are two jars in the sky pouring water and two jars in on the ground gathering water. What does this mean?

I already talked about this in my post "Water basin from Assur" about the 7th century BC basalt water basin from Assur, Iraq. Pergamon Museum, Germany...

Basically he two jars in the sky are clouds, and the two jars on the ground are human water receptacles... And Enki, who is (in) Abzu, is the intermediary...

I also talked about this in my post "Kassite seal with Apkallu", about this Kassite seal (18th-12th centuries BC) from Syria. National Museum of Damascus...

And in these posts I also explain the meaning of the fish men, if anyone is interested...

Oh, and the two trees on the ivory freeze...They are the trees of life. Life which exists in Mesopotamia because of the grace of Enki, who is (in) Abzu...

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...

Blue bull with golden horns

Stone figurine of a bull with a golden horns, Gilan, Iran, 1st mill BC.  The bull's blue(ish) stone body and golden horns suggest (to me at least🙂) that here we have an animal symbol linked with water and sun...And Taurus...  Why? Here's why:

This is the chart of the monthly flow of the Sefid Rud river, which flows through Gilan province of Iran from this article…You can see that the river is from Feb fed by snowmelt, which peaks in Apr/May, in Taurus...

Taurus which marks the beginning of summer, season symbolised by a bull...And ruled by the sun...I talked about this in my post "Symbols of the seasons"...

Taurus which originally had nothing to do with stars. It is an ancient animal calendar marker, which originally marked the beginning of the calving season of wild Eurasian cattle...

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

It is the sun rising elevation 

and rising temperature which causes the snowmelt which fills the rivers with water.

And so, symbolically, every spring, the sun god Utu / Shamash climbs the holy mountain (Abzu, source of water) to free Enki / Ea, the god of sweet water from his icy prison and release the waters...

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

Snowmelt which is the main water source for both Iranian rivers and Tigris and Euphrates.

Tigris and Euphrates annual flood (fed by snowmelt caused by the sun) peaks in Taurus, beginning of summer...

Hence Utu/Shamash depicted as a golden bull's head (sun) with lapis beard (flowing water). How do we know this is Utu/Shamash? Cause in "Enki and the world order" we read  "Utu/Shamash...the great herald in the east of holy An...with a lapis-lazuli beard, rising from the horizon..."  

I talked about this in my posts "Butt chewing", "Maran", "Lyres of Ur", "Solar bull"...

The Iranian blue bull with golden horns is most likely the Iranian symbolic equivalent of this golden bull Sun/Water bull Utu/Shamash or Enki/Ea, cause Enki was also known as "Great lord...Enki...great bull of the Abzu"...

BTW, I talked about Elamite/Iranian symbolic links between bulls and flood/water in my posts "Dedicated to Inshushinak", "Elamite water bull", "Harness ring from Luristan"...

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...

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...

Clay boat from Shuruppak

Clay boat model dated to 2200-2000 BC from Shuruppak, modern Tell Fara, an ancient Sumerian city situated about 55 kilometres south of Nippur on the banks of the Euphrates. Currently in the Penn Museum...

Here's the real thing, a boat made from reed bundles...

I talked about these boats in my post "Canals" where I talked about how knowing the best time to cut reed for boat building can helps us understand why the sun god Shamash is depicted with reed cutting knife.

This is the same type of boat in which the god of water and annual flood is depicted sailing down Tigris and Euphrates...2300–2150 BC. 

Talked about it in my post "Enki's little boat" where I discussed interesting animal calendar markers from the poem describing Enki's boat trip...

Here is the same Enki's flood boat, from a Sumerian Early Dynoastic seal, also depicting the goat (mating of wild goats, Oct/Nov, beginning of the wet season) and bull (calving of wild cattle, Apr/May, end of the wet season, beginning of the annual flood). 

I talked about it in my post "Rain and flood"...

This is also the same boat shown here as being Enki...I talked about this amazing seal in this post "Fertility goddess with poppies". Lots of animal and plant calendar markers everywhere...Including grain (important 🙂)...

And the same flood boat depicted on this perforated votive limestone plaque dated to ca. 2700-2650BC currently in Louvre...I talked about this in my post "Feast plaque from Louvre"...

So boat from Shuruppak is the symbol of???

Look at this: "Shuruppak became a grain storage and distribution city and had more silos than any other Sumerian city"...

Boat in the Grain storage...Check this post, "A person in a little boat", about the same "Little boat" depicted on this Proto-Elamite tablet from Iran, dated to 3400-3100 BC...

Is that grain sticking out of the butt of the "person in the little boat"? Apr/May, the beginning of the flood, is also the beginning of the grain harvest, and Jul/Aug, the end of the flood, is also the end of the grain harvest...Interesting...

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...