Malatya relief

A while back @PIELexicon posted this image:

With this description: A Luwian Storm-God conquers a sea-dragon, called Illuyanka in Hittite in this Malatya relief. The Luwian designation, unless the same, remains unknown. If the name was included in the relief, it was contained in the section broken off, now unfortunately permanently gone and lost...

He then said that the first deity spearing the dragon is Hitt.-Luw. Tarhunza = Hurr. Teshub and the second one is Sarma = Sarruma, the mountain God...

At which point someone joined the conversation and said that Illuyanka is not a dragon but a snake. He argued that Illuianga has the determinative MUSH "snake", which is why Friedrich call it "ungeheure Schlange" (monstrous Snake). 

Snake is a solar animal, pretty much a universal symbol of the sun's heat. Snakes follow sun everywhere. They are in our world when sun is in our world (day, summer) and in the underworld when the sun is in the underworld (night, winter)...I talked about this in many of my posts. 

Which is why the terms "snake" and "dragon" are fluid in the vocabularies and mythologies. For instance, according to Slavic folklore, (Fire Breathing) Dragon (the symbol of the destructive summer sun's heat which burns everything and brings drought) is just "an old snake" (symbol of sun's heat)...

I talked about the link between snake and sun in many of my posts...

Also Slavic "zmaj" (dragon) is masculine form of "zmija" (snake). 

I talked about this in my post "Letnitsa treasure", about the 4th c. BC Thracian treasure found in Bulgaria, which among other artefacts contained this metal plaque which depicts a common theme from Balkan fairytales: a princess being kidnapped by a dragon...And she seems to like it...Please note that the dragon was depicted with a snake body...

@PIELexicon replied that drawing distinction between "snake, snake-demon, and dragon" is "splitting hairs": Tischler gives all alternatives as the translation of Hitt. illuyanka- (c.) "Schlange, Schlangenungeheuer, Drache" (Snake, Snake demon, Dragon), (HHand2: 67), as people interpret a snake-demon as a dragon.

@PIELexicon also pointed at the article "The Serpent-Fighting Imagery of Anatolia in the 2nd Millennium BC and Malatya Serpentine Monster in the Light of Newly Published Old Assyrian Seal Impression from Kültepe" which actually states that the current understanding is that the closer examination of the Malatya "monster" shows that it has paws and multiple heads...

And that the existence of paws and multiple heads is confirmed by the recently seal impression from the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts...

And that "Paws are also mentioned in other Hittite texts for creatures designated by the Sumerogram MUŠ ‘snake’, for example, MUŠ[-aš] GÌR.MEŠ ‘snake paws’ in the Pittei ritual, because this Sumerogram could cover the entire range of reptiles"...

And "The Serpent-Fighting Imagery..." article also states that some of the Hittite legends about Illuyanka mention the monster being tied with a rope before being killed, tying which is usually done to tie paws, legs...

Mesopotamians depicted dragon with lion body and snake heads...Cause dragon is a snake is a dragon...

The oldest depiction of a Hero (actually two Heroes) killing a Dragon...Mesopotamia, 2200BC...Seven headed dragon to be more precise...With seven snake heads...One for each hot month of Mesopotamian summer...Analysis of the meaning of this image can be found in my post "Seven headed dragon"...

Bactrians depicted dragons as winged snakes. No legs...Cause dragon is a snake is a dragon...I talk about this in my post "Bactrian snakes and dragons"...

So it is definitely a dragon, not a snake...

But what kind of dragon? 

I asked @PIELexicon what he thought the dots above the dragon represent. 

@PIELexicon then said that he thought that what was depicted above the dragon were thunderclouds, rain and raindrops. He then again pointed to the article "The Serpent-Fighting Imagery..." which contains the analysis of this relief in which rain/hail was mentioned as one interpretation. 

The article he also stated that "It can be that lines and circles shown above the serpent’s figure represent rain and hail caused by the Storm-God and directed by his assistants from heaven just onto the monster as an additional weapon against it".

The dots are definitely rain drops. I have found this interpretation in many places. For instance, in my post "Lapis lazuli water seal" I analyse the scene depicted on this amazing Lapis lazuli seal from the point of view of the local climate and animal calendar markers. The seal was made between 2400BC and 2000BC in Eastern Iran. British Museum.

But I don't think that the rain is "a weapon used against the monster". As I already said, (Fire Breathing) Dragon (the symbol of the destructive summer sun's heat which burns everything and brings drought) is just "an old snake" (symbol of sun's heat)...So Dragon "steals the rain" and the Thunder God kills the dragon and "releases the stolen rain" with the help of his assistants. 

I talked about this in my post "Scaring off the dragon" in which I analyse this interesting Bulgarian ritual: 

In Bulgaria, at the start of summer, all the strong and healthy village men would gather at midnight, strip naked and walk the village land in ritual silence brandishing axes or cudgels, weapons of thunder gods "to scare the dragon who steals the waters"... 

The reenactment of Teshub killing Illuyanka, or another version of this pretty universal Eurasian (And not only IndoEuropean) myth?

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...

Pretas

In Buddhism, Pretas, the "Hungry ghosts" are pitiable creatures with huge, empty stomachs which suffer constant hunger...

Buddhists believe that beings are reborn as hungry ghosts because of their greed, envy, addiction, obsession, and compulsion and jealousy...

And yet, in the summer there are hungry ghost festivals throughout Asia that feature food and entertainment for the hungry ghosts...

The origin of Buddhist "hungry ghosts" is in Hinduism, where originally Preta was understood as the ghost of any deceased individual. The Sanskrit word "preta" (प्रेत) literally means "departed, deceased, a dead person" derived from "pra-ita" meaning "gone forth, departed"...

Today, the dead are burned and the food is given to them "for a year, until they reincarnate"...But I wonder if this belief about the hungry dead originates from the time before Hindus started to be burn their dead and before Hindus started believing in reincarnation?

Here is why.  Today the Hindu families ritually feed the deceased "whose spirit is often symbolised by a clay mound somewhere in the house"...Why? Is this a remnant of the memory of the the time when the dead were buried under the mounds of clay (earth), under tumuli?

Is it possible that this belief and ritual came to India from the steppe with the Indo-Europeans? Who did bury their dead under the tumuli. And is it possible that these are actually remnants of the ancient Ancestor Cult?

The same ancestral cult featuring ever hungry and thirsty ancestors found among the Slavs for instance? I talked about this in many of my posts, like "Soul breads", "Dead man loaf" and , in which I talked about the breads made for the hungry dead...

It is interesting that Hindus feed their "hungry dead" rice balls, "which are said to symbolise the body of the deceased"...Just like in the Slavic ancestor cult where ancestors are believed to be the source of grain. 

I talked about this in my post "Diduch", about Diduch (grandfather), symbolic representation of the the dead ancestors who govern the lives of the living... 

BTW, Romans too saw direct link between the dead and the grain. I talked about this in my article "Lapis Manalis", about the sacred water stone which covered the entrance into the underworld/grain storage pit...

BTW, while I was looking for a suitable illustration for "lapis manalis" (we don't know what it actually looked like), the sacred stone used as part of a Roman "aquaelicium" (calling of the waters), rain making ceremony performed during droughts, I suddenly realised what cup and ring marks look like...

We find the same link between the dead, the god of the dead, Osiris and grain in Egyptian religion too. I talked about this in these articles where I talk about why Egyptians believed that grain grows from the body of Osiris...I talked about this in my post "The beard of Osiris" and "Braided beard"...

It is this life giving power of the dead, which Pluto (Hades), the giver of wealth, appropriated for himself. And this is why Hades and Persephone are depicted sitting on their throne in the land of the dead, with sheafs of wheat and flowers...I talked about this in my post "Pluto"...

In the Mesopotamian and Hittite ancestor cult, we also find hangry and thirsty ancestors who are also linked to rain and grain. Talked about this in my article "Care of the dead" about the care of the dead in Mesopotamia and Anatolia...

"...humiliation of the Hittite kingdom is the result of the fact that the Hittites have forgotten to respect the sacred bond with their dead..." - Last Hittite king Suppiluliuma II.

Statue of Suppiluliuma II, Hatay Archeology Museum

The last thing that I will say about the "hungry ghosts" is that in China the hungry ghost festival is held on the 15th day of the 7th lunar month which corresponds to Jul/Aug in Gregorian calendar...

During the festivals, people give food to the hungry ghosts and hope for blessings from their ancestors in return...This is the old contract between the dead and the living. The living feed the dead so that the dead will feed the living...The contract the Hittites broke...

The Chinese seventh lunar month, is actually known as the "Ghost Month" or "Hungry Ghost Month," and is believed to be a time of the year when the gates of the underworld open, allowing spirits to roam the earth...

Very interesting, considering that in Mesopotamia, July, or month of Ab, was dedicated to the dead and the dead god, Tammuz, who died and went to the underworld...You can read more about this here...

The rituals of this month, consisted in eating bread in the funeral feasts for the dead god of life, who now reposed in hell, and in carrying torches by night for the souls of the dead who during this month ascended from the underworld to the world of the living...

Interesting, right?

Grain and lions

A shard from a Hittite vessel with a depiction of a god (?) standing on a lion with a plant above lion's head. Museum of Anatolian Civilisations, Ankara, Turkey. I'd love to know what is the official interpretation of this artefact. Here's mine:

I think that the depicted plant is not just any plant. It's grain. Mesopotamian/Levantine symbol for grain. Some posts about the symbol for grain and the Mother of grain in Neolithic Europe, Central Asia, Mesopotamia, Iran, Levant: "Mother of grain", "Altyn Tepe mother of grain", "A person in a little boat", "Sabi Abyad venus", "Hathor grain pendants"...

Interestingly, in Anatolia, the grain harvest takes place in Jul/Aug, in Leo. Which is why, I think, the grain is depicted above the lion's head...I talked about grain/lion link in Anatolia in my posts "Eagle dude from Aleppo", "Bull god from Arslantepe", "Ulucinar stelae"

I have no idea who the god standing on the lion is...Are there any depictions of the Hittite grain deity, Halki? Considering that the sex of this deity is debated, can this help in any way settle the debate?

BTW, Leo (Jul/Aug), originally had nothing to do with stars either. It is the ancient animal calendar marker marking the beginning of the main mating season of the Asiatic lions. I talked about this in many of my posts...

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...

Eagle killing hare

Silver Coin from Ancient Elis, Peloponnese. ca. 421-365 BC.

Obverse: An eagle killing a wild hare

Reverse: FA. Vertically standing stylized winged lightning bolt in an olive wreath.

Why eagle killing hare? Well here's something I learned today:

Apparently of all the eagles that live in Greece the biggest hare killers are golden eagles, whose favourite food are hares...

Interestingly, the breeding season of both golden eagles and hares overlap, meaning they are identical animal calendar markers. 

Golden eagle mating season is Mar/Apr. It is marked by  mad mating ritual flights, known as the sky dance...After which, they do the...you know...

The female lays 1-3 eggs. The incubation period is 41-45 days. This means that the hungry golden eagle chicks are born in Apr/May. They stay in the nest and are fed by their parents (baby hares, their favourite) for about 65 days...

Wild hare mating season is Mar/Apr. It is marked by mad mating (not ritual, real 🙂) fights between an unwilling female and a very very very much willing male... After which, if the male is lucky (or good enough fighter), they do the...you know...

The female gets pregnant with 3 or more babies. The gestation period is 41 to 42 days. Baby hares leave their hole within a week...Which means that from Apr/May the fields are full of baby hares, the favourite food of baby golden eagles... 

So if you were from Ancient Elis, the best time to see golden eagle killing hare scene was during the summer, starting from Apr/May until Jul/Aug...Which is the peak thunderstorm season in Peloponnese... 

Here is another coin from Elis, Peloponnese,  ca. 450-440 BC. 

Obverse: Eagle flying, grasping snake with its talons and its beak. 

Reverse: F–A. Thunderbolt with volutes above and wings below

Interesting. Why eagle killing snake?

Believe or not 🙂 this is another animal calendar marker for the thunderstorm season, Apr/May -  Sep/Oct, which is the only time when migratory snake eagles can be seen in Greece hunting snakes... 

I explained it all in this article "Eagle snake struggle".

It is interesting that both of these coins were issued by the same Ancient Greek city state. Deliberate use of animal calendar markers for thunderstorm season?

BTW, I was just reminded of this: Hittite imperial eagle...

The meaning of which we have just discovered, I think...

Two headed eagle normally means eagle mating/nesting season. 

Two hares (two of any animal) means hare mating/birthing season.

Look at the Hittite land in Anatolia in Apr/May...

PS: I talked about the meaning of two headed birds in these articles:

Archaeologists, anthropologists, art historians...studying ancient artefacts depicting animals, are still not sure what these animal symbols mean. And non of them thought to look at the depicted animal's lifecycle for clues...Bactria, 2500-1500BC. I talked about this in my post "Double headed eagle"...

Once I realised that the double headed eagle (vulture) marks Old World Vultures mating season, I checked if the double headed eagles (vultures) symbols from Central America had the same meaning (Vulture mating season). They do...I talked about this in my post "Golden eagles from Costa Rica"...

If double headed eagle (vulture) had the same meaning in different, completely unrelated cultures on different continents and different ages, I wondered if any double headed bird symbol would have the same meaning. Like this one from Easter Island. It does...I talked about this in my post "Birdman from Easter Island"...

To read more about ancient animal and plant calendar markers, which were the key to deciphering all this, 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...

Sphinx

This 2,800 year old ivory was recently discovered in the old Hittite capital Hattusa, Turkey. According to excavation director Prof. Dr. Andreas Schachner, the engraving depicts "a Sphinx, a Lion, and two Trees of Life" and is a unique find.

That's it. That's it?

We don't know:

1. Where was this piece made?

2. What is the meaning of the depicted scene?

So...Let me try to propose the answers to these questions...

I never actually thought about the sphinx symbol before. Crazy I know. But better ever than never 🙂

The oldest, largest and most famous sphinx is the Great Sphinx of Giza, situated on the Giza Plateau adjacent to the Great Pyramids of Giza on the west bank of the Nile River.

The Great Sphinx, which has a body of a lion and a man's face, was built around 2500BC by the Pharaoh Khafre of the 4th dynasty and it is believed that Sphinx face is that of the Pharaoh Khafre...

The Sphinx faces east. And right under its feet, archaeologists have discovered the oldest Ancient Egyptian solar temple, where the sun was worshipped as Khepri, the rising sun, Ra, the midday sun, and Atum, the setting sun. 

According to "The Sun Temples of the Vth Dynasty: A Reassessment", during the Old Kingdom, "kingship assumed a solar trait which culminated with the building of the Giza Sun Temple, a place devoted to the celebration of...solar nature of the pharaoh who represented the only link between gods and people..."

Now, knowing this, it is very interesting that the Great Sphinx which stands over the sun temple, has a face of the Pharaoh Khafre, whose name means "He appears as Ra (Sun god)".

I would say that this was done to explicitly identify Pharaoh Khafre as the Living Sun God.

This would answer, apparently still unanswered, question: what was the original symbolic meaning of the Sphinx?

Common opinion is that Sphinx symbolises human triumph over wild nature.

But Egyptologist Alan Gardiner suggested that the Egyptian phrase, "shesep ankh Atum" (Living Image of Atum), which was associated with sphinxes, signified the pharaoh in the form of the primeval sun and creator god Atum.

In the Heliopolitan creation myth, Atum was the first god. Some say that he was the primordial mound which emerged from the primordial waters. Others say that he created himself as the first thing on the primordial mound after it emerged from the primordial waters.

Apparently, Pyramid Texts, Coffin Texts and the Book of the Dead state that "lion emerged from the primeval mass within the primeval waters before all other animals, and mankind". 

Which would imply, as the Egyptologist Karol Mysliwiec pointed out, that it was Atum himself who appeared on earth as a lion. Hence Sphinx, a lion man, as the Living Image of Pharaoh as Atum...

Interesting, right?

But why did Atum appear as a lion? No one knows...Well actually I know...Animal calendar markers...

This is annual Nile flow rate chart. You can see that the flow peaks in Jul/Aug (Leo) resulting in the annual flood...

During the sunniest, hottest time of the year in Egypt (Cairo climate chart). And because it is the annual Nile flood that makes the life in Egypt possible, we have the Sun (god) being the creator of life...

Now in my post "Beautiful boy", about Nefertem, the Egyptian Beautiful Boy, originally a lotus flower at the creation of the world, who had arisen from the primal waters, I explained why I think that when Egyptians talk about "primal waters" or "primordial waters" from which their world emerged, they actually mean "annual Nile flood" without which Egypt wouldn't exist...

So Atum appearing out of the "primordial waters" as a lion just means fertile land appears out of the Annual Nile flood which starts in Jul/Aug, in Leo...

And because the Pharaoh is the "living life giving sun god", we end up with a Sphinx, a lion man, sun (god) in Leo...

BTW, this is also the time when the the god Osiris, the personification of the fertile black soil, gets resurrected, after being killed by god Set, the personification of the infertile red (desert) soil

In Egypt, agriculture depended not on rain, but on the annual Nile flood. And who was the god directly linked to the annual Nile flood that created the black (fertile) soil? Osiris. I talked about this in my post "Holy carp"...

Osiris with wheat growing from his body. From the coffin of Nespawershepi.

And because Osiris is "an ideal Pharaoh", and because Osiris likes wearing a false beard, Pharaohs wore false beards...I talked about this in my post "The beard of Osiris"...

Figurine of a bearded man by the Naqada I culture, 3800–3500 BC, from Upper Egypt...

But I am digressing...

Jul/Aug is marked with animal calendar markers Leo (Lion) because this is when Eurasian lions main mating season used to start...It originally had nothing to do with constellations...

Asiatic lions mating season started in Jul/Aug and spanned the whole of Autumn (Aug/Sep/Oct)...

In the "THE ASIATIC LION: A study of ecology and behaviour" by Paul Joslin we can read that based on the observation of the large number of wild lions, the mating season of the Asiatic lions starts in August and lasts until October. 

Which is why autumn starts in Leo (Jul/Aug). And why lion is the symbol of autumn...I talked about this in my post "Symbols of the seasons"...

Now here is a very interesting fact: Now extinct, North African lions have a completely different mating season from Eurasian lions. They mated in January...I talked about this in my post "Barebery lion", about this Roman mosaic, 2nd century AD, Tunisia, depicting Dionysus riding a lion...Great example how different reproductive cycles of different subspecies of the same animal, in this case Eurasian lion and African Barbery lion, change the meaning of the lion symbol.

This means that unless Eurasian lions once lived in Egypt, Ancient Egyptians could not have developed Leo animal calendar marker for Jul/Aug by observing local lions behaviour.

So what does this mean? It means that this animal calendar marker and the associate mythology was imported into Egypt from somewhere else, from a place where local lions did start mating in Jul/Aug...

That place is Mesopotamia...And guess who we find in Mesopotamia?

Nergal, the deified destructive "burning" sun, was depicted as a lion man, because Jul/Aug, Leo, is the hottest and driest part of the year in Mesopotamia...Talked abut him in my post "Winged superhuman hero"...

Well lion-man otherwise known as Sphinx...Except, because of the different hydrological situation, Jul/Aug is not just the hottest and driest time of the year, but also the beginning of the time period with the lowest water level in Tigris and Euphrates. The real time of death...

A lot has been written about Egypt - Mesopotamia relations Mesopotamians had a huge genetic and cultural influence on Early Egypt. Even I wrote about it in my post "Markhor goat from Naqada"...

Anyway, guess what's depicted on one of the most "Mesopotamian" objects found in Egypt, the so called "Gebel el-Arak Knife", Dated 3300–3200 BC, and found in Abydos, Egypt?

"King as master of animals fighting two lions" 🙂

This is kind of true. The king (dressed like early Mesopotamian Uruk culture kings) is depicted "in Leo" (between the lions)...

The most important duty of Mesopotamian kings was to oversee the building and maintaining of irrigation canals and dams.

Sun God Utu/Shamash with sun (heat) rays emanating from his shoulders, standing in in an empty canal, in Leo (between the lions), the hottest, driest time of the year in Mesopotamia, and the time when canals were repaired, holding reed cutting knife...I talked about this in my post "Canals"...

It was irrigation which made grain agriculture possible in Mesopotamia and helped people defeat the destructive sun in Leo...Hence...

Why were Persian kings so obsessed with killing lions? Well they were't really killing lions. They were symbolically killing dry season...Which starts in Apr/May, Bull, peaks in Jul/Aug, Leo and ends in Oct/Nov, Scorpio/Eagle...I talked about this in my post "King killing Angra Mainyu".

As I already said, because of the different hydrology, in Egypt, the time between the lions, Jul/Aug, Leo, was not the time of drought, death, but the time of flood, life. Hence pharaoh was eventually depicted not fighting the lions, but being a lion...A Sphinx...

Which I why I think that Gebel el-Arak Knife and other depictions of kings fighting lions were made under the direct cultural influence from Mesopotamia, and predate the development of the local Egyptian "good lion-sun god =  lion-pharaoh cult"...

BTW, in Mesopotamia the sun god was also the giver of life...But it was the sun in Taurus, the time when water levels peak in Tigris and Euphrates.

Mesopotamian god Utu/Shamash was depicted as a golden bull (Sun in Taurus) with flowing lapis lazuli beard (flowing water)...

Cause flood arrives there in Taurus...

I talked about this in many of my posts. For instance "Butt chewing"...

I talked about Shamash (sun) and his link to annual Tigris and Euphrates flood and Ankh in my post "Sun god tablet" in which I present detailed analysis of this 860BC-850BC Middle Babylonian limestone tablet known as "Sun god tablet"...

But I am digressing again...

Now, if lions in Egypt had a different mating season from the Eurasian lions, how did Mesopotamian people who arrived and settled in Egypt know that the annual Nile flood starts in Jul/Aug, Leo...

Enter Sirius, the one star that every old civilisation seem to have known, worshiped, tracked and used as a calendar marker.

During the time when Mesopotamian and Egyptian   mythologies were formed, Sirius rose with the sun in Jul/Aug, in Leo, when Eurasian lions began their mating season...Hence in Mesopotamia we have a goddess of war and destruction associated with lions...

For those who will say "Ishtar was the morning star", yes she was, in Leo (Jul/Aug), when Sirius rose in the morning before the sun...Which is why Ishtar stands on a lion (with Shamash sun cross above the lion) and is known as "The Lioness of heaven"...

I know, I know, everyone believes that the star of Inanna/Ishtar was Venus. In my post "Inanna and Shukeletuda", through analysis of this famous poem, I explain in detail why I believe that this is in fact wrong...And why the star of Inanna/Ishtar is in fact Sirius...

In Egypt, Jul/Aug, Leo, is also the time of the "Eyes of Ra", murderous lioness war goddesses, like Sekhmet...I talked about this in my posts "Holy cow" and "Baboon"...

In Mesopotamia, the heliacal rising of Sirius marked the lowest water level in the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, the beginning of drought...It also marked the arrival of Nergal, the lion-god, the sun god of death...

In Egypt, the heliacal rising of Sirius marked highest water level in the Nile river, the beginning of the annual flood...It also marked the arrival of Atum/Ra, the lion-god, the sun god of life...

BTW...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...

I talked about the dog star in Egypt in my post "Dog days"...

I talked about the dog star in Mesopotamia in my post "Tishtrya"...

I talked about the dog star in India in my post "The bitch of gods"...

Why is this important? Cause on the Gebel el-Arak Knife, the king is standing not just between two lions (in Jul/Aug, Leo), he is also standing between two dogs (In Jul/Aug, Dog days)...When Dog Star Sirius (the eye of Ra???) rises with the sun (Ra)...

Sooooo...

Back to our original Hittite engraving...Well it makes the link between Sphinx and lion (Leo) obvious. In case this is still not obvious...

Hittite relief sculpted orthostat stone panel of Herald's Wall Basalt, Karkamıs, (Kargamıs), Carchemish (Karkemish), 900-700 B.C. Chimera. Anatolian Civilisations Museum, Ankara, Turkey.

I think that it was made under Egyptian influence, as in Egypt and not Mesopotamia lions (and lion-men, Sphixes) bring life (Trees of life)...

But the Spinx depicted on the engraving has wings, which Egyptian lion-man does't have, but Mesopotamian lion-man (Nergal) has...

So I wonder if this piece was made during the time when Mesopotamians ruled Egypt? Which is basically the exact time to which this Hattusa engraved ivory was dated to...And which is why we see Mesopotamian lion-man with attached Egyptian symbolism?

Anyway, that's it for today. Hope you enjoyed this. 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...

PS: It just occurred to me that the later Greek Female Sphinx as murderous keeper of secrets, could just be Sirius, "The Lioness of Heaven", "The Eye of Ra" under another name and guise...I might write another thread about this at some later stage...