Eagle dude from Alepo

This eagle dude from a frieze from Aleppo dating to 900 B.C. (left) could have been a model for artists working 30 years later on the famous reliefs at the Assyrian city of Nimrud (right)...

You can read more about it in the article "Temple of the storm god" by Andrew Lawler

They are both holding baskets and pine cones...Why?

The vulture dude is a well known symbol used in Central Asia, Mesopotamia and Iran to represent wet part of the year (Nov-Apr)...Because vulture mating season in this part of the world starts in Oct-Nov and takes place during the wet part of the year...

I talked about these eagle dudes in several of my posts. Like these ones: "Double headed eagle" "Giant eagle dude with mouflons" "Fluffy" and "Eagle calendar marker", "Eagle dance", "The judgement of the birdman", "Mysterious creature"... 

This depiction is from an Akkadian seal dated to 2200BC...

These eagle dudes are found from Central Asia to Anatolia, with identical meaning. 

It is the rain (and snow) that falls during the mating season of vultures that is the source of life in this part of the world...Hence the association of the eagle dudes with the tree of life...

Interestingly, pine cone (pine nuts, seeds) harvest season in the northern hemisphere starts in Oct-Nov (when eagle dudes bring rain) and lasts over the wet part of the year...

So probably not a coincidence that the eagle dude is holding a pine cone...

As for the basket...Have you seen this article about the pillar 43 from Gobekli tepe?

In the area of Gobekli tepe the solar year is divided into two seasons, dry season (end of May to start of October) and rain wet season (end of October to start of May). And in places with this kind of climate, the arrival of life giving rain is the most important calendar event.

Vultures begin their mating season when the first rains arrive, November. 

And you can't miss it, because they start their mad areal synchronised displays:

I talked about this in my article "Double headed eagle"...

Scorpions hide when the first rains arrive, November. And you can't miss this because they disappear from the fields, where it's cold and wet, and appear in your houses, where it's warm and dry

I talked about this in my post "Dilmun goats seal"...

So both scorpion and vultures being depicted on the pillar 43 could mean: when rains arrive...

Cool, I can hear people say, but maybe just a coincidence. How do you explain the bags?

Well, scorpion was used in Mesopotamia (just down the road from Gobekli tepe) as calendar marker to mark the beginning of the grain sowing season. 

Sowing of grains was done after the first rains, when the scorpions disappear. I talked about this in my articles "Sowing" and "7 stars of scorpio"...

After the furrow is made, the seeds are planted into the furrow. Now how did these early sowers bring the seeds to the field? Most likely in a basket...or a bag...with a handle...

Like this one carried by the sower walking next to the plow on this Mesopotamian seal.

So Eagle dude with a pine cone and a bag = pine harvest, grain sawing time, when vultures mate...

One more interesting bit...The eagle dude is not the only dude with a handbag found in Aleppo temple...There is also the lion dude...

But the lion dude is not holding a pine cone...He is holding grain...Why?

Remember my article about this orthostat (engraved stone block) from Arslantepe, dated to 1200-700BC...

In it I talked about Hittite agricultural calendar. In Hittite Anatolia the harvest time was late July early August, End of summer...Leo, beginning of the main mating season of Eurasian lions...

So lion headed dude holding grain and a basket = grain harvest time. Time to refill the grain baskets and get them ready for the next sawing...

Interesting, right?

Bull god from Arslantepe

The other day, Waššukanni (@dutpekmezi3), one of my favourite twitter accounts, and someone I would definitely recommend you to follow if you like archaeology, published a picture of this orthostat (engraved stone block) from Arslantepe, dated to 1200-700BC...

Here is the drawing of the same orthostat where the actual features are even clearer to see

The description under this artefact contains few "mistakes": 

First: the god is not holding a boomerang 🙂 in his raised right arm, he is holding a sickle. That this is not a boomerang is is kind of obvious...Why it is a sickle, not so obvious...But it will become obvious...

Second: the god is also not holding a "lightning bundle" 🙂 in his left arm, he is holding a sheaf of wheat...

The reason why I don't think this is a "lightning bundle" is because on another stone monument from the same period, Uluçinar stela, we can see what the "lightning bundle" of the Anatolian storm gods actually looks like: it's a trident...

I analysied the Uluçinar stelae in this article… What I have found during that analysis can help us understand the meaning of the scene from the Aslantepe orthostat too...

It is all to do with Anatolian climate and with the grain agriculture which was the most important activity in the Hittite kingdom...

The late April early May (Taurus, Beginning of summer) is the time of maximum precipitation and maximum thunderstorms in the land of the Hittites.

Which is why the Thunder god on the Uluçinar stelae stands on the bull...

And which is why on the Aslantepe orthostat, the first image on the left depicts the Thunder god arriving on the chariot pulled by a bull...

It is this rain that fills the wells, rivers and canals and waters the grain and makes it grow. It is also this rain that can completely destroy the grain...So if you were a Hittite grain farmer, you were at the complete mercy of the Storm god...

If it was his will, and he brought just enough rain, at just the right time, the harvest time, late July early August (Leo, End of summer) will be the time of celebration and thanksgiving...

This is what the second, central picture on the Aslantepe orthostat depicts: a merciful Storm god giving a sheaf of wheat to a grateful king...

The fact that both "gods" on the Aslantepe orthostat are carrying a sickle is basically telling us two things: that this is actually one and the same god, in two different periods of the year: beginning and end of summer...And that the Storm god is also the Grain god...

The king in response pours a water libation. The harvest time in the Hittite land was the driest part of the year. The time of drought. The time of water shortages...Which is why a water libation was a deliberately chosen as the sacrifice...

The last picture on the right depicts "a man holding a bull ready to be sacrificed"...

This is very interesting. In Serbia and in Ireland, bulls were sacrificed in August to the storm gods who were also associated with grain agriculture...As thanksgiving for bountiful harvest...

I talked about this in my posts "Bull of Crom Dubh" and "Bull of Grom Div"

Also in Serbia and in Ireland, these gods were actually both Storm and Sun, Sky gods and grain gods...And in both places their day was celebrated at the time of maximum drought, the hottest part of the year, the beginning of August...

Beginning of August, which marked the end of summer, the season symbolised by a bull...So it was fitting that on that day Serbs and Irish sacrificed a bull, a sacred animal of the sky god, symbolically killing summer...

It seems that the Hittites did that too...

By the way the reason why summer, May, Jun, Jul, is symbolised by a bull is because it starts with the calving of Aurochs, wild Eurasian cattle, and ends with the mating of Aurochs, wild Eurasian cattle...You can read more about this in my post "Ram and Bull"...

The reason why autumn is symbolised by a lion, is because Eurasian lions main mating season started in August and spanned Aug, Sep, Oct...You can read more about this in my post "Musth"...

You can read more about the symbols of the seasons in my posts "Symbols of the seasons"...

So these Aslantepe orthostats are another great example of the use of animal calendar markers in agricultural calendars...These markers, based on the timing of the main events from the reproductive cycles of the animals used as symbols, are found everywhere in Eurasia...

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...

Uluçinar stelae

In 2007 two stelae, each bearing figures of the Storm-god leading a ruler and a duplicate Hieroglyphic Luwian text, were discovered at Uluçinar (formerly Arsuz), on the Turkish coast south of İskenderun...

The inscription is the work of a Suppiluliuma, son of Manana, king of the land of Walastin, now understood as the Luwian designation of the Amuq plain with its capital at the Iron Age site of Tell Tayinat...

The stelae, probably dating to the later tenth century BC, record the successful reign of the ruler who "achieved things his father or grandfather could not" like conquer the city of Adana and the land of Hiyawa (most likely Ahhiyawa, the Hittite designation of Greeks)

All his military victories and the abundance of grain and wine in his kingdom, the king attributes to the mighty Storm god. On both stelae, the king is depicted holding grapes in his right hand and grain in his left, while being led by the hand by the Storm god, his patron deity...

On the first stela the storm god, stands on a bull under the winged sun disc... 

On the second stela the storm god, stands on a plant under the winged sun disc... 

Why?

Well here is why: This is a chart showing yearly temperature and precipitation in Eastern Anatolia...

The late April early May (Taurus) is the time of maximum precipitation and maximum thunderstorms. The time when Thunder god arrives to the land of the Hittites...Hence the bull...This is also start of summer...Hence the winged sun disc...

The inscriptions are from the article "Two new inscribed Storm-god stelae from Arsuz (İskenderun): ARSUZ 1 and 2" by Belkis Dinçol, Ali Dinçol, J.D. Hawkins, Hasan Peker and Aliye Öztan

One more thing: Look at the end of the spring rain season. Jul/Aug. The Storm god is leading the king who is holding grapes and grain towards the end of the summer (symbolised by a bull) and the end of the rain season. And Jul/Aug is the beginning of the grain and grape harvest in Eastern Anatolian plateau. 

In "The Palaeoethnobotany of Tell Tayinat, Turkey" we read that "Hittite texts discuss the process of harvesting grains in some detail. The harvest (BURUX) would occur in Jul/Aug."

Here is something interesting. 

Summer starts on the 6th of May, in the middle of Taurus (end of April beginning of May) and is symbolised by a bull. 

Autumn starts on the 2nd of August, in the middle of Leo (end of July beginning of August) and is symbolised by a lion.

You can read more about the beginnings of seasons in my post "Two crosses"...

You can read more about this in my post "Symbols of the seasons"...

You can also read about why are the zodiac signs where they are on the zodiac circle (spoiler: it has to do with reproductive cycles of the animals used as zodiac symbols) in the posts linked from my page "Zodiac"...

Now, the autumn (lion) succeeds summer (bull). The autumn (lion) ends (kills) summer (bull). End of July beginning of August. Lion kills Bull. But also harvests begins...

Killing of the bull = Killing of the grain = Beginning of Harvest?

Who is this guy?

Syro-Hittite relief, "believed" to be depicting the ancient Sumerian hero-king Gilgamesh as master of animals, holding the horn of a bull and the leg of a lion. From Gaziantep, c. 900-700 BC. Museum of Anatolian Civilizations, Ankara, Turkey.

Again we see marking of the moment when bull (summer) ends and lion (autumn) begins (end of July beginning of August)...You can read more about the animal symbols of the seasons in my post "Symbols of the seasons". 

The deer is Persian deer, whose mating season starts at that exact moment. I talked about this in my post "Entemena vase". 

So this is another example of the use of animal solar year calendar markers...

What does this tell us about this relief? And who is the figure depicted in the relief really?