A-TA-NA

Zeus appears to get a big headache as Athena emerges from his head. Athena looks a bit surprised herself. Illustration from "D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths."

What follows is crazy, but I was drinking so...

The oldest (believed) mention of Athena is a single Mycenaean Greek inscription 𐀀𐀲𐀙𐀡𐀴𐀛𐀊 "a-ta-na po-ti-ni-ja" which appears at Knossos, in the Linear B tablets from the Late Minoan II (1450–1400 BC) period...

This is translated as "Athena (a-ta-na) Mistress (po-ti-ni-ja)"... 

But there is actually a possibility that there is an even older mention of Athena. A sign series (inscription) "a-ta-no-dju-wa-ja" appears in the still undeciphered corpus of Linear A tablets, written in the "unclassified Minoan language"...

Apparently the part "dju-wa-ja" could be connected with the Linear B Mycenaean expressions "di-u-ja" or "di-wi-ja" which is interpreted as Div, Diwus, Dyeus, Deus, Zeus, God...

So it is proposed that the Linear A inscription "a-ta-no dju-wa-ja" could then be translated as Athena of Div, Diwus, Dyeus, Deus, Zeus...Or Athena Divine...

However, this is problematic because the Linear A inscription "a-ta-no dju-wa-ja" is very similar to another inscription "a-ta-nū-tī wa-ya". The best translation given (by Jan Best) for the initial "a-ta-nū-tī", which is recurrent in line beginnings, is "I have given"...

Now madness begins: 

I will start with "po-ti-ni-ja". The Ancient Greek word πότνια (potnia) means "mistress". It is a "poetic title of honour", used chiefly in addressing females, whether goddesses or women; Its hypothetical Proto-Indo-European (PIE) form is *pot-niha-, "mistress", "lady", "wife"...

In Slavic languages we have these expressions: 

Da (pronounced dah, apparently from PIE deh ) = yes, give

Dati (pronounced dahtee) = da ti = (give you) = to give

Podati se (pronounced pohdahtee seh) = to submit yourself to someone else's will. For women to let someone fuck them...

Podanik (pronounced pohdahneek) = a man who submitted himself to another man, serf

Podana (pronounced pohdahnah) = a woman who was given to a man

Podana ja (pronounced pohdahnah yah) = I was given to a man

Podana je (pronounced pohdahnah yeh) = She was given to a man

So now let's have a look at "po-ti-ni-ja" again. What does mistress, wife mean again? At the most basic level? You know how you become both wife and a mistress? What do you have to do to become either? Did you know that the etymology of the word "wife" is totally uncertain and that one of the proposed etymologies is related to "shame place" basically a vulva...And did you know that there is a possibility that that the word could actually be derived from Slavic "wu+jeb" = "her+fuck" = wife..."Poetic title of honour" 🙂 Love it...

Ok....

What about "a-ta-na"? There are two possible etymologies here:

In Slavic languages we have following expressions:

Ona (pronounced onah) = "she"

Ot (pronounced "ot" or "at", from PIE atta, pronounces atah) = "father" but also "from". 

-ina (pronounced eenah) = feminine ending denoting something feminine belonging to someone...

If we combine Ot,At + ina = Of the father (she is) = Given by the father (she is), Born of the father (she is)...Which is basically what Athena is...Right?

In Slavic languages we also have these expressions:

Dava (pronounced dahvah) = he gives (continuously or often)

Dava ja (pronounced dahvah yah)= I give (continuously or often)

Dano = given

Dana = given feminine

"Ja dana" (pronounced Yah dahna) = "I (feminine) was given" 

Div = giant, but once meant god

Divija = demonic, but once meant divine

So "a-ta-no dju-wa-ja" could be "ja dana divija" = I was given by Div, Diwus, Dyeus, Deus, Zeus...God...

Ok...

Finally, what about the problematic "a-ta-nū-tī" meaning "I have given"?

In Slavic languages we also have these expressions:

"Ja dano ti" (pronounced Yah dahno tee) = "What I have given to you" 

"Je dano ti" (pronounced Yeh dahno tee) = "What was given to you" 

Which would be something you would put at the beginning of each line listing things given to the authorities or a temple...

So...

But all this is just madness, right? I am drunk after all...Who would have spoken Slavic languages in Bronze Age Minoan Crete? No one of course...So this is all most likely just some gibberish from an "unclassified Minoan language"...

Good night...

Origin of saffron

During the excavations of the the Temple Repositories at Knossos, among many early 2nd millennium BC faience (glazed ceramic) objects, Arthur Evans unearthed ceramic crocuses and models of female garments decorated with crocuses...

I found this image in the "Bronze Age Flower Power: The Minoan Use and Social Significance of Saffron and Crocus Flowers". Really cool article...

In it the author, Rachel Dewan, states that: "...If Evans’ interpretation of the faience models as votive offerings is correct, than here again is evidence for significant links between women, textiles, crocuses, and the divine..."

In the conclusion of her article, Rachel Dewan says: "It is clear from the iconographic evidence that crocuses and saffron were regarded as more than mere crops by the inhabitants of  the Bronze Age Aegean...

As a functional ingredient within the dyeing and perfuming industries, an effective medical treatment, a meaningful cultural symbol most likely used in cultic activities, and a profitable commodity, the plant was revered by the Minoans...

The  numerous correlations between this valuable plant and Minoan females, seen both in iconographic representations  and  archaeological finds, suggests that saffron was held in particularly high esteem by women who embraced it as a symbol of female identity and culture...

By the Mycenaean period, saffron’s value and versatility were well-established, and its detailed recording in Linear B documents reflects its status as a treasured commodity worthy of palatial attention...Saffron ideogram on tablets from Knossos highlighted in yellow...

Interestingly, however, crocus imagery became a rare motif in Mycenaean art throughout the Aegean, suggesting that the plant lost some of  its symbolism in this later period, even as its economic importance remained..."

So there are two unanswered questions here:

1. Why was crocus revered by Minoans before the Mycenaean conquest?

2. Why was crocus not revered by Mycenaeans?

The answers to the first of these questions is: because of climate. The climate in Crete which shaped Minoan mythology...

The climate in Crete is divided into two seasons: 

The dry and hot season May-Sep...

The wet and cool season Oct-Apr...

This is temperature and precipitation chart for Knossos (Modern Heraklion) area of Crete...

The end of the dry season is the moment of prayer in Crete...The rivers and wells are dry...The soil is dry and cracked...Everyone is looking at the sky, waiting for the arrival of the first rain clouds...

And then the Cretan Ibex goat mating season starts, and the first rains arrive...The land turns green. The wells and riverbeds start filling up. The life returns... 

Which is why Ibex goat was venerated as the goat of rain by Minoans. I talked about this in my article "Goat riding thunder gods"...

And right after the first rains, the wild flowers appear everywhere. Including saffron crocuses which flower in November - December...They were picked by Minoan women, as depicted on these Minoan frescoes...

I talked about this in my article "Saffron"...

These flowers were picked because of their vivid crimson stigmas...About 400 hours of labour is needed to produce just one kilogram of saffron...Which is why saffron was worth its weight in gold...Still is by the way...

We know this because saffron was the only spice to be measured by weight, in the same small, intricate values used for gold, suggests that it was considered to be a valuable commodity, carefully monitored by the palace...

The appearance of the saffron ideogram (CROC) on 59 whole or partial Linear B tablets is indicative of its economic importance. It was a valuable commodity...The reason for this is because it was used in the production of luxury goods...

Because of its extremely strong color, saffron was  used to die clothes yellow, the color which was from Eastern Mediterranean to Mesopotamia considered to be the color of divinity and royalty...

Because of its aroma and color, saffron was used as a food spice and as a compound in cosmetics, like cremes, body paint, and perfumes...

Because of its medicinal properties, saffron was used in preparation of medicines. As a matter of fact it was in the past one of the most famous medicinal plants...Amongst medicinal plants known in the Near East and Mediterranean, saffron has the largest number of applications...

Here is the interesting bit: the spice’s most common ancient reference is as a pain-reliever for menstrual cramps and childbirth. Saffron can act as an abortive in high doses, and may have functioned as an early form of birth control...

A women's plant...

Rachel Dewan quotes Robert Arnott who notes the prominent role that herbal healing would have played within the ancient Aegean, particularly amongst ancient midwives and female healers. I talked about the old midwife cult in my article about Balkan village midwives "Baba's day"... 

Rachel Dewan then says that "The fact that women, rather than men, are shown in scenes involving crocuses and saffron has led many scholars to suggest that the Minoans were aware of the gynecological benefits of saffron, and thus exploited the plant’s medicinal properties..."

Indicating that maybe this plant was sacred to Minoan women precisely because of its obstetrical-gynecological medical application...And I do agree that this is part of the reason why saffron crocus was sacred to the Minoan women...

But I also believe that the saffron crocus acquired religious significance because of when it flowered: right after the first rains...

The plant directly connected with feminine beauty and fertility flowered at the moment when Mother Earth's beauty and fertility was restored by her first "period": the first trickle of water in dry riverbeds after the first winter rains...You could make a religion out of it...

Now what about the decline of the crocus veneration under Mycenaeans...

To answer this question we have to look at the saffron crocus plant itself...The saffron crocus plant grown commercially today is Crocus Sativus...

But this is not the crocus flower picked by Minoans...They picked this: Crocus Cartwrightianus, the wild ancestor of the Crocus Sativus...

If we look at the natural distribution of this wild saffron Crocus Cartwrightianus we can see that it is found in Crete, Cyclades islands and Attica...

Now the Crocus Sativus is a triploid with 24 chromosomes. This makes the plant sterile due to its inability to pair chromosomes during meiosis. Which means that it has to be propagated by corms...And transplanted from place to place by humans...

The ancestor of the Crocus Sativus, which is unknown in the wild is Crocus Cartwrightianus.

Now today I came across the article "Saffron (Crocus sativus) is an autotriploid that evolved in Attica (Greece) from wild Crocus Cartwrightianus".

In this interesting article we read that: "...From Minoan frescos it is clear that more than 3600  years ago humans already harvested and used wild saffron in the southern Aegean...

The first clear indication for the cultivation of triploid saffron can be found in Historia Plantarum (350 BCE–287 BCE) where Theophrastus described the plant as being propagated by corms...

Our GBS (genotyping-by-sequencing) data point to the small Greek region around Athens as the place where Crocus Sativus evolved. We assume that sometime in between 1600 BCE and 350 BCE a triploid Crocus Cartwrightianus cytotype originated in Attica and was selected by humans...

They must have realized that they have a highly aromatic and stable type at hands that keeps the valuable properties of saffron through time and (vegetative) generations..."

Now "between 1600 BCE and 350 BCE" is a huuuuge time period...Can we narrow down the time when the domestication of Crocus Sativus happened? Well I think we can...

Something extremely important happened "between 1600 BCE and 350 BCE". The eruption of Thera, which according to archaeological data occurred in c. 1500 BC. It and the tsunami that followed caused cataclysmic destruction and the decline of the Minoan civilization of Crete...

This turn of events gave the opportunity to the Mycenaeans to spread their influence throughout the Aegean. Around c. 1450 BC, they were in control of Crete itself, including Knossos, and colonized several other Aegean islands, reaching as far as Rhodes...

I would here argue that the domestication of Crocus Sativus, if it happened in Attica, definitely didn't happen before the Mycenaean conquest of Minoan territories...Because I don't think that Mycenaeans knew what the source of saffron was before that...

Here is my theory: The wild Crocus Cartwrightianus was before Minoans endemic to Crete and this was the only place where it was originally found...

Minoans brought it to their colonies on Cycladic islands where they planted it, grew it and harvested it for saffron...The substance worth its weight in gold...

What I think is that Minoans probably kept the whole thing as a sacred secret...Partially because if you keep the source of your product secret you make sure no one else can take over your market by stealing few plants and planting them in their back garden...

But also because for Minoans saffron crocus was not just valuable. It was sacred...You wouldn't want some foreign devils laying their filthy barbaric eyes or hands on your sacred plant...

Then Thera exploded and Mycenaeans invaded Crete...Mycenaeans of course knew about saffron and now they were able to get their hands on the plant that saffron was extracted from...And of course they brought it to their mainland home and planted it in their back garden...

I believe that this is when Crocus Cartwrightianus left Minoan territory for the first time and was for the first time planted in Attica...

The plant was originally grown and harvested as a "wild plant"...Just like it was on Crete... Eventually at some point "between 1450 BCE and 350 BCE" somewhere in Attica someone came across the mutated Crocus Cartwrightianus and hey presto, Crocus Sativus...

Mycenaeans only saw economic importance of saffron crocus...As a male dominated warrior society, to Mycenaeans, the whole link between feminine beauty and fertility and the beauty and fertility of the Mother Earth was alien, unimportant and most likely laughable...

This was part of the Minoan culture and religion which they hated and probably actively eradicated...Which is why after the arrival of Mycenaeans, saffron crocus disappears from divine images and remains only in profane accounting tables...

That's it...What do you think?

Pan - Goat of rain

Pan is a great example of what happens when mythology based on a local climate gets exported to the place where climate is different...

The story of Pan starts on the Island of Crete, where the local climate is characterised by hot, dry summers and mild, rainy winters. The rainy season starts in October and lasts till March or even April.

The beginning of the Cretan rain season coincides with the beginning of the mating season of the Cretan Ibex.

Which is why in Minoan Crete Ibex was venerated as the goat which brought rain...And life... Which is why Ibexes are depicted on this Minoan fresco from Knossos flanking "the tree of life"...

By the way, the "tree of life" is olive. And olives are harvested from late October, early November, at the beginning of the rain season...

The flowers depicted all around are crocuses, which also bloom from Late October, early November, at the beginning of the rain season...

So this fresco depicts the beginning of the rain season, when ibexes fight and mate, crocuses bloom and olives are ripe...

We know that the Ibex cult existed in Mycenae, to where it was most likely brought from Minoan Crete. We can see this from seals found in Mycenaean sites.

This is a Lentoid Gem depicting Sacred Tree and Ibex Goats from Mycenae.

This is next artefact, a Gold Signet Ring from Mycenae, is even more interesting.

In "Mycenaean Tree and Pillar Cult and Its Mediterranean Relations, Journal of Hellenic Studies 21, 1901" Arthur Evans says this about this artefact:

"In the gold ring from the Lower Town of Mycenae, a man in the usual Mycenaean garb, who perhaps answers to the male attendant of the Goddess in other religious scenes, is seen reaching out his hand towards the topmost bough of what is perhaps also intended for a fruit tree. Behind him with the branches of another tree visible above the back, stands a large agrimi or Cretan wild goat - an animal seen elsewhere in connexion with female votaries. This goat may represent the sacred animal of either the male or female member of the divine pair referred to in the preceding- sections....the votive remains of the Diktaean Cave as well as the traditions of Amaltheia tend to show that this animal was sacred to the indigenous 'Zeus' at an earlier period than the bull. The ox indeed in any form seems to be absent in the more primitive archaeological strata of the island"

This is very very interesting on so many levels...

Cretan wild goat - an animal seen elsewhere in connexion with female votaries (Symbol of the Goddess, Yin, part of the year), was once the symbol of Zeus, who was later associated with the bull, but Evans didn't know why...
Now the climate in Mycenae, on Peloponnesus, is similar the climate in Crete, consisting of hot dry summers and mild wet winters. But year is not clearly divided into dry and wet period, as can be seen from the precipitation table.

The main reason why Mycenaeans associated the Thunder God with bull and why Minoans associated the Thunder God with goat is because of this: the distribution of thunderstorms across the year....

If we look at the Balkans, the thunderstorm season starts in May...When Aurochs start calving...At the end of the wet part of the year...During the period, which by the time of Mycenaeans, has already been marked by a Bull all over Eastern Mediterranean, Central Asia, Middle East for thousands of years...  

If we look at Crete, the thunderstorm season starts in October...When Ibex goats start their mating season...At the beginning of the rain season...During the period, which by the time of Minoans, has already been marked by a goat all over Eastern Mediterranean, Central Asia, Middle East for thousands of years...

  

So Mycenaeans didn't have a direct obvious reason to associate Ibex with Zeus, Rains storm...Whereas Minoans did...

Yet on mainland Greece, Ibex was still seen as "the bringer of life"...Except after a while everyone forgot why...Which is why eventually this life bringing goat, whose mad mating causes nature to flourish, flowers to flower, trees to bud, rivers to flow....became Πάν (Pan)...

Pan, who has the hindquarters, legs, and horns of a goat, in the same manner as a faun or satyr. Whose skin is Pan carrying? Is this "Αιγις" (Aegis),  the goat skin which Zeus carried from Crete? It just occurred to me. What do you get if you clothe Holy Zeus, the bringer of rain, in goat skin? Holy Ibex Goat, the bringer of rain, of course...

Pan, the god of the wild, nature of mountain wilds, natural vegetative cycle caused by gods rather than men.

Pan, the lover and companion of the Nymphs (nature sprits) and particularly the darling of Naiades (nymphs presiding over fountains, wells, springs, streams, brooks and other bodies of fresh water)...No wonder considering that it is the Holy Goat who used to bring rain and fresh water to Minoan Crete... 

Pan, the symbol of sex and lust and therefore symbol of fertility. Who because of different climate on Greek mainland, became associated with the season of spring and Aphrodite, goddess of love and spring. No wonder, that on mainland Greece Spring, and not Winter, was the time when life returned to the nature...

Pan, who in his earliest appearance in literature, Pindar's Pythian Ode iii. 78, was associated with a mother goddess. Perhaps Rhea??? The Goddess which is always playing with goats on Minoan artefacts??? And who gave Zeus to a goat to mind him?

Pan, whose worship began in Arcadia which was always the principal seat of his worship. Arcadia was a district of mountain people, culturally separated from other Greeks. Remember, Greeks considered Arcadians the oldest inhabitants of Greece, Pelasgians. They were so ancient and so traditional and archaic that they still ate acorns...I talked about this in my posts "Acorns in ancient texts" and "Pelasgos". And they still remembered at leas part of the "Old faith", before Olympians arrived...Ahh. Arcadia is sooo close to Mycenae...Where Minoan Holy Ibex landed on the Greek mainland...

Pan, who as a "rustic god" (read here "old god"), was not worshipped in temples or other built edifices, but in natural settings, usually caves or grottoes such as the one on the north slope of the Acropolis of Athens. These are often referred to as the Cave of Pan...Hmmm...Cave...Just like the holy cave in holy Goat Mountain here the Holy Goat nursed the Holy Infant Zeus...

Pan, who was a hunter, and to whom hunters owed their success or failure and whose statue Arcadian hunters used to scourge if they had been disappointed during hunt. Hmmmm....Holy hunt again???

And here is the best bit...

Pan's parentage is unclear. In most accounts though, he is the son of Zeus...Hmmm...Considering that it is the Holy Goat which brings forth the Holy God...

Hyginus says that Aega (whose name means probably She Goat) who was a daughter of Melisseus, king of Crete, was chosen to suckle the infant Zeus. But as she had no milk, it was goat Amalthea who suckled infant Zeus. Hyginus also says that while married to Pan, Aega had a son by Zeus whom she called Aegipan (Goat Pan), and who was also suckled by Amalthea...Hmmm...So both Zeus and Pan were suckled by the same She Goat...Zeus actually tells Athena that "...goatfoot Pan...once was mountain-ranging shepherd of the goat Amaltheia my nurse, who gave me milk"...Meaning that Pan, Holy Goat, was there before the arrival of Zeus, Holy God...

And finally, the BESTEST :) bit: 

Pan aided his foster-brother Zeus in the battle with the Typhon...

TYPHOEUS (Typhon) was a monstrous "storm-giant" who laid siege to heaven but was defeated by Zeus. He was the source of devastating storms which issued forth from that dark nether-realm. 

I don't think Typhon was a storm giant or a source of devastating storms...He was The Dragon, the symbol of destructive blazing heat of the late summer...

Typhoeus was a winged giant, said to be so huge that his head brushed the stars. He was a sky being not being of the nether realm...


Hesiod in his Theogony dated to 8th or 7th century BC describes him like this:

"Typhoeus; the hands and arms of him are mighty, and have work in them, and the feet of the powerful god were tireless, and up from his shoulders there grew a hundred snake heads, those of a dreaded drakon (dragon-serpent), and the heads licked with dark tongues, and from the eyes on the inhuman heads fire glittered from under the eyelids: from all his heads fire flared from his eyes' glancing; and inside each one of these horrible heads there were voices that threw out every sort of horrible sound, for sometimes it was speech such as the gods could understand, but at other times, the sound of a bellowing bull, proud-eyed and furious beyond holding, or again like a lion shameless in cruelty, or again it was like the barking of dogs, a wonder to listen to..."

Snakes are symbol of sun's heat.

Dragons breathing fire or glaring fire are symbols of the destructive sun's heat at the end of the summer which brings draught. 

Bellowing bull is the symbol of summer, because summer starts in Taurus. 

Lion is the symbol of the end of summer, the hottest part of the year, which falls in the middle of Leo. 

Dogs are symbol of "Dogs days", the hottest 7 days of the year. Middle of Leo falls in the middle of Dog Days...

Typhoeus was also described as a giant which was "breathing fire" and whose eyes were "flashing fire"...

Hardly a description of a Storm Giant...

But then, I love that Typhoeus also had "a filthy, matted beard and pointed ears"...Just like Pan who looks suspiciously like an Ibex goat. The Holy Goat which brought rain to Minoan Crete every October-November and ended the drought...The Goat who killed Typhoeus...Or as Zeus bragged "who helped him kill Typhoeus"...

Oh, by the way, did you know that we also have Panes,  "rustic spirits" of the mountains and highland pastures who protected the goat herds and sheep flocks which grazed these lands. Panes were depicted as goat-footed men with the horns, tail, beard, snub nose and ears of a goat. They sometimes had actual goat-heads instead of just a few goatish features. As lascivious fertility spirits they were often depicted with erect members...

Jumping, noise making, horny Ibex Goats during their mating season, which announce the arrival of life bringing rain to Minoan Crete, springs to mind immediately...No wonder Panes were "the attendants upon the sacred rites of Rhea and Dionysos"...Life bringing sacred rites of Mother Goddess and...That is another story for another time...

Soooooo....

The bottom bit of my article, which few people probably ever get to 🙂 about "why Slavic, Baltic and Norse Thunder gods ride on chariots pulled by goats". This article "Goat riding thunder gods" looks for the root of this myth in Minoan goat mythology...You can read more about Minoan goat mythology in my posts "Sanctuary rhyton" and "Saffron"...

Saffron

This is saffron. The most expensive spice in the world. I found this add for it today: Sale!!! 100 grams of saffron. Was €442.99 EUR now only €265.99 EUR!!!

The vivid crimson stigmas, are collected and dried for use mainly as a seasoning and colouring agent in food. The reason the spice is so expensive is that huge number of flowers are needed to produce a small quantity of spice... And they have to be picked and processed by hand...

This is what the crocus plants look when found in nature.

And this is what crocuses look when like when depicted on Minoan frescoes. This scene called "The Saffron Harvesters", was found in the Minoan settlement on island of Santorini to the north of Crete. You can clearly see the bunches of crocus flowers growing out of rocky ground...

As I said in my post about Minoan goat mythology, Cretan crocus, the ancestor of all the saffron crocuses, starts flowering in October-November and flowers throughout winter. 

At the beginning of rain season, when Ibex goats mate and olives are ripe for picking...Which is all depicted on this Minoan fresco... 

So the saffron picking scenes depicted on Minoan frescoes all take place during the winter starting in October-November. During the season dominated by The Goddess...Why do we only see women picking crocus flowers? Maybe this was one of those sacred, female only jobs, protected by taboos...

Well stigmas are female sexual organs of the crocus flower. No wonder picking saffron was female only activity. I would bet that both crocus and saffron were seen as holy and were dedicated to The Goddess...

This is a reconstruction drawing of a room in the complex of Akrotiri. This figure is interpreted as The Goddess overseeing the harvesting of the Saffron.

I would like to show you this detail in which you can see how she holds the saffron. She picks crimson crocus stigmas, and arranges them in in a bunch...

Now here is something interesting. Wall painting from the Cult Center at Mycenae...What is this woman (I think she is The Goddess) holding in her hands? What are these crimson bunches? 

Well I would suggest they are saffron bunches. Bunches of female reproductive organs...Like this one:

Here is why I waisted your time talking about saffron...This is "Lid of a pyxis originally containing face powder. Made in Ugarit, Syria, under Mycenaean influence, end of 2nd millennium BC". Apparently depicting "Mistress of the animals feeding goats"... 

"Mistress of the animals feeding goats"??? Or The Goddess, holding bunches of saffron, in October-November, when crocus blooms, saffron is collected, when dancing Ibex Goats announce the arrival of rains, the arrival of the Dark, Wet, Yin, Goddess half of the year...

I think that "Mistress of the animals" is a figment of the imagination of the archaeologists who didn't know what to make of all these images of a woman standing between animals...

But now that we know that goats, rams, lions, bulls, birds are all symbols marking a particular moment on the solar circle, I would propose that these images of women standing between animals depict The Goddess, Mother Earth, at particular moment in in the solar year...

Like this depiction of the "Female Divinity between Lions" on Amygdaloid Gem, Mycenae. 

This is one of endless depictions of The Goddess depicting her either between the lions, standing on a lion or being driven in a chariot pulled by lions... Basically Mother Earth during the time when Eurasian lions start mating which is Jul/Aug or in Zodiac, Leo... I talked about this in my post "Assumption of Mary". The above gem actually shows a male and female lion, just in case there is any doubt what the image represents...🙂

So which animals do we find in the "Mistress of the animals" depictions? I know of Lions, Deer, Goat, Bird, Snake...I have never seen Bull...Any other ones that you know of? 

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...

Goat riding thunder god

Norse thunder god Thor, Slavic thunder god Perun and Baltic thunder god Perkūnas all rode the sky in a chariot drawn by goats...Why?

I will here try to answer this question. But I have to warn you: answering this question will open many many interesting questions about the origin of North European pagan religions...

From what I can see, there is not explanation why these north European thunder gods are driving around in goat pulled chariots. Apart from "this belief comes from common Indo-European belief system"...Which is like saying "I have no idea what all this goat rubbish is all about".

To find why Northern European thunder gods ride around in goat pulled chariots, we have to look southward. To Ancient Greece...

In Greek mythology, the thunder god Zeus was a son of Cronus and Rhea. Cronus learned from Gaia and Uranus that he was destined to be overthrown by his son as he had previously overthrown Uranus, so as soon as Rhea had a child, Cronus would promptly swallow it.

When Zeus was about to be born, Rhea sought Gaia to devise a plan to save him. So she gave birth to Zeus in Crete, and gave him to Ἀμάλθεια  (Amaltheia) who became his foster mother. Rhea then gave Cronus a rock wrapped in swaddling clothes, which he promptly swallowed.

Ἀμάλθεια  (Amaltheia) took Zeus to a cave in Cretan Αἰγαῖον ὄρος (Goat Mountain), today Dikti where she nursed him feeding him goat milk. In order that Cronus should not hear the wailing of the infant, Amalthea gathered about the cave the Kuretes or the Korybantes to dance, shout, and clash their spears against their shields...

Now here is an interesting thing about Zeus's foster mother. The name Amaltheia, means "tender goddess" in Ancient Greek. There were two different traditions regarding her identity. In the first one, Amaltheia is a goat-tending nymph of uncertain parentage. In the second one Amaltheia is a she goat...

In some traditions, Amaltheia's skin, or that of her goat which sucked infant Zeus, taken by Zeus in honour of her when she died, became the "Αιγις" (Aegis),  a kind of "protective thing carried by Zeus who then gave it to Athena". Apparently, the exact nature of "aegis" is uncertain...

In "The New World Encyclopedia" we can read that the Greek word Αιγις (Aegis) has 3 meanings:

1. "violent windstorm" from the verb 'αïσσω (stem 'αïγ-) meaning "I rush or move violently"
2. "goatskin coat" from treating the word as "something grammatically feminine pertaining to goat (Greek αιξ (stem αιγ-))"
3. "Zeus' shield"

"The New World Encyclopedia then goes to say that the original meaning of Aegis may have been "storm". That would mean that Zeus's epithet "Ζευς Αιγιοχος" (Zeus Aigioxos), usually understood to mean "Zeus who holds the aegis", may have originally meant "Stormy sky".

The transition to the meaning "shield" may have emerged as a folk-etymology among a people familiar with draping an animal skin over the left arm as a shield. It is also noted that since the Greek word aegis contains the double-meaning of "stormy" and "goatish" that this accounts for the close connection between the goat and storms in myth...

In "Indo-European Poetry and Myth" By M. L. West, Morris West we read that Zeus "Αιγιοχος" might originally have meant Zeus who rides on a goat...Apparently, in one of Orphic theogonies, Zeus rode to heaven on a goat...

So, it seems that the Indo-Europeans really did have a thing for making their thunder gods ride on goats...

But why was Zeus nursed by a goat? And why did he also ride on a goat?

Well to get the answer this this question we have to look at Cretan climate.

I lived in Chania in Crete many years ago. It is an incredibly beautiful place full of charm and history.

I arrived in May and left next April...There was not a drop of rain between May and late October. Then after occasional October shower, it started to rain in November, and it pretty much didn't stop until early April...

The Crete climate is characterised by hot, dry summers and mild, rainy winters. The rainy season starts in late October and lasts till March or even April.

Snowfalls are extremely rare in the coastal zone of Crete, especially so in the eastern part of the island, but are plentiful in the central mountain region. This is what I saw above Chania when I arrived in May. It was already 30 degrees in town and I thought the mountain tops were white because of white rocks. It turned out they were covered in half a meter of snow...

Now what does this have to do with goats?

This is Cretan wild goat (scient. Capra aegagrus creticus), also known as agrimi, kri-kri, or Cretan Ibex, an endemic subspecies of wild goat.

Red-brown steatite pyramidal stamp seal engraved with a design of an Ibex goat. Middle Minoan I, Early Minoan III, 2300BC-1850BC, Excavated in Crete

The Cretan Ibex lives in arid high mountain areas. They go out for pasture in the morning and evening, sheltering during the day in rocky recesses and caves!!! Most of the year they live in same-sex herds of up to 20 animals, with fully mature males actually living alone. During the breeding season however, male and female animals mix and the most dominant males form harems. The male domination is determined through spectacular fights...

Now here is the important bit: The mating period of the Cretan Ibex goat, during which it radically changes its behaviour starts in October and November. Right at the beginning of the Cretan rain season.

Agrimi or wild goats, Middle Minoan II (1900 BC-1750 BC) seal stone. 

Why would Minoans have wild ibex goat mating on seal?

In the past people believed that rain is the gift of rain (storm) gods. Rain storms were equaled with storm gods...

Minoans could be excused for believing that the arrival of rain was in some way linked to Ibex goats. Every year the beginning of the Cretan Ibex mating season signalled the arrival of the rain storms...It almost looks like the rain storms were caused by, brought by Ibex goat...Which eventually lead to the image of the rain (storm) god arriving  on a goat, or in chariots pulled by goats...

Now let's go back to the Ancient Greek legend about the infant Zeus.

Infant Zeus - the storms and storm gods were equated in the past, the beginning of the storm season can then be symbolically depicted as the infancy of the Storm god Zeus.

Infant Zeus was nursed by a goat in a cave on a Goat Mountain (!!!) - during the beginning of the storm season, Cretan Ibex (which shelters in caves) ascends to the rocky snow free mountain tops and begins its mating season.

Infant Zeus is protected by clashing, noise making Kuretes or the Korybantes (!!!) - Cretan Ibex mating season is the time of vicious clanging banging male goat fights...

Zeus, once grown up, ascends from the goat mountain to the sky (heaven) riding on a goat, or wearing a goat skin, or carrying a goat shield (!!!)...

Sounds pretty obvious when you put it side by side...

I believe that Ibex had a huge religious significance in Minoan culture. Here is why:

The dry season in Crete is the dead season. The relentless sun burns down day after day, scorching and drying everything. By the time the first October rains arrive, the soil is rock hard and dead dry, the plants are dead yellow brown, and the wells and river beds are dry...

Everyone is looking at the sky, waiting for the arrival of the first rain bearingn clouds...

And then the Ibex mating season starts, and the first rains arrive...The wells and river beds start filling in again. The flowers, like wild saffron, start flowering.

By the way the main wild flower season in Crete starts in late autumn and ends in early spring...

The soil, which is now softened by rain, is ploughed and winter grain is sown, which very quickly sprouts and starts groing as more and more rain falls.

The life returns.

In Crete, the Storm god, who arrives when Cretan Ibex mating season starts, doesn't just bring rain. He brings life. Well actually, Minoans probably saw Ibex as the bringer of life...Which is why Ibex is seen on Minoan fresco from Knossos flanking "the tree of life" while crocuses are blooming all around. By the way, the tree is olive. And olives are harvested from late October, early November...So this fresco depicts the beginning of the rain season, when ibexes fight, crocuses bloom and olives are ripe...

The above fresco is from the article "The Frescoes from the House of the Frescoes at Knossos: A Reconsideration of Their Architectural Context and a New Reconstruction of the Crocus Panel" by Anne P. Chapin and Maria C. Shaw

Here is another depiction of ibexes facing the tree of life, this time on a Minoan seal from Goulas Crete

Of course the religious importance of this image is totally missed by archaeologists...

I like this statement: Some academics believe that Cretan Ibex was worshiped on the island during antiquity. But why? The same academics have no idea...

What is interesting about the depictions of Ibexes in Minoan art is that they are depicted in two completely different ways. 

If they are in the same scene with women they are depicted happily roaming among the vegetation with women, like on this wall paintings from Room 14 at Hagia Triada

or they are even being petted by women, like on these seals

Both images are from "Image and Architecture: Reflections of Mural Iconography in Seal Images and Other Art Forms of Minoan Crete" by Fritz Blakolmer

If they are in the same scene with men, they are being hunted by men...

Like on these votive plaques depicting men hunting Crete Ibex from  "The Knossos Hunt and wild goats in ancient Crete" by Jonas Eiring

They were found in the "Simi sanctuary". This sanctuary complex is situated on the southern side of Mount Dikte (yes the goat mountain where goat suckled infant Zeus), 1,200 metres above sea level, just above the village of Kato Simi or Symi. Unusually for Crete this sanctuary remained in constant use from the Minoan Protopalatial MM II period (1900 BC-1750 BC), up to Roman times. The explanation proposed was that hunting Ibex goats was a kind of initiation rite for young men in Minoan society...

Maybe. Or maybe the Ibex hunting was reenacting of a cosmic hunt which takes place every year right in the middle of the Eurasian Ibex mating season (November-January) when Sagittarius (the hunter) ends and Capricorn (the goat) begins. On winter solstice... 

I talked about this in my post "Zlatorog-Goldhorn". By pure "coincidence" this is the period of the highest precipitation in Crete...Which is what goat brings...

The hunting scenes depicting men and dogs hunting Ibex goats become very common on seals and gems from Middle Minoan period (1900BC). This is one from the base of an ivory half cylinder found in Knossos. Ibex is again depicted together with a green branch...

From "The palace of Minos : a comparative account of the successive stages of the early Cretan civilization as illustrated by the discoveries at Knossos" by Sr Arhur Evans

These "talismanic" seals depicting ibex about to be pierced by a spear...They all also have depictions of growing plants. What were they depicting? Are these spears or lightning bolts? Was Ibex ritually hunted and sacrificed? These plaques are dated to Late Minoan I period (1480BC-1425BC) are from "Minoan Goat Hunting: Social Status and the Economics of War" by Angela Murock Hussein

In "Wild Nature? Human–Animal Relations on Neopalatial Crete" by Andrew Shapland we can read that "The goats are often shown speared, suggesting that these are hunting scenes"...Basically Ibex goats were for Minoans just game, hunted for meat, skin and horn...

But this doesn't explain why was Ibex apparently treated differently by women and men? Well, again I couldn't find any answer to this question.

So here is what I think.

Remember Serbian and Celtic calendar, which divided the solar year into only two seasons: one Dark, Wet, Cold, Yin, Feminine, Dominated by The Goddess, Mother Earth (Rhea???) (Winter and Spring) which started in November and the other one Light, Dry, Hot, Yang, Masculine, Dominated by The God, Father Sun (Summer and Autumn) which started in May?

Where did Serbs and Celts get this idea of two season year? Where did the Celts get the idea that the New Year should start on Samhain, 1st of November? This certainly doesn't match the Central European climate...I talked about this calendar in my posts "Two crosses" and "Two Georges"...

From Minoans maybe? The Ibex mating season which starts at the end of October beginning of November marks the beginning of the Yin, Female season. Now Ibex gestation period is 147 to 180 days, which means that the kids are born between April and June...Righ at the beginning of the Yang, Male season...I talked about this in my post "Yin and Yang".

And guess what: The winter grain planted at the beginning of the Ibex mating season are ready to be harvested at the end of the Ibex gestation period, right when the young Ibex kids are being born...How cool is this? Here is a seal depicting ibex and what looks like barley...What is the symbol above the Ibex?

Now in my post "Symbols of the seasons" I talked about the fact that Ibex is the symbol of winter. The reason why Ibex is the symbol of winter is because all Ibexes in northern hemisphere mate during the winter period, normally from October-November to January.

So...

Yin, Female, Goddess, part of the year, was life producing part of the year, hence happy goats with women (goddesses)??? Yang, Male, God part of the year was life destroying part of the year, hence dead goats with men (gods)???

At the opposite side of the solar circle, summer starts in May with the calving and ends in August with mating of of aurochs (wild Eurasian cattle). Which is why Bull is the symbol of summer.

Do we find this division of the solar year between bull and goat part? I think we do.

This is a larnax, a type of small closed coffin, box or "ash-chest" often used as a container for human remains. It was found in Mycenaean Tanagra cemetery which was dated to 14th - 13th century BC...

And it was definitely developed under huge Minoan influence. This can be seen from the fact that the bottom part of the panel depicts bull leaping, favourite "past time" of the Minoans. I would say that this activity was a religious ceremony performed during the bull part of the year, summer. In the top panel we see Ibex goat hunt. I would say religious ceremony performed during the goat part of the year, winter.  The main question here is why was this panel divided like this? And why were these two scenes depicted separated like this?

We know that the Ibex cult existed in Mycenae, to where it was most likely brought from Minoan Crete. We can see this from seals found in Mycenaean sites.

This is a Lentoid Gem depicting Sacred Tree and Ibex Goats from Mycenae.

This is next artefact, a Gold Signet Ring from Mycenae, is even more interesting.

In "Mycenaean Tree and Pillar Cult and Its Mediterranean Relations, Journal of Hellenic Studies 21, 1901" Arthur Evans says this about this artefact:

"In the gold ring from the Lower Town of Mycenae, a man in the usual Mycenaean garb, who perhaps answers to the male attendant of the Goddess in other religious scenes, is seen reaching out his hand towards the topmost bough of what is perhaps also intended for a fruit tree. Behind him with the branches of another tree visible above the back, stands a large agrimi or Cretan wild goat - an animal seen elsewhere in connexion with female votaries. This goat may represent the sacred animal of either the male or female member of the divine pair referred to in the preceding- sections....the votive remains of the Diktaean Cave as well as the traditions of Amaltheia tend to show that this animal was sacred to the indigenous 'Zeus' at an earlier period than the bull. The ox indeed in any form seems to be absent in the more primitive archaeological strata of the island"

This is very very interesting on so many levels...

Cretan wild goat - an animal seen elsewhere in connexion with female votaries (Symbol of the Goddess, Yin, part of the year), was once the symbol of Zeus, who was later associated with the bull, but Evans didn't know why...

Now the climate in Mycenae, on Peloponnesus, is similar the climate in Crete, consisting of hot dry summers and mild wet winters. But year is not clearly divided into dry and wet period, as can be seen from the precipitation table.

The main reason why Mycenaeans associated the Thunder God with bull and why Minoans associated the Thunder God with goat is because of this: the distribution of thunderstorms across the year....

If we look at the Balkans, the thunderstorm season starts in May...When Aurochs start calving...At the end of the wet part of the year...During the period, which by the time of Mycenaeans, has already been marked by a bull all over Eastern Mediterranean, Central Asia, Middle East for thousands of years...  

If we look at Crete, the thunderstorm season starts in October...When Ibex goats start their mating season...At the beginning of the rain season...During the period, which by the time of Minoans, has already been marked by a goat all over Eastern Mediterranean, Central Asia, Middle East for thousands of years...

  

So Mycenaeans didn't have a direct obvious reason to associate Ibex with Zeus, Rains storm...Whereas Minoans did...

Yet on mainland Greece, Ibex was still seen as "the bringer of life"...Except after a while everyone forgot why...Which is why eventually this life bringing goat, whose mad mating causes nature to flourish, flowers to flower, trees to bud, rivers to flow....became Πάν (Pan)...

Pan, who has the hindquarters, legs, and horns of a goat, in the same manner as a faun or satyr. Whose skin is Pan carrying? Is this "Αιγις" (Aegis),  the goat skin which Zeus carried from Crete? It just occurred to me. What do you get if you clothe Holy Zeus, the bringer of rain, in goat skin? Holy Ibex Goat, the bringer of rain, of course...

Pan, the god of the wild, nature of mountain wilds, natural vegetative cycle caused by gods rather than men.

Pan, the lover and companion of the Nymphs (nature sprits) and particularly the darling of Naiades (nymphs presiding over fountains, wells, springs, streams, brooks and other bodies of fresh water)...No wonder considering that it is the Holy Goat who used to bring rain and fresh water to Minoan Crete... 

Pan, the symbol of sex and lust and therefore symbol of fertility. Who because of different climate on Greek mainland, became associated with the season of spring and Aphrodite, goddess of love and spring. No wonder, that on mainland Greece Spring, and not Winter, was the time when life returned to the nature...

Pan, who in his earliest appearance in literature, Pindar's Pythian Ode iii. 78, was associated with a mother goddess. Perhaps Rhea??? The Goddess which is always playing with goats on Minoan artefacts??? And who gave Zeus to a goat to mind him?

Pan, whose worship began in Arcadia which was always the principal seat of his worship. Arcadia was a district of mountain people, culturally separated from other Greeks. Remember, Greeks considered Arcadians the oldest inhabitants of Greece, Pelasgians. They were so ancient and so traditional and archaic that they still ate acorns...I talked about this in my posts "Acorns in ancient texts" and "Pelasgos". And they still remembered at leas part of the "Old faith", before Olympians arrived...Ahh. Arcadia is sooo close to Mycenae...Where Minoan Holy Ibex landed on the Greek mainland...

Pan, who as a "rustic god" (read here "old god"), was not worshipped in temples or other built edifices, but in natural settings, usually caves or grottoes such as the one on the north slope of the Acropolis of Athens. These are often referred to as the Cave of Pan...Hmmm...Cave...Just like the holy cave in holy Goat Mountain here the Holy Goat nursed the Holy Infant Zeus...

Pan, who was a hunter, and to whom hunters owed their success or failure and whose statue Arcadian hunters used to scourge if they had been disappointed during hunt. Hmmmm....Holy hunt again???

And here is the best bit...

Pan's parentage is unclear. In most accounts though, he is the son of Zeus...Hmmm...Considering that it is the Holy Goat which brings forth the Holy God...

Hyginus says that Aega (whose name means probably She Goat) who was a daughter of Melisseus, king of Crete, was chosen to suckle the infant Zeus. But as she had no milk, it was goat Amalthea who suckled infant Zeus. Hyginus also says that while married to Pan, Aega had a son by Zeus whom she called Aegipan (Goat Pan), and who was also suckled by Amalthea...Hmmm...So both Zeus and Pan were suckled by the same She Goat...

Zeus actually tells Athena that "...goatfoot Pan...once was mountain-ranging shepherd of the goat Amaltheia my nurse, who gave me milk"...Meaning that Pan, Holy Goat, was there before the arrival of Zeus, Holy God...

And finally, the BESTEST :) bit: 

Pan aided his foster-brother Zeus in the battle with the Typhon...

TYPHOEUS (Typhon) was a monstrous "storm-giant" who laid siege to heaven but was defeated by Zeus. He was the source of devastating storms which issued forth from that dark nether-realm. 

I don't think Typhon was a storm giant or a source of devastating storms...He was The Dragon, the symbol of destructive blazing heat of the late summer...

Typhoeus was a winged giant, said to be so huge that his head brushed the stars. He was a sky being not being of the nether realm...


Hesiod in his Theogony dated to 8th or 7th century BC describes him like this:

"Typhoeus; the hands and arms of him are mighty, and have work in them, and the feet of the powerful god were tireless, and up from his shoulders there grew a hundred snake heads, those of a dreaded drakon (dragon-serpent), and the heads licked with dark tongues, and from the eyes on the inhuman heads fire glittered from under the eyelids: from all his heads fire flared from his eyes' glancing; and inside each one of these horrible heads there were voices that threw out every sort of horrible sound, for sometimes it was speech such as the gods could understand, but at other times, the sound of a bellowing bull, proud-eyed and furious beyond holding, or again like a lion shameless in cruelty, or again it was like the barking of dogs, a wonder to listen to..."

Snakes are symbol of sun's heat.

Dragons breathing fire or glaring fire are symbols of the destructive sun's heat at the end of the summer which brings draught. 

Bellowing bull is the symbol of summer, because summer starts in Taurus. 

Lion is the symbol of the end of summer, the hottest part of the year, which falls in the middle of Leo. 

Dogs are symbol of "Dogs days", the hottest 7 days of the year. Middle of Leo falls in the middle of Dog Days...

Typhoeus was also described as a giant which was "breathing fire" and whose eyes were "flashing fire"...

Hardly a description of a Storm Giant...

But then, I love that Typhoeus also had "a filthy, matted beard and pointed ears"...Just like Pan who looks suspiciously like an Ibex goat. The Holy Goat which brought rain to Minoan Crete every October-November and ended the drought...The Goat who killed Typhoeus...Or as Zeus bragged "who helped him kill Typhoeus"...

Oh, by the way, did you know that we also have Panes,  "rustic spirits" of the mountains and highland pastures who protected the goat herds and sheep flocks which grazed these lands. Panes were depicted as goat-footed men with the horns, tail, beard, snub nose and ears of a goat. They sometimes had actual goat-heads instead of just a few goatish features. As lascivious fertility spirits they were often depicted with erect members...

Jumping, noise making, horny Ibex Goats during their mating season, which announce the arrival of life bringing rain to Minoan Crete, springs to mind immediately...No wonder Panes were "the attendants upon the sacred rites of Rhea and Dionysos"...Life bringing sacred rites of Mother Goddess and...That is another story for another time...

Soooooo....

What was the original question? Ah yes: Why are Norse thunder god Thor, Slavic thunder god Perun and Baltic thunder god Perkūnas all riding the sky in a chariot drawn by goats?

Well we know now why. But how come this image of the Thunder god arriving in a chariot pulled by goats was preserved by Norse, Balts and Slavs...All the way up in the north of Europe, where Thunder god riding on a chariot pulled by goats makes no sense at all, because the climate there is completely different...

And how come it did not survive in Greece? Or Rome? 

I believe that this means that this belief must have been brought to the north of Europe from all the way down south before the Greek Dark Age...Before the collapse of the Greek Bronze Age...Before the collapse of Minoan and Mycenaean civilisations...Before the reason why it is the Holy Goat who brings life was forgotten...

One possible scenarios is:

Mycenaeans controlled amber trading route which connected Balkan and Baltic. They brought their stories about rain bringing goat up north. Time passed... Civilisations crumbled... The stories became legends... Legends whose original meaning was forgotten... And we ended up with goat riding thunder gods of the Norse, Slavs and Balts...

This would mean that these legends are what, only 3500 years old!!! And that Mycenaeans influenced the development of Norse, Slavic and Baltic culture...Not bad...

Another possible scenario...

Well it makes these legends much much older...Over 7000 years old...You didn't think Minoans were the first people to worship the Holy Goat???

I will write about this in my next post. This one is already toooooooo long... And this next post will open many many many interesting questions about the origin of the "Indo-European" religious beliefs, culture and language...