Pero

Looongish article, but hopefully interesting...In it I will talk about ferns, feathers and thunder god names...

Ferns are a very ancient family of plants: early fern fossils predate the beginning of the Mesozoic era, 360 million years ago. 

They are older than the dinosaurs. They were thriving on Earth for two hundred million years before the flowering plants evolved.

The English word fern comes from the old Anglo-Saxon "fearn" meaning feather. 

Like feathers, the leaves of most ferns are delicate and divided. So fern literally means plant that looks like a feather...

The cognates are found in Germanic, Slavic, Baltic, Indo-Iranian and Albanian languages and officially all come from the PIE root "*pornóm" ‎(wing, feather) which comes from PIE root "*p(t)erH-" (fern). 

Ferns are non flowering plants. But, according to the lore found in Slavic, Baltic and Germanic folklore from Russia to England and from Estonia to Serbia, people once believe that ferns did flower. 

But only once a year. On the eve of the Summer solstice (St John's eve). The flower appeared and disappeared almost instantly, so the gatherer had to be lucky in order to be at the right place at the right time, and quick in order to pick the flower before it vanished... 

The fern flower was believed to bring fortune to the person who finds it. In various versions of the tale, the fern flower brought luck, wealth, ability to defeat demons, fulfill wishes, unlock secrets, and understand the language of animals and trees. 

But getting this flower was not easy. As a matter of fact it was an almost impossible task. And very very dangerous...Because the flower was closely guarded by evil spirits, or devil himself...They did all they could to prevent the gatherer from obtaining these "fiery blossoms". 

Most commonly the evil guardians of the fern flower put the gatherer into a magic sleep, so he could not see the flower blooming, and therefore could not pick it. 

But the evil spirits / devil also caused the earth to rock, lightning to flash, thunder to roar, flames to surround the gatherer...So success in obtaining the magic fern flower was rare...

It is interesting that "the evil spirits / devil" used lightning and thunder to protect the magic fern flower from being picked...Why? Because it gives us a clue who these "evil spirits / devils" were actually.

In the past in England, ferns were known as Devil Brushes. Devil here being the old Thunder God. Why do I think so? Because it was believed that "fern keeps the devil away"... 

"In the place where fern grows the devil rarely practices his glamour. He shuns and abhors the house and place where fern is, and thunder, lightning, and hail rarely fall there"...  

In England, people also believed that it may rain when the ferns are cut or burnt. Just like in Poland, where it was believed that plucking of fern produces a violent thunderstorm. 

This was because, fern, "being rooted and transformed thunderbolt, resumes its pristine nature, when the plant that contained it was taken from the ground"...

That in Slavic mythology ferns were associated with the thunder god Perun and that he was "The Devil" protecting the fern flower, can be seen from this Serbian and Croatian beliefs related to ferns. 

There is a Serbian legend about ferns and St Sava (patron saint of Serbia who is credited with defeating the old devils, read old gods, but who in process acquired all their attributes)...

Once St Sava was walking across mount Rudnik. On top of the mountain, he blessed what he saw before him. This is why ferns don't grow on that side of the mountain. But he forgot to bless what was behind him, so this is why ferns still grow on that side of the mountain...

That it was Perun, who made the ferns grow on the unblessed side of the mountain, and who protected the magic fern flowers, can be seen from the fact that "...they were called among the Croats by the name of Perenovo Tsvetje" (Perun's Flowers)...

In some parts of Europe, like Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Poland, it was couples who went into the woods searching for the fern flower on the eve of Ivan Kupala Night (Summer Solstice eve). 

The girl went into the wood wearing a flower wreath on her head. If when the couple came out of the woods, the boy was wearing the girl's wreath, it meant that the couple was engaged to be married 🙂

This lead many to believe that "seeking the fern flower" was just an euphemism for sex. Because everyone knows that ferns don't flower...Weeeeell...

There is one fern which is known as flowering fern: Osmunda regalis, the royal fern. Osmunda regalis is a species of deciduous fern, native to Europe, Africa and Asia, which grows in woodland bogs and on the banks of streams... 

It produces clumps of red fronds which look like flowers and its "bloom time" is May - August. Summer. Peaking in midsummer...How curious...So far so good. Now it gets interesting :)

It is uncertain where exactly the name "Osmunda" came from. But the story which is all over the net, suggests the name Osmunda comes from the Saxon thunder god Osmund(er) (from  "Os" meaning God and "mund" meaning protector), who was the equivalent of Norse Thunder god Thor...

I couldn't find any actual written source for the link between Osmun, Osmunder and Thor, except this. Equally I couldn't fine any written link between Osmun, Osmunder and Osmunda fern...If anyone has any links to any written source talking about these links, please post it here...

Anyway, the important thing is that this fern was also linked to a thunder gods...The "evil spirits / devils" who protect the fern flower...

So... Is then the Osmunda regalis, the royal fern, the flowering fern from the legends? 

It "flowers" during the midsummer, so that matches. It has fiery (red, orange) flowers, so that matches too...But I don't think that the fronds of the Osmunda regalis were the infamous fern flowers...

Why? Because this fern grew everywhere. It flowered for months...Its flower wasn't extremely difficult to find and it didn't just appear in a flash and disappear in a flash...Picking royal fern flower wasn't life threatening...It was actually piss easy...

So what then? Well, what if, the fern flower wasn't a fern flower at all? What if it only looked like fern (flower)? 

If only there was something that looks like a fern and is somehow associated with thunder and thunder gods...Weeeell there is...

Lichtenberg Figures (named after the German physicist who discovered them) are branching, fern like, electric discharges (or electrical trees) that are sometimes preserved on the surface or the interior of a solid dielectric...

Interestingly, reddish Lichtenberg figures type scars are also left on the skin of people struck by lightning...These scars, which may persist for hours or days, are used as the indicator for the cause of death by lightning strike. 

They are thought to be caused by the rupture of capillaries under the skin due to the passage of the lightning current or the shock wave from the lightning discharge as it flashes over the skin. How cool is this?

Wow, right? Here is the best bit: Lichtenberg figures type scars caused by lightning strikes are sometimes called "lightning flowers"....Ta Ta Ta!!!! 

Are these fern shaped lightning marks the reason for the linking of ferns with thunder and thunder gods? The reason why people believed that ferns were actually lightning bolts that took root? Lightning bolts which get released when the fern is burned? 

Also, are these Lichtenberg figures "The Fern Flowers"? The magic ones, that are almost impossible to find? I mean, picking a "Perun's flower" aka lightning, is extremely dangerous. Also "finding" this "flower" is not easy and only extremely lucky people can obtain it. 

Well, extremely unlucky to be hit by lightning, but also extremely lucky to survive it. The Perun's flower also appears and disappears in a flash...And even if you catch it (you get hit by a lightning, get the fern shaped scar and survive) the scar disappears soon afterwards...

Also, look at this. Thunderstorm frequency in Europe per month. 

Cockerel was the sacred bird of Perun, Slavic thunder god, used in magic rituals for protection agains lightning. 

Why? Maybe cause chicken main mating season is during the period of 14+ daylight hours, which is Mar/Apr/May - Sep/Oct/Nov, the main thunderstorm season in Europe???  

The peak thunderstorm season is centered around summer solstice, midsummer...Right when you are supposed to go looking for "Perun's flower"...

So...Did we solve the mystery of the fern flower? I think so...But this is not the best bit...

 

As I said already, fern is shaped like a feather, hence its name, fern (feather). The Lichtenberg figures, which are shaped like ferns are then also shaped like feathers...Lichtenberg figures which are produced by a touch of the thunder god...

Ok...Where are you going with that?

A question: Why is Perun called Perun? Perun is strongly correlated with the near-identical Perkūnas/Pērkons from Baltic mythology. To the point where it is not clear where one stops and the other starts... 

Finnish Perkele, another name for the Finish Thunder God Ukko, is considered to be a loan from Baltic languages. 

Albanian Perëndi, the god of thunder and storms and his wife Prende, Prenne, who has a rainbow as her belt are probably loan from Slavic mythology, where we find Perun, the god of thunder and storms, and his wife Perunika, who has a rainbow as her belt...

Indian Parjanya (Sanskrit: पर्जन्य parjánya) is according to Veda, a deity of rain, thunder, lightning, and the one who fertilizes the earth...In Vedic Sanskrit, the word "parjanya" actually means rain, raincloud...

Thracian Περκων/Περκος, (Perkon/Perkos) could also be related. And even the names Fjörgynn, an alias of Odin, and Fjörgyn, the name of the mother of Thor, have been proposed as cognates... 

It is believed that there was once a Proto-Indo European thunder god whose original name has been reconstructed as Perkwunos...Which according to the etymological dictionaries comes from PIE perkwus, meaning "oak" or "mountain"...

So that would make Perun the oak god, mountain god...Which he in fairness is. Oaks and mountains are indeed associated with Perun. 

According to research, lightning hits oak trees far more frequently than other tree species. Oaks are usually some of the tallest trees in the landscape. They are also more conductive thanks to their higher moisture content and the vast number of water-filled cells running up and down their trunks.

Lightning is an electrical discharge that occurs between clouds or between clouds and the earth. And most often, such discharges hit the nearest, and therefore, the highest places on the ground. Which is why "mountain peaks attract lightning"...

But I don't think that the name Perun is derived from the word that means oak or a mountain...If anything, oak and mountain are probably named after the thunder gods: Thunder god's tree and Thunder god's favorite hangout 🙂

I would here like to propose another possible root for all these thunder god names which start with "Per", and that is PIE "*perH-" meaning feather, wing, to fly but also fern, a feather, wing like plant...

This root is best preserved in Proto Slavic "*pero" (feather) and its descendants, but we find cognates in Lithuanian spar̃nas (wing), Albanian "fier" ‎(fern), Proto-Germanic "*farn" (fern), Proto-Indo-Iranian "*parnám" (feather, wing, leaf). 

As I already mentioned at the beginning of this article, official etymology of all these words is: from PIE root "*pornóm" (feather, wing, fern, leaf) which comes from the PIE root "*p(t)erH-" (fern)????? 

This makes absolutely no sense. You mean people looked at feathers, wings, all the different leaves on all the different trees, and said: they all look like ferns??? When even today we say that ferns look like feathers...Not that feathers look like ferns...

Anyway, the important bit is, that if "per" (feather) was the root of the the name Perun, that would make Perun "the feathery one"... Which would neatly explain the fern--thunder god flower--thunder god link found in folklore...

This is where I arrived when I first started pondering all this, many years ago...And this is where I stopped. Because as much as all this looked logical to me, I just couldn't make myself go out in front of the people and say "Behold the holly chicken"!!! 

Even though cockerel is the bird sacred to Perun...And is used in magic rituals performed to protect the house and fields from lightning... 

Edit (27th of December, 2022):

Question: Why was cockerel the bird sacred to Perun? 

Answer: The original, wild fowl from which all our chicken descend, used to have a single mating season starting in Apr/May. I talked about it in my posts "Kharif and Rabi season", "The city of cockerels", "Lei Kung", "Son of thunder"...I wonder if the original chickens which were brought to Europe also had the same mating season...Cause that would fall right at the beginning of the thunderstorm season in the Balkans. So maybe...

Then I came across the legend about the Firebird...In Slavic folklore, the Firebird (Russian: жар-пти́ца, Serbian Žar Ptica...) is a magical glowing bird which is both a blessing and a bringer of doom to its captor...

The Firebird is described as a large bird with majestic plumage that glows brightly emitting red, orange, and yellow light, like a bonfire that is just past the turbulent flame...Whose feathers do not cease glowing if removed, and one feather can light a large room if not concealed. Sounds familiar?

I believe that the fire bird story is an amazing description of the man's quest for fire before people invented the way to light it themselves...When only thunder gods knew how to do it...

Fire bird represents the fire that comes from the sky, from the clouds, the electricity, the lighting that flickers and flashes in the clouds during storms...Lightning which looks like feathers, wings of a giant glowing bird...

Sometimes the fire bird flies down from the clouds to nest. This is a lightning striking the ground. The nesting fire bird is a burning bush or a tree struck by a lightning...

What is left after the fire bird ascends back to heaven are a few or just one of her feathers, magic feathers which can light up the whole room. Burning branches?

I talked about this in my post "Firebird"...

Still I wasn't sure...Then, while I was analyzing various animal calendar markers, I came across this double headed eagle dude:

This artifact led to discovering the link between vultures mating season and the rain season in Mesopotamia, Western Iran and Central Asia...They both start in November....

Ninurta/Ningirsu, Sumerian thunder god, is the oldest thunder god we know by name. He was depicted either as a lightning trident wielding warrior or as a warrior armed with a bow and arrow. 

But in the earliest times Ninurta/Ningirsu was imagined as a huge black bird, with outstretched wings...An eagle (vulture)...The Thunderbird....

"...and when Gudea sees the god Ningirsu in a dream the god still has the wings of his old form, the Thunderbird..." 

Ninurta/Ningirsu was The Feathered One...Or Perun...

Later on he became the eagle headed winged dude, then just a dude associated with eagles...Like Zeus, Jupiter, Perun...

So...Finally I was sure...Perun, Perkunas, Perkele, Perendi, Parjánya...The gods covered in feathers of fire and light...The ones whose touch leaves marks on the skin in a shape of a wing, feather, fern...What do you think?

I can hear people saying: wait wait wait...How can you link Neolithic Mesopotamian thunder gods with European thunder gods??? Too much geographic and temporal distance...To which I would say: remember the goat of rain?

In Eastern Mediterranean, Mesopotamia, Iran, Central Asai, Ibex mating season coincides with the beginning of the rain season...Which is why during the Neolithic, ibex was the most depicted animal in these lands. Ibex, The Goat of Rain, whose mating dance (fighting) brings rain...

Then The Goat of Rain, became a goat dude, a dude with goat horns...

Then a dude whose sacred and sacrificial animal was goat...The "goat man", with same goat horns wearing the same big elf boots, with his goat(s), 4th millennium BC Qazvin, Caspian coast, Iran...

We find the same evolution in Europe. In Minoan Crete we find The Goat of Rain associated with winter, rain, water, vegetation and the tree of life...

Then we find Pan, the goat man, associate with rain, water and vegetation...

Eventually we find Zeus being suckled by goats, riding on a goat, wearing a magic goat skin...

Until finally we find Thor, Perkunas and Perun riding in goat pulled chariots and having goats sacrificed to them...

And finally the devil...

I talked abut this in my posts "Goat riding thunder gods", "Pan - Goat of rain", "Tanngnjostr and Tanngrisnir", "Krampus"...

So when it came to goats and thunder gods, geographic and temporal distance meant diddle...We can trace the goat aspects of our European thunder goats straight back to Neolithic farmers of the Fertile Crescent...

By the way did you know that Ninurta/Ningirsu was also associated with goats? Storm (rain) god Ninurta, was, in the earliest records, also agriculture god...Whose symbol was the the plough...Which he gave to the people...

Why? Because in Mesopotamia, ploughing is done after the first rains, which arrive in Oct/Nov, when Goat of rain starts mating...Here is a god (Ninurta) giving plough to the people...With goat of rain next to the throne...

From "Queen Puabi's cylinder seal"

And did you know that the eagle dude I talked about earlier was depicted holding "winged" ibex goats...From a Bactrian seal, end of 3rd beginning of 2nd millennium BC...

While goat dude was depicted wearing eagle skin and wings around his neck...

From my post "Strider"...

Just so we know that the eagle dude and the goat dude are one and the same dude...Thunder, Rain God...The Feathered one...The Winged one...The rain cloud...Bactrians actually spelled it for us in the 3rd millennium bc. Clouds...In a shape of an eagle dude and his goat...From my post "Fluffy"...

These two are tightly linked because both animals were used as calendar markers for "the arrival of rain", which then became "the arrival of the thunder god"...

Which is why I believe that Perun was originally "The Feathered One", the great black eagle with outstretched wings which announces the arrival of rains...Who later became the thunder god associated with eagles...With a name whose meaning everyone forgot...

Distribution of the Eagle dudes (The Feathery Ones, Peruns) during 3rd and 2nd millennium BC. From my post "Eagle calendar marker"...

PS: As I was finishing this article, a friend sent me these pictures of tombstones (?) from Serbia. They date to the period of Turkish occupation, 15th century onward, when people started turning back to the old faith, because there was no state pressure to keep them adhering to Christian dogma any more...They all depict a stylized face of a man with big mustaches and a fern/feather on his forehead...Is that him? Is that Perun?

Oh, and in Western Serbia, the bringer of bad weather was in the 20th century still imagined as a black bird...

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...

Fern folklore:

Гора љиљанова / Plants and herbs in traditional Serbian culture

Curiosities of Indo-European tradition and folk-lore

Songs of the Russian People

Observations on popular antiquities, chiefly illustrating the origin of our vulgar customs, ceremonies and superstitions : Arranged and rev., with additions

Traditions, Superstitions, and Folklore, (chiefly Lancashire and the North of England

Ireland's Wild Plants – Myths, Legends & Folklore By Niall Mac Coitir

Plant Lore, Legends, and Lyrics

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...