7 maidens

Recently I watched a tv program called "The Silk Roads - Wonders of Azerbaijan" by Bettany Hughes. In it she talked about this ancient petroglyph from Gobustan, which, if I remember correctly, she called "7 maidens"...

Unfortunately I can only find this copy of this program online in, I guess, Azerbaijani, so I can't confirm this myself. If anyone has access to the English version, I would really appreciate if you cold confirm this for me. Thanks. Or alternatively, I would rally appreciate if @bettanyhughes could confirm that this is indeed what she called the petroglyph in question. And if she could clarify if this was a nickname given to the petroglyph by the local archaeologists, or was it her own poetic invention 🙂

The reason why I ask is that on the highlighted image from the program, I could only see 6 figures, not 7. Is there a 7th figure that wasn't highlighted, or that is not visible from the angle from which the petroglyph was filmed?

Why I would like to determine if there are indeed "7 maidens" depicted on this petroglyph, is because in the program, Bettany proceeded to talk about how "the meaning of the petroglyph is unknown".

Now if there are indeed 7 female figures depicted on this petroglyph (I guess we think they are females because of the public triangles ???, but they could just be as easily men wearing some kind of weird loincloths), then maybe I could offer a possible explanation...

Is this a bovine, depicted behind the human figures? It certainly looks like one. If so, then the meaning of the "7 maidens" petroglyph could be the "7 sisters", the Pleiades, which rise with the sun in Apr/May...

Apr/May, when wild Eurasian cattle start to calve...

Which is why this time of the year is is still marked with a bovine, Taurus...

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

According to this paper, "Agricultural Practices at Mentesh Tepe (Kura Valley, Azerbaijan) during the Neolithic, Chalcolithic and Bronze Age: An Overview from Sickle Elements and Botanical Remains", the main Neolithic, Bronze Age crop grown in Azerbaijan was barley, which was sown in the Oct/Nov, and harvested in May/Jun...Using sickles with composite stone blades...

Basically small sharp stone flakes, inserted into crescent shaped wooden frame...Something like this.

These sickles evolved from wild ass, deer jaw bones. 

We know that some primitive jaw bone sickles actually had long handles.

The sickles then evolved into wild ass, deer jawbones with artificial flint teeth

Then into artificial wooden jawbones with artificial flint teeth

And finally into serrated (toothed) jawbone shaped piece of metal...

I talked about the evolution of sickles in my post "Sickle"...

So it is quite possible that the things held by the figures are long handle sickles...Or maybe what is depicted on this rock engraving from Azerbaijan is something like this: Cain (farmer) killing Abel (shepherd) with a "ass jawbone", [my comment: the earliest form of a sickle]. 

New York, Pierpont Morgan Library: Ms 43, Huntingfield Psalter, XII Century, fol. 8. Pic from "Cain's Jaw-Bone that Did the First Murder"

Taking all this into account, is this image a calendar marker for harvest your barley when wild cattle starts to calve and Pleiades rise with the sun? I talked about Pleiades, barley harvest and animal calendar markers in my post "Pleiades". In it, explained why, according to the Greek mythology, the Pleiades, the seven daughters of Atlas, were transformed by Zeus first into doves, and only then into stars...

It's all to do with the link between doves and grain harvest (goddess)...Like Demeter, who was depicted on this terracotta statuette enthroned with a turtle-dove on her lap. The cult image of the harvest goddess was likely venerated in a sanctuary. From Sicily, 5th century BC. Milan Archaeological Museum. Pic by Gareth Harney

I explained this link in my posts "Demeter and dove" and "Cup of Nestor"...

This link between grain goddess and doves also existed in Mesopotamia, where Inanna was also linked with doves. 1800-1600 BC pottery cup, Syria. The rounded body tapering to a flat base, with 26 bird heads. Similar objects were interpreted as votive objects dedicated to Ishtar/Inanna. 

I talked about this in my post "Inanna and dove"... 

The reason why doves are linked with grain goddesses and with pleiades is because doves, both European and Asian, nest during the grain harvest which starts in Apr/May, when pleiades rise with the sun, in Taurus...

But maybe there are no 7 but indeed only 6 figures depicted on this petroglyph, and they are not female but male figures with (admittedly weird) loin cloths, and these are not sickles they are holding but battle axes...

In which case this is just a depiction of a bovine hunt 🙂

To read more about ancient animal and plant calendar markers, start here…Then check my twitter threads I still didn't convert to blog post...I am way way behind...

To sail - To harvest

In Ancient Greece, the heliacal rising and setting of Pleiades, whose ancient Greek name "Πλειαδες" comes from πλεω, which means “to sail”), was used as a calendar marker for the beginning and the end of the sailing season...

Heliacal rising and setting of Pleiades marks (roughly) the beginning and the end of the "good sailing winds" season. Winds caused by the sun, heating up the Eastern Mediterranean, and creating an updrift, which sucks the cooler air from Europe to start streaming southward...

I talked about this first in my article "Trojan horse", in which I asked a question: was Trojan horse "hypos" - a wooden horse left as tribute, or  "hypos" - a wooden boat with a horse head used for transporting tributes...

In this article I also explained the link between Eastern Mediterranean Sea gods and horses: The start of the horse mating season marks the start of the sailing season in the Eastern Mediterranean...

For those interested, I also talked about the Etesian winds in my article "Three sacrifices" about human sacrifices made "for good winds" at the beginning and the end of the Trojan war. And about animal and plant calendar markers from the description of these sacrifices, that can help us determine when the Trojan war started and ended...

And I also talked about the Etesian winds, in my article "Anat" about this Semitic "warrior" goddess worshipped by the Canaanites & Egyptians during the Bronze and Iron Ages...

Anyway, after a while I wrote this article, "Demeter with dove", in which I explained why Dove was sacred to Demeter. The reason for that is that nesting season of doves overlaps with the grain harvest season...

After that I wrote this article, "Pleiades", in which I explained this strange Greek legend about the origin of the Pleiades constellation.

According to the Greek mythology, the Pleiades are the seven daughters of Atlas

whom Zeus transformed first into doves

and then into stars...

Why first into doves and then into stars? Animal calendar markers of course...

And in it I also wrote that the Heliacal "Rising" and "Falling" of pleiades divided Greek year into two halves: grain growing agriculture season (Oct/Nov-Apr/May) and sailing season (Apr/May-Oct/Nov)...Kind of important...

Oct/Nov being the time when grain sowing season started and Apr/May being the time when grain harvest season started.

And Apr/May being the time when sailing season started and Oct/Nov being the time when the sailing season ended.

And then last week I wrote this article, "Poseidon pursuing Demeter",  in which I explained the meaning of the strange legend about Poseidon as a stallion eloping with Demeter as a mare...

Poseidon pursuing a woman, 480-450BC. Currently in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Manhattan NY...

Could this unidentified "woman" actually be Demeter? 

And in it I pointed that horse is an (animal) calendar marker which links the beginning of the grain harvest (Demeter) season and sailing (Poseidon) season...

It just occurred to me today that doves/pleiades is another (animal) calendar marker that links beginning of the grain harvest (Demeter) season and sailing (Poseidon) season...

That's it. To read more about ancient animal and plant calendar markers, start here…Then check my twitter threads I still didn't convert to blog post...I am way way behind...

Starfish for the god of war

A while back I came across this X post by @Paracelsus1092:

I don't know if anyone knows the significance of starfish to ancient Mesoamericans, but I like the idea of decorating a war god altar with them. 

He was referring to this article in Smithsonian magazine which talks the discovery of starfish in the temple dedicated to the god of war, Huitzilopochtli, in the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan... 

So I said: Let's try animal calendar markers. See what jump at us...

The year in Mesomerica consisted of just two main and opposite seasons, RAINY and DRY. In Aztec times these matched two principal and contrary activities - FARMING and WAR. You can read more about this here...

The rainy (farming) season was ruled by Tlaloc and the dry (war) season was ruled by Huitzilopochtli - depicted symbolically in the "twin towers" atop the Great Temple of Tenochtitlan...You can read more about this here...

The main agricultural crop, maize, was planted in May and was harvested in Sep...

At the peak of the hurricanes season...

Hurricanes which (sometimes, don't know how often) lift thousands of starfish from the sea floor and throw them onto the Mexican beaches...And not just Mexican beaches...Pic from this article about starfish beaching...

And right after the end of the agriculture season, and the dead starfish season, in Oct, Pleiades appear in the night sky, heralding the beginning of the war season...

Are these the stars symbolised by starfish used to decorate the altar of the war god?

I don't know...But I know this:

The Pleiades star cluster was a significant symbol in Aztec culture and astronomy. The Aztecs based their calendar on the Pleiades. 

The Aztecs used the Pleiades to predict the seasons: 

Rain, farming season began when the Pleiades disappeared from the night sky...

Dry, war season began when the Pleiades reappeared in the night sky...

To read more about ancient animal and plant calendar markers, start here…Then check my twitter threads I still didn't convert to blog post...I am way way behind...

Pleiades

According to the Greek mythology, the Pleiades are the seven daughters of Atlas

whom Zeus transformed first into doves

and then into stars...

Why did Zeus first transform Pleiades into doves and then into stars? Why did he not transform them straight into stars? 

Cause he is Zeus. He doesn't have to explain himself to anybody 🙂 

Which reminds me of this great sketch by the Irish comedian Tommy Tiernan

But actually, there is a very good reason why Zeus turned Pleiades first into doves and then into stars: Cause Animal calendar markers predate constellations...

Let me explain what I mean:

First we have to go and talk to Hesiod about Grain...And Pleiades...

According to Hesiod, who wrote in mid 8th century BCE in Bœotia, grain harvest started: "When the Pleiades, daughters of Atlas, are rising". Which in the mid 8th century BCE in Bœotia, was around the first week of May...In Taurus...I talked about this in my post "Hesiod on grain"...

Hesiod also said this about Pleiades:

The Pleiades would "flee mighty Orion and plunge into the misty deep" just before dawn during Oct/Nov, a good time of the year to lay up your ship after the fine summer weather and "remember to work the land". Meaning to plough and sow grain...

You can read about this in the article "The trice ploughed field, Cultivation Techniques in Ancient and Modern Greece"...

So Heliacal "Rising" and "Falling" of pleiades divided Greek year into two halves: grain growing agriculture season (Oct/Nov-Apr/May) and sailing season (Apr/May-Oct/Nov)...Kind of important...

BTW, If you want to read about Greek sailing season check my article "Three sacrifices", about sacrifices, which marked the beginning and the end of the Trojan war...

Anyway, so, you plough and sow grain when Pleiades fall with the sun and you harvest grain when Pleiades rise with the sun...

What does any of this have to do with doves...

Ah...I am glad you asked...🙂

Dove was the holy bird of Demeter, Greek goddess of grain harvest and threshing flors...I talked about this in my article "Demeter with dove"...

Dove was also the holy bird of Inanna, Ishtar, Asherah...also Mesopotamian/Levantine goddess of grain harvest and threshing floors...I talked about this in my post "Inanna and dove" about this pottery cup from Syria, dated to 1800-1600 BC. The rounded body tapering to a flat base, with 26 bird heads. Christies auction... 

Doves??? Similar objects were interpreted as votive objects dedicated to Ishtar/Inanna, whose sacred bird was dove...

And as I explained in these article, the reason why dove is associated with grain goddesses is because in this Europe and Western Asia, grain harvest starts when two most common types of doves 

collared dove

turtle dove

start mating, in Apr/May...And they mate throughout the harvest season...

This is also when Pleiades rise with sun...To announce the beginning of the harvest...Quite interesting, don't you think? 

Oh, BTW, have you seen my article "Pendant"? It talks about 11th - 12th c. AD, pendants found in kurgans of Radimichi, an early medieval Slavic tribe, who lived in Ryazan area of Russia, and about the link between Pleiades and Taurus...

Why are Pleiades linked with Taurus? Well, if we look at both Pleiades and Taurus as constellations, it's kind of obvious...

But remember, all our animal constellations were originally animal calendar markers...They marked mating or birthing season of the depicted animal...

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...

Anyway, Taurus is one such animal calendar marker. It originally marked the calving season of the Wild Eurasian cattle. Which began in Apr/May. I talked about this in my post "Cow and calf ivory"...

Remember that this is also when grain harvest started in in the region where these animal calendar markers originally developed (Mesopotamia, Levant)...Hence the symbolic link between grain and bulls. I talked about this in my post "Bull carrying granary", about this amazing seal from "Die Entwicklung der Glyptik während der Akkad-Zeit" by Boehmer, R. M. published in 1965, depicting a bull carrying a building with plants growing (protruding) out of the building walls...

And so, if we look at both Pleiades and Taurus as animal calendar markers, we can see that they are also linked: 

Doves start nesting in Apr/May

Aurochs start calving in Apr/May

Oh and 

Grain harvest starts in Apr/May

That's it...Quite fascinating I think...Hope you enjoyed this article. Have a nice evening...