Demeter with dove

Terracotta statuette of Demeter enthroned with a turtle-dove. 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

Demeter was Olympian goddess of grain harvest...Why was the goddess of harvest associated with turtle doves? I would like to answer this question in this article...

Well I think that Demeter was associated with turtle doves for the same reason she was associated with snakes...Because the grain harvest season in Ancient Greece started in Apr/May, when the most common Eurasian snakes start to mate...

I talked about Demeter and snakes in my posts "Who are Persephone's parents" and "Demeter riding a panther"...

This is the same reason she was associated with opium poppies...Because opium poppies harvest in Ancient Greece started in Apr/May, at the same time when grain harvest started...

I talked about Demeter and poppies in my posts "Poppies and pomegranates", "Kubaba with grain and poppies", "Demeter riding a panther"...

As I said, snakes and opium poppies are animal and plant calendar markers for Apr/May, the beginning of the grain harvest season in Eastern Mediterranean - Levant - Mesopotamia - Iran area...

I believe that turtle doves are also such calendar marker.

This is European Turtle Dove. Beautiful bird...

Despite its name it is actually native to both Europe and Western Asia...

Now remember, animal calendar markers are ancient calendar markers derived from the annual mating (most often) or birthing or migrating or hibernating habits of the animal in question...

The breeding season of European turtle doves starts in Apr and lasts until Sep. So it overlaps with the grain harvest season in Europe and Western Asia...Which is why, I think, this bird is associated with Demeter...Goddess of grain harvest...

By the way, doves were also associated with Inanna/Ishtar...Who was also associated with grain...

Now in Iraq, apart from European Turtle Dove, we also find Eurasian Collared Dove...

In Iraq, in it's native range, turtle dove nests between Apr and Aug... Again overlapping with the grain harvest season in Mesopotamia...

So both most common Mesopotamian dove types start their nesting at the beginning of the grain harvest in Mesopotamia...Which is why, I think, dove was Inanna's bird. I will write another article specifically about Inanna/Ishtar and doves...Tonight I will stope here. Time for bed 🙂

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...

Archaic rider

Archaic Greek black-figured kylix with a horseman, birds and a winged figure...Sparta, 550BC-530BC, currently in British Museum... We have no idea what this image represents...So let me give one possible interpretation...

I will start with a question: why are plants growing out of the horseman's head?

Seen this before?

Month of April, depicted as a Green Man (!!!), standing over Taurus (!!!), Cycle of the Months, floor mosaic, Crypt of the St. Columban Abbey (Bobbio Abbey), Bobbio, Piacenza, Italy, first half of 12th century...

Interesting...

The end of April is the time when St George, also known as "Green Jura" aka Green (young) Jarilo (Slavic sun god), aka Green Man arrives...Announcing the beginning of summer...In Taurus...

Zeleni Jura (Green Yura) walking the earth. Part of Jurjevanje, celebration of the return of Jarilo, Jura, The  Young Sun God who brings spring...Today performed on St George's day...Tells you a lot about the true Identity of St George...

This ritual is performed Bela Krajina, area inhabited by descendants of Serbians who migrated here during Turkish invasions of the Balkans. Today split between Croatia/Slovenia...This is the original Green Man...

The Sun God's name Jarilo (pronounced Yareelo) comes from the root "jar" (yar) meaning: spring, young, green (Life giving warm sun of green spring), but also brightly burning and raging, furious (Life destroying burning sun of yellow summer)...

Interestingly, in Sanskrit, har (cognate of jar, yar) can also mean green and yellow...

It is the Spring/Summer sun that makes plants grow and get green...Hence Green Man...Hence walking green bush, hence plants growing out of the St George's head on the Italian mosaic, hence plants growing out of the horseman's head on the Greek kylix...I think...

Now in Slavic folklore Jarilo was imagined as a horseman...Just like Svetovid (another name for the sun god) in whose temples priests kept white horses as his sacred animals, which were used for divination...Solar rider from Medieval standing stone Bosnia...I talked about this in my post "Svetovid"...

Why horses? Well, ever heard of a Solar horse? Check this article about "Hayagriva",  out. 

In it I explain why horse is a "natural solar animal". In short, horse's natural reproductive cycle is governed by sunlight, starting in April and peaking on Summer Solstice...Which is why we see horses pulling sun chariots since...forever...Which is why we see things like these: Bronze Age "Sun Chariot" pulled by a horse, Denmark 1400 BC...

Or are ridden by sun itself, depicted either as a rider with sun disc with rays instead of the head, or as the sun disc with rays...like on these Celtic coins...

Or, in case of this Ancient Greek kylix, solar horse is ridden by a rider from whose head grows new vegetation...I think...

Oh did I mention that bull and horse are two interchangeable animal calendar markers, both pointing at Apr/May:

Beginning of calving season of wild Eurasian cattle...Marked by Taurus...🙂

Beginning of mating season of wild Eurasian horses...

Which is why we find Ancient Greek coins like this one. Check the article out: "Coin from Byzantion". 

You'll like it...In it I explain the "mythological" link between cattle and horses...

Anyway, the dead giveaway that the rider is Jarilo, Or whatever name you want to give to the Young Sun God that arrives at the beginning of summer, are the birds...Migratory birds which arrive from Africa together with the Young Sun God...Remember this?

In Slavic mythology Jarilo actually departs for the land of the dead in the Autumn with the migratory birds and returns from the land of the dead in spring with migratory birds...I talked about this in my post "Leto"...

Leto, Slavic word for summer and year is most likely derived from the word "let" meaning flight...Leto (the old summer, the hot, sunny half of the year) is the period between the arrival and departure of the migratory birds...

What was the name of the mother of Apollo? Leto? Remember this post, "Skipping", about the birth of Apollo and the "Unknown meaning of the name Leto"? 

Anyway, back to our horseman kylix. On it, the winged figure at the back is holding two wreaths...Flower wreaths? Like the ones still made on St George's day (Jarilo's day) in Serbia? I talked about this in my post "Aries must die"...

What about the eagle? I am not sure about that, but there is one eagle, which is also migratory, and which arrives to Europe with the Young Sun God, in Apr/May: Snake eagle...Bird of pray which arrives when snake, symbol of sun's heat, appears...I talked about this in my post "Eagle snake struggle"...

Interestingly, the other side, which I would really really really love to see, is apparently decorated with pomegranates...Symbols of winter...Top - Summer, Bottom - Winter? Or...Are these poppies, symbols of summer, and not pomegranates?

Remember this article about "Poppies and pomegranates"? 

What connects pomegranates and poppies? Well obviously shape...But also the fact that these two plants are associated with Demeter (poppies) and her daughter Persephone (pomegranates)...The goddesses of grain...

Anyway, I have no idea if this is what is depicted on this mysterious Archaic Greek kylix, but no one else does either...So...🙂

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...

Who are Persephone's parents

Few days ago, @M0h_5en led me into a snake pit 🙂 and suddenly there were mythological snakes slithering everywhere...

I don't know where is the best place to start writing about it, cause it's all interconnected...So I'll just start here: Who are Persephone's parents?

Both Hesiod and the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, describe Persephone as the daughter of Zeus and his older sister, Demeter, though no myths exist describing her conception or birth....

Well, that's kind of true...According to the Orphic theogony, "when Rhea (Earth goddess), gave birth to Zeus (storm god), she became Demeter (Grain goddess)"...

Zeus then attempted to rape Demeter (Rhea), who turned herself into a snake to scare him. But Zeus also turned himself into a snake and eventually succeeded in raping her...

The child born from that union was their daughter Persephone...Zeus then "seduced" Persephone in a shape of a snake, after which Persephone gave birth to Zagreus/Dyonisus...

What does all this mean? I hate to be repeating myself again and again and again (and again 🙂)...but I think it's time to look at climate, agriculture calendar and lifecycle of snakes (and snake eagles, symbols of Zeus) in Ancient Greece...

As I said already, Demeter is the Olympian goddess of the harvest and agriculture, presiding over grains and the fertility of the earth...So Rhea (Earth Goddess) turns into Demeter (Grain Harvest Goddess) at the time of the grain harvest...

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"...

Which is interesting, because in Europe, beginning of May (Taurus), beginning of the harvest, is also the beginning of Thunderstorm season...So Thunderstorm (Zeus) arrive (is born) when Rhea turns into Demeter...

So it is exactly as the Orphic "theogony" (or should I call it natural science) tells us...But what about "Zeus and Demeter mating as snakes to give birth to Persephone"?

Guess when snake mating season is in Europe? 

Yup, you guessed right. In Apr/May, when grain harvest begins...

During that time males engage in ritualised fights that once were interpreted falsely as mating ceremonies...

VERY IMPORTANT BIT!!! 🙂

Hence snake animal calendar marker joins lion animal calendar marker

God most high...

Snake: Apr/May, beginning of the main snake mating season, beginning of summer.

Lion: Jul/Aug, beginning of the main lion mating season, end of summer. 

In the middle of summer is Summer Solstice...When (sun) god is Most High...

I talked about this in my post "You will trample the great lion and serpent"...

Anyway, Persephone (Grain) the daughter of Demeter (Grain Harvest) and Zeus (Thunderstorms) gets conceived and born during harvest, when snakes mate (Apr/May)...Snakes and grain, snakes and grain...And Demeter and Persephone...I talked about the link between snakes and Demeter in my post "Demeter riding a panther"...

BTW, snakes are the only true solar animals. They are in our world when sun is in our world (day and hot part of the year) and they are in the underworld when sun is in the underworld (night and cold part of the year). I talked about this in my posts "Enemy of the sun" and "The chthonic animal"

Snake is also the symbol of sun's heat which dries the earth and brings drought...Which is where dragons that steel and guard water come into play...Did you know that Slavs believed that "dragons were just old snakes"? I talked about this in my post "Dragon that stole rain"...

You can read more about Slavic snake-dragon folklore, which holds the key for unlocking the meaning of both snake and dragon as a symbol, in my post "Letnitsa treasure"...

Which is why Apr/May, the beginning of summer and thunderstorm season, is the beginning of the epic battle begins between Eagle (thunderstorm) and snake (sun)...I talked about this in my post "Eagle-snake struggle"...

Persephone is the goddess of grain, deified grain seed. Interestingly, grain seed planting season (Oct/Nov) is when Persephone, gets abducted by Hades and taken to the underworld...I talked about this in my post "Abduction of Persephone"...

Persephone is the goddess of grain, deified grain seed. Interestingly, grain seed planting season (Oct/Nov) is when Persephone, gets abducted by Hades and taken to the underworld...I talked about this in my post "Abduction of Persephone"...

"Faceless female busts, Cyrene Museum, Libya...may represent Persephone"...

Is this when Zeus seduces Persephone in a shape of a snake and fathers Zagreus/Dyonisus? Some sources say that it was Hades, The Chthonic Zeus, who was the father of Zagreus, the "Chthonic Dyonisus"...

So let me finish this article with one of my favourite depictions of Demeter, the goddess with beautiful golden hair...Here she is as Ceres emerging from the ground holding grain, poppies and snakes...Or is this Persephone being born?

Why is Demeter is holding grains, snakes and opium poppies? I explain that in my post "Poppies and pomegranates"...

That's it...For now...

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...

Poppies and pomegranates

What connects pomegranates and poppies? Well obviously shape...

Ripe pomegranate, red and yellow:

Ripe (harvesting) opium poppies:

But also the fact that these two plants are associated with Demeter (poppies) and her daughter Persephone (pomegranates)...The goddesses of grain...

Persephone, deified grain and grain planting season, gets taken by Hades to the underworld (planted) in Oct/Nov...

Persephone gets reunited with her mother, Demeter, deified grain and grain harvest season, during the grain harvest in (Apr/May)...

Pomegranates are ready for harvest when opium poppies and grain are planted (Oct/Nov)...

Which is why Persephone's sacred plant, apart from grain, is pomegranate...

Before releasing her, Hades tricked Persephone, by giving her pomegranate to eat. And because she tasted "food in the underworld", she had to return to the underworld every winter. 

From the article "Abduction of Persephone" about flora and fauna found in Persephone legend... 

Pomegranates flower (Apr–Jun), when grain and opium poppies are ready for harvesting...

Which is why Demeter's sacred plant, apart from grain, was opium poppy...

You can read more about this in my post "Demeter riding a panther"...

Apparently, there is "common belief" that Demeter's poppies are common red poppies (Papaver rhoeas) and not opium poppies (Papaver somniferum)...So have a look at this:

Demeter holding grain and poppy pods...

Which poppies? Look at the shape of the poppy pods Demeter holds in her hand. Then look at the poppy pods on the two pics below. 

Red poppies

Red opium poppies

As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words... 

Oh, why snakes? Cause mating season of most common European snakes is Apr/May...The same time when grain and poppy harvest begins in Eastern Mediterranean...I talked about this in my post "Goats and snakes from Körtik Tepe"...

Well, it wasn't just Demeter who loved poppies...

Grain goddess with poppies Anatolia...I talked about her in my post "Kubaba with grain and poppies"...

Grain goddess with poppies Mesopotamia...I talked about her in my post "Fertility goddess with poppies"...

So pomegranate and poppies are two opposite plant calendar markers, marking beginning of "old" winter, cool, wet half of the year (pomegranate, Persephone), and the beginning of the "old" summer, hot, dry half of the year (poppy, Demeter)...

I think this is quite cool...

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...

Kubaba with grain and poppies

Very interesting: A drawing of a relief from the great staircase from the Luwian city of Carchemish. It depicts the storm god Tarhunt, holding an axe and vajra (lightning trident), leading the earth goddess Kubaba, holding grain and poppies...🙂 Sounds familiar?

The drawing is from this great article: "Building Inscriptions of Carchemish: The Long Wall of Sculpture and Great Staircase" by J. D. Hawkins

So why is this drawing interesting?

Here's Demeter holding grain and poppies

The reason why Kubaba and Demeter hold grain and poppies is that in Europe and Middle East, opium poppies harvest coincides with the beginning of the grain harvest...I talked about poppies harvest and poppies as a plant calendar marker in my article "Poppies"... 

Now check these articles about Demeter and Middle Eastern grain goddesses: "Demeter riding a panther", "Fertility goddess with poppies", "Sacred marriage on a threshing floor", "Jerusalem of gold"...Then have a look at this: 

The grain goddess follows the storm god...Why? Because in the area where Carchemish is located, without rain, the land ends up looking like this...No grains (or poppies)...

This is the climatic year in the area of Carchemish. You can see that the year is clearly divided into hot/dry half and and cool/wet half...

The hottest and driest part of the year is the end of Jul beginning of Aug. Leo...The time of death...Ruled by the god of death...Mot...Nergal...Another name for the destructive burning sun...I talked about this in my post "The oldest Arabic poem"...

The hottest, driest part of the year is marked by the lion animal calendar marker...Leo...The reason for this is that this is when the Eurasian lions main mating season starts...

Which is why Nergal, the deified destructive burning sun, was depicted as a lion (man)...I talked about this in my post "Winged superhuman hero"...

This is the reason why in Carchemish we also find this relief depicting the above mentioned storm god killing a lion. The image is from this great article "Carchemish ša kišad puratti" by Irene J. Winter 

The other guy helping the storm god is probably the local king, not another god...The role which later became the main role of local kings, who were "(storm) god's incarnation on earth"...I talked about this in my post "The king killing Angra Mainyu"...

Hope you enjoyed this...

To read more about ancient animal and plant calendar markers, start here…then check the rest of the blog posts related to animal calendar markers I still didn't add to this page, and finally check my twitter threads I still didn't convert to blog post...I am 9 months behind now...