Mythical animal from Körtik Tepe

Depiction of a "mythical composite animal" on a plaster plaque from the 10,000BC Pre-Pottery Neolithic A layers of the archaeological site Körtik Tepe, located in the Diyarbakır district of Turkey. One of the first ever found...

Many such plaques were found in Körtik Tepe graves, so they obviously had some ritual meaning for the people who made them...The question is what meaning could that be?

Well, in order to answer this question, we first need to identify the animals from which this "mythical composite animal" is made...So have a look at my earlier post "Goat and snake from Kortik Tepe" about Ibex goat and snake symbolism in Körtik Tepe art. 

In it explain that Ibex is an animal calendar marker for Oct/Nov, the start of the mating season of Ibex Goats. And that snake is an animal calendar marker for Apr/May, the start of the mating season of vipers...

Now if we look at the climate in the area of Körtik Tepe, will see that head, Ibex, wild goat, which marks Oct/Nov, also marks the beginning of the cool, wet season in the Körtik Tepe area, and tail, snake, which marks Apr/May, also marks the end of the cool, wet season in the Körtik Tepe area...

Together, they mark the season of rebirth (of nature), brought by rain...water...

This reminds me of the (ancient?) belief, preserved by Slavs, about the thirsty ancestors...Is this why we find all these "empty" vessels in Neolithic, Bronze and Iron Age graves? Were they placed in the graves full of water, for the thirsty dead? I talked about in my post "White feast"...

Körtik Tepe graves also contained "empty" vessels...

Why? Did they contain water too when they were originally placed into the graves, together with the "mythical composite animal", half goat half snake, a composite animal calendar marker for rain, wet, water season...

But is this a head of an ibex goat...🙂

Top: Ibex, wild goat

Bottom: Mouflon, wild sheep

Hmmm...The horns of the composite being look more like a Mouflon...Oh no!!! 🙂

But don't fret...Nothing changes...Mouflon sheep also mate starting from Oct/Nov...So as animal calendar markers, Ibex and Mouflon are interchangeable...

So whether the Körtik Tepe "mythical composite animal" has a head of an Ibex wild goat, or a Mouflon wild sheep, the meaning of this composite animal calendar marker is still "Oct/Nov-Apr/May, the rain season"...

The season of rebirth (of nature)...

So did people from Körtik Tepe believe in rebirth?

To read more about ancient animal and plant calendar markers, which are at the root of all our mythologies, start here…Then check my twitter threads I still didn't convert to blog post...I am way way behind...

Ennead

This is my 5th Horus post...

Ancient Egyptians had several myths regarding the creation of the world. One of the most popular creation myths featured the Ennead, a group of nine ancient Egyptian gods and goddesses...Which together literally depict the annual (re)creation of the (Egyptian) world...

For the Ancient Egyptians, The World consisted of the Nile Valley and the Desert...This world was annually recreated by the Nile Flood...Which was the result of the monsoon rains that fell on the Ethiopian Highlands...Which were the result of the Sun heating the Indian Ocean...

This is how Ancient Egyptians described this natural process using The Enneads:

Atum. Who first created himself, and then created The World...Equated with the (setting) sun and later worshiped as Atum-Ra...

I would propose that the god "Creator of the World" was originally not just "the setting sun", but "the sun", and not just "the sun", but the summer (hot dry season) sun (Apt/May - Oct/Nov), which is also the sun of (which creates) the Annual Nile Inundation...

Apparently Atum appeared from the "Primordial Waters" (read annual flood) as a lion (read in Jul/Aug in Leo). Hence Sphinx overlooking the Nile flood plain...

I talked about him in my posts "Sphinx" and "Giza lioness"...

Leo here has nothing to do with constellations...It marks the beginning of the mating season of Eurasian lions, Jul/Aug - Oct/Nov...

I talked about this in many of my posts...

After creating himself, Atum then created (literally wanked and then ejaculated) Shu (Upward Rising Wind) and Tefnut (Moisture)...

Shu (Upward Rising Wind) + Tefnut (Moisture) = Ethiopian Monsoon which feeds the Nile flood

I talked about them in my post "Menat"...

The wet winds starts blowing over Ethiopian highlands in Mar/Apr and blow until Sep/Oct...

Shu wears an ostrich feather...

I think this is because ostrich mating season marked by ostrich dancing, begins in Mar/Apr and lasts until Sep/Oct...

The monsoon rains that feed Nile with water start falling in Ethiopian highlands in Mar/Apr (Aries)...

Which is why (I think) the god of the source of the nile is Ram headed Khnum...I talked about him in my post "Khnum"...

Aries here has nothing to do with constellations. It marks the end of the lambing season (Feb/Mar/Apr) and the beginning of the milking season...I talked about this in many of my posts...

As you can see in the above precipitation chart, the Ethiopian Monsoon peaks in Jul/Aug, Leo...Hence Tefnut having the lioness head...

In the earlier Pyramid Texts she is said to produce pure waters from her vagina...So when one day, she got pissed off :) with Egyptians for taking the piss :) and not giving her enough kudos, she stopped producing pure waters from her vagina, and pissed off :) to Nubia...

There, Tefnut, in a form of an angry lioness, became the terror of the land, attacking both men and animals. She blew smoke and fire from her nostrils and eyes and fed on the flesh and blood of her victims...

Leo, the end of summer, beginning of autumn, the time of maximum heat and no rain, would be the time of droughts and death in Egypt, if it weren't for Tefnut, the monsoon moisture which feeds the Nile...It is this moisture that transforms Leo into time of inundation and life...

Sun god Ra, Tefnut's father, missed his daughter and so he sent Shu (Tefnut's husband) and Thoth (god of wisdom) as his emissaries to ask her to return home. Of course he missed her. Because no Tefnut means no Nile. And no Nile means no Egypt. And no Egypt means no Ra...

For some weird reason, Thoth, disguised himself as a baboon (!!!) and went looking for Tefnut...

Why Baboon? Well, it has something to do with baboon mating season and also their ability to find water during droughts...I explain this in my post "Baboon"...

Shu and Tefnut (Ethiopian Monsoon) gave birth to Geb (Earth) and Nut (Sky)...

Now these are not any earth and any sky. These are Nile Valley (Egypt) and the Sky over the Nile Valley (Egypt)...

I talked about the Egyptian world view first in my post "Horizon", in which I talked about a hieroglyph which we find often associated with Horus, the "mountain" hieroglyph, and I will try to show that our current understanding of its meaning is...incomplete...

The Egyptian earth god Geb was intrinsically linked to the Nile, representing the fertile ground (silt) deposited by the river's annual flood. As a matter of fact, he was seen as the source of the silt brought by the Nile Flood...

And Nut, Milky Way, which from Jul/Aug, the beginning of the Nile flood, becomes parallel to the Nile, was seen as the Heavenly Nile, the heavenly equivalent (and the source) of the Earthly Nile...

I talked about Nut (and Geb and Horus) in my post "Nut"...

Ra-Horakhty (Ra as Horus) in his Solar Barque, traversing the horizon on a Heavenly Nile, during the day (the time when we can see the world) from east, dawn (left eye) to west, dusk (right eye). From a Book of the Dead dated to 1552–1069 BC, Currently in Louvre, Paris...

Geb and Nut's children were Osiris (fertile black soil of the Nile Valley, Egypt) and his wife Isis goddess of life and Seth (infertile red soil of the desert) and his wife Nephthys goddess of death (and resurrection)...

All four of these deities are directly linked to Horus...

Osiris = Father

Isis = Mother

Nephthys = Wet Nurse

Seth = Enemy

You might want to also read my first Horus post "Great duel" and my second Horus post "Horus the Elder",  my third Horus post "Horizon, my fourth Horus post "Nut"...

If you are interested in reading more about ancient animal and plant calendar markers, which are at the root of all our mythologies, start here…Then check my twitter threads I still didn't convert to blog post...I am way way behind...

Ram with royal ribbon

400–699 AD Sassanian silver plate originally from Iran, currently in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, USA

What is actually depicted on this plate?

This is the official description displayed under this artefact. I want to thank @officialnhaynes for posting the picture of this description and alerting me to this amazing object...

Who (or What) is this "stately ram" with royal ribbons tied around its neck? Why is it strutting over mountain tops towards a flowering plant? Why is ram symbol of fortune in Iran? The curators don't provide the answer to these questions...

Maybe I can try...

These are the final words spoken by Kay Khosrow, a legendary king of Iran at the end of  Shahnameh, The Iranian Book of Kings:

What's between Pisces and Taurus? Aries, Mar/Apr. 

What happens in Aries? The spring floods begin in Iran...

BTW Arias is an animal calendar marker that marks the end of the lambing season of the wild and domestic sheep...And the beginning of the milking season...Very important time of the year...I talked about the origin of Aries in my post "Aries must die"... 

Here is the Ram King sitting on his Royal Ram Throne...As depicted on this late 6th or early 7th c. AD Sassanian silver bowl...

I wrote about this in detail in these two articles: "Kay Khosrow" and "Eyeballs platter"

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...

Kay Khosrow

"Hamlet's mill; an essay on myth and the frame of time", 1969, Page 44.

These are the final words spoken by Kay Khosrow, a legendary king of Iran at the end of  Shahnameh, The Iranian Book of Kings:

This basically means "in Aries" (between Pisces and Taurus)...

The author of the Hamlet's mill then goes to say:

The author of the Hamlet's mill then goes on to say that Kay Khosrow is not an earthly king, but a heavenly king, and then he says:

I would like to disagree with the bit that "no fertility or seasonal symbolism can be traced into it". Actually we can, if we assume that originally zodiac was a collection of calendar markers derived from fixed, annual events...As I explained in my article "Zodiac"...

This removes the problem of "heaven keeps moving" and fixes Aries into Mar/Apr. 

The end of the lambing, and the beginning of the milking season...And the start of the transhumance ascend to the mountain pastures. Which happens every year at the same time...

I talked about this in my posts "April" and "Aries must die"...

Another thing that happens in Western Iran in Aries is this: The river discharges suddenly start to increase, as a result of spring rains and snowmelt.

Hence Ram depicted lying in water from the "Zodiac from Isfahan". I talked about it in my post "Sagittarius from Isfahan"...

Which is why, I think, on this late 6th or early 7th c. AD Sasanian silver bowl, we see a king (Kay Khosrow) sitting on a ram (Aries?) throne, feasting, surrounded by musicians and servants. 

Which is what I proposed in my post "Eyeballs platter"...Except when I wrote that post, I didn't now the identity of the King...

Sooooo....See Aries as constellation, and "no fertility or seasonal symbolism can be traced into it". See Aries as animal calendar marker and it all suddenly starts making sense...

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...