One of a kind centaur

"One of a kind centaur", from Harvard Art Museums: "Exceptional vessels" 

This quote talks about this artefact: rhyton with a centaur holding a goat, currently in Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology. 

What does this, "one of a kind", image mean? Here is what I think:

Sagittarius 23 November – 21 December 

The hunter, usually represented as a centaur. Marks the beginning of the fur hunting season in continental Europe). You can read more about why Sagittarius is where it is on the solar circle in my post "The hunter".

Capricorn 22 December – 20 January 

The ibex goat. Marks the mating season of Alpine Ibex goats in continental Europe. You can read more about why is Capricorn where it is on the solar circle in my post "Goat".

Now if we look at the Sagittarius and Capricorn zodiac signs together, we see something very interesting: Winter Solstice marks the end of Sagittarius (Centaur) and the beginning of Capricorn (Goat)

Is this what the above image represents, the moment when hunter catches the ibex goat? 

The new solar year starts on that day, and that was a pretty big thing in the past...

This is the same symbolism preserved in the Slovenian legend about Goldhorn. 

In it, a hunter hunts an ibex goat, mortally wounds it, and from goat's blood grows a beautiful alpine rose. 

This is a multi layer legend. To me the most interesting layer to this story is the astrological one. The Zlatorog story describes the succession of three winter astrological signs, Sagittarius, Capricorn and Aquarius. 

Sagittarius 23 November – 21 December (The hunter)
Capricorn 22 December – 20 January (The ibex goat)
Aquarius 21 January – 19 February (The blood)

You can read more about this legend in my post "Zlatorog-Goldhorn".

Interestingly, in Sanskrit tradition, goat was the animal sacrificed instead of a pig, which was in Europe the animal sacrificed during winter solstice celebrations. 

Basically, the goat has to die, in order for spring to arrive...

This was probably the older tradition than the one preserved in Europe today, as it matches the season marker, unlike the pig...

You can read more about sacrificial animals in Indo-European tradition in my post "Sacrificial animals"

So what do you think? Makes sense?

Hunter

Sagittarius (♐) is the astrological sign which spans 240–270th degrees of the zodiac. Under the tropical zodiac, the sun transits this sign between approximately November 23 and December 21. This Zodiac sign is associated with the constellation Sagittarius. 

The official explanation for why the Sagittarius zodiac sign is where it is on the zodiac circle is that the sun passes in front of this constellation during this period of the solar year.

But what is the real reason why we have the symbol meaning "hunter" marking the period between the end of November and the end of December? 

Considering that we know that Pisces (return of salmon into European rivers for spawning), Aries (lambing season of wild Eurasian sheep), Taurus (calving season of wild Eurasian cattle) and Capricorn (mating season of mountain ibex goats) all mark significant natural events on the yearly solar cycle, I wouldn't be surprised that Sagittarius (hunter) is also marking an important natural event. And indeed there is such an event. First snow.

There is a proverb in Serbia that goes like this:  "Ne pada sneg da pokrije breg, vec da svaka zverka pokaze svoj trag" meaning "Snow doesn't fall to cover the hill. It falls to show the tracks of all the beasts"... 

The end of November is the time when the agricultural year is over. All agricultural work is done. All fruits are harvested and the new grain is sown. 

It is at this time of the year that the wild boar are as fat as they can be from eating all the acorn which fell off the oak trees between late September and early November. The same goes for deer, wild cattle, wild sheep and wild goat. They have been grazing all autumn, storing fat reserves for winter. 

It is also at this time of the year that all the fury animals have finished changing into their winter coats. Their fur is as thickest and as best as it can be. 

So if you are after meat and fur, there is no better time to go hunting than during the period of late November and early December. 

And right at that time is when the first snow falls. This snow is just thick enough to cover the ground and make all the animal tracks visible. 

This makes the period between the end of November and the end of December the best time for meat and fur hunting, and this is why this period is in the Zodiac marked with the symbol for hunter. 

Of course none of this makes sense in Mesopotamia, only in Temperate zones of Eurasia...