Michael from Pavia

The Basilica of San Michele Maggiore is a church of Pavia, one of the most striking example of Lombard-Romanesque style. It dates from the 11th and 12th centuries.

Above the entrance is a bas-relief depicting St Michael standing on top of the defeated dragon. "And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought..., and prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven"...

This Michael is very interesting indeed. Look at what he is holding in his right hand. He is holding a plant. And look at his wings. His wings are turning into tree branches...

What about the dragon? Dragon is just an old snake...At least this is what Slavs believed...And not just Slavs...

Snakes are cold blooded, so they are out only during the hot part of the day and hot part of the year...

As I explained in many of my posts, this makes snakes pure solar animals. They are in our world when sun is here (day, hot half of the year) and are in the underworld when sun is there (night, cold half of the year)...

This also makes Snakes perfect symbol of the sun and the sun's heat. They are also symbols of the beginning of summer, as vipers, the most common Eurasian snakes, start mating in Apr/May, beginning of summer...

So no wonder we find snake linked to the sun over and over again...All over the world...

Interestingly, the key for understanding the link between snakes and the sun was best preserved in Slavic folklore (remnants of Slavic mythology). I talked about this in my post "Letnitsa treasure" and  posts linked from this post...

Dragon or a Great Serpent is the representation of the destructive Summer sun's heat which burns the earth. 

Dragon "steals the waters of heaven", clouds or "heavenly cows'...In Indo-European mythology this Dragon is killed by the Thunder god, who "releases the waters of heaven", clouds or "heavenly cows"...But this is not just Indo-European myth...It is found all over Eurasia...

Anyway, killing of the dragon (drought) saves the world and saves the vegetation...Saves the tree of life...

In Slavic mythology the Thunder god who kills the dragon is Perun. He fights it all summer, and he finally manages to kill the dragon at the end of summer and beginning of autumn. 

BTW this is the distribution of the rain/thunder storms in Europe per month...You can see that in the Balkans the thunderstorms (Perun fighting Veles, the Dragon) start at the beginning of summer and end at the end of summer... 

With the arrival of Christianity, one of the saints that replaced Perun was St Michael, whose name means "Who is like God". Now have a look at this: Left is the wheel of Svetovid, Sun god. Right is the wheel of Perun, Thunder god. Perun's wheel is Svetovid's wheel on fire...

Interestingly the oldest church dedicated to St Michael, St Michael at Sosthenion, was built on the site of a temple dedicated to "Winged Zeus"... Constantine interpreted the winged statue of the temple as a Christian angel... I talked about this in my post "Archangel Michael"...

BTW, check this article, "Pero" in which I proposed that the root of the name of the Slavic thunder god Perun is "pero" = feather, which would make Perun = Feathered one, and not from PIE perkwus, meaning "oak" or "mountain". Zeus, Jupiter, Perun were all linked to eagles. And the oldest descriptions of Mesopotamian thunder gods described them as thunder birds...

Phoenician drachm, 4th century BC, on exhibit in the British Museum. The coin shows a seated deity, labelled "YHW". This is EL to whom "MichaEL" is like...

The arrangement of the deity sitting on a winged wheel has been compared to Ezekiel's vision of Yahweh's throne as flying about the heavens on four wheels (chariot). I talked about this "vision" in this post about "Four living creatures"...

It is interesting that the main Christian "replacement" for Perun in Serbia, St Elijah the Thunderer, drives on top of the clouds in his chariots, causing thunder and lightning when the chariot wheels bump off the surface of the clouds...I talked about this in my post "Thundering sun god"...

When we look at the climatic effect of the end of summer and beginning of autumn, we see that Thunder god's function is to "defeat the Sun god", who is about to burn the earth to cinder...And he does that after a looong fight which lasts the whole summer...

So, St Michael is celebrated at the end of summer (Catholic church) / the end of autumn (Orthodox church) for a reason 🙂 ...

If we look at it more closely, we realise that there is actually no fight going on here. The sun's heat (Sun god's power) rises during summer, to it's maximum at the end of summer and it then it subsides...It is a naturally occurring oscillatory process...

This adds interesting twist to the question about the identity of Satan, who was defeated (replaced) by Michael...Until next spring of course, when snakes come out of the underground...

Especially when we know that it looks like Hebrews worshipped sun in their first temple. I talked about this in my post "Sun god from the first temple"...Sun was their EL...BTW, Sun still is the EL of Hebrews...I talked about this in my post "The tree of life"...To whom MichaEL was like...So if Michael replaced Thunder god, whose duty is to "kill dragon", Sun, Sun's heat, and Sun was the god of Hebrews/Christians...

This doesn't mean that Hebrew and Christian god is Satan 🙂 It means that Christian god is Sun...Life giving in the spring. Life destroying in the summer...And so He is finally cast from heaven into the underworld at the end of summer/autumn (depending on the local climate) where He stays until next spring...You know the story...

Lords of divination

In Serbian the expression "On vedri i oblači" means "he rules", "he has absolute control, absolute power". Literally this expression means "he makes the sky clear and cloudy"...

I talked about this in my post "The power of the Thunder Giant"...

This expression was obviously originally applied to the sky god, The God, The Lord of the early agricultural societies and the peasants, particularly the wheat farmers, whose lives depend on the climate being just right...

The sky god, the sky father, was over time split into Sun god (Svetovid) and Storm god (Perun)...

But the fact that these were just two faces of the old Sky god was preserved in Serbian folklore in Dabog (Giving God, The Sky Father)...

You know that you are dealing with someone powerful when his name is "Giving god"...This means that he can also not give if you piss him off..

Dabog was seen as both the sun god, and as the rain god...

Serbs also preserved the notion of the Sun and Thunder god being one and the same in their "thundering saint" Elijah the Thunderer...

He is seen as the burning sun of the late summer and as the cooling rainstorm of the early autumn...

Elijah the Thunderer is celebrated at the end of summer and start of autumn, on the old day of Perun's victory over Veles...But Elijah is both Veles, The Dragon (Drought) who steals Perun's "heavenly cows" (clouds), and Perun, The Dragon Killer...

I talked about this in my post "Dragon that stole rain"...

The other day I thought that I guess you could say that there is only one God in the sky, and that is The Sun...It is The Sun that both takes away the heavenly cows (causes drought) and mercifully returns them...If you pray enough...

I think that the Ancient Sumerians had the same view of heaven and who's the boss up there...

This is "dingir" symbol, which means "god" and is placed in front of every god's name to indicate that we are dealing with a deity...Originally though, it was an ideogram for the Sumerian word an ("sky" or "heaven")...People say it looks like a star. To me it looks like The Sun.

It is An, The Sky Father and Ki, The Earth Mother, who gave, and continue to give birth to everything...Including all the "gods" and all life. 

Father (sky) + Mother (earth) = Life...It is their union, their interplay, their intercourse, that creates that life...Interestingly, when you put the names of the Sumerian father sky and mother earth together you get AnKi...

Strangely similar to ankh...

I talked about this in my posts "Etemenanki", "Square and compasses" and "An Ki - Ankh"...

Anyway eventually The Sky god, The Sky Father, was split into Sun god and Storm god... In Akkad, Sun god Shamash and Storm god Adad...And interestingly, Shamash and Adad became in combination the gods of oracles and of divination in general...

Of course, because if you are a farmer, it is the will of these two, that determines whether you eat or starve, live or die...Which is why you turn to the sky in your prayers...

And so the main duty of diviners was to figure out what Shamash and Adad were up to. Basically what is Sky God, Sky Father up to...

In the annals and votive inscriptions of the kings, when oracles are referred to, Shamash and Adad are always named as the gods addressed as "lords of divination".

And it was the main duty of the priests to figure out what were Shamash and Adad pleased with and what were they pissed off with...What The Sky God, The Sky Father wanted...In return for "Giving" life and not "Taking" life...

And to put that into religious laws and make everyone obey these laws...And make everyone practice what pleases the Sun god and Storm god (Sky God or just God who are in...) and abstain from what might piss "The Lord" off...

Cause "On vedri i oblači" (he makes the sky clear and cloudy) and you don't mess with someone so powerful...

Zodiac killer

Elamite seal. Iran. From "The Elamite Cylinder Seal Corpus, c. 3500–1000 BC" by Karen Jane Gardon.

Soooo What's this all about?

Top row:

Autumn (symbolised by a lion) follows summer (symbolised by a bull)...This is the moment in time that this seal marks. This is why we have a lion chasing bull and  the cross in the upper panel...I talked about the symbols of the seasons in this post...

So what about the bottom row with two bulls facing each other? 

Based on the horn shape and no hump, these are bulls of the Eurasian wild cattle, aurochs...

Beginning of August, the end of summer, beginning of autumn, is also when Eurasian wild cattle, aurochs used to mate...During this time auroch bulls fought (faced) each other for females...I talked about the reproductive cycle of aurochs in my post "Ram and bull"....

By the way, this is also the time when Eurasian lions main mating season started too...I talked about this in my post "Musth"...

This is the hottest part of the year in the northern hemisphere, which is why this is the day of Helios...In the Balkans this is the day of St Elijah the Thunderer, the Thundering Sun...

Why Thundering Sun? I talked about the "weird" link between the sun and thunder god in my post about Croesus and Apollo, The thundering Sun...

The reason why we have Thundering Sun God is easy to see from this chart of thunderstorm frequency in Europe...

Interestingly, in Bosnia, on the day of Thundering Sun, the day that marks the end of summer beginning of autumn, the day when aurochs used to fight, people sacrifice bulls and hold bull fights...I talk about this in my post "Alidjun"

So it seems that both the upper and the lower panel of this seal point at the same moment in the Solar year...The moment when the lion (autumn) catches up with the bull (summer) and when bulls fight...

What does this have to do with Europe? Well the key for deciphering images like this one is found in, of all places, Balkan Slavic folklore, remnants of mythologies and religions of ancient people which mixed in the Balkans, and which are preserved to this day by Slavic peasants.

It was the parallels between the bull cult found in Serbia and the bull cult found in Ireland that made me think: "we are dealing with something ancient here"... and led me to deciphering of the first animal calendar marker: bull...

After that I started looking at other well known animal calendar markers, collectively known as Zodiac...And what I found was that they all mark mating or birthing seasons of animals in question...In Europe...I talked about this in the articles linked to this page about "Zodiac"....

After this I started looking at Ancient Eurasian and North African mythologies which were full of animal images...All the ones I touched so far, turn out to also be calendar markers derived from the behavior of animals in question...

It seems that mythologies were built around ancient agricultural calendar, which probably has the common root in the fertile crescent, 15,000-10,000 BC...And which used animal calendar markers to mark different parts of the solar year, important for early farmers...

This same symbolic system was then used throughout the ancient world as the agriculture spread...The mythologies developed around it are full of "monsters made up of different animal parts", "gods with animal heads or bodies", "masters of animals" and "mysterious animal images"...

Which no one understands any more...Well...Maybe we can now understand these crazy bits of our common heritage a bit better...

There is just one problem...

The problem is that "there is nothing mysterious or holy or enlightening or mind blowing" at the bottom of the rabbit hole...

There is no all powerful wizard behind the curtain holding a magic wand looking up at the stars and constellations...Just a sweaty peasant holding a plough and looking up at the sky wandering if the Sky God will be cruel or merciful this year...

Not something you can make a career of "speculating what mystery lies behind"...

I was already told by some people that "when they see that my article is about calendar they just skip it"...

Because it's boring...

The best comment I got so far was that I was a "Zodiac killer"...Cause I killed the mystery that zodiac held for so many people and turned it into an agricultural calendar...

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...

Croesus

This is Croesus, the last Lydian king. In 546 BC, he misunderstood the prophecy from Delphi, which said that "If Croesus attacked the Persians, he would destroy a great empire". Croesus went to war with Persia which ended up with the destruction of his empire...

Apart from being famous for his disastrous prophecy interpreting abilities, Croesus was also famous for minting the earliest known gold coins known as "Croeseids". They always depicted lion and bull in this pose, and the meaning of this scene is still debated... 

Finally, Croesus was also famous for the fact that no one knows what actually happened to him after he was captured by the Persian king Cyrus the Great...

In the version of the story written by Bacchylides, Croesus tried to commit suicide, by burning himself on a pyre. But at the last moment Zeus sent the storm with rain which extinguished the fire, and then Apollo took Croesus to the Hyperboreans where he lived happily ever after

In the version written by Herodotus, Cyrus captured Croesus and ordered for him to be burned to death on a pyre. But at the last moment, Croesus was saved from death by Apollo who sent a violent storm with rain which extinguished the flames. Cyrus then made Croesus his advisor..

The fact that we don't know how Croesus ended up on the pyre and what happened to him after he was saved, is not that interesting (to me at least). What is interesting (to me at least) is who and how saved him...

In the Bacchylides' version, Zeus, the God of Thunder, sends the rainstorm which extinguishes the flames. But in the Herodotus' version, it is Apollo who sends the rainstorm which extinguishes the flames...A weird thing for a Sun god to do...

A lot of people say that Herodotus was "known" to have written crap...But maybe not. Maybe Herodotus just had access to information other Greeks didn't...

Homer pictures Apollo on the side of the Trojans, fighting against the Achaeans, during the Trojan War. Believe or not the Hittite records, which called Troy "Wilusa", identify Trojan tutelary deity as a god named Appaliunas (A-ap-pa-li-u-na-aš), usually identified as Apollo...

Now there is a recently translated Hittite document which talks about a peace contract made between Hittite king Muwatalli and Wilusa king Alaksandu...The kings swear not to break the contract and list their deities as witnesses...

And in that document, one of three gods guaranteeing the terms of the treaty on the side of Alaksandu is A-ap-pa-li-u-na-aš who was described as the "Storm-god of the Army"...

Well, I guess, a storm god could easily send a rain storm to extinguish the flames of the Croesus' pyre...Right?

You know how you always wandered (well I did anyway) why Greeks were so afraid of lyre playing Apolo? They weren't. They were afraid of A-ap-pa-li-u-na-aš...

The same way Serbs were afraid of Sveti Ilija Gromovnik (St Elijah the Thunderer), The Thundering Sun. Serbs celebrate him at the end of summer and beginning of autumn. The moment when summer (represented by a bull) ends and autumn (represented by a lion) begins. Lion and bull???

In Serbian folklore, St Elijah is a weird character indeed. He is both the sun god (Helios, Veles) and storm god (Zeus, Perun)...Like A-ap-pa-li-u-na-aš??? I talked about St Elijah in my article "Thundering sun god"

He gets so angry every year around his pattern day, 2nd of August, the hottest part of the year, called in the Balkans "Kresovi, Krijesovi" (fires), that he "wants to burn the world to cinder". Just like any real scary sun god would do...

But he doesn't...His wife/sister Ognjena Marija (Burning Mary, the ever hotter summer earth) calms him down...After St Elijah calms down, his wife turns to Blaga Marija (Mild, Kind Mary, the ever cooler autumn earth)... 

And right then, at the end of summer, beginning of autumn, the temperature starts to decrease and the first autumn rains arrive, the world is saved...By the way, Serbs believed that these rains were brought by St Elijah himself...As any decent thunder god would have done...Hence Elijah (Helios) "The Thunderer" (Zeus)...

Climate chart for Belgrade, Serbia...

In Serbian the expression "On vedri i oblači" means "he rules", "he has absolute control, absolute power". Literally this expression means "he makes the sky clear and cloudy"...

Originally the all powerful one was the Sky God...I talked about this in my article "The power of the thunder giant"

Was the original Apollo, "A-ap-pa-li-u-na-aš", before Greeks borrowed him from the Anatolians, one such god? The sun god + storm god = scary MF who can destroy your crops, dry out your wells, flood your houses, kill you with fire and lightning and disease? I believe so...

Finally, did you know that apparently no one knows what Croesus's name means??? Croesus comes from Latin Croesus, from Greek Kroîsos (the name has no further etymology)...

As i said he was famous for his gold, and for the pyre...Now Ancient Greek word for gold was χρυσός (kʰryː.sós)...Was this the root of his name? Golden king? Just misspelled???

At the same time Slavic word Kres, Krijes, Kris means "fire" but also "ritual summer solstice bonfire" representing the sun's fire...

Looks very much like Croesus's pyre...And sounds very much like Croesus...Probably a coincidence...

Bull of Grom Div

Storm clouds over norther Serbia, 2nd of August.

Terrible storms hit Serbia yesterday and today. Crops were destroyed, houses damaged, people killed. 

In Serbian the expression "On vedri i oblači" means "he rules", "he has absolute control, absolute power". Literally this expression means "he makes the sky clear and cloudy"... Storm clouds over northern Serbia... You can read more about this in my post "The power of the Thunder Giant" 

You can see why agricultural societies, like the Early Slavic society, would consider the Sky God, Perun to be the Supreme god... Procopius, 6th c. Byzantine historian, who tells us that the Slavs “believe that one god, the maker of lightning, is alone lord of all things...

Interestingly the 2nd of August is the old day of Perun, Slavic Thunder god. Painting depicting Perun by Andrey Shishkin.  

I like that Shishkin depicted Perun with a blazing sun on his chest. This is because Perun's day falls in the middle of Kresovi (Fires), the hottest part of the year in the Northern hemisphere.  You can read more about this in my post "Two Crosses"

This is why the 2nd of August is also the day of Helios, The burning sun. Today in Serbia known as the the day of St Elijah. St Elijah who every year gets so angry, that he wants to burn the world into cinder... Very saint like 🙂 

You can read more about St Elijah the Thunderer in my post "Thundering sun god". 

But St Elijah doesn't burn the world to cinder. Because his wife Ognjena Marija (Fiery Mary) calms him down. Ognjena Marija who is also known as Perunika. The wife of Perun, who has burning sun at its heart 🙂 Here is Ognjena Marija surrounded by Perun's burning wheels...

You can read more about Ognjena Marija in my post "Ognjena Marija".


The fact that Perun comes on the 2nd of August, when Sun is the hottest is symbolically depicted through Perun's wheel being basically Svetovid's wheel on fire...

Basically Perun and Svetovid are one and the same. 

You can read more about Svetovid in my post "The Horseman". 

So Perun comes at the moment of maximum heat to announce the beginning of the cooling of the northern hemisphere...This is part of the never ending change of the climate as a result of the never ending interplay between the Father Sun, Sky (Male principle) and Mother Earth (Female principle).  

You can read more about this in my post "Yin and Yang" and "Square and Compases";  


That Perun (thunder) really has Svetovid (sun) at its heart can be seen from the latest scientific data. It shows that it is the high speed solar wind particles which directly cause lightning. 

You can read more about this in my post "Sun Thunder Fire";

Svetovid (Sun) through Perun (Thunder) creates (Fire) Svarog. Fire (Svarog) heats up Sun (Svetovid) who creates lightning (Perun). In Slavic mythology this is symbolically represented by Triglav (Three headed) god... 

"Because it is a great secret how come Svarog (hevenly and earthly fire) is at the same time Perun (thunder) and Svetovid (Sun)..." From Book of Veles...

You can read more about this in my post "Triglav Trojan Trinity Trimurti Agni". 

In Slavic mythology, Perun's main "opponent" is Veles. He is "the great horned snake" who "stole heavenly cows from Perun". Every year on his day, 2nd of August, "Perun defeats Veles" and "rescues his heavenly cows"... 

Great snake is another name for a Dragon, a fire breathing beast. In Serbian mythology Dragon is just "an old male snake". Serbian word for dragon "zmaj" is a masculine form of the Serbian word for snake "zmija". And snakes are solar animals who Slavs believed "eat sun's heat, sun's fire" and cause sun to cool down and summer to end. You can read more about this in my post "Apep".

Fire breathing dragon is the symbol of sun's heat, sun's fire which causes draught.

Heavenly cows are clouds and their milk is rain. 

Basically Veles, the fire breathing Dragon, is the end of summer heat which dries the sky and the land and causes draughts. And guess what. The end of summer, the hottest part of the year in the northern hemisphere, which is by Balkan Slavs called "kresovi" (fiers), is also known as "dog days" and falls in the middle of Leo zodiac sign. St Austell Norman baptismal font with a dragon standing between the lions (in the middle of Leo) on top of a dog??? 

You can read more about this symbolism in my post "St Austell font" and "You will trample the great lion and the serpent". 

And every year, in the middle of Leo, in the middle of Dog Days, on Perun's day, 2nd of August, Perun "kills" Veles. Summer (draught) ends and Autumn (rain) begins. 

The reason why Veles is "horned snake" or more precisely "horned dragon" is because Veles is not just dragon, he is also a bull (hence his love of heavenly cows🙂). This is because Veles is summer, and summer starts in Taurus. You can read more about this Dragon-Bull duality in my post "Water bull" where I talk about Balkan legends which equate dragons and monstrous bulls. 

At the beginning of summer the bull of summer is young, fertile and life creating. At the end of summer the bull of summer is old, sterile and life destroying. And has to be slaughtered before it destroys everything...Which is what happens on day of Perun...The bull is killed, summer ends. 

Interestingly, bull is also the animal sacrificed in Serbia on Perun's day, which falls on the same day as Lughnasadh (Crom Dubh day) in Ireland (2nd of August, Last Sunday in July or First Sunday in August, the beginning of Autumn). You can read more about sacrificial animals in Serbian culture in my post "Sacrificial animals"

This tradition of sacrificing bulls to Perun was attested by Procopius, 6th c. Byzantine historian, who tells us that the "Slavs sacrifice to Perun oxen and every victim.”  

Now remember my post "Bull of Crom Dubh"? In it I talked about the link between bull and mysterious Irish Sun (Sky) god and god of Agriculture, Crom Dubh. The Irish celebrated him on the Lughnasadh, Crom Dubh Day, the First Sunday in August and sacrificed bulls to him. As I said at the end of that post, there is one more god to whom people sacrificed bulls at the end of summer: Grom Div (which means Thunder Giant, Thunder God in Serbian), Perun...Interestingly in Serbian folklore (and only in Serbian folklore, not any other Slavic folklore), Dabog (Giving god), who is at the same time Sun god and Rain god (Sky god) is also known as Hromi Daba. Believe or not, in Irish folklore, Crom Dubh is said to be another name for Dagda (Giving god)...

In Bosnia every first Sunday in August, people organise traditional bull fights. These were originally probably organised as part of the old Perun day celebration which revolved around "bull sacrifice"... You can read more about these bull fights in my post "Bo-Vo". 

Day of Perun, sorry day of Helios, sorry day of St Elijah the Thunderer 🙂 is so important that it is also celebrated by Balkan Muslims (Serbs who converted to Islam during Turkish rule) as Alidjun, meaning "The day of Ali (Elijah)". More about this in my post "Alidjun"

As I said, the reason why bull is sacrificed on this day is because this is the day when summer ends. And the summer starts in Taurus (Bull). So killing the bull is symbolic killing of the summer, summer heat. But bull is also symbol for grain which grew through the summer and is ready to be harvested. In most of Europe, harvest (from Old English "hærfest" meaning autumn) begins at the beginning of August. And so killing of the bull on Perun's day is also symbolic killing of the grain, beginning of harvest. You can read more about this in my post "Klas". 

In Ireland this is Crom Dubh day, the day of first fruits when in the distant past even first born were sacrificed to the God of Grain, Crom Dubh, but to whom until recently people sacrificed bulls as replacements for human sacrifice. You can read more about these ancient sacrifices to Crom Dubh in my post "How old is Crom Dubh".

In Cornwall the last sheaf of wheat is ceremonially "slaughtered" while crying "we have cut the neck" (of summer). 

In Slavic countries the last sheaf of wheat is called "Velesova brada" (Veles's beard)...Veles (summer) has been slaughtered...Harvest is finished...

Interestingly, in some Slavic areas this last sheaf is called Perun's beard...and in Bulgaria the last sheaf of wheat is dedicated (sacrificed) to St Vlas, Christianised Veles...

So what is the link between Irish Crom Dubh, Serbian Hromi Daba and Grom Div?

I believe that Grom Div arrived to Ireland during Bronze Age, when we find many stone circles being aligned to his day, 2nd (1st) of August, beginning of harvest, Crom Dubh Day, Lughnasadh. There, the true meaning of God's name was forgotten and was replaced with the closest Gaelic words Crom Dubh (stooped dark???, strange name for sun, sky god). I believed that Crom Dubh then arrived to the Balkans during Early Iron Age. By then the original name of the Sky God, Grom Div, was long forgotten and Gaelic Crom Dubh was replaced with the closest Serbian words Hromi Daba (lame daba???, daba means nothing in Serbian). But both the Irish and the Serbs preserved the ancient link between the Sky god and the bull and his day which marks the end of summer and beginning of autumn.

This explanation, I know, opens sooooo many "difficult" questions...

I also believe that this is one the most important links found in European folklore and mythology, the link which is a key for understanding a lot of forgotten ancient lore encoded in numerous legends, rituals and monuments scattered throughout Eurasia and North Africa...I have been writing extensively about this on my blog.

Apep

Today I would like to talk about snakes. And the sun. 

Apep or Apophis was the ancient Egyptian deity who embodied chaos. He was viewed as the greatest enemy of the solar deity Ra who as the bringer of light was seen as the upholder of order. This is why he was given the title Enemy of Ra.

Apep was seen as a giant snake or serpent leading to such titles as the Evil Dragon. Some elaborations said that he had a head made of flint.

The few descriptions of Apep's origin in myth usually demonstrate that it was born after Ra, usually from his umbilical cord. Combined with its absence from Egyptian creation myths, this has been interpreted as suggesting that Apep was not a primordial force in Egyptian theology, but a consequence of Ra's birth.

In his battles, Apep was thought to use a magical gaze to hypnotise Ra and his entourage, attempting to devour them whilst choking the river on which they travelled through the underworld with his coils.

But god Set, who always accompanied Ra on Atet (Solar barge) defended Ra and killed Apep with his spear.

The god Set was usually depicted as a man with a head resembling that of the sha, Set animal.

In ancient Egyptian art, the Set animal is usually depicted as a slender canid, resembling a greyhound or a jackal, usually with a long, slightly curved nose, and erect ears, squared at the tops, and a forked tail.

Set was often depicted carrying the so called "was" (Egyptian wꜣs "power, dominion") sceptre. It appears as a stylized animal head at the top of a long, straight staff with a forked end. Basically it was a stylised Set animal.

In one account, Ra himself defeats Apep in the form of a cat.

Egyptian believed that thunderstorms and earthquakes were caused by Apep managing to temporarily overwhelm Ra. They also believed that solar eclipses were caused by Apep managing to swallow Ra during the day. However Ra's defenders would quickly cut Apep's belly open and free Ra out, ending the eclipse within a few minutes.

Comparable hostile snakes as enemies of the sun god existed under other names (in the Pyramid Texts and Coffin Texts) already before the name Apep occurred. The etymology of his name ('pp) is perhaps to be sought in some west-semitic language where a word root "pp meaning 'to slither' existed. A verb root 'pp does at any rate not exist elsewhere in Ancient Egyptian.

Soooo. That's the story of Apep. How are we to understand all this?

Maybe this will help:

In Slavic languages the word for dragon "zmaj" is the masculine form of the word for snake "zmija". In Slavic mythology dragon is believed to be an "old male snake"... 

Snake is in Slavic mythology described as "the enemy"of the sun. As the protector of the sun, who saves the sun from the snake, we often find swallow. In Serbia people believe that swallow saved the sun when snake tried to swallow it. In Bosnia people believe that the swallow hid one quarter of the sun under it's wing, to protect it from the snake. In Dalmatia people believe that once there were three or four suns in the sky and that the snake ate all but one, which swallow hid under its wing. Two "blind suns" which can sometimes be seen in the sky together with our normal sun are the ones which the snake ate. The one that heats us is the one that the swallow hid under its wing. There is also a story that once there were 9 rays on the sun, but that snake ate (sucked, drank) all but one. In Montenegro people believe that a huge dragon once sucked in two out of three suns which once existed. In Bulgaria people say that once snake bit the sun in the eyes when it bent down to drink water. Another version of this story says that the sun used to have two or more eyes, but that the snake "sucked" them all out.

Bulgarians believe that the sun celebrates the killing of snakes. because the snake sucked in one of sun's eyes. In Montenegro people say that every time a snake is killed, the sun happily exclaims "A dragon was killed".

Bulgarians believe that snakes eyes have magic affect on the sun. They say that the sun can't set unless the snake looks at it. In Poland people say that the sun would stop shining if the snake looked at it. This is because the snake's eyes can suck all sun's strength out. In Bosnia people believe that snake gets more poisonous if it often looks at the sun. The most poisonous are the snakes that look at the sun for nine days. God forbade snakes to look at the sun longer than nine days a year. A lot less poisonous are the snakes which look at the sun only six days a year. And even less poisonous are the ones which only look at the sun for three days a year.

In Belarus people believe that snakes, while lying outside and sunbathing, actually sucking the sun's strength out, and that this is why the sun gets smaller and smaller as the summer progresses. The sun replenishes it's strength during the winter when snakes are under the ground. This is why one should always kill a snake, or they will multiply so much that they will completely destroy the sun. The dead snake should be buried or hid in the deep shade so that sun doesn't see it. If the snake is not buried the sun will start to shine weakly and will start hiding behind the clouds, because it can't look at it's dead earthly enemy. The sun won't shine on a man who doesn't kill a snake for three days. People in Ukraine also believe that a dead snake should be hidden in a shade or buried so that it doesn't harm the sun in some way. Polish people believe that a dead snake should always be buried so that the sun can't see it. If the sun sees a dead snake it might get extinguished. Also if the sun sees a dead snake it will get sick and turn red. The sun will get sick and start crying, because the snake is poisonous. The setting sun is red if it had seen a dead snake which wasn't buried. If a live snake comes out of its hole to sunbath, the sun will get sick and get pale. In Pomerania people believe that snakes actually don't like looking at the sun. If a snake is lying still, staring at the sun, has gone mad.

There is also a belief, which is found in all Slavic countries from Baltic to Balkans, that if you kill a snake, it will twitch and jump around, even if you chop it in bits, until the sun sets.

In Bulgaria people believe that the snake bite wound should be exposed to the sun. In Poland people believe that the person who was bitten by a snake should be outside, in the sun, or he will get sick.

People in Ukraine and Poland believe that snakes once had wings and flew in the sky. But the sun burned their wings and they fell on the ground. There is a Polish legend that says that the solar eclipse happens because a dragon covers the sun with its body. There is also a Polish fairytale which says that it is a twelve headed snake which causes solar eclipse. Ukrainians have a legend about a dragon which feeds on the sun, which is why the sun gets smaller and weaker as the year progresses. The motif of a dragon swallowing the sun can be found in all Slavic countries.

How should we understand all this? 

And why there are so many similarities between the Slavic and Egyptian stories about the sun and the snake?

The snake and the sun are intrinsically connected. 

Snakes come out of the underground when the air and soil get warm enough. They stay outside during the late spring, summer and early autumn and during that that time they are visible to people. 

This is why snake is the symbol of the sun's heat.  

In Egyptian mythology we find snakes wrapped around the sun disk on the head of the young Sun god Horus.

They are all around Amun-Ra

They have wings to symbolised their link with the supreme deity Ra 

And are called "the Uraei of goodness". You can read a lot more about the snakes in Egyptian mythology in the great book "The Serpent Myths of Ancient Egypt". 

But let me continue with the analysis of the snake-sun symbolic relationship based on Slavic mythology and see how it fits with the Egyptian one. 

The sun's heat is "young" week and beneficial at the end of spring, just before the summer starts. This is the good snake. The sun's heat is "old" strong and destructive at the end of summer, just before the autumn starts. This is the bad snake. Dragon, a heavenly being that breaths fire, the great old male snake, represents the burning heat of the Late Summer, Early Autumn, the "old sun", the sun which is threatening to turn everything into cinder. 

In Slavic Pre-Christian religion this dragon was Veles, the great horned snake, who "Stole heavenly cows from Perun". Basically he is the late summer heat which dries the land and the sky and causes draughts. You can read more about this in my post "Lion killing Snake" and my post "Two crosses".

Just enough sun is beneficial but too much sun is destructive. 
Just enough sun makes grain grow and creates order, but too much sun makes grain wither and burn and creates chaos. 

This is why Apep, the great snake, the dragon, the destructive sun, the creator of chaos is the enemy of Ra, the beneficial sun, the creator of Order. 

The great snake, the dragon, Apep, is the sun, is Ra in its destructive manifestation. This is why Apep is "a consequence of Ra".

The sun's heat increases all the way through the summer until we reach the hottest point of the summer, the 2nd of August. This point marks the end of the summer and the beginning of autumn, the end of the heating and the beginning of the cooling of the northern hemisphere. I talked about this in my post "Two crosses".

At that precise moment, The Great Snake, The Dragon, Veles (the summer heat) gets killed by Perun (autumn thunderstorms) whose weapon is lightning (spear). This day is celebrated in Serbia as Perun day. 

But the thing is, Perun and Veles are one and the same. This can be seen from the fact that on the 2nd of August (the end of summer beginning of autumn), the day when Serbs celebrate Perun's victory over Veles, Serbs celebrate the day of St Elijah the thunderer. St Elijah is the burning sun of the late summer, Helios. 

This is Helios

This is Elijah

Every year on his day he is about to burn the world to cinder. But he never does. Because  St Elijah is also the thunderer, the one who makes lightning and the one who rides on storm clouds. Which arrive right on time, to cool the earth down. You can read more about this in my post "Thundering sun god".

This what is represented by Set killing Apep. The sun Ra, its protector Set and sun's enemy Apep are one and the same...

Set scores a small victory over Apep every day when the evening kills the heat of the day. 

Set scores the big victory over Apep on the 2nd of August (the end of summer beginning of autumn) when he kills the heat of the summer and when the northern hemisphere starts cooling.

The 2nd of August,  (the end of summer beginning of autumn) falls in the middle of the zodiac sign Leo. This is why Ra kills Apep as great cat (Lion). 

This is also why we find the depiction of a lion headed deity (probably Pakhet or Pasht) killing great snake, dragon, on the above Set killing Apep scene.

Here is another depiction of Pakhet holding in one hand was staff (Set animal used to defeat Apep) and in the other hand two snakes. 

Interestingly, in Serbian mythology, St Elijah doesn't burn the world down, because every year, in the middle of Leo, during the Dog days, he gets "calmed down" by his wife "Ognjena Marija" (Fiery Mary). 

I wrote about this in my post Ognjena Marija. 

I talked about the symbolism of the "Lion killing snake" image in my post Lion killing snake. 

The 2nd of August, (the end of summer beginning of autumn), the hottest part of the year, the time when the great snake, the dragon is killed is known as Dog days. This is when Dog Star Sirius, rises before sun in the sky. Which is very interesting considering that Set, the Egyptian dragon slayer, the god of storms, is a dog faced deity...Knowing this, I wonder if the Set animal (dog really) has a forked tail because it is itself the "animal that ends the great snake, the dragon"???

Medieval standing stone from Ubusko, Hercegovina depicting dog fighting snake.

Just after the dog days and the slaughter of the great snake which choked the "river on which Ra's barge sailed", the Nile flooding reaches its highest level. This is still celebrated by Egyptians as an annual holiday for two weeks starting August 15, known as Wafaa El-Nil. 


The Nile always followed the same water rise and fall pattern. First indications of the rise of the river could be seen at the first of the cataracts of the Nile (at Aswan) as early as the beginning of June, and a steady increase went on until the middle of July, when the increase of water became very great. 

This is the beginning of Leo. 

The Nile continued to rise until the beginning of September, when the level remained stationary for a period of about three weeks, sometimes a little less. 

This is the end of Leo.

In October it often rose again, and reached its highest level. From this period it began to subside, and usually sank steadily until the month of June when it reached its lowest level, again.

Here is the The god Nilus or Hapimou encircled by the serpent...

From the dead dragon water, vegetation and life burst out...

What do you think about all this?