Mirror with deities

Mirror with Deities, Chariot, and the White Tiger, China, Eastern Han dynasty, 100-200 AD...

The deities are The Queen Mother of the West - who is an embodiment of Yin (cold, dark, west) and The King Father of the East - who is an embodiment of Yang (hot, light, east)

These two are said to have created the humanity...

The Queen Mother of the West, representation of Yin (cold, dark, west) is associated with the tiger, the symbol of winter...Which is why the tiger is depicted on the mirror...

But no one knows why we have a chariot pulled by 4 horses supposedly associated with The King Father of the East, representation of Yang (hot, light, east)...According to the Cleveland museum of art...

So let me see if I can solve this mystery...

Apart from The King Father of the East, the Chinese also have The Dragon King of the East, also known as the Dragon God, who is a Chinese water and weather god...

Now if we look at the climate in the North Eastern China, where all these legends originate, the climatic year id divided into hot wet summer, and cold, dry winter...

Hot summer which is symbolised by a dragon (Yang) and cold winter which is symbolised by a tiger (Yin)...I explained why in my post about another "Eastern Han mirror"...

Ok, what does this have to do with horses on the original mirror? Remember my post about the "Three legged sun crows"? 

And the post about sun chariot pulled by "Longma", dragon horse?

Why dragon horse? Cause in China, the hot, wet season, when "dragon brings rain", coincides with the natural mating season of horses...Hence dragon-horse...

I talked about this dragons (and horses) in Chinese mythology in my posts "Chinese dragon", "Tiger and dragon", "Mythical beast from Xian"... 

So I think that knowing this, the chariot drawn by 4 horses is a perfect animal symbol for The King Father of the East, representation of Yang, hot, light...

BTW, doesn't all this reminds anyone of Helios... And this guy:

Depictions of the sun god in a horse drawn chariot. Silk paintings found in the funerary complexes at Dulan, Qinghai province, and Astana, Xinjiang province, China, dated to Tang dynasty (8th-9th century AD) 

So, nothing new and interesting here, right? 🙂 Well, until today, I could not understand why Yin was associated with the west and Yang was associated with the east...

Until I saw this thing: East asian monsoon blows hot from the south east during the summer, the time of (horse) dragon, Yang time, and blows cold from the north west during the winter, the time of tiger, Yin time...

Hence The Queen Mother of the West - who is an embodiment of Yin (cold, dark, west) and The King Father of the East - who is an embodiment of Yang (hot, light, east)...And tiger and horse drawn chariot...

That's it...

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...

Monkey man mirror

I want to thank @realgavinlee for posting this pic of a very interesting, 1-3 C. AD Eastern Han Empire, bronze mirror. 

The mirror is decorated with repeated scenes of "a tiger following a goat" and "a dragon facing a monkey". Except these are not ordinary decorations...

These are animal calendar markers for 

winter -  "a tiger following a goat"

and 

summer - "a dragon facing a monkey"

Tiger (winter) and Dragon (summer) are found as two opposing symbols in China since Neolithic Yangshao culture. I talked about this in my post "Tiger and Dragon"..

The reason for this kind of symbolic division of the calendar year is because of the climate in the North Eastern china: The climatic year is divided into cold, dry winter (tiger) and hot, wet summer (dragon)...Xian climate. But the climate for the whole Han area is very similar.

Ibex is a winter symbol because Siberian ibex, which lives in North Eastern China starts mating in Oct/Nov and mates throughout the winter...I talked about this in my posts "Tasmola talisman", "Combs from Tuva", "Mythical beast from Xian"...

Tiger is a winter symbol because the mating season of the Siberian / Amur tiger, which once lived in the North Eastern China, is Dec/Jan...Midwinter...I talked about this in my posts "Crouching tiger", "Leopard and tiger"...

Which is why "tiger" (Dec/Jan) follows (comes after) goat (Oct/Nov)...

Snake is the only true solar animal. It is in our world when sun is in our world (day and hot part of the year) and it is in the underworld when sun is in the underworld (night and cold part of the year)...Hence snake as a symbol of the sun and more specifically of sun's heat...

Now summer (Apr/May - Jul/Aug), the domain of the sun, starts with the beginning of the mating season of Eurasian viper snakes and ends with the beginning of the mating season of Eurasian lions...

Dragon is also a symbol of sun, and sun's heat during the hottest time of the year, Jul/Aug...Which is why dragon is just "an old snake which looked at the sun for a long time".  I talked about this in my posts "Letnitsa treasure", "Enemy of the sun", "The Chthonic animal", "Dragon who stole rain"...

Jul/Aug, Leo, is the time when Eurasian lions mating season starts...

And why dragon was depicted as lion with snakes heads...Or snake with lion's head...I talked about this in my posts "Seven headed dragon", "Bactrian snakes and dragons", "Winged superhuman hero", "Lion killing snake", "You will trample the great lion and the serpent", "Pegasus and Chimera"...

In Western Asia, North Africa, Europe, Jul/Aug is also the driest part of the year...

The time of droughts...

Which is why in these parts of the world dragons breath fire, steal water and cause droughts and death...

And we have all the thunder gods chasing them away...

But in China, the hottest part of the year is also the wettest part of the year...Xian climate again...

Hence in China, the fire breathing dragons bring rain...I talked about this in my post "Chinese dragon"...

According to the Chinese mythology, dragon was helped in its water fetching duties by Kui, a "one-legged mountain demon or rain-god, variously said to resemble a Chinese dragon, a drum made of a skin of a water ox with no horns, or a monkey with a human face".

At first I wasn't sure what the dragon was facing on the Eastern Han mirror, but have a look at this: 

Archaic oracle script symbol for "nao" (monkey)

Monkey from the Eastern Han mirror facing the dragon

The most common identification of this "monkey with the human face" is golden snub nosed monkey

Which is in China known as "Sichuan golden hair monkey" cause it lives in the mountains of Sichuan...Which was, I think, within the area of the core Han land...

Now I think it is interesting that the monkey is facing, stopping the rain bringing dragon...Why? Have a look at the climate in Sichuan...

The rain stops in October...And the mating season of the "Golden snub-nosed monkey" is...October...

Oh yeah. Why "one legged mountain monkey/dragon rain god"? Apparently no one knows..."The Confucianists, detested the idea that K'ui had only one leg..." Cause they couldn't explain it. Maybe because...

Or maybe because dragon, which is the symbol of the sun's heat during the hottest part of the year, late summer, is "just an old snake" which is the symbol of the sun's heat in general...And snakes only have "one leg", or none, depending how you look at it...

To see that I am not barking mad: Groot infers that the in "one-legged dragon" Kui, "which was amphibious, and caused wind and rain", "we immediately recognize the Dragon, China’s god of Water and Rain". Carr interprets this as "a crocodile-dragon with its tail seen as 'one leg'"

And, why was the thunder drum made from the hide of an "blue ox with no horns who comes out of the eastern sea"? Well, remember that the bull, ox, cow and calf, are animal calendar markers that mark the beginning of the calving season of the wild Eurasian cattle, Apr/May...I talked about this in my posts "Cow and calf ivory", "When Utu steps up into heaven", "Butt chewing", "Green Pastures", "Adda seal", "Elamite water bull", "Solar bull", "How grain came to Sumer"

Ox with no horns is a wild cattle calf...Which start being born in Apr/May...Which is when the summer monsoon winds arrive from the eastern sea carrying the clouds full of rain and thunder and lighting...Hence blue ox with no horns...

Oh BTW, I talked about the link between bull and dragon symbols in my posts "Water bull", "Bactrian snakes and dragons"...

So...This is it...As I said, a very interesting mirror indeed...

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...

Crouching tiger

The other day Gavin Lee posted this in a tweet: "...bronze figurine of wild water buffalo...Hunan, middle reaches of Yangtze River...According to the description, the piece is dated to the late Shang dynasty, 13-11 Cent. BC...

I only today saw what's on buffalo's back: a tiger!

This is very important...Here is why:

Both wild and domesticated water buffalos are seasonal breeders in most of their range, with the mating typically peaking in Oct/Nov...

This means that they are a very good animal calendar markers for Oct/Nov...

In Mesopotamia, the climatic year is divided into hot/dry summer and cool/wet winter. Oct/Nov is when the winter starts...

So buffalos were used on Mesopotamian seals as positive symbols for winter (cool/wet season) linked with water (all the precipitation that feeds the water tables falls during winter season):

I talked about this in my post "Lions vs buffalos" in which I analysed this seal from Akkadian period

Buffalo was used as an animal calendar marker for winter in India too. In India the year is also divided into two seasons, wet and dry...But in India, Oct/Nov is the beginning of the dry season...

So buffalo symbol in India acquired a negative meaning and became a "buffalo demon" Mahishasura...The enemy of Devas (Gods, good guys). I talked about this buffalo demon in my post "Mahishasuramardini"...

This opposite climates resulted in Devas being gods in India and demons in Mesopotamia/Persia...

Compare these two articles "Kharif and rabi season" and "Rain and flood"...

Anyway, what about China?

This is the climate in Hunan, China. You can see that the year is divided into hot and wet summer and cool and dry winter. 

And the mating season of the buffalos marks the beginning of winter again...So a buffalo could be used as an animal calendar marker for winter in China too...

That this buffalo is indeed an animal calendar marker for winter, can be seen from the fact that it has a tiger on it's back...

Cause guess who mates right after buffalos, during mid winter, Dec/Jan? Continental Eurasian tigers. Of the kind that also once lived in China...

Which is why they are used as a symbol for winter...I already talked about tiger symbol in China in my post "Tiger and dragon" about the Neolithic origin of the tiger (Yin) - dragon (Yang) symbol...

In China, tiger is opposed to the dragon. Remember that dragon is a pretty universal symbol of summer sun's heat...And summer in the area where Chinese culture originated is also the wettest part of the year...Which is why Chinese dragon brings water, not drought...I talked about this in my post "Chinese dragon"...

So....Crouching tiger on a buffalo's back...Both animals mating in winter, both used as animal calendar markers for winter...Hmmm...

What do you think? Do we here have an example of a Bronze Age Chinese animal calendar marker? I think so...

That is if the animal on the buffalo's back is indeed a tiger. 🙂 I know that the Chinese sources say it's a tiger. But it looks very spotty to me...Just like a leopard...

But this changes nothing...Continental Eurasian leopards also mate during the winter, a bit later, at the end of winter, beginning of spring, Jan/Feb...

Which is why they were used as a symbol for winter (and spring)

I talked about mating habits of Eurasian tigers and leopards in my post "Leopard and tiger" in which I tried to answer the question: why were these cats associated with Dionysus...

So, I think that now we have another, proof that the early Chinese didn't live and develop their culture in limbo. They also used animal calendar markers, just like all the other Eurasian and North African cultures from Neolithic onwards...

PS: Today I came across another Zhou bronze depicting a buffalo with, according to the description, a tiger on its back... 

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...

Spots and stripes

Asian Leopard. The real thing...

And depicted on  Neolithic pottery found in Iran, standing over the zig zag design depicting flowing water..

Leopard is the second most popular animal depicted on Neolithic Iranian pottery. The most popular being of course, Ibex. The Goat of Rain. I talked about the depictions of Ibexes on Iranian Neolithic pottery in my post "Iranian goat of rain"...

I Iran and Mesopotamia, Leopards and Ibexes are often depicted together, leopard chasing ibex...Like on this Late Uruk/Jemdet Nasr Period seal, dated to 3200-3000 BC. I talked about it in my post "Leopard and Ibex"

This could be because leopards naturally hunt ibexes. 

But also because they both have mating seasons during the local winter and rain season. 

Ibex at the beginning (Oct/Nov) and leopard at the end (Jan/Feb) of winter. Leopard naturally follows Ibex as the animal calendar marker.

Both animals are thus linked to rain and fertility...Their mating, semen, brings rain, heavenly semen, which fertilises the land...I talked about this in my post "Vessel from Tepe Hissar"...

This link between leopards, goats winter and fertility was in Europe preserved in Dionysus cult...I talked about this in my posts "Leopard", "Furious maenad", "Maenads with hare", "Thyrsus", "Woman and pitcher"...

Another animal which Dionysus uses as his mount (in later depictions) is Tiger. Another animal symbol for winter, because it too mates during the winter...I talked about this in my post "Leopard and tiger"...

Which is why tiger is found as symbol of winter from Europe to China. The earliest known depiction of Dragon - Tiger symbol, Yangshao culture burial...

I talked about tiger as a calendar marker in Neolithic China in my post "Tiger and dragon"...

Caspian/Siberian Tiger. The real thing

And depicted on Neolithic Iranian pottery. I just love how tiger has disappeared in the zig zag of the flowing water. And only its tail is still "realistic"...

Finally: "His face is that of a lion. When he looks at someone, it is the look of death. Humbaba's roar is a flood, his mouth is death and his breath is fire! He can hear a hundred leagues away any [rustling?] in his forest! Who would go down into his forest!"...

I wrote about this in my post "Humbaba"...

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...