Lord of the flies

Beelzebub, the lord of the flies was identified by Jews and Christians with Satan...From בַּעַל (baʿal, "lord, master") + זְבוּב (zvuv, "fly"), appearing in the Hebrew Scriptures as the purported name of a deity worshipped by the Philistines in Ekron...

Wiktionary says this about Beelzebub:

"It's likely this was not the god's actual name and instead was a polemic against the deity, a derogatory term used by Hebrews for an enemy god, possibly by associating the figure with defecation (hence flies)"...

I will in this article like to argue that this was indeed not a name of the Philistine deity, but the deity's attribute...I will also argue that even though we don't know what Philistines called this deity themselves, we know who that deity was: Nergal, the destructive sun...I talked abut him in my post "Winged superhuman hero"...

Nergal was not just "The destructive sun of the late summer early autumn (Jul/Aug)", he was also the god of plague. As the God of Pestilence, Nergal set loose the plague among the peoples. Not a Biblical one...A regular, annual one...

One of his symbols was the fly, the insect that brings pestilence to whole populations...And in Mesopotamia, like everywhere else, the annual peak in the fly population causes the annual peak of infectious diseases that they spread...

And that peak falls in Jul/Aug, in Leo, the seat of Nergal, The Lion Man, the Destructive Sun of the drought season at the end of summer beginning of autumn, the god of death and disease, The Lord of Flies...

Here are some stats for you:

Blow fly and house fly numbers in Mesopotamia peak in Jul/Aug/Sep.

These flies transmit at least 65 diseases to humans, including typhoid fever, dysentery, cholera, poliomyelitis, tularemia...

Typhoid fever in Iraq is a seasonal disease, with the majority of cases occurring starting from Jul...

Dysentery and cholera outbreaks typically follow seasonal increase in water contamination starting from Jul with the peak in Sep...

The reason why these diseases peak in Jul/Aug, Leo, is because this is the time of the year of maximum heat and minimum precipitation...The time of the year when Nergal, The Lion Man, The Destructive Sun, causes droughts and dries up the wells and causes water contamination...

Polio season starts in May, peaks in Jul, Aug, Sep...

Tularemia appears to have a clear seasonal pattern, with most cases occurring in the summer and early autumn months, Jul, Aug, Sep...

All of these diseases spread by ordinary flies...But, don't forget Sandflies. 

Sandfly numbers peak in Jul/Aug...In Iraq, a bite from an infected sand fly transmits Leishmania infantum, the parasite that causes Sandfly fever. Symptoms include fever, rash, diffuse muscle pain, headache, loss of appetite, nausea and vomiting...

Malaria Transmission is confined almost exclusively to the northern region of Iraq. The season running from May to October, with the peak in July and August...

And so...Back to our friend Beelzebub, The Lord of Flies of the Philistines...I Levant, the climate is very much the same as in Mesopotamia...And the lifecycle of the flies is the same too...Meaning the sick season in Levant is also Jul/Aug...The time of droughts...

That Beelzebub is indeed the nickname of the Destructive Sun God, who is also the god of plague, diseases, can be seen from the fact that there is an Ugaritic text which depicts Ba'al expelling flies, which are the cause of a person's sickness...

Ba'al being the Rain god, the enemy of the God of Death, Mot, who btw was equated to the sun...So, rain comes, the well water gets clean and safe for drinking again, the sickness season ends...

I talked Baal (Rain) - Mot (Sun) in my articles "The oldest Arabic poem" and "Anat"

BTW, if you are wondering why would people anywhere worship a god of death...Millennia of hardship, suffering, wars, deceases, droughts, deaths, destruction...

Ethnographer interviewing an old peasant woman, Serbia first half of 20th century.

Gran, do you believe in god?

Of course I do my son. Who wouldn't believe in god?

And are you afraid of god, gran?

Of course I am my son. Who wouldn't be afraid of an evil force? 

The same hottest, "driest time of the year = fly population peak = disease peak" correlation exists in Greece...Where we find Apollo, The Sun God, tho was also the God of Plague...And who was, possibly 🙂 derived from Nergal...Check my article "Palil" out for more details...

Greeks tell us that it is the rising of the Dog Star that brings sickness:

Sirius rises late in the dark, liquid sky

On summer nights, star of stars,

Orion's Dog they call it, brightest

Of all, but an evil portent, bringing heat

And fevers to suffering humanity.

This is the excerpt from Homer's Iliad. When this poem was written, Sirius, the Dog Star, used to rise in Leo, Jul/Aug, during Dog Days, the time of the year ruled by the Destructive Sun, Nergal...Apollo...

Why dog star? Why dog days?

Cause when our mythologies were made out of animal calendar markers, Sirius, the Dog Star rose with the sun in Jul/Aug, the time when mating season of the old primitive dog breeds began...Mythologised dog calendar markers:

Egypt: "Dog days", Mesopotamia: "Tishtrya", India: "The bitch of the gods"

Why Leo?

Cause when our mythologies were made out of animal calendar markers, Asiatic lions mating season started in Jul/Aug and spanned the whole of Autumn (Aug/Sep/Oct)...Which is why autumn starts in Leo (Jul/Aug). I talked about this in my post "Angra Mainyu"...

And why lion is the symbol of autumn...I talked about this in my post "Symbols of seasons"...

Basically, dog and lion are equivalent animal calendar markers, both marking Jul/Aug...The seat of Nergal, the god of death...Who was associated with dogs 🙂 But I will talk about this in one of my future articles...I think this is quite enough for today...

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...

Tishtrya

Why is Sirius called "The Dog star"? Maybe because during Bronze age and Iron Age, the heliacal (before dawn) rising of Sirius coincided with the mating season of the ancient, semi-wild "pariah" dog breads? Period known as Dog days...

I talked about this in my post "Dog days"

Now interestingly, in Zoroastrianism, the Dog Star or Sirius, which is known as "Tishtrya", is also the Yazata (Divinity) of rainfall/fertility...

In one myth, he appears as a mighty white horse with golden ears/tail, and he faces off against the div Apaosha (who represents "drought") who takes the form of a black horse. They fight for 3 days + nights until Apaosha drives Tishtrya away.

Tishtrya then complains to Ahura Mazda that he was weakened because humankind did not give him his due of proper prayers and sacrifices. Ahura Mazda then himself offers sacrifice to Tishtrya. Strengthened by this, Tishtrya again takes on Apaosha and ultimately defeats him, and finally rains start falling on Earth and nourishing it.

Very very interesting. And very very strange, as in Persia, dog days, are the hottest and driest part of the year

Yet the above myth clearly identifies Tishtrya, Sirius and rainy season, as the old summer, hot, bright half of the year (white horse with golden ears and tail) and Apaosha, drought season, as the old winter, cold, dark half of the year (black horse)...

Which fits the climate in India...Where the maximum rainfall is during dog days, Jul/Aug, when Sirius, The Dog Star, rises with the sun, the white horse with golden ears, tail...

So, I believe that this legend originates in India, where it perfectly describes the local Indian climate. It is in India where we find the white horse being an avatar of the sun god Suria...I will write more about this soon...

Also, in Indian mythology we find Sarama (सरमा), the "dog of the gods" or "the bitch of the gods", who first appears in the Rig Veda, where she helps the king of the gods Indra (the rain god) to recover divine cows (common euphemism for rain clouds)...

Oh by the way, Indra rides on a white elephant...

Why? Cause the peak of the Elephant mating season coincides with the peak of the monsoon season (Jul/Aug)...

I talked about this in my post "Musth"...Oh did I mention that this is also the beginning of the natural dog mating season, the dog days, when Sirius rises with the sun, the white horse?

Oh guess what. Sarama (the bitch of the gods, Sirius, The Dog Star) is related to Sarasvati, The Great Flood, and Saranyu, the wet monsoon and the wife of the Sun God Surya....

Tripple goddess...Of prosperity...

You can read more about this in the article "Indian great goddess" by Stella Cramricsch...

By the way, horse is a solar symbol, because the fertility of horses is governed by the sunlight. So the natural mating season of horses starts in Apr, peaks on Summer Solstice and ends in September...

Spanning the hot sunny part of the year...I talked about this in my posts "Trojan horse", "Unicorn" and "Re'em"...

So Tishtrya, the dog and white horse, perfectly describes hot, sunny part of the year...And in India, rains arrive when Sirius rises in the morning, with the sun (white horse) and drought arrives when Sirius rises in the evening, with the moon (black horse)...

I believe that this legend was then brought to Persia, where it had to be adjusted to suite the opposite Persian climate. 

That this indeed could be the case, can be seen from the most commonly accepted etymology of the name Apaoša. In 1960's it was proposed that this name was annually an antonym of an unattested derivative of *pauša- "thriving". This explanation, which is also supported by Old Indic póṣa with the same meaning, is today well accepted. Avestan apaoša- thus originally meant "not thriving"...

And this is how the story was adjusted for Persian climate:

Apparently, this legend has been interpreted to be a mythological conflation of a seasonal and astronomical event: 

Tishtrya (Sirius) decides to battle with Apaosha (drought) - Sirius rises with the sun in Jul/Aug, during the hottest and driest time of the year. 

Tishtrya is battling with Apaosha - For the next few days, Sirius is visible at dawn as a glimmering star. 

Tishtrya loses the battle with Apaosha - Sirius disappears from the sky as it is now rising after the sun. 

Tishtria goes and complains to Ahura Mazda. Ahura Mazda offers sacrifice to Tishtrya - Ahura Mazda is another name for Ninurta, The God of Rain, The Archer...Who rains in Oct/Nov...I will write more about this soon...

Tishtrya again confronts Apaosha, and this time wins - The winter has arrived. Sirius is now visible in the night sky. Rain season starts in Persia...

This now fits the Persian climate. Except they forgot to change the colors of the horses. The rains arrive when Sirius rises in the evening, with the moon (black horse), not in the morning with the sun (white horse)...

This is one of the important bits about animal calendar markers. It allows us to determine origins of the myths like these...

PS: In Canaanite religion, we find goddess Ishat, whose name means "fire", and who was the goddess of fire and drought...So obviously the goddess of sun's fire...She was also known as "The bitch of the gods"...

Ishat is a servant of Yam/Mot, the gods of summer, hot dry half of the year, and she is the enemy of Ba'al, the storm God, the god of winter, cool, wet half of the year. This is climatic year in Levant...

And the middle of the hot dry half of the year, Jul/Aug, is the hottest and driest part of the year...When the fire, flame (heat) of the sun scorches the land and turns it into this: Mot's hell, the seat of Mot, the god of death, the burning summer sun...

I love the fact that Ishat (fire), the goddess of fire and drought, is known as "the bitch of the gods"...In Slavic folklore, the hottest part of the year, end of Jul beginning of Aug, is knows as "kresovi" (fires)...This is also the mating season of the old Canaan dogs...The dog days...

Interesting, right?

The bitch of the gods gets around...

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...