Winged Artemis

Shard of a late 7th c. BC amphora, found on the island of Paros, showing a winged Artemis holding a lion by its tail and ear, surrounding by what looks like sun symbols, swastikas and crosses...

What does this all mean?

Well, if we want to figure this out we have to start in Mesopotamia, with Nergal. 

Nergal, the deified destructive "burning" sun, was depicted as a lion man, because Jul/Aug, Leo, is the hottest and driest part of the year in Mesopotamia...

Talked abut him for the first time in my post "Winged superhuman hero"...

BTW, Leo (Jul/Aug), originally had nothing to do with stars either. It is the ancient animal calendar marker marking the beginning of the main mating season of the Eurasian lions. 

Talked about lion as an animal calendar marker in many of my posts...

This is why "Behind a lion", "On a lion", "Between lions" means in Jul/Aug, in Leo. I talked about this in many of my posts, like this one for instance, about this interesting shard from a Hittite vessel with a depiction of a god (?) standing on a lion with a plant above lion's head. Currently Museum of Anatolian Civilisations, Ankara, Turkey. 

Anyway, in Greece, the "terrible" sun god, Nergal, became The "terrible" sun god Apollo...

I explained this in detail in this series of post about the link between Nergal and Apollo:

1. "Palil". About "Palil" a nickname of Nergal, the terrible, burning, destructive sun of Jul/Aug, Leo...And about the origin of the name Apollo and its meaning...

2. "Lord of the flies". About Nergal and Apollo as "The lords of the flies"...And about Jul/Aug, Leo, being the peak of the fly and fly born diseases season in Northern Hemisphere...

3. "Lions of Delos". About the Lions of Delos, the burning destructive sun in Jul/Aug, Leo, and the fact that both Nergal and Apollo are linked to lions. 

4. "Apollo and dolphins". About Jul/Aug, Leo being the "best time to sail in Eastern Mediterranean", and the link between dolphins and Lions...and Apollo...

5. "Marble throne of Apollo". About snakes (symbols of sun's heat), dragons (symbols of burning sun's heat) and terrible sun gods, Nergal and Apollo who are dragons themselves...

6. "Apollo and Python". About why Python followed Apollo after his birth? Cause snakes are solar animals...According to the Delphian tradition, Apollo was born on the 7th day of the month of Bysios (Jan/Feb)

7. "White raven". About the black and white raven legend which is found in both Nergal and Apollo mythology, Egyptian vultures and the twins that guard the gates of hell. And some other weird stuff...

8. "Threshing floor of Apollo". About the threshing floors as solar observatories/temples, about the threshing floor of Apollo from Delphi, about Jul/Aug, Leo, being the holy month of Apollo, and about solar bonfires...

9. "Apollo the great archer". About why Apollo was the terrible "far shooting" archer...About arrow and bow constellation from Mesopotamia, Ishtar, Sirius, and Jul/Aug, the season of Perseid meteor shower...

10. "Apollo Sminthius". About Apollo his arrows that cause plague and peak infectious diseases season, Jul/Aug

This transformation of Nergal into Apollo went through an an intermediary, Syrian god Resheph...I talked about this in my article "Apollo - Resheph"...

Now Artemis, the Twin Sister of Apollos, is holding the ear and tail of the lion deliberately, to indicate that she is standing in Jul/Aug, in Leo...Lion here is symbolic depiction of the sun in Leo...Apollo...Nergal...

So if Apollo is Nergal, Sun god Shamash in Leo, Jul/Aug, who is Artemis, Apollo's twin sister? Well, who is the twin sister of the sun god Shamash?

She is this girl

For those who will say "Ishtar was the morning star", yes she was, in Leo (Jul/Aug), when Sirius rose in the morning with the sun...Which is why Ishtar stands on a lion (with sun above the lion) and why Ishtar is known as "The Lioness of heaven"...

For those who will still say Ishtar is Venus and not Sirius. This post, "Sirius the mother of Venus", and linked articles might be of interest: You know how everyone thinks that Inanna/Ishtar (Morning Star) is Venus and how I think that it was originally Sirius, and only later became Venus? 

Well, it seems that Ancient Egyptians preserved the proof of this switch in their mythology. 

Meet Sopdet...

Sopdet, the personification of Sirius, was the consort of Sah, the personification of Orion. And their child was Sopdu, the personification of Venus, "Lord of the East" (Venus as morning star)....

Ta Ta Taaaaaaa!!!!

Identification of Artemis as Greek version of Ishtar is not that difficult really when you think about it...I talked about the identity of Artemis in Detail in my post "Artemis Orthia", about this drawing of an archaic carving of a chariot on ivory plaque from the Sanctuary of Artemis Orthia in Sparta. The chariot is pulled by winged (solar) horses and is driven by a female (goddess?) charioteer. A lion is depicted lying behind the horses...Again, in Leo...

Finally, about suns, crosses and swastikas. Check this post, "Boeotian solar pyxis", about this late 7th c. BC Boeotian clay pyxis depicting the "(Mysterious) Mistress of the Animals and some animals" 🙂 that explains the reason why cross and swastika are solar symbols, just like horses and serpents...

I also talked about solar cross in my post "Ponte Sodo fibula" about this amazing Etruscan gold disc fibula, from the Necropolis of Ponte Sodo, Vulci, Etruria, Italy. 650 BC 

And I talked about solar cross in my post "Alexamenos graffito" in which I explain why this graffito depicting Christ with a donkey head is not actually a mockery of Christ...

Christ is born on Winter Solstice, (re)birth day of the sun (god), he enters Jerusalem on a donkey, "animal of the (sun) gods and kings", and gets put on a cross, symbol of the sun (god)...

BTW, cross was originally symbol of Mesopotamia Sun god Shamash...

You know Shamash, the solar deity of the early Hebrews, to whom they dedicated their first temple (according to their own scriptures)...

I talked about this in my posts "The cross of Shamash" and "Sun god tablet" and "Temple of Isis on Philae Island"...

Shamash, whose destructive aspect is Nergal, Shamash in Leo...

Anyway, I think that all of this makes it pretty clear who is depicted on the Paros amphora. What do you think? 

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...

Boeotian solar pyxis

Boeotian clay pyxis depicting the "Mistress of the Animals and some animals"; Late 7th century BC. Currently in the Antikensammlung Berlin

You see, it is because of "some animals" that we have no idea what most of our archaeological artefacts mean...

These are not some random animals. They are all solar symbols.

On the lid we see  two snakes.

Snake is a pure solar animal. It is in our world when sun is here (day, hot half of the year) and it is in the underworld when sun is there (night, cold half of the year)...I first talked about it in these posts: "The chthonic animal" and "Enemy of the sun", but have since then talked about "solar snakes" in many other posts, like "Letnitsa treasure", "Nude winged hero dominating snakes" "Mystery seal", "Snake god from Hatra", "Goat and snake from Kortik tepe", "Goat petroglyphs from Iran", "Pegasus and Chimera"...

Even more interestingly, two snakes have a specific meaning as a calendar marker for Apr/May, beginning of summer, domain of the sun. Why? Cause the mating season of the most common Eurasian snakes starts in Apr/May...

And which is why Hermes (who was born in Apr/May) was by Apollo (the sun god) given the Caduceus, staff with two entwined snakes...I talked about this in my post "Lyre of Apollo" 

Between the two snakes we see crosses...I talked about crosses as ancient solar symbols in my post "The cross of Shamash" about this beaker, Sialk South Mound, Kashan, Isfahan, Late Calcolithic period, Sialk III7 period, ca. 3750-3350 BC, the National Museum of Iran, Tehran, Iran

In short, the cross was since the earliest times in Mesopotamia used as the symbol for the sun (god)...

And on both sides of the two snakes we see swastikas, another ancient solar symbol. I talked about it in my post "Kolo-vrt", about this ancient (officially medieval???) standing stone, Bosnia. Depicting solar wheel (swastika) and solar dance (kolo)... Pic by Kemal Čolak...

Anyway, on the sides of our pyxis, we have more swastikas, crosses and horses...Why horses?

Horses are solar animals.

Roman silver coin of the Pyrrhic war (275-270 BC) Apollo wears a laurel- wreath & a galloping horse beneath the "star".  Thanks @HawkeJon for the pics.

The "star" is The Sun...Above The Solar Horse...Symbol of The Sun God Apollo...

And articles about solar horse (equid):

Mesopotamia "Shamash playing with the solar horse"

India "Hayagriva"

China "Longma"

Europe "Archaic rider"

The reason why equids are solar animals and the reason why they are linked with Sun gods, stems from the fact that horse fertility is governed by sunlight and their mating season peaks at the summer solstice...

Sun god in his horse drawn chariot...

So, we have an interesting situation where the mating season of the most common Eurasian snakes, vipers, and the mating season of the wild Eurasian horses, the two animals depicted on our pyxis, with crosses and swastikas, both start in Apr/May, beginning of summer, the time of the year dominated by the sun...

Finally, the "Mistress of the Animals" is Artemis, the "terrible" twin sister of the "terrible" sun god Apollo...This girl: Artemis, of the original, archaic type, before people forgot her real meaning...From the Temple of Artemis, Corfu

Definitely not moon goddess here with all these snakes. And lions (wink wink, notch notch)

On our pyxis, the Winged Archaic Artemis is holding two ducks or gees...Both migratory water birds...Spring bird migration in Greece peaks during late April-early May...

The "rosettes" are another symbol of the sun...Or Sirius...Which is in the sky with the sun, during the day, between Apr/May and Jul/Aug. At least it was during the time when our mythologies were made. Will write about this soon...

But it could also just mean "spring flowering season" which in Greece also peaks in Apr/May...

Soooo...Not only are all the symbols on this Larnax solar symbols, but they also all seem to point at the same time of the year, Apr/May, beginning of summer...

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...

Dancing with deer and birds

Medieval "stećak" standing stone, Bosnia, with the depiction of the ritual circular solar dance "kolo", meaning wheel, solar wheel, solar year. There are also depictions of birds and deer...

I talked about "kolo", also known as "oro", in my post "Kolo-vrt". 

Kolo is a common motif on these standing stones. But, it is interesting that on this stone there are 9 dancers in both groups...

I wonder if this is deliberate? Here's why:

Deer are depicted during rut, Sep/Oct/Nov, the only time when bucks can be seen with fully grown antlers and their harems of does...

These are Croatian Slavic month names...Number 9 is...

So the birds could then depict migratory birds, which leave Bosnia in Sep/Oct/Nov...

All very interesting...

Kolo-vrt

Good morning! The sun is shining, time to get up and have some fun!

Ancient (officially medieval???) stećak standing stone, Bosnia. Depicting solar wheel (swastika) and solar dance (kolo)... Pic by Kemal Čolak...

The swastika represents spinning motion...Of what? Big Dipper around the Northern Star? Possibly...But also the ever spinning solar year, as one spin of the Big Dipper around the Northern Star marks one solar year...

These are Neujährchen (New Year sweet breads) from Rheinland. They are baked fresh on New Year's Eve and are given as presents to friends and family on New Year's morning. Apparently they represent solar year with 4 seasons...

Same curly swastika was found on solar bread from the Balkans. I talked about them in my post "Solar breads from Croatia"...

I talked about solar bread representing solar wheel in my article about Koloocheh, Persian ceremonial New Year cakes. In the article I talk about the origin of the name Koloocheh and about Slavic kolač (kolach) ceremonial wheel shaped cakes and breads...

The spiral on the Koloocheh also represents a spinning motion...

The word "kolač" comes "kolo" (wheel, spinning circle). Hence "kolo" also being the name for the Slavic ceremonial circular dance...

The depiction or the Serbian circular dance "kolo" or "oro" from the 14th century Serbian monastery Lesnovo which is located in today's Republic of Makedonija...It is danced "under the sun"...Or god...  

I talked about this in my posts "Oro" and "Shield of Achilles"...