Teshub killing snake

Neo-Hittite basalt stele depicting Teshub, the neo-Hittite storm god standing on a bull, 9-8th century BC, Hatay Archaeology Museum, Antakya, Türkiye. Photo: Carole Raddato

Why is Teshub standing on a bull? Why is he holding a snake in his left hand? Animal calendar markers can (again) help us answer these questions🙂:

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 talked about snake as the solar symbol in many of my posts...

This is why it is the main symbol of sun's heat. Since Sumerian times...

In Mesopotamia, summer lasted seven (hot) months...Which is why local dragon (dragon = symbol of summer), had seven snake heads (snake = symbols of sun's heat)...Oh, and look, we also have dragon killer(s) and the princess 🙂 I talked about this amazing seal in my post "Seven headed dragon"...

BTW, this is also by the beast of the apocalypse has seven heads...Full symbolic analysis of the Woman of the Apocalypse, described in Chapter 12 of the Book of Revelation can be found in my post "Apocalypse"...

Fire breathing dragon, the symbol of the destructive summer sun's heat which burns everything and brings drought (steals water), is just "an old snake", symbol of old sun's, late summer sun's heat, heat of the hottest time of the year...

This link between snakes and dragons is best preserved in Slavic folklore which help me to decipher snake and dragon mythologies in other parts of the world...They all turned out to have the same underlining solar snake root...

I talked about snake and dragon in Slavic mythology in my post "Scaring off the dragon" in which I talked about the fact that in the past, Bulgarian (and Serbian) farmers believed that droughts were caused by winged fire breathing dragon who "stole and locked up" the waters...

And so, to prevent the dragon from steeling the water, in northwest Bulgaria, on a certain date in Apr/May, Taurus, all the strong and healthy village men would gather at midnight, strip naked and walk the village land in ritual silence brandishing axes or cudgels to scare off the dragon...

It is interesting that they carried axes, just like Perun, the Slavic thunder god, but also like may other Eurasian thunder gods...The dragon slayers...

The main duty of all the thunder gods is to kill the snake/dragon and release the waters the dragon stole...Hence the thunder god Teshub depicted with a raised axe, about to kill the snake/dragon, and release the waters...

Sometimes the thunder gods were armed with spears instead of axes...Like the two dudes fighting the Sumerian dragon or like the Luwian Storm-God depicted on the Malatya relief conquering the dragon called Illuyanka. I talked about this relief in my post "Malatya relief"... 

So this is why Teshub is killing a snake (dragon)...

But why is Teshub standing on a bull? Taurus, Apr/May is the beginning of the thunderstorm season in Anatolia...

Taurus (Apr/May) originally had nothing to do with stars. It originally marked the beginning of the calving season of wild Eurasian cattle...

I talked about bull/calf as animal calendar marker in many of my posts...

Taurus, Apr/May also marks the beginning of summer, the hot half of the year...As depicted on this Neo-Assyrian seal, dated to 900 - 775 BC. Currently in the Morgan Library. I talked about it in my post "Assyrian bull and Pleiades seal"...

But in Turkey, because of its climate, bull is both symbol of the sun and thunder...Because the beginning of summer is also the beginning of the thunderstorm season...

The direct symbolic link between bull and snake/dragon can be seen on my favourite Bactrian seal depicts a snake with two heads: a snake/dragon (left) and a bull (right)...Symbolically equating snake/dragon (summer sun) and bull (summer starts in Taurus) and linking both with the sun's heat, symbolised by a snake body...I talked about this in my post "Bactrian snakes and dragons"...

Snake is an animal calendar marker in its own right too.

God most high...  

Snake: Apr/May, beginning of the main snake mating season, beginning of summer. 

Lion: Jul/Aug, beginning of the main lion mating season, end of summer.  

And in the middle, summer solstice, sun most high. I talked about this in my post "You will trample the great lion and serpent"...

Hence:

Azhi Dahāka? Aždaha? Zahak? Arimanius? Ahriman? Angra Mainiu? Nergal? Dragon? Lion? Sun. Destructive sun of summer, which causes drought and death. Summer which starts in Apr/May, when vipers start to mate...

I talked about this in my post "Snake god from Hatra"...

There is another interesting thing about snakes and thunder gods

Why is Hermes, the herald (voice) of Zeus, carrying a staff with two coiling snakes, given to him as a present by Apollo, the sun god?

Cause, as I already said above, snakes (solar animals) mate (coil) in Apr/May, (heralding) the beginning of the thunderstorm season...I talked about this in my post "Lyre of Apollo"...

So in Turkey, because of its climate, both snake and bull are animal calendar markers for the beginning of the hot season, and the beginning of the thunderstorm season...

Hence Thunder God Teshub, standing on a bull, about to strike a snake/dragon of drought with his thunder axe...I talked about the association between thunder and (stone) axes in my post "Thunder axe"...

To read more about ancient animal and plant calendar markers, which are at the root of all our mythologies, start here…Then check my twitter threads I still didn't convert to blog post...I am way way behind...

Assyrian bull and pleiades seal

Neo-Assyrian seal, 900 - 775 BC. The official description: "Charging bull, rosette before it, 7 globes in sky". From Morgan Library...

The rosette is I think the sun and the 7 globes are I think Pleiades which rise with the sun in Taurus (Apr/May)...Taurus, ancient animal calendar marker for the beginning of the calving season of wild Eurasian cattle...

I talked about this in many of my posts...

Old Sumerian summer (hot dry half of the year), can be depicted using animal calendar markers like this: 

Starts in Apr/May, Bull head/horns, Taurus

Peaks in Jul/Aug, Lion body, Leo

Ends in Oct/Nov, Scorpion tail/Eagle wings and talons, Scorpio/Eagle

I talked about this in my post "Angra Mainyu"...

The bull is charging towards the sun, towards Jul/Aug, the hottest and driest time of the year in Mesopotamia. 

Also towards the beginning of the mating season of the wild Eurasian cattle...I talked about charging bull symbolism in many of my posts...

According to the Greek mythology, the Pleiades are the seven daughters of Atlas

whom Zeus transformed first into doves

and then into stars...

Why first into doves and then into stars? Animal calendar markers of course...Doves nest when Pleiades rise with the sun...In Apr/May, Taurus...I talked about this in my post "Pleiades"...

I talked about the link between Bull and Pleiades in my post "Seven maidens", about this ancient petroglyph from Gobustan, Azerbaijan... 

And in my post "Pendant", about this pendant with an image of a bull and and what looks like seven bees or seven women. It was found in Ryazan area of Russia, and is attributed to Radimichi (related to Vyatichi), an early medieval Slavic tribe. Pendant, one of many found in Radimich kurgans, is dated to 11th - 12th century AD...  

According to ancient writers, bees only collect honey during the 7 months between the helical rising (Apr/May, Taurus) and setting (Oct/Nov) of Pleiades. Funnily, 7 is also the number of stars (bees or maiden sisters) of the constellation of Pleiades...

You can find all my articles that mention pleiades here...

You can find all my articles that mention bees here...

To read more about ancient animal and plant calendar markers, which are at the root of all our mythologies, start here…Then check my twitter threads I still didn't convert to blog post...I am way way behind...

Lion eating sun

A lion eating the sun. Detail from the Alchemical and Rosicrucian compendium - c.1760. Credit:  Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library.

The end of Jul - beginning of Aug, Leo, is the hottest time of the year in the northern hemisphere. From that moment on, the earth begins to cool...This is also the time of the year when the characteristics of the sunlight actually change...I talked about this in my post "Transfiguration"...

But there are other possible meanings of this image. In Mesopotamia Jul/Aug, Leo, is hottest and driest part of the year...

Which is why lion was the symbol of Nergal, the deified destructive "burning" sun in Leo, that brings drought, disease and death. He was actually depicted as a lion man and held a lion sceptre...

Talked abut him in my post "Winged superhuman hero"...

BTW, Jul/Aug is marked by a lion because the main mating season of eurasian lions starts in Jul/Aug...

In the "THE ASIATIC LION: A study of ecology and behaviour" by Paul Joslin we can read that based on the observation of the large number of wild lions, the mating season of the Asiatic lions starts in August and lasts until October. 

Jul/Aug is the middle of the hot dry half of the year (Apr/May - Oct/Nov), the old Sumerian summer. Which is why Sumerian dragons have lion body and seven snake heads. Snake being the symbol of sun's heat. I talked about this first in my post "Seven headed dragon" The oldest depiction of a Hero(es) killing a 7 headed dragon dragon...Mesopotamia, 2200BC...With 7 snake heads...One for each hot month of Mesopotamian summer...They are killing the 4th head. Apr/May, May/Jun, Jun/Jul, Jul/Aug...  

Leo...The time when Sirius rises with the sun..Do you see "The Lady" (of heaven), Inanna/Ishtar, standing under a star (Sirius) 🙂...

Here is Inanna/Ishtar, deified Sirius, which rises with the sun (morning star) in Leo, Jul/Aug, the hottest time of the year. Which is why she is depicted standing on a lion with the sun above lion's head and is known as "The Lioness of heaven"...

I talked about Inanna/Ishtar as Sirius in many of my posts...

Same girl, same beast (summer)...

Woman of the Apocalypse...I gave Full symbolic analysis of the Chapter 12 of the Book of Revelation in my post "Apocalypse"...

Here is another depiction of the lions eating the sun. See seven stars? Seventh month, Jul/Aug, Leo? Or seven months of old Sumerian summer, Apr/May - Oct/Nov? 

This is same "Beast" was also depicted like this...

I talked about this in my post "Angra Mainyu"...

The beginning of the Eurasian lion main mating season marks the beginning of autumn and the mating season spans the whole of autumn (Aug,Sep,Oct)...

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

So on our original image, if the head of the lion represents Jul/Aug, the beginning of autumn, then the lion tail represents the Oct/Nov, the end of autumn...

Do you see all the birds flying away above the lion's tail? Autumn bird migration season starts in Jul/Aug and ends in Oct/Nov, the season marked by Leo...

But also, do you see that there are actually 7 birds. Could these be 7 doves of Pleiades, which become visible int the night sky in Oct/Nov, at the end of the summer. I talked about Doves and Pleiades in many of my posts...

Some people would ask what cold be the connection between Mesopotamian lion/sun symbolism and Medieval European lion/sun symbolism. 

The answer is Apollo, the terrible sun god, who was directly linked to lions and Nergal...

You should check my articles about Apollo if you want to fully understand what I am talking about here:

"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...

"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...

"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. 

"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...

"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...

"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)

"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...

"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...

"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...

"Apollo Sminthius". About Apollo and peak infectious diseases season, Jul/Aug

Not convinced? Check this out:

 IONIA. Miletos. Circa 340-325 BC. Drachm. 

Front: Laureate head of Apollo. 

Back: Lion with eight-pointed star above

This coin, I think, confirms my hypothesis that Apollo was Sun in Leo...Basically, Greek version of Mesopotamian Nergal...

That's that. 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...

Ponte Sodo fibula

Etruscan gold disc fibula, from the Necropolis of Ponte Sodo, Vulci, Etruria, Italy. 650 BC, from the "Orientalizing period". Currently in the Antikensammlungen, Munich, Bavaria, Germany. 

WTH is all this stuff depicted on it? Here is the official description:

"Around a central cross, above, are several birds in flight and, at the sides, two lions with a pendent tongue and serpentine tail; in the centre, two helmeted warriors, with short sword and shield, fight surrounded by a bird respectively." That's it?

Yes, but what does this mean? Apparently no one knows...So let me try to decipher this...

First the central cross. The cross is a solar symbol, and more precisely symbol of the Mesopotamian sun god Shamash...I talked about this in my posts "The cross of Shamash" and "Sun god tablet"...

Here is the same cross on a late 7th c. Boeotian clay pyxis, currently in the Antikensammlung Berlin (thanks twitter friends🙂)  depicting the "Mistress of the Animals and some animals 🙂" (sure sign that "we have no idea what is really depicted here").

But I can tell you few things about the decorations: They are all solar symbols. You can find detailed analysis of these symbols in my post "Beotian solar pyxis"

In Greece, the sun god Shamash, more precisely the "terrible" sun, Shamash as Nergal,  became Apollo. The "terrible" sun god Apollo...I explained why terrible in my post "Lions of Delos" about the lions from the 600 BC Temple of Apollo from Delos:

So I believe that the cross here is the symbol of Apollo...

The "Mistress of the Animals" is Artemis, the the original, archaic, "terrible" twin sister of the "terrible" sun god Apollo...Definitely not moon goddess here with all these snakes. And lions (wink wink, notch notch)

And "some animals" are all solar animal calendar markers...

Sooo, if the central symbol on this Etruscan fibula from the "Orientalizing period" 🙂 is a cross of Shamash as Nergal / Apollo, then could we assume that the rest of the stuff is also somehow "solar"? You bet!

But before I explain what everything else means, do you see how the central cross is actually swastika too? Remember that on the Boeotian clay pyxis we see both crosses and swastikas...Swastika is a solar symbol too...Symbol of ever spinning solar wheel. Solar year...

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...

So what is depicted on both sides of the Shamash as Nergal / Apollo cross? Two lions...So sun cross between two lions...Sun in Leo...

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 in my post "Winged superhuman hero"...

And these are not just any lions...They are lions with "serpentine tails"...Why? Maybe to emphasise the "solarness, solarity, solaritude 🙂 of the lions". Cause:

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)... talked about it in many of my posts...

Where did I see lions with serpent tails before? Oh yeah, here

Chimera, mythical beast or complex animal calendar marker for "hot dry season", Apr/May (mating of snakes), Jul/Aug (mating of lions), Oct/Nov (mating of goats)? 

The hot season ends in Oct/Nov, hence Bellerophon killing Chimera by spearing the goat.

I talked about this in my post "Pegasus and chimera"...

So what about "several birds in flight" 🙂? It's actually 7 birds in flight...It's not so difficult to count them. But I guess no one thought the number of birds was significant...Could these be 7 doves? Why? Cause in Greek mythology, the Pleiades are the seven daughters of Atlas

whom Zeus transformed first into doves

and then into stars...

Why first into doves and then into stars? Well, he is Zeus, he doesn't have to explain himself...(Hint: animal calendar markers) I talked about this in my post "Pleiades"...

Pleiades rise with the sun in Apr/May, at the beginning of the summer...So they are another (important) solar symbol...

But what about the two birds at the bottom? Well, could this be a symbolical depiction of migratory birds?

Like this? 

Leto, Slavic name for summer and year is most likely derived from the word "let" meaning flight...Leto (the old summer, the hot, sunny half of the year) is the period between the arrival and departure of the migratory birds. I talked about it in my post "Leto"...

The two identical birds are facing each other. They are also flanking two identical "warriors" who are facing each other. And the "warriors" are in turn flanking what looks like a pyramid with the sun (cross) right above it...Hmmm...

So sun, lions, pyramid...I talked about the pyramids (and lions, sphinxes) in my posts "Sphinx" and "Giza lioness" where I explained why (sun in) Leo (Jul/Aug) was so important to Ancient Egyptians...

What's that got to do with our Etruscan fibula? Remember we are Orientalising here 🙂

So this could be a pyramid with the sun in Leo (Shamash as Nergal / Apollo) cross above it...

But what about the two identical warriors facing each other?

Well, if we have calendar marker for the beginning of summer (7 birds, Apr/May), and if we have calendar marker for the end of summer (two lions, Jul/Aug), what's missing? A calendar marker for the midsummer, summer solstice...

Well...How about these dudes? The twins...In Etruscan version without horses...

Horse zodiac symbol is disguised as Dioskuri, divine twin horsemen. The guys who wanted to marry "the daughters of the white horse". They mark Summer Solstice, the peak of the horse mating season, characterised by wild stallion fights for mares...

I talked about solar horse (more precisely equid) in many of my posts...

BTW, twins, always linked to summer solstice are also found in India (this time as horse headed twins)

Surya's wife Saranyu transforms into a mare and runs away from her husband. Surya eventually finds her, turns himself into a white stallion and...

After which Saranyu delivers horse head twins called Ashvins...

I talked about this in my post "Hayagriva" about the Indian solar horse mythology...

In Mesopotamia, you'll find them "guarding the gates of hell". In my post "White raven" about Apollo-Nergal, I talk about the Sumerian twin gods, identified as Gemini constellation, and associated with Nergal, which "guard the gates of hell"...Are they holding torches? Or keys?

In Egypt, where we find god Hapi, the god of the annual flooding of the Nile, who was "often depicted as twins, tying papyrus and lotus flowers together". Papyrus flowers in Apr/May, and lotus in Jul/Aug...I talked about him/them 🙂 in my post "Lotus and papyrus"...

In Central America as Hero Twins who pour the water of heaven (rains there arrive in Jun/Jul). I talked about this in my post "Resurrection of the maize god"...

We find them in Sasanian Iran, on this plate with youths and winged horses drinking water from a jar ca. 5th–6th century AD. I talked about this in my post "Dioskuri plate from Iran"...

And in Gotland. Together with horses. And pile of soar symbols...I talked about this in my post "Gotland sun stone with Dioscuri"...

Aaaaanyway...The twins on our Etruscan fibula, are standing facing the moment when the sun is in it's highest position in the sky? That pyramid...With the sun above...Maybe...

God most high...  

Snake: Apr/May, beginning of the main snake mating season, beginning of summer. 

Lion: Jul/Aug, beginning of the main lion mating season, end of summer.  

And in the middle, summer solstice, sun most high. 

I talked about this in my post "You will trample great lion and serpent"...

Which reminds me of the "lions with serpentine tails" 🙂 Are they also symbols of summer, the period between Apr/May (mating of snakes), Jul/Aug (mating of lions)?

Maybe they don't mean sun in Leo, but sun in summer? Middle of summer? Summer solstice?

BTW, probably totally unrelated, but just thought to throw it in for fun...

8000 years ago, people of Lepenski Vir culture in Serbia, built houses in the shape of the hill shaped like a flat top pyramid they could see from their settlement. 

Why? Because every summer solstice, the sun rose on top of it...

I talked about this in my post "Sun on top of pyramid"...

But then, (sun) god works in mysterious ways...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)...Interesting...

I talked about this in my post "Alexamenos graffito"...

Anyway, what do you think? Makes sense? Or not? 

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...

PS: Some people pointed out that the animals flanking the sun cross could be horses. With sharp teeth and snaky tails? But actually...They could be...A kind of chimera, with horse/equid body, lion head and snake tail...Even more amazing...

This would explain why horses are "suspiciously" missing from the fibula. Considering that Horse/Equid is one of the main solar symbols...

These "beasts" would then be incredible composite animal calendar markers for summer (I have never seen one like this before): 

Start of summer: when snakes start mating in Apr/May.

Mid summer: when horses mating season peaks, Summer solstice.

End of summer: when lions start mating, in Jul/Aug.

With the addition of a horse (usually linked to summer solstice, like through Dioskuri) in the mix just confirms my interpretation of the whole scene...