Horseman and griffin, Phrygian, 600–550 BC, collection of Ancient Greek (???) antiquities, Rijksmuseum van Oudheden. There seem to be no strife between the horseman, who is not even armed, and the griffin...So what does this scene mean? Love the triskelion... #MythologyMonday
Winged lions, dragons, symbols of summer heat, are known to bring with them Thunder gods. Like in Sumerian mythology. Thunderstorms following drought...Eagles are known Thunder god symbols...Phrygian main deity Sabazios, was equated with Zeus but he was also a horseman god???
So maybe this just shows rains (thunder god as a horseman) arriving at the end of summer (griffin)...Who knows...
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Thread: A lyre player from "The Standard of Ur" (), a Sumerian artefact found in one of the largest royal tombs in the Royal Cemetery at Ur, associated with Ur-Pabilsag, a king who died around 2550 BC. Now in the British Museum... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_…
These instruments were not ordinary instruments. They were ceremonial instruments. This is obvious from the fact that the Sumerian sign for lyre also means "to praise." But praise who?
Thread: Marble Throne of Apollo, Roman, late 1st c. AD. Currently in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Whoever made this, knew who Apollo really was and wanted to show Apollo in his true shape (serpent, dragon), sitting on his throne. Let me explain: collections.lacma.org/node/230211
Official description of the throne: "Despite its elaborate decoration, the artfully decorated legs terminating in lion's paw feet...[this throne] could hardly have been sat upon..."
Of course. Apollo is already depicted sitting on it. In a shape of a serpent/dragon...
"...A snake weaves its way in and out of an archer's bow, below which is a quiver full of arrows...The bow and quiver are associated with the god Apollo and the snake might refer to the fearful serpent Python, guardian of the oracle at Delphi, which Apollo slew in his youth..."
Thread: 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?
Thread: "Motanka", elaborately decorated but always faceless cloth doll was once a common feature in every Ukrainian peasant home. These dolls weren't just toys. They were magic talismans...
The name "motanka" comes from the word "motaty" (to wind) ie to make a knotted doll out of fabric, without using a needle and scissors. The winding of the doll was to be carried out only clockwise...
The fact that the doll had to be wound clockwise (sunwise) is very important as this direction was by our ancestors considered "positive, natural" and the opposite direction was considered "negative, unnatural"...
Two Assyrian soldiers forcing Elamite captive to grind bones of his family, 7th - 6th c. BC. This wasn't like most people think an act of random cruelty...Making someone destroy the bones of their ancestors was a deliberate forced act of sacrilege...
Assyrian culture, like all the other Mesopotamian cultures, was built around the cult of the dead. Assyrians, often buried their dead under house floors. They also practiced "kispu", regular, ritual feeding and watering of the deceased after their burial...
Based on this, in the Petra M. Creamer concludes that "Socially, this indicates deep linkages to familial practices and ancestral memory".asor.org/anetoday/2024/…