Thread: There are two main eagle calendar markers which later became "mythologised". One is double headed eagle, like this Hittite one from Alaca Höyük... 
This symbol was derived from annual vulture mating "synchronised flying" ritual, where two birds fly next to or on top of each other...Which from the ground looks like this...
In Eastern Anatolia, Northern Mesopotamia and Central Asia this coincides with the arrival of rainy season...Which is why in these areas this calendar marker was associated with rain and rain gods...Hence this eagle dude from Bactria, c: 2500-1500BC oldeuropeanculture.blogspot.com/2020/03/double…
The "eagle dude" (vulture god) with one or two heads appears is found in exactly these areas of Western and Central Asia...For those interested in more Bactrian examples, including the "fluffy two headed eagle dude" check out this late last night thread:
The second eagle calendar marker which later became "mythologised" is "Eagle killing snake" like this Roman one...
In the old times, before the discovery of the animal calendar markers 🙂, this symbol was interpreted as solar eagle killing chthonic snake...The problem is snake is not a chthonic but a solar symbol, representing sun's heat... Bactrians knew that... oldeuropeanculture.blogspot.com/2020/06/bactri…
But Bactrians also had the "Eagle killing snake" symbol too. Here it is on this seal...Sumerians had it too (I will talk about his soon)...So what does this symbol mean and what is it derived from?
Enters this cool dude: The short-toed snake eagle (Circaetus gallicus), a medium-sized bird of prey, found throughout the Mediterranean basin, into Russia and the Middle East, and parts of Western Asia, and in the Indian Subcontinent and also in some Indonesian islands...
This eagle, as its name says has short toes 🙂 And eats snakes. And in Europe, it is a migratory bird, leaving for Africa in Sep/Oct and returning in Apr/May...So this eagle disappears with snakes (goes to the underworld 🙂) and reappears with snakes (returns from the underworld)
The only time you can see this scene is during summer and autumn...Beginning from Apr-May...Beginning of summer...Which is interesting, because in Europe, Apr-May is also the beginning of the Thunderstorm season...
Hence Eagle (Thunder god) fighting Snake (Sun god)...
Hence Eagle (Thunder god) fighting Snake (Sun god)...
This fight intensifies as the summer goes on, reaching crescendo at the end of Jul, beginning of Aug, right when Slavs celebrate the victory of their thunder god Perun (Eagle) over his enemy, the great serpent (Veles) who stole heavenly cows (clouds)... journals.ametsoc.org/jcli/article/3…
Cool, right? This is why we have ambiguity when it comes to the eagle symbol...It is both symbol of thunder and sun (gods 🙂)...This is also why it both snake and eagle are linked to a bull...Because this epic battle between eagle and snake starts in Taurus, Bull...
This also means that the link between the double headed eagle symbol and the thunder gods originated somewhere in Anatolia, Northern Mesopotamia or Central Asia...But that the link between the Eagle eating snake symbol and thunder gods probably originated in Europe...
It the climate thingy...It's all linked, it's all so simple and it's all so beautiful...And suddenly everything makes sense...Well at least to me...
