Thread by @serbiaireland

Thread: This is a drawing of a relief from Persepolis (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persepolis), depicting "The King killing Angra Mainyu", the main adversary of Ahura Mazda, the highest deity of Zoroastrianism...

In the earliest texts, Angra ("destructive", "chaotic", "disorderly", "inhibitive", "malign") Mainyu ("Energy", "Force", "Sprit", "Mind") was the antithesis of Spenta ("Holy", "Creative", "Bounteous") Mainyu ("Energy", "Force", "Sprit", "Mind")...

Eventually Angra (Destructive) Mainyu became Aka (Evil) Mainyu...Because of course everything destructive caused disorder and disorder is evil...And so Zoroastrian devil, Ahriman, was born...en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahriman

However originally Angra Mainyu and Spenta Mainyu were, I believe, and will explain here why I believe so, just two opposing natural forces, at work in Persia: sun and rain...

The climatic year in Persia, the climatic year was divided into 2 halves: Cool, Wet half (Nov-Apr), the time of life, Spenta Mainyu and Hot, Dry half (May-Oct), the time of death, Angra Mainyu...Eeee what? Why?

Look again at the "monster" the king is slaying. It has lion's body, eagle's talons and wings, and bull horns...

Now have a look this:

Apr/May, Taurus, Beginning of the calving season of the Eurasian wild cattle.
Jul/Aug, Leo, Beginning of the main mating season of Eurasian lions.
Oct/Nov, Eagle, Beginning of the main mating season of Eurasian Vultures.

Beginning, middle, end of the hot, dry season...The half of the year dominated by the beast...The dragon...The symbol of the sun's destructive heat... oldeuropeanculture.blogspot.com/2020/07/seven-…

These are all well known animal calendar markers found all over Eurasia and North Africa since Neolithic. Check this page oldeuropeanculture.blogspot.com/p/animal-solar… then the rest of the blog (I still didn't add all posts here), and then my twitter threads (I still didn't convert all to blog posts)

Sun's heat is the strongest and the most destructive, deadly, at the end of summer, start of autumn. This moment is "marked" by all those "lion killing bull" images from Persepolis...Lion (autumn) killing (ending) Bull (summer)...

I talked about this here

https://twitter.com/serbiaireland/status/1292949479671373826

So the Persian king is slaying the monster, which is a composite animal calendar marker for the hot, dry half of the year, the half of the year ruled by the sun. Destructive, deadly sun. This "destructive, deadly" sun had a name in ancient Mesopotamia: Nergal...

In Levant, this destructive, deadly sun of the late summer, early autumn was the God of Death, Mot...Same climate, same mythology...Different names..."We are all individuals" 🙂 after all...

https://twitter.com/serbiaireland/status/1353717485514747910

Anyway, it is funny that only 2 days ago I asked "Why were Assyrian kings so obsessed with killing lions"...And I proposed that it was a symbolic killing of the hot dry half of the year...

https://twitter.com/serbiaireland/status/1378775946010955782

And today, this...Achaemenids have actually spelled it out for us, so we don't have to wonder any more...The king is killing the hot dry half of the year...Well he is not really killing the sun's heat. He is pretending to be Ninurta, the Old Storm god, killing the sun's heat...

Ninurta, who was, in the earliest times, imagined as an "enormous black bird with outstretched wings". Basically a vulture performing mating areal dance, which coincides with the end of the hot, dry half and beginning of the cool, wet half of the year...

https://twitter.com/serbiaireland/status/1363216402509881347

Also Ninurta, the hunter, the guy with the bow and arrow...Killing The Blazing Sun (Nergal)...Sagittarius...Which marks the same moment in the solar year...The end of the half of the year dominated by the sun...The Irish will love this. Remember Balor? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balor

By the way, the tree animals marking the beginning, middle and end of "the beast" are 3 out of 4 "living creatures" which Ezekiel saw in his vision, around the same time when Persepolis was made oldeuropeanculture.blogspot.com/2019/04/four-l…

Just to see how persistent these symbols are, here they are surrounding the Christ, as "Evangelists"

https://twitter.com/serbiaireland/status/1366007474235572224

Guess what's missing on Persian relief? The man. Not just any man...If we look at the solar year, right in the middle of the cool, wet part of the year, the time of life in Persian empire, is marked by Aquarius, the water pourer.

This symbol is marking the exact period of the solar year when the snowmelt started in Zagros mountains, including the area around Persepolis. The period when the water level in the rivers that fed the Persian fields began to rise...

https://twitter.com/serbiaireland/status/1367473316454428674

So more of the same...Ninurta, Ahura Mazda...God, as they say, has thousand names...And so does the devil...

I want to thank great Italian archaeologist, Gabriella Brusa-Zappellini, for drawing my attention to this image. You can find it, as well as many other amazing images from Persepolis in her great homage to Persepolis

Oh, BTW, guess who was worshipped in Iran, including parts which later became Achaemenid Persia, as the God of rain, since Neolithic? Goat...Goat of rain

https://twitter.com/serbiaireland/status/1359146396163702792

The Goat of rain, which later turned into God of rain with goat horns...

https://twitter.com/serbiaireland/status/1359218653166731266

This is because the Ibex goats in Iran mate at the beginning of the cool wet part of the year, and baby goats are born at the the end of the cool wet part of the year...

So if Angra Mainyu, bull-lion-eagle, is the hot dry part of the year, is the devil, then his antithesis, goat is god? It's complicated...