Thread: Enki/Ea, god of sweet water and the annual flood. He is shown here holding two jars with water flowing out of them, which represent the sources of Tigris and Euphrates...But why is he standing on a carp fish? Image
The water flow of Tigris and Euphrates peaks during Apr/May.

Left: Tigris
Right: Euphrates ImageImage
And as I explained in this thread about the origin and meaning of the Goatfish symbol, this is the exact time of the year when the giant Mesopotamian carp swims upstream to mate.

I mean giant carp...

And carps, which mate in the shallows, are known as being "passionate".
So you would definitely not miss this annual event if you lived by the river...Which made carp a animal calendar marker for Apr/May... Image
By the way, this is not the only place where carp became an animal calendar marker, which was eventually deified. I talked about carp as an animal calendar marker in Egypt here
And so, because peak of the carp mating season coincides with the peak flood season, Enki/Ea standing on a carp fish, pouring out Tigris and Euphrates...

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More from @serbiaireland

18 Sep
Thread: Enki/Ea, the god of sweet water standing between two mountains, with trees and flowers...Enki is identifiable by the fact that he is holding two jars from which a water is pouring out, and which are symbols of the source of Tigris and Euphrates...

Super important image Image
Important cause of this: "Enki lives in Abzu, the source of Tigris and Euphrates"...The official explanation is that Abzu is "an underground aquifer"...

Which I think is completely wrong. I think Abzu was the name for the great mountains from which Tigris and Euphrates emerge... Image
That Abzu is a mountain is actually spelled for us in the Early Dynastic Za-me hymns where we read:

"Abzu, place that is a big mountain, princely crown of the heaven and earth. To the lord Nudimmud (Enki), (give) praise!"

Read 6 tweets
11 Sep
Thread: Middle Assyrian Cylinder Seal with a "Lion-Dragon", 1300-1200 BC.

I found this seal on this great site archaicwonder.tumblr.com/post/145026318… Unfortunately I am unable to get more info (where the seal was found, where it is now) cause the link provided is dead. But the seal is AMAZING
The seal depicts a tiny flying dude facing an advancing giant winged monster with lion body, bull horns and scorpion tail...Above the monster are some "heavenly objects", namely 7 stars, most likely Pleiades, a large star, most likely Sirius, and a crescent moon...
Why is this seal so special?

Cause this seal is an amazing example of a complex animal calendar marker.
It is also an amazing example of the mapping of these ancient animal calendar markers to "heavenly objects".
Read 40 tweets
9 Sep
Thread: This is very interesting indeed. The top symbol consists of two birds facing yellow flowers growing on a tree. This is a common tree of life symbol and usually the animals facing the tree of life are animal calendar markers for the fertile period of the year....

Soooo:
The word "pavoncella" means Lapwing (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_…). One of these cute fellows
On the page "Checklist of the birds of Sardinia" (gruppoornitologicosardo.blogspot.com/2008/11/checkl…) we find this:

Northern Lapwing Vanellus vanellus M reg, W reg

Basically it is a migratory bird which spends winters in Sardinia...
Read 6 tweets
8 Sep
Thread: About bio diversity, sustainability, and goats...Of course...

This is a stunning pic of the Dublin bay, with the Howth Head, the tip of the Howth peninsula in the foreground... Image
Now here is another stunning pic of the Howth head, with some wild flowers in the foreground... Image
And it is these yellow ones, gorse (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulex), which are causing serious problems... Image
Read 11 tweets
7 Sep
Thread: This Achaemenid cylinder seal, found in Iran and dated to the 6th–4th century BC is currently kept in the Met Museum. metmuseum.org/art/collection… Image
Now the scene depicted on this seal could be just an "ordinary king hunting a lion" scene 🙂 Although I already asked a question whether there is anything ordinary about the Persian king's obsession with lion hunting in this thread

And in this thread I explained why I think that this was most likely a ritual in which the king imitated the rain (and war) god Ninurta/Ningirsu killing Nergal...Or "winter rain storms" ending "summer drought"...Which ever you like best...

Read 31 tweets
3 Sep
Thread: How old is the Irish (Gaelic) language? Why am I asking this? Because there is something very interesting in the Irish language, which can possibly help us determine when and where this language had originally developed...This:
This image shows a person standing at the door of his house. The door is facing east. What is astounding is how these words for direction of movement and orientation match in the Irish (Gaelic) language...
This language characteristic can only be explained if we assume that this part of the Irish language was developed by the culture which lived in a world which faced east...Where facing east was something everyone did every day...
Read 13 tweets

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