Thread: This marble slab carved in raised relief was originally set into a base of an object with Aramaic inscription. It shows a winged and bearded male deity holding a dagger in his right hand and is about to slaughter a goat...A snake appears behind the deity... 
The slab was discovered in a temple in Hatra (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatra), Niniveh Governorate, Iraq, it dates to the 2nd to 3rd century AD, and is currently kept in the Iraq Museum in Baghdad, Iraq.
But what does this mean?
But what does this mean?
Well, to figure this out we need to look at the local climate in the area of Hatra and the meaning of the two animals depicted on the slab, goat and snake, as animal calendar markers...
The climatic year in the Niniveh Governorate of Iraq is divided into two halves: hot, dry half (Apr/May-Oct/Nov) and cool, wet half (Oct/Nov-Apr/May)...
Because the beginning of the cool, wet half of the year coincides with the beginning of the mating season of Ibex goats, Ibex became linked to rain and became "The Goat of Rain" and an animal calendar marker for Oct/Nov...
Because the beginning of the hot, dry half of the year coincides with the beginning of the mating season of Eurasian vipers, snake became linked with the sun and became "The Snake of Sun" and an animal calendar marker for Apr/May...
These animals have been used as animal calendar markers with this meaning probably since Early Neolithic in Fertile Crescent. I talked about it here
https://twitter.com/serbiaireland/status/1494368413074006022
And because these two animals mark beginnings of two opposing seasons
Goat - rain season, season of life
Snake. - drought season, season of death
they became "enemies"...
Goat - rain season, season of life
Snake. - drought season, season of death
they became "enemies"...
Usually we se depictions of a "Goat man" subduing snakes...Representing rain, source of life triumphing over sun, source of death...Check this whole thread, you'll like it 🙂
https://twitter.com/serbiaireland/status/1493939853565829130
But this relief from Hatra is the first time that I have seen a snake man subduing a goat...Symbolic depiction of death triumphing over life...
But then Hatra was the place where people worshiped Nergal en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nirgul_ta…
But then Hatra was the place where people worshiped Nergal en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nirgul_ta…
Nergal the "Lion dragon", symbolic depiction of the hot, dry half of the year...
https://twitter.com/serbiaireland/status/1436708768901894154
The reason why Nergal was depicted as a lion man, is because the sun's heat is strongest and most destructive in (Jul/Aug), the period of the year marked with Leo, because this is then the main mating season of Eurasian lions starts...
Nergal then during Achaemenid times became known as Angra Mainiu, the "Negative force" opposed to Spenta Mainiu, the "Positive force"...
https://twitter.com/serbiaireland/status/1436719837703704595
Nergal eventually became known as Ahriman, the enemy of Ahura Mazda...
oldeuropeanculture.blogspot.com/2022/02/the-ki…
oldeuropeanculture.blogspot.com/2022/02/the-ki…
Finally, Ahriman became known as Arimanius, the "obscure deity" depicted as a man with a lion's head and eagle's wings and a serpent coiled around his body (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arimanius)...
Or a complex animal calendar marker, symbol for dry season (Apr/May-Oct/Nov), season dominated by the sun, which starts when snakes start to mate (Apr/May), peaks when lions start to mate (Jul/Aug), and ends when vultures start to mate (Oct/Nov)...
The complex animal calendar marker with the meaning equivalent the meaning of Chimera. Vulture mating season starts at the same time as Ibex mating season, at the end of the hot, dry half of the year. Which makes them interchangeable as calendar markers
https://twitter.com/serbiaireland/status/1493181272415424514
About vulture calendar marker and it's link with rain gods...
https://twitter.com/serbiaireland/status/1455542652955504652
So Arimanius is not so obscure any more, right??? I don't think so...
And so finally we get back to the winged dude with a snake on his shoulders about to kill a goat...
Arimanius? Ahriman? Angra Mainiu? Nergal? Sun?
And so finally we get back to the winged dude with a snake on his shoulders about to kill a goat...
Arimanius? Ahriman? Angra Mainiu? Nergal? Sun?
That's it...More about ancient animal and plant calendar markers, start here oldeuropeanculture.blogspot.com/p/animal-solar……then check the rest of the blog posts I still didn't add to this page, and finally check my twitter threads I still didn't convert to blog post...I am 9 months behind now...
The original image was taken by Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin and can be found here: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:God_…
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