Okay, Ish.

Post by **Minimalist** » Sun Sep 07, 2008 2:25 pm

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=68 ... =351020105

Goddess statue found in western Iran

Previous studies had dated Sheikhi Abad mound to nine to ten thousand years ago.

So who is she?

pattylt · Post by **pattylt** » Mon Sep 08, 2008 6:09 am

I can't see squat in that picture. If you find another link, I would love to see it. Could you tell me what I am looking at? It appears to be the skull of some antelope to me. (sorry, old eyes). I even zoomed in!

Post by **Minimalist** » Mon Sep 08, 2008 8:46 am

I can't see much in the photo either.

kbs2244 · Post by **kbs2244** » Mon Sep 08, 2008 9:47 am

That has got to be a case of the wrong PIC for the caption.
With horns wouldn't it be male?
A god, not a goddess?

Post by **Minimalist** » Mon Sep 08, 2008 1:10 pm

It is Iranian Presstv, of course. Maybe the real picture was censored by the mullahs?

Ishtar · Post by **Ishtar** » Sun Sep 14, 2008 2:23 am

kbs2244 wrote:That has got to be a case of the wrong PIC for the caption.
With horns wouldn't it be male?
A god, not a goddess?

Sorry, I only just noticed this and I'm having the same trouble as you guys in seeing what is.

But KB, the horns wouldn't rule it out from being female. On the contrary, at that time (roughly from the Neolithic up to the Christian period) you would expect it, as these are usually the goddesses at the heads of the very important Serpent Rites.

For instance, Hathor, the Egyptian sun goddess had serpents coiled around her horns which carried the sun. Hathor was the earliest prototype for Isis, who also had horns.

This next bit, from the news story, could have some significance.

The first phase of archeological excavations at Sheikhi Abad mound in Iran's Kermanshah Province has yielded the statue of a goddess.

The statute, which resembles a figurine previously found in Kermanshah's Sarab-Mort, is believed by experts to be a valuable source of information.

'Ab' means 'serpent', so the names of Sheikhi Abad and Sarab-Mort could be developments from serpent-worshiping centres. 'Mort' also means 'myrtle', after the myrtle trees found at the site, and myrtle was also used in serpent rites as we know from the Pyramid Texts.

This depiction of a god and goddess sitting either side of the World Tree comes from a Babylonian tablet circa 2330 BC. You can see there are two serpents entwined in the trunk of the tree, and the horned woman has a snake coiling up behind her. The woman is thought to be the goddess Ishtar and it is from the earliest record of what became the Garden of Eden story in the Bible, except in this original Mesopotamian version, the snake is not the devil but wisdom.

I think this (below) must be the earliest depiction of a horned goddess. It's dated to c 6,000 BC and it's from Mehrgarh in what was then Bharata-varsha, the old name for India. You can see the snakes coiled around the upper chest area.

This horned theme was later developed into the lunar crescent, and the snakes around the upper chest were symbolised by strings of beads or 'japamalas'. However, in this picture, we can see that the trident behind the goddess Devi reflects the horns.

However, a question: why are there no early first, second or third century artistic expressions of Mary, the mother of Jesus? Were they destroyed because they all had horns?

I think the earliest painting of Mary is this one dated to the 4th century from the Roman catacombs.

Still, I notice she has managed to hang on to the beaded necklace.

But it doesn't make sense that we have preserved images of goddesses going back to the 13000 BC (Venus of Willendorf) but none for the most famous of all until more than three centuries after the Christian era began.

Having said all that, though, looking back at the picture of the news story, it does look much more like a horned antelope than a goddess!

.

Post by **Minimalist** » Sun Sep 14, 2008 9:14 am

I knew you were the right one to sort this out!

kbs2244 · Post by **kbs2244** » Sun Sep 14, 2008 12:14 pm

You know, in another professional life, when I was much younger, in a place by the Memphis airport, I watched a lady wearing a horned mask, and nothing else, dance with a snake wrapped around her.
Some things never go out of style.

Ishtar · Post by **Ishtar** » Sun Sep 14, 2008 1:05 pm

kbs2244 wrote:You know, in another professional life, when I was much younger, in a place by the Memphis airport, I watched a lady wearing a horned mask, and nothing else, dance with a snake wrapped around her.
Some things never go out of style.

KB, you say the funniest things. I never know what you're going to come out with next! You're such a gift to this forum. Please don't ever change.