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130-590: The Bucheum was the ancient Egyptian burial place for sacred bulls of the Buchis cult at Hermonthis . It consists of underground tunnels which connect the burial chambers of the bulls. It was founded by Nectanebo II , around 350 BC, who based it on the practices at the Serapeum of Saqqara at Memphis . The Bucheum was in use for approximately 650 years, until at least the reign of emperor Diocletian ( c.  300 AD ), far outlasting its Memphite counterpart. Many of

260-663: A winged sun symbol) and U'e ("sunrise"). The sun god was one of the principal deities of the Mesopotamian pantheon . In the Early Dynastic god list from Fara , he is the sixth among the deities listed, after Anu , Enlil , Inanna , Enki and Nanna . In later god lists, for example in An = Anum , he and his circle appears between Nanna (Sin) and Ishkur (Adad). The Old Babylonian Nippur god list instead places him between Ishkur and Ninurta . Despite Utu's typical high status, it

390-601: A ziggurat dedicated to the city's tutelary god also existed in Sippar. It was known as Ekunankuga (Siumerian: "house, pure stairway to heaven"). It was rebuilt by Samsu-iluna, Ammi-Saduqa, Neriglissar and Nabonidus. The position of Sippar and its tutelary god has been compared to that of Nippur and Enlil - while both of these gods were high-ranking members of the pantheon, and their cities were centers of religious and scholarly activity, they never constituted major political powers in their own right. It has been suggested that

520-454: A birth incantation erroneously identifies him as a moon god and Narundi as a sun deity, explaining their names as, respectively, Sin and Shamash. The main cult centers of the sun god were Larsa and Sippar , specifically Sippar-Ahrurum (Abu Habbah). The latter city was regarded as older in Mesopotamian tradition, and in lists of temples tends to be mentioned before Larsa. In both cities,

650-729: A club and thunderbolt while wearing a bull-horned headdress. Hadad was equated with the Greek god Zeus ; the Roman god Jupiter, as Jupiter Dolichenus ; the Indo-European Nasite Hittite storm-god Teshub ; the Egyptian god Amun . When Enki distributed the destinies, he made Iškur inspector of the cosmos. In one litany, Iškur is proclaimed again and again as " great radiant bull, your name is heaven " and also called son of Anu , lord of Karkara; twin-brother of Enki, lord of abundance, lord who rides

780-410: A connection with light. He is attested in multiple theophoric names, chiefly from Sippar. Some researchers, including Antoine Cavigneaux and Manfred Krebernik, consider the reading of the second element of his name to be uncertain due to variable orthography, and transcribe it as Nin-PIRIG. The pair Nigzida and Nigsisa, whose names mean "law" and "order," respectively, are identified as the "vizier of

910-559: A divine tribunal in which they both partake alongside Idlurugu ( ÍD), a river god also known for his association with justice and judgment who represented ordeal by water . A hymn to Utu states that Idlurugu cannot give judgment without his presence. As an extension of his role as a divine judge, Utu could be associated with the underworld, though this connection is not attested before the Old Babylonian period . In exorcisms, he could be implored to help with bringing restless ghosts to

1040-639: A festival for Hera, Dionysus is also invited to come as a bull, "with bull-foot raging." "Quite frequently he is portrayed with bull horns, and in Kyzikos he has a tauromorphic image," Walter Burkert relates, and refers also to an archaic myth in which Dionysus is slaughtered as a bull calf and impiously eaten by the Titans . For the Greeks, the bull was strongly linked to the Cretan Bull : Theseus of Athens had to capture

1170-572: A fixture of near-eastern cultures. Solomon 's " Molten Sea " basin stood on twelve brazen bulls. Young bulls were set as frontier markers at Dan and Bethel , the frontiers of the Kingdom of Israel . Much later, in Abrahamic religions , the bull motif became a bull demon or the "horned devil" in contrast and conflict to earlier traditions. The bull is familiar in Judeo-Christian cultures from

1300-525: A graving tool and made it into a molten calf; and they said, 'This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt'." Nehemiah 9:18 reads "even when they made an idol shaped like a calf and said, 'This is your god who brought you out of Egypt!' They committed terrible blasphemies." Calf-idols are referred to later in the Tanakh , such as in the Book of Hosea , which would seem accurate as they were

1430-408: A large saw ( šaššaru ) and rays of light emanating from his shoulders. The reasons behind associating him with the former are poorly understood, and various interpretations have been proposed, for example that it was a representation of the first ray of sunshine of the day, that it was associated with judgment, perhaps as a weapon used to behead criminals, or that the sun god used it to break through

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1560-460: A more recent publication that the logogram commonly designates Shamash in the middle Euphrates area, and syllabic writings of his name are uncommon there, though he also states that Shimige cannot be ruled out as a possible reading in some cases. In texts from Susa , Haft Tepe and Malamir in Elam the name of the sun god was usually written logographically as UTU and it is uncertain when it refers to

1690-488: A new deity in itself. Among the Twelve Olympians , Hera 's epithet Bo-opis is usually translated "ox-eyed" Hera, but the term could just as well apply if the goddess had the head of a cow, and thus the epithet reveals the presence of an earlier, though not necessarily more primitive, iconic view. ( Heinrich Schlieman , 1976) Classical Greeks never otherwise referred to Hera simply as the cow, though her priestess Io

1820-501: A nobleman of ancient Moirang realm, pretended to be an oracle and falsely prophesied that the people of Moirang would lead to miserable lives, if the powerful Kao (bull) roaming freely in the Khuman kingdom, wasn't offered to the god Thangjing ( Old Manipuri : Thangching ), the presiding deity of Moirang . Orphan Khuman prince Khamba was chosen to capture the bull, as he was known for his valor and faithfulness. Since to capture

1950-406: A number of them were daughters or sisters of kings. Both Zimri-Lim of Mari and Hammurabi of Babylon had nadītu of Shamash among their female family members. A ceremony called lubuštu was established in Sippar by Nabu-apla-iddina. It involved providing the statues of Shamash, Aya and Bunene with new garments at specific dates throughout the year. Records indicate it was still celebrated in

2080-493: A religious ceremony in Gaul in which white-clad druids climbed a sacred oak , cut down the mistletoe growing on it, sacrificed two white bulls and used the mistletoe to cure infertility: The druids—that is what they call their magicians—hold nothing more sacred than the mistletoe and a tree on which it is growing, provided it is Valonia oak . … Mistletoe is rare and when found it is gathered with great ceremony, and particularly on

2210-500: A secondary hypostasis . Occasionally the sun deity's gender had to be indicated directly, and both UTU- munus (female) and UTU- nita (male) are attested. Joan Goodnick Westenholz proposed that Ninkar in Eblaite texts should be interpreted as Ninkarrak rather than the phonetically similar but more obscure Mesopotamian Ninkar. Occasional shortening of Ninkarrak's name to "Ninkar" is known from Mesopotamian sources as well. This theory

2340-478: A symbol instead. The symbolic representation of Utu was the sun disc , typically represented as a four-pointed star with wavy lines placed between the points. It is attested as early as in the Sargonic period, and continued to be represented in art through the rest of history of ancient Mesopotamia. It is well known from kudurru (boundary stones), where it is typically depicted in the first row of symbols, next to

2470-403: A time. Bunene , also known under the name Papnunna, was considered his chariot driver. Frans Wiggermann notes that his name and character (as well as these of other well attested sukkals of major city gods: Ninshubur , Alammush , Nuska and Isimud ) do not appear to show direct connection with these of his master, which means that he cannot be considered the personification of the effect of

2600-447: A title of Aya). Craftsmen employed by the Eanna were also responsible for repairing the paraphernalia of the deities of Ebabbar. Such a situation is otherwise unknown, as each temple usually maintained its own workshop. A treasury of Shamash and Aya, distinct from that of the Eanna, is nonetheless attested. Ebabbar most likely remained under control of the temple administration from Uruk in

2730-450: A tradition in which he was the supreme god of the pantheon did exist, but never found official support and its spread was limited to the clergy in Sippar and to a smaller degree Larsa . Common epithets characterize Utu as a "youth" ( Sumerian šul , Akkadian eṭlu ) and "hero" (Sumerian ursaĝ , Akkadian qarrādu ). As a representation of the sun, he was believed to travel every day through

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2860-509: A valuable, and probably sacred beast, would have represented an offering to the gods'. For Matthews, the Bull-running at Tutbury, mentioned in another Robin Hood ballad, may have had similar significance. Shamash Shamash ( Akkadian : šamaš ), also known as Utu ( Sumerian : utu 𒀭𒌓 " Sun " ) was the ancient Mesopotamian sun god . He was believed to see everything that happened in

2990-526: A well known example of a female deity in what he deems the "cuneiform cultural sphere" is Shapash . At the same time, both the Amorites and the Arameans viewed the solar deity as male, like Sumerians and Akkadians. According to Manfred Krebernik, the name Amna, attested as a synonym of Utu in the god list An = Anum and used to refer to the sun god in an inscription of Nabonidus , might be either connected to

3120-583: A wife, the scribes interpreted the name of Aya, present in the Sumerian original, as an unconventional writing of Ea . Instead of the Hurrian spelling of Aya, the name Eyan corresponds to him in the Hurrian column and Ugaritic one lists the local craftsman god Kothar-wa-Khasis . The logogram UTU is well attested in Hittite texts. In addition to Utu himself and his Akkadian counterpart, the deities represented by it were

3250-452: Is Gavaevodata , which is the Avestan name of a hermaphroditic "uniquely created ( -aevo.data ) cow ( gav- )", one of Ahura Mazda 's six primordial material creations that becomes the mythological progenitor of all beneficent animal life. Another Zoroastrian mythological bovine is Hadhayans, a gigantic bull so large that it could straddle the mountains and seas that divide the seven regions of

3380-406: Is Amna, whose origin is uncertain. The name Shamash is a cognate of Akkadian terms šamšu ("sun") and šamšatu (" solar disc "), as well as the words referring to sun in other Semitic languages , such as Arabic šams and Hebrew šemeš . The linguistic connection between the name of the god and the corresponding celestial body has been compared to that between Adad (and Syrian Hadad) and

3510-412: Is a function also well attested for other divine spouses, such as Ninmug and Shala. It has also been pointed out that in the case of Inanna, her sukkal Ninshubur fulfilled a similar role. In legal texts from Sippar, the sun god and his wife commonly appear as divine witnesses. The only other divine couple attested in this role in this city are Mamu and Bunene . Buduhudug, a mythical mountain where

3640-400: Is a symbolic representation of a conflict between day and night, or that the deities confronted by Utu and his allies are rebellious mountain gods. Wilfred G. Lambert suggested that in some cases figures from battle scenes with rays emanating from their shoulders might be representations of Enmesharra rather than the sun god, as in a tradition known from a late myth, Enmesharra's Defeat, he

3770-455: Is additionally equated with Lugalbanda in it, most likely because the Hurrian pantheon was smaller than that enumerated in Mesopotamian lists, creating the need to have a single Hurrian deity correspond to multiple Mesopotamian ones. The same list also attests the equivalence between Utu, Shimige and the Ugaritic sun goddess Shapash (Šapšu). Apparently to avoid the implications that Shapash had

3900-481: Is agreed that the role of the sun and deities representing it in Mesopotamian religion was not comparable to that known from ancient Egyptian religion . Based on the attestations of theophoric names such as Shamash-bel-ili ( Akkadian : "Shamash is the lord of the gods"), Shamash-Enlil-ili ("Shamash is the Enlil of the gods") and Shamash-ashared-ili ("Shamash is the foremost of the gods"), Wilfred G. Lambert proposed that

4030-490: Is also accepted by Archi, who notes it makes the widespread worship of Ninkar easier to explain. The Hurrian sun god, Shimige , is already represented by the logogram UTU in an inscription of Atalshen, an early king of Urkesh . It is the oldest known reference to him. He is directly equated with Utu in the trilingual Sumero-Hurro- Ugaritic version of the Weidner god list from Ugarit . It has been argued that his character

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4160-563: Is also an astrological sign in Indian horoscope systems, corresponding to Taurus The storm god Rudra is called a bull as are the Maruts or storm deities referred to as bulls under the command of Indra, thus Indra is called "bull with bulls." The following excerpts from The Rig Veda demonstrate these attributes: "As a bull I call to you, the bull with the thunderbolt, with various aids, O Indra, bull with bulls, greatest killer of Vrtra ." — Atri and

4290-583: Is also attested in some theophoric names from the Early Dynastic period. However, no evidence exists that Marduk was ever viewed as a member of the family of any sun deity in Sippar, Larsa or any other location in Mesopotamia, which lead Wilfred G. Lambert to suggest this etymology is not plausible on theological grounds. Multiple deities who could be regarded as the sukkal (attendant deity) of Utu are known, and more than one could appear in this role at

4420-459: Is an inscription was carried out at Mactar in Numidia at the close of the 3rd century. It was performed in honor of the emperors Diocletian and Maximian . Another Roman mystery cult in which a sacrificial bull played a role was that of the 1st–4th century Mithraic Mysteries . In the so-called " tauroctony " artwork of that cult ( cultus ), and which appears in all its temples, the god Mithras

4550-467: Is both a religious concept of life-force/power and the word for bull. Andrew Gordon, an Egyptologist, and Calvin Schwabe, a veterinarian, argue that the origin of the ankh is related to two other signs of uncertain origin that often appear alongside it: the was -sceptre , representing "power" or "dominion", and the djed pillar, representing "stability". According to this hypothesis, the form of each sign

4680-471: Is drawn from a part of the anatomy of a bull, like some other hieroglyphic signs that are known to be based on body parts of animals. In Egyptian belief semen was connected with life and, to some extent, with "power" or "dominion", and some texts indicate the Egyptians believed semen originated in the bones. Therefore, Calvin and Schwabe suggest the signs are based on parts of the bull's anatomy through which semen

4810-615: Is hazardous to project Greek tradition directly into the Bronze Age ." Only one Minoan image of a bull-headed man has been found, a tiny Minoan sealstone currently held in the Archaeological Museum of Chania . In the Classical period of Greece, the bull and other animals identified with deities were separated as their agalma , a kind of heraldic show-piece that concretely signified their numinous presence. The religious practices of

4940-495: Is particularly well attested in the Old Babylonian period, and it has been argued that the institution first developed around 1880 BCE, during the reign of Sumu-la-El of Babylon. Nadītu lived in a building referred to as gagûm , conventionally translated as " cloister ," and Tonia Sharlach notes they can be compared to medieval Christian nuns . They are sometimes described as "priestesses" in modern literature, but while it

5070-539: Is possible that these events took place during a border conflict between Umma and Lagash. Theophoric names invoking Utu are well attested in texts from this area. Examples include Shubur-Utu, Utu-amu and Utu-kiag. A temple of Utu, Ehili ("house of luxuriance") also existed in Ur. It was rebuilt by Enannatumma, the daughter of Ishme-Dagan , whose inscriptions refer to it as the god's "pure storeroom." A town located near this city, most likely somewhere between it and Larsa, bore

5200-419: Is seen to slay a sacrificial bull. Although there has been a great deal of speculation on the subject, the myth (i.e. the "mystery", the understanding of which was the basis of the cult) that the scene was intended to represent remains unknown. Because the scene is accompanied by a great number of astrological allusions, the bull is generally assumed to represent the constellation of Taurus . The basic elements of

5330-459: Is shown handing them to human rulers. Utu was commonly depicted on cylinder seals as early as in the third millennium BCE. Multiple motifs recur on them, some not known from textual sources. On seals from the Sargonic period , he could be depicted climbing over two mountains, which has been interpreted as a representation of sunrise. He was also commonly depicted traveling in a boat. This motif

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5460-551: Is specially associated to the feast of Saint Charalambos . This practice of kourbania has been repeatedly criticized by church authorities. The ox is the symbol of Luke the Evangelist . Among the Visigoths , the oxen pulling the wagon with the corpse of Saint Emilian lead to the correct burial site ( San Millán de la Cogolla, La Rioja ). Taurus ( Latin for "the Bull") is one of

5590-430: Is the single best attested type of cylinder seal image from the third millennium BCE, with over fifty examples presently known. Another recurring image is a depiction of Utu, sometimes accompanied by another god, partaking in a battle between deities. The attendant deity is sometimes interpreted as Bunene . In some cases Inanna is shown watching the battle or partaking in it on Utu's side. It has been suggested that it

5720-505: Is uncertain if it was identical with Ebabbar of Assur mentioned in a later topographical text. Additionally, Ehulhuldirdirra ("house of surpassing joys"), while primarily dedicated to Sin , was also associated with Shamash, as attested in building inscriptions of Ashur-nirari I , Tukulti-Ninurta I and Ashurnasirpal II . A sanctuary in Nippur known in Akkadian as bīt dalīli , "house of fame,"

5850-448: Is well attested that they were considered to be dedicated to a specific deity, there is little evidence for their involvement in religious activities other than personal prayer. It is not impossible they were understood as a fully separate social class. Family background of individual nadītu varied, though they came predominantly from the higher strata of society. While many came from families of craftsmen, scribes or military officials,

5980-454: The Epic of Gilgamesh . Manfred Krebernik argues that in early sources, his chariot was drawn by lions, but this has been questioned by Marco Bonechi. Nathan Wasserman in his translation of a fragment of a hymn to Utu mentioning the animals only refers to them as "beasts." Sunrise and sunset were described as the sun god passing through cosmic gates situated on twin mountains on the opposite ends of

6110-553: The galla demons tried to drag him to the underworld. In various versions of the Epic of Gilgamesh and in earlier Gilgamesh myths, he helps this hero defeat the monstrous Humbaba . In the myth Inanna and An , he helps his sister acquire the temple Eanna . In How Grain Came to Sumer , he is invoked to advise Ninazu and Ninmada . The two most common names of the sun god used in Mesopotamian texts are Sumerian Utu and Akkadian Shamash. A further relatively commonly attested name

6240-690: The Achaemenid period, during the reign of Darius I . The Ebabbar in Larsa is mentioned for the first time in a text from the reign Eannatum . It was rebuilt, expanded or repaired by Ur-Nammu of Ur , Zabaya , Sin-Iddinam , Hammurabi, one of the two rulers bearing the name Kadashman-Enlil ( Kadashman-Enlil I or Kadashman-Enlil II ), Burnaburiash I , Nebuchadnezzar II and Nabonidus. Other rulers who have patronized it at some point include Gungunum , Abisare , Sumuel , Nur-Adad , Sin-Iqisham , Kudur-Mabuk , Warad-Sin and Rim-Sîn I . Odette Boivin notes that

6370-660: The Biblical episode wherein an idol of the golden calf ( Hebrew : עֵגֶּל הַזָהָב ) is made by Aaron and worshipped by the Hebrews in the wilderness of the Sinai Peninsula ( Book of Exodus ). The text of the Hebrew Bible can be understood to refer to the idol as representing a separate god, or as representing Yahweh himself, perhaps through an association or religious syncretism with Egyptian or Levantine bull gods, rather than

6500-631: The Donn Cuailnge and the Finnbhennach are prized bulls that play a central role in the epic Táin Bó Cúailnge ("The Cattle Raid of Cooley"). Early medieval Irish texts also mention the tarbfeis (bull feast), a shamanistic ritual in which a bull would be sacrificed and a seer would sleep in the bull's hide to have a vision of the future king. Pliny the Elder , writing in the first century AD, describes

6630-497: The Early Dynastic god list from Fara . The relation between them could be illustrated by matching epithets, for example in the god list An = Anum Utu is the "small boat of heaven" (Mabanda-anna), while his father Nanna - the "great boat of heaven" (Magula-anna). Ningal was regarded as Utu's mother, and Inanna as his sister. Hymn to the Queen of Nippur refers to them as twins. Due to her identification with Ishtar (Inanna)

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6760-558: The Eblaite sun deity was represented with the logogram UTU. Manfred Krebernik assumes that it should be read as Shamash, that the deity was male, and that the goddess Ninkar also attested in texts from Ebla was his spouse. Alfonso Archi instead concludes that the deity was primarily female based on lexical evidence, but points out that the Eblaites were definitely aware of the male eastern sun god, and seemingly adopted him into their pantheon as

6890-521: The Hellenistic period , though known names of the city's inhabitants from this period are predominantly Greek, rather than Mesopotamian. Utu was among the deities worshiped in the territory of Lagash in the Early Dynastic period . A dais dedicated to him existed in Namnuda-kigarra. It was originally erected by Eannatum, then destroyed by Ur-Lumma of Umma , and finally rebuilt by Entemena . It

7020-535: The Hurrian and Elamite goddess Pinikir is referred to as a twin sister of Shamash and daughter of Sin (Nanna) and Ningal in a text written in Akkadian but found in a corpus of Hurro - Hittite rituals. In a single Maqlû incantation, the rainbow goddess Manzat is referred to as Shamash's sister and as a daughter of Sin and Ningal. The sun god's wife was invariably the goddess of dawn and light, usually known under

7150-524: The Iberian Peninsula and southern France are connected with the legends of Saturnin of Toulouse and his protégé in Pamplona , Fermin . These are inseparably linked to bull-sacrifices by the vivid manner of their martyrdoms set by Christian hagiography in the third century. In some Christian traditions, Nativity scenes are carved or assembled at Christmas time. Many show a bull or an ox near

7280-752: The Iron Age in Anatolia and the Near East and were worshipped throughout that area as sacred animals; the earliest remnants of bull worship can be found at neolithic Çatalhöyük . The Sumerian guardian deity called lamassu was depicted as hybrids with bodies of either winged bulls or lions and heads of human males. The motif of a winged animal with a human head is common to the Near East, first recorded in Ebla around 3000 BCE. The first distinct lamassu motif appeared in Assyria during

7410-614: The Janapada kingdoms, and continued by the Magadhan and Mauryan empires. In additional to the bull, many karshapana contain taurine symbols of the mark left by the bulls hoof, also referred to as a nandipada (Nandi's foot) symbol which appears in Vedic, Hindu, Jain and Iranic iconography. Kushan empire (c.30-275 CE) coins and those of the Kushano-Sasanian Kingdom (230-365) depict

7540-590: The Kassite period , Uruk most likely gained influence over it, and in the Neo-Babylonian period , the Ebabbar was functionally a subordinate temple of Eanna . Multiple letters attest that the latter was responsible for providing commodities required for the performance of various rites in the former, for example sacrificial animals or wool for garments of divine statues of Shamash and Belet Larsa ("Lady of Larsa," most likely

7670-510: The Puranas as the primary vahana (mount) and the principal gana (follower) of Shiva . Nandi figures depicted as a seated bull are present at Shiva temples throughout the world. The humpbacked Zebu bull ( bos indicus ) appears on the coinage of the Indian subcontinent from the Iron Age to the modern day. Bull symbols appear regularly on silver karshapana , or punchmarked coins, first issued by

7800-503: The Rathore dynasty on copper and billon (alloy) coins. Upon independence from colonial rule, the bull reappeared in modern coins of the Indian rupee on the reverse of the 2 Anna coin in 1950. Kao (bull) , a supernatural divine bull, appears in ancient Meitei mythology and folklore of Ancient Manipur ( Kangleipak ). In the legend of the Khamba Thoibi epic, Nongban Kongyamba ,

7930-603: The Roman Empire of the 2nd to 4th centuries included the taurobolium , in which a bull was sacrificed for the well-being of the people and the state. Around the mid-2nd century, the practice became identified with the worship of Magna Mater , but was not previously associated only with that cult ( cultus ). Public taurobolia, enlisting the benevolence of Magna Mater on behalf of the emperor, became common in Italy and Gaul, Hispania and Africa. The last public taurobolium for which there

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8060-474: The Sargonic period . Evidence for the worship of Shamash in the third millennium BCE is available from the entire Akkadian-speaking area, from Mari and western Mesopotamian cities like Sippar, through Agade , to the Diyala area. Celebrations related to the sun god took place on the eighth, fifteenth, twentieth and possibly first day of each month. In the Early Dynastic period kings of Mari most likely visited

8190-515: The Sun goddess of Arinna ( UTU Arinna ), the Sun goddess of the Earth ( taknaš UTU), the male Sun god of Heaven ( nepišaš UTU, UTU AN , UTU ŠAME), as well as Luwian Tiwat , Palaic Tiyaz and Hurrian Shimige. Gary Beckman notes that the Hittite conception of solar deities does not show any Indo-European influence, and instead was largely similar to that known from Mesopotamia. He points out even

8320-418: The constellations of the zodiac , which means it is crossed by the plane of the ecliptic . Taurus is a large and prominent constellation in the northern hemisphere 's winter sky. It is one of the oldest constellations, dating back to at least the Early Bronze Age when it marked the location of the Sun during the spring equinox . Its importance to the agricultural calendar influenced various bull figures in

8450-618: The sacred stag , survived in Hurrian and Hittite mythology as Seri and Hurri ("Day" and "Night"), the bulls who carried the weather god Teshub on their backs or in his chariot and grazed on the ruins of cities. Bulls were a central theme in the Minoan civilization , with bull heads and bull horns used as symbols in the Knossos palace. Minoan frescos and ceramics depict bull-leaping , in which participants of both sexes vaulted over bulls by grasping their horns. The Iranian language texts and traditions of Zoroastrianism have several different mythological bovine creatures. One of these

8580-422: The sixth day of the moon ….Hailing the moon in a native word that means ' healing all things ,' they prepare a ritual sacrifice and banquet beneath a tree and bring up two white bulls, whose horns are bound for the first time on this occasion. A priest arrayed in white vestments climbs the tree and, with a golden sickle , cuts down the mistletoe, which is caught in a white cloak . Then finally they kill

8710-469: The Buchis were buried at the nearby Baqaria , which is analogous to the Iseum of Saqqara where the mothers of the Apis bulls were put to rest. Sacred bull Aurochs are depicted in many Paleolithic European cave paintings such as those found at Lascaux and Livernon in France. Their life force may have been thought to have magical qualities, for early carvings of the aurochs have also been found. The impressive and dangerous aurochs survived into

8840-424: The Bull and seized it by the horns. The Bull of Heaven foamed in his face, it brushed him with the thick of its tail. Enkidu cried to Gilgamesh, "My friend we boasted that we would leave enduring names behind us. Now thrust your sword between the nape and the horns." So Gilgamesh followed the Bull, he seized the thick of its tail, he thrust the sword between the nape and the horns and slew the Bull. When they had killed

8970-437: The Bull of Heaven I will break in the doors of hell and smash the bolts; there will be a confusion of people, those above with those from the lower depths. I shall bring up the dead to eat food like the living; and the hosts of the dead will outnumber the living." Anu said to great Ishtar, "If I do what you desire there will be seven years of drought throughout Uruk when corn will be seedless husks. Have you saved grain enough for

9100-409: The Bull of Heaven they cut out its heart and gave it to Shamash , and the brothers rested. In Ancient Egypt multiple sacred bulls were worshiped. A long succession of ritually perfect bulls were identified by the god's priests, housed in the temple for their lifetime, then embalmed and buried. The mother-cows of these animals were also revered, and buried in separate locations. Ka , in Egyptian,

9230-567: The Ebabbar in Sippar served as a treasury housing particularly rare objects, as excavations of the Neo-Babylonian level of the structure revealed a number of vases from the Early Dynastic and Sargonic periods, some with signs of repair, as well as the votive statue of Ikun-Shamash, a fragment of a monolith of Manishtushu, a macehead of Shar-Kali-Sharri , a whetstone of Tukulti-Mer of Hana , and other objects from earlier periods of Mesopotamian history. A special group connected to Shamash in Sippar were women referred to as nadītu . Their existence

9360-707: The Ebabbar in Sippar to pay homage to its deity. In later periods, it was renovated by multiple rulers, including Naram-Sin of Akkad (who installed his daughter Šumšani as ēntum-priestess), Sabium of Babylon , Samsu-iluna of Babylon, who called himself "beloved of Shamash and Aya," one of the Kassite rulers bearing the name Kurigalzu ( Kurigalzu I or Kurigalzu II ), Ashurbanipal , Shamash-shum-ukin , Nebuchadnezzar II and Nabonidus . Many other kings are known to have patronized or visited it at some point, including Manishtushu , Apil-Sin , Hammurabi , Abi-Eshuh , Ammi-Ditana , Ammi-Saduqa , Samsu-Ditana , Simbar-shipak and Nabu-apla-iddina . In addition to Ebabbar,

9490-712: The Iranian god Wēś beside a bull, sometimes holding a trident and beside a Nandipada symbol. The silver "bull and horseman" Jital of the Kabul or Hindu Shahi (850-1000) depicts a recumbent bull with a trishula on rump and the Nāgarī script legend above: "Sri Samanta Deva (Radiant Samanta the God). This design was copied by later Rajput dynasties including the Tomaras of Delhi , the Chauhan dynasty and

9620-509: The Last Sun "He the mighty bull who with his seven reins let loose the seven rivers to flow, who with his thunderbolt in his hand hurled down Ruhina as he was climbing up to the sky, he my people is Indra." — Who is Indra? "I send praise to the high bull, tawny and white. I bow low to the radiant one. We praise the dreaded name of Rudra." — Rudra, father of the Maruts. Nandi later appears in

9750-607: The Levant; two examples are the 16th century BCE (Middle Bronze Age) bull calf from Ashkelon , and the 12th century BCE (Iron Age I) bull found at the so-called Bull Site in Samaria on the West Bank . Both Baʿal and El were associated with the bull in Ugaritic texts, as it symbolized both strength and fertility. Exodus 32:4 reads "He took this from their hand, and fashioned it with

9880-451: The Mesopotamian deity, and when to local Nahhunte . It is possible that in legal texts, when UTU occurs next to Elamite deities Inshushinak , Ruhurater or Simut , the latter option is correct. While the god list An=Anum does mention Nahhunte, he is not explicitly labeled as a counterpart of Utu, and only appears as a member of a group called the "Divine Seven of Elam," associated with the goddess Narundi . A Mesopotamian commentary on

10010-518: The ancient sacred bull of Marathon (the "Marathonian bull") before he faced the Minotaur (Greek for "Bull of Minos"), who the Greeks imagined as a man with the head of a bull at the center of the labyrinth . Minotaur was fabled to be born of the Queen and a bull, bringing the king to build the labyrinth to hide his family's shame. Living in solitude made the boy wild and ferocious, unable to be tamed or beaten. Yet Walter Burkert 's constant warning is, "It

10140-479: The assumption that the name Shamash was ever understood as referring to a female deity in Akkadian-speaking areas. Christopher Woods argues that the only available evidence are early ambiguous theophoric names, which according to him do not necessarily point at the existence of female Shamash, and might omit prepositions necessary to identify the gender of the deity invoked in them. Manfred Krebernik notes that

10270-427: The baby Jesus , lying in a manger. Traditional songs of Christmas often tell of the bull and the donkey warming the infant with their breath. This refers (or, at least, is referred) to the beginning of the book of the prophet Isaiah, where he says: "The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib." (Isaiah 1:3) Oxen are some of the animals sacrificed by Greek Orthodox believers in some villages of Greece. It

10400-462: The bull without killing it was not an easy task, Khamba's motherly sister Khamnu disclosed to Khamba the secrets of the bull, by means of which the animal could be captured. In Cyprus , bull masks made from real skulls were worn in rites . Bull-masked terracotta figurines and Neolithic bull-horned stone altars have been found in Cyprus. Bull figurines are common finds on archaeological sites across

10530-450: The burial chambers were equipped with sarcophagi, which were either monolithic boxes with a trapezoidal lid, like those at the Serapeum, or polylithic. Multiple Buchis mummies survived in situ , albeit heavily damaged from flooding, looting and collapsed ceilings. They were fastened to boards with metal clamps, had artificial eyes, and were partially covered in gold leaf . The mother-cows of

10660-429: The corresponding major deity's actions (unlike such deities as Nabium, deified flame and sukkal of the fire god Girra or Nimgir, deified lightning and sukkal of the weather god Ishkur ) or a divine personifications of specific commands (unlike such deities as Eturammi, "do not slacken," the sukkal of Birtum ). Ninpirig was referred to as Utu's sukkalmah ("great sukkal"). It has been proposed that his name might hint at

10790-491: The deified concept of truth , according to Jacob Klein regarded as his principal daughter, and Ishum . In myths both about himself and about Lugalbanda , the legendary king Enmerkar was referred to as a son of Utu. However, in the Sumerian King List Utu is instead his grandfather, and his father is a human ruler, Meškiağašer . Unlike other legendary kings of Uruk, namely Lugalbanda and Gilgamesh , Enmerkar

10920-516: The deities of Larsa were apparently well represented in the pantheon of the First Sealand dynasty . She suggests that those kings might have associated their position both with Larsa and with its tutelary god. The Larsean form of the sun god was also worshiped in Uruk and a close connection between these two cities is well documented. At an unknown point in time after Larsa's loss of status, possibly in

11050-464: The earliest Sumerian sources Ishkur, who was analogous to Adad, was not associated with divination, it is possible that it was based on the association between Hadad and the solar deity in Ebla and possibly elsewhere in Syria and Upper Mesopotamia . According to a late ritual text, Shamash and Adad were responsible for teaching divination to the mythical king Enmeduranki . Subsequently, he taught it to

11180-496: The earliest collection of Vedic hymns (c. 1500-1000 BCE), Indra is often praised as a Bull (Vṛṣabha – vrsa (he) plus bha (being) or as uksan , a bull aged five to nine years, which is still growing or just reached its full growth). The bull is an icon of power and virile strength in Aryan literature and other Indo-European traditions. Vrsha means "to shower or to spray", in this context Indra showers strength and virility. Vṛṣabha

11310-476: The earth , and on whose back men could travel from one region to another. In medieval times, Hadhayans also came to be known as Srīsōk (Avestan * Thrisaok , "three burning places"), which derives from a legend in which three "Great Fires" were collected on the creature's back. Yet another mythological bovine is that of the unnamed creature in the Cow's Lament , an allegorical hymn attributed to Zoroaster himself, in which

11440-605: The eight-pointed star representing Inanna (Ishtar) and the crescent representing Nanna (Sin). Additionally the symbol of a winged sun came to be associated with the sun god in Assyria in the first millennium BCE. Some depictions of it add a bird tail as well. It only arrived in Babylonia during the reign of Nabonidus . The sun god was traditionally viewed as a son of the moon god in Mesopotamian religion, both in Sumerian and Akkadian texts. They are already attested as father and son in

11570-644: The fact that the Sun god of Heaven was believed to travel in a quadriga drawn by horses, similar to Greek Helios , is not necessarily an example of the former, as deities traveling in chariots are already depicted on Mesopotamian seals from the Sargonic period. The logogram UTU also designated the sun deity or deities in Emar in the late Bronze Age . According to Gary Beckman, the Mesopotamian, West Semitic, Hurrian and Hittite sun deities might all be potentially represented by it in texts from this city. Eduardo Torrecilla notes in

11700-586: The first millennium BCE, the so-called Sun God Tablet . It is commonly discussed in scholarship, and has been described as "one of the masterpieces of ancient Near Eastern art." It was discovered by Hormuzd Rassam in December 1880 during his excavations in Abu Habbah in modern Iraq . Its discovery subsequently made it possible to identify this site with Sippar. It dates to the Neo-Babylonian period, but its style has been described as "archaizing," and most likely

11830-644: The joy of heaven and the underworld"), built by Yahdun-Lim . An inscription of Nebuchadnezzar II might indicate that the sun god's manifestation from Larsa was also worshiped in Ekarra ("house of the quay"), a temple located in Dilmun , on the Failaka Island , which was dedicated to the local deities Inzak and Meskilak . The Canonical Temple List , which dates to the Kassite period, mentions further temples, whose location

11960-419: The land of the dead. In this capacity he could be associated with the deified legendary king Gilgamesh , commonly portrayed in a similar role. Shamash and Adad were jointly regarded as gods of divination , especially extispicy . The connection between the sun god and the weather god is well attested in Mesopotamian sources and goes back to the Old Babylonian period. Its origin is uncertain, but since in

12090-399: The left" and "vizier of the right" in the god list An = Anum . Nigsisa alone is mentioned by Ninsun as Shamash's sukkal in the Epic of Gilgamesh . Nigzida could be equated with Niggina, another goddess regarded as the sun god's sukkal, though the latter deity's role varies between that of a servant and oldest daughter in known copies of the god list An = Anum . Her Akkadian counterpart

12220-531: The main temple dedicated to Utu and his spouse Aya was known as Ebabbar. Less important temples dedicated to him, located in Girsu and Assur , bore the same name. It means "shining white house "in Sumerian . The oldest attested votive objects dedicated to Utu (or Shamash) are a mace head from Ur offered by a king named Anbu or Anunbu, and a statuette from Sippar from the reign of Ikun-Shamash of Mari . Both predate

12350-416: The mountains during his daily journey. Christopher Woods points out that both in Sumerian and Akkadian, judgments had to be "cut" ( kud / parāsum ), and therefore considers the association with judgment to be most likely. The saw's presence is often used to identify depictions of gods as Utu. He could also be depicted holding the rod-and-ring symbol , commonly associated with major deities. In some cases he

12480-521: The mythologies of Ancient Sumer , Akkad , Assyria , Babylon , Egypt , Greece , and Rome . In his book 'Robin Hood: Green Lord of the Wildwood' (2016), John Matthews interprets the scene from the ballad in which Sir Richard-at-Lee awards, for the love of Robin Hood , a prize of a white bull to the winner of a wrestling match as seeming 'to hark back to an ancient time when the presentation of such

12610-470: The name Aya , though the forms Ninkar, Sudaĝ, Sherida and Sudgan are also well attested. Typically they were worshiped together, though sometimes Shamash shared his temples with other gods instead. Utu/Shamash and Aya are the single most common divine couple in cylinder seal inscriptions from Sippar , with only the number of dedications to Ishkur and Shala being comparably high. Aya was believed to intercede with her husband on behalf of worshipers, which

12740-465: The name Kar-Shamash, KAR. UTU . Most likely a temple dedicated to the eponymous god existed there as well. In Babylon, Shamash was worshiped in the temple Edikukalamma ("house of the judge of the land"), first attested in the Old Babylonian period and still mentioned in inscriptions from the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II. He was also one of the many gods worshiped in the Esagil temple complex, where his seat

12870-413: The names of many foreign solar deities logographically. The connection between him and the Hurrian solar god Shimige is particularly well attested, and the latter could be associated with Aya as well. While no myths focusing on Utu are known, he often appears as an ally of other figures in both Sumerian and Akkadian compositions. According to narratives about Dumuzi 's death, he helped protect him when

13000-406: The numeral 20, which was associated with him. Dozens of other variant names, epithets or possibly minor deities who came to be seen as synonymous with Utu are attested in god lists. Examples include Karkara (possibly related to Ninkar, one of the names of his wife Aya ), Nimindu (possibly related to the name of the goddess Nimintabba ), Si'e ("who shines forth"), Ṣalam (possibly a name referring to

13130-566: The people and grass for the cattle?" Ishtar replied "I have saved grain for the people, grass for the cattle."...When Anu heard what Ishtar had said he gave her the Bull of Heaven to lead by the halter down to Uruk. When they reached the gates of Uruk the Bull of Heaven went to the river; with his first snort cracks opened in the earth and a hundred young men fell down to death. With his second snort cracks opened and two hundred fell down to death. With his third snort cracks opened, Enkidu doubled over but instantly recovered, he dodged aside and leapt onto

13260-399: The people of Sippar, Nippur and Babylon . Whether referred to as Utu or Shamash, the sun god had identical iconography. Due to distinct attributes, he is considered one of the few Mesopotamian deities who can be identified in art with certainty. Depictions of him are known from many sites, for example Eshnunna, Tell al-Rimah , Sippar , Ur and Susa . His best attested attributes are

13390-414: The primary god of justice, presumably because due to traveling through the sky every day he was believed to see everything that happened in the world. He could be assisted in this role by his father Nanna , his sister Inanna , and various minor judge deities. At least in the third millennium BCE, Ishtaran was regarded as a divine judge equal in rank to Utu, and a fragment of a myth from Ebla mentions

13520-573: The reign of Rim-Sîn I , a king of Larsa well known for his devotion to Ninshubur. Many deities belonging to the court of Utu were regarded as divine judges. They could be grouped together, and collective labels such as "Eleven Standing Gods of Ebabbar" or "Six Judges of Shamash" are known from various sources. One well known example of such a deity is Ishmekarab , who could also be associated with Inshushinak and Lagamal . Kusarikku (bull-men, or, as argued by Frans Wiggermann, bison -men ) were frequently associated with Utu, and especially through

13650-453: The reign of Tiglath-Pileser II as a symbol of power. " The human-headed winged bulls protective genies called shedu or lamassu, ... were placed as guardians at certain gates or doorways of the city and the palace. Symbols combining man, bull, and bird, they offered protection against enemies. " The bull was also associated with the storm and rain god Adad, Hadad or Iškur. The bull was his symbolic animal. He appeared bearded, often holding

13780-462: The second millennium BCE were commonly depicted as members of his court, for example as standard bearers. Similarly, the human-headed bull ( alima ) could accompany the solar disc in art, and a reference to its head serving as an emblem of Utu is known. It is possible that the association between bison-like mythical beings and the sun god was based on their shared connection to eastern mountains. A further type of apotropaic creature associated with Utu

13910-464: The sky from east to west, and at night in the opposite direction through AN.ŠAG 4 , a "nether sky" located directly above the underworld , though the notion of a night journey only developed later, and in sources from the third millennium BCE Utu usually rests at night. A reference to the latter tradition is also known from the "Standard Babylonian" version of the Epic of Gilgamesh , where Shamash meets with his wife Aya after sunset. Utu's vehicle

14040-464: The soul of a bovine ( geush urvan ) despairs over her lack of protection from an adequate herdsman. In the allegory, the cow represents humanity's lack of moral guidance, but in later Zoroastrianism, Geush Urvan became a yazata representing cattle . The 14th day of the month is named after her and is under her protection. Bulls appear on seals from the Indus Valley civilisation . In The Rig Veda ,

14170-479: The storm, lion of heaven. The Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh depicts the horrors of the rage-fueled deployment of the Bull of Heaven by Ishtar and its slaughter by Gilgamesh and Enkidu as an act of defiance that seals their fates: Ishtar opened her mouth and said again, "My father, give me the Bull of Heaven to destroy Gilgamesh. Fill Gilgamesh, I say, with arrogance to his destruction; but if you refuse to give me

14300-419: The sun god, and that the former functioned as his sukkal during his nightly journey through the underworld, while the latter fulfilled the same role during the day. Lugal-namtarra is otherwise sparsely attested and might be analogous to Namtar . Boivin speculates that SUKKAL developed from the male version of Ninshubur, and assumes it is plausible a connection between the latter and the sun god developed during

14430-417: The sun was believed to set, was regarded as "the entrance of Shamash to Aya" ( nēreb Šamaš <ana> Aya ), the place where they were able to reunite each day after he finished his journey through the sky. The deities counted among Utu's children include the dream goddess Mamu (as well as two other, male, dream deities, Sisig and Zaqar ), Šumugan , a god associated with animals, Niggina ( Kittum ),

14560-414: The tauroctony scene were originally associated with Nike , the Greek goddess of victory. Macrobius lists the bull as an animal sacred to the god Neto/Neito , possibly being sacrifices to the deity. Tarvos Trigaranus (the "bull with three cranes") is pictured on ancient Gaulish reliefs alongside images of gods, such as in the cathedrals at Trier and at Notre Dame de Paris . In Irish mythology ,

14690-479: The toponym Sippar-Amnanum or to a root attested in Northwest Semitic languages , ' -m-n , which can be translated as "to be reliable" or "to be firm." The most common writing of the sun god's name was the logogram UTU, which could be read as Utu, Shamash, or, as attested in the god list An = Anum , as Amna. Syllabic spellings of all three of these names are also known. A further logographic spelling used

14820-676: The victims, praying to a god to render his gift propitious to those on whom he has bestowed it. They believe that mistletoe given in drink will impart fertility to any animal that is barren and that it is an antidote to all poisons. Bull sacrifices at the time of the Lughnasa festival were recorded as late as the 18th century at Cois Fharraige in Ireland (where they were offered to Crom Dubh ) and at Loch Maree in Scotland (where they were offered to Saint Máel Ruba ). The practice of bullfighting in

14950-461: The word addu , "storm." The Amorite form of the name is Samsu, as attested for example in the theophoric name Samsu-iluna ("Samsu is our god"). The ancient Aramaic form of the name was most likely Śameš, though many variant syllabic spellings are attested. Additionally, the name for the sun in Mandaean cosmology , Shamish ( Mandaic language : ࡔࡀࡌࡉࡔ ), is derived from Akkadian Shamash. Utu

15080-477: The world every day, and was therefore responsible for justice and protection of travelers. As a divine judge, he could be associated with the underworld . Additionally, he could serve as the god of divination , typically alongside the weather god Adad . While he was universally regarded as one of the primary gods, he was particularly venerated in Sippar and Larsa . The moon god Nanna (Sin) and his wife Ningal were regarded as his parents, while his twin sister

15210-403: The world. It was believed that his daily journey let him see everything happening on earth. He was also responsible for protection of travelers. Formulas common in both prayers and literary compositions indicate that he was likely often invoked outside temples, presumably as an astral body. Early morning was likely regarded as the most appropriate time for imploring him for help. Utu was also

15340-438: Was Inanna (Ishtar). Occasionally other goddesses, such as Manzat and Pinikir , could be regarded as his sisters too. The dawn goddess Aya (Sherida) was his wife, and multiple texts describe their daily reunions taking place on a mountain where the sun was believed to set. Among their children were Kittum , the personification of truth, dream deities such as Mamu , as well as the god Ishum . Utu's name could be used to write

15470-443: Was Kittum, whose name has the same meaning, "truth." In An = Anum Kittum is instead male and a brother of Niggina. She had a sukkal of her own, Iqbi-damiq . None of Utu's sukkals known from other sources are present in documents from the archive of the First Sealand dynasty . Odette Boivin proposes that in local tradition, this role was instead fulfilled by the deities Lugal-namtarra and SUKKAL, who frequently appear alongside

15600-522: Was a solar chariot , which was pulled by four animals bearing the Sumerian names Uhegalanna ("the abundant light of heaven"), Uhushgalanna ("the terrifying great light of heaven"), Usurmurgalanna ("the dreadful great light of heaven") and Unirgalanna ("the noble light of heaven"). Their species is not entirely consistent, though in most cases the sun chariot is apparently associated with equids : "choice steeds" ( niskum ) in an inscription of Gudea , horses in various prayers and incantations, and mules in

15730-505: Was influenced at least in part by his Mesopotamian counterpart. Gary Beckman goes as far as suggesting that at least in Hittite texts, he "cannot (yet?) be distinguished sufficiently" from the latter. Due to this association, Aya was regarded as his spouse in Hurrian tradition, as attested in sources from Hattusa and Ugarit. In the trilingual god list, Bunene (transcribed as wu-u-un-ni-nu-wa-an ) appears in association with Shimige. Shimige

15860-457: Was inspired by motifs found in presentation scenes from the Ur III period . It shows three individuals, an intercessory minor goddess ( lamma ) and two men, possibly the king Nabu-apla-iddina and the priest Nabu-nadin-shumi, facing Shamash. While other anthropomorphic depictions of the sun god are known from Assyria from the same period, in Babylonia he came to be usually portrayed in the form of

15990-445: Was jointly dedicated to Nisaba , Kusu , Ningal , Shamash and Bēl-āliya. In the Old Babylonian period, Shamash was worshiped in Susa in Elam , where the local pantheon consisted out of both Elamite deities, such as Inshushinak and Simut , and Mesopotamian ones. He appears in oath formulas and theophoric names. In Mari, Shamash was worshiped in a temple named Egirzalanki ("house of

16120-457: Was not deified, despite the existence of a tradition attributing divine ancestry to him. In various sources, Utu seems to serve as a special protector to several of Uruk's other kings. AMAR.UD, an early writing of Marduk 's name, can be translated as "bull calf of Utu," as long as it is assumed that the sign UD should be understood as a writing of Utu's name without the divine determinative (a cuneiform sign preceding names of deities), which

16250-417: Was so literally a heifer that she was stung by a gadfly, and it was in the form of a heifer that Zeus coupled with her. Zeus took over the earlier roles, and, in the form of a bull that came forth from the sea, abducted the high-born Phoenician Europa and brought her, significantly, to Crete. Dionysus was another god of resurrection who was strongly linked to the bull. In a worship hymn from Olympia , at

16380-527: Was the girtablullu ("scorpion man"). In the Standard Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh , a scorpion man and a scorpion woman guard the mountain of sunrise. According to Christopher Woods, it is possible that in a single case the minor serpentine god Nirah is attested as a member of the court of Shamash. He proposes that it was a result of the well attested association between the sun god and Ishtaran , whose servant Nirah usually was. The name of

16510-557: Was the E-ešbaranki ("house of decisions of heaven and the underworld"). A socle dedicated to him called Edikugal ("house of the great judge") was also present in Erabriri, most likely the temple bearing this name located in Babylon which was dedicated to Mandanu . In Assur, a temple of Shamash was refounded by king Arik-den-ili , though as no name is given in sources mentioning this event it

16640-426: Was their original owner. In the second millennium BCE, Utu was typically portrayed in front of worshipers, either standing or seated on a throne. One well known example of such an image is a stele of Hammurabi of Babylon , inscribed with his legal code . Anna Kurmangaliev points out that only a single depiction of the sun god in anthropomorphic form has been identified among works of art from Babylonia from

16770-538: Was thought to pass: the ankh is a thoracic vertebra , the djed is the sacrum and lumbar vertebrae , and the was is the dried penis of the bull. We cannot recreate a specific context for the bull skulls with horns ( bucrania ) preserved in an 8th millennium BCE sanctuary at Çatalhöyük in Central Anatolia. The sacred bull of the Hattians , whose elaborate standards were found at Alaca Höyük alongside those of

16900-469: Was understood as a masculine deity. According to Manfred Krebernik, this most likely also resulted in his Akkadian counterpart being viewed as such, even though in the majority of Semitic languages both the word referring to the sun itself and names of solar deities are grammatically feminine . Julia M. Asher-Greve considers this the oldest attested example of a Mesopotamian deity's gender being impacted by syncretism . However, not all researchers agree with

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