#atargatis

[theshunbun]

Atargatis for the Tato setting🩵

[atargatiscorona]

[twintailedsiren]

Atargatis, lead votive. 1st to 4th century CE. Private collection.

From the auction website: "The goddess figure in the center holds a tree in one hand and is flanked by bulls. Items like these were carried on ceremonial occasions in a sacred procession from Heliopolis to Ain Lejouj where they were then flung into the waters of the spring."

Atargatis is an ancient fertility goddess, associated with water and vegetation. Here, her pose reminds me of the Mistress of Animals, another fertility goddess, as she's flanked by two animals.

[tsalmu]

Attarshamayn and Worshiper Text in Old Aramaic, dedication of Baraq to the goddess Attarshamayn ("Attar of the Heavens", related to Attar, Atargatis, Astarte) 11-10th c. BCE, likely crafted in ancient Assyria. Acquired from Jableh, Syria. __________________________ Translated excerpt from: Antiquités syriennes Henri Seyrig Syria T. 32, Fasc. 1/2 (1955), pp. 29-48 (23 pages)

Atarshamayn. Pl. Ill, 5. Burnt carnelian. 21 X 9. Brought from Djeblé (Gabala). Goddess advancing on the right, dressed in a long split garment, a sword at her side, wearing a polos crowned with globules and surmounted by a star; she holds in her left hand a ring made of globules, and she raises her right hand; from her head, a dewlap falls to the height of her waist. Behind her, a recumbent ibex, a lozenge, a bucranium. In front of her, an offering table, laden with a footed vase, a bird, and another object. To the right, a bearded figure, long-robed, stands in the attitude of prayer, hands outstretched with palms in the air. Above the scene, crescent and eight-pointed star. In the field, inscription in Phoenician characters: HTM BRO BD TRSMN, seal of Baraq, servant of Atarshamayn. Note the archaic character of the letters, and in particular that of the daleth without a tail. This carefully crafted cylinder appears to belong to the class of Assyrian cylinders .11 from the 10th century (1). Phoenician characters were commonly used in these ancient times for the transcription of Aramaic, and do not allow us to conclude that the seal was engraved in Phoenicia. Moreover, if Baraq (2), the owner of the cylinder, had been Phoenician, his tutelary deity would not have borne an Aramaic name, where the element Atar is the equivalent of the Phoenician Ashtart. The fact that the cylinder was found in Gabala, in Phoenicia, is therefore probably fortuitous Atarshamayn, "Atar of the Heavens," is still known only from a single text, notably later than our cylinder. Around 640, Ashurba-nipal was campaigning against the Arab tribes of the Syrian Desert (3), and his annals specify that he then subdued "the band of Atarsamayn and the people of Oedar" (4). No doubt the people of Atarsamayn were Arabs, just as the people of Qedar were, and they were named after their principal deity. It was a form of the Lady of Heaven (I), whose cult is common to the Semites. Perhaps the warrior goddess, represented on the seal, is the one named in the inscription. This text seems to be composed with the decoration. Barak must have ordered his cylinder as we see it, and, in this case, it will seem natural that he had engraved on it the goddess whose servant he proclaims himself.

[valkyries-things]

ATARGATIS // MESOPOTAMIAN GODDESS OF FERTILITY

“She was the chief goddess of northern Syria in Classical antiquity. Primarily she was a fertility goddess, but, as the baalat ("mistress") of her city and people she was also responsible for their protection and well-being. Michael Rostovtzeff called her "the great mistress of the North Syrian lands". Her consort is usually Hadad. As Ataratheh, doves and fish were considered sacred to her: doves as an emblem of the love goddess, and fish as symbolic of the fertility and life of the waters. She is sometimes described as a mermaid-goddess, due to identification of her with a fish-bodied goddess at Ashkelon.”

[dea-syria]

“I,” said a voice—“I am Desire. In Greece I am revered, and there I am Aphrodite. In Italy I am Venus; in Egypt, Hathor; in Armenia, Anaitis; in Persia, Anâhita; Tanit in Carthage; Baaltis in Byblus; Derceto in Ascalon; Atargatis in Hierapolis; Bilet in Babylon; Ashtaroth to the Sidonians; and Aschera in the glades of Judæa. And everywhere I am worshipped, and everywhere I am Love. I bring joy and torture, delight and pain. I appease and appal. It is I that create and undo. It is I that make heaven and people hell. I am the mistress of the world. Without me time would cease to be. I am the germ of stars, the essence of things. I am all that is, will be, and has been, and my robe no mortal has raised. I breathe, and nations are; in my parturitions are planets; my home is space. My lips are blissfuller than any bloom of bliss; my arms the opening gates of life. The Infinite is mine. Mary, come with me, and you shall measure it.”

--Edgar Saltus, "Mary Magdalen"

[paganblackpanthermagickal1]

[widelysolitaryphilosopher]

Molte culture e religioni antiche celebravano divinità legate al sole o alla rinascita in concomitanza con il solstizio d'inverno, che in passato cadeva intorno al 25 dicembre.

Tra le divinità associate a questa data vi sono:

Horus: dio egizio del Sole, della caccia e della guerra

Sol Invictus: divinità solare del tardo Impero Romano, il cui culto fu introdotto da Aureliano nel 274 Era Comune (E.C.)

Mitra: divinità di origine persiana, il cui culto era popolare nell'Impero Romano

Dioniso: dio greco del vino e della fertilità, la cui rinascita veniva celebrata

Buddha, Zarathustra, Quetzalcoatl: alcune fonti riportano che anche queste figure divine o profetiche avessero celebrazioni a ridosso del 25 dicembre, sebbene le date di nascita precise siano spesso oggetto di dibattito e interpretazioni

Atargatis e Astarte: dee madri e della fertilità di origine siriana e fenicia, la cui festa era talvolta collegata al 25 dicembre.