Once again. Myths, stars, numbers, glyphs, etc seem all to indicate a 'tree of death' at the time position equivalent to that of glyph Gb1-21. Therefore the sequence of Babylonian ecliptic stations ought to have begun from an earlier position, from the point where their year originated, viz. at Anunitum (τ - tau - Pisces) close to the flat field high up at the top of the mountain in the northeast covered with still waters like a sleeping serpent:
... The Akkadian Dil-gan I-ku, the Messenger of Light, or Dil-gan Babili, the Patron star of Babylon, is thought to have been Capella, known in Assyria an I-ku, the Leader, i.e. of the year; for, according to Sayce, in Akkadian times the commencement of the year was determined by the position of this star in relation to the moon at the vernal equinox ...
... Snorri Sterluson explains why 'Frodi's grist' is a kenning for gold. Frodi ruled during a peaceful and productive period, contemporaneous with Augustus's Pax Romana and the birth of Christ; hence the kenning. There were neither thieves nor robbers during this period, 'so that a gold ring lay long on Jalang's heath'. Snorri continues his account with the legend of the mill beyond what is told in the song: The girls' grinding produced an army hostile to Frodi. On the very day of the girls' predictions, the sea-king, Musing (Son of the Mouse), landed on the Danish shore, killed Frodi, and took away Grotti and the women on his ship. The girls were bidden to grind out salt on the mill. At midnight they asked for further instructions. 'Keep grinding', he told them. Then they ground with such vigor that the ship sank. Water poured into the eye of the mill, creating the maelstroem of the sea. Therefore the sea was salt. Incidentally, the mill was given a kenning, Serpent's Couch ...
From this Babylonian 'zero' station (1-iku) the path went down all the way towards the central star of Mother Earth, to the fertile belt in between the northern and southern 'mountains', viz. to Ana-roto (the star pillar in the middle), to Spica - the Ear of Wheat - serving as well for the position of the Sprout of a new Tree as for anything else newly born.
The turtles (honu glyphs) which here (and also in the same place on the C tablet ) have been drawn close by were probably referring to Mother Earth as a 'Turtle' - as the dry earth crust (carapace) waiting for the waters from above: ... An iconographic study by Jeff Kowalski suggests a cosmological layout for the Nunnery. The higher placement of the North Building, with its 13 exterior doorways (reflecting the 13 layers of heaven), and the celestial serpents surmounting the huts identify it with the celestial sphere.
The iconography of the West Building, with 7 exterior doorways (7 is the mystic number of the earth's surface), and figures of Pawahtun - the earth god as a turtle - indicate this to be the Middleworld, the place of the sun's descent into the Underworld. The East Building has mosaic elements reflecting the old war cult of Teotihuacan, where tradition had it that the sun was born; thus, this may also be Middleworld, the place of the rising sun. Finally, the South Building has 9 exterior doorways (the Underworld or Xibalba had 9 layers), and has the lowest placement in the compex; it thus seems to be associated with death and the nether regions ... ... The ancient Chinese believed that with the arrival of the dry season the earth and sky ceased to communicate (Granet, p. 315, n. 1). The Spirit of drought was personified by a little bald woman with eyes at the top of her head. Hills and rivers are the first to suffer from drought. It deprives hills of their trees, i.e. their hair, and rivers of their fish, which are their people ... The same word, wang, means mad, deceitful, lame, hunchbacked, bald and Spirit of drought (Schafer). While she was present, the sky refrained from sending rain, so as not to harm her (ibid., n. 3) ... At the time of the Hyades Gate (where the text on side a of the rongorongo tablet is beginning) not only Anunitum but also the important stars Mirach (β Andromedae) and Revati (ζ Piscium) rose with the Sun in FEBRUARY 1. This month was the place of birth of a new year. ... At the beginning of 44 B.C. - when Ceasar was still alive - the Senate decided to raise statues of him in all the temples and to sacrifice to him on his birthday in the month of Quintilis, which in honour of him was renamed July. He was raised to the status of a god (among the other gods of the state) under the name Jupiter Julius. Marcus Antonius, who this year was consul together with Ceasar, became high priest and responsible for the ceremonies. In the middle of February, at the time of the old feast of Lupercalia, he ran around naked (except for a girdle - like a maro), and whipped the Roman ladies with thongs made from goat-skin, in order to promote ('kick' - rei), their fertility ... And in FEBRUARY 1 the leading star of the Lion (α Leonis, Regulus) culminated at midnight. While at heliacal Spica half a year later it would have been the complementary king Sa'd-al-Malik (the Lucky King, α Aquarii) who culminated. Fire respectively Water. Spica (202) - 16 (Anunitum) = 186 (= 6 * 31) days.
At Spica was also Alcor (the Fox): ... Proclus informs us that the fox star nibbles continuously at the thong of the yoke which holds together heaven and earth; German folklore adds that when the fox succeeds, the world will come to its end. This fox star is no other than Alcor, the small star g near zeta Ursae Majoris (in India Arundati, the common wife of the Seven Rishis, alpha-eta Ursae ...
It should in principle have been possible to use a string with a lead bob (heart, cor) hanging at bottom in order to search for the weak light of Alcor high up from the bright Spica far down. Although this obviously was to use the method upside down.
It would haven been much easier to try to find the Fox by looking close to Mizar (ζ Ursae Majoris): ... The Arabs in the desert regarded it as a test of penetrating vision; and they were accustomed to oppose 'Suhel' to 'Suha' (Canopus to Alcor) as occupying respectively the highest and lowest posts in the celestial family. So that Vidit Alcor, et non lunam plenum, came to be a proverbial description of one keenly alive to trifles, but dull of apprehension for broad facts ... At the beginning of side a there seems to be a pair of 'plumb eyes' (mata), which could have represented Hyadum II respectively σ Scorpii, the place of birth respectively of death for the Sun and half a year apart:
These 'eyes' are vertically oriented, not horizontally as in the Tree of Death (Gb1-21). The Chinese 5th station Heart probably referred to the 'heart' (Egyptian ieb) at the bottom of a plumb line. The pair of hanging mata at Ga1-2 are at left which should mean they were not in the present but in the past, presumably referring to the empty glyph space between the end of side b and the beginning of side a - the place for the birth of a new year at the time of the Hyades Gate (around 64 * 71 = 4544 years before the time of rongorongo, or around 2700 B.C.). My earlier way of presenting the nakshatra (night side) stars in parallel with the corresponding heliacal (sunny side) stars was useful here. In principle, however, it gives the same information as when presenting in parallel the half a year apart pair of interconnected heliacal stars. The essence of the Babylonian ecliptic path was a downwards and towards Mother Earth - with the flow of time like a stream of water originating from a source high up in a mountain. But later the wheel of precession turned and the water reservoir of time at the top of the mountain was emptied. Repetition helps both memory and insight - the little Fox was at the beginning and the great Rishi was at the end:
... The Pythagoreans make Phaeton fall into Eridanus, burning part of its water, and glowing still at the time when the Argonauts passed by. Ovid stated that since the fall the Nile hides its sources. Rigveda 9.73.3 says that the Great Varuna has hidden the ocean. The Mahabharata tells in its own style why the 'heavenly Ganga' had to be brought down. At the end of the Golden Age (Krita Yuga) a class of Asura who had fought against the 'gods' hid themselves in the ocean where the gods could not reach them, and planned to overthrow the government. So the gods implored Agastya (Canopus, alpha Carinae = Eridu) for help. The great Rishi did as he was bidden, drank up the water of the ocean, and thus laid bare the enemies, who were then slain by the gods. But now, there was no ocean anymore! Implored by the gods to fill the sea again, the Holy One replied: 'That water in sooth hath been digested by me. Some other expedient, therefore, must be thought of by you, if ye desire to make endeavour to fill the ocean ... The position of the Pegasus Square was no longer at winter solstice but in spring - as if its the 'water' had to be fetched from a spring: ... On February 9 the Chorti Ah K'in, 'diviners', begin the agricultural year. Both the 260-day cycle and the solar year are used in setting dates for religious and agricultural ceremonies, especially when those rituals fall at the same time in both calendars. The ceremony begins when the diviners go to a sacred spring where they choose five stones with the proper shape and color. These stones will mark the five positions of the sacred cosmogram created by the ritual. When the stones are brought back to the ceremonial house, two diviners start the ritual by placing the stones on a table in a careful pattern that reproduces the schematic of the universe. At the same time, helpers under the table replace last year's diagram with the new one. They believe that by placing the cosmic diagram under the base of God at the center of the world they demonstrate that God dominates the universe. The priests place the stones in a very particular order. First the stone that corresponds to the sun in the eastern, sunrise position of summer solstice is set down; then the stone corresponding to the western, sunset position of the same solstice. This is followed by stones representing the western, sunset position of the winter solstice, then its eastern, sunrise position. Together these four stones form a square. They sit at the four corners of the square just as we saw in the Creation story from the Classic period and in the Popol Vuh. Finally, the center stone is placed to form the ancient five-point sign modern researchers called the quincunx ... In rongorongo times February 9 coincided with the point when the Sun reached Sadalsud (the Luckiest of the Lucky), β at the left shoulder of Aquarius:
Glyph 261 was 9 * 29 days from the beginning of the text on side a - i.e. 261 days after 0h at the time of Hyades II. And the Sun reached the Tail of the Goat (Deneb Al-Giedi) 4 days later. From the Belly (Baten) of the Goat to its Tail (Deneb) there were only 14 days:
I think the exercise above indicates it is important to present also the glyphs half a year apart in parallel. Here to subtract 183 days evidently gives another and better result than adding 183 days. Culminating Vega will then be precisely on the opposite side of culminating Sirius and mago in Ga3-23 will be precisely on the opposite side of the other fish with his mouth closed (Gb2-10). Etc. |
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