The gate of the year

Head of a ram in painted ceramic, attributable to the late Uruk period (3300-3100 B.C.), in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA. The ram has been one of the earliest domesticated animals in the Near East and gradually acquired a considerable symbolic relevance. Its frequent association with the “tree of life” motif reveals the animal’s relationship with the concept of fertility. It was probably connected with the spring festivals, which, according to the Babylonian calendar, celebrated the beginning of the year. This is supported by the fact that the constellation indicating the spring equinox was called by the Sumerians lù-hun-gá, “the Work Man” or “the Hired Man”. Comparing a number of Sumerian texts, the scholars have revealed that this character can’t be anyone but the god Dumuzi, the shepherd god who dies and comes to life again. This god’s attribute was the ram or the male lamb (lù or immeru), often utilized as symbol of the constellation (White 2008). This explains why, when the Greek astronomers borrowed the Mesopotamian zodiac (by Cleostratus of Tenedos, according to Pliny’s testimony, around 520 B.C.), they called the constellation Kríos, or the Ram, the name with which it is known up to now (Laffitte 2006, Laffitte 2009). The convention, followed until nowadays by the horoscopes, of starting the zodiacal sequence with the sign of the Ram is a residue of the time in which this constellation indicated the beginning of the New Year.

[Image: http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/1981.53]




Animals

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Head of a ram in painted ceramic, attributable to the late Uruk period (3300-3100 B.C.), in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA. The ram has been one of the earliest domesticated animals in the Near East and gradually acquired a considerable symbolic relevance. Its frequent association with the “tree of life” motif reveals the animal’s relationship with the concept of fertility. It was probably connected with the spring festivals, which, according to the Babylonian calendar, celebrated the beginning of the year. This is supported by the fact that the constellation indicating the spring equinox was called by the Sumerians lù-hun-gá, “the Work Man” or “the Hired Man”. Comparing a number of Sumerian texts, the scholars have revealed that this character can’t be anyone but the god Dumuzi, the shepherd god who dies and comes to life again. This god’s attribute was the ram or the male lamb (lù or immeru), often utilized as symbol of the constellation (White 2008). This explains why, when the Greek astronomers borrowed the Mesopotamian zodiac (by Cleostratus of Tenedos, according to Pliny’s testimony, around 520 B.C.), they called the constellation Kríos, or the Ram, the name with which it is known up to now (Laffitte 2006, Laffitte 2009). The convention, followed until nowadays by the horoscopes, of starting the zodiacal sequence with the sign of the Ram is a residue of the time in which this constellation indicated the beginning of the New Year. [Image: http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/1981.53]