Lions and Bulls and the Olympics

When you look at ancient sculptures such as the sphinx and the bulls with men's heads from Babylon, what do you see? Just mysterious monumental sculptures. Here is a secret that will help you better understand those ancient minds.

When you see a lion, think the sun. The lion is the symbol of the sun, with the lion's mane the emblem of the sun's corona. Look for sun connections in the sculpture. The Great Sphinx and the Great Pyramid mark the sun's position on the Spring and Fall equinoxes. These sculptures also try to capture heavenly power for the kings of ancient lands. That is why the Great Sphinx has the face of a king of Egypt--probably Khafre. The Great Sphinx faces East to capture the power of rebirth as shown by the sun's daily birth and death at sunrise and sunset.

When you see a bull, think the moon. Gilgamesh and his friend incurred the wrath of a goddess by slaying the bull of heaven. Perhaps this refers to a lunar eclipse. Moon worship was important in Ancient Mesopotamia. Several of the ziggurats are dedicated to the moon and springs were sacred to the moon. The ancient city of Ur was dedicated to the moon. The bull associated with Mardi Gras, which is a vestige of ancient fertility festivals, is even white like the moon. Bull horns have been associated with the crescent moon since the Stone Age. The bull leaping on ancient Crete probably had something to do with a moon and fertility cult.

Every 8 1/2 years the lunar calendar and solar calendar align so that the new moon falls on the winter solstice and the full moon falls on the summer solstice. Keep in mind how important the sky was to early man in telling time. He told off daylight hours by the position of the sun in the sky and the month by the phases of the moon. These alignments fit in well with the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur with the tribute of 7 youths and 7 maidens paid each Great Year. The full moon falls on the 14th day of the lunar month, thus the 7 and 7 tribute for the special full moon of the summer solstice on the Great Year. The 8 1/2 year Great Year was made up of 2 time periods of about 4 years each called the Olympiad. We still reckon the time for the Olympics by this Bronze Age calendar.