Mesopotamia

The Mesopotamian mythology represents a variation of monsters and hybrids. Among them, the fantastic creatures in the composition of the animal and the man are very important; it is about the "man-animal". What attracts our interest; it is the composite creature, the "man-bull", because of its diverse aspect, as well as its symbolic characteristic. On the other hand, we notice one of the very practical figures and very renowned, "Master of animals", it is appreciated as much as all the Mesopotamian regions represented it in their arts. Problematic: what types of the "man-bull" had most importance in Mesopotamia? Which is the relationship enters the "man-bull" and "Master of animals"? What physical evolution arose during the transformation of the "man-bull" to "Master of animals"? Hypothesis: there is doubtless a narrow relation enters the "man-bull" and "Master of animals ", as regards the symbolizing character to be able to it and their appearances in vertical position. Mesopotamia represents a particular character of the real or fantastic animals, which spread towards the other parts of the country; it is about the representation of animals in vertical shape.

Sun deities had sometimes the function of judgment during antiquity. Mesopotamian Šamaš and Urartian Šiwini are of similar examples. Their function as the Judge Deity was more significant than the sun function. Šamaš was the great sun in mythological texts but the judge in royal inscriptions. Šiwini is mentiond in ending and cursing formula of the royal inscriptions to punish the destructor and the enemy. He sometims accompanied two other significant deities in Urartian Pantheon, Ḫaldi and Teišeba. Šiwini had been exhibited and pictured as the winged disc or a horse which are both symbols of Šamaš as well. Accordingly, the similarities between Šamaš and Šiwini are doubtless. Simultaneously, they have differences as the way they are mentiond in inscriptions and Šiwini’s third place in Urartian pantheon. It is the aim of the author to compare these two deities through reviewing the texts they are mentioned in to demonstrate the absolute effect of Šamaš over Šiwini and to refuse the exact imitation of Šiwini from Šamaš.

Coins are engraved metals like books full of historical, cultural, religious, and mythological information. They are also like written documents that can be analyzed through their motifs through symbolism, and they are the most important guide for researchers in recognizing and familiarizing themselves with religious beliefs in different historical periods. Therefore, studying the images and symbols on them opens a window to ancient periods for researchers. Due to its long reign, the Parthian is one of ancient Iran's most important critical periods. They minted many coins with various motifs. One of the symbols used is the pattern of a palm branch, which from the time of Phraates II can be seen as the reverse of the drama and tetradrachm coins of the Seleucid Mint. This study has investigated the symbol of palm branch in coins of Phraates II in the Seleucid Mint to realize political goals. These coins are kept in Reza Abbasi Museum in Tehran (Iran) and were purchased through private collectors. In this study, 250 Parthian coins were examined, among which 60 coins had palm motifs. The palm branch is considered a mythological plant common between Mesopotamia, and Greek. Parthian king, the branch palms were used as symbols for victory, under the cultural influence of the Seleucid and Mesopotamia.