This dish with „the dancer“ (as some people like to call it) is in the Cleveland museum of art: Official description: Dish: The Goddess Anahita, Iran, Sasanian, 5th-6th Century AD…
Anahita was the Zoroastrian goddess of water and fertility, whose epithet was „Arədvī“ thought to mean „moist“…
Which is why she is depicted like this:
As a goddess of water, she is depicted holding a bow, with wavy water line going through it and with vajra (symbol for lightning???) in the middle of it, most likely a symbolic depiction of a rain-bow…
As a fertility goddess she is depicted on this plate with plants (tree of life???) growing out of this bow, rainbow, rain, water…
Now remember that climate in Western Iran and Iraq, the centre of the Sasanian empire, consists of two seasons: dry season (May-Oct) and wet season (Nov-Apr). Here is average precipitation for Tehran and Bagdad…
Gefällt mir:
Gefällt mir Wird geladen...