268492

Some thoughts on the religious role of Ibex in Ancient Near East

Article

Last updated: 05 Jan 2025

Subjects

-

Tags

-

Abstract

This paper surveys one of the longest lived and most widespread images of the Ancient Near East that is the ibex. The Paper discusses the appearance of ibex in ancient Near Eastern art in some selected scenes and sculptures related to fertility, fecundity and death: on rock art, pottery, cylinder seals and reliefs.  The ibex depicted as swastika symbol on some Samarran ware in 6th millennium B.C. which symbolizes the four corners of universe, wind and infinite circle. It is represented as a religious motif in a composition of two wild goats about a tree which symbolizes tree of life or tree of cosmic. The ibex was associated with a sacred ritual dedicated to ensure rainy season to provide plentiful harvest, so it was connected with storm gods. Multiple interpretations and opinions handled its appearance. The paper identifies the various forms in which it was portrayed. This paper aims to shed light on the significance and religious symbolism of the Ibex as a symbol of rebirth, new life and rejuvenation.

DOI

10.21608/mafs.2021.268492

Keywords

: Ibex, Dumuzi, fertility, rain, Tree of life, Swastika

Authors

First Name

Omar F.

Last Name

Mohammed

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

-

Email

-

City

-

Orcid

-

Volume

43

Article Issue

2

Related Issue

33187

Issue Date

2021-06-01

Receive Date

2022-11-05

Publish Date

2021-06-01

Page Start

456

Page End

467

Print ISSN

1110-6018

Online ISSN

2812-6432

Link

https://mafs.journals.ekb.eg/article_268492.html

Detail API

https://mafs.journals.ekb.eg/service?article_code=268492

Order

268,492

Type

Review article

Type Code

2,348

Publication Type

Journal

Publication Title

مجلة الدراسات الأفريقية

Publication Link

https://mafs.journals.ekb.eg/

MainTitle

Some thoughts on the religious role of Ibex in Ancient Near East

Details

Type

Article

Created At

23 Jan 2023