Goat Symbol - Indus Scripts Deciphered

Goat symbol indicates –Sumerian god ‘Ea’, who was equivalent to ‘Hermes.’

Abstract

The goat symbol frequently appears in the Indus seal; wherever it appears, some importance has been assigned to that goat figure. It looks like that the goat symbol could have indicated the Sumerian god ‘Ea’ or the equivalent of the Greek god ‘Hermes’.

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Figure 1: Seal with goat figure

Seal picture courtesy – (1)

The origins of the “Goat God” can be traced back to Ancient Egypt. Goats and Rams were worshipped in many cities throughout Egypt thousands of years ago. The goat symbolizes fertility, and the focus of religious rites dates back to Sumeria (2). Goats also symbolized fertility in many different cultures and times.

The Goat of Mendes

Ptah, the Egyptian god of knowledge and wisdom, became the goat and sometimes a ram in the city of Mendes, where he was worshipped as such. The Goat/Ram of Mendes represented the “Ba”, the Egyptian word for the “soul.” Ptah was considered to be a great magician and “Lord of the Serpents” (2).

The Horned Goat is also directly specified the Sumerian god Enki (Satan). The constellation of the Horned Goat (Capricorn) also indicates the importance given to the goat as one of the celestial gods.

“The Goat was known as the God ‘Ea’ (Enki/Satan) in early Babylonian times. Ea was known as ‘He of vast intellect and Lord of the Sacred Eye’ protector of his people and the bringer and giver of knowledge and civilization to humanity. Represented as a snake, he ended up in the ‘Garden of Eden as the Snake in the tree of life, encouraging learning and knowledge rather than blissful ignorance.’ Whenever Ea roamed the Earth, he took the form of a goat. Ea was considered the Father of Light,” and his celebrations dating back to 15,000 BC were carried out wearing goat skins (2).

Figure 2: ‘Goat god’ from Near East with up-curved shoes.

Picture courtesy – (3)

At this juncture, it is relevant to introduce the picture of a ‘Near Eastern God’ who has not been adequately identified (3). Now, we should make some effort to identify this god because this god has been imitated in few Indus seals. The above-given seal shows the god with curved shoes (Magic shoes), which gives the power of flying over long distances. Basically a ‘messenger god’. The important identification symbol for Hermes is the flying shoes. Because of the said reasons, it can be concluded that the above-shown god-figure point towards ‘God Ea/Hermes’.

Figure : God with up-curved shoes

Picture courtesy – (1)

See the above-given seal inscription, the god shown here has up-curved toes, which could be assumed to be up-curved boots. These up-curved shoes could be indicating the messenger god ‘Ea/Hermes’.

Figure : Hermes with flying shoes.

Picture courtesy- (4)

Hermes

Messenger of the gods, god of trade, thieves, travellers, sports, athletes, border crossings, a guide to the Underworld. Hermes is an Olympian god in Greek religion and mythology, the son of Zeus and the Pleiad Maia, and the second youngest of the Olympian gods. (5)

Hermes is considered a god of transitions and boundaries. He is described as quick and cunning, moving freely between the worlds of the mortal and divine. He is also portrayed as an emissary and messenger of the gods. He was an intercessor between mortals and the divine and a conductor of souls into the afterlife. He has been viewed as the protector and patron of herders, thieves, oratory and wit, literature and poetry, athletics and sports, invention and trade, roads, boundaries and travellers. (5)

In some myths, he is a trickster and outwits other gods for his own satisfaction or for the sake of humankind. His attributes and symbols include the herma, the rooster, the tortoise, purse or pouch, winged sandals, and winged cap. His main symbol is the caduceus, which appears in the form of two snakes wrapped around a winged staff. (5).

Figure 5: Caduceus symbol in Indus inscriptions.

Picture courtesy — (1)

The first symbol of the inscription is the caduceus(Read from right to left). This shows the Ea/Hermes was one of the important gods of the Indus people.

Greek god Pan

The idea of messenger god brings into mind another symbol with similar functionality. In the last phase of Indus civilization, the messenger god symbol has been replaced into simple ‘Pan Leaf’ $C:\Users\user\Desktop\ivc-logos-indus - 3\leaf-messenger-ver-10.jpg$ (Note the similarity between ‘god Pan’ and ‘Pan leaf’ symbol). Read my article on leaf-messenger symbolism for more information (6).

Pan

Figure : Pan the god with goat characters. Picture courtesy – (7)

Pan is a figure from Greek mythology who was originally a pastoral god from Arcadia. He was believed to dwell in the mountains and forests of Greece and was considered the patron of shepherds. Hence one of his attributes is the lagobolon – a hare trap. He is not fully human in form; his legs are of a goat, and horns sprouting from his head. He is credited with inventing the syrinx musical instrument, better known as the panpipes, associated with music and its magical powers. (8)

Figure : See the hooves of god PAN

Picture courtesy – (9)

Many myths surround Pan’s parentage, but Hermes is most often named as his father and a Nymph as his mother. Shepherds, in particular, sacrificed to the god, goats or sheep or offered small herdsmen statues made of clay as votive offerings. Other typical offerings to Pan included vases, lamps and grasshoppers made of gold. Along with Artemis, he was also held in high esteem by hunters. (8)

Pan appears in Greek art from around 500 BCE, and in his early representations of Greek pottery, he is all-goat, standing upright on his hind legs. In later red-figure pottery, he acquires a human upper body and head but with goat horns. (8)

‘Hoof symbol’ also might be Indicating ‘EA/Hermes’

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Figure 8: Indus seal showing ‘leg symbol’

Picture courtesy – (1)

The above-given seal inscription shows the ‘Hoof symbol’, which could be indicating the messenger god ‘Ea/Hermes. Next to the ‘leg symbol’ is the symbol of a god with projections on shoulders. Earlier, I have given an opinion that the god with projection on the shoulder could be Ningishzida. See my earlier article on ‘Ningishzida’ for more information. (10). This god ‘Ningishzida’ played some kind of mediator role in introducing the dead man’s soul to the god ‘Ea/Enki’. This role exactly tallies with the role defined for ‘Hermes’.

‘Leg symbol’ may be analogous to ‘Hoof symbol’

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The above-given leg symbol with donkey figure(as said by Asko Parpola) was explained as ‘Palm Tree’ by Asko Parpola in the Tamil conference held in Coimbatore in the year 2010 (11). I beg to differ from his opinion. First of all, the animal shown is not a donkey because donkeys do not have an up-right tail; only a goat alone has such an upright tail. Secondly, the leg symbol might represent the god Ea/Pan as discussed in the above paragraphs.

The above-given narration shows the close relationship of the idea of psychopomp to the gods ‘Ea/Ningishzida/Hermes/Pan’, which correlates very well with my theory of burial ground and funeral ceremonies related to death.

1. Sullivan, Sue. Indus Script Dictionary. s.l. : Suzanne Redalia, 2011.

2. angelfire.com. Goat. angelfire.com. [Online] March 2016. http://www.angelfire.com/empire/serpentis666/Goat.html.

3. wikipedia(Horned_deity). Horned_deity. wikipedia. [Online] March 2016. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horned_deity.

4. techintranslation.com. hermes. techintranslation.com. [Online] March 2016. http://techintranslation.com/hermes-for-the-holidays/.

5. wikipedia(Hermes). Hermes. wikipedia. [Online] March 2016. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermes.

6. jeyakumar(Leaf-messenger). Leaf-messenger_symbolism. academia.edu. [Online] 2015. https://www.academia.edu/19742902/Leaf-messenger_symbolism.

7. greekmythology.com. Gods/Pan. greekmythology.com. [Online] March 2016. http://www.greekmythology.com/Other_Gods/Pan/pan.html.

8. Cartwright, Mark. http://www.ancient.eu/image/689/. http://www.ancient.eu/image/689/. [Online] June 2012. http://www.ancient.eu/image/689/.

9. wikipedia(Pan_(god). Pan_(god). wikipedia. [Online] March 2016. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_(god).

10. Jeyakumar(Ningishzida). Ningishzida. https://www.academia.edu. [Online] july 2015. https://www.academia.edu/13529416/Ningishzida_the_Sumerian_dragon_in_Indus_Valley_civilization.

11. Parpola, Asko. opinion/op-ed/article. thehindu.com. [Online] June 2010. http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/article481104.ece.