[tied] Re: Troy, Rasna and Turan

--- In cybalist@..., "Glen Gordon" <glengordon01@...> wrote:

> Cort:
> >Add Pelasgian Eurynome to the list of primordial creation deities.
> >I like the story where Eurynome's male serpent consort Ophion tries
> >to usurp her power, so she bruises his head with her heel(That

sounds

> >familiar...) and kicks out his teeth. There's a goddess who doesn't
> >take any flak!
>
> Yeah, I'll agree, Eurynome is probably also related. The serpents
> are nothing more than "water" symbolism. The waves are like serpents
> afterall. She appears to have stirred up the waters (aka "kicking
> the serpents in the head") to start the whole creation process.

> >I can definetly go along with the world tree angle-Maybe the

goddess

> >holding a serpent in each arm is similar to the twin serpents

coiled

> >around the world tree and caduceus.
>
> Yeah, again, the serpents are the waters. You never see the serpents
> hanging from the _tops_ of the trees, do ya? Of course not, they're
> always down below where the water is.

The serpents definetly do come from the waters below, like Jorgumandr
the midgard serpent, chewing at the root of the world tree. But I
think there is something else going on with the coiled serpent:

In the Pelasgian creation myth, Eurynome starts alone dancing on the
waters. She creates Ophion ought of the North wind, and he coils
around her, and couples with her. The now fertilized Eurynome changes
into a dove and lays an egg. Ophion then coils about the egg seven
times, from which everything emerges.

Then, Ophion brags that he did everything, so Eurynome proceeds to
bruise his head with her heel and kick out his teeth. The removal of
teeth symbolizes castration or disempowerment, suggesting this
imagery is about the war of the sexes won on this primal battlefield
by the woman.

What I get from this is the serpent coiled around Eurynome, analagous
to the serpent coiled about the world tree. This fertilizes Eurynome,
and after she lays the egg Ophion coils about the egg, fertilizing it
again. Ophion the serpent is the male element, Eurynome the female.

> >I'm still struggling with the symbolism of the double axe-I've

also

> >heard it represents a butterfly and/or the female genitalia. Or

that

> >it was always a political/religious item symbolizing the legal
> >authority to kill, that in itself perhaps coming from its use as a
> >sacrificial implement.
>
> The butterfly is related to the doubleaxe which is related to the
> sun which is related to the Goddess. The butterfly reminds me of
> Hannahanna and Telipinu. Doesn't Hannahanna get her butterfly out
> to search for Telipinu? Isn't that symbolically the same as sending
> the sun out to search for renewed vegetation?

Or, alternately, she sends out a bee. Another Minoan goddess animal.
I think the sun symbolism is interesting, as the sun often symbolizes
justice and authority, aka the axe, and we do know of a sun goddess
in the region.

Cort Williams