THE MOON GODDESS IN THE EIGHT-MEMBERED STRUCTURE OF ORNAMENTS ON TRIPILLIA BOWLS
Abstract
Ornaments with eight symbols placed in a circle in the bowls of Trypians were studied. The interpretation of the symbols of the Moon in existing studies is considered. Two approaches are distinguished: reducing the Moon to a male deity (A. Golan) and a female deity (M. Gimbutas). Two main symbols used to mark the Moon are highlighted – snakes and bull horns. The structural method was used to study the ornament. An eight-membered structure was identified. The opinion is expressed that the eight phases (deities) of the Moon are hidden behind the eight symbols of the ornaments of the bowl. The concept was put forward, according to which the four phases of the light (full and new moon and two halves) appeared as female deities in the mythology of the Trypians, and the four phases between them - as male. The symbols of the ornaments that marked these deities are highlighted. A number of examples of bowl ornaments whose symbolism corresponds to this concept have been analyzed. Variants of ornaments that do not fit into this concept are considered. The variant «two ovals joined into one oval» is interpreted as a phenomenon of convergence of seven- and eight-membered structures. (Trypilians believed that the cycle of the moon can be transmitted by both an eightmembered and a seven-membered structure). The variant of the ornament, in which three smaller ovals and four «goddesses» are placed in one oval, as a result of which the structure of this oval was a reduced copy of the ornament as a whole, is interpreted according to the microcosm and macrocosm model. In this connection, it was concluded that the Goddess Moon could also appear as a Goddess embodying the cosmos. The analysis of ornaments showed that the mythological ideas of ancient people combined the eight deities of the cycle of the Moon and the seven deities of the spheres of the Cosmos. It was concluded that the mythological views of the Trypians were recorded in the ornaments of
the bowls, in the center of which was the Moon Goddess.
