The origin of the three-dot motif

Abstract

The symbol of the leopard is the three-dot motif. It symbolizes fertility, reproduction and the continuation of the species. The leopard is the attribute animal of both the Father God and the Mother Goddess. The sacredness of the leopard goes as far back as the 9th millennium B.C. There are two male leopards in relief, symbolizing the Father God, on the stone pillars of the “lion building” at Göbekli Tepe. At Nevali Çori the male figurine with a leopard skin is associated with the Father God. In Central Anatolia worshipping of the Mother Goddess is preponderant. Leopard depictions were mostly found at Çatalhöyük. In some cult buildings of this site there are relief leopards depicted face to face. Being both females they are of the same size, and symbolize the Mother Goddess. There are also statuettes of the Mother Goddess shown together with female leopards. Apart from these a female statuette wearing a leopard skin was also found. There were three figurines shaped together with a leopard from the VIth Level. Two of these show the goddess standing next to the leopard. One of them depicts her as a maiden, the other as a mature woman. The third statuette is a child on a leopard cub, which symbolizes the motherhood of the goddess. These three figurines must be the trinity of the goddess cult. Depictions of the male deity are few in number. After Level V they are nonexistent. At the “hunting temple” of Level V there are wall paintings. They depict collective hunts organized for the goddess. In these paintings the emphasis is on the figures wearing leopard skins. These skins were acquired by killing male leopards whose bodies were not brought to the site. Because of this, no leopard bones were found at Çatalhöyük. Goddess statuettes shaped together with leopards were also found at Hacılar in the Lake District. The Çatalhöyük and Hacılar finds are dated to the second half of the 7th millennium B.C. In the Hittite Period, among the Yazılıkaya reliefs, dating to 1250 – 1220 B.C., the goddess Hebat and her son Sharruma are depicted, each standing on a female leopard. The goddess relief with a mirror, found at the Late Hittite Period Carchemish/Cerablus (9th century B.C.) is shown on a leopard. The first three-dot motif is dated to about 1000 B.C. and is of Phoenician origin. This motif was passed on to Western Anatolia in the Orientalizing Period, in the second half of the 7th century B.C., and was in use until the Roman Period. There are Potnia Theron depictions on the gold and electrum plaques found at Camirus on Rhodes, and they are classified into two groups. In one group the goddess is standing and on either side of her there is a leopard filled with three-dot motifs. The goddess is shown with her hands on the heads of the leopards, blessing them. In the second group the goddess is depicted holding lions from their hind legs. The ones with the leopards symbolize the fertility of the goddess, the ones with the lions symbolize the domination of the goddess in nature. These plaques were produced in Sardis (Meriçboyu 2010: 158-159): In the Archaic Period works with leopard depictions were produced in Western Anatolia. At Hacıbayramlar in Caria, terra cotta architectural plaques, with female leopards on them, were found. There are two female leopards on the pediment of the Aphrodite Temple in Miletos. There is a female leopard depiction with three-dot motifs on the silver alabastron, dating to the first half of the 5th century B.C., found in the tomb chamber of the Uşak-İkiztepe tumulus from the Achaemenid Period. In Phrygia, Central Anatolia, three-dot reliefs were made on the three stepped altars. These altars may be for Goddess Matar and Father God. They symbolize the fertility and the productivity of both deities. We find this unity extended to the Temple of Zeus in Aizanoi. The lower part of the temple is dedicated to Cybele. The small stone altars found at Gordion, and which were used as votive offerings, had three-dot reliefs on them. On some Phrygian vessels the goddess is depicted with leopards. Outside Anatolia, the three-dot motif is seen mostly in Bulgaria. A gold plated silver cylix, dating to the last quarter of the 5th century B.C., was found in the Duvanlı Bashova Mogila tomb. The scarf on the head of the goddess depiction inside the cylix is decorated with the three-dot motif. Here the goddess is on horseback, and there are fish in the river at the bottom. The inscription on the vessel is “protect me (mother) earth.” The whole scene reflects the aquatic, fertility and the combat characteristics of the goddess. In the Panagyurishte treasure there are three rhyta in the form of female heads, dating to the 4th – 3rd centuries B.C. One of the rhyta has a helmet and symbolizes the combat characteristic. The other two rhyta are related to the aquatic and fertility characteristics of the goddess. The way the scarves are tied in these rhyta is the same as the way the scarf of the water goddess Artemis-Arethusa is tied. It seems as though the cult of Anahita had an influence on the Thracians during the Persian domination in Thrace. In the Dionysiac scene depicted on a silver vase, dating to the first half of the 4th century B.C., found in Borova, Bulgaria, the clothes of Dionysos, Ariadne and the dancing Maenad have three-dot motifs on them. The three-dot motif, which is seen until the Roman Period in Anatolia, continued also in Sassanian art in the 5th – 7th centuries A.D., and in the subsequent cultures as well (Meriçboyu 2008: 60-77).