Anomaly

Anyone want to respond with their idea of what the picture looks like or if it looks man made. Open to ideas.

Hades God of Underworld

Attached is a picture of Hades- god of the underworld. I notice in the picture what looks like a torso which would be above Hades who is sitting on the right. The head and arms are noticeably cut off along with the bottom half of the body below the waist. Also above Persephony on the left is what looks like 2 legs hanging from from the bottom of the roof of the structure. I am not sure if anyone has noticed. The website Theoi.com does not mention anything about the torso. Information is copied below from the website which explains the photo.

Detail from a painting of Orpheus in the Underworld. In the center Haides and Persephone sit enthroned on a couch. The god holds a bird-tipped staff, and the goddess a four-tipped Eleusinian torch. To their right stands Hekate, dressed as a huntress holding twin torches.

Also, Hades was a real person who was a historical figure. It looks like all of the people who are mentioned in Greek mythology were real people. Their life stories in greek myth might be partly made up or based on facts. I also know that Zeus was a historical person along with their mother Rhea also known as Demeter. My post here is mostly about the torso in the photo.

Manticore- has human face

Compare the creature from the below website, to the creature with photo attached.

http://mars-earth.com/ancient/british_muse...an/image32.html

I am not able to attach the photo from the above website since the information is copyrighted.

Information from the Theoi website on Manticore:

HE MANTIKHORAS (or Manticore) was a fabulous man-eating Persian monster with the body of a lion, the face of a man, and a spike-tipped arrow-shooting tail. The name "Manticore" was reputedly derived from a Persian word meaning "man-eater."

The Manticore also appeared in Medieval bestiaries, derived from the Greek and Roman writers.

Ctesias, Indica (summary from Photius, Myriobiblon 72) (trans. Freese) (Greek historian C4th B.C.) :
"The Martikhora is an animal found in this country [India]. It has a face like a man's, a skin red as cinnabar, and is as large as a lion. It has three rows of teeth, ears and light-blue eyes like those of a man; its tail is like that of a land scorpion, containing a sting more than a cubit long at the end. It has other stings on each side of its tail and one on the top of its head, like the scorpion, with which it inflicts a wound that is always fatal. If it is attacked from a distance, it sets up its tail in front and discharges its stings as if from a bow; if attacked from behind, it straightens it out and launches its stings in a direct line to the distance of a hundred feet. The wound inflicted is fatal to all animals except the elephant. The stings are about a foot long and about as thick as a small rush. The Martikhora [a Persian word meaning man-eater] is called in Greek Anthropophagos (man-eater), because, although it preys upon other animals, it kills and devours a greater number of human beings. It fights with both its claws and stings, which, according to Ktesias, grow again after they have been discharged. There is a great number of these animals in India, which are hunted and killed with spears or arrows by natives mounted on elephants."

Pausanias, Description of Greece 9. 21. 4 (trans. Jones) (Greek travelogue C2nd A.D.) :
"The beast described by Ktesias in his Indian history, which he say is called Mantikhoras (Manticore) by the Indians and man-eater (Androphagos) by the Greeks, I am inclined to think is the tiger. But that it has three rows of teeth along each jaw and spikes at the tip of its tail with which it defends itself at close quarters, while it hurls them like an archer’s arrows at more distant enemies."

Aelian, On Animals 4. 21 (trans. Scholfield) (Greek natural history C2nd A.D.) :
"There is in India a wild beast, powerful, daring, as big as the largest lion, of a red colour like cinnabar, shaggy like a dog, and in the language of India it is called Martikhoras [Persian mardkhora ‘man-slayer’]. Its face however is not that of a wild beast but of a man, and it has three rows of teeth set in its upper jaw and three in the lower; these are exceedingly sharp and larger than the fangs of a hound. Its ears also resemble a man’s except that they are larger and shaggy; its eyes are blue-grey and they too are like a man’s, but its feet and claws, you must know, are those of a lion. To the end of its tail is attached the sting of a scorpion, and this might be over a cubit in length; and the tail has stings at intervals on either side. But the tip of the tail gives a fatal sting to anyone who encounters it, and death is immediate. If one pursued the beast it lets fly its stings, like arrows, sideways, and it can shoot a great distance; and when it discharges its stings straight ahead it bends bends its tail back; if however it shoots in a backward direction, as the Sakai do, then it stretches its tail to its full extent. Any creature that the missile hits it kills; the elephant alone it does not kill. These stings which it shoots are a foot long and the thickness of a bulrush. Now Ktesias asserts (and he says that the Indians confirm his words) that in the places where those stings have been let fly others spring up, so that this evil produces a crop. And according to the same writer the Martikhora for a choice devours human beings; indeed it will slaughter a great number; and it lies in wait not for a single man but would set upon two or even three men, and alone overcomes even that number. All other animals it defeats: the lion alone it can never bring down. That this creature takes special delight in gorging human flesh its very name testifies, for in the Greek language its means man-eater (androphagos), and its name is derived from its activities. Like the stag it is extremely swift.
Now the Indians hunt the young of these animals while they are still without stings in their tails, which they then crush with a stone to prevent them from growing stings. The sound of their voice is as near as possible that of a trumpet.
Ktesias declares that he has actually seen this animal in Persia (it had been brought from India as a present to the Persian King)--if Ktesias is to be regarded as a sufficient authority on such matters. At any rate after hearing of the peculiarities of this animal, one must pay heed to the historian of Knidos."

"Apollonios [a philosopher of the C1st AD who travelled to India] asked the question, whether there was there an animal called the Martikhoras; and [the Indian sage] Iarkhas replied: ‘And what have you heard about the make of this animal? For it is probable that there is some account given of its shape.’
‘There are,’ replied Apollonios,’tall stories current which I cannot believe; for they say that the creature has four feet, and that his head resembles that of a man, but that in size it is comparable to a lion; while the tail of this animal puts out hairs a cubit long and sharp as thorns, which it shoots like arrows at those who hunt it.’ …
And larkhas answered his questions thus: ‘ ... I never yet heard in this country of an animal that shoots arrows." - Philostratus, Life of Apollonius of Tyana 3.45

Eusebius, Treatise Against Hierocles 21 (trans. Jones) (Greek rhetorician C4th A.D.) :
"He [Apollonios of Tyana] also asked them [the Brahmans of India] . . . if they had among them a four-footed animal called a Martikhora, which had a head like that of a man, but rivals a lion in size, while from its tail projects hairs like thorns a cubit long, which it is accustomed to shoot out like arrows at those who hunt it . . . [and] Iarkhas said that they never had existed at all."

Pliny the Elder, Natural History 8. 75 (trans. Rackham) (Roman encyclopedia C1st A.D.) :
"Aethiopia produces . . . many monstrosities : . . . Ctesias writes that in the same country is born the creature that he calls the Mantichora, which has a triple row of teeth meeting like the teeth of a comb, the face and ears of a human being, grey eyes, a blood-red colour, a lion’s body, inflicting stings with its tail in the manner of a scorpion, with a voice like the sound of a pan-pipe blended with a trumpet, of great speed, with a special appetite for human flesh."

Pliny, Natural History 8. 45 :
"Juba states that in Aethiopia the Mantichora also mimics human speech."

Ancient unknown man depicted in rock carving- Iran

On the website below is a photo of a rock carving that is from ancient Persia (Iran). On horseback is a man with an elongated neck. The man's arms are behind his back which might mean he is a prisoner that is about to be executed. The head is near the top of the rock. I am not sure if everyone will be able to see it clearly. You can see the face.

Also behind the man on horseback is a figure that looks like a man with a lion face. The man has a hat. It might not be easy to see.

http://forthardknox.com/wp-content/uploads...persepolis5.gif

Photo attached with outline of face, neck of man on horseback. Also man with lion face has the hat outlined in red.

Click on picture to enlarge.

Isis in Pompei, Italy and Antioch, Turkey

I have attached two pictures that I found. The first picture is a fresco from Pompeii, Italy from the 1st century BC. Isis is recieving Io. I am not sure of the relationship. They appear to be twins.

In the 2nd picture is a mosaic from the 2nd century AD located in Antioch, Turkey. The information does not state who the woman in the mosaic is. I compared the 2 pictures and noticed that the woman in the mosaic looks almost exactly like the Isis or Io from the fresco in Pompeii which is supposed to be from 300 years earlier.

In the Antioch, Turkey mosaic it is not clear if the woman would be Isis or Io when compared to the fresco from Pompeii, Italy. In the mosaic the woman's skin is a little dark which could compare to Io from the Pompeii fresco. Also, in the fresco from Pompeii, Isis appears to be more feminine than Io. In the mosaic, the woman has more of a stonger appearance so it could be Io in the mosaic. Also Io is dressed more stylish than Isis and the woman in the mosaic is dressed in a way that would compare to Io in the Pompeii fresco. Also the hairline of Io in the fresco compares to the mosaic, so most likely it would be Io.

Was the artist the same person for both the fresco and the mosaic or was the mosaic inspired by the fresco? I would say that the fresco and the mosaic were done by the same artist.

The next question would be were Isis and Io present when the artist did the fresco in Pompeii, Italy and also for the mosaic in Antioch, Turkey?

300 years and Io hasn't aged a day.

Pompeii, Italy Fresco:

http://www.theoi.com/Gallery/F41.1.html

Museum Collection: Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli, Naples, Italy
Catalogue Number: TBA
Type: Fresco, Imperial Roman III Style
Context: Pompeii, Temple of Isis
Date: C1st BC
Period: Imperial Roman

SUMMARY
Io is carried before Isis on the back of a dark-skinned Egyptian god. She is crowned with a pair of cow horns suggestive of her former metamorphosis. Isis sits with an adder coiled around her arm, and beside her son Harpokrates with finger pressed to his lips.

Antioch, Turkey Mosaic:

http://www.sacred-destinations.com/turkey/...erg-flickr.html

Closer view of an Antioch mosaic depicting an Isiac ceremony, a rite in the mystery religion of the goddess Isis. The Egyptian goddess, who searched for her murdered husband Osiris and brought him back to life, became popular among Romans. Isis' search for her husband was a central feature of her cult and was relived every year in October in a ceremony linked to the fertility cycle of the earth.

In this mosaic, a female figure on the right holds a sistrum, a sacred rattle. Another person wears a white robe with a stole on which there are sun and moon ornaments. Both celestial bodies are connected to Isis. Isis was also associated with Sothis or Sirius, the Dog Star; her husband Osiris is Orion. In the Syrian pantheon many goddesses were equal to Isis, such as Atargatis, whom the Greeks and Romans knew as Dea Syria.

From the village of Yakto, near Daphne. 2nd century AD. Antakya Museum, inv. 849.
Photo courtesy of George Langenberg. Information from Antioch: The Lost Ancient City by Christine Kondoleon.