Doves In Religion And Legend Of Gilgamesh

Doves in religion and myths

According to the Christian religion, God's spirit hovered over the water in the form of a dove. The bird is a symbol of resurrection, an attribute of St. Mary, the Holy Spirit and the apostles. It is believed that evil spirits cannot turn into a dove.

In the legend of Gilgamesh, for the first time, it is said about a dove that found dry land after the flood about 5 thousand years ago. Then a similar story is described in the Bible, namely, in the story of Noah and his ark. In Islam, the dove is considered a holy bird, as it brought Muhammad water for ablution.

According to some legends of ancient Greece, the goddess of love Aphrodite hatched from the egg of a dove. The dove is also a symbol of Isis and Astarte

The Babylonian Queen Semiramis was hatched from a pigeon egg, and at the end of her reign she turned into a dove and flew to heaven. It is believed that it was the pigeons that indicated the place where Venice was founded.

In Rus', hunting for these birds was forbidden, because people believed that the souls of the dead moved into them. Until now, pigeons are often fed near cemeteries.

If doves fly near the house where the wedding feast is held, then this will bring happiness to the young in marriage.

Dried pigeon heart powder was used for love spells. It was believed that if lovers ate half of the dove's heart, then their love would be eternal.

Since ancient times, the dove has been a symbol of peace and fertility. In one of the myths, the god of war Mars was unable to go on a campaign, as a dove of Venus made a nest in his helmet. In 1949, Pablo Picasso painted a white dove with an olive branch in its beak. By the way, Picasso's daughter's name was Paloma

These birds were domesticated in several places at once, but the first mention of breeding pigeons came to us from Ancient Egypt and Babylon more than 5 thousand years ago. They are also mentioned on the clay tablets of Mesopotamia. This is the first bird domesticated by man. During the excavations of Pompeii, mosaic images of large thoroughbred pigeons with red eyelids (camponi) were found.

At first, these birds were used for food and for religious ceremonies. But already in Asia Minor, Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece, the ability of pigeons to return home from afar was used to communicate and transmit valuable information. Used them to communicate with Rome during military campaigns and Julius Caesar. Then a carrier pigeon cost the same as a breeding horse. It is believed that birds are guided by the Earth's magnetic field. In addition, they can navigate by smell, landscape features, and the sun.

Pigeon mail came to Europe from the East during the Crusades. In the Ruhr region of Germany, miners often became fond of breeding carrier pigeons and called them "the poor man's racehorse". The pigeon post was re-established at the end of the 19th century during the Franco-Prussian War during the siege of