Bas-relief in Persepolis. On the day of an equinox, the power of an eternally fighting bull (personifying the Earth) and that of a lion (personifying the Sun) are equal. The September equinox marks the first day of Mehr or Libra in the Persian calendar. Photo: Anatoly Terentiev
The September equinox (autumnal in the northern hemisphere, vernal in the southern) occurs today, September 22, at 21:18 UTC. Daylight Savings Time puts me at UTC-4, so 17:18, or 5:18pm, local time.
Illumination of the Earth by the Sun on the day of an equinox
Persephone with her pomegranate. Dante Gabriel Rossetti – Proserpine (Oil on canvas, 1874) – Tate Gallery, London
Related Posts
Persephone Rises, 2009-03-19
Links
Wikipedia:Equinox
I love how the Persian sculptor captured the "biting-cat nose wrinkle." (Our guys get it when they chew corn cobs–how the mighty have fallen.) I also love Persephone; she must've had her hair dryer set to "pre-Raphaelitize."
I wish I could find some good images of Demeter, aka Ceres in Roman mythology, and many other names.