The Lion-Dragon of Ebla and the Iconography of The Flow of Heavenly Waters

The iconography of water emanating from the mouths of mixed elemental figures - dragons found on monuments from the lowland and mountain regions of the ancient Near East reveals a semantic cluster that has its landscape of action (mountains, underworld/heaven, sanctuary), actors (deities, dragons, heroes), description of the act (dragon slayer, ritual, fertility), objects of the action (throne, chariot, statue). The existing parallels show not only the commonality of the water emanation motif, but also other connections that can be observed in the same context, which are the result of active commercial and cultural interactions. The Armenian Highland was also involved in those relations. The corresponding pictorial units reproduce a mythical landscape of the mountains, also seen from the plains. That zone is located beyond the Taurus mountains, is rich in water resources and ensures the well-being of the Syrian-Mesopotamian lowland zone. The main period of the spread of this motif is the Middle Bronze Age, the end of the 3^rd - first half of the 2^nd millennium BC. However corresponding concepts are also present during the Late Bronze Age.