The Ram headed God was a God of Water and the source of the Nile - and hence fertility; he should really be in my first set about flooding, but he also seems to go well with this foxy looking lady tree who has a touch of Kali about her - both look not to be messed with and strong trees......
I am enjoying giving my trees animal heads and have a bird headed one to print too.
I was interested to read about Blemmyae's in Hartnell's Medieval Bodies book as I have always been mystified by these ubiquitous representations of men from foreign parts with faces on their chests and no heads - he explains them (beyond likening them to our little green men from Mars):
heads came in the top ranking of body parts for the medieval mind so it was natural to see supposed inferior creatures with their heads in rank 2 on their chests, and if the human form was made in God's image then to have no head was decidedly unchristian - or to frame it another way, to not be Christian was to have no head.
Makes perfect sense; I shall enjoy making a print of my own blenmmyae maybe with a tree topping his chest - which will make him like another medieval creature the mandrake root of course - as recent research shows trees are possibly more intelligent and humane than we are ( tongue in cheek)...
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