The Iranian - Zoroastrian Faravahar Symbol
According to this web page about the faravahar , the Iranian-Persian-Zoroastrian version of the Mesopotamian winged disk symbol appeared in its present form during the Achaemenid Empire (c. 550-330 BCE), and continued in use until the fall of the Sassanian Empire (224-651 CE) to the Muslim Arabs in 651 CE. In that I have reasonable grounds to believe that Mesopotamian winged disk symbols were originally inspired by observations of a bird-like pattern that is perceivable in the sun's corona during some total solar eclipses, it occurred to me that the adoption of the winged disk symbol by the Achaemenid Empire might have been prompted by one or more total solar eclipses above Iran during the 6th century BCE. This map from NASA's World Atlas of Solar Eclipse Paths shows a total solar eclipse occurring above south western Iran at sunrise on Ma y 19, 557 BCE. This NASA map also shows another total solar eclipse occurring above north eastern Iran just over a decade later on Octob
