The existence of similarities among the deities and religious practices of the Indo-European peoples allows glimpses of a common Proto-Indo-European religion and mythology. This hypothetical religion would have been the ancestor of the majority of the religions of pre-Christian Europe, of the Indian religions, and of Zoroastrianism in Iran.
Indications of the existence of this ancestral religion can be detected in commonalities between languages and religious customs of Indo-European peoples. The scientific method of triangulation is used by historical linguists to reconstruct the names of gods, the names and processes for religious rituals and many related elements of belief and practice. In addition, many texts relating to the Indo-European religions exist, such as mythological tales and descriptions of religious rituals, including explicit instructions on how to perform them. Archaeological evidence is difficult to match to any specific culture in the earliest period of the Indo-European culture, which is defined as the time when all Indo-European-speaking people could still understand each other and conservatively thought to be about 4000 BCE [In Search of the Indo-Europeans: Language, Archaeology and Myth, by J.P. Mallory, Thames and Hudson, New York, 1989]. However, there is a vast amount of archaeological evidence that can be connected to specific Indo-European cultures and especially religious topics, such as temple site digs, votive offerings and inscriptions. The names of gods are often the first words we find written in each of the Indo-European languages.
Pantheon
Linguists are able to reconstruct the names of some deities in the Proto-Indo-European language (PIE) from many types of sources. Some of the proposed deities are more readily accepted among scholars than others.
In order to present a consistent notation, the reconstructed forms used here are cited from Mallory and Adams Oxford Introduction[Oxford Introduction to Proto-Indo-European and the Proto-Indo-European World, by J.P. Mallory and D.Q. Adams, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2006]. Use of this source does not imply agreement in either direction. The laryngeals He Ha Ho have been capitalized to make them a little easier to read.
- *pltH2wiH2 is reconstructed as "Plenty", a goddess of wide flat lands and the rivers that meander across them. Forms include Hittite Lelwanni, a goddess of the underworld "the pourer" (p.760, G&I
[Indo-European and the Indo-Europeans: A Reconstruction and Historical Analysis of a Proto-Language and a Proto-Culture (Trends in Linguistics: Studies and Monographs 80, 2 Vol. Set), by Thomas V. Gamkrelidze, and Vjaceslav V. Ivanov, with Werner Winter, ed., and Johanna Nichols, translator (original title Indoevropeiskii iazyk i indoevropeistsy), M. De Gruyter, Berlin & NY, 1995.
]
)); Sanskrit Prthivi; from the ancient Persian, the Euphrates river (p. 28, Bopp[Grammarie Comparée des Langues Indo-Européennes by M. Francois Bopp, translated by M. Michel Bréal, Imprimerie Impériale, Paris, 1866]); Greek Leto, in Latin, Latona; and also Greek Ploutos, borrowed into Latin as Pluto. He is responsible for pushing the water up into the springs that form on hillsides.
- *priHxeHa, is reconstructed as “beloved, friend”, the god(dess) of the garden. She is known in Hittite as the object of the Purulli festival, in Sanskrit as Priya. In Avestan, she is demonized as Paurwa, but replaced by Anahita. In Greek she is recognized as Aphrodite, although this name does not quite fit the expected phonology, and apparently means the “goddess of the garden”, related word “paradise.” In Latin Venus takes her place (not cognate at all), and in Old Norse she is Freya. In Russian she is worshipped under the name Paraskeva (sometimes St. Paraskeva), and possibly Perun in southern Slavic-speaking areas. In Albanian she is Perendi, Christianized as St. Prendi. J. Grimm refers to an Old Bohemian form Priye, used as a gloss for Aphrodite (DM p.303). Many of these goddesses give their name to the fifth day of the week, Friday. They are also very well known in lesser form such as the Germanic Fairies and the Persian the Peris, charming and seductive beings in Persian folklore. There are also masculine forms of this deity, Sanskrit Prajapati, Greek Priapos, borrowed into Latin as Priapus, and Old Norse Freyr.
- *Perkwunos, known as the “striker” is reconstructed from Skt. Parjanya, Prussian Perkūns, Lithuanian Perkūnas, Latvian Pērkons, Slavic Perun and Norse Fjörgyn. Fjörgyn was replaced by Thor among the Germanic speaking people. These gods give their names to Thursday, the fourth day of the week.
- Devis and Devas are found among all the Indo-Europeans, and the word is often used as a general word for "a god, any god (or goddess)" and sometimes for a specific goddess or god. Note that in Sanskrit, Avestan and Hindi, words that end in -a are masculine and -i is feminine. In the western languages the situation is reversed, so that words that end in -a are usually feminine and words that end in -i, or more often -us, and -os are usually masculine. Here the forms are divided into masculine and feminine forms for convenience.
- *dyeu-, Devi or Dia (feminine) Sanskrit, Devi, a goddess with a major cult in India, devi \'goddess\'; Avestan, daevi \'female demon\'; Greek, Demeter (etymology highly arguable), a grain goddess, with the vocative form Deo used to address her; Latin, Dea Dia, a grain goddess, also dia and diva, \'goddess\'; Iberian Celtic, Deva; Irish dia, dea, \'goddess\'; Slavic, Zhiva, a grain goddess; Old Polish Zywie, Siebe; Lith. deive `goddess\'.
- *deiwos-, Deva or Deos (masculine) Hittite, sius \'god\', (from *dhy-, according to Jaan Puhvel); Greek, dios \'god\' (but usually theos); Oscan, Diovis; Latin, Jove, a particular god, also with forms deus, divus, \'god, rich man\'; Sanskrit Deva; in Avestan, the daevas, (later Persian divs) were demonized by Zarathustra; Lith. Dievas; Latv. Dievs, a god who causes the rye fields to ripen; ON Týr, OHG Ziu, Old English, Tiw, a particular god; Welsh dewi; Irish dia, `god\', and possibly Irish Dagda, and Slavic Dazbog.
- *Dyēus Ph2ter is believed to have been the original name of the god of the daylit sky and the chief god of the Indo-European pantheon. He survives in Greek Zeus (genitive case Diòs), Latin Jupiter and Dispater (c.f. also deus pater in the Vulgate, e. g. Jude 1:1) and in Sanskrit Dyaus/Dyaus Pita.
- *Haeusos is the name of certain specific gods, usually the sun, the stars, especially the planet Venus or hearth fires; a class of gods (`those that shine with a golden light\'); and a general word for `a god, any god\'. These gods are also general to the Indo-Europeans.
- *Haeus(os), is believed to have been the goddess of dawn, continued in Greek mythology as Eos, in Rome as Aurora, in Vedic as Ushas but this word is later demonized as an Ashura \'demon\'; Avestan, Ahura Mazda, the good god of the Zoroastrians; Ahura, a good spirit; in Lithuanian mythology as Aušra or Auštaras, Latvian Auseklis, the morning star; Ausera, and Ausrina, goddesses of dawn or of the planet Venus; Hittite, assu \'lord, god\'; Gallic Esus, a god of hearths; Old Norse, Aesir (pl.), and English Os (sg.), general words for a god, any god; Slavic, Iaro, a god of summer; the form Arap Ushas appears in Albanian folklore, but is a name of the Moon. See also the names for the Sun which follow.
- *Haeust(e)ro (the form *as-t-r, "with intrusive -t- [between s and r] in northern dialects" is given in p. 702, and 780
[Indo-European and the Indo-Europeans: A Reconstruction and Historical Analysis of a Proto-Language and a Proto-Culture (Trends in Linguistics: Studies and Monographs 80, 2 Vol. Set), by Thomas V. Gamkrelidze, and Vjaceslav V. Ivanov, with Werner Winter, ed., and Johanna Nichols, translator (original title Indoevropeiskii iazyk i indoevropeistsy), M. De Gruyter, Berlin & NY, 1995.
]
) Anatolian dialects: Estan, Istanus, Istara; Sanskrit, demonized and replaced with Agni; Avestan Atar, sacred fire of the Zoroastrians; Greek, Hestia, goddess of the hearth; Latin Vesta, goddess of the hearth; in Armenian as Astghik, a star goddess; and possibly also in Germanic mythology as Eostre, goddess of spring warmth; Baltic, Austija; and possibly the Tibetan Buddhist goddesses like Green Tara.
- *deHanu- \'River goddess\' is reconstructed from Skt. Danu, Irish Danu, mother of the everyone; and Welsh Dôn. The name has been connected with the Dan rivers which run into the Black Sea (Dnieper, Dniester, Don, and Danube) and other river names in Celtic areas. This along with the many ethnonyms (the Danes, the Tuatha de Danaan, the Dacians, the Danoi (Greeks), etc.) was discussed extensively by Robert Graves in the White Goddess, a very popular but not very scholarly book.
- *Welnos, is reconstructed as a god of cattle from Slavic Veles, and Lithuanian Velnias, "protector of flocks"; as well as Old Norse Ullr, and Old English Wuldor, and even the Elysian fields in Greek myth and ritual (according to Jaan Puhvel). There may be a god of cattle in the northern lands (christianized as St. Vlas), but the argument is very thin. These names were also once thought to be connected to Sanskrit Varuna and Greek Ouranos for example by Max Muller in Comparative Mythology p. 84, but this is now rejected on linguistic grounds, ("the etymology is disputed" Shapiro, JIES 10, 1&2, p. 155,
[The Journal of Indo-European Studies, publ. by JIES, Washington, DC.]).
- Divine Twins: There are several sets (the Indo-Europeans seem to be quite fond of twins), which may or may not be related.
- The Sun and Moon are discussed in the next section.
- Yama and Manu, the first mortals, (or the first gods to die), who become the ancestors of everyone and king(s) of the dead. The first ancestor of men was called *Manu-, see Germanic Mannus, Hindu Manu.
- Horse Twins, usually have a name that means `horse\' *ekwa-, but the names are not always cognate. They are always male and usually have a horse form, or sometimes, one is a horse and the other is a boy. They are brothers of the Sun Maiden or Dawn goddess, sons of the Sky god, continued in Sanskrit Ashvins and Lithuanian Ašvieniai, identical to Latvian Dieva dēli. Other horse twins are: Greek, Dioskuri (Polydeukes and Kastor); borrowed into Latin as Castor and Pollux; Irish, the twins of Macha; Old English, Hengist and Horsa (both words mean `stallion\'), and possibly Old Norse Sleipnir, the eight-legged horse born of Loki; Slavic Lel and Pollel; possibly Christianized in Albanian as Sts. Flori and Lori. The horse twins may be based on the morning and evening star (the planet Venus) and they often have stories about them in which they "accompany" the Sun goddess, because of the close orbit of the planet Venus to the sun, (JIES 10
[The Journal of Indo-European Studies, publ. by JIES, Washington, DC, 1973f.], 1&2, p. 137-166, Michael Shapiro, who references D. Ward, The Divine Twins, Folklore Studies, No. 19, Univ. Calif. Press, Berkeley, 1968,).
- A water or sea god is reconstructed as *h2epom nepots `grandson/nephew of waters\' from Persian and Vedic known as Apam Napat, and as * *neptonos from Celtic Nechtan, Etruscan Nethuns, Germanic Hnikar and Latin Neptune. This god may be related to the Germanic water spirit, the Nix and the Neckar River
[Jaan Puhvel, Analecta Indoeuropeae, (a collection of articles), publ. by Innsbrucker Beitrage zur Sprachwissenschaft, Innsbruck, 1981]. Poseidon (etymology highly arguable, but certainly not cognate) replaces these forms in Greek.
- The Sun and Moon are often seen as the twin children of various deities (for example in Welsh myth they are the children of Arianrhod), but in fact the sun and moon were deified several times and are often found in competing forms within the same language. The usual scheme is that one of these celestial deities is male and the other female, though the exact gender of the Sun or Moon tend to vary among subsequent Indo-European mythologies. Here are two of the most common PIE forms:
- *seHaul with a genitive form *sHa-en-s Sun, appears as Hindu Svar, and Surya, fem. and Surya, masc. form; Avestan, Hvara; Greek Helios (and Helen, the form in the Dorian Greek of the Spartans); Latin Sol; Welsh, Dylan; Old Norse Sol; OE Sigel and Sunna, modern English Sun. The genitive form became Sven > swan, that\'s the reason there are so many swan-maidens in Romantic literature. Russian Zorya, and Zaria in folklore; Old Prussian, Lithuanian *Saulē, Latvian Saule; Albanian Diell, seen in the name of Sunday and in demonized form as a name for the devil; (most of these forms were given from Encyclopedia of IE Culture, p. 556).
- *meH1not Moon, gives Avestan, Mah; Greek Selene (unrelated); Latin, Luna (unrelated), later Diana, ON Mani, Old English Mona; Sl. Myesyats; Lithuanian,*Mēnō, or Menuo; Latv. Meness; Alb. Hane, in the name of Monday, but not related; (Encyclopedia of IE Culture, p. 385, gives the forms but doesn\'t even have an entry for a moon goddess).
- There may also have been a savage dog or wolf (hellhound) guarding the underworld, such as Greek Kerberos, and Norse Garm; Kerberos and Garm (and Grendel) are derived from the Proto-Indo-European root, *gher- (thought to be an onomatopoetic reference to the dog\'s growl).
[Alby, Stone (1994). "Hellhounds, Werewolves and the Germanic Underworld". Mercian Mysteries 20. Retrieved on 2007-10-07. ]
Mythology
There seems to have been a belief in a world tree, which in Germanic mythology was an ash tree (Norse Yggdrasil; Irminsul), in Hinduism a banyan tree, in Lithuanian mythology Jievaras, and an oak tree in Slavic mythology, and a hazel tree in Celtic mythology. In classical Greek mythology, the closest analogue of this concept is Mount Olympus; however, there is also a later folk tradition about the World Tree, which is being sawed by the Kallikantzaroi (Greek goblins), perhaps a reborrowing from other peoples.
One common myth which can be found among almost all Indo-European mythologies is a battle ending with the slaying of a serpent, usually a dragon of some sort: examples include
There are also analogous stories in other neighbouring mythologies: Anu or Marduk vs. Tiamat in Mesopotamian mythology; Ra vs. Apep in Egyptian mythology; Baal or El vs. Lotan or Yam-Nahar in Levantine mythology; Yahweh or Gabriel vs. Leviathan or Rahab or Tannin in Jewish mythology; Michael the Archangel and, Christ vs. Satan (in the form of a seven-headed dragon), Virgin Mary crushing a serpent in Roman Catholic iconography, Saint George vs. the dragon in Christian mythology[.The Wheel or the Sun, The Hammer, The Lightning Bolt, The Light, The Eagle, The Lion] The myth symbolized a clash between forces of order and chaos (represented by the serpent), and the god or hero would always win (except in some mythologies, such as the Norse Ragnarok myth)).[Mysteries of the Cosmic Thunderbolt] It is therefore most probable that there existed some kind of dragon or serpent, possibly multi-headed (cf. Śeṣa, the hydra and Typhon) and likely linked with the god of underworld and/or waters, as serpentine aspects can be found in many chthonic and/or aquatic Indo-European deities, such as for example the many Greek aquatic deities, most notably Poseidon, Oceanus, Triton, Typhon (who carries many chthonic attributes while not specifically linked with the sea), Ophion, and also the Slavic Veles. Possibly called *kʷr̥mis, or some name cognate with *Velnos/Werunos or the root *Wel/Vel- (VS Varuna, who is associated with the serpentine naga, Vala and Vṛtra, Slavic Veles, Baltic velnias), or "serpent" (Hittite Illuyanka, VS Ahis, Iranian azhi, Greek ophis and Ophion, and Latin anguis), or the root *dheubh- (Greek Typhon and Python).
Related to the dragon-slaying myth is the "Sun in the rock" myth, of a heroic warrior deity splitting a rock where the Sun or Dawn was imprisoned. Such a myth is preserved in Rigvedic Vala, where Ushas and the cows, stolen by the Panis were imprisoned, connected with other myths of abductions into the netherworld such as the mysteries of Eleusis connected with Persephone, Dionysus and Triptolemus.
The Sun was represented as riding in a chariot.
Development
The various Indo-European daughter-cultures continued elements of PIE religion, syncretizing it with innovations and foreign elements, notably Ancient Near Eastern and Dravidian elements, the reforms of Zoroaster and Buddha, and the spread of Christianity and Islam.
See also
Notes
References
- Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture or EIEC, ed. J. P. Mallory, Douglas Q. Adams, Fitzroy Dearborn, 1997.
- Teutonic Mythology by Jacob Grimm, (transl. by Stallybrass), George Bell and Sons, London 1883
- Golden Bough by James Frazer, MacMillan & Co. Ltd. London, 1919-1920 (12 vol. edition)
- Indo-European and the Indo-Europeans: A Reconstruction and Historical Analysis of a Proto-Language and a Proto-Culture (Trends in Linguistics: Studies and Monographs 80, 2 Vol. Set), by Thomas V. Gamkrelidze, and Vjaceslav V. Ivanov, with Werner Winter, ed., and Johanna Nichols, translator (original title Indoevropeiskii iazyk i indoevropeistsy), M. De Gruyter, Berlin & NY, 1995.
- Mallory, J.P., (1989). In Search of the Indo-Europeans London: Thames and Hudson. ISBN 0-500-27616-1
- Renfrew, Colin (1987). Archaeology & Language. The Puzzle of the Indo-European Origins. London: Jonathan Cape. ISBN 0-224-02495-7
External links
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