Proto-Indo-European religion
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| Indo-European studies |
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 [1]. 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.
Contents |
[edit] 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 Malory and Adams Oxford Introduction. 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 "Plentry", a goddess of wide flat lands and the rivers that meander across them. Forms include Hittite Lelwanni, a goddess of the underworld "the pourer" (G&I, p.760); Sanskrit Prthivi; from the ancient Persian, the Euphrates river (Bopp, p. 28); Greek Leto, borrowed into Latin as 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 Paraskeya (sometimes St. Paraskeya), 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 Fairies (forms of Freya), and 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.
- *Perkwunos, known as the “striker” is reconstructed from Skt. Parjanya, Prussian Perkūns, Lithuanian Perkūnas, Latvian Pērkons, Slavic Perun and Norse Fjörgyn, and Frigg. Fjorgynn was replaced by Thor among the Germanic speaking people. In Latin he is replaced by Jove. These gods usually give their names to Thursday, the fourth day of the week.
- *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, Sanskrit Dyaus/Dyaus Pita, Baltic Dievas, Germanic Tiwaz (ON Týr, OHG Ziu), Armenian Astwatz, the Irish Dagda, Slavic Dazbog, and the Gaulish Dispater (c.f. also deus pater in the Vulgate, e. g. Jude 1:1).
- *H2ausos is believed to have been the goddess of dawn, continued in Greek mythology as Eos, in Rome as Aurora, in Vedic as Ushas, in Lithuanian mythology as Aušra or Auštaras, in Armenian as Astghik and possibly also in Germanic mythology as Eostre.
- Greek Poseidon was perhaps originally a chthonic god, either a god of the earth or the underworld, from poti daon "lord of Da", assuming Demeter can be derived from Da mater "Mother Da". Some scholars such as John Chadwick found this etymology unconvincing. Another may be proposed: *don referring to "the waters", as the Vedic goddess of the rivers, Danu, who shares a name with the Celtic mother god. Poseidon being "the master of the waters", more conform to the functions of a god of the sea (and possibly also the supposed celestial ocean or watery abyss).
- *Welnos, maybe a god of the night sky, or of the underworld, continued in Sanskrit Varuna, Slavic Veles, Armenian Aray, and Lithuanian Velnias.
- Divine twins, 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
- There may have been a sea-god, in Persian and Vedic known as Apam Napat, in Celtic as Nechtan, in Etruscan as Nethuns, in Germanic as Nerthus/Njord and in Latin as Neptune, possibly called *Néptonos. [1] This god may be related to the Germanic water spirit, the Nix.
- The Sun, *Sawel, and the Moon *Menot/Men- deities, possibly twin children of the supreme sky-god *Dyeus, continued in Hindu religion as Surya and Mas, in Iranian religion as Hvar and Mah, in Greek as Helios and Selene (these were later pushed out by imported Anatolian deities Apollo and Artemis), in Latin mythology as Sol and Luna, in German mythology as Sol and Mani, in Baltic mythology as *Saulē and *Mēnō. 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.
[edit] 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
- Thor vs. Jörmungandr, Sigurd vs. Fafnir in Scandinavian mythology;
- Zeus vs. Typhon, Kronos vs. Ophion, Apollo vs. Python, Heracles vs. the Hydra, Ladon, Perseus vs. Ceto and Bellerophon vs. the Chimaira in Greek mythology;
- Indra vs. Vrtra in the Rigveda; Θraētaona, and later Kərəsāspa, vs. Aži Dahāka in Zoroastrianism and Persian mythology.
- Perun vs. Veles, Dobrynya Nikitich vs. Zmey in Slavic mythology;
- Tarhunt vs. Illuyanka of Hittite mythology;
There are also analogous stories in other neighbouring mythologies: Anu or Marduk vs. Tiamat in Mesopotamian 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.[2] The myth symbolized a clash between forces of order and chaos (represented by the serpent), and the god or hero would always win.[3] 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.
There may have been a sort of nature spirit or god akin to the Greek god Pan and the Satyrs, the Roman god Faunus and the Fauns, the Celtic god Cernunnos and the Dusii, Slavic Veles and the Leszi, Vedic Pashupati, Prajapati and Pushan, the Germanic Woodwose, elves and dwarves; There may also have been a female cognate akin to the Greco-Roman nymphs, Slavic vilas, the Huldra of Germanic folklore, the Hindu Apsaras, the Persian Peri. A possibly similar type of spirit may be found in Jewish mythology, Azazel and the Se'irim, as well as in Arabic mythology, the Jinn.
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).[2] It is also likely that they had three fate goddesses, see the Norns in Norse mythology, Moirae in Greek mythology, Sudjenice of Slavic folklore and Deivės Valdytojos in Lithuanian mythology.
The first ancestor of men was called *Manu-, see Germanic Mannus, Hindu Manu.
The Sun was represented as riding in a chariot.
[edit] 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.
- Anatolian
- Indo-Iranian
- Greek
- Italic
- Baltic
- Slavic
- Celtic
- Germanic
- Tocharian
- Armenian
- Albanian
[edit] See also
- Chariot burial
- Soma
- Horse sacrifice
- Luhansk sacrificial site
- Comparing Eastern and Western religious traditions
- Proto-Semitic Pantheon
- Neolithic religion
- Aesir-Asura correspondence
[edit] Notes
- ^ In Search of the Indo-Europeans: Language, Archaeology and Myth, by J.P. Mallory, Thames and Hudson, New Yok, 1089
- ^ Alby, Stone (1994). "Hellhounds, Werewolves and the Germanic Underworld". Mercian Mysteries 20. Retrieved on 2007-10-07.
[edit] References
- Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture (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)
- Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture by Mallory and Adams (1997)
- 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.
[edit] External links
- ceisiwrserith.com - What was the Proto-Indo-European religion like?
- Neo-pagan article on PIE religionde:Indogermanische Religion
fr:Religion proto-indo-européenne pt:Religião proto-indo-européia ru:Индоевропейская мифология
