Proto-Indo-European religion

Proto-Indo-European religion is not directly attested, but reconstruction has been attempted based on the existence of similarities among the deities, religious practices and mythologies of the Indo-European peoples. The hypothesized reconstructions below are based on linguistic evidence using the comparative method. Archaeological evidence is difficult to match to any specific culture in the period of early Indo-European culture in the Chalcolithic. Other approaches to Indo-European mythology are possible, most notably the trifunctional hypothesis of Georges DumÃ©zil.

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 deity names are more readily accepted among scholars than others.

The term for "a god" was *deiwos, reflected in Hittite, sius; Latin, deus, Sanskrit deva; Avestan, daeva (later, Persian, divs); Welsh duw; Irish dia, Lithuanian, Dievas; Latvian, Dievs.

*DyÄ"us Ph₂tÄ"r (literally "sky father") is the god of the day-lit sky and the chief god of the Indo-European pantheon. The name survives in Greek Zeus with a vocative form Zeu pater; Latin JÅ«piter (from the archaic Latin Iovis pater; DiÄ"spiter), Sanskrit DyÃ¡us PitÄ, and Illyrian Dei-pÃ¡trous.
*Plth₂wih₂ (literally "the broad one") is reconstructed as Plenty, a goddess of wide flat lands and the rivers that meander across them. Forms include Hittite Lelwani, a goddess of the underworld, "the pourer", and Sanskrit Prithvi.
*Perkwunos, known as "the striker", is reconstructed from Sanskrit Parjanya, Prussian Perkuns, Lithuanian PerkÅ«nas, Latvian PÄ"rkons, Slavic Perun, and Norse FjÃ¶rgyn. FjÃ¶rgyn was replaced by Thor among the Germanic-speaking peoples. The Celtic hammer god Sucellus (also cf. Taranis "Thunderer") is of the same character, but with an unrelated name.
*H₂eus(os), 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 AuÅ¡ra 'dawn' or AuÅ¡taras (AuÅ¡tra) 'the god (goddess) of the northeast wind', Latvian Auseklis, the morning star (Lithuanian AuÅ¡rinÄ—, 'morning star'); Ausera, and Ausrina, goddesses of dawn or of the planet Venus; Hittite, assu 'lord, god'; Gallic Esus, a god of hearths; 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. An extension of the name may have been *H₂eust(e)ro, but see also the form *as-t-r, with intrusive -t- [between s and r] in northern dialects". Anatolian dialects: Estan, Istanus, Istara; Greek, Hestia, goddess of the hearth; Latin Vesta, goddess of the hearth; in Armenian as Astghik, a star goddess; possibly also in Germanic mythology as Ä'ostre or Ostara; and Baltic, Austija.
*PriHeh₂, is reconstructed (Mallory & Adams 2006, pp.Â 208) as "beloved, friend" (Sanskrit priya), the love goddess.
*Deh₂nu- 'River goddess' is reconstructed (Mallory & Adams 2006, p.Â 434) from Sanskrit Danu, Irish Danu; Welsh DÃ´n, and a masc. form Ossetic Donbettys. 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.
*Welnos, is reconstructed as a god of cattle from Slavic Veles, and Lithuanian Velnias (in archaic Lithuanian vÄ—lÄ—s means 'shades' or 'spirits of the departed'), "protector of flocks"; Velns in Latvian; 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, 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 (Comparative Mythology p.Â 84), but this is now rejected on linguistic grounds, ("the etymology is disputed" Shapiro, JIES 10, 1&2, p.Â 155).
Divine Twins: There are several sets, which may or may not be related.
- Analysis of different Indo-European tales indicate the Proto-Indo-Europeans believed there were two progenitors of mankind: *Manu- ("Man"; Indic Manu; Germanic Mannus) and *Yemo- ("Twin"; Indic Yama; Germanic Ymir), his twin brother. Cognates of this set of twins appear as the first mortals, or the first gods to die, sometimes becoming the ancestors of everyone and/or king(s) of the dead.
- The Sun and Moon as discussed in the next paragraph.
- Horse Twins, usually have a name that means 'horse' *ekwa-, but the names are not always cognate, because there is no lexical set (Mallory & Adams 2006, p.Â 432). 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 AÅ¡vieniai, identical to Latvian Dieva deli. Other horse twins are: Greek, Dioskouroi (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 Polel; 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, 1&2, pp.Â 137â€"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 (Mallory & Adams 2006, p.Â 438) as *H₂epom Nepots 'grandson/nephew of waters' from Avestan and Vedic Apam Napat, and as *neptonos from Celtic Nechtan, Etruscan Nethuns, and Latin Neptune. This god may be related to the Germanic water spirit, the Nix. Similarly, most major Lithuanian rivers begin in ne- (e.g. Nemunas, Neris, NevÄ—Å¾is). Poseidon fulfills the same role in Greek mythology, but although the etymology of his name is highly arguable, it is certainly not cognate to Apam Napat.

The Sun and Moon are often seen as the twin children of various deities, 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 tends to vary among subsequent Indo-European mythologies. Here are two of the most common PIE forms:

*Seh₂ul with a genitive form *Sh₂-en-s, Sun, appears as Sanskrit Surya, Avestan Hvara; Greek Helios, Latin Sol, Germanic *Sowilo (Old Norse SÃ³l; Old English Sigel and Sunna, modern English Sun), Slavic Solntse, Lithuanian SaulÄ—, Latvian Saule, Albanian Diell. The original Indo-European solar deity appears to have been female, a characteristic not only supported by the higher number of sun goddesses in subsequent derivations (feminine SÃ³l, Saule, Sulis, Solntseâ€"not directly attested as a goddess, but feminine in genderâ€", Ã‰taÃn, GrÃan, Aimend, Ãine and Catha versus masculine Helios, Surya, Savitr, Usil and Sol; Hvare-khshaeta is of neutral gender), but also by vestiges in mythologies with male solar deities (Usil in etruscan art is depicted occasionally as a goddess, while solar characteristics in Athena and Helen of Troy still remain in Greek mythology).
*Meh₁not Moon, gives Avestan, Mah; Greek Selene (unrelated), although they also use a form Mene; Latin, Luna, later Diana (unrelated), ON Mani, Old English Mona; Slavic Myesyats; Lithuanian, *Meno, or MÄ—nuo (MÄ—nulis); Latvian Meness. In Albanian, Hane is the name of Monday, but this is not related. (Encyclopedia of IE Culture, p.Â 385, gives the forms but does not have an entry for a moon goddess.) The original Indo-European lunar deity appears to have been masculine, with feminine lunar deities like Selene and Luna being a development exclusive to the eastern Mediterranean. Even in these traditions, remnants of male lunar deities, like Menelaus, remain.
*Peh₂uson is reconstructed (Mallory & Adams 2006, p.Â 434) as a pastoral god, based on the Greek god Pan, the Roman god Faunus and the Fauns, and Vedic Pashupati, and Pushan. See also Pax.
There may have been a set of nature spirits or gods akin to the Greek Satyrs, the Celtic god Cernunnos and the Dusii, Slavic Veles and the Leszi, 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, and the Hindu Apsaras.
It is also likely that they had three fate goddesses; see the Norns in Norse mythology, Moirai in Greek mythology, Sudjenice of Slavic folklore, Ursitoare in Folklore of Romania and DeivÄ—s Valdytojos in Lithuanian mythology. Celtic religion is also rife with triple goddesses, such as the Gaulish Matrones and the Morrigan of Ireland, and sometimes triplicate gods as well, but they are not always associated with fate. See also Triple deities.

A fuller treatment of the subject of the Indo-European Pantheon would not merely list the cognate names but describe additional correspondences in the "family relationships", festival dates, associated myths (but see Mythology section) and special powers.

Pandemonium

"Pandemonium" is Jaan Puhvel's word for the mutual demonization that occurred when the Younger-Avesta demonized the daevas, and the post-Rigvedic texts demonized the asuras. Neither demonization occurs in the oldest texts: in the Rigveda, there is not yet any hard-and-fast distinction between asuras and dÄ"vas, and even in the later Vedas, the two groups (though thematically in opposition) cooperate at certain times. In the Old Avestan texts the daevas are to be rejected for being misguided by the "lie", but they are still gods, and not demons.

However, in the 19th century this distinction between the older and younger texts had not yet been made, and in 1884 Martin Haug "postulated his thesis that the transition of both the words [asuras and devas] into the designations of the demons ... is based on a prehistoric schism in religion ..." The observation was reiterated by Jacob Grimm (DM3, p.Â 985), who, like Haug, considered it to be the theological basis of Zoroastrianism's dualism.

Before this (in the 1850s), Westergaard had attributed the Younger-Avesta's demonization of the daevas to a "moral reaction against Vedic polytheism", but that (unlike the general notion of a mutual demonization) was very quickly rejected, and by 1895 James Darmesteter noted that it has "no longer [had] any supporter." Nonetheless, some modern authors like Mallory and Adams still refer to Zoroastrianism as a "religious reformation" of Vedic religion (Mallory & Adams 2006, pp.Â 408â€"09). Most scholars however stress that there were two independent developments in ancient Iran and post-Rigvedic India, but nonetheless to be considered against the common background of prehistoric Indo-Iranian religion where both groups coexisted, with the asuras, perhaps even as a subset (having a particular common characteristic, like the Adityas) of the daevas, the national gods.

Mythology

Dragon or Serpent

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 (Watkins 1995).

Zeus vs. Typhon, Kronos vs. Ophion, Apollo vs. Python, Heracles vs. the Hydra and Ladon, Perseus vs. Ceto, and Bellerophon vs. the Chimera in Greek mythology;
Thor vs. JÃ¶rmungandr, Sigurd vs. Fafnir and Beowulf vs. the dragon in Germanic mythology;
Indra vs. Vrtra in the Rigveda;
Krishna vs. KÄliyÄ in the Bhagavata Purana;
Î˜raÄ"taona, and later KÉ™rÉ™sÄspa, vs. AÅ¾i DahÄka in Zoroastrianism and Persian mythology;
Perun vs. Veles, Dobrynya Nikitich vs. Zmey in Slavic mythology;
Fat-Frumos vs. Zmeu in Folklore of Romania
Tarhunt vs. Illuyanka of Hittite mythology;

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 (see Book of Revelation 12), Saint George and the Dragon in Christian mythology. 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 RagnarÃ¶k myth in which both die). Serpentine aspects can be found in 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 *kÊ·rÌ¥mis, or some name cognate with *Velnos/Werunos or the root *Wel/Vel- (VS Varuna, who is associated with the serpentine naga, Vala and Vá¹›tra, 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).

Sun

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 the Rigvedic story of 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 god, Helios of Greek mythology, Surya of Hinduism, and SÃ³l of Germanic mythology are represented as riding in a chariot with horses. (Note that the chariot was not invented until Indo-European had already split into linguistic branches.)

In Norse mythology, the Sun goddess (SÃ³l) and Moon god (MÃ¡ni) are swallowed by demon wolves SkÃ¶ll and Hati HrÃ³Ã°vitnisson.

In Hinduism, the Sun god (Surya) and Moon god (Chandra) are swallowed by the demon serpents Rahu and Ketu resulting in Eclipses.

Brothers

Analysis of different Indo-European tales indicates the Proto-Indo-Europeans believed there were two progenitors of mankind: *Manu- ("Man") and *Yemo- ("Twin"), his twin brother. A reconstructed creation myth involving the two is given by D.W. Anthony, attributed in part to Bruce Lincoln: Manu and Yemo traverse the cosmos, accompanied by the primordial cow, finally deciding to create the world. To do so, Manu sacrifices either Yemo or the cow, and with help from the sky father, the storm god and the divine twins, forges the earth from the remains. Manu thus becomes the first priest and establishes the practice of sacrifice. The sky gods then present cattle to the third man, *Trito, who loses it to the three-headed serpent *Ng^whi, but eventually overcomes this monster either alone or aided by the sky father. Trito is now the first warrior and ensures that the cycle of mutual giving between gods and humans may continue.

Reflexes of *Manu include Indic Manu, Germanic Mannus; of Yemo, Indic Yama, Avestan Yima, Norse Ymir, possibly Roman Remus (< earlier Italic *iemus).

There are almost no mythological tales of Rome, but the early "history" of Rome is recognized as being an historicized version of various old myths. Romulus and Remus were twin brothers. They both have stories in which they are killed.

Remus is killed by his brother Romulus at the foundation of Rome; and
Romulus is dismembered by the senators, "... there were some who secretly hinted that he had been torn limb from limb by the senators ..." There is no world making here, but Romulus is the eponymous ancestor of the Romans, and the founder of Rome.
Gemini is the actual Latin word for 'twins' though it usually applies to Castor and Pollux, see Horse Twins in the Pantheon section. They were worshipped all over the Roman world with votive altars with inscriptions, which remained after the Romans were gone. This may be the source of some names which appear in early Christian myths.

The Germanic languages have information about both Ymir and Mannus (cognates of *Yemo- and *Manu- respectively), but they never appear in the same myth, rather they appear only in myths widely separated in both time and circumstances.

A Roman text (dated CE 98) tells that Mannus, the son of Tuisto, was the ancestor of the Germanic people, according to Tacitus, writing in Latin, in Germania 2. We never see this being again, but the name Allemagne is interpreted (perhaps by folk etymology) as "all-men" the name for themselves.

Bulls

Celtic (in this case Irish) texts were written down between the 11th and 14th centuries CE. In one myth a bull is killed and dismembered by another bull and the parts of his body are distributed around Ireland, which explains the names of many features of the landscape, though not the cause of their existence. "It was not long before the men of Erin [Ireland], as they were there in the company of Ailill and Madb early on the morrow, saw coming over Cruachan from the west, the Brown Bull of Cualnge with the Whitehorned [Bull] of Ai in torn fragments hanging about his ears and horns." An example of one of the distributions is this one: "Then he raised his head, and the shoulder-blades of the Whitehorned fell from him in that place. Hence, Sruthair Finnlethe ('Stream of the White Shoulder-blade') is the name given to it."

In Lithuanian, a folktale tells of a bull and three cows which are beheaded by AuÅ¡rinÄ—, (the morning star) and then the land appears. "The maiden upon returning released her bull. The bull knelt down and spoke in a man's voice: "Chop off my head!" The maiden did not want to chop it off, but she had to. She chopped the head offâ€"a fourth of the seas disappeared, became land. Her brother emerged from the bull. She cut off the heads of all three cows, who were her sisters. All the seas disappeared, turned to land. The earth sprang to life."

Other myths

Other myths may have included:

Creation myths

Birth of the Horse Twins from the grain/horse mother (Cox, p.Â 234, found in 7/11 language groups, which is a very conservative statistic)
Danu killed and cut open to produce a river (a parturition creation myth, 3/11)

Cyclic myths

Spring kills Winter, usually with his sprinkler or his striker (Cox, p.Â 559, found in 4/11 language groups)
Cloud/cows stolen from the sun god by the wind god and then released (Cox, p.Â 232, 4/11)
Death and rebirth of the (often grain-associated) life-death-rebirth deity causes the seasons; Frazer calls him the "Dying Corn God" (Frazer, Vol. 8 and 9 of the Golden Bough esp. Vol. 9, pp.Â 412â€"423; 4/11)
Uncle Water melts the ice and releases the water causing flooding (Gamkrelidze and Ivanov 1995, 5/11)
Quest of the golden apples of immortality, usually by a wind god (Cox, p.Â 512, 4/11)

Culture myths

Culture myths, stories in which some godlike being teaches the "arts of civilization" (actually technologies) to humans, are found in all cultures. The culture myths of the Indo-Europeans tell how the culture gods taught humans such arts as how to make fire, the proper way to kill and butcher an animal (sacrifice), religious rituals and law codes, smithing, weaving, ploughing, and healing. Culture-giving figures (e.g. Prometheus and Loki) sometimes have an intermediate position between gods and humans (i.e., demigods). They are certainly supernatural, but they often die or are tortured by other gods for their beneficence to humans; nevertheless they are often revived and worshipped like regular gods or revered as heroes. Mallory and Adams call them Craft Gods and argue that they are not linguistically reconstructible; however, Cox compares Greek Prometheus with Hindu Pramanthu (Cox, p.Â 421). Smith gods, a subset of the culture gods, are slightly reconstructible according to Mallory and Adams.

Flood myth

Flood myth is a widespread myth, in Indo-European as in other cultures (for example, Noah and Utnapishtim myths). In Hindu mythology, there is a story of a great flood, wherein the Matsya Avatar of Vishnu warns the first man, Manu. In Greek mythology, Deucalion is the survivor of the flood, and his sons Aeolus, Ion and Dorus are the founders of the three main lines of modern Greeks.

Ritual

Ã‰mile Benveniste states that "there is no common [IE] term to designate religion itself, or cult, or the priest, not even one of the personal gods". There are, however, terms denoting ritual practice reconstructed in Indo-Iranian religion which have root cognates in other branches, hinting at common PIE concepts. Thus, the stem *hrta-, usually translated as "(cosmic) order" (Vedic Å—ta and Iranian arta). Benveniste states, "We have here one of the cardinal notions of the legal world of the Indo-Europeans to say nothing of their religious and moral ideas" (pp.Â 379â€"381). He also adds that an abstract suffix -tu formed the Vedic stem Å—tu-, Avestan ratu- which designated order, particularly in the seasons and periods of time and which appears in Latin ritus "rite" and Sanskrit ritu.

The following list of reconstructed PIE religious terms is based on EIEC and Lyle Campbell

*isH₁ro â€˜holyâ€™
*sakro- â€˜sacredâ€™ (derived from *sak- â€˜to sanctifyâ€™) [p.Â 493, EIEC]
*k^ywen(to)- â€˜holyâ€™ [p.Â 493, EIEC]
*noib^ho- â€˜holyâ€™ [p.Â 493, EIEC]
*prek^y- â€˜prayâ€™
*meld^h- â€˜prayâ€™ [p.Â 449, EIEC]
*g^whed^h- â€˜prayâ€™ [p.Â 449, EIEC]
*H₁weg^wh- â€˜speak solemnlyâ€™; [*ueg^wh-, p.Â 449, EIEC]
*Ä^heuH_x- â€˜call, invokeâ€™ (perhaps English god < *Ä^hu-to- from â€˜that which is invokedâ€™, but derivation from *Ä^hu-to- â€˜libatedâ€™ from *Ä^heu- â€˜libate, pourâ€™ is also possible). [p.Â 89, EIEC]
*kowH₁ei- â€˜priest, seer/poetâ€™ [p.Â 451, EIEC]
*H_xiaÄ- â€˜worshipâ€™
*weik- â€˜consecrateâ€™ (earlier meaning perhaps â€˜to separateâ€™), [*ueik-, p.Â 493, EIEC; p.Â 29, Grimm]
*sep- â€˜handle reverentlyâ€™ [p.Â 450, EIEC]
*spend- â€˜libateâ€™
*Ä^heu- â€˜libateâ€™ and *Ä^heu-mÅ† â€˜libationâ€™
*dapnom â€˜sacrificial mealâ€™ from *dap-, [p.Â 496, EIEC; p.Â 484, Benveniste]
*tolko/eH₂- â€˜mealâ€™ (at least late PIE) [p.Â 496, EIEC]
*nemos â€˜sacred groveâ€™ (used in west and centre of the IE world)
*werb^h- â€˜sacred enclosureâ€™

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: see Hittite mythology
Indo-Iranian:
- Indo-Aryan: see Vedic religion and mythology, Indian religions (Hinduism and Hindu mythology, Buddhism and Buddhist mythology, Jainism, Sikhism), and Kalasha (religion)
- Iranian: see Zoroastrianism, Persian mythology and YazdÃ¢nism
Greek: see Greek polytheism and mythology, Hellenistic religion, Decline of Hellenistic polytheism, Greek Orthodox Church
Italic: see Roman polytheism and mythology, Roman Catholic Church
Celtic: see Celtic polytheism and mythology, Celtic Christianity
Germanic: see Germanic mythology (Continental, Anglo-Saxon and Norse mythology)
Baltic: see Latvian mythology, Lithuanian mythology
Slavic: see Slavic mythology, Christianization of the Slavs
Tocharian: little evidence, see Silk Road transmission of Buddhism
Armenian: limited evidence, see Armenian mythology, Armenian Orthodox Church
Prehistoric Balkans: see Paleo-Balkanic mythology

References

External links

Proto-Indo-European Religion

Proto-Indo-European religion

Jumat, 27 Maret 2015

Proto-Indo-European religion