
Proto-Indo-European mythology is the body of
myths and
deities
A deity or god is a supernatural being considered to be sacred and worthy of worship due to having authority over some aspect of the universe and/or life. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines ''deity'' as a God (male deity), god or god ...
associated with the
Proto-Indo-Europeans
The Proto-Indo-Europeans are a hypothetical prehistoric ethnolinguistic group of Eurasia who spoke Proto-Indo-European (PIE), the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family.
Knowledge of them comes chiefly from t ...
, speakers of the hypothesized
Proto-Indo-European language
Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. No direct record of Proto-Indo-European exists; its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-Eu ...
. Although the mythological motifs are not directly attested – since Proto-Indo-European speakers lived in preliterate societies – scholars of
comparative mythology have reconstructed details from inherited similarities in mythological concepts found in
Indo-European languages, based on the assumption that parts of the Proto-Indo-Europeans' original belief systems survived in the daughter traditions.
The Proto-Indo-European
pantheon includes a number of securely reconstructed deities, since they are both
cognates—linguistic siblings from a common origin—and associated with similar attributes and body of myths: such as , the
daylight-sky god; his consort , the
earth mother; his daughter , the
dawn goddess; his sons the
Divine Twins; and and , a
solar deity and
moon deity, respectively. Some deities, like the
weather god or the herding-god , are only attested in a limited number of traditions—Western (i.e. European) and
Graeco-Aryan, respectively—and could therefore represent late additions that did not spread throughout the various Indo-European dialects.
Some myths are also securely dated to Proto-Indo-European times, since they feature both linguistic and thematic evidence of an inherited motif: a story portraying a
mythical figure associated with thunder and slaying a multi-headed serpent to release torrents of water that had previously been pent up; a
creation myth involving
two brothers, one of whom sacrifices the other in order to create the world; and probably the belief that the
Otherworld was guarded by a
watchdog and could only be reached by crossing a river.
Various schools of thought exist regarding possible interpretations of the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European mythology. The main mythologies used in comparative reconstruction are
Indo-Iranian,
Baltic,
Roman,
Norse,
Celtic,
Greek,
Slavic,
Hittite,
Armenian, and
Albanian.
Methods of reconstruction
Schools of thought
The mythology of the Proto-Indo-Europeans is not directly attested and it is difficult to match their language to archaeological findings related to any specific culture from the
Chalcolithic. Nonetheless, scholars of comparative mythology have attempted to reconstruct aspects of Proto-Indo-European mythology based on the existence of linguistic and thematic similarities among the
deities
A deity or god is a supernatural being considered to be sacred and worthy of worship due to having authority over some aspect of the universe and/or life. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines ''deity'' as a God (male deity), god or god ...
, religious practices, and myths of various Indo-European peoples. This method is known as the
comparative method. Different schools of thought have approached the subject of Proto-Indo-European mythology from different angles.

The Meteorological or Naturist School holds that Proto-Indo-European myths initially emerged as explanations for natural phenomena, such as the
Sky
The sky is an unobstructed view upward from the planetary surface, surface of the Earth. It includes the atmosphere of Earth, atmosphere and outer space. It may also be considered a place between the ground and outer space, thus distinct from ...
, the
Sun, the
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...
, and the
Dawn. Rituals were therefore centered around the worship of those elemental deities. This interpretation was popular among early scholars, such as
Friedrich Max Müller, who saw all myths as fundamentally solar allegories. Although recently revived by some scholars like
Jean Haudry and
Martin L. West, this school lost most of its scholarly support in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
The Ritual School, which first became prominent in the late nineteenth century, holds that Proto-Indo-European myths are best understood as stories invented to explain various rituals and religious practices. Scholars of the Ritual School argue that those rituals should be interpreted as attempts to manipulate the universe in order to obtain its favours. This interpretation reached the height of its popularity during the early twentieth century, and many of its most prominent early proponents, such as
James George Frazer and
Jane Ellen Harrison, were classical scholars.
Bruce Lincoln, a contemporary member of the Ritual School, argues for instance that the Proto-Indo-Europeans believed that every sacrifice was a reenactment of the original sacrifice performed by the founder of the human race on his twin brother.
The Functionalist School, by contrast, holds that myths served as stories reinforcing social behaviours through the
meta-narrative justification of a traditional order. Scholars of the Functionalist School were greatly influenced by the
trifunctional system proposed by
Georges Dumézil, which postulates a tripartite ideology reflected in a threefold division between a
clerical class (encompassing both the religious and social functions of the priests and rulers), a
warrior class (connected with the concepts of violence and bravery), and a class of
farmers or husbandmen (associated with fertility and craftsmanship), on the basis that many historically known groups speaking Indo-European languages show such a division.
[Dumézil, Georges (1929). ''Flamen-Brahman''.] Dumézil's theory had a major influence on Indo-European studies from the mid-20th century onwards, and some scholars continue to operate under its framework,
[ Lincoln, Bruce (1999). ''Theorizing myth: Narrative, ideology, and scholarship'', p. 260 n. 17. University of Chicago Press, .] although it has also been criticized as aprioristic and too inclusive, and thus impossible to be proved or disproved.
The Structuralist School argues that Proto-Indo-European mythology was largely centered around the concept of
dualistic opposition. They generally hold that the mental structure of all human beings is designed to set up opposing patterns in order to resolve conflicting elements. This approach tends to focus on cultural universals within the realm of mythology rather than the genetic origins of those myths, such as the fundamental and binary opposition rooted in the nature of marriage proposed by
Tamaz V. Gamkrelidze and
Vyacheslav Ivanov. It also offers refinements of the trifunctional system by highlighting the oppositional elements present within each function, such as the creative and destructive elements both found within the role of the warrior.
Source mythologies

One of the earliest attested and thus one of the most important of all Indo-European mythologies is
Vedic mythology
The historical Vedic religion, also called Vedism or Brahmanism, and sometimes ancient Hinduism or Vedic Hinduism, constituted the religious ideas and practices prevalent amongst some of the Indo-Aryan peoples of the northwest Indian subcontin ...
, especially the mythology of the ''
Rigveda
The ''Rigveda'' or ''Rig Veda'' (, , from wikt:ऋच्, ऋच्, "praise" and wikt:वेद, वेद, "knowledge") is an ancient Indian Miscellany, collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns (''sūktas''). It is one of the four sacred canoni ...
'', the oldest of the
Vedas
FIle:Atharva-Veda samhita page 471 illustration.png, upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the ''Atharvaveda''.
The Vedas ( or ; ), sometimes collectively called the Veda, are a large body of relig ...
. Early scholars of comparative mythology such as Friedrich Max Müller stressed the importance of Vedic mythology to such an extent that they practically equated it with Proto-Indo-European myths. Modern researchers have been much more cautious, recognizing that, although Vedic mythology is still central, other mythologies must also be taken into account.
Another of the most important source mythologies for comparative research is
Roman mythology
Roman mythology is the body of myths of ancient Rome as represented in the literature and visual arts of the Romans, and is a form of Roman folklore. "Roman mythology" may also refer to the modern study of these representations, and to th ...
. The Romans possessed a very complex mythological system, parts of which have been preserved through the characteristic Roman tendency to rationalize their myths into historical accounts. Despite its relatively late attestation,
Norse mythology is still considered one of the three most important of the Indo-European mythologies for comparative research, due to the vast bulk of surviving Icelandic material.
Baltic mythology has also received a great deal of scholarly attention, as it is linguistically the most conservative and archaic of all surviving branches, but has so far remained frustrating to researchers because the sources are so comparatively late. Nonetheless, Latvian folk songs are seen as a major source of information in the process of reconstructing Proto-Indo-European myth. Despite the popularity of
Greek mythology
Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories conc ...
in western culture, Greek mythology is generally seen as having little importance in comparative mythology due to the heavy influence of
Pre-Greek and Near Eastern cultures, which overwhelms what little Indo-European material can be extracted from it. Consequently, Greek mythology received minimal scholarly attention until the first decade of the 21st century.
Although
Scythians
The Scythians ( or ) or Scyths (, but note Scytho- () in composition) and sometimes also referred to as the Pontic Scythians, were an Ancient Iranian peoples, ancient Eastern Iranian languages, Eastern Iranian peoples, Iranian Eurasian noma ...
are considered relatively conservative in regards to Proto-Indo-European cultures, retaining a similar lifestyle and culture,
their mythology has very rarely been examined in an Indo-European context and infrequently discussed in regards to the nature of the ancestral Indo-European mythology. At least three deities,
Tabiti,
Papaios and
Api, are generally interpreted as having Indo-European origins, while the remaining have seen more disparate interpretations. Influence from Siberian, Turkic and even Near Eastern beliefs, on the other hand, are more widely discussed in literature.
Cosmology
There was a fundamental opposition between the never-aging gods dwelling above in the skies and the mortal humans living beneath on the earth. Earth () was perceived as a vast, flat and circular continent surrounded by waters ("the Ocean"). Although they may sometimes be identified with mythical figures or stories, the stars () were not bound to any particular cosmic significance and were perceived as ornamental more than anything else. According to
Martin L. West, the idea of the
world-tree (L. ''axis mundi'') is probably a later import from North Asiatic cosmologies: "The Greek myth might be derived from the Near East, and the Indic and Germanic ideas of a pillar from the shamanistic cosmologies of the
Finno-Ugric and other peoples of central and northern Asia."
Cosmogony
Reconstruction
There is no scholarly consensus as to which of the variants is the most accurate reconstruction of the Proto-Indo-European cosmogonic myth.
Bruce Lincoln's reconstruction of the Proto-Indo-European motif known as "Twin and Man" is supported by a number of scholars such as
Jaan Puhvel,
J. P. Mallory,
Douglas Q. Adams,
David W. Anthony, and, in part,
Martin L. West. Although some thematic parallels can be made with traditions of the Ancient Near East, and even Polynesian or South American legends, Lincoln argues that the linguistic correspondences found in descendant
cognate
In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language.
Because language change can have radical effects on both the s ...
s of and make it very likely that the myth has a Proto-Indo-European origin. According to
Edgar C. Polomé, "some elements of the
candinavian myth of Ymirare distinctively Indo-European", but the reconstruction proposed by Lincoln "makes too
anyunprovable assumptions to account for the fundamental changes implied by the Scandinavian version".
David A. Leeming also notes that the concept of the
Cosmic egg, symbolizing the primordial state from which the universe arises, is found in many Indo-European creation myths.
Creation myth
Lincoln reconstructs a
creation myth involving twin brothers, *' ("Man") and *' ("Twin"), as the progenitors of the world and humankind, and a hero named ''*'' ("Third") who ensured the continuity of the original sacrifice. Regarding the primordial state that may have preceded the creation process, West notes that the Vedic, Norse and, at least partially, the Greek traditions give evidence of an era when the cosmological elements were absent, with similar formulae insisting on their non-existence: "neither non-being was nor being was at that time; there was not the air, nor the heaven beyond it" (''
Rigveda
The ''Rigveda'' or ''Rig Veda'' (, , from wikt:ऋच्, ऋच्, "praise" and wikt:वेद, वेद, "knowledge") is an ancient Indian Miscellany, collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns (''sūktas''). It is one of the four sacred canoni ...
''), "there was not sand nor sea nor the cool waves; earth was nowhere nor heaven above;
Ginnungagap there was, but grass nowhere" (''
Völuspá''), "there was
Chasm and Night and dark
Erebos at first, and broad
Tartarus, but earth nor air nor heaven there was" (''
The Birds'').
In the creation myth, the first man and his giant twin are crossing the
cosmos, accompanied by the primordial cow. To create the world,
sacrifices his brother and, with the help of heavenly deities (the
Sky-Father, the
Storm-God and the
Divine Twins), forges both the natural elements and
human beings from his remains. thus becomes the first priest after initiating sacrifice as the primordial condition for the world order, and his deceased brother the first king as social classes emerge from his anatomy (priesthood from his head, the warrior class from his breast and arms, and the commoners from his sexual organs and legs). Although the European and
Indo-Iranian versions differ on this matter, Lincoln argues that the primeval cow was most likely sacrificed in the original myth, giving birth to the other animals and vegetables, since the
pastoral way of life of
Proto-Indo-Iranian speakers was closer to that of Proto-Indo-European speakers. To the third man , the celestial gods then offer cattle as a divine gift, which is stolen by a three-headed
serpent named ("serpent"). first suffers at his hands, but the hero eventually manages to overcome the monster, fortified by an intoxicating drink and aided by the Sky-Father. He eventually gives the recovered cattle back to a priest for it to be properly sacrificed. is now the first warrior, maintaining through his heroic actions the cycle of mutual giving between gods and mortals.
Interpretations
According to Lincoln, and seem to be the protagonists of "a myth of the sovereign function, establishing the model for later priests and kings", while the legend of should be interpreted as "a myth of the warrior function, establishing the model for all later men of arms". The myth indeed recalls the
Dumézilian tripartition of the cosmos between the priest (in both his magical and legal aspects), the warrior (the Third Man), and the herder (the cow).
The story of served as a model for later
cattle raiding epic myths and most likely as a moral justification for the practice of raiding among Indo-European peoples. In the original legend, is only taking back what rightfully belongs to his people, those who sacrifice properly to the gods. The myth has been interpreted either as a cosmic conflict between the heavenly hero and the earthly serpent, or as an Indo-European victory over non-Indo-European people, the monster symbolizing the aboriginal thief or usurper.
Some scholars have proposed that the primeval being was depicted as a two-fold
hermaphrodite rather than a twin brother of , both forming indeed a pair of complementary beings entwined together.
The Germanic names ''
Ymir'' and ''Tuisto'' were understood as ''twin'', ''bisexual'' or ''hermaphrodite'', and some myths give a sister to the Vedic Yama, also called ''Twin'' and with whom
incest is discussed. In this interpretation, the primordial being may have self-sacrificed,
or have been divided in two, a male half and a female half, embodying a prototypal separation of the sexes.
Legacy
Cognate
In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language.
Because language change can have radical effects on both the s ...
s deriving from the Proto-Indo-European First Priest ("
Man
A man is an adult male human. Before adulthood, a male child or adolescent is referred to as a boy.
Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chromosome from the f ...
", "ancestor of mankind") include the Indic
Manu, legendary first man in
Hinduism
Hinduism () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for a range of Indian religions, Indian List of religions and spiritual traditions#Indian religions, religious and spiritual traditions (Sampradaya, ''sampradaya''s) that are unified ...
, and Manāvī, his sacrificed wife; the Germanic
Mannus (), mythical ancestor of the
West Germanic tribes; and the Persian Manūščihr (from
Aves. ''Manūš.čiθra''), a
Zoroastrian high priest of the 9th century AD. From the name of the sacrificed First King ("Twin") derive the Indic
Yama, god of death and the underworld; the
Avestan
Avestan ( ) is the liturgical language of Zoroastrianism. It belongs to the Iranian languages, Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family and was First language, originally spoken during the Avestan period, Old ...
Yima, king of the golden age and guardian of hell; the
Norse Ymir (from PGmc. ), ancestor of the giants (
''jötnar''); and, most likely,
Remus (from Proto-Latin ''*Yemos'' or ''*Yemonos'', with the initial ''y''- shifting to ''r''- under the
influence of ''Rōmulus''), killed in the
Roman foundation myth by his twin brother
Romulus. Cognates stemming from the First Warrior ("Third") include the Vedic
Trita, the Avestan
Thrita, and the Norse
þriði.
Many Indo-European beliefs explain the origin of natural elements as the result of the original dismemberment of : his flesh usually becomes the earth, his hair grass, his bone yields stone, his blood water, his eyes the sun, his mind the moon, his brain the clouds, his breath the wind, and his head the heavens. The traditions of sacrificing an animal to disperse its parts according to socially established patterns, a custom found in Ancient Rome and India, has been interpreted as an attempt to restore the balance of the cosmos ruled by the original sacrifice.
The motif of and has been influential throughout Eurasia following the
Indo-European migrations. The Greek, Old Russian (''Poem on the Dove King'') and Jewish versions depend on the Iranian, and a Chinese version of the myth has been introduced from Ancient India. The Armenian version of the myth of the First Warrior depends on the Iranian, and the Roman reflexes were influenced by earlier Greek versions.
Cosmic order
Linguistic evidence has led scholars to reconstruct the concept of , denoting 'what is fitting, rightly ordered', and ultimately deriving from the verbal root , 'to fit'. Descendant cognates include
Hittite ''āra'' ('right, proper'); Sanskrit ('divine/cosmic law, force of truth, or order');
Avestan
Avestan ( ) is the liturgical language of Zoroastrianism. It belongs to the Iranian languages, Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family and was First language, originally spoken during the Avestan period, Old ...
''
arəta-'' ('order');
Greek ''artús'' ('arrangement'), possibly ''
arete
() is a concept in ancient Greek thought that refers to "excellence" of any kind—especially a person or thing's "full realization of potential or inherent function." The term may also refer to excellence in "Virtue, moral virtue."
The conce ...
'' ('excellence') via the root ('please, satisfy');
Latin
Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
''artus'' ('joint');
Tocharian A ''ārtt-'' ('to praise, be pleased with');
Armenian ''ard'' ('ornament, shape');
Middle High German
Middle High German (MHG; or ; , shortened as ''Mhdt.'' or ''Mhd.'') is the term for the form of High German, High German language, German spoken in the High Middle Ages. It is conventionally dated between 1050 and 1350, developing from Old High ...
''art'' ('innate feature, nature, fashion').
Interwoven with the root ('to fit') is the verbal root , which means 'to put, lay down, establish', but also 'speak, say; bring back'.
The Greek ''thémis'' and the Sanskrit both derive from the PIE noun for the 'Law', , literally 'that which is established'.
This notion of 'Law' includes an ''active'' principle, denoting an ''activity'' ''in obedience'' to the cosmic order , which in a social context is interpreted as a ''lawful conduct'': in the Greek daughter culture, the titaness
Themis personifies the cosmic order and the rules of lawful conduct which derived from it, and the Vedic code of lawful conduct, the , can also be traced back to the PIE root . According to
Martin L. West, the root also denotes a divine or cosmic creation, as attested by the Hittite expression ''nēbis dēgan
dāir'' ("established heaven (and) earth"), the
Young Avestan formula ''kə huvāpå raocåscā
dāt təmåscā?'' ("What skilful artificer made the regions of light and dark?"), the name of the Vedic creator god , and possibly by the Greek nymph ''
Thetis
Thetis ( , or ; ) is a figure from Greek mythology with varying mythological roles. She mainly appears as a sea nymph, a goddess of water, and one of the 50 Nereids, daughters of the ancient sea god Nereus.
When described as a Nereid in Cl ...
'', presented as a
demiurgical goddess in
Alcman's poetry.
Another root appears to be connected with ritualistic laws, as suggested by the Latin ''iūs'' ('law, right, justice, duty'), Avestan ''yaož-dā-'' ('make ritually pure'), and Sanskrit ('health and happiness'), with a derived adjective seen in
Old Irish
Old Irish, also called Old Gaelic (, Ogham, Ogham script: ᚌᚑᚔᚇᚓᚂᚉ; ; ; or ), is the oldest form of the Goidelic languages, Goidelic/Gaelic language for which there are extensive written texts. It was used from 600 to 900. The ...
''uisse'' ('just right, fitting') and possibly
Old Church Slavonic
Old Church Slavonic or Old Slavonic ( ) is the first Slavic languages, Slavic literary language and the oldest extant written Slavonic language attested in literary sources. It belongs to the South Slavic languages, South Slavic subgroup of the ...
''istǔ'' ('actual, true').
Otherworld
The realm of death was generally depicted as the Lower Darkness and the land of no return. Many Indo-European myths relate a journey across a river, guided by an old man (), in order to reach the
Otherworld. The Greek tradition of the dead being ferried across the river
Styx by
Charon is probably a reflex of this belief, and the idea of crossing a river to reach the Underworld is also present throughout Celtic mythologies. Several Vedic texts contain references to crossing a river (the ) in order to reach the land of the dead,
[Abel, Ernest L. ''Death Gods: An Encyclopedia of the Rulers, Evil Spirits, and Geographies of the Dead''. Greenwood Press. 2009. p. 144. ] and the Latin word ''tarentum'' ("tomb") originally meant "crossing point". In Norse mythology,
Hermóðr must cross a bridge over the river Giöll in order to reach
Hel and, in Latvian folk songs, the dead must cross a marsh rather than a river. Traditions of placing coins on the bodies of the deceased in order to pay the ferryman are attested in both ancient Greek and early modern Slavic funerary practices; although the earliest coins date to the
Iron Age
The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...
, this may provide evidence of an ancient tradition of giving offerings to the ferryman.
In a recurrent motif, the
Otherworld contains a gate, generally guarded by a multi-headed (sometimes multi-eyed) dog who could also serve as a guide and ensured that the ones who entered could not get out. The Greek
Cerberus and the Hindu most likely derive from the common noun ("spotted"). Bruce Lincoln has proposed a third cognate in the Norse
Garmr, although this has been debated as linguistically untenable.
Eschatology
Several traditions reveal traces of a Proto-Indo-European
eschatological myth that describes the end of the world following a cataclysmic battle. The story begins when an
archdemon
In some occult and similar writings, an archdemon (also spelled archdaemon), archdevil, or archfiend is a spiritual entity prominent in the Hell, infernal hierarchy as a leader of demons. Essentially, the archdemons are the evil opponents of the ...
, usually coming from a different and inimical paternal line, assumes the position of authority among the community of the gods or heroes (Norse
Loki
Loki is a Æsir, god in Norse mythology. He is the son of Fárbauti (a jötunn) and Laufey (mythology), Laufey (a goddess), and the brother of Helblindi and Býleistr. Loki is married to the goddess Sigyn and they have two sons, Narfi (son of Lo ...
, Roman
Tarquin, Irish
Bres). The subjects are treated unjustly by the new ruler, forced to erect fortifications while the archdemon instead favors outsiders, on whom his support relies. After a particularly heinous act, the archdemon is exiled by his subjects and takes refuge among his foreign relatives. A new leader (Norse ''
Víðarr'', Roman ''Lucius Brutus'', Irish ''
Lug''), known as the "silent one" and usually the nephew or grandson () of the exiled archdemon, then springs up, and the two forces come together to annihilate each other in a cataclysmic battle. The myth ends with the interruption of the cosmic order and the conclusion of a temporal cyclic era. In the Norse and Iranian traditions, a cataclysmic "cosmic winter" precedes the final battle.
Other propositions
In the cosmological model proposed by
Jean Haudry, the Proto-Indo-European sky is composed of three "heavens" (diurnal, nocturnal and liminal) rotating around an ''
axis mundi'', each having its own deities, social associations and colors (white, dark and red, respectively). Deities of the diurnal sky could not transgress the domain of the nocturnal sky, inhabited by its own sets of gods and by the spirits of the dead. For instance, Zeus cannot extend his power to the nightly sky in the ''
Iliad
The ''Iliad'' (; , ; ) is one of two major Ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the ''Odyssey'', the poem is divided into 24 books and ...
''. In this vision, the
liminal or transitional sky embodies the gate or frontier (
dawn and
twilight) binding the two other heavens.
Proto-Indo-Europeans may have believed that the peripheral part of the Earth was inhabited by a people exempt from the hardships and pains that arise from the
human condition. The common motif is suggested by the legends of the Indic ("White Island"), whose inhabitants shine white like the Moon and need no food; the Greek ''
Hyperborea'' ("Beyond the North Wind"), where the Sun shines all the time and the men know "neither disease nor bitter old age"; the Irish ''
Tír na nÓg'' ("Land of the Young"), a mythical region located in the western sea where "happiness lasts forever and there is no satiety"; or the Germanic
''Ódáinsakr'' ("Glittering Plains"), a land situated beyond the Ocean where "no one is permitted to die".
Deities

The archaic
Proto-Indo-European language
Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. No direct record of Proto-Indo-European exists; its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-Eu ...
(4500–4000) had a two-gender system which originally distinguished words between animate and inanimate, a system used to separate a common term from its deified synonym. For instance, ''fire'' as an active principle was (Latin ''ignis''; Sanskrit
''Agní''), while the inanimate, physical entity was (Greek ''pyr''; English ''fire''). During this period, Proto-Indo-European beliefs were still
animistic and their language did not yet make formal distinctions between masculine and feminine, although it is likely that each deity was already conceived as either male or female. Most of the goddesses attested in later Indo-European mythologies come from pre-Indo-European deities eventually assimilated into the various pantheons following the
migrations, like the Greek
Athena
Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretism, syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarde ...
, the Roman
Juno, the Irish
Medb, or the Iranian
Anahita. Diversely personified, they were frequently seen as fulfilling multiple functions, while Proto-Indo-European goddesses shared a lack of personification and narrow functionalities as a general characteristic. The most well-attested female Indo-European deities include , the Dawn, , the Earth, and , the Sun.
It is not probable that the Proto-Indo-Europeans had a fixed canon of deities or assigned a specific number to them. The term for "a god" was ("celestial"), derived from the root , which denoted the bright sky or the light of day. It has numerous reflexes in Latin ''
deus,'' Old Norse
Týr (<
PGmc. ), Sanskrit ,
Avestan
Avestan ( ) is the liturgical language of Zoroastrianism. It belongs to the Iranian languages, Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family and was First language, originally spoken during the Avestan period, Old ...
''
daeva,'' Irish ''día,'' or Lithuanian ''
Dievas''. In contrast, human beings were synonymous of "mortals" and associated with the "earthly" (), likewise the source of words for "man, human being" in various languages. Proto-Indo-Europeans believed the gods to be exempt from death and disease because they were nourished by special aliments, usually not available to mortals: in the , "the gods, of course, neither eat nor drink. They become sated by just looking at this nectar", while the
Edda states that "on wine alone the weapon-lord
Odin ever lives ... he needs no food; wine is to him both drink and meat". Sometimes concepts could also be deified, such as the
Avestan
Avestan ( ) is the liturgical language of Zoroastrianism. It belongs to the Iranian languages, Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family and was First language, originally spoken during the Avestan period, Old ...
''mazdā'' ("wisdom"), worshipped as
Ahura Mazdā ("Lord Wisdom"); the Greek god of war
Ares
Ares (; , ''Árēs'' ) is the List of Greek deities, Greek god of war god, war and courage. He is one of the Twelve Olympians, and the son of Zeus and Hera. The Greeks were ambivalent towards him. He embodies the physical valor necessary for ...
(connected with ἀρή, "ruin, destruction"); or the Vedic protector of treaties
Mitráh (from , "contract").
Gods had several titles, typically "the celebrated", "the highest", "king", or "shepherd", with the notion that deities had their own idiom and true names which might be kept secret from mortals in some circumstances. In Indo-European traditions, gods were seen as the "dispensers" or the "givers of good things" (). Although certain individual deities were charged with the supervision of justice or contracts, in general the Indo-European gods did not have an ethical character. Their immense power, which they could exercise at their pleasure, necessitated rituals, sacrifices and praise songs from worshipers to ensure they would in return bestow prosperity to the community. The idea that gods were in control of the nature was translated in the suffix (feminine ), which signified "lord of". According to West, it is attested in Greek
Ouranos ("lord of rain") and
Helena ("mistress of sunlight"), Germanic ("lord of frenzy"), Gaulish
Epona ("goddess of horses"), Lithuanian
Perkūnas ("lord of oaks"), and in Roman
Neptunus ("lord of waters"),
Volcanus ("lord of fire-glare") and
Silvanus ("lord of woods").
Pantheon
Linguists have been able to reconstruct the names of some deities in the
Proto-Indo-European language
Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. No direct record of Proto-Indo-European exists; its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-Eu ...
(PIE) from many types of sources. Some of the proposed deity names are more readily accepted among scholars than others. According to philologist
Martin L. West, "the clearest cases are the cosmic and elemental deities: the
Sky-god, his partner
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...
, and his
twin sons; the Sun, the Sun Maiden, and the
Dawn; gods of
storm, wind, water, fire; and terrestrial presences such as the Rivers, spring and forest nymphs, and a god of the wild who guards roads and herds".
Genealogy
The most securely reconstructed genealogy of the Proto-Indo-European gods (''Götterfamilie'') is given as follows:
Heavenly deities
Sky Father

The head deity of the Proto-Indo-European pantheon was the god , whose name literally means "Sky Father".' Regarded as the Sky or Day conceived as a divine entity, and thus the dwelling of the gods, the Heaven,' Dyēws is, by far, the most well-attested of all the Proto-Indo-European deities. As the gateway to the gods and the father of both the
Divine Twins and the goddess of the dawn (
Hausos), Dyēws was a prominent deity in the pantheon. He was however likely not their ruler, or the holder of the supreme power like
Zeus and
Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a Jupiter mass, mass more than 2.5 times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined a ...
.
Due to his celestial nature, Dyēus is often described as "all-seeing", or "with wide vision" in Indo-European myths. It is unlikely however that he was in charge of the supervision of justice and righteousness, as it was the case for the Zeus or the
Indo-Iranian Mithra–
Varuna duo; but he was suited to serve at least as a witness to oaths and treaties.
The Greek god Zeus and the Roman god Jupiter both appear as the head gods of their respective pantheons. is also attested in the as , a minor ancestor figure mentioned in only a few hymns, and in the Illyrian god
Dei-Pátrous, attested once by
Hesychius of Alexandria. The ritual expressions ''Debess tēvs'' in Latvian and ''attas Isanus'' in Hittite are not exact descendants of the formula , but they do preserve its original structure.
Dawn Goddess

has been reconstructed as the Proto-Indo-European goddess of the dawn. In three traditions (Indic, Greek, Baltic), the Dawn is the "daughter of heaven", . In these three branches plus a fourth (Italic), the reluctant dawn-goddess is chased or beaten from the scene for tarrying. An ancient epithet designating the Dawn appears to have been , "Sky Daughter". Depicted as opening the gates of Heaven when she appears at the beginning of the day, Hausōs is generally seen as never-ageing or born again each morning. Associated with red or golden cloths, she is often portrayed as dancing.
Twenty-one hymns in the
Rigveda
The ''Rigveda'' or ''Rig Veda'' (, , from wikt:ऋच्, ऋच्, "praise" and wikt:वेद, वेद, "knowledge") is an ancient Indian Miscellany, collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns (''sūktas''). It is one of the four sacred canoni ...
are dedicated to the dawn goddess and a single passage from the
Avesta honors the dawn goddess Ušå. The dawn goddess
Eos
In ancient Greek mythology and Ancient Greek religion, religion, Eos (; Ionic Greek, Ionic and Homeric Greek ''Ēṓs'', Attic Greek, Attic ''Héōs'', "dawn", or ; Aeolic Greek, Aeolic ''Aúōs'', Doric Greek, Doric ''Āṓs'') is the go ...
appears prominently in early Greek poetry and mythology. The Roman dawn goddess
Aurora is a reflection of the Greek Eos, but the original Roman dawn goddess may have continued to be worshipped under the cultic title
Mater Matuta. The Anglo-Saxons worshipped the goddess
Ēostre
''Ēostre'' ()Sievers 1901 p. 98Robert Barnhart, Barnhart, Robert K. ''The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology'' (1995) . is an List of Anglo-Saxon deities, Anglo-Saxon goddess mentioned by Bede in his 8th century work ''The Reckoning of ...
, who was associated with a festival in spring which later gave its name to a month, which gave its name to the Christian holiday of
Easter
Easter, also called Pascha ( Aramaic: פַּסְחָא , ''paskha''; Greek: πάσχα, ''páskha'') or Resurrection Sunday, is a Christian festival and cultural holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, described in t ...
in English. The name ''Ôstarmânôth'' in
Old High German
Old High German (OHG; ) is the earliest stage of the German language, conventionally identified as the period from around 500/750 to 1050. Rather than representing a single supra-regional form of German, Old High German encompasses the numerous ...
has been taken as an indication that a similar goddess was also worshipped in southern Germany. The Lithuanian dawn goddess
Aušra was still acknowledged in the sixteenth century.
Sun and Moon

and are reconstructed as the Proto-Indo-European deity of the Sun and deity of the Moon respectively. Their gender varies according to the different mythologies of the Indo-European peoples.
The daily course of across the sky on a horse-driven chariot is a common motif among Indo-European myths. While it is probably inherited, the motif certainly appeared after the introduction of the wheel in the
Pontic–Caspian steppe about 3500 BC, and is therefore a late addition to Proto-Indo-European culture.
Although the sun was personified as an independent deity, the Proto-Indo-Europeans also visualized the sun as the "lamp of Dyēws" or the "eye of Dyēws";
Divine Twins
The
Horse Twins are a set of twin brothers found throughout nearly every Indo-European pantheon who usually have a name that means 'horse', , although the names are not always cognate, and no Proto-Indo-European name for them can be reconstructed.

In most traditions, the Horse Twins are brothers of the Sun Maiden or Dawn goddess, and the sons of the sky god, . The
Greek ''Dioscuri'' (
Castor and Pollux) are the "sons of
Zeus"; the
Vedic ''Divó nápātā'' (
Aśvins) are the "sons of
Dyaús", the sky-god; the
Lithuanian ''Dievo sūneliai'' (
Ašvieniai) are the "sons of the God" (
Dievas); and the
Latvian ''
Dieva dēli'' are likewise the "sons of the God" (Dievs).
Represented as young men and the steeds who pull the sun across the sky, the Divine Twins rode horses (sometimes they were depicted as horses themselves) and rescued men from mortal peril in battle or at sea. The Divine Twins are often differentiated: one is represented as a young warrior while the other is seen as a healer or concerned with domestic duties. In most tales where they appear, the Divine Twins rescue the Dawn from a watery peril, a theme that emerged from their role as the solar steeds. At night, the horses of the sun returned to the east in a golden boat, where they traversed the sea to bring back the Sun each morning. During the day, they crossed the sky in pursuit of their consort, the morning star.
Other reflexes may be found in the
Anglo-Saxon
The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...
Hengist and
Horsa (whose names mean "stallion" and "horse"), the Celtic "Dioskouroi" said by
Timaeus to be venerated by Atlantic Celts as a set of horse twins, the
Germanic Alcis, a pair of young male brothers worshipped by the
Naharvali, or the Welsh
Brân and
Manawydan. The horse twins could have been 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.
Mitra-Varuna
Although the etymological association is often deemed untenable, some scholars (such as
Georges Dumézil[Georges Dumézil, ''Ouranos-Varuna – Essai de mythologie comparée indo-européenne'' (Paris: G.-P. Maisonneuve, 1934).] and S. K. Sen) have proposed or (also the eponymous god in the reconstructed dialogue
The king and the god) as the nocturnal sky and benevolent counterpart of Dyēws, with possible cognates in Greek
Ouranos and Vedic
Varuna, from the PIE root ("to encompass, cover"). Worunos may have personified the firmament, or dwelled in the night sky. In both Greek and Vedic poetry, Ouranos and Varuna are portrayed as "wide-looking", bounding or seizing their victims, and having or being a heavenly "seat". In the three-sky cosmological model, the celestial phenomena linking the nightly and daily skies is embodied by a "Binder-god": the Greek
Kronos, a transitional deity between Ouranos and Zeus in
Hesiod's ''
Theogony'', the Indic
Savitṛ, associated with the rising and setting of the sun in the , and the Roman
Saturnus, whose feast marked the period immediately preceding the
winter solstice.
Other propositions
Some scholars have proposed a consort goddess named or , a spouse of
Dyēws with a possible descendant in the Greek goddess
Dione. A thematic echo may also occur in
Vedic India, as both
Indra
Indra (; ) is the Hindu god of weather, considered the king of the Deva (Hinduism), Devas and Svarga in Hinduism. He is associated with the sky, lightning, weather, thunder, storms, rains, river flows, and war. volumes
Indra is the m ...
's wife
Indrānī and
Zeus's consort Dione display a jealous and quarrelsome disposition under provocation. A second descendant may be found in Dia, a mortal said to unite with Zeus in a Greek myth. The story leads ultimately to the birth of the
Centaurs after the mating of Dia's husband
Ixion with the phantom of
Hera, the spouse of Zeus. The reconstruction is however only attested in those two traditions and therefore not secured. The Greek
Hera, the Roman
Juno, the Germanic
Frigg
Frigg (; Old Norse: ) is a goddess, one of the Æsir, in Germanic mythology. In Norse mythology, the source of most surviving information about her, she is associated with marriage, prophecy, clairvoyance and motherhood, and dwells in the wetl ...
and the Indic
Shakti are often depicted as the protectress of marriage and fertility, or as the bestowal of the gift of prophecy.
James P. Mallory and
Douglas Q. Adams note however that "these functions are much too generic to support the supposition of a distinct PIE 'consort goddess' and many of the 'consorts' probably represent assimilations of earlier goddesses who may have had nothing to do with marriage."
Nature deities
The substratum of Proto-Indo-European mythology is
animistic. This native animism is still reflected in the Indo-European daughter cultures. In Norse mythology the
Vættir are for instance reflexes of the native animistic
nature spirits and deities. Trees have a central position in Indo-European daughter cultures, and are thought to be the abode of
tree spirits.
In Indo-European tradition, the
storm is deified as a highly active, assertive, and sometimes aggressive element; the fire and water are deified as cosmic elements that are also necessary for the functioning of the household; the deified
earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...
is associated with fertility and growth on the one hand, and with death and the underworld on the other.
Earth Mother
The
earth goddess, , is portrayed as the vast and dark house of mortals, in contrast with Dyēws, the bright sky and seat of the immortal gods. She is associated with fertility and growth, but also with death as the final dwelling of the deceased. She was likely the consort of the sky father, . The duality is associated with fertility, as the crop grows from her moist soil, nourished by the rain of Dyēws. The Earth is thus portrayed as the giver of good things: she is exhorted to become pregnant in an
Old English
Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...
prayer; and Slavic peasants described Zemlja-matushka, Mother Earth, as a prophetess that shall offer favorable harvest to the community. The unions of Zeus with Semele and Demeter is likewise associated with fertility and growth in
Greek mythology
Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories conc ...
. This pairing is further attested in the Vedic pairing of Dyáus Pitā and
Prithvi Mater, the Greek pairing of
Ouranos and
Gaia, the Roman pairing of Jupiter and
Tellus Mater from
Macrobius's ''
Saturnalia'', and the Norse pairing of
Odin and
Jörð. Although Odin is not a reflex of , his cult may have subsumed aspects of an earlier chief deity who was. The Earth and Heaven couple is however not at the origin of the other gods, as the
Divine Twins and
Hausos were probably conceived by
Dyēws alone.
Cognate
In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language.
Because language change can have radical effects on both the s ...
s include the Albanian
Dheu and Zonja e Dheut, Great Mother Earth and Earth Goddess, respectively;
Žemyna, a Lithuanian goddess of earth celebrated as the bringer of flowers; the Avestan
Zām, the Zoroastrian concept of 'earth'; Zemes Māte ("Mother Earth"), one of the goddesses of death in
Latvian mythology; the Hittite Dagan-zipas ("Genius of the Earth"); the
Slavic Mati Syra Zemlya ("Mother Moist Earth"); the Greek Chthôn (Χθών), the partner of
Ouranos in
Aeschylus
Aeschylus (, ; ; /524 – /455 BC) was an ancient Greece, ancient Greek Greek tragedy, tragedian often described as the father of tragedy. Academic knowledge of the genre begins with his work, and understanding of earlier Greek tragedy is large ...
' ''Danaids'', and the
chthonic deities of the underworld. The possibilities of a
Thracian goddess Zemelā () and a
Messapic goddess Damatura (), at the origin of the Greek
Semele and
Demeter respectively, are less secured. The commonest epithets attached to the Earth goddess are (the "Broad One"), attested in the Vedic
Pṛthvī, the Greek Plataia and Gaulish
Litavis, and ("Mother Broad One"), attested in the Vedic and Old English formulas ''Pṛthvī Mātā'' and ''Fīra Mōdor''.' Other frequent epithets include the "All-Bearing One", the one who bears all things or creatures, and the "mush-nourishing" or the "rich-pastured".
Weather deity
*''Perkʷunos'' has been reconstructed as the Proto-Indo-European god of lightning and storms. It either meant "the Striker" or "the Lord of Oaks", and he was probably represented as holding a hammer or a similar weapon. Thunder and lightning had both a destructive and regenerative connotation: a lightning bolt can cleave a stone or a tree, but is often accompanied with fructifying rain. This likely explains the strong association between the thunder-god and
oaks in some traditions (oak being among the densest of trees is most prone to lightning strikes). He is often portrayed in connection with stone and (wooded) mountains, probably because the mountainous forests were his realm. The striking of devils, demons or evildoers by Perkʷunos is a motif encountered in the myths surrounding the Lithuanian
Perkūnas and the Vedic
Parjanya, a possible cognate, but also in the Germanic
Thor, a thematic echo of Perkʷunos.
The deities generally agreed to be
cognate
In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language.
Because language change can have radical effects on both the s ...
s stemming from are confined to the European continent, and he could have been a motif developed later in Western Indo-European traditions. The evidence include the Norse goddess
Fjǫrgyn (the mother of
Thor), the Lithuanian god
Perkūnas, the Slavic god
Perúnú, and the Celtic
Hercynian (''Herkynío'') mountains or forests.
Perëndi, an Albanian thunder-god (from the stem ''per-en-'', "to strike", attached to -''di'', "sky", from ) is also a probable cognate. The evidence could extend to the Vedic tradition if one adds the god of rain, thunder and lightning
Parjánya, although Sanskrit
sound laws rather predict a * form.
From another root ("thunder") stems a group of cognates found in the Germanic, Celtic and Roman thunder-gods
Thor,
Taranis,
(Jupiter) Tonans and (Zeus) Keraunos. According to Jackson, "they may have arisen as the result of fossilisation of an original epithet or
epiclesis", as the Vedic
Parjanya is also called ("Thunderer"). The Roman god
Mars may be a thematic echo of Perkʷunos, since he originally had thunderer characteristics.
Fire deities

Although the linguistic evidence is restricted to the Vedic and Balto-Slavic traditions, scholars have proposed that Proto-Indo-Europeans conceived the fire as a divine entity called . "Seen from afar" and "untiring", the Indic deity is pictured in the as the god of both terrestrial and celestial fires. He embodied the flames of the sun and the lightning, as well as the forest fire, the domestic hearth fire and the sacrificial altar, linking heaven and earth in a ritual dimension. Another group of cognates deriving from the
Balto-Slavic ''*ungnis'' ("fire") is also attested.
Early modern sources report that Lithuanian priests worshipped a "holy Fire" named ''Ugnis (szwenta)'', which they tried to maintain in perpetual life, while ''Uguns (māte)'' was revered as the "Mother of Fire" by the Latvians. Tenth-century Persian sources give evidence of the veneration of fire among the
Slavs
The Slavs or Slavic people are groups of people who speak Slavic languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout the northern parts of Eurasia; they predominantly inhabit Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Southeastern Europe, and ...
, and later sources in
Old Church Slavonic
Old Church Slavonic or Old Slavonic ( ) is the first Slavic languages, Slavic literary language and the oldest extant written Slavonic language attested in literary sources. It belongs to the South Slavic languages, South Slavic subgroup of the ...
attest the
worship of fire (''ogonĭ''), occurring under the divine name ''
Svarožič'', who has been interpreted as the son of
Svarog.
The name of the fire god in the
Albanian pagan mythology –
Enji, from PIE – is evidently contained in the week day name that was dedicated to him – – the
Albanian word for
Thursday
Thursday is the day of the week between Wednesday and Friday. According to the ISO 8601 international standard, it is the fourth day of the week. In countries which adopt the "Sunday-first" convention, it is the fifth day of the week.
Name
Th ...
. He is thought to have been worshiped by the
Illyrians
The Illyrians (, ; ) were a group of Indo-European languages, Indo-European-speaking people who inhabited the western Balkan Peninsula in ancient times. They constituted one of the three main Paleo-Balkan languages, Paleo-Balkan populations, alon ...
in antiquity, being the most prominent god of the pantheon when week day names were formed in the Albanian language. In Albanian tradition, the fire –
zjarri – is
deified, with the power to
ward off evil and darkness, give strength to the Sun (
Dielli, who is worshiped as the
god of light and giver of life), sustain the continuity between life and afterlife and between the generations. The divine power of fire is used by Albanians for the
hearth and the
rituals, including calendar fires,
sacrificial offerings,
divination
Divination () is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of an occultic ritual or practice. Using various methods throughout history, diviners ascertain their interpretations of how a should proceed by reading signs, ...
,
purification, and protection from big storms and other potentially harmful events. The Albanian fire worship and rituals are associated with the cult of the Sun, the cult of the hearth (
vatër) and the
ancestor, and the cult of fertility in
agriculture
Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...
and
animal husbandry
Animal husbandry is the branch of agriculture concerned with animals that are raised for meat, animal fiber, fibre, milk, or other products. It includes day-to-day care, management, production, nutrition, selective breeding, and the raising ...
.
In other traditions, as the sacral name of the dangerous fire may have become a
word taboo, the reflexes of the Indo-European root served instead as an ordinary term for fire, as in the Latin ''ignis''.
Scholars generally agree that the cult of the hearth dates back to Proto-Indo-European times. The domestic fire had to be tended with care and given offerings, and if one moved house, one carried fire from the old to the new home. The
Avestan
Avestan ( ) is the liturgical language of Zoroastrianism. It belongs to the Iranian languages, Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family and was First language, originally spoken during the Avestan period, Old ...
''
Ātar'' was the sacral and hearth fire, often personified and honored as a god. In
Albanian beliefs, ''
Nëna e Vatrës'' ("the Hearth Mother") is the goddess protector of the domestic hearth (''
vatër'').
Herodotus reported a
Scythian goddess of hearth named ''Tabiti'', a term likely given under a slightly distorted guise, as she might represent a feminine participial form corresponding to an
Indo-Iranian god named *''Tapatī,'' "the Burning one". The sacral or domestic hearth can likewise be found in the Greek and Roman hearth goddesses
Hestia and
Vesta, two names that may derive from the PIE root ("burning"). Both the ritual fires set in the temples of Vesta and the domestic fires of ancient India were circular, rather than the square form reserved for public worship in India and for the other gods in Roman antiquity. Additionally, the custom that the bride circles the hearth three times is common to Indian, Ossetian, Slavic, Baltic, and German traditions, while a newly born child was welcomed into a Greek household when the father circled the hearth carrying it in the
Amphidromia ceremony.
Water deities

Based on the similarity of motifs attested over a wide geographical extent, it is very likely that Proto-Indo-European beliefs featured some sorts of beautiful and sometimes dangerous water goddesses who seduced mortal men, akin to the Greek
naiads, the
nymphs of fresh waters. The Vedic
Apsarás are said to frequent forest lakes, rivers, trees, and mountains. They are of outstanding beauty, and
Indra
Indra (; ) is the Hindu god of weather, considered the king of the Deva (Hinduism), Devas and Svarga in Hinduism. He is associated with the sky, lightning, weather, thunder, storms, rains, river flows, and war. volumes
Indra is the m ...
sends them to lure men. In
Ossetic mythology, the waters are ruled by
Donbettyr ("Water-Peter"), who has daughters of extraordinary beauty and with golden hair. In
Armenian folklore, the Parik take the form of beautiful women who dance amid nature. The Slavonic water nymphs
''víly'' are also depicted as alluring maidens with long golden or green hair who like young men and can do harm if they feel offended. The Albanian mountain nymphs,
Perit and
Zana, are portrayed as beautiful but also dangerous creatures. Similar to the Baltic nymph-like Laumes, they have the habit of abducting children. The beautiful and long-haired Laumes also have sexual relations and short-lived marriages with men. The
Breton Korrigans are irresistible creatures with golden hair wooing mortal men and causing them to perish for love. The Norse
Huldra, Iranian
Ahuraīnīs and Lycian Eliyãna can likewise be regarded as reflexes of the water nymphs.
A wide range of linguistic and cultural evidence attest the holy status of the terrestrial (potable) waters , venerated collectively as "the Waters" or divided into "Rivers and Springs". The cults of fountains and rivers, which may have preceded Proto-Indo-European beliefs by tens of thousands of years, was also prevalent in their tradition. Some authors have proposed or as the Proto-Indo-European god of the waters. The name literally means "Grandson
r ''Nephew''of the Waters". Linguists reconstruct his name from that of the Vedic god
Apám Nápát, the Roman god
Neptūnus, and the Old Irish god
Nechtain. Although such a god has been solidly reconstructed in
Proto-Indo-Iranian religion, Mallory and Adams nonetheless still reject him as a Proto-Indo-European deity on linguistic grounds.
A river goddess has been proposed based on the Vedic goddess
Dānu, the Irish goddess
Danu, the Welsh goddess
Dôn and the names of the rivers
Danube,
Don,
Dnieper, and
Dniester. Mallory and Adams however note that while the lexical correspondence is probable, "there is really no evidence for a specific river goddess" in Proto-Indo-European mythology "other than the deification of the concept of 'river' in Indic tradition". Some have also proposed the reconstruction of a sea god named based on the Greek god
Triton and the Old Irish word ''trïath'', meaning "sea". Mallory and Adams also reject this reconstruction as having no basis, asserting that the "lexical correspondence is only just possible and with no evidence of a cognate sea god in Irish."
Wind deities

Evidence for the deification of the wind is found in most Indo-European traditions. The root ("to blow") is at the origin of the two words for the wind: and . The deity is indeed often depicted as a couple in the
Indo-Iranian tradition.
Vayu-Vāta is a dual divinity in the ''
Avesta'', Vāta being associated with the stormy winds and described as coming from everywhere ("from below, from above, from in front, from behind"). Similarly, the Vedic
Vāyu, the lord of the winds, is connected in the ''
Vedas
FIle:Atharva-Veda samhita page 471 illustration.png, upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the ''Atharvaveda''.
The Vedas ( or ; ), sometimes collectively called the Veda, are a large body of relig ...
'' with
Indra
Indra (; ) is the Hindu god of weather, considered the king of the Deva (Hinduism), Devas and Svarga in Hinduism. He is associated with the sky, lightning, weather, thunder, storms, rains, river flows, and war. volumes
Indra is the m ...
—the king of
Svarga Loka (also called Indraloka)—while the other deity Vāta represents a more violent sort of wind and is instead associated with
Parjanya—the god of rain and thunder. Other
cognate
In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language.
Because language change can have radical effects on both the s ...
s include Hitt. ''huwant-'', Lith. ''vėjas'',
Toch. B ''yente'', Lat. ''uentus'',
PGmc. , or Welsh ''gwynt.'' The Slavic
Viy is another possible equivalent entity.
Based on these different traditions, Yaroslav Vassilkov postulated a proto-Indo-European wind deity which "was probably marked by ambivalence, and combined in itself both positive and negative characteristics". This god is hypothesized to have been linked to life and death through adding and taking breath from people.
[
]
Guardian deity
The association between the Greek god Pan and the Vedic god Pūshan was first identified in 1924 by German linguist Hermann Collitz. Both were worshipped as pastoral deities, which led scholars to reconstruct ("Protector") as a pastoral god guarding roads and herds. He may have had an unfortunate appearance, a bushy beard and a keen sight. He was also closely affiliated with goats or bucks: Pan has goat's legs while goats are said to pull the car of Pūshān (the animal was also sacrificed to him on occasion).
Cattle deity
Jaan Puhvel has proposed a cattle god called which he links to the Slavic god Veles, the Lithuanian god Velnias, and less certainly to Old Norse Ullr.
Other propositions
In 1855, Adalbert Kuhn suggested that the Proto-Indo-Europeans may have believed in a set of helper deities, whom he reconstructed based on the Germanic elves and the Hindu .[, "Zu diesen ṛbhu, albus, . . . stellt sich nun aber entschieden das ahd. alp, ags. älf, altn. âlfr, und . . ."] Although this proposal is often mentioned in academic writings, very few scholars actually accept it since the cognate
In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language.
Because language change can have radical effects on both the s ...
relationship is linguistically difficult to justify. While stories of elves, satyrs, goblins and giants show recurrent traits in Indo-European traditions, West notes that "it is difficult to see so coherent an overall pattern as with the nymphs. It is unlikely that the Indo-Europeans had no concept of such creatures, but we cannot define with any sharpness of outline what their conceptions were." A wild god named has also been proposed, based on the Vedic Rudrá and the Old Russian Rŭglŭ. Problematic is whether the name derives from ("rend, tear apart"; akin to Lat. ''rullus,'' "rustic"), or rather from ("howl").
Although the name of the divinities are not cognates, a horse goddess portrayed as bearing twins and in connection with fertility and marriage has been proposed based on the Gaulish Epona, Irish Macha and Welsh Rhiannon, with other thematic echos in the Greek and Indic traditions. Demeter transformed herself into a mare when she was raped by Poseidon appearing as a stallion, and she gave birth to a daughter and a horse, Areion. Similarly, the Indic tradition tells of Saranyu fleeing from her husband Vivásvat when she assumed the form of a mare. Vivásvat metamorphosed into a stallion and of their intercourse were born the twin horses, the Aśvins. The Irish goddess Macha gave birth to twins, a mare and a boy, and the Welsh figure Rhiannon bore a child who was reared along with a horse.
Societal deities
Fate goddesses
It is highly probable that the Proto-Indo-Europeans believed in three fate goddesses who spun the destinies of mankind. Although such fate goddesses are not directly attested in the Indo-Aryan tradition, the Atharvaveda does contain an allusion comparing fate to a warp. Furthermore, the three Fates appear in nearly every other Indo-European mythology. The earliest attested set of fate goddesses are the Gulses in Hittite mythology, who were said to preside over the individual destinies of human beings. They often appear in mythical narratives alongside the goddesses Papaya and Istustaya, who, in a ritual text for the foundation of a new temple, are described sitting holding mirrors and spindles, spinning the king's thread of life. In the Greek tradition, the Moirai ("Apportioners") are mentioned dispensing destiny in both the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', in which they are given the epithet Κλῶθες (''Klothes'', meaning "Spinners").
In Hesiod's ''Theogony'', the Moirai are said to "give mortal men both good and ill" and their names are listed as Klotho ("Spinner"), Lachesis ("Apportioner"), and Atropos ("Inflexible"). In his ''Republic
A republic, based on the Latin phrase ''res publica'' ('public affair' or 'people's affair'), is a State (polity), state in which Power (social and political), political power rests with the public (people), typically through their Representat ...
'', Plato
Plato ( ; Greek language, Greek: , ; born BC, died 348/347 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher of the Classical Greece, Classical period who is considered a foundational thinker in Western philosophy and an innovator of the writte ...
records that Klotho sings of the past, Lachesis of the present, and Atropos of the future. In Roman legend, the Parcae were three goddesses who presided over the births of children and whose names were Nona ("Ninth"), Decuma ("Tenth"), and Morta ("Death"). They too were said to spin destinies, although this may have been due to influence from Greek literature.
In the Old Norse '' Völuspá'' and '' Gylfaginning'', the Norns are three cosmic goddesses of fate who are described sitting by the well of Urðr at the foot of the world tree Yggdrasil. In Old Norse texts, the Norns are frequently conflated with Valkyries, who are sometimes also described as spinning. Old English texts, such as '' Rhyme Poem'' 70, and '' Guthlac'' 1350 f., reference Wyrd as a singular power that "weaves" destinies.
Later texts mention the Wyrds as a group, with Geoffrey Chaucer
Geoffrey Chaucer ( ; – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for ''The Canterbury Tales''. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He w ...
referring to them as "the Werdys that we clepyn Destiné" in '' The Legend of Good Women''. A goddess spinning appears in a bracteate from southwest Germany and a relief from Trier shows three mother goddesses, with two of them holding distaffs. Tenth-century German ecclesiastical writings denounce the popular belief in three sisters who determined the course of a man's life at his birth. An Old Irish hymn attests to seven goddesses who were believed to weave the thread of destiny, which demonstrates that these spinster fate-goddesses were present in Celtic mythology as well.
A Lithuanian folktale recorded in 1839 recounts that a man's fate is spun at his birth by seven goddesses known as the '' deivės valdytojos'' and used to hang a star in the sky; when he dies, his thread snaps and his star falls as a meteor. In Latvian folk songs, a goddess called the Láima is described as weaving a child's fate at its birth. Although she is usually only one goddess, the Láima sometimes appears as three. The three spinning fate goddesses appear in Slavic traditions in the forms of the Russian Rožanicy, the Czech and Slovak Sudičky, the Bulgarian Narenčnice or Urisnice, the Polish Rodzanice, the Croatian Rodjenice, the Serbian Sudjenice, and the Slovene Rojenice. Albanian folk tales speak of the Fatit, three old women who appear three days after a child is born and determine its fate, using language reminiscent of spinning.
Welfare god
The god has been reconstructed as a deity in charge of welfare and the community, connected to the building and maintenance of roads or pathways, but also with healing and the institution of marriage.' It derives from the noun (a "member of one's own group", "one who belongs to the community", in contrast to an outsider), also at the origin of the Indo-Iranian '' *árya'', "noble, hospitable", and the Celtic ''*aryo-'', "free man" (Old Irish
Old Irish, also called Old Gaelic (, Ogham, Ogham script: ᚌᚑᚔᚇᚓᚂᚉ; ; ; or ), is the oldest form of the Goidelic languages, Goidelic/Gaelic language for which there are extensive written texts. It was used from 600 to 900. The ...
: ''aire,'' "noble, chief"; Gaulish
Gaulish is an extinct Celtic languages, Celtic language spoken in parts of Continental Europe before and during the period of the Roman Empire. In the narrow sense, Gaulish was the language of the Celts of Gaul (now France, Luxembourg, Belgium, ...
: ''arios'', "free man, lord"). The Vedic god Aryaman is frequently mentioned in the ''Vedas
FIle:Atharva-Veda samhita page 471 illustration.png, upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the ''Atharvaveda''.
The Vedas ( or ; ), sometimes collectively called the Veda, are a large body of relig ...
'', and associated with social and marital ties. In the ''Gāthās'', the Iranian god Airyaman seems to denote the wider tribal network or alliance, and is invoked in a prayer against illness, magic, and evil.' In the mythical stories of the founding of the Irish nation, the hero Érimón became the first king of the Milesians (the mythical name of the Irish) after he helped conquer the island from the Tuatha Dé Danann. He also provided wives to the Cruithnig (the mythical Celtic Britons or Picts), a reflex of the marital functions of .' The Gaulish given name Ariomanus, possibly translated as "lord-spirited" and generally borne by Germanic chiefs, is also to be mentioned.
Smith god
Although the name of a particular smith god cannot be linguistically reconstructed, smith gods of various names are found in most Proto-Indo-European daughter languages. There is not a strong argument for a single mythic prototype. Mallory notes that "deities specifically concerned with particular craft specializations may be expected in any ideological system whose people have achieved an appropriate level of social complexity". Nonetheless, two motifs recur frequently in Indo-European traditions: the making of the chief god's distinctive weapon (Indra
Indra (; ) is the Hindu god of weather, considered the king of the Deva (Hinduism), Devas and Svarga in Hinduism. He is associated with the sky, lightning, weather, thunder, storms, rains, river flows, and war. volumes
Indra is the m ...
's and Zeus' bolt; Lugh's and Odin's spear and Thor's hammer) by a special artificer, and the craftsman god's association with the immortals' drinking.
Love goddess
Scholars have suggested a common root, '', '' or ''?,'' for the Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...
, Greek Aphrodite, Mycenaean Greek
Mycenaean Greek is the earliest attested form of the Greek language. It was spoken on the Greek mainland and Crete in Mycenaean Greece (16th to 12th centuries BC). The language is preserved in inscriptions in Linear B, a script first atteste ...
theonym , likely related Pamphylian () and Common Germanic Frijjō, that would point to a Proto-Indo-European love god or goddess.
' is a root for beloved/friend, whereas ' means "wife" or "beloved wife" and has descendant forms in many Indo-European languages. It is ancestral to Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...
'' priya'' "dear, beloved" and Common Germanic Frijjō.
In Latin Venus takes her place. Her name is not cognate at all, but Norse descendants of ', Freyr and Freyja belong to the race of so-called Vanir, which comes from the same Proto-Indo-European root '. Freyja is possibly worshipped under the name Perun in southern Slavic-speaking areas. In Albanian she is , Christianized as St. Prendi. J. Grimm refers to an Old Bohemian form , used as a gloss for Venus in Mater Verborum. 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 Elves and the Persian Peris, charming and seductive beings in folklore.
There are also masculine forms of this deity, Greek Priapos, borrowed into Latin as Priapus; and Old Norse Freyr.[''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]
Other propositions
The Proto-Indo-Europeans may also have had a goddess who presided over the trifunctional organization of society. Various epithets of the Iranian goddess Anahita and the Roman goddess Juno provide sufficient evidence to solidly attest that she was probably worshipped, but no specific name for her can be lexically reconstructed. Vague remnants of this goddess may also be preserved in the Greek goddess Athena
Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretism, syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarde ...
. A decay goddess has also been proposed on the basis of the Vedic Nirṛti and the Roman Lūa Mater. Her names derive from the verbal roots "decay, rot", and they are both associated with the decomposition of human bodies.
Michael Estell has reconstructed a mythical craftsman named based on the Greek Orpheus and the Vedic Ribhus. Both are the son of a cudgel-bearer or an archer, and both are known as "fashioners" (). A mythical hero named has also been proposed, from the Greek hero Prometheus ("the one who steals"), who took the heavenly fire away from the gods to bring it to mankind, and the Vedic Mātariśvan, the mythical bird who "robbed" (found in the myth as ''pra math-'', "to steal") the hidden fire and gave it to the Bhrigus. A medical god has been reconstructed based on a thematic comparison between the Indic god Rudra and the Greek Apollo
Apollo is one of the Twelve Olympians, Olympian deities in Ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek and Ancient Roman religion, Roman religion and Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology. Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, mu ...
. Both inflict disease from afar thanks to their bows, both are known as healers, and both are specifically associated with rodents: Rudra's animal is the "rat mole" and Apollo was known as a "rat god".
Some scholars have proposed a war god named based on the Roman god Mars and the Vedic Marutás, the companions of the war-god Indra
Indra (; ) is the Hindu god of weather, considered the king of the Deva (Hinduism), Devas and Svarga in Hinduism. He is associated with the sky, lightning, weather, thunder, storms, rains, river flows, and war. volumes
Indra is the m ...
. Mallory and Adams reject this reconstruction on linguistic grounds. Likewise, some researchers have found it more plausible that Mars was originally a storm deity, while the same cannot be said of Ares.
Myths
Serpent-slaying myth
One common myth found in nearly all Indo-European mythologies is a battle ending with a hero
A hero (feminine: heroine) is a real person or fictional character who, in the face of danger, combats adversity through feats of ingenuity, courage, or Physical strength, strength. The original hero type of classical epics did such thin ...
or god
In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...
slaying a serpent or dragon of some sort. Although the details of the story often vary widely, several features remain remarkably the same in all iterations. The protagonist of the story is usually a thunder-god, or a hero somehow associated with thunder. His enemy the serpent is generally associated with water and depicted as multi-headed, or else "multiple" in some other way. Indo-European myths often describe the creature as a "blocker of waters", and his many heads get eventually smashed by the thunder-god in an epic battle, releasing torrents of water that had previously been pent up. The original legend may have symbolized the ''Chaoskampf'', a clash between forces of order and chaos. The dragon or serpent loses in every version of the story, although in some mythologies, such as the Norse Ragnarök myth, the hero or the god dies with his enemy during the confrontation. Historian Bruce Lincoln has proposed that the dragon-slaying tale and the creation myth of ''*Trito'' killing the serpent *' may actually belong to the same original story.
Reflexes of the Proto-Indo-European dragon-slaying myth appear in most Indo-European poetic traditions, where the myth has left traces of the formulaic sentence , meaning " eslew the serpent". In Hittite mythology, the storm god Tarhunt slays the giant serpent Illuyanka, as does the Vedic god Indra
Indra (; ) is the Hindu god of weather, considered the king of the Deva (Hinduism), Devas and Svarga in Hinduism. He is associated with the sky, lightning, weather, thunder, storms, rains, river flows, and war. volumes
Indra is the m ...
the multi-headed serpent Vritra, which has been causing a drought by trapping the waters in his mountain lair.
Several variations of the story are also found in Greek mythology
Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories conc ...
. The original motif appears inherited in the legend of Zeus slaying the hundred-headed Typhon, as related by Hesiod in the '' Theogony'', and possibly in the myth of Heracles
Heracles ( ; ), born Alcaeus (, ''Alkaios'') or Alcides (, ''Alkeidēs''), was a Divinity, divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of ZeusApollodorus1.9.16/ref> and Alcmene, and the foster son of Amphitryon.By his adoptive descent through ...
slaying the nine-headed Lernaean Hydra and in the legend of Apollo
Apollo is one of the Twelve Olympians, Olympian deities in Ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek and Ancient Roman religion, Roman religion and Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology. Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, mu ...
slaying the earth-dragon Python. The story of Heracles
Heracles ( ; ), born Alcaeus (, ''Alkaios'') or Alcides (, ''Alkeidēs''), was a Divinity, divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of ZeusApollodorus1.9.16/ref> and Alcmene, and the foster son of Amphitryon.By his adoptive descent through ...
's theft of the cattle of Geryon is probably also related. Although he is not usually thought of as a storm deity in the conventional sense, Heracles bears many attributes held by other Indo-European storm deities, including physical strength and a penchant for violence and gluttony.
The original motif is also reflected in Germanic mythology
Germanic mythology consists of the body of myths native to the Germanic peoples, including Norse mythology, Anglo-Saxon paganism#Mythology, Anglo-Saxon mythology, and Continental Germanic mythology. It was a key element of Germanic paganism.
O ...
. The Norse god of thunder Thor slays the giant serpent Jörmungandr, which lived in the waters surrounding the realm of Midgard. In the '' Völsunga saga'', Sigurd slays the dragon Fafnir and, in '' Beowulf'', the eponymous hero slays a different dragon. The depiction of dragons hoarding a treasure (symbolizing the wealth of the community) in Germanic legends may also be a reflex of the original myth of the serpent holding waters.
In Zoroastrianism
Zoroastrianism ( ), also called Mazdayasnā () or Beh-dīn (), is an Iranian religions, Iranian religion centred on the Avesta and the teachings of Zoroaster, Zarathushtra Spitama, who is more commonly referred to by the Greek translation, ...
and in Persian mythology, Fereydun (and later Garshasp) slays the serpent Zahhak. In Albanian mythology, the drangue, semi-human divine figures associated with thunders, slay the kulshedra, huge multi-headed fire-spitting serpents associated with water and storms. The Slavic god of storms Perun
In Slavic paganism, Slavic mythology, Perun () is the highest god of the Pantheon (religion), pantheon and the god of sky, thunder, lightning, storms, rain, law, war, fertility and oak trees. His other attributes were fire, mountains, wind, ir ...
slays his enemy the dragon-god Veles, as does the bogatyr hero Dobrynya Nikitich to the three-headed dragon Zmey. A similar execution is performed by the Armenian god of thunders Vahagn to the dragon Vishap, by the Romanian knight hero Făt-Frumos to the fire-spitting monster Zmeu, and by the Celtic god of healing Dian Cecht to the serpent Meichi.
In Shinto, where Indo-European influences through Vedic religion can be seen in mythology, the storm god Susanoo slays the eight-headed serpent Yamata no Orochi.
The Genesis narrative of Judaism
Judaism () is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic, Monotheism, monotheistic, ethnic religion that comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Jews, Jewish people. Religious Jews regard Judaism as their means of o ...
and Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...
, as well as the dragon appearing in Revelation 12 can be interpreted as a retelling of the serpent-slaying myth. The Deep or Abyss from or on top of which God
In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...
is said to make the world is translated from the Biblical Hebrew
Biblical Hebrew ( or ), also called Classical Hebrew, is an archaic form of the Hebrew language, a language in the Canaanite languages, Canaanitic branch of the Semitic languages spoken by the Israelites in the area known as the Land of Isra ...
Tehom (Hebrew: תְּהוֹם). Tehom is a cognate
In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language.
Because language change can have radical effects on both the s ...
of the Akkadian word ''tamtu'' and Ugaritic ''t-h-m'' which have similar meaning. As such it was equated with the earlier Babylonian serpent Tiamat.
Folklorist Andrew Lang suggests that the serpent-slaying myth morphed into a folktale motif of a frog or toad blocking the flow of waters.
Fire in water
Another reconstructed myth is the story of the fire in the waters. It depicts a fiery divine being named ('Descendant of the Waters') who dwells in waters, and whose powers must be ritually gained or controlled by a hero who is the only one able to approach it. In the , the god Apám Nápát is envisioned as a form of fire residing in the waters. In Celtic mythology, a well belonging to the god Nechtain is said to blind all those who gaze into it. In an old Armenian poem, a small reed in the middle of the sea spontaneously catches fire and the hero Vahagn springs forth from it with fiery hair and a fiery beard and eyes that blaze as suns. In a ninth-century Norwegian poem by the poet Thiodolf, the name ''sǣvar niþr'', meaning "grandson of the sea", is used as a kenning for fire. Even the Greek tradition contains possible allusions to the myth of a fire-god dwelling deep beneath the sea. The phrase ''"νέποδες καλῆς Ἁλοσύδνης"'', meaning "descendants of the beautiful seas", is used in '' The Odyssey'' 4.404 as an epithet for the seals of Proteus.
King and Virgin
The legend of the King and Virgin involves a ruler saved by the offspring of his virgin daughter after seeing his future threatened by rebellious sons or male relatives. The virginity likely symbolizes in the myth the woman that has no loyalty to any man but her father, and the child is likewise faithful only to his royal grandfather. The legends of the Indic king Yayāti, saved by his virgin daughter Mādhāvi; the Roman king Numitor, rescued by his chaste daughter Rhea Silvia; the Irish king Eochaid, father of the legendary queen Medb, and threatened by his sons the '' findemna''; as well as the myth of the Norse virgin goddess Gefjun offering lands to Odin'','' are generally cited as possible reflexes of an inherited Proto-Indo-European motif. The Irish queen Medb could be cognate
In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language.
Because language change can have radical effects on both the s ...
with the Indic Mādhāvi (whose name designates either a spring flower, rich in honey, or an intoxicating drink), both deriving from the root (" mead, intoxicating drink").
War of the Foundation
A myth of the War of the Foundation has also been proposed, involving a conflict between the first two functions (the priests and warriors) and the third function (fertility), which eventually make peace in order to form a fully integrated society. The Norse '' Ynglingasaga'' tells of a war between the Æsir (led by Oðinn and Thor) and the Vanir (led by Freyr, Freyja and Njörðr) that finally ends with the Vanir coming to live among the Æsir. Shortly after the mythical founding of Rome, Romulus fights his wealthy neighbours the Sabines, the Romans abducting their women to eventually incorporate the Sabines into the founding tribes of Rome. In Vedic mythology, the Aśvins (representing the third function as the Divine Twins) are blocked from accessing the heavenly circle of power by Indra
Indra (; ) is the Hindu god of weather, considered the king of the Deva (Hinduism), Devas and Svarga in Hinduism. He is associated with the sky, lightning, weather, thunder, storms, rains, river flows, and war. volumes
Indra is the m ...
(the second function), who is eventually coerced into letting them in. The Trojan War has also been interpreted as a reflex of the myth, with the wealthy Troy
Troy (/; ; ) or Ilion (; ) was an ancient city located in present-day Hisarlik, Turkey. It is best known as the setting for the Greek mythology, Greek myth of the Trojan War. The archaeological site is open to the public as a tourist destina ...
as the third function and the conquering Greeks as the first two functions.
Binding of evil
Jaan Puhvel notes similarities between the Norse myth in which the god Týr inserts his hand into the wolf Fenrir's mouth while the other gods bind him with Gleipnir, only for Fenrir to bite off Týr's hand when he discovers he cannot break his bindings, and the Iranian myth in which Jamshid rescues his brother's corpse from Ahriman's bowels by reaching his hand up Ahriman's anus and pulling out his brother's corpse, only for his hand to become infected with leprosy. In both accounts, an authority figure forces the evil entity into submission by inserting his hand into the being's orifice (in Fenrir's case the mouth, in Ahriman's the anus) and losing or impairing it. Fenrir and Ahriman fulfill different roles in their own mythological traditions and are unlikely to be remnants of a Proto-Indo-European "evil god"; nonetheless, it is clear that the "binding myth" is of Proto-Indo-European origin.
Other propositions
Death of a son
The motif of the "death of a son", killed by his father who is unaware of the relationship, is so common among the attested traditions that some scholars have ascribed it to Proto-Indo-European times. In the Ulster Cycle, Connla, son of the Irish hero Cú Chulainn, who was raised abroad in Scotland, unknowingly confronts his father and is killed in the combat; in Russian epic poems, Ilya Muromets must kill his own son, who was also raised apart; the Germanic hero Hildebrant inadvertently kills his son Hadubrant in the '' Hildebrandslied''; and the Iranian Rostam unknowingly confronts his son Sohrab in the eponymous epic of the '' Shāhnāmeh''. King Arthur is forced to kill his son Mordred in battle who was raised far away on the Orkney Islands; and in Greek mythology
Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories conc ...
, an intrigue leads the hero Theseus to kill his son Hippolytus; when the lie is finally exposed, Hippolytus is already dead. According to Mallory and Adams, the legend "places limitations on the achievement of warrior prowess, isolates the hero from time by cutting off his generational extension, and also re-establishes the hero's typical adolescence by depriving him of a role (as father) in an adult world".
"Mead cycle"
Although the concept of elevation through intoxicating drink is a nearly universal motif, a Proto-Indo-European myth of the "cycle of the mead", originally proposed by Georges Dumézil and further developed by Jarich G. Oosten (1985), is based on the comparison of Indic and Norse mythologies. In both traditions, gods and demons must cooperate to find a sacred drink providing immortal life. The magical beverage is prepared from the sea, and a serpent ( Vāsuki or Jörmungandr) is involved in the quest. The gods and demons eventually fight over the magical potion and the former, ultimately victorious, deprive their enemy of the elixir of life.
Rituals
Proto-Indo-European religion was centered on sacrificial rites of cattle and horses, probably administered by a class of priests or shamans. Animals were slaughtered () and dedicated to the gods () in the hope of winning their favour. The Khvalynsk culture, associated with the archaic Proto-Indo-European language, had already shown archeological evidence for the sacrifice of domesticated animals.
Priesthood
The king as the high priest would have been the central figure in establishing favourable relations with the other world. Georges Dumézil suggested that the religious function was represented by a duality, one reflecting the magico-religious nature of priesthood, while the other is involved in religious sanction to human society (especially contracts), a theory supported by common features in Iranian, Roman, Scandinavian and Celtic traditions.
Sacrifices
The reconstructed cosmology of the Proto-Indo-Europeans shows that ritual sacrifice of cattle, the cow in particular, was at the root of their beliefs, as the primordial condition of the world order. The myth of , the first warrior, involves the liberation of cattle stolen by a three-headed entity named . After recovering the wealth of the people, Trito eventually offers the cattle to the priest in order to ensure the continuity of the cycle of giving between gods and humans. The word for "oath", , derives from the verb ("to go"), after the practice of walking between slaughtered animals as part of taking an oath.
Proto-Indo-Europeans likely had a sacred tradition of horse sacrifice
Horse sacrifice is the ritual killing and offering of a horse, usually as part of a religious or cultural ritual. Horse sacrifices were common throughout Eurasia with the domestication of the horse and continuing up until the spread of Abrahamic ...
for the renewal of kingship involving the ritual mating of a queen or king with a horse, which was then sacrificed and cut up for distribution to the other participants in the ritual. In both the Roman '' Equus October'' and the Indic '' Aśvamedhá'', the horse sacrifice is performed on behalf of the warrior class or to a warrior deity, and the dismembered pieces of the animal eventually goes to different locations or deities. Another reflex may be found in a medieval Irish tradition involving a king-designate from County Donegal copulating with a mare before bathing with the parts of the sacrificed animal. The Indic ritual likewise involved the symbolic marriage of the queen to the dead stallion. Further, if Hittite laws prohibited copulation with animals, they made an exception of horses or mules. In both the Celtic and Indic traditions, an intoxicating brewage played a part in the ritual, and the suffix in ''aśva-medhá'' could be related to the Old Indic word ''mad-'' ("boil, rejoice, get drunk"). Jaan Puhvel has also compared the Vedic name of the tradition with the Gaulish god ''Epomeduos'', the "master of horses".
Cults
Scholars have reconstructed a Proto-Indo-European cult of the weapons, especially the dagger
A dagger is a fighting knife with a very sharp point and usually one or two sharp edges, typically designed or capable of being used as a cutting or stabbing, thrusting weapon.State v. Martin, 633 S.W.2d 80 (Mo. 1982): This is the dictionary or ...
, which holds a central position in various customs and myths. In the Ossetic Nart saga, the sword of Batradz is dragged into the sea after his death, and the British King Arthur throws his legendary sword Excalibur back into the lake from which it initially came. The Indic Arjuna is also instructed to throw his bow Gandiva into the sea at the end of his career, and weapons were frequently thrown into lakes, rivers or bogs as a form of prestige offering in Bronze
Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloid ...
and Iron Age Europe. Reflexes of an ancestral cult of the magical sword have been proposed in the legends of Excalibur and Durandal (the weapon of Roland, said to have been forged by the mythical Wayland the Smith). Among North Iranians, Herodotus described the Scythian practice of worshiping swords as manifestations of "Ares" in the 5th century BC, and Ammianus Marcellinus depicted the Alanic custom of thrusting swords into the earth and worshiping them as "Mars" in the 4th century AD.
See also
* ''Interpretatio graeca
, or "interpretation by means of Greek odels, refers to the tendency of the ancient Greeks to identify foreign deities with their own gods. It is a discourse used to interpret or attempt to understand the mythology and religion of other cult ...
'', the comparison of Greek deities to Germanic, Roman, and Celtic deities
* Neolithic religion
* Proto-Indo-European society
Notes
References
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Further reading
; General overview:
* Calin, D. "Dictionary of Indo-European Poetic and Religious Themes", Les Cent Chemins, Paris 2017.
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* Witczak, Krzysztof T. and Kaczor, Idaliana 1995. «Linguistic Evidence for the Indo-European Pantheon», in: J. Rybowska, K. T. Witczak (eds.), ''Collectanea Philologica II in honorem Annae Mariae Komornicka'', Łódź, 1995. pp. 265–278.
; On solar deities:
* Blažek, Václav. "The Indo-European motif of "Celestial wedding": the solar bride and lunar bridegroom". In: ''wékwos''. 2022, vol. 6, No 1, p. 39-65. ISSN 2426-5349.
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* Dexter, Miriam Robbins.
Dawn and Sun in Indo-European Myth: Gender and Geography
. In: ''Studia Indogermanica Lodziensia'' II. Lodz: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego, 1999. pp. 103–122.
* Gjerde, Jan Magne. "A Boat Journey in Rock Art 'from the Bronze Age to the Stone Age – from the Stone Age to the Bronze Age' in Northernmost Europe." In: ''North Meets South: Theoretical Aspects on the Northern and Southern Rock Art Traditions in Scandinavia''. Edited by Skoglund Peter, Ling Johan, and Bertilsson Ulf. Oxford; Philadelphia: Oxbow Books, 2017. pp. 113–43. www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvh1dpgg.9.
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* Lahelma, Antti. "The Circumpolar Context of the 'Sun Ship' Motif in South Scandinavian Rock Art". In: ''North Meets South: Theoretical Aspects on the Northern and Southern Rock Art Traditions in Scandinavia''. Edited by Skoglund Peter, Ling Johan, and Bertilsson Ulf. Oxford; Philadelphia: Oxbow Books, 2017. pp. 144–71. www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvh1dpgg.10.
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* Valent, Dušan; Jelinek, Pavol.
Séhul a jej podoby v hmotnej kultúre doby bronzovej
éhul and Her Representations in the Material Culture of the Bronze Age In: ''Slovenská Archeológia'' – Supplementum 1. A. Kozubová – E. Makarová – M. Neumann (ed.): Ultra velum temporis. Venované Jozefovi Bátorovi k 70. narodeninám. Nitra: Archeologický ústav SAV, 2020. pp. 575–582. . DOI: https://doi.org/10.31577/slovarch.2020.suppl.1.49
* Valent, Dušan; Jelinek, Pavol; Lábaj, Ivan.
The Death-Sun and the Misidentified Bird-Barge: A Reappraisal of Bronze Age Solar Iconography and Indo-European Mythology
. In: ''Zborník Slovenského národného múzea'' nnales Musei Nationalis Slovaci Rocník CXV. Archeológia 31. Bratislava, 2021. pp. 5–43. . DOI: https://doi.org/10.55015/PJRB2648
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; On the "fire in waters" motif:
* Sterckx, Claude; Oudaer, Guillaume.
Le feu dans l'eau, son bestiaire et le serpent criocéphale
. In: ''Nouvelle Mythologie Comparée'', 2, 2014: 9.
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; On the canine guardian:
* Andrés-Toledo, M. Á. (2013).
The Dog(s) of the Zoroastrian Afterlife
. E. Pirart (ed.). ''Le sort des Gâthâs. Études iraniennes in memoriam Jacques Duchesne-Guillemin''. Acta Iranica 54, Peeters, Leuven – Paris – Walpole: 13-23. .
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External links
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{{Indo European Mythology
Anthropology of religion
Comparative mythology
European mythology
Prehistoric religion
Paganism
Polytheism
Religious studies