
Proto-Indo-European mythology is the body of
myths
Myth is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society. For scholars, this is very different from the vernacular usage of the term "myth" that refers to a belief that is not true. Instead, the ...
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
Comparative mythology is the comparison of myths from different cultures in an attempt to identify shared themes and characteristics.Littleton, p. 32 Comparative mythology has served a variety of academic purposes. For example, scholars have used ...
have reconstructed details from inherited similarities in mythological concepts found in
Indo-European languages
The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the northern Indian subcontinent, most of Europe, and the Iranian plateau with additional native branches found in regions such as Sri Lanka, the Maldives, parts of Central Asia (e. ...
, 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
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 soun ...
—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
A mother goddess is a major goddess characterized as a mother or progenitor, either as an embodiment of motherhood and fertility or fulfilling the cosmological role of a creator- and/or destroyer-figure, typically associated the Earth, sky, a ...
; his daughter , the
dawn goddess
A dawn god or goddess is a deity in a polytheistic religious tradition who is in some sense associated with the dawn. These deities show some relation with the morning, the beginning of the day, and, in some cases, become syncretized with similar ...
; his sons the
Divine Twins
The Divine Twins are youthful horsemen, either gods or demigods, who serve as rescuers and healers in Proto-Indo-European mythology.
Like other Proto-Indo-European divinities, the Divine Twins are not directly attested by archaeological or writte ...
; and and , a
solar deity and
moon deity
A lunar deity or moon deity is a deity who represents the Moon, or an aspect of it. These deities can have a variety of functions and traditions depending upon the culture, but they are often related. Lunar deities and Moon worship can be foun ...
, respectively. Some deities, like the
weather god
A weather god or goddess, also frequently known as a storm god or goddess, is a deity in mythology associated with weather phenomena such as thunder, snow, lightning, rain, wind, storms, tornadoes, and hurricanes. Should they only be in charge of ...
or the herding-god , are only attested in a limited number of traditions—Western (i.e. European) and
Graeco-Aryan
Graeco-Aryan, or Graeco-Armeno-Aryan, is a hypothetical clade within the Indo-European family that would be the ancestor of Hellenic, Armenian, and the Indo-Iranian languages, which spans Southern Europe, Armenian highlands and Southern Asi ...
, 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
A creation myth or cosmogonic myth is a type of cosmogony, a symbolic narrative of how the world began and how people first came to inhabit it., "Creation myths are symbolic stories describing how the universe and its inhabitants came to be. Cre ...
involving
two brothers, one of whom sacrifices the other in order to create the world; and probably the belief that the
Otherworld
In historical Indo-European religion, the concept of an otherworld, also known as an otherside, is reconstructed in comparative mythology. Its name is a calque of ''orbis alius'' (Latin for "other world/side"), a term used by Lucan in his desc ...
was guarded by a
watchdog
Watchdog or watch dog may refer to:
Animals
*Guard dog, a dog that barks to alert its owners of an intruder's presence
* Portuguese Watchdog, Cão de Castro Laboreiro, a dog breed
* Moscow Watchdog, a breed of dog that was bred in the Soviet U ...
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
Baltic may refer to:
Peoples and languages
*Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian
*Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originatin ...
,
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of Roman civilization
*Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...
,
Norse,
Celtic
Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to:
Language and ethnicity
*pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia
**Celts (modern)
*Celtic languages
**Proto-Celtic language
*Celtic music
*Celtic nations
Sports Foot ...
,
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...
,
Slavic
Slavic, Slav or Slavonic may refer to:
Peoples
* Slavic peoples, an ethno-linguistic group living in Europe and Asia
** East Slavic peoples, eastern group of Slavic peoples
** South Slavic peoples, southern group of Slavic peoples
** West Slav ...
,
Hittite,
Armenian
Armenian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent
** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...
, and
Albanian
Albanian may refer to:
*Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular:
**Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans
**Albanian language
**Albanian culture
**Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...
.
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
The Chalcolithic ( ) (also called the Copper Age and Eneolithic) was an archaeological period characterized by the increasing use of smelted copper. It followed the Neolithic and preceded the Bronze Age. It occurred at different periods in di ...
. 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
In linguistics, the comparative method is a technique for studying the development of languages by performing a feature-by-feature comparison of two or more languages with common descent from a shared ancestor and then extrapolating backwards ...
. 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 Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as visible light a ...
, 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
Dawn is the time that marks the beginning of twilight before sunrise. It is recognized by the diffuse sky radiation, appearance of indirect sunlight being Rayleigh scattering, scattered in Earth's atmosphere, when the centre of the Sun's disc ha ...
. Rituals were therefore centered around the worship of those elemental deities. This interpretation was popular among early scholars, such as
Friedrich Max Müller Friedrich may refer to:
Names
*Friedrich (given name), people with the given name ''Friedrich''
*Friedrich (surname), people with the surname ''Friedrich''
Other
*Friedrich (board game), a board game about Frederick the Great and the Seven Years' ...
, who saw all myths as fundamentally solar allegories. Although recently revived by some scholars like
Jean Haudry
Jean Haudry (28 May 1934 – 23 May 2023) was a French linguist and Indo-Europeanist. Haudry was generally regarded as a distinguished linguist by other scholars, although he was also criticized for his political proximity with the far-right. Ha ...
and
Martin L. West
Martin Litchfield West, (23 September 1937 – 13 July 2015) was a British philologist and classical scholar. In recognition of his contribution to scholarship, he was appointed to the Order of Merit in 2014.
West wrote on ancient Greek music, ...
, 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
Sir James George Frazer (; 1 January 1854 – 7 May 1941) was a Scottish social anthropologist and folkloristJosephson-Storm (2017), Chapter 5. influential in the early stages of the modern studies of mythology and comparative religion.
...
and
Jane Ellen Harrison
Jane Ellen Harrison (9 September 1850 – 15 April 1928) was a British classical scholar and linguist. With Karl Kerenyi and Walter Burkert, Harrison is one of the founders of modern studies in Ancient Greek religion and mythology. She ...
, were classical scholars.
Bruce Lincoln
Bruce Lincoln (born 1948) is Caroline E. Haskell Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of the History of Religions in the Divinity School of the University of Chicago, where he also holds positions in the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Com ...
, 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
In social theory, a metanarrative (also master narrative, or meta-narrative and grand narrative; or ) is an overarching narrative about smaller historical narratives, which offers a society legitimation through the anticipated completion of a (as ...
justification of a traditional order. Scholars of the Functionalist School were greatly influenced by the
trifunctional system proposed by
Georges Dumézil
Georges Edmond Raoul Dumézil (4 March 189811 October 1986) was a French Philology, philologist, Linguistics, linguist, and religious studies scholar who specialized in comparative linguistics and comparative mythology, mythology. He was a prof ...
, which postulates a tripartite ideology reflected in a threefold division between a
cleric
Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...
al class (encompassing both the religious and social functions of the priests and rulers), a
warrior
A warrior is a guardian specializing in combat or warfare, especially within the context of a tribal society, tribal or clan-based warrior culture society that recognizes a separate warrior aristocracy, social class, class, or caste.
History
...
class (connected with the concepts of violence and bravery), and a class of
farmer
A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The term usually applies to people who do some combination of raising field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry, or other livestock. A farmer ...
s 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
Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology, is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia as the Nordic folklore of the modern period. The ...
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
Baltic mythology is the body of mythology of the Baltic peoples stemming from Baltic paganism and continuing after Christianization and into Baltic folklore.
History
Baltic mythology ultimately stems from Proto-Indo-European mythology. The Bal ...
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
The pre-Greek substrate (or substratum) consists of the unknown pre-Greek language or languages (either Pre-Indo-European or other Indo-European languages) spoken in prehistoric Greece prior to the emergence of the Proto-Greek language in the r ...
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
Tabiti (Scythian: ; ; ) was the Scythian goddess of the primordial fire which alone existed before the creation of the universe and was the basic essence and the source of all creation. She was the most venerated of all Scythian deities.
Name
The ...
,
Papaios and
Api
An application programming interface (API) is a connection between computers or between computer programs. It is a type of software interface, offering a service to other pieces of software. A document or standard that describes how to build ...
, 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
Martin Litchfield West, (23 September 1937 – 13 July 2015) was a British philologist and classical scholar. In recognition of his contribution to scholarship, he was appointed to the Order of Merit in 2014.
West wrote on ancient Greek music, ...
, the idea of the
world-tree
In astronomy, is the Latin term for the axis of Earth between the celestial poles. In a geocentric coordinate system, this is the axis of rotation of the celestial sphere. Consequently, in ancient Greco-Roman astronomy, the is the axis of ...
(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
Finno-Ugric () is a traditional linguistic grouping of all languages in the Uralic languages, Uralic language family except for the Samoyedic languages. Its once commonly accepted status as a subfamily of Uralic is based on criteria formulated in ...
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
Bruce Lincoln (born 1948) is Caroline E. Haskell Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of the History of Religions in the Divinity School of the University of Chicago, where he also holds positions in the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Com ...
's reconstruction of the Proto-Indo-European motif known as "Twin and Man" is supported by a number of scholars such as
Jaan Puhvel
Jaan Puhvel (born 24 January 1932) is an Estonians, Estonian comparative linguistics, comparative linguist and comparative mythologist who specializes in Indo-European studies.
Born in Estonia, Puhvel fled his country with his family in 1944 f ...
,
J. P. Mallory
James Patrick Mallory (born October 25, 1945) is an American archaeologist and Indo-Europeanist. Mallory is an emeritus professor at Queen's University, Belfast; a member of the Royal Irish Academy, and the former editor of the '' Journal of ...
,
Douglas Q. Adams
Douglas Quentin Adams is an American linguist, professor of English at the University of Idaho and an Indo-European comparativist. He studied at the University of Chicago, earning PhD in 1972. Adams is an expert on Tocharian and a contributor ...
,
David W. Anthony, and, in part,
Martin L. West
Martin Litchfield West, (23 September 1937 – 13 July 2015) was a British philologist and classical scholar. In recognition of his contribution to scholarship, he was appointed to the Order of Merit in 2014.
West wrote on ancient Greek music, ...
. 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
''Cosmic Egg'' is the second studio album by Australian rock band Wolfmother, released on 23 October 2009. It is the first album by the second lineup of the band, featuring vocalist, songwriter and lead guitarist Andrew Stockdale, bassist and ...
, symbolizing the primordial state from which the universe arises, is found in many Indo-European creation myths.
Creation myth
Lincoln reconstructs a
creation myth
A creation myth or cosmogonic myth is a type of cosmogony, a symbolic narrative of how the world began and how people first came to inhabit it., "Creation myths are symbolic stories describing how the universe and its inhabitants came to be. Cre ...
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
In Norse mythology, Ginnungagap (old Norse: ; "gaping abyss", "yawning void") is the primordial, magical void mentioned in three poems from the ''Poetic Edda'' and the ''Gylfaginning'', the Eddaic text recording Norse cosmogony.
Etymology
''Ginn ...
there was, but grass nowhere" (''
Völuspá
''Völuspá'' (also ''Vǫluspá'', ''Vǫlospá'', or ''Vǫluspǫ́''; Old Norse: 'Prophecy of the völva, a seeress') is the best known poem of the ''Poetic Edda''. It dates back to the tenth century and tells the story from Norse Mythology of ...
''), "there was
Chasm
In geology, a rift is a linear zone where the lithosphere is being pulled apart and is an example of extensional tectonics. Typical rift features are a central linear downfaulted depression, called a graben, or more commonly a half-graben w ...
and Night and dark
Erebos at first, and broad
Tartarus
In Greek mythology, Tartarus (; ) is the deep abyss that is used as a dungeon of torment and suffering for the wicked and as the prison for the Titans. Tartarus is the place where, according to Plato's '' Gorgias'' (), souls are judged after ...
, 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
The cosmos (, ; ) is an alternative name for the universe or its nature or order. Usage of the word ''cosmos'' implies viewing the universe as a complex and orderly system or entity.
The cosmos is studied in cosmologya broad discipline covering ...
, 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
A weather god or goddess, also frequently known as a storm god or goddess, is a deity in mythology associated with weather phenomena such as thunder, snow, lightning, rain, wind, storms, tornadoes, and hurricanes. Should they only be in charge of ...
and the
Divine Twins
The Divine Twins are youthful horsemen, either gods or demigods, who serve as rescuers and healers in Proto-Indo-European mythology.
Like other Proto-Indo-European divinities, the Divine Twins are not directly attested by archaeological or writte ...
), forges both the natural elements and
human beings
Humans (''Homo sapiens'') or modern humans are the most common and widespread species of primate, and the last surviving species of the genus ''Homo''. They are great apes characterized by their hairlessness, bipedalism, and high intellige ...
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
The pastoral genre of literature, art, or music depicts an idealised form of the shepherd's lifestyle – herding livestock around open areas of land according to the seasons and the changing availability of water and pasture. The target au ...
way of life of
Proto-Indo-Iranian
Proto-Indo-Iranian, also called Proto-Indo-Iranic or Proto-Aryan, is the reconstructed proto-language of the Indo-Iranian branch of Indo-European. Its speakers, the hypothetical Proto-Indo-Iranians, are assumed to have lived in the late 3rd ...
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
Cattle raiding is the act of stealing live cattle, often several or many at once. In Australia, such stealing is often referred to as duffing, and the perpetrator as a duffer.Baker, Sidney John (1945) ''The Australian language : an examination ...
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
A hermaphrodite () is a sexually reproducing organism that produces both male and female gametes. Animal species in which individuals are either male or female are gonochoric, which is the opposite of hermaphroditic.
The individuals of many ...
rather than a twin brother of , both forming indeed a pair of complementary beings entwined together.
The Germanic names ''
Ymir
In Norse mythology, Ymir (), also called Aurgelmir, Brimir, or Bláinn, is the ancestor of all jötnar. Ymir is attested in the ''Poetic Edda'', compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional material, in the ''Prose Edda'', writte ...
'' 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
Incest ( ) is sexual intercourse, sex between kinship, close relatives, for example a brother, sister, or parent. This typically includes sexual activity between people in consanguinity (blood relations), and sometimes those related by lineag ...
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
Manu may refer to:
Religion Proto Indo European Mythology
* Manu (Indo European Mythology) one of the mythical duo Manu and Yemo
Ancient Mesopotamia
* Manu the Great, a Chaldean god of fate
Hinduism
*Manu (Hinduism), Hindu progenitor of mank ...
, 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
Mannus, according to the Roman writer Tacitus, was a figure in the creation Germanic mythology, myths of the Germanic tribes. Tacitus is the only source of these myths. This is a university textbook and exists in several variants printed for d ...
(), mythical ancestor of the
West Germanic tribes; and the Persian Manūščihr (from
Aves. ''Manūš.čiθra''), a
Zoroastrian
Zoroastrianism ( ), also called Mazdayasnā () or Beh-dīn (), is an Iranian religion centred on the Avesta and the teachings of Zarathushtra Spitama, who is more commonly referred to by the Greek translation, Zoroaster ( ). Among the wo ...
high priest of the 9th century AD. From the name of the sacrificed First King ("Twin") derive the Indic
Yama
Yama (), also known as Kāla and Dharmarāja, is the Hindu god of death and justice, responsible for the dispensation of law and punishment of sinners in his abode, Naraka. He is often identified with Dharmadeva, the personification of ''Dharm ...
, 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
In Norse mythology, Ymir (), also called Aurgelmir, Brimir, or Bláinn, is the ancestor of all jötnar. Ymir is attested in the ''Poetic Edda'', compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional material, in the ''Prose Edda'', writte ...
(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
Influence may refer to:
*Social influence, in social psychology, influence in interpersonal relationships
**Minority influence, when the minority affect the behavior or beliefs of the majority
Science and technology
*Sphere of influence (astrody ...
of ''Rōmulus''), killed in the
Roman foundation myth by his twin brother
Romulus
Romulus (, ) was the legendary founder and first king of Rome. Various traditions attribute the establishment of many of Rome's oldest legal, political, religious, and social institutions to Romulus and his contemporaries. Although many of th ...
. Cognates stemming from the First Warrior ("Third") include the Vedic
Trita
Trita ("the Third") is a minor deity of the Rigveda, mentioned 41 times. He is associated with the Maruts, with Vayu and most especially with Indra, whom he sometimes assists and other times acts in place of when fighting Tvastar, Vrtra and Vala. ...
, 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 Indo-European migrations are hypothesized migrations of Proto-Indo-Europeans, peoples who spoke Proto-Indo-European language, Proto-Indo-European (PIE) and the derived Indo-European languages, which took place from around 4000 to 1000 BCE, ...
. 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
Greek may refer to:
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...
''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
Tocharian A, also known as Tokharian A, Eastern Tocharian, Agnean (), Karashahrian or Turfanian is a dead language that was in use in the 1st millennium AD in the Karashahr and Turpan, Turfan region of the Tarim Basin, present-day Xinjiang, West ...
''ārtt-'' ('to praise, be pleased with');
Armenian
Armenian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent
** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...
''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
In Greek mythology and religion, Themis (; ) is the goddess and personification of justice, divine order, law, and custom. She is one of the twelve Titan children of Gaia and Uranus, and the second wife of Zeus. She is associated with oracles a ...
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
Martin Litchfield West, (23 September 1937 – 13 July 2015) was a British philologist and classical scholar. In recognition of his contribution to scholarship, he was appointed to the Order of Merit in 2014.
West wrote on ancient Greek music, ...
, 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
Alcman (; ''Alkmán''; fl. 7th century BC) was an Ancient Greek choral lyric poet from Sparta. He is the earliest representative of the Alexandrian canon of the Nine Lyric Poets. He wrote six books of choral poetry, most of which is now lost; h ...
'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
In historical Indo-European religion, the concept of an otherworld, also known as an otherside, is reconstructed in comparative mythology. Its name is a calque of ''orbis alius'' (Latin for "other world/side"), a term used by Lucan in his desc ...
. The Greek tradition of the dead being ferried across the river
Styx
In Greek mythology, Styx (; ; lit. "Shuddering"), also called the River Styx, is a goddess and one of the rivers of the Greek Underworld. Her parents were the Titans Oceanus and Tethys, and she was the wife of the Titan Pallas and the moth ...
by
Charon
In Greek mythology, Charon or Kharon ( ; ) is a psychopomp, the ferryman of the Greek underworld. He carries the souls of those who have been given funeral rites across the rivers Acheron and Styx, which separate the worlds of the living and ...
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
Hermóðr (Old Norse: , " war- spirit";Orchard (1997:83). anglicized as Hermod) is a figure in Norse mythology, a son of the god Odin and brother of Baldr.
Attestations
''Prose Edda''
Hermóðr appears distinctly in section 49 of the '' Prose ...
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
In historical Indo-European religion, the concept of an otherworld, also known as an otherside, is reconstructed in comparative mythology. Its name is a calque of ''orbis alius'' (Latin for "other world/side"), a term used by Lucan in his desc ...
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
In Greek mythology, Cerberus ( or ; ''Kérberos'' ), often referred to as the hound of Hades, is a polycephaly, multi-headed dog that guards the gates of the Greek underworld, underworld to prevent the dead from leaving. He was the offspring o ...
and the Hindu most likely derive from the common noun ("spotted"). Bruce Lincoln has proposed a third cognate in the Norse
Garmr
In Norse mythology, Garmr or Garm (Old Norse: ) is a wolf or dog associated with both Hel (being), Hel and Ragnarök, and described as a blood-stained guardian of Hel (location), Hel's gate.
Name
The etymology of the name ''Garmr'' remains unce ...
, 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
In Irish mythology, Bres (or Bress) was a king of the Tuatha Dé Danann. He is often referred to by the name Eochaid / Eochu Bres. He was an unpopular king, and favoured his Fomorians, Fomorian kin.
Name
''Eochu Bres'' has been translated as " ...
). 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
In Norse mythology, Víðarr (Old Norse: , possibly "wide ruler",Orchard (1997:174—175). sometimes Anglicisation, anglicized as Vidar , Vithar, Vidarr, and Vitharr) is a Æsir, god among the Æsir associated with vengeance. Víðarr is describe ...
'', 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
Jean Haudry (28 May 1934 – 23 May 2023) was a French linguist and Indo-Europeanist. Haudry was generally regarded as a distinguished linguist by other scholars, although he was also criticized for his political proximity with the far-right. Ha ...
, the Proto-Indo-European sky is composed of three "heavens" (diurnal, nocturnal and liminal) rotating around an ''
axis mundi
In astronomy, is the Latin term for the axis of Earth between the celestial poles. In a geocentric coordinate system, this is the axis of rotation of the celestial sphere. Consequently, in ancient Greco-Roman astronomy, the is the axis of ...
'', 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
Dawn is the time that marks the beginning of twilight before sunrise. It is recognized by the diffuse sky radiation, appearance of indirect sunlight being Rayleigh scattering, scattered in Earth's atmosphere, when the centre of the Sun's disc ha ...
and
twilight
Twilight is daylight illumination produced by diffuse sky radiation when the Sun is below the horizon as sunlight from the upper atmosphere is scattered in a way that illuminates both the Earth's lower atmosphere and also the Earth's surf ...
) 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 human condition can be defined as the characteristics and key events of human life, including birth, learning, emotion, aspiration, reason, morality, conflict, and death. This is a very broad topic that has been and continues to be pondered ...
. 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
In Greek mythology, the Hyperboreans (, ; ) were a mythical people who lived in the far northern part of the Ecumene, known world. Their name appears to derive from the Greek , "beyond Boreas (god), Boreas" (the God of the north wind). Some schol ...
'' ("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
In Irish mythology, Tír na nÓg ( , ; ) or Tír na hÓige ('Land of Youth') is one of the names for the Celtic Otherworld, or perhaps for a part of it. Tír na nÓg is best known from the tale of Oisín ("''uh''-''sheen''") and Niamh ("''neev ...
'' ("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
Animism (from meaning 'breath, Soul, spirit, life') is the belief that objects, places, and creatures all possess a distinct Spirituality, spiritual essence. Animism perceives all things—animals, plants, Rock (geology), rocks, rivers, Weather, ...
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
Juno commonly refers to:
*Juno (mythology), the Roman goddess of marriage and queen of the gods
* ''Juno'' (film), the 2007 film
Juno may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media Fictional characters
*Juno, a character in the book ''Juno of ...
, the Irish
Medb
Medb (), later spelled Meadhbh (), Méabh(a) () and Méibh (), and often anglicised as Maeve ( ), is queen of Connacht in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology. Her husband in the core stories of the cycle is Ailill mac Máta, although she had ...
, or the Iranian
Anahita
Anahita is the Old Persian form of the name of an Iranian goddess and appears in complete and earlier form as ('), the Avestan name of an Indo-Iranian cosmological figure venerated as the divinity of "the Waters" ( Aban) and hence associat ...
. 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
''Deus'' (, ) is the Latin word for 'God (word), god' or 'deity'.
Latin ''deus'' and ''dīvus'' ('divine') are in turn descended from Proto-Indo-European language, Proto-Indo-European *''deiwos'', 'celestial' or 'shining', from the same root ( ...
,'' Old Norse
Týr
(; Old Norse: , ) is a god in Germanic mythology and member of the . In Norse mythology, which provides most of the surviving narratives about gods among the Germanic peoples, sacrifices his right hand to the monstrous wolf , who bites it off ...
(<
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
A daeva (Avestan: 𐬛𐬀𐬉𐬎𐬎𐬀 ''daēuua'') is a Zoroastrian supernatural entity with disagreeable characteristics. In the Gathas, the oldest texts of the Zoroastrian canon, the ''daeva''s are " gods that are (to be) rejected". T ...
,'' Irish ''día,'' or Lithuanian ''
Dievas
Lithuanian Dievas, Latvian Dievs and Debestēvs (" Sky-Father"), Latgalian Dīvs, Old Prussian Diews, Yotvingian Deivas was the primordial supreme god in the Baltic mythology, one of the most important deities together with Perkūnas, and the ...
''. 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
"Edda" (; Old Norse ''Edda'', plural ''Eddur'') is an Old Norse term that has been applied by modern scholars to the collective of two Medieval Icelandic literary works: what is now known as the ''Prose Edda'' and an older collection of poems ( ...
states that "on wine alone the weapon-lord
Odin
Odin (; from ) is a widely revered god in Norse mythology and Germanic paganism. Most surviving information on Odin comes from Norse mythology, but he figures prominently in the recorded history of Northern Europe. This includes the Roman Em ...
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
Ahura Mazda (; ; or , ),The former is the New Persian rendering of the Avestan form, while the latter derives from Middle Persian. also known as Horomazes (),, is the only creator deity and god of the sky in the ancient Iranian religion ...
("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
In Greek mythology, Uranus ( , also ), sometimes written Ouranos (, ), is the personification of the sky and one of the Greek primordial deities. According to Hesiod, Uranus was the son and husband of Gaia (Earth), with whom he fathered the ...
("lord of rain") and
Helena
Helena may refer to:
People
*Helena (given name), a given name (including a list of people and characters with the name)
*Katri Helena (born 1945), Finnish singer
* Saint Helena (disambiguation), this includes places
Places
Greece
* Helena ...
("mistress of sunlight"), Germanic ("lord of frenzy"), Gaulish
Epona
In Gallo-Roman religion, Epona was a protector of horses, ponies, donkeys, and mules. She was particularly a goddess of fertility, as shown by her attributes of a patera, cornucopia, ears of grain, and the presence of foals in some sculpture ...
("goddess of horses"), Lithuanian
Perkūnas
Perkūnas (, , Old Prussian: ''Perkūns'', ''Perkunos'', Sudovian language, Yotvingian: ''Parkuns'', Latgalian language, Latgalian: ''Pārkiuņs'') was the common Baltic languages, Baltic List of thunder gods, god of thunder, and the second m ...
("lord of oaks"), and in Roman
Neptunus
Neptunus is a professional baseball and softball club in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Following its 2014 championship season, the club signed a sponsorship contract for the 2015 through 2017 seasons with Curaçao and competes under the name Cura ...
("lord of waters"),
Volcanus
Vulcan (, in archaically retained spelling also ''Volcanus'', both pronounced ) is the god of fire including the fire of volcanoes, deserts, metalworking and the forge in ancient Roman religion and myth. He is often depicted with a blacksmith' ...
("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
Martin Litchfield West, (23 September 1937 – 13 July 2015) was a British philologist and classical scholar. In recognition of his contribution to scholarship, he was appointed to the Order of Merit in 2014.
West wrote on ancient Greek music, ...
, "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
Dawn is the time that marks the beginning of twilight before sunrise. It is recognized by the diffuse sky radiation, appearance of indirect sunlight being Rayleigh scattering, scattered in Earth's atmosphere, when the centre of the Sun's disc ha ...
; gods of
storm
A storm is any disturbed state of the natural environment or the atmosphere of an astronomical body. It may be marked by significant disruptions to normal conditions such as strong wind, tornadoes, hail, thunder and lightning (a thunderstor ...
, 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
The Divine Twins are youthful horsemen, either gods or demigods, who serve as rescuers and healers in Proto-Indo-European mythology.
Like other Proto-Indo-European divinities, the Divine Twins are not directly attested by archaeological or writte ...
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
Zeus (, ) is the chief deity of the List of Greek deities, Greek pantheon. He is a sky father, sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, who rules as king of the gods on Mount Olympus.
Zeus is the child ...
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
Mithra ( ; ) is an ancient Iranian deity ('' yazata'') of covenants, light, oaths, justice, the Sun, contracts, and friendship. In addition to being the divinity of contracts, Mithra is also a judicial figure, an all-seeing protector of Truth ( ...
–
Varuna
Varuna (; , ) is a Hindu god. He is one of the earliest deities in pantheon, whose role underwent a significant transformation from the Vedic to the Puranic periods. In the early Vedic era, Varuna is seen as the god-sovereign, ruling the sky ...
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
Hesychius of Alexandria () was a Greek grammarian who, probably in the 5th or 6th century AD, compiled the richest lexicon of unusual and obscure Greek words that has survived, probably by absorbing the works of earlier lexicographers.
The ...
. 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
The Avesta (, Book Pahlavi: (), Persian language, Persian: ()) is the text corpus of Zoroastrian literature, religious literature of Zoroastrianism. All its texts are composed in the Avestan language and written in the Avestan alphabet. Mod ...
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
An aurora ( aurorae or auroras),
also commonly known as the northern lights (aurora borealis) or southern lights (aurora australis), is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly observed in high-latitude regions (around the Arc ...
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
Mater Matuta was an indigenous Latin goddess, whom the Romans eventually made equivalent to the dawn goddess Aurora and the Greek dawn goddess Eos.
Mater Matuta was the goddess of female maturation, and later became linked to the dawn. Her cult i ...
. 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
''Aušra'' or ''Auszra'' (literally: ''dawn'') was the first national Lithuanian newspaper. The first issue was published in 1883, in Ragnit, East Prussia, Germany (newspaper credited it as ) East Prussia's ethnolinguistic part - Lithuania Mi ...
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
The Pontic–Caspian Steppe is a steppe extending across Eastern Europe to Central Asia, formed by the Caspian and Pontic steppes. It stretches from the northern shores of the Black Sea (the ''Pontus Euxinus'' of antiquity) to the northern a ...
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
Greek may refer to:
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...
''Dioscuri'' (
Castor and Pollux
Castor and Pollux (or Polydeuces) are twin half-brothers in Greek and Roman mythology, known together as the Dioscuri or Dioskouroi.
Their mother was Leda, but they had different fathers; Castor was the mortal son of Tyndareus, the king of ...
) are the "sons of
Zeus
Zeus (, ) is the chief deity of the List of Greek deities, Greek pantheon. He is a sky father, sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, who rules as king of the gods on Mount Olympus.
Zeus is the child ...
"; the
Vedic
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 religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed ...
''Divó nápātā'' (
Aśvins
The Ashvins (, ), also known as the Ashvini Kumaras and Asvinau,, §1.42. are Hindu twin gods associated with medicine, health, healing, sciences, and the twilight. In the ''Rigveda'', they are described as youthful divine twin horsemen, tra ...
) are the "sons of
Dyaús", the sky-god; the
Lithuanian
Lithuanian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Lithuania, a country in the Baltic region in northern Europe
** Lithuanian language
** Lithuanians, a Baltic ethnic group, native to Lithuania and the immediate geographical region
** L ...
''Dievo sūneliai'' (
Ašvieniai
Ašvieniai are divine twins in the Lithuanian mythology, identical to Latvian mythology, Latvian Dieva dēli and the Baltic mythology, Baltic counterparts of Vedic mythology, Vedic Ashvins. Both names derive from the same Proto-Indo-European langu ...
) are the "sons of the God" (
Dievas
Lithuanian Dievas, Latvian Dievs and Debestēvs (" Sky-Father"), Latgalian Dīvs, Old Prussian Diews, Yotvingian Deivas was the primordial supreme god in the Baltic mythology, one of the most important deities together with Perkūnas, and the ...
); 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
Hengist (, ) and Horsa are legendary Germanic brothers who according to later English legends and ethnogenesis theories led the Angles, Saxons and Jutes, the progenitor groups of modern English people, in their supposed invasion of Great Br ...
and
Horsa
Hengist (, ) and Horsa are legendary Germanic peoples, Germanic brothers who according to later English legends and ethnogenesis theories led the Angles (tribe), Angles, Saxons and Jutes, the progenitor groups of modern English people, in thei ...
(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
Manawydan fab Llŷr is a figure of Welsh mythology, the son of Llŷr and the brother of Brân the Blessed and Brânwen. The first element in his name is cognate with the stem of the name of the Irish sea god Manannán mac Lir, and likely or ...
. The horse twins could have been based on the morning and evening star (the planet
Venus
Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is often called Earth's "twin" or "sister" planet for having almost the same size and mass, and the closest orbit to Earth's. While both are rocky planets, Venus has an atmosphere much thicker ...
) 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 Edmond Raoul Dumézil (4 March 189811 October 1986) was a French Philology, philologist, Linguistics, linguist, and religious studies scholar who specialized in comparative linguistics and comparative mythology, mythology. He was a prof ...
[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
In Greek mythology, Uranus ( , also ), sometimes written Ouranos (, ), is the personification of the sky and one of the Greek primordial deities. According to Hesiod, Uranus was the son and husband of Gaia (Earth), with whom he fathered the ...
and Vedic
Varuna
Varuna (; , ) is a Hindu god. He is one of the earliest deities in pantheon, whose role underwent a significant transformation from the Vedic to the Puranic periods. In the early Vedic era, Varuna is seen as the god-sovereign, ruling the sky ...
, 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
Hesiod ( or ; ''Hēsíodos''; ) was an ancient Greece, Greek poet generally thought to have been active between 750 and 650 BC, around the same time as Homer.M. L. West, ''Hesiod: Theogony'', Oxford University Press (1966), p. 40.Jasper Gr ...
's ''
Theogony
The ''Theogony'' () is a poem by Hesiod (8th–7th century BC) describing the origins and genealogy, genealogies of the Greek gods, composed . It is written in the Homeric Greek, epic dialect of Ancient Greek and contains 1,022 lines. It is one ...
'', 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
The winter solstice, or hibernal solstice, occurs when either of Earth's geographical pole, poles reaches its maximum axial tilt, tilt away from the Sun. This happens twice yearly, once in each hemisphere (Northern Hemisphere, Northern and So ...
.
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
The Vedic period, or the Vedic age (), is the period in the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age of the history of India when the Vedic literature, including the Vedas (–900 BCE), was composed in the northern Indian subcontinent, between the e ...
, 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
Zeus (, ) is the chief deity of the List of Greek deities, Greek pantheon. He is a sky father, sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, who rules as king of the gods on Mount Olympus.
Zeus is the child ...
'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
Centaur
A centaur ( ; ; ), occasionally hippocentaur, also called Ixionidae (), is a creature from Greek mythology with the upper body of a human and the lower body and legs of a horse that was said to live in the mountains of Thessaly. In one version o ...
s after the mating of Dia's husband
Ixion
In Greek mythology, Ixion ( ; ) was king of the Lapiths, the most ancient tribe of Thessaly.
Family
Ixion was the son of Ares, or Leonteus (mythology), Leonteus, or Antion and Perimele, or the notorious evildoer Phlegyas, whose name connotes " ...
with the phantom of
Hera
In ancient Greek religion, Hera (; ; in Ionic Greek, Ionic and Homeric Greek) is the goddess of marriage, women, and family, and the protector of women during childbirth. In Greek mythology, she is queen of the twelve Olympians and Mount Oly ...
, the spouse of Zeus. The reconstruction is however only attested in those two traditions and therefore not secured. The Greek
Hera
In ancient Greek religion, Hera (; ; in Ionic Greek, Ionic and Homeric Greek) is the goddess of marriage, women, and family, and the protector of women during childbirth. In Greek mythology, she is queen of the twelve Olympians and Mount Oly ...
, the Roman
Juno
Juno commonly refers to:
*Juno (mythology), the Roman goddess of marriage and queen of the gods
* ''Juno'' (film), the 2007 film
Juno may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media Fictional characters
*Juno, a character in the book ''Juno of ...
, 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
Shakti (Devanagari: शक्ति, IAST: Śakti; 'energy, ability, strength, effort, power, might, capability') in Hinduism, is the "Universal Power" that underlies and sustains all existence. Conceived as feminine in essence, Shakti refer ...
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
Douglas Quentin Adams is an American linguist, professor of English at the University of Idaho and an Indo-European comparativist. He studied at the University of Chicago, earning PhD in 1972. Adams is an expert on Tocharian and a contributor ...
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
Animism (from meaning 'breath, Soul, spirit, life') is the belief that objects, places, and creatures all possess a distinct Spirituality, spiritual essence. Animism perceives all things—animals, plants, Rock (geology), rocks, rivers, Weather, ...
. This native animism is still reflected in the Indo-European daughter cultures. In Norse mythology the
Vættir
A wight is a being or thing. This general meaning is shared by cognate terms in Germanic languages, however the usage of the term varies greatly over time and between regions. In Old English, it could refer to anything in existence, with more s ...
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
A tree deity or tree spirit is a nature deity related to a tree. Such deities are present in many cultures. They are usually represented as a young woman, often connected to ancient fertility and tree worship lore.Heinrich Zimmer, ''Myths and S ...
.
In Indo-European tradition, the
storm
A storm is any disturbed state of the natural environment or the atmosphere of an astronomical body. It may be marked by significant disruptions to normal conditions such as strong wind, tornadoes, hail, thunder and lightning (a thunderstor ...
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
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 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
In Greek mythology, Uranus ( , also ), sometimes written Ouranos (, ), is the personification of the sky and one of the Greek primordial deities. According to Hesiod, Uranus was the son and husband of Gaia (Earth), with whom he fathered the ...
and
Gaia
In Greek mythology, Gaia (; , a poetic form of ('), meaning 'land' or 'earth'),, , . also spelled Gaea (), is the personification of Earth. Gaia is the ancestral mother—sometimes parthenogenic—of all life. She is the mother of Uranus (S ...
, the Roman pairing of Jupiter and
Tellus Mater
In ancient Roman religion and mythology, Tellus, Terra or Tierra ("Mother Earth") is the personification of the Earth. Although Tellus and Terra are hardly distinguishable during the Imperial era, ''Tellus'' was the name of the original earth go ...
from
Macrobius
Macrobius Ambrosius Theodosius, usually referred to as Macrobius (fl. AD 400), was a Roman provincial who lived during the early fifth century, during late antiquity, the period of time corresponding to the Later Roman Empire, and when Latin was ...
's ''
Saturnalia
Saturnalia is an Roman festivals, ancient Roman festival and holiday in honour of the List of Roman deities, god Saturn (mythology), Saturn, held on 17 December in the Julian calendar and later expanded with festivities until 19 December. By t ...
'', and the Norse pairing of
Odin
Odin (; from ) is a widely revered god in Norse mythology and Germanic paganism. Most surviving information on Odin comes from Norse mythology, but he figures prominently in the recorded history of Northern Europe. This includes the Roman Em ...
and
Jörð
Jörð (), also named Fjorgyn or Hlodyn, is the personification of earth and a goddess in Norse mythology. She is the mother of the thunder god Thor and a sexual partner of Odin. Jörð is attested in Danish history , composed in the 12th century ...
. 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
The Divine Twins are youthful horsemen, either gods or demigods, who serve as rescuers and healers in Proto-Indo-European mythology.
Like other Proto-Indo-European divinities, the Divine Twins are not directly attested by archaeological or writte ...
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
Žemyna (also Žemynėlė or Žemelė) (from – ''earth'') is the goddess of the earth in Lithuanian religion. She is usually regarded as mother goddess and one of the chief Lithuanian gods similar to Latvian Zemes māte. Žemyna personifie ...
, 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
Latvian mythology is the collection of myths that have emerged throughout the history of Latvia, sometimes being elaborated upon by successive generations, and at other times being rejected and replaced by other explanatory narratives. These myt ...
; the Hittite Dagan-zipas ("Genius of the Earth"); the
Slavic
Slavic, Slav or Slavonic may refer to:
Peoples
* Slavic peoples, an ethno-linguistic group living in Europe and Asia
** East Slavic peoples, eastern group of Slavic peoples
** South Slavic peoples, southern group of Slavic peoples
** West Slav ...
Mati Syra Zemlya ("Mother Moist Earth"); the Greek Chthôn (Χθών), the partner of
Ouranos
In Greek mythology, Uranus ( , also ), sometimes written Ouranos (, ), is the personification of the sky and one of the Greek primordial deities. According to Hesiod, Uranus was the son and husband of Gaia (Earth), with whom he fathered the ...
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
In Greek mythology, deities referred to as chthonic () or chthonian () were gods or spirits who inhabited the underworld or existed in or under the earth, and were typically associated with death or fertility. The terms "chthonic" and "chthonian" ...
deities of the underworld. The possibilities of a
Thracian
The Thracians (; ; ) were an Indo-European speaking people who inhabited large parts of Southeast Europe in ancient history.. "The Thracians were an Indo-European people who occupied the area that today is shared between north-eastern Greece, ...
goddess Zemelā () and a
Messapic
Messapic (; also known as Messapian; or as Iapygian) is an extinct Indo-European Paleo-Balkanic language of the southeastern Italian Peninsula, once spoken in Salento by the Iapygian peoples of the region: the Calabri and Salentini (known colle ...
goddess Damatura (), at the origin of the Greek
Semele
Semele (; ), or Thyone (; ) in Greek mythology, was the youngest daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia (Greek goddess), Harmonia, and the mother of Dionysus by Zeus in one of his many origin myths.
Certain elements of the cult of Dionysus and Semele ...
and
Demeter
In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, Demeter (; Attic Greek, Attic: ''Dēmḗtēr'' ; Doric Greek, Doric: ''Dāmā́tēr'') is the Twelve Olympians, Olympian goddess of the harvest and agriculture, presiding over cro ...
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
Litavis (Gaulish: ''Litauī'' 'Earth', lit. 'the Broad One') is a Gallic deity whose cult is primarily attested in east-central Gaul during the Roman period. She was probably originally an earth-goddess.' In medieval Celtic languages, various ter ...
, 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
oak
An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...
s 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
Perkūnas (, , Old Prussian: ''Perkūns'', ''Perkunos'', Sudovian language, Yotvingian: ''Parkuns'', Latgalian language, Latgalian: ''Pārkiuņs'') was the common Baltic languages, Baltic List of thunder gods, god of thunder, and the second m ...
and the Vedic
Parjanya
Parjanya (, ) according to the Vedas is a deity of rain, thunder, lightning, and the one who fertilizes the earth. It is another epithet of Indra, the Vedic deity of the sky and heaven.
Description
It is assumed Parjanya is the udder and lightning ...
, a possible cognate, but also in the Germanic
Thor
Thor (from ) is a prominent list of thunder gods, god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding æsir, god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred trees and groves in Germanic paganism and mythology, sacred g ...
, 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
Thor (from ) is a prominent list of thunder gods, god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding æsir, god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred trees and groves in Germanic paganism and mythology, sacred g ...
), the Lithuanian god
Perkūnas
Perkūnas (, , Old Prussian: ''Perkūns'', ''Perkunos'', Sudovian language, Yotvingian: ''Parkuns'', Latgalian language, Latgalian: ''Pārkiuņs'') was the common Baltic languages, Baltic List of thunder gods, god of thunder, and the second m ...
, the Slavic god
Perúnú, and the Celtic
Hercynian
Hercynia is a name for the ancient Hercynian Forest.
Hercynia or Hercynian may also refer to:
*458 Hercynia, an asteroid
*Hercynian orogeny, a synonym for the Variscan orogeny
The Variscan orogeny, or Hercynian orogeny, was a geologic mountai ...
(''Herkynío'') mountains or forests.
Perëndi
Perëndi ( sq-definite, Perëndia) is an Albanian noun for God, deity, sky and heaven. It is used capitalized to refer to the Supreme Being, and uncapitalized for "deity", "sky" and "heaven".
Name Description
In Albanian, ''Perëndí'' ( def ...
, 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
In historical linguistics, a sound change is a language change, change in the pronunciation of a language. A sound change can involve the replacement of one speech sound (or, more generally, one distinctive feature, phonetic feature value) by a ...
rather predict a * form.
From another root ("thunder") stems a group of cognates found in the Germanic, Celtic and Roman thunder-gods
Thor
Thor (from ) is a prominent list of thunder gods, god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding æsir, god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred trees and groves in Germanic paganism and mythology, sacred g ...
,
Taranis
Taranis (sometimes Taranus or Tanarus) is a Celtic thunder god attested in literary and epigraphic sources.
The Roman poet Lucan's epic ''Pharsalia'' mentions Taranis, Esus, and Teutates as gods to whom the Gauls sacrificed humans. This rare ...
,
(Jupiter) Tonans and (Zeus) Keraunos. According to Jackson, "they may have arisen as the result of fossilisation of an original epithet or
epiclesis
The epiclesis (also spelled epiklesis; from , ) refers to the invocation of one or several gods. In ancient Greek religion, the epiclesis was the epithet used as the surname given to a deity in religious contexts. The term was borrowed into the Ch ...
", as the Vedic
Parjanya
Parjanya (, ) according to the Vedas is a deity of rain, thunder, lightning, and the one who fertilizes the earth. It is another epithet of Indra, the Vedic deity of the sky and heaven.
Description
It is assumed Parjanya is the udder and lightning ...
is also called ("Thunderer"). The Roman god
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...
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
The Balto-Slavic languages form a branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European family of languages, traditionally comprising the Baltic languages, Baltic and Slavic languages. Baltic and Slavic languages share several linguistic traits ...
''*ungnis'' ("fire") is also attested.
Early modern
The early modern period is a Periodization, historical period that is defined either as part of or as immediately preceding the modern period, with divisions based primarily on the history of Europe and the broader concept of modernity. There i ...
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
Svarog is a Slavic god who may be associated with fire and blacksmithing and who was once interpreted as a sky god on the basis of an etymology rejected by modern scholarship. He is mentioned in only one source, the ''Primary Chronicle'', which ...
.
The name of the fire god in the
Albanian pagan mythology –
Enji
Enji (円次, 猿児, 円児 or エンジ) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include:
* Enji Ichikawa (1911 – 1975), Japanese actor. Daisuke Katō is his real name.
*, Japanese aircraft pilot
* Enji Takamizawa (18 ...
, from PIE – is evidently contained in the week day name that was dedicated to him – – the
Albanian
Albanian may refer to:
*Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular:
**Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans
**Albanian language
**Albanian culture
**Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...
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
Apotheosis (, ), also called divinization or deification (), is the glorification of a subject to divine levels and, commonly, the treatment of a human being, any other living thing, or an abstract idea in the likeness of a deity.
The origina ...
, with the power to
ward off evil and darkness, give strength to the Sun (
Dielli, who is worshiped as the
god of light
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 univ ...
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
A hearth () is the place in a home where a fire is or was traditionally kept for home heating and for cooking, usually constituted by a horizontal hearthstone and often enclosed to varying degrees by any combination of reredos (a low, partial ...
and the
rituals
A ritual is a repeated, structured sequence of actions or behaviors that alters the internal or external state of an individual, group, or environment, regardless of conscious understanding, emotional context, or symbolic meaning. Traditionally ...
, 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
Purification is the process of rendering something pure, i.e. clean of foreign elements and/or pollution, and may refer to:
Religion
* Ritual purification, the religious activity to remove uncleanliness
* Purification after death
* 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
The (or ; sq-definite, vatra or ) is the domestic hearth in Albanian culture. The fire of the domestic hearth (') holds divine attributes in Albanian beliefs, being considered the sustainer of the continuity between the world of the living an ...
) and the
ancestor
An ancestor, also known as a forefather, fore-elder, or a forebear, is a parent or ( recursively) the parent of an antecedent (i.e., a grandparent, great-grandparent, great-great-grandparent and so forth). ''Ancestor'' is "any person from ...
, 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
Word taboo, also called taboo language, offensive word, language taboo or linguistic taboo is a kind of taboo that involves restricting the use of words or other parts of language due to social constraints. This may be due to a taboo on specific pa ...
, 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
Nëna e Vatrës or Nana e Votrës ("The Mother of the Hearth") is an Albanian mythological figure, the protector of the hearth (), associated with the household fire worship, the cult of the ancestor and family life. She is sometimes regarded as ...
'' ("the Hearth Mother") is the goddess protector of the domestic hearth (''
vatër
The (or ; sq-definite, vatra or ) is the domestic hearth in Albanian culture. The fire of the domestic hearth (') holds divine attributes in Albanian beliefs, being considered the sustainer of the continuity between the world of the living an ...
'').
Herodotus
Herodotus (; BC) was a Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus (now Bodrum, Turkey), under Persian control in the 5th century BC, and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria, Italy. He wrote the '' Histori ...
reported a
Scythian
The Scythians ( or ) or Scyths (, but note Scytho- () in composition) and sometimes also referred to as the Pontic Scythians, were an ancient Eastern Iranian equestrian nomadic people who had migrated during the 9th to 8th centuries BC fr ...
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
In ancient Greek religion and mythology, Hestia (; ) is the virgin goddess of the hearth and the home. In myth, she is the firstborn child of the Titans Cronus and Rhea, and one of the Twelve Olympians.
In Greek mythology, newborn Hestia, alo ...
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
naiad
In Greek mythology, the naiads (; ), sometimes also hydriads, are a type of female spirit, or nymph, presiding over fountains, wells, springs, streams, brooks and other bodies of fresh water.
They are distinct from river gods, who embodied ...
s, the
nymph
A nymph (; ; sometimes spelled nymphe) is a minor female nature deity in ancient Greek folklore. Distinct from other Greek goddesses, nymphs are generally regarded as personifications of nature; they are typically tied to a specific place, land ...
s 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 culture of Armenia encompasses many elements that are based on the Geography of Armenia, geography, Armenian literature, literature, Armenian architecture, architecture, Armenian dance, dance, and Music of Armenia, music of the Armenians, A ...
, 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
Zana may refer to:
Mythological figures
* Zână, Zână (Romanian mythology), a female figure in Romanian mythology
* Zana (mythology), Zana (Albanian mythology), an Albanian mythological figure
Places
* Diana Veteranorum or Zana, an ancient ...
, 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
Breton most often refers to:
*anything associated with Brittany, and generally
**Breton people
**Breton language, a Southwestern Brittonic Celtic language of the Indo-European language family, spoken in Brittany
** Breton (horse), a breed
**Gale ...
Korrigan
In Breton folklore, a Korrigan () is a fairy or dwarf-like spirit. The word ''korrigan'' means in Breton "small-dwarf" (''korr'' means dwarf, ''ig'' is a diminutive and the suffix ''an'' is a hypocoristic). It is closely related to the Cornish ...
s are irresistible creatures with golden hair wooing mortal men and causing them to perish for love. The Norse
Huldra
A hulder (or huldra) is a seductive forest creature found in Scandinavian folklore. Her name derives from a root meaning "covered" or "secret". In Norwegian folklore, she is known as huldra ("the rchetypalhulder", though folklore presupposes ...
, 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
Proto-Indo-Iranian religion was the religion of the Indo-Iranian peoples and includes topics such as the mythology, legendry, folk tales, and folk beliefs of early Indo-Iranian culture. Reconstructed concepts include the universal force ''*Hṛ ...
, 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
Dôn () is an ancestor figure in Welsh legend and literature. She is typically given as the mother of a group known as the "Children of Dôn", including Gwydion, Arianrhod, and Gilfaethwy, among many others. However, antiquarians of the earl ...
and the names of the rivers
Danube
The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...
,
Don,
Dnieper
The Dnieper or Dnepr ( ), also called Dnipro ( ), is one of the major transboundary rivers of Europe, rising in the Valdai Hills near Smolensk, Russia, before flowing through Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. Approximately long, with ...
, and
Dniester
The Dniester ( ) is a transboundary river in Eastern Europe. It runs first through Ukraine and then through Moldova (from which it more or less separates the breakaway territory of Transnistria), finally discharging into the Black Sea on Uk ...
. 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
Triton commonly refers to:
* Triton (mythology), a Greek god
* Triton (moon), a satellite of Neptune
Triton may also refer to:
Biology
* Triton cockatoo, a parrot
* Triton (gastropod), a group of sea snails
* ''Triton'', a synonym of ''Triturus' ...
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
The Avesta (, Book Pahlavi: (), Persian language, Persian: ()) is the text corpus of Zoroastrian literature, religious literature of Zoroastrianism. All its texts are composed in the Avestan language and written in the Avestan alphabet. Mod ...
'', 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
Vayu (; ), also known as Vata () and Pavana (), is the Hindu deities, Hindu god of the winds as well as the divine messenger of the gods. In the ''Vedic scriptures'', Vayu is an important deity and is closely associated with Indra, the king o ...
, 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
Svarga (, ), also known as Swarga, Indraloka and Svargaloka, is the celestial abode of the devas in Hinduism. Svarga is one of the seven higher lokas ( esoteric planes) in Hindu cosmology. Svarga is often translated as heaven, though it is reg ...
Loka (also called Indraloka)—while the other deity Vāta represents a more violent sort of wind and is instead associated with
Parjanya
Parjanya (, ) according to the Vedas is a deity of rain, thunder, lightning, and the one who fertilizes the earth. It is another epithet of Indra, the Vedic deity of the sky and heaven.
Description
It is assumed Parjanya is the udder and lightning ...
—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
Hermann Collitz (February 4, 1855 – May 13, 1935) was a German and American historical linguist and Indo-Europeanist. He emigrated from Germany to the United States in 1886, taking a position at the newly founded Bryn Mawr College, where he ...
. 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
Jaan Puhvel (born 24 January 1932) is an Estonians, Estonian comparative linguistics, comparative linguist and comparative mythologist who specializes in Indo-European studies.
Born in Estonia, Puhvel fled his country with his family in 1944 f ...
has proposed a cattle god called which he links to the Slavic god Veles
Veles may refer to:
*Veles (god), a Slavic god
*Veles Municipality, in North Macedonia
*Veles, North Macedonia, a city, seat of the municipality, formerly called Titov Veles
*Veles Bastion, Stribog Mountains on Brabant Island, Antarctica
*Veles, s ...
, the Lithuanian god Velnias
Veles, also known as Volos, is a major god of earth, waters, livestock, and the underworld in Slavic paganism. His mythology and powers are similar, though not identical, to those of (among other deities) Odin, Loki, and Hermes.
According t ...
, and less certainly to Old Norse Ullr
In Norse mythology, Ullr (Old Norse: ) is a Æsir, god associated with skiing. Although literary attestations of Ullr are sparse, evidence including relatively ancient place-name evidence from Scandinavia suggests that he was a major god in ear ...
.
Other propositions
In 1855, Adalbert Kuhn
Franz Felix Adalbert Kuhn (19 November 1812 – 5 May 1881) was a German philologist and folklorist.
Kuhn was born in Königsberg in Brandenburg's Neumark region. From 1841, he was connected with the Köllnisches Gymnasium at Berlin, of wh ...
suggested that the Proto-Indo-Europeans may have believed in a set of helper deities, whom he reconstructed based on the Germanic elves
An elf (: elves) is a type of humanoid supernatural being in Germanic folklore. Elves appear especially in North Germanic mythology, being mentioned in the Icelandic ''Poetic Edda'' and the ''Prose Edda''.
In medieval Germanic-speakin ...
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
Old East Slavic (traditionally also Old Russian) was a language (or a group of dialects) used by the East Slavs from the 7th or 8th century to the 13th or 14th century, until it diverged into the Russian and Ruthenian languages. Ruthenian even ...
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
In Gallo-Roman religion, Epona was a protector of horses, ponies, donkeys, and mules. She was particularly a goddess of fertility, as shown by her attributes of a patera, cornucopia, ears of grain, and the presence of foals in some sculpture ...
, Irish Macha
Macha () was a sovereignty goddess of ancient Ireland associated with the province of Ulster, particularly the sites of Navan Fort (''Eamhain Mhacha'') and Armagh (''Ard Mhacha''), which are named after her.Koch, John T. ''Celtic Culture: A Hi ...
and Welsh Rhiannon
Rhiannon () is a protagonist (main character) of the Four Branches of the Mabinogi, Mabinogi, in its First and Third Branches. She originates only in these prose tales, with just a couple of references in 14thC mediaeval Welsh poetry, and none ...
, with other thematic echos in the Greek and Indic traditions. Demeter
In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, Demeter (; Attic Greek, Attic: ''Dēmḗtēr'' ; Doric Greek, Doric: ''Dāmā́tēr'') is the Twelve Olympians, Olympian goddess of the harvest and agriculture, presiding over cro ...
transformed herself into a mare when she was raped by Poseidon
Poseidon (; ) is one of the twelve Olympians in ancient Greek religion and mythology, presiding over the sea, storms, earthquakes and horses.Burkert 1985pp. 136–139 He was the protector of seafarers and the guardian of many Hellenic cit ...
appearing as a stallion, and she gave birth to a daughter and a horse, Areion. Similarly, the Indic tradition tells of Saranyu
Sanjna (, , also spelled as Samjna and Sangya), also known as Saranyu (, ), is a Hindu goddess associated with clouds and the chief consort of Surya, the Sun god. She is mentioned in the ''Rigveda'', the '' Harivamsa'' and the '' Puranas''.
I ...
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 Ashvins (, ), also known as the Ashvini Kumaras and Asvinau,, §1.42. are Hindu twin gods associated with medicine, health, healing, sciences, and the twilight. In the ''Rigveda'', they are described as youthful divine twin horsemen, tra ...
. 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
''Spun'' is a 2002 American black comedy crime drama film directed by Jonas Åkerlund from an original screenplay by William De Los Santos and Creighton Vero, based on three days of De Los Santos's life in the Eugene, Oregon drug subculture. I ...
the destinies of mankind. Although such fate goddesses are not directly attested in the Indo-Aryan tradition, the Atharvaveda
The Atharvaveda or Atharva Veda (, , from ''wikt:अथर्वन्, अथर्वन्'', "priest" and ''wikt:वेद, वेद'', "knowledge") or is the "knowledge storehouse of ''wikt:अथर्वन्, atharvans'', the proced ...
does contain an allusion comparing fate to a warp
Warp, warped or warping may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Books and comics
* WaRP Graphics, an alternative comics publisher
* ''Warp'' (First Comics), comic book series published by First Comics based on the play ''Warp!''
* Warp (comics), a D ...
. 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
In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, the Moirai ()often known in English as the Fateswere the personifications of fate, destiny. They were three sisters: Clotho (the spinner), Lachesis (mythology), Lachesis (the allotter ...
("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
Lachesis ( ; ; from , 'to obtain by lot, by fate, or by the will of the gods'), in ancient Greek religion, was the middle of the Three Fates, or Moirai; the others were her sisters, Clotho and Atropos. Normally seen clothed in white, Laches ...
("Apportioner"), and Atropos
Atropos (; "without turn"), in Greek mythology, was the third of the Three Fates or Moirai, goddesses of fate and destiny. Her Roman equivalent was Morta.
Atropos was one of the Three Fates and was known as "the Inflexible One." It was Atro ...
("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
In Religion in ancient Rome, ancient Roman religion and Roman mythology, myth, the Parcae (singular, Parca) were the female personifications of destiny who directed the lives (and deaths) of humans and gods. They are often called the Fates in En ...
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
''Völuspá'' (also ''Vǫluspá'', ''Vǫlospá'', or ''Vǫluspǫ́''; Old Norse: 'Prophecy of the völva, a seeress') is the best known poem of the ''Poetic Edda''. It dates back to the tenth century and tells the story from Norse Mythology of ...
'' and ''Gylfaginning
''Gylfaginning'' (Old Norse: 'The Beguiling of Gylfi' or 'The Deluding of Gylfi'; 13th century Old Norse pronunciation ) is the first main part of the 13th century ''Prose Edda'', after the initial Prologue. The ''Gylfaginning'' takes the form of ...
'', the Norns
The Norns ( , plural: ) are a group of deities in Norse mythology responsible for shaping the course of human destinies.''Nordisk familjebok'' (1907)
The Norns are often represented as three goddesses known as Urd ( Urðr), Verðandi, and S ...
are three cosmic goddesses of fate who are described sitting by the well of Urðr
Urðr (Old Norse: fateOrchard (1997:169).) is one of the Norns in Norse mythology. Along with Verðandi (possibly "happening" or "present"Orchard (1997:174).) and Skuld (possibly "debt" or "future"Orchard (1997:151).), Urðr makes up a trio o ...
at the foot of the world tree Yggdrasil
Yggdrasil () is an immense and central sacred tree in Norse cosmology. Around it exists all else, including the Nine Worlds.
Yggdrasil is attested in the ''Poetic Edda'' compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and in t ...
. In Old Norse texts, the Norns are frequently conflated with Valkyrie
In Norse mythology, a valkyrie ( or ; from ) is one of a host of female figures who guide souls of the dead to the god Odin's hall Valhalla. There, the deceased warriors become ('single fighters' or 'once fighters').Orchard (1997:36) and Li ...
s, who are sometimes also described as spinning. Old English texts, such as '' Rhyme Poem'' 70, and '' Guthlac'' 1350 f., reference Wyrd
Wyrd is a concept in Anglo-Saxon culture roughly corresponding to fate or personal destiny. The word is ancestral to Modern English '' weird'', whose meaning has drifted towards an adjectival use with a more general sense of "supernatural" or ...
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
''The Legend of Good Women'' is a poem in the form of a dream vision by Geoffrey Chaucer during the fourteenth century.
The poem is the third longest of Chaucer's works, after ''The Canterbury Tales'' and ''Troilus and Criseyde'', and is possib ...
''. A goddess spinning appears in a bracteate
A bracteate (from the Latin ''bractea'', a thin piece of metal) is a flat, thin, single-sided gold medal worn as jewelry that was produced in Northern Europe predominantly during the Migration Period of the Germanic Iron Age (including the Ven ...
from southwest Germany and a relief from Trier
Trier ( , ; ), formerly and traditionally known in English as Trèves ( , ) and Triers (see also Names of Trier in different languages, names in other languages), is a city on the banks of the Moselle (river), Moselle in Germany. It lies in a v ...
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
Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to:
Language and ethnicity
*pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia
**Celts (modern)
*Celtic languages
**Proto-Celtic language
*Celtic music
*Celtic nations
Sports Foot ...
''*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
Aryaman () is one of the early Vedic Hindu deities. His name signifies "Life-Partner", "Close Friend", "Sun", "Play-Fellow" or "Companion".Monier-Williams Sanskrit Dictionary He is the third son of Kashyapa and Aditi, the father and mother of ...
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
In the Avesta, () is both an Avestan language common noun and the proper name of a Zoroastrian divinity.
The common noun is a theological and social term literally meaning "member of (the) community or tribe." In a secondary development, the com ...
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
Érimón (Modern ), commonly Anglicised as Heremon, son of Míl Espáine (and great-grandson of Breoghan, king of Celtic Galicia), according to medieval Irish legends and historical traditions, was one of the chieftains who took part in the ...
became the first king of the Milesians (the mythical name of the Irish) after he helped conquer the island from the Tuatha Dé Danann
The Tuatha Dé Danann (, meaning "the folk of the goddess Danu"), also known by the earlier name Tuath Dé ("tribe of the gods"), are a supernatural race in Irish mythology. Many of them are thought to represent deities of pre-Christian Gaelic ...
. He also provided wives to the Cruithnig (the mythical Celtic Britons
The Britons ( *''Pritanī'', , ), also known as Celtic Britons or Ancient Britons, were the Celtic people who inhabited Great Britain from at least the British Iron Age until the High Middle Ages, at which point they diverged into the Welsh, ...
or Picts
The Picts were a group of peoples in what is now Scotland north of the Firth of Forth, in the Scotland in the early Middle Ages, Early Middle Ages. Where they lived and details of their culture can be gleaned from early medieval texts and Pic ...
), 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
Zeus (, ) is the chief deity of the List of Greek deities, Greek pantheon. He is a sky father, sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, who rules as king of the gods on Mount Olympus.
Zeus is the child ...
' bolt; Lugh
Lugh or Lug (; ) is a figure in Irish mythology. A member of the Tuatha Dé Danann, a group of supernatural beings, Lugh is portrayed as a warrior, a king, a master craftsman and a saviour.Olmsted, Garrett. ''The Gods of the Celts and the I ...
's and Odin
Odin (; from ) is a widely revered god in Norse mythology and Germanic paganism. Most surviving information on Odin comes from Norse mythology, but he figures prominently in the recorded history of Northern Europe. This includes the Roman Em ...
's spear and Thor
Thor (from ) is a prominent list of thunder gods, god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding æsir, god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred trees and groves in Germanic paganism and mythology, sacred g ...
'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
Aphrodite (, ) is an Greek mythology, ancient Greek goddess associated with love, lust, beauty, pleasure, passion, procreation, and as her syncretism, syncretised Roman counterpart , desire, Sexual intercourse, sex, fertility, prosperity, and ...
, 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
Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is often called Earth's "twin" or "sister" planet for having almost the same size and mass, and the closest orbit to Earth's. While both are rocky planets, Venus has an atmosphere much thicker ...
takes her place. Her name is not cognate at all, but Norse descendants of ', Freyr
Freyr (Old Norse: 'Lord'), sometimes anglicized as Frey, is a widely attested Æsir, god in Norse mythology, associated with kingship, fertility, peace, prosperity, fair weather, and good harvest. Freyr, sometimes referred to as Yngvi-Freyr, was ...
and Freyja
In Norse mythology, Freyja (Old Norse "(the) Lady") is a goddess associated with love, beauty, fertility, sex, war, gold, and seiðr (magic for seeing and influencing the future). Freyja is the owner of the necklace Brísingamen, rides a char ...
belong to the race of so-called Vanir
In Norse mythology, the Vanir (; Old Norse:, singular Vanr) are a group of gods associated with fertility, wisdom, and the ability to see the future. The Vanir are one of two groups of gods (the other being the Æsir) and are the namesake of the ...
, 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
Title page of «Mater Verborum»
Mater Verborum (or Glosa Salomonis) is a medieval encyclopedical dictionary written in Latin language around 1240. The document is especially renowned for the more than 1000 comments written in it in the medieval ...
. 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
An elf (: elves) is a type of humanoid supernatural being in Germanic folklore. Elves appear especially in North Germanic mythology, being mentioned in the Icelandic ''Poetic Edda'' and the ''Prose Edda''.
In medieval Germanic-speakin ...
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
In Greek mythology, Priapus (; ) is a minor rustic fertility god, protector of livestock, fruit plants, gardens, and male genitalia. Priapus is marked by his oversized, permanent erection, which gave rise to the medical term priapism. He becam ...
; and Old Norse Freyr
Freyr (Old Norse: 'Lord'), sometimes anglicized as Frey, is a widely attested Æsir, god in Norse mythology, associated with kingship, fertility, peace, prosperity, fair weather, and good harvest. Freyr, sometimes referred to as Yngvi-Freyr, was ...
.[''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
Anahita is the Old Persian form of the name of an Iranian goddess and appears in complete and earlier form as ('), the Avestan name of an Indo-Iranian cosmological figure venerated as the divinity of "the Waters" ( Aban) and hence associat ...
and the Roman goddess Juno
Juno commonly refers to:
*Juno (mythology), the Roman goddess of marriage and queen of the gods
* ''Juno'' (film), the 2007 film
Juno may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media Fictional characters
*Juno, a character in the book ''Juno of ...
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
Nirṛti () sometimes spelled Nirruti or Nirriti, is a Hindu deity, personifying death, decay, and sorrow. In early Hindu scriptures, Nirṛti is a goddess who lives in the kingdom of the dead. In later Hinduism, Nirṛti and Nirṛta is also a ...
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
In Greek mythology, Orpheus (; , classical pronunciation: ) was a Thracians, Thracian bard, legendary musician and prophet. He was also a renowned Ancient Greek poetry, poet and, according to legend, travelled with Jason and the Argonauts in se ...
and the Vedic Ribhus
Ribhus (Sanskrit: ऋभु, ṛbhu, also Arbhu, Rbhus, Ribhuksan) is an ancient Indian word whose meaning evolved over time. In early layers of the Vedic literature, it referred to a sun deity. It evolved to being a wind deity, thereafter referred ...
. 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
In Greek mythology, Prometheus (; , , possibly meaning "forethought")Smith"Prometheus". is a Titans, Titan. He is best known for defying the Olympian gods by taking theft of fire, fire from them and giving it to humanity in the form of technol ...
("the one who steals"), who took the heavenly fire away from the gods to bring it to mankind, and the Vedic Mātariśvan
' ("growing in the mother", from the locative of "mother", ', and a root ' "to grow, swell") in the Rigveda is a name of Agni (the sacrificial fire, the "mother" in which it grows being the fire-stick), or of a divine being closely associated wi ...
, the mythical bird who "robbed" (found in the myth as ''pra math-'', "to steal") the hidden fire and gave it to the Bhrigu
Bhrigu (, ) is a rishi in Hindu tradition. He is one of the seven great sages, the Saptarshis, and one of the many Prajapatis (the facilitators of creation) created by Brahma. He was the first compiler of predictive astrology and also the aut ...
s. A medical god has been reconstructed based on a thematic comparison between the Indic god Rudra
Rudra (/ ɾud̪ɾə/; ) is a Rigvedic deity associated with Shiva, the wind or storms, Vayu, medicine, and the hunt. One translation of the name is 'the roarer'. In the ''Rigveda'', Rudra is praised as the "mightiest of the mighty". 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
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...
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
A dragon is a Magic (supernatural), magical legendary creature that appears in the folklore of multiple cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but European dragon, dragons in Western cultures since the Hi ...
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
In Norse mythology, (also Ragnarok; or ; ) is a foretold series of impending events, including a great battle in which numerous great Norse mythological figures will perish (including the Æsir, gods Odin, Thor, Týr, Freyr, Heimdall, a ...
myth, the hero or the god dies with his enemy during the confrontation. Historian Bruce Lincoln
Bruce Lincoln (born 1948) is Caroline E. Haskell Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of the History of Religions in the Divinity School of the University of Chicago, where he also holds positions in the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Com ...
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
Hittite mythology and Hittite religion were the religious beliefs and practices of the Hittites, who created an empire centered in Anatolia from .
Most of the narratives embodying Hittite mythology are lost, and the elements that would give ...
, the storm god Tarhunt slays the giant serpent Illuyanka
In Hittite mythology, Illuyanka was a serpentine dragon slain by Tarḫunz (), the Hittite incarnation of the Hurrian god of sky and storm. It is known from Hittite cuneiform tablets found at Çorum-Boğazköy, the former Hittite capital Hat ...
, 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
Vritra (, , ) is a danava in Hinduism. He serves as the personification of drought, and is an adversary of the king of the devas, Indra. As a danava, he belongs to the race of the asuras. Vritra is also known in the Vedas as Ahi ( ). He appe ...
, 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
Zeus (, ) is the chief deity of the List of Greek deities, Greek pantheon. He is a sky father, sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, who rules as king of the gods on Mount Olympus.
Zeus is the child ...
slaying the hundred-headed Typhon
Typhon (; , ), also Typhoeus (; ), Typhaon () or Typhos (), was a monstrous serpentine giant and one of the deadliest creatures in Greek mythology. According to Hesiod, Typhon was the son of Gaia and Tartarus. However, one source has Typhon as t ...
, as related by Hesiod
Hesiod ( or ; ''Hēsíodos''; ) was an ancient Greece, Greek poet generally thought to have been active between 750 and 650 BC, around the same time as Homer.M. L. West, ''Hesiod: Theogony'', Oxford University Press (1966), p. 40.Jasper Gr ...
in the ''Theogony
The ''Theogony'' () is a poem by Hesiod (8th–7th century BC) describing the origins and genealogy, genealogies of the Greek gods, composed . It is written in the Homeric Greek, epic dialect of Ancient Greek and contains 1,022 lines. It is one ...
'', 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
The Lernaean Hydra or Hydra of Lerna (), more often known simply as the Hydra, is a serpentine lake monster in Greek mythology and Roman mythology. Its lair was the lake of Lerna in the Argolid, which was also the site of the myth of the Dan ...
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
Python may refer to:
Snakes
* Pythonidae, a family of nonvenomous snakes found in Africa, Asia, and Australia
** ''Python'' (genus), a genus of Pythonidae found in Africa and Asia
* Python (mythology), a mythical serpent
Computing
* Python (prog ...
. 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
In Greek mythology, Geryon ( ; , genitive ), also Geryone (, or ), son of Chrysaor and Callirrhoe, the grandson of Medusa and the nephew of Pegasus, was a fearsome giant who dwelt on the island Erytheia of the mythic Hesperides in the far ...
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
Thor (from ) is a prominent list of thunder gods, god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding æsir, god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred trees and groves in Germanic paganism and mythology, sacred g ...
slays the giant serpent Jörmungandr
In Norse mythology, Jörmungandr (, see Etymology), also known as the Midgard Serpent or World Serpent (, "worm of Midgard"), is an unfathomably large and monstrous sea serpent or worm who dwells in the world sea, encircling the Earth ( Midga ...
, which lived in the waters surrounding the realm of Midgard
In Germanic cosmology, Midgard (an anglicised form of Old Norse ; Old English , Old Saxon , Old High German , and Gothic ''Midjun-gards''; "middle yard", "middle enclosure") is the name for Earth (equivalent in meaning to the Greek term : oikou ...
. In the ''Völsunga saga
The ''Völsunga saga'' (often referred to in English as the ''Volsunga Saga'' or ''Saga of the Völsungs'') is a legendary saga, a late 13th-century prose rendition in Old Norse of the origin and decline of the Völsung clan (including the story ...
'', Sigurd
Sigurd ( ) or Siegfried (Middle High German: ''Sîvrit'') is a legendary hero of Germanic heroic legend, who killed a dragon — known in Nordic tradition as Fafnir () — and who was later murdered. In the Nordic countries, he is referred t ...
slays the dragon Fafnir and, in ''Beowulf
''Beowulf'' (; ) is an Old English poetry, Old English poem, an Epic poetry, epic in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 Alliterative verse, alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and List of translat ...
'', 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
Iranian mythology, or Persian mythology in western term (), is the body of the myths originally told by ancient Persians and other Iranian peoples and a genre of ancient Persian folklore. These stories concern the origin and nature of the worl ...
, Fereydun
Fereydun (, ; New Persian: , ''Fereydūn/Farīdūn'') is an Iranian mythical king and hero from the Pishdadian dynasty. He is known as an emblem of victory, justice, and generosity in Persian literature.
According to Abolala Soudavar, Fereydun ...
(and later Garshasp
Garshāsp ( ) was, in Persian mythology, the last Shah of the Pishdadian dynasty of Persia according to ''Shahnameh''. He was a descendant of Zaav, ruling over the Persian Empire for about nine years. His name is shared with a monster-slayi ...
) slays the serpent Zahhak
use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) -->
, death_place =
, death_cause =
, body_discovered =
, resting_place =
, resting_place_coordinates ...
. In Albanian mythology
Albanian paganism comprises the pagan customs, beliefs, rituals, myths and legends of the Albanian people. The elements of Albanian mythology are of ancient Paleo-Balkanic origin and almost all of them are pagan. Ancient paganism persisted among ...
, the drangue
The drangùe ( sq-definite, drangùa, drangòni) is a semi-human winged deity, divine Culture hero, hero in Albanian paganism, Albanian pagan mythology, associated with weather and storms. He is the archetype of light and good, the complementary an ...
, semi-human divine figures associated with thunders, slay the kulshedra
The kulshedra or kuçedra is a water, storm, fire and chthonic demon in Albanian mythology and Albanian folklore, folklore, usually described as a huge multi-headed female Serpent (symbolism), serpentine dragon. She is the archetype of darkness ...
, huge multi-headed fire-spitting serpents associated with water and storms. The Slavic
Slavic, Slav or Slavonic may refer to:
Peoples
* Slavic peoples, an ethno-linguistic group living in Europe and Asia
** East Slavic peoples, eastern group of Slavic peoples
** South Slavic peoples, southern group of Slavic peoples
** West Slav ...
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
Veles may refer to:
*Veles (god), a Slavic god
*Veles Municipality, in North Macedonia
*Veles, North Macedonia, a city, seat of the municipality, formerly called Titov Veles
*Veles Bastion, Stribog Mountains on Brabant Island, Antarctica
*Veles, s ...
, as does the bogatyr
A bogatyr (, ; , ) or vityaz (, ; , ) is a stock character in medieval Bylina, East Slavic legends, akin to a Western European knight-errant. Bogatyrs appear mainly in Kievan Rus', Rus' epic poems—Bylina, ''bylinas''. Historically, they came i ...
hero Dobrynya Nikitich
Dobrynya Nikitich () is one of the most popular bogatyrs (epic knights) from the " Kievan" series of Russian folklore based on bylina (epic songs) originating from the area around the capital of the Kievan Rus, Kiev. According to the bylinas, ...
to the three-headed dragon Zmey
A Slavic dragon is any dragon in Slavic mythology, including the Polish żmij, Russian '' zmei'' (or ; ), Ukrainian (), and its counterparts in other Slavic cultures (See
below). The physiognomy resembles a combination of the classical drag ...
. A similar execution is performed by the Armenian
Armenian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent
** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...
god of thunders Vahagn
Vahagn or Vahakn (), also known as Vahagn Vishapakagh (), is a warrior god in Armenian mythology. Scholars consider him to be either the thunder, or sun and fire god of the pre-Christian Armenian pantheon, as well as the god of war, bravery and ...
to the dragon Vishap
The ''Vishap'' () is a dragon in Armenian mythology closely associated with water, similar to the Leviathan. It is usually depicted as a winged snake or with a combination of elements from different animals.The name might derive from an ancient Ir ...
, by the Romanian
Romanian may refer to:
*anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania
**Romanians, an ethnic group
**Romanian language, a Romance language
***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language
**Romanian cuisine, traditional ...
knight hero Făt-Frumos
Făt-Frumos (from Romanian language, Romanian ''făt'': son, infant; ''frumos'': handsome) is a knight hero in Romanian folklore, as exemplified in the fairy tale ''Făt-Frumos with the Golden Hair''.
Făt-Frumos has to go through tests and ob ...
to the fire-spitting monster Zmeu
The ''Zmeu'' (plural: ''zmei'', feminine: ''zmeoaică'' / ''zmeoaice'') is a fantastic creature of Romanian folklore and Romanian mythology.
Though referred by some sources as a dragon, the zmeu is nevertheless distinct, because it usually has ...
, and by the Celtic
Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to:
Language and ethnicity
*pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia
**Celts (modern)
*Celtic languages
**Proto-Celtic language
*Celtic music
*Celtic nations
Sports Foot ...
god of healing Dian Cecht
In Irish mythology, Dian Cécht (; also known as ''Cainte'' or ''Canta'') was the god of healing, the healer for the Tuatha Dé Danann, and son of the Dagda according to the '' Dindsenchas''.
He was the father of Cu, Cethen and Cian. His other ...
to the serpent Meichi.
In Shinto
, also called Shintoism, is a religion originating in Japan. Classified as an East Asian religions, East Asian religion by Religious studies, scholars of religion, it is often regarded by its practitioners as Japan's indigenous religion and as ...
, where Indo-European influences through Vedic religion can be seen in mythology, the storm god Susanoo
__FORCETOC__
Susanoo (, ; historical orthography: , ), often referred to by the honorific title Susanoo-no-Mikoto (), is a in Japanese mythology. The younger brother of Amaterasu, goddess of the sun and mythical ancestress of the Japanese im ...
slays the eight-headed serpent Yamata no Orochi
Yamata no Orochi (ヤマタノオロチ, also written as 八岐大蛇, 八俣遠呂智 or 八俣遠呂知) is a legendary eight-headed and eight-tailed serpent that appears in Japanese mythology. Both the ''Kojiki'' and ''Nihon Shoki'' record the ...
.
The Genesis
Genesis may refer to:
Religion
* Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of humankind
* Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Bo ...
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
Revelation 12 is the twelfth chapter of the Book of Revelation or the Apocalypse of John in the New Testament of the Christianity, Christian Bible. The book is traditionally attributed to John the Apostle, but the precise identity of the author re ...
can be interpreted as a retelling of the serpent-slaying myth. The Deep or Abyss
Abyss may refer to:
Religion
* Abyss (religion), a bottomless pit, or a passage to the underworld
* Abyss (Thelema), a spiritual principle within the system of Thelema
Film and television
* ''The Abyss'' (1910 film), a Danish silent film s ...
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
Tehom ( ''təhôm'') is a Northwest Semitic and Biblical Hebrew word meaning "the deep" or "abyss" (literally "the deeps"). It is used to describe the primeval ocean and the post- creation waters of the earth. It is a cognate of the Akkadian word ...
(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 Ugarit
Ugarit (; , ''ủgrt'' /ʾUgarītu/) was an ancient port city in northern Syria about 10 kilometers north of modern Latakia. At its height it ruled an area roughly equivalent to the modern Latakia Governorate. It was discovered by accident in 19 ...
ic ''t-h-m'' which have similar meaning. As such it was equated with the earlier Babylonian serpent Tiamat
In Mesopotamian religion, Tiamat ( or , ) is the primordial sea, mating with Abzû (Apsu), the groundwater, to produce the gods in the Babylonian epic '' Enûma Elish'', which translates as "when on high". She is referred to as a woman, an ...
.
Folklorist Andrew Lang
Andrew Lang (31 March 1844 – 20 July 1912) was a Scottish poet, novelist, literary critic, and contributor to the field of anthropology. He is best known as a folkloristics, collector of folklore, folk and fairy tales. The Andrew Lang lectur ...
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
Celtic mythology is the body of myths belonging to the Celtic peoples.Cunliffe, Barry, (1997) ''The Ancient Celts''. Oxford, Oxford University Press , pp. 183 (religion), 202, 204–8. Like other Iron Age Europeans, Celtic peoples followed ...
, 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
Vahagn or Vahakn (), also known as Vahagn Vishapakagh (), is a warrior god in Armenian mythology. Scholars consider him to be either the thunder, or sun and fire god of the pre-Christian Armenian pantheon, as well as the god of war, bravery and ...
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
A kenning ( Icelandic: ) is a figure of speech, a figuratively-phrased compound term that is used in place of a simple single-word noun. For instance, the Old English kenning () means , as does ().
A kenning has two parts: a base-word (a ...
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
The ''Odyssey'' (; ) is one of two major epics of ancient Greek literature attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest surviving works of literature and remains popular with modern audiences. Like the ''Iliad'', the ''Odyssey'' is divi ...
'' 4.404 as an epithet for the seals of Proteus
In Greek mythology, Proteus ( ; ) is an early prophetic sea god or god of rivers and oceanic bodies of water, one of several deities whom Homer calls the "Old Man of the Sea" (''hálios gérôn''). Some who ascribe a specific domain to Prote ...
.
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
In Roman mythology, King Numitor () of Alba Longa was the maternal grandfather of Rome's founder and first king, Romulus, and his twin brother Romulus and Remus, Remus. He was the son of Procas, descendant of Aeneas the Troy, Trojan, and father o ...
, rescued by his chaste daughter Rhea Silvia
Rhea (or Rea) Silvia (), also known as Ilia, (as well as other names) was the mythical mother of the twins Romulus and Remus, who founded the city of Rome.Livy I.4.2 This event was portrayed numerous times in Roman art. Her story is told in the ...
; the Irish king Eochaid, father of the legendary queen Medb
Medb (), later spelled Meadhbh (), Méabh(a) () and Méibh (), and often anglicised as Maeve ( ), is queen of Connacht in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology. Her husband in the core stories of the cycle is Ailill mac Máta, although she had ...
, and threatened by his sons the '' findemna''; as well as the myth of the Norse virgin goddess Gefjun
In Norse mythology, Gefjon (Old Norse: ; alternatively spelled Gefion, or Gefjun , pronounced without secondary syllable stress) is a goddess associated with ploughing, the Danish island of Zealand, the legendary Swedish king Gylfi, the legendar ...
offering lands to Odin
Odin (; from ) is a widely revered god in Norse mythology and Germanic paganism. Most surviving information on Odin comes from Norse mythology, but he figures prominently in the recorded history of Northern Europe. This includes the Roman Em ...
'','' are generally cited as possible reflexes of an inherited Proto-Indo-European motif. The Irish queen Medb
Medb (), later spelled Meadhbh (), Méabh(a) () and Méibh (), and often anglicised as Maeve ( ), is queen of Connacht in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology. Her husband in the core stories of the cycle is Ailill mac Máta, although she had ...
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
Mead (), also called honey wine, and hydromel (particularly when low in alcohol content), is an alcoholic beverage made by fermenting honey mixed with water, and sometimes with added ingredients such as fruits, spices, grains, or hops. The alco ...
, 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
Æsir (Old Norse; singular: ) or ēse (Old English; singular: ) are deities, gods in Germanic paganism. In Old Nordic religion and Nordic mythology, mythology, the precise meaning of the term "" is debated, as it can refer either to the gods i ...
(led by Oðinn and Thor
Thor (from ) is a prominent list of thunder gods, god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding æsir, god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred trees and groves in Germanic paganism and mythology, sacred g ...
) and the Vanir
In Norse mythology, the Vanir (; Old Norse:, singular Vanr) are a group of gods associated with fertility, wisdom, and the ability to see the future. The Vanir are one of two groups of gods (the other being the Æsir) and are the namesake of the ...
(led by Freyr
Freyr (Old Norse: 'Lord'), sometimes anglicized as Frey, is a widely attested Æsir, god in Norse mythology, associated with kingship, fertility, peace, prosperity, fair weather, and good harvest. Freyr, sometimes referred to as Yngvi-Freyr, was ...
, Freyja
In Norse mythology, Freyja (Old Norse "(the) Lady") is a goddess associated with love, beauty, fertility, sex, war, gold, and seiðr (magic for seeing and influencing the future). Freyja is the owner of the necklace Brísingamen, rides a char ...
and Njörðr
In Norse mythology, Njörðr (Old Norse: ) is a god among the Vanir. Njörðr, father of the deities Freyr and Freyja by Sister-wife of Njörðr, his unnamed sister, was in an ill-fated marriage with the goddess Skaði, lives in Nóatún (myth ...
) that finally ends with the Vanir coming to live among the Æsir. Shortly after the mythical founding of Rome, Romulus
Romulus (, ) was the legendary founder and first king of Rome. Various traditions attribute the establishment of many of Rome's oldest legal, political, religious, and social institutions to Romulus and his contemporaries. Although many of th ...
fights his wealthy neighbours the Sabines
The Sabines (, , , ; ) were an Italic people who lived in the central Apennine Mountains (see Sabina) of the ancient Italian Peninsula, also inhabiting Latium north of the Anio before the founding of Rome.
The Sabines divided int ...
, the Romans abducting their women to eventually incorporate the Sabines into the founding tribes of Rome. In Vedic mythology, the Aśvins
The Ashvins (, ), also known as the Ashvini Kumaras and Asvinau,, §1.42. are Hindu twin gods associated with medicine, health, healing, sciences, and the twilight. In the ''Rigveda'', they are described as youthful divine twin horsemen, tra ...
(representing the third function as the Divine Twins
The Divine Twins are youthful horsemen, either gods or demigods, who serve as rescuers and healers in Proto-Indo-European mythology.
Like other Proto-Indo-European divinities, the Divine Twins are not directly attested by archaeological or writte ...
) 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
The Trojan War was a legendary conflict in Greek mythology that took place around the twelfth or thirteenth century BC. The war was waged by the Achaeans (Homer), Achaeans (Ancient Greece, Greeks) against the city of Troy after Paris (mytho ...
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
Jaan Puhvel (born 24 January 1932) is an Estonians, Estonian comparative linguistics, comparative linguist and comparative mythologist who specializes in Indo-European studies.
Born in Estonia, Puhvel fled his country with his family in 1944 f ...
notes similarities between the Norse myth in which the god Týr
(; Old Norse: , ) is a god in Germanic mythology and member of the . In Norse mythology, which provides most of the surviving narratives about gods among the Germanic peoples, sacrifices his right hand to the monstrous wolf , who bites it off ...
inserts his hand into the wolf Fenrir
Fenrir (Old Norse 'fen-dweller')Orchard (1997:42). or Fenrisúlfr (Old Norse "Fenrir's wolf", often translated "Fenris-wolf"),Simek (2007:81). also referred to as Hróðvitnir (Old Norse "fame-wolf")Simek (2007:160). and Vánagandr (Old Nors ...
's mouth while the other gods bind him with Gleipnir
In Norse mythology, Gleipnir (Old Norse "open one")Orchard (1997:58). is the binding that holds the mighty wolf Fenrir (as attested in chapter 34 of the ''Prose Edda'' book '' Gylfaginning''). Its name means "the entangled one" or "the deceiver" ...
, only for Fenrir to bite off Týr's hand when he discovers he cannot break his bindings, and the Iranian myth in which Jamshid
Jamshid () (, ''Jamshēd''; Middle- and New Persian: جم, ''Jam''), also known as ''Yima'' (Avestan: 𐬫𐬌𐬨𐬀 ''Yima''; Persian/Pashto: یما ''Yama''), is the fourth Shah of the mythological Pishdadian dynasty of Iran according to ' ...
rescues his brother's corpse from Ahriman
Angra Mainyu (; ) is the Avestan name of Zoroastrianism's hypostasis of the "destructive/evil spirit" and the main adversary in Zoroastrianism either of the Spenta Mainyu, the "holy/creative spirits/mentality", or directly of Ahura Mazda, th ...
'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
Leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease (HD), is a Chronic condition, long-term infection by the bacteria ''Mycobacterium leprae'' or ''Mycobacterium lepromatosis''. Infection can lead to damage of the Peripheral nervous system, nerves, respir ...
. 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
The Ulster Cycle (), formerly known as the Red Branch Cycle, is a body of medieval Irish heroic legends and sagas of the Ulaid. It is set far in the past, in what is now eastern Ulster and northern Leinster, particularly counties Armagh, Do ...
, Connla
Connla or Conlaoch is a character in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology, the son of the Ulster champion Cú Chulainn and the Scottish warrior woman Aífe. He was raised alone by his mother in Scotland. He appears in the story '' Aided Óenfh ...
, son of the Irish hero Cú Chulainn
Cú Chulainn ( ), is an Irish warrior hero and demigod in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology, as well as in Scottish and Manx folklore. He is believed to be an incarnation of the Irish god Lugh, who is also his father. His mother is the ...
, who was raised abroad in Scotland, unknowingly confronts his father and is killed in the combat; in Russian epic poems, Ilya Muromets
Ilya Muromets or Murometz, also known as Ilya of Murom, is a ''bogatyr'' (hero) in a type of Russian oral literature , oral epic poem called ''bylina'' set during the time of the Kievan Rus'. He is often featured alongside fellow bogatyrs Dobry ...
must kill his own son, who was also raised apart; the Germanic hero Hildebrant inadvertently kills his son Hadubrant in the ''Hildebrandslied
The ''Hildebrandslied'' (; ''Lay'' or ''Song of Hildebrand'') is a heroic lay written in Old High German alliterative verse. It is the earliest poetic text in German, and it tells of the tragic encounter in battle between a father (Hildebrand) ...
''; and the Iranian Rostam
use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) -->
, death_place = Kabulistan
, death_cause = With the conspiracy of his half-brother Shaghad, he fell into a we ...
unknowingly confronts his son Sohrab
use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) -->
, death_place = Turan
, death_cause = Killed in combat by his father, Rostam, with neither Rostam nor Sohrab awa ...
in the eponymous epic of the ''Shāhnāmeh
The ''Shahnameh'' (, ), also transliterated ''Shahnama'', is a long epic poem written by the Persian poet Ferdowsi between and 1010 CE and is the national epic of Greater Iran. Consisting of some 50,000 distichs or couplets (two-line verses ...
''. King Arthur
According to legends, King Arthur (; ; ; ) was a king of Great Britain, Britain. He is a folk hero and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain.
In Wales, Welsh sources, Arthur is portrayed as a le ...
is forced to kill his son Mordred
Mordred or Modred ( or ; Welsh: ''Medraut'' or ''Medrawt'') is a major figure in the legend of King Arthur. The earliest known mention of a possibly historical Medraut is in the Welsh chronicle ''Annales Cambriae'', wherein he and Arthur are a ...
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
Theseus (, ; ) was a divine hero in Greek mythology, famous for slaying the Minotaur. The myths surrounding Theseus, his journeys, exploits, and friends, have provided material for storytelling throughout the ages.
Theseus is sometimes desc ...
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
Mead (), also called honey wine, and hydromel (particularly when low in alcohol content), is an alcoholic beverage made by fermenting honey mixed with water, and sometimes with added ingredients such as fruits, spices, grains, or hops. The alco ...
", originally proposed by Georges Dumézil
Georges Edmond Raoul Dumézil (4 March 189811 October 1986) was a French Philology, philologist, Linguistics, linguist, and religious studies scholar who specialized in comparative linguistics and comparative mythology, mythology. He was a prof ...
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
In Norse mythology, Jörmungandr (, see Etymology), also known as the Midgard Serpent or World Serpent (, "worm of Midgard"), is an unfathomably large and monstrous sea serpent or worm who dwells in the world sea, encircling the Earth ( Midga ...
) 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
The elixir of life (Medieval Latin: ' ), also known as elixir of immortality, is a potion that supposedly grants the drinker Immortality, eternal life and/or eternal youth. This elixir was also said to Panacea (medicine), cure all diseases. Alch ...
.
Rituals
Proto-Indo-European religion was centered on sacrificial rites of cattle and horses, probably administered by a class of priest
A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...
s or shaman
Shamanism is a spiritual practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with the spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spiritual energies into ...
s. Animals were slaughtered () and dedicated to the gods () in the hope of winning their favour. The Khvalynsk culture
The Khvalynsk culture is a Middle Copper Age Eneolithic culture (c. 4,900 – 3,500 BC) of the middle Volga region. It takes its name from Khvalynsk in Saratov Oblast. It was preceded by the Early Eneolithic Samara culture.
Dating
A numbe ...
, 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
Georges Edmond Raoul Dumézil (4 March 189811 October 1986) was a French Philology, philologist, Linguistics, linguist, and religious studies scholar who specialized in comparative linguistics and comparative mythology, mythology. He was a prof ...
suggested that the religious function was represented by a duality, one reflecting the magico-religious
People who believe in magic can be found in all societies, regardless of whether they have organized religious hierarchies, including formal clergy, or more informal systems. Such concepts tend to appear more frequently in cultures based in ...
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
County Donegal ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county of the Republic of Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and is the northernmost county of Ireland. The county mostly borders Northern Ireland, sharing only a small b ...
copulating with a mare
A mare is an adult female horse or other equidae, equine. In most cases, a mare is a female horse over the age of three, and a filly is a female horse three and younger. In Thoroughbred horse racing, a mare is defined as a female horse more th ...
before bathing with the parts of the sacrificed animal. The Indic ritual likewise involved the symbolic marriage of the queen to the dead stallion
A stallion is an adult male horse that has not been gelded ( castrated). Stallions follow the conformation and phenotype of their breed, but within that standard, the presence of hormones such as testosterone may give stallions a thicker, "cre ...
. Further, if Hittite laws
The Hittite laws, also known as the Code of the Nesilim, constitute an ancient legal code dating from – 1500 BCE. They have been preserved on a number of Hittite cuneiform tablets found at Hattusa ( CTH 291–292, listing 200 laws). Copi ...
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 linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns and adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs. Suffixes can ca ...
in ''aśva-medhá'' could be related to the Old Indic
The Indo-Aryan languages, or sometimes Indic languages, are a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages in the Indo-European language family. As of 2024, there are more than 1.5 billion speakers, primarily concentrated east of the Indus river in Ban ...
word ''mad-'' ("boil, rejoice, get drunk"). Jaan Puhvel
Jaan Puhvel (born 24 January 1932) is an Estonians, Estonian comparative linguistics, comparative linguist and comparative mythologist who specializes in Indo-European studies.
Born in Estonia, Puhvel fled his country with his family in 1944 f ...
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
Ossetian ( , , ), commonly referred to as Ossetic and rarely as Ossete, is an Eastern Iranian language that is spoken predominantly in Ossetia, a region situated on both sides of the Russian-Georgian border in the Greater Caucasus region. ...
Nart saga
The Nart sagas (; ; ) are a series of tales originating from the North Caucasus. They form much of the basic mythology of the ethnic groups in the area, including Abazin, Abkhaz, Circassian, Ossetian, Karachay- Balkar, and to some extent C ...
, the sword of Batradz is dragged into the sea after his death, and the British King Arthur
According to legends, King Arthur (; ; ; ) was a king of Great Britain, Britain. He is a folk hero and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain.
In Wales, Welsh sources, Arthur is portrayed as a le ...
throws his legendary sword Excalibur
Excalibur is the mythical sword of King Arthur that may possess magical powers or be associated with the rightful sovereignty of Britain. Its first reliably datable appearance is found in Geoffrey of Monmouth's ''Historia Regum Britanniae''. E ...
back into the lake from which it initially came. The Indic Arjuna
Arjuna (, , Help:IPA/Sanskrit, �ɾd͡ʒun̪ə is one of the central characters of the ancient Hindu epic ''Mahabharata''. He is the third of the five Pandava brothers, and is widely regarded as the most important and renowned among them. ...
is also instructed to throw his bow Gandiva
Gandiva (IAST: Gāṇḍīva; ) is a divine bow of Arjuna, one of the Pandavas from the Hindu epic ''Mahabharata.'' The bow was made by Brahma.
Story of Creation
According to the Mahabharata, the legendary Gandiva bow was fashioned by Brahm ...
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
In Europe, the Iron Age is the last stage of the prehistoric Europe, prehistoric period and the first of the protohistory, protohistoric periods,The Junior Encyclopædia Britannica: A reference library of general knowledge. (1897). Chicago: E.G. ...
. Reflexes of an ancestral cult of the magical sword have been proposed in the legends of Excalibur and Durandal
Durendal, also spelled Durandal, is the sword of Roland, a legendary paladin and partially historical officer of Charlemagne in French epic literature. The sword is famous for its hardness and sharpness. Sources including '' La Chanson de Rolan ...
(the weapon of Roland
Roland (; ; or ''Rotholandus''; or ''Rolando''; died 15 August 778) was a Frankish military leader under Charlemagne who became one of the principal figures in the literary cycle known as the Matter of France. The historical Roland was mil ...
, said to have been forged by the mythical Wayland the Smith
In Germanic mythology, Wayland the Smith (; , ; Old Frisian: Wela(n)du; ; ; (); from ', lit. "crafting one") is a master blacksmith originating in Germanic heroic legend, described by Jessie Weston as "the weird and malicious craftsman, Wey ...
). Among North Iranians, Herodotus
Herodotus (; BC) was a Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus (now Bodrum, Turkey), under Persian control in the 5th century BC, and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria, Italy. He wrote the '' Histori ...
described the Scythian
The Scythians ( or ) or Scyths (, but note Scytho- () in composition) and sometimes also referred to as the Pontic Scythians, were an ancient Eastern Iranian equestrian nomadic people who had migrated during the 9th to 8th centuries BC fr ...
practice of worshiping swords as manifestations of "Ares" in the 5th century BC, and Ammianus Marcellinus
Ammianus Marcellinus, occasionally anglicized as Ammian ( Greek: Αμμιανός Μαρκελλίνος; born , died 400), was a Greek and Roman soldier and historian who wrote the penultimate major historical account surviving from antiquit ...
depicted the Alanic
Alanic is a sports and fitness clothing brand headquartered in North Hollywood, California, US. Alanic corporate offices are located at 1/49 Lemana lane, Sydney, Australia. It has been the official supplier of the Miami Marathon US, Vancouver ...
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
Prehistoric religion is the religious practice of prehistoric cultures. Prehistory, the period before written records, makes up the bulk of human experience; over 99% of human experience occurred during the Paleolithic period alone. Prehistoric ...
* Proto-Indo-European society
Proto-Indo-European society is the reconstructed culture of Proto-Indo-Europeans, the ancient speakers of the Proto-Indo-European language, ancestor of all modern Indo-European languages. Historical linguistics combined with archaeological and ...
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 storm deities and the dragon combat:
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; On the smith deity:
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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. .
; On fire worship:
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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