Re: [tied] PIE theogony

From: Glen Gordon
Message: 4021
Date: 2000-09-23

Joao
> When I say couple I'm not necessarily saying they had a husband-wife
>relation. I'm just saying that these two appear in many IE theogonies,
>although in Persia we have a bull instead of a cow.

Well, technically I don't mean a "husband-wife" combo either. Is there any
myths you know of where Hera-Juno does a fling? It just seems strange that
she was queen of the gods as well as humans, helping woman at childbirth and
a symbol of motherhood as well as destructive jealousy, etc. Why would she
be so connected with human beings and motherhood?

A bull for the goddess, eh? That sounds "European".

Joao:
>The 7 biblical days in PIE theogony?

Right, but the 7 days of the Bible, of course, are also present in
SumeroAkkadian mythology as well.

>The idea of sky-nymphs and water nymphs it's seducing... I think IE >had a
>sort of antithetical beings, represented by a class of sylphides >or white
>elves, aerial sprites (cf. Ljosalfar, yakshasas, kinnaras) >and a class of
>underground sprites or dark elves (cf. Svartalfar, >subterraneous nagas).

Aah, bit by bit this starts to make more sense. Now what is the difference
between sprites/elves and nymphs here? Could they have originally been the
same group of beings in IE myth? Wouldn't that be a simpler theory?

Secondly, I can see how this myth could evolve and complicate itself by
adding two new deities, "Lord of Nebhoses" (a "light" god) and "Lord of
Wedrax" (a "dark" god) replacing parts of *Nepo:t's and *Wa:tnos' original
functions. The colour association is not IndoEuropean and so would seem to
me a later development.

>Maybe water-nymphs linked to the Great Serpent-River that surrrounds >the
>Worls (cf Joermungandr & ..., Okeanos & Okeanides, Shesha & >nagas ).

Seems right. Come to think of it, Okeanos in this sense couldn't be *Da:nu
like I had said earlier. He'd have aspects of *Nepo:t.

>Well, Vanir were accepted by the Aesir. This is surely right. In >Ireland,
>Tuatha de Danaan & Fir Bolg fight first, became friends and >after these
>pact fight the Fomoires. In Roma, romans and sabins do the >same and fought
>the etrusques.

If we are speaking of the Aesir and the Vanir as *Xensu, beings of the
Overworld, and *Wenu, beings of the Underworld, of course I have to agree
that for the most part they got along since you can't have a cosmos without
either an Overworld or Underworld, so to speak. They would fight however
during the Renewal (Apocalypse).

Whoa! Just had a flash of inspiration, good ol' iced coffee kickin' in. :) I
just realized that the battle tales between different classes of gods that
keep recurring in Greek-Roman myth are a rehashing of the IE Renewal tale,
being duplicated over and over in order to tell successive stories of
"renewal", _generational_ renewal where one generation deposes the next.
That would explain the war with the Titans, duh! Why didn't I realise this
before?? And the final Renewal, "Ragnarok", is simply an extension of this
pattern. Hmm, this is alot like Mayan myth (We are under the Fifth Sun, I
think).

>Definitely, I we have differents opinions about the Twins.

Okay, you said that the Twins had "Vanir-like" qualities. Name them.

- gLeN

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