Re: Odin again?

--- In cybalist@..., "Christopher Gwinn" <sonno3@...> wrote:

>
> > The similarities between the Norse and Zoroastrian mythologies

are

> > striking......................
> <snip>
> > .......There is nothing so plainly similar in Russian, Greek,
> > Hittite, or any other mythology as far as I have found (yes, I

know

> > of the Hindu Yama, etc).
>
>
> This is either due to 1) common Proto Indo European heritage and

the

> rather conservative nature of Germanic religion, 2) close contact
> between Eastern Iranians and early Germans or 3) a little of both.
>

It seems that the Slavs should have more similarities than they do,
as well as the Celts. Speculating on the Gundestrap cauldron, it
appears to me that it includes many images that can relate to the
Germano-Persian mythology. Could it be that this mythology was
brought to the north by the Cimmerians, Celticized as the Cimbri who
in turn diffused this mythology to the early Germans?

>
>
> > The Zoroastrian cosmic ocean goddess Anahita seems similar in

name

> > and character with the Irish goddess Aine/Anu (details later).
> > Scholars believe that Aine was synonymous with Danu. I believe

that

> > the Norse goddess Idun has some similarities in myth with Danu

and

> > Anahita, namely that her apples of immortality parallel the Haoma
> > that grew on Anahita's Otherworld paradise (i.e. the Garden of
> Eden).
> > I suspect, however, that our linguistic experts would discount

the

> > name similarity as being superficial at best.
>
> Yes, very superficial. The Irish name Anu is probably the same as

the

> Brittonic river name Anauia "Annan" (with an ethnic name based on

the

> genitive, Anauiones)

Where was this river and what is it called today?

As you know, every river had an eponymous goddess in Celtic Europe.
Some of these are synonymous with greater goddesses, not the least of
which was the goddess(es) of the Danube, Don, Dniestr, Duina, etc.
that recall the pan-IE cosmic ocean goddess found as Don in Wales,
Danu in India, and Danu (reconstructed from the goddess of the
Dananns, I take it) in Ireland.

I'm still intrigued by this Tanais alternate name for Anahita. I am
inclined to believe that this Persian cosmic ocean goddess was the
eponymous goddess of the river Tanais, and that she was synonymous
with the 'Don' goddesses of the IE peoples. BTW, she was also called
Tanata, which seems similar to the Carthaginian goddess Tanit.

The same situation is found in Russia, for instance, where in one
myth the primordial cosmic ocean goddess is Ros/Rozd - the same name
as a river.

and the genitive form Donand seems to come from

> a Proto Irish *Danuionas, which may be related to the Latinized
> Gaulish rivername Danuuius "Danube" and the Welsh rivername Donwy
> (Danu is a reconstructed form - we don't actually have it attested

in

> Old Irish). I don't think that Anahita is related to Anu/Anauia,

nor

> Idun to *Danu/Danuuius
>

Also, Anahita was called Anaea and had the epithet Ardvi
(Immaculate), which name is similar to the Gaulish goddess Arduinna
('the highest one'?).