In a message dated 12/2/02 6:13:56 PM Pacific Standard Time,
jodan99@... writes:
<< All of them were tricksters,
Perhaps I am simply not informed sufficiently regarding Agni. In what
sense is he a trickster?
messengers,
and related to fire, helpers of mankind,
Most gods are helpers of mankind. How is Loki one?
rivals of Storm Gods; Agni and Loki were shape-shifting gods. I think the
role of Prometheus was superseeded by Hermes. >>
Loki and Prometheus were both unworshipped, and both outsiders to the
great gods. Agni, on the other hand, was of course worshipped intensely as
one of the highest of the gods. I am willing to admit the possibility of a
connection between the first two, but Agni does not seem to me to fit into
this pattern. At the very least, I find it hard to understand how a god of
fire could, in the IE world, be so "demoted" that he would become
unworshipped, be an outsider, and be so difficult to identify.
David Fickett-Wilbar