David:
>I don't believe he is the victim of the first "sin." Rather, he is the
>victim of the first sacrifice.
I couldn't possibly believe that sacrifice didn't happen. Afterall,
the whole horns and double-axe imagery appears to me to be implying
prehistoric sacrifice ritual involving an animal of some kind, let
alone the countless IE myths that seem to tie together to imply the
same. The question, however, is what is the purpose behind the story
of the rivalling brothers?
Sacrifice would not be considered a sin, no, since this is an act to
worship your deities and give back what is taken from you. However,
I can't help thinking that the Labours of Hercules and the story of
a warrior slaying a dragon to regain his stolen crops is tied in with
this.
With Hercules, Hera punishes him but the reasons behind why she does
this basically involve empty jealousy. The fact that Zeus was being
a horndog sleeping around with women that he shouldn't have is the
cause of this. I then see a connection with the serpent-slaying as
one of these labours that an original "hero", the first man, must
perform. The interesting thing about heroes in these legends is that
they often seem to glorify a "handicap" hero. Hercules, for example,
is only _half_ god.
I feel that the "human handicap" as it were (or rather "mortality")
is the main punishment for the sin of killing one's brother. A Hera-like
character representing "justice" would have carried out the punishment
of mortality and the labours to endure (aka "community service") that were
decided upon by *Dye:us, representing the other side of the coin, "law".
By undergoing these labours, even a murderer, a person like that of the
wolf, can redeem themselves. Few cultures would condone the killing of
one's own blood, even for ritualistic purposes. Even in the Bible, we
have Cain and Abel which demonstrate the duelling brother theme nicely.
Here, there is no redemption and Cain is banished forever because this
is the particular morality of the culture behind this version of the
tale.
So such a tale would speak of the origin of "man", the reasons behind
"mortality", the crime of jealousy and murder, and finally the basic law
of redemption, all in one blow. Not bad, hunh?
- gLeN
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