Re: Athena, Tritos and the painfully obvious origins of IndoEuropean

Welcome back Glen, missed your ascerbic.... I was going to say
"wit".... hmmm

To my

> >(The war between rival families of the Gods
> >may be an old IE myth projected upon subject peoples in different
> >localities)

Glen wrote

> Of course it's an old IE myth! Does Norse "Ragnarok" ring a bell?

In fact in Norse mythology there were tow wars between the Gods.
Aesir versus Vanir (stalemate and compromise), and then the last hum
dinger. Ragnarok, with the revolt of the Midgard Serpent, Loki and
Fenriswulf however are not found anywhere except in Iceland, and the
Weidenfeld and Nicholson Library on Religion and Mythology suggest
that there may be apocalyptic Christian (Irish) influences here too.

> For that matter, the very IndoEuropean story of Ragnarok somewhat
> parallels biblical stories (enriched with _Semitic_ content, mind
> you) found in Revelation. I wouldn't say I'm awfully religious but

I

> do recall there being a final clash between angels and demons, led
> respectively by Yahweh and Satan. Gee, I wonder what Yahweh and
> Satan might parallel in IE myth... Could it be
> something like Poseidon and Zeus, per se? Could the angels and
> demons be replaced by the Aesir and the Vanir? Neah. Maybe I'm just
> dreaming. Cain and Abel as the Horse twins? Is the Tree of

Knowledge

> of Good and Bad just for decoration or does it hold up the sky as
> part of an original creation myth?

Glen, I was of the belief that Revelations was in the new testament,
produced during the Roman Empire. Another case of your famous time
travel. As for the Sacred Tree, I suggest you check-out Joseph
Campbell's comparative mythology. The "Tree of Knowledge", the "Tree
of Life" or "the World Tree" is found widespread in mythologies as
far
apart as the Mayan Popul Vuh, on Japanese Mount Meru, the Cambodian
Phnon Penh (Sacred Mountain), The Sumerian "Huluppu Tree", and old
Yggdrasil itself. It is even found in Maori myth. So much for
Semitish influence there.

Glen wrote

> Why would Semitic mythology, the European Goddess and steppe-based
> myth blend in such a scrumptious manner? Hmmm....

Book of Revelations is not accepted as Early Semitic. It was written
on the Isle of Patmos and contains references to the Seven Hills of
Rome. Appocalyptic and Millennarian literature is found in many
cultures at many times and places. For one of the best studies see
"The Trumpet Shall Sound" by Peter Worsley on the Cargo Cults of
Melanesia, or try "The Persuit of the Millennium" by Norman Cohn of
the religious ecstatics of the Middle Ages. Such battlefield imagery
of te "last days" is always found in situations of culture conflict
and dispossession. Look at the North American Indian Ghost Dance for
instance.

> It's very hard to obtain Semitic elements into IE mythos without

the

> help of an Anatolian-derived culture/language like "Semitish",

isn't

> it? Of course it is.

Only if you do violence to evidence by linking Christian myth of a
Second Coming, Maccabbean eschatology in Selucid times, and argue
that
nothing changed in 5,000 years!

Glen concluded

> Don't respond just yet, John. There's another message for you

coming

> up regarding IE origins.

Couldn't help it. Sorry :-(

John