Mark wrote
> So. What did our PIE-speaking linguistic forefathers actually
believe? Probably something one bump above animism, something
resembling Uralic/American Indian shamanism (polydaemonism), with
thoughts towards distinct 'powers' that lead to a primitive
polytheism, but only the priestly caste thought of such things. It's
when they conquered priestesses into murdering the holy king that
their ideas grew.
I would agree strongly with Marks post. The assignment of gender to
the numinous is something that came first in the Middle East (the
great goddess and her consort) with the first phase of the neolithic
revolution. Shamans of the steppes and forests came in touch with
this tendency progressively over time. You can see the effects
within Uralic. Finno-Ugric has the most well developed
anthropomorphic divinity set, Samoyeds less so and Yukaghir are not
at all anthropomorphic.
There is an equivalent evolution of priests out of shamans. Thus,
for example, with Sumerian we find the name for priest seems to be
related to the name "female snake charmer" - giving us an
understanding of the shamanic origins of the title. Similar with the
mystery of Eleusis, there are many shamaic features associated, and
with the Pythoness at Pelphi (again an association with snakes).
These go back to Mycenaean times (witness the statues of "godesses,
priestesses?" holding vipers in each hand.)
Regards
John