Re: [tied] Re: I, Hercules [was: A "Germanic" query]

From: Piotr Gasiorowski
Message: 12429
Date: 2002-02-22

Underlying "translatio Romana" was the belief that all religions and cults were au fond identical, so that it was natural and necessary to establish one-to-one correspondences between the gods _and_ mythological figures known to the Romans from their own cultural centre and whatever the Germani believed in. Those correspondences were typological (analogous), not historical (homologous) from our point of view, but the Romans took them seriously. I'm sure Tacitus really thought that Tiu, once an important war-god, was the Germanic name for Mars (or Ares), and that it was therefore legitimate to say that the Germani worshipped Mars. A bearded giant with a huge hammer or club, with which he killed evil mosters, protecting the order of the universe, was "obviously" Hercules/Herakles even if the Germani called him Thunar. The alternative identification with Jupiter (and Zeus) emphasised the association of Thunar and Jupiter with lightning. Show me one Germanic cultural hero named Eril/Erul/Erl. The word is a common noun or a tribal name. We would have derivatives instead ("Herculean(s)" rather than "Hercules") if an eponymous hero had come first.
 
Piotr
 
 
 
 
----- Original Message -----
From: tgpedersen
To: cybalist@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Friday, February 22, 2002 9:26 AM
Subject: [tied] Re: I, Hercules [was: A "Germanic" query]


What an excellent idea! No, but seriously, Hercules is not really a
god, but a cultural hero, therefore your criticism doesn't apply.