Re: why did romans and greeks have had the same gods?

--- In cybalist@..., "Alexander Stolbov" <astolbov@...> wrote:

> It seems to me that in some cases the similarity between Greek and

Roman gods can be caused by import in both pantheons from a third non-
Indo-European source.

>
> One of such examples can be the pair Herakles - Hercules.
> Greek Herakles is obviously a deity of non-Indo-European origin. He

must have been taken from Aegean substrate population (Pelasgians ?).

> Roman Hercules is a development of Etruscan Hercle. On the other

hand this Etruscan deity can't be deduced from Herakles as Hercle's
story has some original traits without direct Greek correspondences.

> In all probability there was a very ancient Near East deity whose

developments were Etruscan Hercle, Greek Herakles, Phoenician Melkart
(the King Kart?) and perhaps Sumerian Ningirsu (the Lord Girsu - a
hero defeated a terrible lion and a 7-headed hydra).
.

> It is interesting to compare Greek Hephaistos with Etruscan Velhans

(then Roman Vulcanus) .

> It is well known that the Middle Anatolian (Anatolian in

geographical, not linguistical sense!) folks had iron technology much
earlier than their neighbours. The term for iron in Hattic is hapalki
or hawalki, and the particle ha- is easily lost when Hattic words are
borrowed. Reflexes of this term are found in very many languages
(from Georgian to Chinese).

> Are such developments as
> hapalki - Hephaistos
> and
> (ha)walki - Velhans
> possible from the point of view of linguistics?
>
> Alexander

One story that comes to mind is when Roman Hercules did battle with a
fire breathing 3-headed giant/demon named Cacus that stole his
cattle. Cacus was said to live in a cave on the Aventine hill. I
believe that an Etruscan origin has been suggested, though I don't
think that's for certain. Cacus was considered a son of Vulcan,
interestingly enough.

There is another Etruscan deity who seems similar to Hephaestus,
Sethlans. I haven't had much luck finding out information about him,
though. I find Hephaestus especially interesting with regard to the
Etruscans because of his connection with Lemnos.

Cort Williams