Light Toward Distant Asterisks

Light from Distant Asterisks.
Towards a Description of the Indo-European Religious Heritage

Author(s): Peter Jackson
Source: Numen, Vol. 49, Fasc. 1 (2002), pp. 61-102
Published by: BRILL
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LIGHT FROM DISTANT ASTERISKS
TOWARDSA DESCRIPTION OF THE INDO-EUROPEAN
RELIGIOUS HERITAGE'
PETER JACKSON
Summary
An attempt is madeto summarize and synthesizenew and old evidenceregard-
ingthereligiousheritageamongpeoplesspeakingIndo-European languagesin pre-
Christianand pre-IslamicEurasia.Initialstressis puton themethodological, theo-
reticaland ideologicalproblemsof suchan undertaking. The restof thepaperdis-
cusses how thetransmission of heritagewas conceptualized (withexamplesfrom
Vedic and Greekliterature),to whatextentwe are able to discerntheoutlinesof
an Indo-European pantheon, thepossibilityof tracingtherealizationsof hereditary,
mythical motifsin theoldestIndo-European andtheprospects
literatures, fora com-
parativeIndo-European ritualistics.
1. Introduction
Historiansofreligionshaveusedtheterm"Indo-European" in dis-
cussionsof sharedfeatures whicharenottheresultofloanor univer-
salia in theindigenous religionsof peoplesspeakingIndo-European
languagesinpre-Christian andpre-Islamic Eurasia.Despitetheimpor-
tanceofsuchundertakings in theearlyhistory ofourdiscipline, noth-
ing is takenforgrantedas to thiscategory anylonger.Although Vedism
and classicalHinduismstillholdan important positionin contempo-
raryresearch, as do thereligions of ancientGreece and Rome-both
as fociofstudyintheirownrightandas a terminological reservoirstill
in use byall studentsofreligion-thesharedfeatures rendering these
religions "Indo-European" remain a controversial
issue.There are his-
1 The
embryoof thisarticlewas presentedat the IAHR congressin Durban,
August2000.I amindebted
toProfessorNorbert
Oettinger attheFriedrich-Alexander-
foroffering
Erlangen-Niirnberg,
University, muchthoughtful on thearticle.
criticism
BrillNV,Leiden(2002)
@ Koninklijke NUMEN,Vol.49

62 PeterJackson
toricalas wellas methodological reasonsforthisscepticism. Without

theanthropologically oriented
rejection ofMax Miiller'scomparative
mythology duringthelate 19thcentury, thestudyof religionswould
notbe whatitis today.Withsomejustification, manyscholarsstillas-
sociatethestudyof Indo-European religionseitherwithfar-fetched
comparativism (sometimes with an unmistakable politicalbias2) or
withseclusiveantiquarianism, lackingexplanatory valuein thestudy
of livingorhistorically
documented I willendeavour
religions. to ad-
just thispictureby presentingsome traits
of cultural inheritancethat
appeartobe less questionable.Thatis notto saythatwe willbe deal-
ing with "hard but
facts," atleastwitha bodyoffalsifiable assumptions
whichdeserveseriousconsideration. Thedescription is partly
designed
to serveas an introductionto thestudyof Indo-European religions,
partlytoencouragereconsideration amongscholarswhohaverejected
thisapproachas an impossibleor dangeroustask.In doingso, I also
hopeto showthatthetraitsofreligiousheritage in theIndo-European
2 As Bruce Lincoln demonstrates in his recentbook Theorizing

convincingly
Myth:Narrative, Ideologyand Scholarship (1999), thestudyofIndo-European myth
has been (and to some extentstillis) closelyassociatedwitha searchforperfect
centresand uncorrupted culturalidentitiesengendered by the nationalistprojects
of post-Enlightenment Europe. This discoursefound its modem articulationamong
philologists,philosophers, folkloristsand artistssuch as WilliamJones,Johann
Gottfried Herder,theGrimmbrothers and RichardWagner, butmaybe tracedback
to medievalscholarssuchas GiraldusCambriensis andSnorriSturluson, all ofwhom
hadmoreinmindthanmereantiquarianism. Lincolninsiststhatthestudyofmyth has
itsownmythic potentials,bymeansofwhichsomeofthemostinfluential theoriesof
mythmaybe approached as myths themselves,as "ideologyinnarrativeform." I may
be heldguiltyof participating (albeitunconsciously) in thediscoursedeconstructed
by Lincoln,butstillentertain thehopethatideology,understood as pretext,prologue
or decoding,does notnecessarily infectthebodyof data collected.Thatis to say
thattheideologicaldimensions of scholarshipdo notruleoutitsheuristic potentials.
I also assumethatthe"genealogyof discourse"as pursuedby Lincolnhimselfneed
notbe essentially differentfroma studyof theIndo-European religiousheritage.In
bothcases,recurrent motifs aretracedthrough theirdifferent
elaborationsin timeand
space,notbeingtakenas theresultofimaginative universals,butas partsofthesame
trajectory(cf.Lincoln 1999:210).

Lightfromdistantasterisks 63
corpusprovokemethodological and theoretical considerations which

arerelevantto thestudyofreligiouspersistence andtraditionalism al-
together.
Few woulddenytheaccuracyofthecomparative method as pursued
in historicallinguistics.The methodallows students of languageto
compareand describethe development of linguisticitemsin any
languagefamily on the basis of regular sound shifts.Yetitis sometimes
forgottenthatthesame methodhas rendered possiblea comparative
pragmatics,particularly regards studyof metricsand poetic
as the
phraseology. On the basis of such comparisons, it seems obvious
thattheoldestIndo-European languageswerenotmereadstrataor
superstrataamong the peoples speakingthem,because if the only
connectionbetweenthesepeopleswereof a linguisticnature,they
wouldnotcomposepoetryaccordingto similaraestheticprinciples,
norwouldtheyadoptthesameformulas in legalprocessesor address
the same gods in theirprayers.The commonreligiousvocabulary
(includingpriestly titles,religiousconceptsand namesof gods) was
nota matterof loan,because it cannotbe distinguished fromother
vocabulariesin termsof linguistic development. Scepticismis more
motivatedwhenitcomestocomparing ritualsormythical motifswhere
suchsharedlinguistic traitsarenotextant.A thematic similaritymay
be striking
enough, but should not be takenas a of
proof heredity unless
the notionof secondarycreationor loan appearsless convincing.
In rarecases, formalregularities may be due to chance as well,
becausethepronouncement of globallyattested notionsor "floaters"
in languagesbelongingto thesame familyinvitesthepossibility of
coincidence.3 To avoid such evidence
pitfalls, must be based on the
singulardetail, be it a matter of formulaics, peculiarities
stylistic or
3 Some notableexampleswere collectedin Schulze 1968 [1921]:34f.Having

pointedtotheaccidental
coincidenceofLatinandLithuanian clausesintheLithuanian
of theNew Testament,
translation istes Zufall,dersolche
he concluded:"Natiirlich
istan ihnennurderlexikalische
Reihenbildet:altererbt Rohstoff, nichtseinesinnvolle
Verkniipfung.Aberes bleibtdochwohlftir Spiele des Zufallsdas Material
derartige
so bequembereitstellt."

64 PeterJackson
instancesof obsolescence.A comparison mayin factbe particularly

promising if thecomparandahave been subjectedto decoding,by
meansofwhichthethematic subtextshavedrifted apart,onlyleaving
theformalsurfaceintact.
This procedureis demonstrated by CalvertWatkinsin a recent
study(Watkins1995), half of which is devotedto the formaland
semanticmodulations oftheIndo-European dragon-slaying myth. By
proceeding from thebasic formula HERO SLAY (*gwhen-)DRAGON,
Watkinsshows thatthis quasi-universal motifhad a recognizable
Indo-European realization (withmarkedwordorderandvocabulary).
These featureshave renderedit possible to studyhow the motif
driftsbetweendifferent genres(fromthemythsof HittiteIlluyanka'
and Indo-Iranian *urtrato theRomanludisaecularesand Old High
Germanspells) withoutloosingits originalqualities.In the mid-
seventies, thesamescholaroffered another interestingcontributionto
thestudyof Indo-European mythical phraseology, "La familleindo-
de
europeenne grec5px'<g" (1975). The articlewas important inmany
respects,not leastbecause it confirmed thatIndo-European poetics
be
may pursuedbeyond the sentence level.This was donebyfocusing
multipartite metaphors or verbalcollocationswithemphasison the
preservation ofmarkedvocabulary andrecognizable features.
stylistic
The undertaking shouldnotbe confusedwiththesearchforrecurrent
mythical themes,because it is preciselynot theattention drawnto
thematic deep-structures, butrather to formulaic artifacts
undergoing
change and dissolution in different texts,during differentperiodsand
in different societies,thatmakesWatkins'studyso important forthe
of
understandingmyth. Those objecting poeticlanguage justthe
that is
arbitrarymediumof mythshouldfinditdifficult to demonstrate how
in
themyths VedicIndiaor Greecewerejust floating aroundundera
screenof rigidstylistic criteria, thattheywereelaborations of blunt
andamorphous narratives existing outsidetheframesofritualor epic
performance. The insistence on form intraditional mythopoeia cannot
be refuted unlesstheepistemological problemsraisedby thenotion
of a pureplot,thedictionor performance of whichis irrelevant or
circumstantial, havebeen solved.

2. Heritageas footprint
Beforeturning to thedescription ofthereligiousheritage we must

also considerhow its transmission was conceptualized.Instances
in the orallytransmitted
of poetic self-reflexivity poetryof Vedic
India offerinterestinginsightsin thisrespect.Theymayhelpus to
explainthemutually diverseandconsistent characterofthesurviving
materials.Metaphoric references tothepoet'staskandthecharacter of
poeticspeechwerenotonlyanother meansofexpressing one's genius
suchmetaphors
andversatility; werealsomodesofinference regarding
alreadyestablishedritualconventions, thepreferredbasisofwhichwas
observationsmadein dailylife.As demonstrated in a recentstudyby
GeorgeThompson,an important focusof Vedicritualhermeneutics
was theobservation that,just as humansand animalsmaybe traced
the
through footprints theyleaveontheground, thegodsmaybe traced
through thefootprintstheyleftin theverbalandkineticprecedents of
memorized ritual.Hencethepoetwas heldto be a padajiidor "track-
seeker."Accordingto thecompetitive traditionof Vedicpoetry, the
footprint a
orpadd was regardedas hiddenmessage to be deposited
in thepoem.4The constraints of formand thefreedom of innovation
wereperfectly balancedby theVedicpoets,who explicitly confirm
thattheybelongto a particular traditionor "decoratesongsaidedbya
former expression ofthought" (RV 8,6,11).A similarnotionis found
in Pindar,whoclaimsthat"theolderpoetsfounda highway of song"
intheepicdeedsofthepast,andthathe willfollowalong,makingthis
highway his"ownconcern"(a'TOc6g... ILChTcaLv) (Nem.6.53-54).
These independent voices of thepastconfirm thatthe studentof
Indo-European mythis not facingdivergent manuscripts reflecting
a textualarchetype, but ratherthe local variability of competing
mythical motifstransmitted orally.Whilemanuscripts aretranscribed
without any active involvement of the scribeas to their content,the
oral poet has to applythe same hereditary conventions in different
ritualcontexts,meetchangingsocial expectations and strivetowards
4 Thompson1995:94.

66 PeterJackson
Eventhough
originality. thepoetrywastraditional initsessence,itwas
constantly in themaking.Recentanthropological researchsuggests
thatthe veracityof tradition does not lie in its abilityto encode
semanticmemorydata, but in its abilityto storeeventsas such.5
This circumstance has also renderedtraditionsparticularly effective
meansofmanipulation andpersuasion, becausetheymaybe decoded
without losingtheirveracity,nourished
bytheforcestillholdingthem
incommontrust: thegivenness ofthepast.6SincetheVedicconception
of open-ended"footprints" or "verbalprecedents" is seen to fitthe
muchmorerecentattempts totheorize
thenatureoforallytransmitted
theprospect
traditions, ofsuccessfullyapplying thisperspective tothe
datatobe presented hereseemsall themorepromising.
3. Fragments
ofan Indo-European
pantheon
3.1. The Giitterfamilie
Amongstthe moreconvincing evidencefora rudimentary Indo-
is a
Europeanreligiousheritage group of deitieswhose names have
a plausibleIndo-European etymology and whose positionsin the
individualpantheonsare comparable.The genealogicalstructure is
indicatedby complementary epithetssuch as "father,"
"daughter,"
"son,"and "grandson," butthe members also communicate bymeans
The basic reflexesare foundin the Vedic
of othercharacteristics.
hymns, Greek epic andtheLatvianDainas. Bydrawing onandslightly
modifyingearlierattempts to interpret
itsstructure,7
I suggestthatthe
familyhad the followingstructure:
F: *dieusph2terI M: *diuoneh2
D: *diu6sdhugh2ter= *h2euso3s
S 1: *diu6sputl6s=
5Boyer1991:42.
6 Shils 1981:195.
7 Cf. Euler 1986, and Dunkel 1988-1990. Dunkel introduced the notionof a
"HeavenlySpouse" (see below) as an alternativeto the oftenpostulated"Mother
but
Earth," regarded*perkWah3nos as an originalepithet *dieus.In thecase of
of
*uorunoshe also arguedforan old epithet of *dieus.I prefer
a different
modelsince
thepartialmerger ofthesedeitiesis onlydiscernible in Greekmyth.

[+ W] SS2: *diu6snepothle/*diu6s
*perkwth3nos suHnuii
[+ *seh2ueliosio
dhugh2tir]
F: FatherHeavenI M: SpouseofHeaven
D: Heaven'sdaughter= Dawn S1: Heaven'sson=
Oak-god[+ W] SS2: Heaven'sgrandsons/sons
(theDioscuri)
[+ Sun'sdaughter]
(F = father,
M = mother, S = son,
D = daughter,
SS = sons,W = wife.)
To thissetshouldbe addedanother, onlyvaguelydiscerniblesolar

the
family, female member of which becomes
(Sun's daughter) the
brideor companionof theDivine Twins.The head of thisfamily,
was perhapsperceivedas thesonof *dieus(see below):
*seh2uelios,
I M?
F: *seh2uelios
D *seh2ueliosio [+ *diu6sndpothle/*diu6s
dhugh2ter suHniu]
F: Sun-godIM ?
D: Sungod's daughter[+ Heaven'sgrandsons/sons]
Some further deitiesor semi-deities,
whichdo notfitintothisfam-
ily,havebeen identified
as Indo-European. Whenmakingsuchclaims,
one shouldalso lookforcomplementary in ordertoex-
characteristics
cludesecondary creation.By wayofexample,thepossibleGreekand
VedicnamesakesHelen and Saranyii(*seleneh2(or *sueleneh2)and
*seleniuh2) aremutually associatedwiththeDivineTwins,sonsofthe
sky-god *dieus. Furthermore, thetwomajorcontinuators of *dieus,
Zeus and Dyaus,are bothevokedas "father(and) creator"(*ph2te r
*genh ltr). In suchcases,theparallelism is simplytoo strikingto be
coincidental.Whatremainsproblematic is thefactthata divinename
in one corpusmayappearas an epithetor attribute in another. This
problemwillnotbe further discussedinthisstudy,butshouldbe borne
inmindwhenever a divinenameis reconstructed.

68 PeterJackson
3.2. A noteon Dumezil
Manymodernstudents of Indo-European religionshave regarded

linguisticapproachesas misleadingor superficial, notbecausethey
distrust theetymological method,butbecausetheyassumethatthe
real constantsof religiousheritagehave been subjectedto linguis-
tic overlap.Leaningon thetheoriesdevelopedby GeorgesDumezil,
theyarrangethegods of individual pantheons in accordancewithan
implicitternary structure reflected in themythology, social organiza-
tion,medicine, canonical etc.
lists, of differentIndo-European peoples:
1) bifocalsovereignty, consisting ofa) an esotericandmalevolent as-
pect and a
b) political and benevolent aspect;2) physicalforce,espe-
ciallywarfare; 3) fertility,especiallyrichnessand health.Since they
are basedon deep-seatedideologicalstructures ratherthanlinguistic
evidence,8 Dum6zil'sconclusions areextremely difficult
tofalsify.Al-
though it is to
justified separate divine names from functional con-
stants, thisdoes notrender thelinguistic evidenceless interesting,nor
shouldtherelativization offunction in divineonomastics inciteus to
look forsuchconstants elsewhere.If thesemanticambiguity of her-
itagehas turned traditions intoidealmeansofpersuasion and manip-
ulation,theassumption thattherewas an Indo-European ideology(an
Indo-European modeofanalysis)resultsin an unsatisfactory circular-
ity,because if the mode of analysis as well as its of
point departure
was hereditary thereis nothing to explainwhychangeshaveoccurred
at all. The structural affinities observedby Dumezilshouldperhaps
notbe reducedtoa scholarly illusion.Yetitseemsmorefavourable to
approach them as independent elaborations of heritage emerging from
similarhistorical circumstances.
Even thoughthereis nothingto preventus fromimagininga
prehistoric prototype underlying some of the divinelists or pairs
in
analysed the worksof Dum6zil-for examplethe gods of the
8 Ironicallyenough,beforegivingup theetymological
methodin favourof the
searchforfunctional matches, Dum6zil made a number of misguidedequations
(flamen/brahmdn, gandharvd-/K vrtvpot)whichseemtohave playeda decisiverole
inthedevelopment ofhisnewmethod.

Suppiluliuma/Mattiuaza treaty(Mi-it-ra-as-Si-il,
A-ru-ua-na-aS-Si-il,
In-da-ra, or
Na-sa-at-ti-ia-an-na) theVedic pairMitra-Varunaandthe
complementary Scandinaviangods Tyrand 60inn (Proto-Germanic
*Tiwaz and *W60anaz)-we do nothaveto assumethatthisproto-
typereflected thesamemodeof analysisin all itshistorical
manifes-
tations.WhileMitrapersonified thecontract the
among Indo-Iranians,
*Tiwazwas rather perceivedas a god of waramongtheearliestGer-
manictribes.Nevertheless,thesupposition that*Tiwazformed a pair
with*W60anazremainsattractive. Thereis morethanstructuralco-
occurrence to suggestthatVarunaand *W60anazdevelopedfromthe
same prototype, forwhichsee below.By combining thesepairsand
balancing theirnames withIndo-European divine
onomastics(*Tiwaz
< *dieus, Varuna < *uorunos),supposing thatMitra and *Wo6anaz
weresecondary creationsamongtheIndo-Iranian andGermanicpeo-
the
ples respectively, resultis a divinepairpersonifyingthediurnal
andnocturnal aspectsofthesky,*dieusand *uorunos.Thisconnota-
tionsurvivedas a fossilin Greekepic (see below) and in theVedic
hymns,9 forwhichsee, in particular,Atharvaveda-Paippalada(AVP)
2,65,
lab(c):
brhatte varcahprathathdm upa dydmI mitrebhya
edhisurabhissuvarcdhadhi
teraja varunobravttu
I tasmau havisabhdgadhaasah ...
tvam.
Wideshallyoursplendour spreadtothesky/Dyaus
(dydm)be yougood-smelling
and good-shining
to thefriends kingVarunashallsayto you:
(mitrebhya),
therefore
beyouwiththesacrifice
a provider
ofprosperity
...
As regardsthe second function(physicalforce)as personified
in Vedic and Germanicreligionby Indra and *Iunraz according
to Dum6zil,it would likewisebe possibleto postulatea common
prototypebehinditslocalcontinuators.
Godsofthunder andopponents
ofa cosmicserpentcomprisingthewaters ofheaven or the
surrounding
ocean,theybothsharedimportant featureswitha less dominantfigure
in thetwo traditions, (Old
*perkWtih3nos Norse Fjorgynn Vedic
and
Parjanya[see below]).This god had a femalecounterpart identified
92,1,7(cf.Dumrzil1948:90f.);forotherpassagesinAVPsee 72,2; 80,2.

70 PeterJackson
withtheearth,perceivedas his bridein Vedicioand his motherin

Germanic(Fjorgyn= "P6rr'smother" or "Earth").The BalkanSlavs
celebratedhim(Peruna)and his femalecounterpart (*Perperuna) in
ritualcalls forvitalrain,duringwhichthefemalewas represented
by a virginwhohad notyethad herfirstmonthly period.11 The last
detailis important, becausetheearthis referred to as "menstruating"
(rtviydvati) in a Vedic to
hymn Parjanya(AVP 2,70,2). Although
associatedwithheavenly violence,*perkw'th3nos seemsboundupwith
ratherthanwithmilitary
fertility force.Whenregarding thekilling
of a giantserpent as theemblematic deed of an archetypical warrior,
one shouldalso bearin mindthatthemostfamiliar instancesof such
motifsoccurin fairy-tales and heroicepic, in whichtheagentsare
humans, heroes or semi-deities operatingin a historicalor quasi-
historicallandscape.
The thirdfunction in thestructure postulated byDum6zilhad sev-
eraldifferent manifestations in theindividual cultures. If we consider
the Mitanniantreatymentionedabove, however,thispositionwas
takenup bytheDivineTwins,realizedin Vedicas theNasatya("Res-
cuers"[cf.Gr.owrtlpEg]),Advina("Horsemen"[cf.Gr.EitJtot]) or
Div6 naipata ("grandsons ofDyaus" [cf.Gr.At6gKoIJpot]). The most
persistent features of these figures were not theirassociation withfer-
buttheirsoteriological
tility, (particularlyas patronsof seafarers and
rescuersofshipwrecked mortals)as wellas eroticandnuptialaspects.
By payingparticular attention to itsVedicrealization, theternary
structure underlying thelistofgodsintheMitannian treaty couldthus
correspond tothefollowing prototype:
la. *dieusA b. *uorunos

2. *perkwah3nos = *diu6sputl6s
e
3. *diu6snepothl
0oAVP2,63,3;70,2;AV 12,1,12.
11Jakobson1985a:21.

If thereis any logic to thisstructure,

it does not bringto mind
thefunctional stratadiscussedby Dum6zil:"sovereignty" mayseem
a fittinglabel for the firststratum, belongsto the
but "fertility"
secondrather thanto thethird.12On theotherhand,thehypothetical
structurereflectsa mutualgenealogicalandspatialcontinuity:1) Two
complementary deities the
personifying diurnal and nocturnalsky;
2) an atmospheric deityperceivedas theson of thediurnalsky;and
3) the Divine Twins,grandsonsof the diurnalsky,activeon sea.
Although purelyhypothetical, themerepossibility
ofsucha prototype
suggests that the instead
idjologie tripartite, of beinghereditaryin
itself,was nothing buta characteristicmodeof decodinga common
heritageresulting fromsimilarsocialandeconomicconditions.
3.3. The individual
gods
Without claimingexhaustiveness, I presentherethemajormembers
of thepantheon bypointing to some salient
features.The description
mayappearsomewhat stiff
to readersacquaintedwiththehistorically
attestedreligionsfromwhichthematerialsweredrawn.As pointed
out above,however, I have onlyintendedto sketchtheoutlinesof a
heritage. meansthatI havetriedtoleaveas muchspaceas possible
This
forthedynamics ofindividualcultures intheirsocio-political
diversity.
Forthepurposeofmakingthepresentation moreaccessible,technical
detailsconcerning etymology and textualcriticismare foundin the
footnotes.
a. *dieus
He dwelled in the backgroundof more activegods described
as his descendants.He "smiled(*smei-)through the clouds" (RV
2,4,6d),13a he
feature may have sharedwithhis children*h2eusos
and *perkWiah3nos.
Vedic,Iranian,GreekandperhapsRomandataat-
testthathe was addressedas *ph2ter*genh
ltor,"father
(and) procre-
12Justas it was supposedto haveservedas a

processof "glissement" amongthe
Germanic peoples See Dum6zil 1977:189and BernfriedSchlerath'scritical
approach
to themodel(1996:51).
13DiscussioninDunkel1988-1990:9.

72 PeterJackson
ator."14He personified thediurnalskyand was possiblyperceivedas

a benevolent counterpart ofthenocturnal *uorunos.Greekdataattest
thatZeus bringson theday in contrastto Uranos
(*ltap idyyov1'5)
whobringson thenight Hes. Th. 176),indicatingthat
(v3ict'tdaywv,
thetwogodswereonceregarded as complementary. A similarsymbol-
ismis wellattested as regardsMitraandVarunain Vedic(see above).
In hisroleas a distantfather andcreator, recallingthetypicalfeatures
of a deus otiosus,VedicDyaus mayin factexhibitoldercharacteris-
ticsthanthoseof GreekZeus or RomanJupiter. Thesehavemorein
commonwith*perkWtih3nos. If alreadyfunctionally weakat an early
the
date, Indo-European sky-god could easilyhave been subjectedto
amalgamation in Greeceand Rome (cf. in particular Zeus Keraunos
and JupiterTonans).16Nevertheless, theinactivityof VedicDyaus in
his capacityas a typicaldeus otiosusshouldnotbe exaggerated. Ex-
ceptforhis matingwithPrthivi ("Earth")(referred to byJaanPuhvel
14Schmitt
(1967:?291)foundanextended variant
oftheformula *ph2ter*genhl t5r
in RV 1,164,33a(dydurmepita;janitia)and Eurip.Ion 136 (1ot3LP6g iot yEVETWop
tentatively
nMrtrlp), *dieus*moi*ph2ter *genhltar"Dieus (is) myfather andcreator."
Accidental as itmaybe (so theauthorthinks), thecoincidence maystillbe considered
to reflect
fragments of an archaicoathor prayer.Noteworthy in thiscontextis also
RV 3,54,9ab:sdndpurandmddhyemydranmahdhpitarjanitu'rjami tdnnahI "From
afarI perceivethethingsof thepast:This is ourdescentfromthegreatfather, from
theprocreator."
15Cf. Hom. Od. 18.137; Archil.68. For further references see MartinWest's
commentary to Hes. Th. 176 (West1966:218).
16LotteMotz(1998) drawscriticalattention tothenotionofan Indo-European sky-
god in a recentarticle.Despitesomeinteresting points,manyof herarguments fail
to convinceme andareto someextentinconclusive. Thattheproposedcontinuators
of *dieusin Vedic,Greek,Romanand Germanicreligionsdo notsharethesame
functions is nota newobservation, noran argument againsttheproposition thatthey
shouldbe conceivedofas kindred. In somecases,Motzeventriestosupport herthesis
withobservations thatcould,had shejust beenmorecarefulin hercomparisons, be
usedtostrengthen theoppositethesis.Theconception ofJupiteras a personification
of
thethunderstone, referred to byMotzto demonstrate thatthisdeitywas notregarded
as "a luminary ofthesky"bytheRomans,is infactsupported bytheVedicnotionof
a "heavenly thunderbolt" et
(RV 1,176,3d:divyevaidnir,passim).

"as his onlymythic thereis at leastone further

function"17), mythin
whichhe actively,albeitdysfunctionally, The
participates. oldestver-
sionsdescribehowhe onceapproached hisowndaughter, Usas, inthe
of a
appearance bull, how he moreor less successfully torapeor
tried
seduceherandhowhe was punishedfortheactbytheothergods.As
I havetriedto showelsewhere, thismythmayshednewlighton the
birthoftheAsvinaandtheGreekDioskouroi.18
b. *diuoneh2
The spouseof *dieus.19
She is onlyfamiliar
through vaguereflexes,
butseemsto be a moreplausiblepartner of *dieusthantheoftenhy-
pothesized"Mother Earth," if
who, prototypical atall,rather
belonged
tothesphereof *perkw"ah3nos.
c. *uorunos
This god personifiedthe firmamentor dwelledin the nightsky.
The namesof his Vedicand Greekcontinuators, Varunaand Uranos
are
(ovpav6g [Aeolic6pav6g]), likely to be formed on a verbalroot
(*uer-)meaning"to cover"and a suffix (*-no-)denotingworldlyor
heavenly dominion. One may of
think him ofthe
as thepersonification
skyin itsappearanceas a darkcover.Even thoughtheetymological
connectionof the two names was considereduntenablefornearly
a century, provedto be perfectly
it has recently sound.20It is even
backedup by some further of thegod in Greekand
characteristics
17Puhvel1987:59.
18See Jackson,
forthcoming.
19Dunkel1988-1990.
20GeorgeDunkel(1988-1990) has
arguedforan etymologicalconnection between
V~irunaand opcav6g, interpreting vdrunaas a synchronic continuatorof theVedic
stemvaru-(< Proto-Indo-European *uoru-)"toencompass, cover,"survivingwithdif-
ferentsyllabization(*uoru-)in oipcav6g.For similarformations,
noteespeciallythe
nounsvarftit,vdrftha andtheadjectivevarathia.Cf.RV 5,46,5d:varfthfyamr vdruno
- 8,101,5c:varath[yamr vdrune.The lastpada is particularly sincethead-
significant
jectivessacathia("friendly") covering")areusedto create
and varathia("protecting,
a contrastbetweenMitra/Aryaman and Varuna.The etymology impliesqualitative
Ablaut vdruna/*varuna(cf. dpaslapas) (= *ueruno-,*uoruno-),Gr. *Epav6g/Aeolic
6pav6g (cf.dxvp6g/6Xvp6g)(= *ueruno-,*uoruno-).This is compatiblewiththeview

74 PeterJackson
Vedicpoetry:he was "wide"or "wide-looking" (*uerH-),he bound

or seizedhis victims(b6& Hes. Th.502,21grbhnati RV 1,24,12,13),
he had or was a heavenly"seat" (*sidos), the starryskywas his
cloak and thestarshisheavenlyspies(spadasRV 1,25,13;7,87,3).22
ZaraOu'tra'sAhuraMazda is likelyto have emergedfromthepre-
ofM. KiimmelinRixetal. 1998,625f.,whoreconstructs an Indo-European root*uer-

"aufhalten, (ab)wehren" preserved in Greek and to
subjected merger with *uel-"ein-
schlieBen, and
verhiillen" *Huer- "stecken" in Indo-Iranian.
This merger is controver-
sial,however, as can be seenin thediscussionsin Mayrhofer 1992-96s.v.VAR2,as
wellas Schmidt 2000,andLubotsky 2000.Thenamevaruna-hasalso beenconnected
with*uel-"to see" (cf.Jakobson1985a:33-43),butbecauseofthecommonfeatures
ofVarunaandUranosI prefer Dunkel'setymology.
21The mythof Uranosin Hesiod (esp. the"SuccessionMyth"in theTheogony)
has close parallelsin themythology of theNearEast,clearlyindicating thatHesiod
was familiarwithone or moreof its sources.The moststriking parallelsoccurin
theHurritic of in
myth Kumarbisurviving Hittiteadaptations fromthearchivesin
Bogazk6y.Usingdatafromthisnarrative in theTheogony whenarguingforan Indo-
Europeanheritageconsequently becomesa delicatematter. As regardsthebinding
of the Kyklopes(or Uranids)by Uranos,however,a certainincongruity occursin
thestory.It was alreadyrecognizedby Apollodorus, who triedto rationalizeit in
his mythography. In Hesiod,theconcealedchildren of Uranosare said to havebeen
releasedbyKronos,buttheKyklopesandHundred-Handers (also sonsofUranos)are
said to havebeenreleasedbyZeus. Westtreated thisincongruity in hiscommentary
to theTheogony(West 1966:139-53),concludingthatsome kindof lapsuswas at
stake.ItseemsplausiblethatHesiodwasdrawing on andtrying tosynthesize different
narratives,one (or some)ofwhichwas notrelatedtotheoriental"SuccessionMyth,"
buthad itsrootsin an indigenous mythaboutUranos.Furthermore, theUranidsare
"concealed"(157: acJTOKpVJTTW) inearth,notboundbyUranosbeforebeingreleased
by Kronosthrough The nocturnal
castration. aspectof Uranos(176: v3'ir'
Tt6yWv)
is notattested in theorientalversions, wheretheBabyloniansky-godAnutakesthe
positionofUranos.
22Textualsupportfor the etymologicalmatchesencountered:1) *uerH-RV
1,25,5.16: vdrunam... urucdksasam ~ o0pav6g upu3g.Cf. Dunkel 1988-1990:3.
2) *sedosRV 8,41,9:vdrunasya sadah - Hes. Th. 128: o5pacv6v...."bog
dhruvdm
3) The notion thatthe starrysky was the cloak of *uorunos is supported
6rcLXoaUg.
byevidencefromRV 1,25,13,Yt 13,3,andKritias(= Euripides[?]) fr.B25 DK (see
belowforfurther
discussion).

asterisks
Lightfromdistant 75
Zoroastriancounterpartof Vedic Varuna.23As a patronof poets,

*uorunoswas probablythehypostasis of Germanic*W60anaz.Both
VarunaandO6inn(*W60anaz)areaffiliated withthepoet,whomthey
investwitha particular
kindofpoeticformulation knownas *bhreg
h-
(Vedicbrdhman, Old Norsebragr).24 thesemantics
Furthermore, and
formationoftheGermanicname(*uet-+ suffix -no-)arecomparable
withthoseofVedicVaruna(dpi [...] vdtantasRV 7,60,6).
Furthercharacteristics
of this nocturnaldeityare suggestedin
hereditary
phraseology(see below).
d. *perkwtih3nos
The son of *dieus(RV 7,102,1),god of rainand thunder.
He was
evokedas "Oak-god"or "Striker." Providedthatthe different
for-
23HumbachandSkjxerv0
(1991) trytorevisetheold hypothesis thatAhuraMazda
is a transformation of "a Proto-Iranian equivalentof the Rigvedicgod Varuna"
by arguingthatAhuraMazda embodiedfeatures of different
pre-Zoroastriangods.
Conceptsandmythical achievements associatedwithhimareattributed to othergods
thanVarunain RV. E.g. Indrain 2,17,5("who holdstheearthdownbelow and the
heavens[above]fromfalling?[dyamavasrdsah]")as comparedwithAhuraMazda
in Y 43,2 ("he heldtheearth[kasnddarata],he supported theheaven[toprevent it]
fromfalling[nabascaauuapastisf]").Notonlydoesthisargument seeminconclusive,
becausethesamegoes forVarunain4,42,4b("I heldtheheaven[dharayam in
divarm]
theseatoftruth"), butthegeneralassumption thatthedifferent gods were associated
withthesame conceptsand mythical achievements onlyprovesthattheseconcepts
and achievements werenotintimately associatedwitha particular god. On theother
hand,whenitcomestortd-/asa, theattributiondoesnotseemtobe likewisearbitrary.
Anotherimportant detailis the YoungAvestandvandvami0raahura (Y 2,11; cf.
thesalientVedicdvandvamitra-vdrunau). Humbachand Skjxerv0 justlyinsistthat
AhuraMazda shouldbe treatedas a new god in his own right,butas faras I can
see thispointof view does not affectthe hypothesis thathe developedfromthe
same prototype as VedicVaruna.In theformer case, thegod is approachedfroma
synchronic perspective,provinghimuniquein comparison withanothergod, with
whomhe was onceidentical.VedicMitra,IranianMiOraandGraeco-Roman Mithras
shouldalso be treatedas godsintheirownright, butthefactthattheydevelopedfrom
thesameprototype does not,forthisreason,lose itsinterestorhistorical
relevance.
24Regarding*bhregh - cf. RV 1,105,15:brdhma krnotivdruno... vyurnotihyda
- Hdl. 2-3: Heriafodr(O6inn)... gefr... bragscdldom.
matimn

76 PeterJackson
mationsof the name were stillassociatedwiththe same god, we

wouldbe dealingwithone ofthemostwidelyattested Indo-European
theonyms (foundin no less than6 languagefamilies).25Like his fa-
ther,he "smiled(*smei-)downlightnings on earth"(AVP 2,70,1).He
splintered an oak and "slayed"(*gwhen-)a giantserpent26 (perhaps
vaguely connected with *uorunos),metonymically characterizedby
the"coils" (*bheugh-27)comprising or surroundingtheheavenlywa-
25Despiteinvolvingthe same verbalroot

(*per-)and suffix(*-no-),the differ-
entformations of thisname are notidentical.The Vedic,Slavic, Baltic and Ger-
manicevidenceallowsus todistinguish atleastthreevariants:*perginio-(Vedicpar-
jdnya,possiblySlavic *per(g)ynia "woodedhill"),*peruh3no- (Russianperun6)and
*perkWtih3no-(Lithuanian perkuinas,Old Norsefjorgynn). Onomatopoetic reforma-
tions(seen elsewherein thetreatment of wordsforthunder) may have playeda part
in thedevelopment of thislexicalfamily.Thereis consequently no reasonto insist
on a commonprototype without butin consideration
variants, of thefactthatBaltic
formed a partof a Balto-Slaviccontinuum fromwhichGermanicmustbe heldsepa-
rate,thecoincidence oftheGermanic andBalticrealizationsspeaksfor*perkwih3no-
as an earlyformation. I am indebtedto Professor NorbertOettinger forclarifications
regarding these matters.
ApartfromtheVedic,Slavic,Balticand Germaniccognates,attention shouldbe
brought to Gr.Zeus Kepc~tv6g(a possible substitution
for*per(k)aunos), Albanian
a
perendi,perudi"god,heaven," ThracianheroHepicog/Ilepcov, andperune,a god
ofwaramongtheKaffirs.
26Watkins
1995:passim.
27This metonymical characterizationof the serpentoccurs in Old Norse and
Vedicrespectively. InSkaldskaparmdl 4, EysteinValdasoncharacteristically
describes
P6rr's(fadirPrItUar) fightagainsttheMi6gardsormr, hereknownas baugr:
brattrar
Leitdt brautar/baughvassligum
augum,/awstisk
daratflausti/oggsbtil,
fadirPrtUiar.
Pruij'sfather
lookedwithpiercing eyeson steep-way's[land's]ring(baug) until
red-fish's
dwelling[sea] surgedovertheboat.(tr.AnthonyFaulkes)
A similarsenseofbaugris onlyattested twiceelsewherein thepoeticrecords,in
36b
Hdttalykill and MerlinaspdII 15, forwhichreason theusage shouldbe regarded
as highlymarked, perhapsevenarchaic.Signsof a Vedicusage of muchthesame
type(bothpertaining to theetymology of thenoun,themetonymical usage and the
thematic is
context) conspicuous with reference
to thefewattestations
of thecognate

ters.He probablyhad a femalecounterpart withtheearth,

identified
producinggrain and cattlethrough mating withher.He carriedan
axe or a hammerwithparticular features,suchas beingyellowand
100(0)-bossed.28 The names of his Celtic and Germanic(possibly
Italic)continuators(*Punraz,Tanarisand Jupiter Tonans)all derived
fromtheroot*(s)tenh2- "to thunder" and mayhavearisenas there-
sultof fossilizationof an originalepithetor epiklesis.Some Vedic
passages(e.g. AVP 2,70,4)confirm thatVedicParjanyawas referred
to as stanayitnui-,
"Thunderer," an epithetformed on thesameroot.29
He was probablythehypostasis of theAnatolianStormGod (Hittite
Tarhunnas, LuwianTarhunza'),wholikewise"slew"(*gwhen-)a ser-
pentandwhosenamewas formed on a root(*terh2- "toovercome"+
the"Herrschersuffix" (*-no-) of his hypostasis) belongingtothesame
semantic fieldas *gwhen-andusedas an epithet ofIndrain RV 6,20,2.
As regardsthehistorical manifestations theyareob-
of *perk"'th3nos,
viouslycaughtin a web of interrelated epithetswhichmayonlybe
bhogd-("windung, Biegung,Schlangenring" accordingtoMayrhofer 1992-96s.v.)in

RV.The following passageexhibitsone of themostprevalent episodesin thewhole
corpus,thatof Indradefeating Vrtrain orderto releasethevitalwaterssurrounded
and confinedby thesnake.Not onlyhas theparallelbetweenthisepisodeand that
of P6rr'sstrugglewiththeMi0gar0sormr frequentlybeendrawnon a thematic level,
butIndraandP6rrare also definedbymeansof similar, cognate
partly noun phrases
denoting"serpent'skiller,"vrtra-han- (< *gwhen-) "Vrtra'sbane" and ormseinbani
(< *gwhen- [Hymiskvida 22]) "theserpent's singlebane."Newsupport forthegenetic
of
priorities suchverbalmessages is found in thepassagewhere bhogd-maintainsthe
samemarkedstatusas baugrinEystein'sverse:
ca bhogansakdmvdjrenamaghdvavivrs'cdt
ndvayddasya navatinm I
coils [ofVrtra]withthemace
WhentheRewarder[Indra]cutup theninety-nine
(RV 5,29,6a)
28Watkins1995:429ff.
29Notablearealso phrasessuchas hantiduskitah(RV 5,83,2d),
parjdnyastandyan
"thundering, Parjanyastrikes
the were
evil-doers," thetwo roots*gwhen-
characteristic
and *(s)tenh2-co-occur.ExceptforIndra,Parjanyais to my knowledgethe only
deityto be associatedwiththeformulaicconstituents*gwhen-and *ogwhhis(cf.AVP
2,70,3).

78 PeterJackson
successfully in Vedicdata regarding

resolvedby bringing Indraand
Parjanya.
e. *diudsndpothle30/*diudssuHnu
Thegrandsons, sonsordescendants of *dieus.Theywoo ormarry a
solarfemale,preferably Sun'sdaughter (*seh2ueliosio
dhugh2tir),and
sometimes appearas loversor companions ofDawn.Although Greek
epic exhibitstypological in
parallels this as
regard, seenin thestories
aboutHelenand theDioskouroi,thenameHelen(k'vril) shouldnot
be comparedwithSuryaas suggested by JaanPuhvel.Vittore Pisani
was probably muchclosertothetruth whenassuminganetymological
connection betweenHelen and Saranyui, themythicalmotherof the
AMvins.31 The DivineTwinssometimes appearas personifications
of
themorning- andevening-starinVedic,32 a viewwhichalso lefttraces
in Greekand Baltic.33They were healersand helpers,particularly
in cases of maritime distress,travellingin miraculousvehiclesand
rescuing shipwrecked mortals.
The lattermotif mayhavebeendecoded
as epicreturn inGreek(see below).
30Thepluralshould be ndpothleandnotndp5thlas suggested

probably byDunkel
(1988-1990).
31The namesHelenandSaranyti reflect
two
could,despiteMayrhofer's scepticism,
similarprototypes: and
*seleneh2 *selen(i)uh2s as
(+- *sel-) arguedby VittorePisani
1969.Followingup Kuhn'sold etymology, Pollom6suggested*seren(i)uHs without
givinganysemantic motivation forbringing
VedicVIsar(sisarti),theverbunderlying
the nameSaranyui, together witha Proto-Indo-European *ser-.The current Vedic
verbmostlikelybelongsto thefamilyof Gr. ikkoatoa andLat. sali6 (cf.Mayrhofer
1992-96s.v.,and Rix et al. 1998s.v.),hencePIE *sel-.The setof Greekand Vedic
mythscomparedby Pisanidisplayinteresting contrastsand parallelswhichdeserve
serious For
reconsideration. a discussion
ofthematics (withoutattentionbroughttothe
etymologicalconditions)see Grottanelli1986.Newevidenceis presented inJackson
(forthcoming).
32Mayrhofer toT. Got6.
1992-96,2:39,referring
33Cf.Puhvel1987:228f.

f. *h2eUSOS
The daughterof *dieus.She was identified withthe dawn and
possessedthecharacteristic "smile"of herfather and brother.34Her
eroticnature(*uinos"desire")was preserved in Vedic(RV 1,172,1a),
butwas mostlikelysubjectedto overlap(Aphrodite[< Phoenecian
Astorit])and fossilization (Venus< *uinos) in Greekand Roman
mythology.35 Greek datarelatetheepithet*diu6sdhugh2ter to poetic
inspiration(cf.theMuse Kalliope),withwhichtheVediccontinuator
of *h2eusos(Usas) was also associated.Euripidescharacteristically
describesEos as "bringing lightand chasingawaythe stars"( TCe
oioapo;og"'Ecg Licovu' 6iorpaIon 1156f.).Similarimagesnot
verysurprisingly recurinVedic,yetherewiththeverbbadhate"press,
force"(cf. RV 1,92,5;6,65,2). Besides the oftenfocalizedVedic,
Greek,Roman and Baltic continuators of thisgoddess,a possible
member ofthesamegroupoccursas a vaguereflex in WestGermanic
sources.Thefigure is hintedatintheindigenous namefortheChristian
pascua, i.e. Easter,first
referredto by Beda in De temporum ratione
C 15: Eostor-monath. Cf.also Old HighGermanistara.
g. *seh2uelios36
Personification ofthesun.He mayhavebeenregarded as thesonof
*dieus,37which means that
theDivineTwins were wooingormarrying
theirowncousin,Sun'sdaughter. A famousGraeco-Vedic equationde-
scribeshimas "spy(*spokos)ofall beings."38 The metaphoricalchar-
acterization
ofthesun-disk as his"wheel"(*k"ek"l6s)inVedic,Greek
andGermanic shouldperhapsbe understood as a reference
tothewheel
of his chariot,in whichhe crossedthesky.A Graeco-Vedicmatch
meaning"greatpath"(tentatively *h2ogmos *meg'h2s)mayoriginally
34Discussion
inDunkel1988-1990.
35Ibid.
36Thevariant is seenin Gr.iXtog,whileVedicsuirya
usedabove,*seh2uelios,
thevariant
reflects (with
*sh2ulios metathesis:
*suh21ios).
37Cf.RV 10,37,1
and1,160,3.
38 h. inDem.
62, andRV 4,13,3etpassim.

80 PeterJackson
havedenotedthepathof thehorsesof his chariot.39 His association

withcattleis indicated
byvaguereflexes oftheepicbutchering ofthe
in
cattleofHelios(Hom.Od. 12.194-196), a passagefromtheGreater
Bundahisn,40VedicSfirya milkingthecattleofheavenandearth(RV
1,160,3)41and themotherof Helios,Euryphaessa, describedas be-
ing "cow-eyed"(poctbhtg h.Hom. 31,2,elsewhere a salientepithetof
Hera).42An Indo-European tabooregarding "urinatingstandingup"
(*h3meigh- *urHdhuos) clearlyinvolved thesun,43but need nothave
pertainedtothepersonifiedsun.
h. *seh2ueliosiodhugh2
tCr
See above(e).
i. *plth2uih2-
A goddessidentified withor sprungfromtheearth.The onomastic
evidenceis limited
(cf.Vedicprthivi,
Gr.(derived)Hd1arttat/f1aTractL,
OE folde ... mador and ON fold), but clearly suggests a divine ep-
ithet.The name is derivedfroma metaphorical designation of the
earthas "broad."Despitethelackofetymological transparency (save
forthe element*plhlu-"much"in Greekand Old Norse),Vedic,
GreekandOld Norsedataindicatethatshewas referred to as "much-
or
nourishing" "rich-pastured" visvddhayasam RV 2,17,5,
(prthivitm
andfiolnytafoldSd. 444). The argument thatshe
X0ovLnto[UP3otEip,
39Cf.RV 4,53,4andh.Hom.32,11.DiscussioninWatkins1995:16.
40DiscussioninLincoln1999:183ff.
41Cf.also 164,17and5,47,4.The ofheaven"is alludedtoelsewhere,
"milking e.g.
in RV 1,100,3;2,3,6;3,57,2;9,107,5.As first
suggested
byCharpentier in 1932,this
RVedicnotionmayshedlightupona metaphorical expressionfamiliar fromGreek
epic,vvrcrog&CtEky4 "during themilkingofnight."
42As regardsEuryphaissa,Campanile(1994:35ff.)arguedthatshe originally
representedDawn (Gr.f1g),
" comparing thenamewitha relatedepithetof Vedic
Usas, vibhdtT
"resplendissante."This wouldmakeDawn themotherof *seh2uelios,
forwhichCampanileclaimstohavefoundVedicevidence(RV 7,78,3).
43Cf.inparticularWD 727; AV 7,102;AV 3,1,66.See also Watkins1995:14.
44Durante 1968:308. I am indebtedto Professor
AndersHultgirdforbringing my
attention
tothelattercomparandum.

was thelogicalequivalentof *dieusph2teris basedon a hypothetical

mdHter
juncture(*plth2uih2- "MotherEarth")onlyweaklysupported
bythesources.45 As pointedoutabove,however, sheis a morefitting
partner thanof *dieus.Theoriginalnameofthisgod-
of *perkwlih3nos
dess mayhavebeenlostat an earlydate,butcouldstillbe hintedatin
feminizationssuchas Old NorseFjorgyn orSlavic*Perperuna.
A groupof gods and semi-deitieswithoutanyobviousassociation
withthe "Gdtterfamilie"may be added to this list. Some of the
conjectures withcautionsincebasedonnewevidence
shouldbe treated
ora verylimitedbodyofdata.
j. *(H)iemds
"Twin."Primordial beingor mythicalmortal.Amongthe Indo-
Iranianshe was regardedas one of the firstmortalsand a king
of theunderworld, himselfthe son of anothermythical king,Indo-
Iranian*uiuasuant-. He was dissectedor dismembered (fora crime
or sin he committed during the time of his reign) and treatedas
a sacrificialanimal(preferably a cow46). AlthoughtheIraniandata
suggestsan etiologyof death,Germanicreflexesof a similarmotif,
where*(H)irmios (ON Ymir)appearsin theroleofa primordial giant,
indicatethatthedismemberment had a cosmogonicsubtext.47 This
subtextis also reflected
bythebasicverbsoftheactofdismemberment
in Iranianand Old Norsetexts.Thereare no explicitreferences to
a dismemberment of Vedic Yama, but attention shouldbe brought
to RV 10,13,4(a hymnto thetwo sacrificial carts),whereYama is
45 Discussionin Euler1987:39ff.
46The wordgaus "cow" occursside side withYima in Y 32,8. Humbachand
by
Skj~erv01991 discusstwopossibleinterpretations,either"hero"(in a metaphorical
sense)or "sacrificial
animal."
47The basic verbdenotingsacrificialdismemberment may have been *(s)kert-
"to carve"(cf. Yt 19,46spitiiuram(ca)
yimo.karantem "Spitiiurawho dissected(--
miscreated)Yima," witha Gmc. variant*skabh-"id." (-- create)(Vm. 21 and
elsewhere).The semanticdevelopment of bothverbstestify to thecreativeforceof
destructionandsubtraction.Forfurther
detailssee Lincoln1997.

82 PeterJackson
said to have "evacuated(or 'transcended')"his own body,48and to

RV 10,52,3,wherehe is "smeared"(alilj, i.e. in a liturgical
sense)
by the gods, beingconstantly recreatedby themand describedas
havyav'dh or"bringing theoblation(tothegods)."Furtherelaborations
ofthismotifin Romanpseudo-historiography (RomulusandRemus)
and continental Germanicgenealogy(Mannusand Tuisto)are open
to discussion,althoughthe etymologicalevidenceis lackingand
the sacrificial
contextmustbe extrapolated. The Vedic storyof the
mythical twinsYama(m.)andYami(f.),inwhichYamiunsuccessfully
triesto seduceherownbrother, maybelongtoa different setorresult
fromsecondary creation.
k. *h2AkWom
ndpot
The different traditionssurrounding thisdeityin Vedic,Avestan,
LatinandIrishsources(see above:j) pointtoa "descendant ofwaters"
associatedwithfloodingand a luminoussubstancehiddenin a body
of water.The name of the god maybe analysedstylistically as a
coincidentiaoppositorum, forwhichthereis further in
support the
metaphorical expression scevarniar("descendant ofthesea" = "fire"),
preserved in the Old Norse In
poemYnglingatal. Yalt 19,51thisfiery
substancewas identified withthex'aranah,a problematic concept
a
forming part of the royalideologyof ancientIran.The mythwas
studiedin all its complexity by Dum6zil 1973. An important detail
regarding the Romandata was added by JaanPuhvel(1973), who
saw a reminiscence of thefieryaspectsof Neptunein theexpression
aquamexstinguere "puttingoutwater(i.e. as fireis putout)"as itwas
used in a pseudo-historic Romanmythassociatedwiththefestival
of Neptunalia.The lack of the element*h2ep-(or *h2ek"-)in the
namesof NeptuneandNechtan("descendant") remainsproblematic.
The defectis theinversein thenameofAEgir (< *h2jk'i- "belonging
to thesee"49),thegod of thesea in Old Norseliterature. Although
the sourcesare bothtoo late and too sparseto distinguish AEgiras
48DiscussioninLincoln1981:80.
49The Germanicreflexesof thisIndo-European
wordfor"water,sea,"etc. (with
is discussedinDarms1978:25ff.
possibleVfddhi-Ableitung)

a distantkin of the"descendants of thewaters"withanycertainty,

therearestillsomemotivicparallelswhichappearstriking. Particular
attentionshouldbe brought to a passagein SnorriSturluson'spoetic
manualSkaldskaparmdl a
(31 [33]) relating myth aboutAEgiras the
explanation fora poeticexpression for"gold,"eldragis or "thefire
of AEgir,"in Skaldicpoetry.Accordingto thispassage,iEgir once
arrangeda feastforthegods and carriedluminousgoldintothehall
as a sourceof light.One mayspeculatethatthislate mythographic
adaptation containstracesof pre-Christian
Germaniclorewhichwas
encodedinthehermetic languageoftheOld Norseskalds.
1.*hjogni-
The Vedichymnsascribegreatsignificance to a god Agni,under-
stoodas theembodiment of thesacrificial
fire.The nameis an ani-
mate(masculine)counterpart oftheinanimate (neuter)wordfor"fire"
(*peh2ur) also seen in Latin ignis,Lithuanianugnisand Old Church
Slavonicognb.Even thoughthetheonym was alreadylostin Iranian
from
(shifting *agni-[cf. the Avestan name Ddgtdyni-]50 to Atr),one
shouldnotruleouttheidea thatitwas thenameof an Indo-European
deity.Theassumption is supported bythefactthatoneofhisVedicep-
ithetsoraspects(apamndpat)survived inthenamesofindividual and
typologicallysimilargodsinAvestan(apqmnaps),Latin([*aquarum]
neptunus), Old IrishCeltic(nechtan),
and forwhichsee above(k).
m. *h3rbheu-
MichaelEstellhas recentlyreconsideredtheetymologicalconnec-
tionbetweenOrpheusandRbhuby showingthat1) in bothtraditions
thefigurewas eitherregardedas theson of a cudgel-bearer (vajrin
[= Indra]/Oitypog)or an archer(sudhdnvan /Apollo)and 2) known
as a "fashioner"
(*tetk-).The nameOtaypogis analysedas "cudgel-
bearer"witha firstelementreflecting a verbmeaning"carry"(seen
in o'o(, thesuppletive
future of and a secondelementmean-
4)pw)
50An Indo-Iranian of thisgod is vaguelysuggestedbyOld Indo-Aryan
prototype
(?) Da-ak-ni-i4.The nameoccursin a Hittite
text,butshouldprobably
be understood
as an Indo-Aryan loanrather
thanas thenameofan indigenous Anatoliandeity.

84 PeterJackson
ing"cudgel"(*Faypog,as in *MEkEFaypogand vdjrah< PIE *uag-

ro-).51The phonological matchhas longbeenrecognized,52 butthere
wouldbe no strong case fortheidea of a commonpastwithout addi-
tionalmatchessuchas thosepointedoutbyEstell.Convincing as they
seem,Estell'sobservationsleadus tothetracesofa mythicalcraftsman
inGreekandVedicwhomayhaveformed a partoftheIndo-European
religiousheritage.
n. *peh2usO(n)
"Protector"(lit."whois characterized Thispas-
by protecting"53).
toralgodsurvived as Piisan(protector
ofcattle,patronofthieves, etc.)
inVedicandPaninGreek.Severalfeatures ofPan,whosecultwasonly
keptalive in distantArkadiaduringtheclassicalperiod,weremost
likelytakenoverby Hermes.Hermeswas originally an ithyphallic-
apotropaicdeity of lesserimportance,whose features
typical in later
periodswereblendedwithinfluences fromtheNearEast.Seeingthat
hewasregarded as thefatherofPan,theconnection withhisantecedent
lefta genealogicaltracesimilartothatofOld NorseP6rr(= Fjorgyn's
son). A possiblehereditary featureis thegoad (Vedic dstra,Greek
oLopog), with which thegodis wanttobaitmenandcattle.Theresult
is a suddenhorrorwithout anyperceivablecause,referred to by the
Greeksas TnavOKg.The godmayhavehadan unfortunate appearance
whichturnedhimintoa marginalfigureunworthy of sacrifice,per-
51Estell1999.
52Firstby Christian Lassen in 1840 and lateracceptedby de Saussurein 1879
(references in Estell 1999). If thetwonamesare related,thecommonbasis would
eitherbe an otherwise unattested root*h3rebh - or theless familiar *h3erbh- "change
sides/change allegiance"(zero-grade *h3rbh-). The latter rootwas discussed (with
particularstress on itsreflexes in in
Hittite) a lecture givenby Craig Melchert at the
of in
University Erlangen April 2001. The core meaning of the rootwas first
suggested
orallyto thelecturer by CalvertWatkinsin 1968. As observedby graduatestudent
HisashiMiyakawainconnection withMelchert's lecture, a rootwiththecoremeaning
"changesides/change allegiance" would fit
well into the patternoftheVedicRbhavas,
whoarerewarded withimmortality the
by gods as a result of their
craftsmanship (cf.
RV 3,60,3).
53"derdurchHiitenCharakterisierte," Oettinger 1998:545.

haps intoa mediator

betweendifferent
cults.His animalwas clearly
thebuck.54,55
o. promath2eu-
A successfulcomparisonmayshedlightuponobsoletelinguistic
features,such as the fossilization
of epithetsno longerunderstood
in one or moreof thetraditions approached.By analysingtheVedic
verbmathnatias meaning"to rob,takeaway,"occasionallyformed
withtheprefix pra-,andseparating itfromVJmanth "to stir,"
Johanna
Nartenobserveda similarcompoundin theGreeknamePrometheus
(Doric no longerperceptible to theepic poets.56Since
Hpot[tacE3g)
theverbleftno traceselsewherein theGreeklanguage,itis notat all
surprisingthatHesiodand laterauthors, giventheextantGreekverb
"perceive,remark,
ctav06ovw notice,"analysedthenameas meaning
Thanks
"Forethought." to Narten's
comparison, we are now able to
recognizea commoncore in thestoryof Prometheus and theVedic
storyof Matariivan,
who "robbed"(mathnati, VImath-)theheavenly
fireandbroughtittomankind.
54The basic studiesofthisIndo-European deityareWatkins1970,Oettinger 1998

andOettinger 2000.
55It is conceivable,if onlya matterof speculation, thatthe heriditaryformula
*pah2-*uiHro-*peku-"protect men and as
cattle," reconstructed
on thebasisof Indic,
Iranian,UmbrianandLatinevidence(Watkins1995:197ff.), was somehowassociated
withthegod *pdh2uso(n). The namePusanandtheroot(*pah2-)on whichthename
was originallyformedbecomethe subjectof verbalplay in a hymnto the Visve
Devas (RV 1,89,5).In thesamestanzawe encounter theexpressionjdgatastasthusas
pdtim"lordof thatwhichwalksand stands,"seemingly includinga merismof the
typepuirusanpairums ca "menandcattle"(AV 3,28,5-6).In hiscapacityas protector
(raksitdr, Pusan is askedto increase(vdirdhati)
property(vidas):
paytih),
tdmisdnamjdgatas tasthuisas patimn I dhiyamjinvdm dvasehamahevayadm Ipusa
noydthdvidasamdsad vrdheI raksitapayurddabdhahsuastdyeII
56Narten1960.

86 PeterJackson
4. Mythical
imagery
I have alreadytouchedupontheconceptualization of heritageas

footprint.Similar metalinguistictraditions
allow us to distinguish
the framing and prologuesof specificgenres,amongwhichshort
referencesto a mythic and time-honoured pastmayhaveconstituted
a salientgroup.By using *men-,a verbalrootdenoting"mental
force,"or"memory," atthebeginning ofsuchperformances, theIndo-
Europeanpoet also implied thathe intended to tell the truth.
The
underlying logicwas,withan examplefromGreek:
I remember -- Itis true
(L[tvtoKwlC)
Itis true+- Itis notforgotten
(&kXrlOig)
Memoryis an expectedqualifierof truthin any societypreserving
its heritagethrough thesole mediumof oral literature, because the
only foundation of traditions
held in common trustin such societies
is thesuccessfulmnemotechnics ofthetradents. MoreuniquelyIndo-
Europeanin theirparticularities are the fragments of a hereditary
and
gnomic cosmologicalpoetry (Y 44) introduced
bystylistic figures
ofthetype"thisI askthee"(*prek-), "tellmeplainly."57
Changingfocusfromthemeansof mythto itsends,one observes
certainformalrecurrences in theIndo-European corpuswhichcould
be approached as rudimentsofmyth. By drawingon Watkins'analysis
of the verbalcollocationin Hesiod's Worksand Days (Op.) and
elsewhere,I havetriedto showthatthecomplexformula, ideally:
Unmarkedverb,unmarkedverb,marked + Wild/Domestic
verb(*hlergh-)
+ Trees(*dru-)
animals + Mountains
is theencodedversionofa microscopic mythdecodedas an addressto

thetreesofTarhunnas ina Hittite text(KUB XXIX 1
royal-foundation
I 28-31), as theconvulsions
ofnatureatIndra'sbirthintheRV 4,17,2,
as Boreas blowing over the earth in Op. 504-525, as the rushing,
Odysseusin theIliad 2,192-198and thepenetrating
theriomorphic
57Discussionin Schmitt1967:?573ff.

beamsof Phoibosin a Pythianoracle(quotedby emperor

Julian,
Ep.
89a Bidez-Cumont;
299d Sp.).58
58Watkins (1975) collecteda numberofparallelsinvolvingwild/domestic

animals
+ trees+ mountains + a verbof violentaction(see also Oettinger
[forthcoming]).
I wouldbringparticular to KUB XXIX 1 I 28-33, RV 4,17,2and Op. 504-
attention
525, addingto thelistII. 3,192-198.The latterpassageconcernsPriam'sparabolic
statementsaboutOdysseuson thebattle-field belowTroy,exhibiting some striking
formalsimilarities
withthepassagein Hesiod without theexistenceof a
indicating
homerism in Hesiod(or viceversa):
kat-ta-an
ne-p[-sa-as' UR.MAH-as [(-ma-a?)]/ kat-ta-
ti-li-li-is'-ki-id-du-ma-at
an se-es-ki-it
UG.TUR[UR.TUG]-a'-ma-al kat-ta-an /har-tdg-ga-as-
se-es-ki-it
ma-aS-ma-aS sa-ra-aar-ki-iK-ki-it-ta /dU ad-da-
(< *hlergh-)[nu-uS-ma-aS-za]
as-mi-is'
pa-ra-a i-da-a-lu /
zi-ik-ki-it[G]UDHIA -us-ma-as-ma-askat-ta-an
U-
e-si-it-at
UDUHI.A
Undertheheavensyouthrove, thelion/wouldpair,thepanther wouldpairby

you,/ butthebearwouldcoupleup againstyou; /thestorm-godmyfatherkept
evilfromyou[tr.JaanPuhvel1991]./The cattlepastured
underyou,thesheep/
pasturedunderyou.(KUB XXIX 1 I 28-33)
tdvatvisdjdnimanrejatadydurejadbhumirbhiydsd I rghiydnta
svdsyamanydh
pdrvatasa
subhvath ardan dhdnvanisardyanta
apah II
Fromexcitement ofyou(= Indra)heavenwas trembling atyourbirth,

(injunctive)
theearthwas trembling
(inj.)withfearofyourownwrath, themighty mountains
trembledwithexcitation(inj.),thelandsshivered,
thewatersbeginto flow.(RV
4,17,2)
E pLcL'LrT,
iLtva68 Avrl tCwOivv,
KQd' P3ov06paatdvtra,
y
roirov kXcE0ao0Cat,
aKCL r
tydbag, caI' ibTyaiav
Bopiao 8vOrlUCey;Cg rekovotv,
tVCU3ocavrog
Sgc t8 p7irg't;itorp64ov e0ppit
at6vrm
qCtUtveUoag OptvCe [inUrKe86eya~a CaliXr1-
ntokkXg 86 8pig t'LKo6[torvg Ckdrague taic(ag
ev
oipeoog P~ioou;g XOovL ovohporelp~P
uLavrytOV, 't,(Lv
caiLiCanSLPo0 t6t-evilptLogiX1'
Ojpeg 6: 4pilooovo',ouipcg6' otu6 O i~et ' evro
0
'V
'TUvca cdvY pCla C vUv ETv
ICEdcl'UCtov"CO
&,C Kci
4vXpbog <v 68tdLqt 8croveripvYvuJep
6vrTov"
tre 6Lc 1otv po
KcaL 3obgPXerOa,o686ltLv IXCLt,

88 PeterJackson
KaL-e T' aLya MO

CLLCLo -rcvLtpVTrpa
uec 6' oi0Ut,
OiJVCK' TPiXlegCCi Vy,oi 6dl]OL
CITTTLVCVl
'ig&ve~io Bop&O" rpoXaClXv C yipovrEa rlo(tV.
Kcai6tx6 capOEvtL1Ig 0o
ucak6X)poog laowV,
tie 86ityov'evrooE (kqRi1 [lr7TptL[tCLt,
caphx
oUiou epya L6viLanokvXp'oov'A4po8rxqg,
CTJtC -rpeVa X)p6aKcaL
VT'
X XCaL(I)
ocooarc!iyVl
XPLtoaQYEl tl br'caaXhk'rat
EvLXL CEvLo0VoOtOLKov,
CL
!icrt l, , v60rSeog8vyruoa
Tv6CL
tesep
CV T WTPp OLK(OKcaL eoi XevyaeolCoFv
As forthemonth ofLenaion-bad days,ox-flayers all-take precautions against
it, and thefrosts which are harshon earthwhenthe NorthWindblows.Coming
overhorse-rearing Thrace,he blowsuponthesea and stirsit up, and earthand
woodlandroar;manyarethetallleafyoaks andthickfirsin themountain glens
thathebendsdowntotherich-pastured earthwhenhe fallsuponthem.Thewhole
immenseforestcriesaloud,and animalsshiverand puttheirtailsundertheir
genitals,eventhosewhoseskinis coveredwithfur:eventhrough thesehe blows
(b&Ld7ot) as
cold, shaggy-chested theyare.Throughan ox's hidehe goes (6Ct\
[...] EpxCeaT); it does notstophim,and he blowsthrough (6t' [...] lOtL) the
hairygoat,buttheflocks,becausetheirhairis unfailing, theNorthWind'sforce
does notblowthrough them.He makesan old manbowlalong.Andthetender-
skinnedgirlhe does notblowthrough, whostaysinsidethehousewithherdear
mother, notyetacquaintedwiththeaffairs ofgoldenAphrodite. She washesher
fineskinwell,rubsitwithoil,andlies downintheinnerpartofthehouseall on
a winter's day,whenthebonelessonegnawshisfootinhisfireless houseandhis
miserable haunts.(Op. 504-525; tr.West1988)
CUTCE' tOLKCEL TO6vE,ditOVTCKo;, g t;g 6' atOrvV

-tctovttcvKEcqcaXk 'ATPCLdao,
'AycqIivovog
8' t6' OQrpVOLoLV
68oOCa.
eCUpT"repog tototyv
teCUxcLieVO1KCLTCl5tL )O0VLJtOVUtUPOTCLPt,
io
aCog 6C KTlkog x
CJTLUkEtCLTL
o'yagc&5vpCJv.
yw7 yC CQKW
CCpVCL t C5V l W,9
tyEoT'IE(t
SgT' 6twv iCya JuT&6tCipXECtCa
&pyCVVdWv.
Tell me of thisone also, dearchild;whatmancan he be, shorterin truth
by a
headthanAtreus'sonAgamemnon, butbroader,itwouldseem,in thechestand
acrosstheshoulders. Now as his armourlies piledon theprospering
earth,still
he ranges,likesomeram,through themarshalled ranksofthefighters.
Truly,to

ofthevaultofheavenin theAvestanYa't 13 and

The descriptions
an Euripideanfragment (DK 25,33)preserved inSextusEmpiricus and
Aetiusshowreflexes of a verbalcollocationwhichalso lefttracesin
RV,Aeschylus and Seneca. It is based on a formulaic of
description
theskyas thedarkclothesofa nocturnal deity,towhichthestar-spies
wereattached. The collocationalso recallsthemythicalfashioningof
thesky,withan Indo-Iranian variantdescribingitas "mind-fashioned."
I do notintendto delveintodetailshere,butwishto emphasizethat
the data at handallow us to reconstruct an exceptionally
complex
collocation:
*uorunos... *ues-(*uestro-)*h2ste'r
*peik ... (*men-)*tetk-
nocturnal
sky(-god)... clad inclothesstaradorned... mindfashioned
The textualmatchesbetweenthe Avestanand Greekpassages are

so conspicuousthatone is inclinedto regardthemas independent
performancesof thesame tradition,preferablyregardedas an orally
transmitted
poeticdeviceinvolving thedivineaspectsofthenocturnal
sky.As longas thishypothesis
is accepted,we havean excellentfocus
somedeep-fleeced
ramwouldI likenhimwhomakeshis waythrough thegreat
massoftheshiningsheep-flocks.
(II. 3.192-198,tr.Lattimore)
threepassagesdisplaythesamecontrastive
The first unmarkedverb(al),
interplay
unmarkedverb(a2), markedverb(b) bypreserving themarkedmember (*hergh-)
intact.As a suggestion
we aredealingwitha hereditary convention
stylistic (parspro
toto?)occurringwithintheframeofsimilarmotifs:
KUB XXIX 1I 29-30: kattansegk-(al), kattanJes'k- arkisk-(b)

(a2) : s'Jard
RV 4.17.2 rej-(al), rej-(a2) : orghay?(b) a Op. 514-516: 6trllyt(al) :A
6tt
(b) :A (a2)
[.. 9Xo~lcCt 6tdrlllt
The hesiodicpassagecontainsfurther hereditarymotifs(cf.Watkins1975) whichall
seemrelatedto a setof sexualmetaphors. Theyhavebeendiscussedas a wholein
Bader 1989 and Jackson1999b.As formyown contribution to theissue,I would
now takesome of the additionalcomparanda(involvingthe symbolicsubtextsof
contrasting pairs such as foot: footless,bony: boneless)to be far-fetched. I
also regrettheignoranceof theritualand mythical contextin discussionsof some
passages. Nevertheless, the symboliccomplexremainsa fascinating issue which
deservesfurther analysis.

90 PeterJackson
ofcomparative mythology,enablingus to surveytherealization

ofthe
samemotifinVedic,Avestan, GreekandLatin.59
A thirdexampleinvolvestheDivineTwinsor the *diudssuHnu.
Another Vedicepithetofthispair,namelynasatya-,was formed on a
verbmeaning"approach, resortto" (ndsate).The verbbelongsto the
semanticfieldof safeandhappyreturn (< *nes-).N6otog("Return")
was also thenameof a literary genrein Greece,ideallytellingthe
59The collocation *uorunos ... *ues- (*uestro-) *h2ster *peik- ... (*men-) *tetk-
and itsdifferent
variantswillbe discussedin twoforthcoming studies.The primary
comparandaareRV 1,25,13;3,60,2;10,1,6;Yt 13,2-3;Y 9,26;Yt 10,90;Yt 10,143;
ViD 18, ViD 20; Aesch. Pr 24 and Kritias(Euripides)DK 25,33. Havingadded
theGr.compoundItotKLXEIc4Lv (*peik-*ues-)(epithetof vu3'in Aesch.Pr 24) to
the Indo-Iranian
parallelsdetectedby Schlerath1990-Yt 13,3 (vaste varlhanam
~
starpaesarham) ViD 20 (vastramstarpajsarlham) - RV 10,1,6 (vdstrani...
pdeandnivdsdna-)-particularattention
shouldbe brought tothefollowingpassages:
I *peik-*men-
*tks-
RV 3,60,2:
yabhihidctbhi'camasari cdrmanahI
ydyddhiyagamdrinfta
ydna hdrT mdnasd nirdtaksata
tenadevatvdm
dpim.ata sdm
rbhavah dnasa II
(Cf. also IIr. *man-
*tads-)
II *uorunos *ues- *spocos (- *h2ster)

RV 1,25,13:
bibhrad vdrunovastanirnijam
hiranydyar I
drdpion
pari spdionisedireII
III *h2el-mon- *uorunos) *ues- *h2ster*peik- *men-*tdtk-
Yt 13,2-3: (-
asmanem ... yimmazda vaste varlhanamstahrpaesarhammahiiu.-tastam
IV *h2ste'r-
( *spels) *uorunnos*peikn-*tkpon-
Kritias/Euripides,
Sisyphos,fr.25. 33-4
ppov~;g,T6 r' oVpcavoi368j c;g,
by0v
oreTpo
tnOiLXtcL Icicrovog oo0O40
Xp6voW KcCXobv
inDoxographiagraeci,Aetiiplac.I 6.7: 60cv
(Cf.also variant
EUptli'&g4)rli"
O'T ECTpoCnov oVpcavo oE) ag
r6
-c-rovog oo4?oi).
Xp6vov KCakXvOLKLxLtkca
Forcloselyrelatedissues,see Janda2000 andKatz 2000.

storyof an Achaeanheroreturning fromTroyto his nativecountry.

Needlessto say,themostfamousN6orogis Homer'sOdyssey, but
fragments of the so-calledEpic Cycleindicatethata largebody of
similarstorieswerealreadycirculatinginGreeceatthetimeofHomer.
The traditionevidentlysurvivedin theearlylyric,e.g. in Stesichoros,
whois knowntohavecomposeda workcalledN6orot.60Suchstories
certainlyhad religiousor mythological connotations,someof which
mayno longerbe perceptible tous,buttheyprincipally emerged from
an oral tradition
lacking thecultic associations
of the Vedic hymns.
Nevertheless, thecomparisonof motifsand formulasin thesetexts
makesa strongcase forthepresenceof an Indo-European nucleusin
thecomposition oftheHomericN6o-o;g.The following Vedicstanza
concernsthemortalBhujyuwho,accordingto a numberof versesin
theRV,61was abandonedby his father in themidstof theocean and
subsequentlybrought backhomebytheNasatya.62 NotethattheVedic
adverbdsta-(< *isto-63)is closelyrelatedto Greekv6orog(*n6stos)
bothas regardsitsformation andsemantics:
andrambhanetdd avTrayethamanasthandagrabhanesamudreI ydd asvind

i7hdthur
bhujyam navamatasthivathsam
dstarmatatritrcmr II
In theintangible
oceanwithout
basisoranythingwhichcanbe grasped,youhave
shownheroism,AMvina, whenyou carriedBhujyuhome(dstam),(he) having
embarked on (your)hundred-oared
ship(RV 1,116,5).64,65
60PausaniasX 26.1. The poemis lostsaveforsome30 fragmented

unfortunately
lines(P.Oxy.
2360cols.i-ii.).
61Apartfromthecurrent
passage, 1,112,6.20;117,14.15;118,6; 119,4.8;153,3;
180,5;182,5-7;6,62,6;7,68,7;8,3,23;5,22; 10,39,4;40,7;65,12; 143,5.
62In hisinterestingbookTheMythofReturnin EarlyGreekEpic,DouglasFrame
(1978) suggeststhattheGreekv6o-othave thesame mythical originas thisVedic
theme(see esp. p. 136-137),butI am notentirely convincedthatone has to see in it
thereflexesofa solarmyth.Forfurther discussion,see Jackson1999:92-95.
63Cf.Mayrhofer 1992-96,s.v.dsta-.
64Forcontroversial mattersoftranslation,
see Pirart1995:165f.
65In additiontothequotation
regardingBhujyugivenabove,cf.also thefollowing
similefoundin a hymntoIndra(RV 8,3,23c):

92 PeterJackson
In like manner,the GreekDioskouroiare said to rescue gods

and mortalson land and sea (h.Hom. 33,6), includingtheirown
sisterHelen,whomtheybroughtback home.In whatseems to be
a virtualbridgebetweenmythand epic,they("saviours[...] riding
over the sea") "led (her) back to the nativecountry"(ntC[VpotCev
(Eurip.Hel. 1644ff.). Theexpression *jitC- kg artpiL6cawas
tdpcav)
already formulaicin Homer Cg
(r1Xqvy Od. 4.586,
Jcarpl'
E6t'eaucVv
cf. 23.221; tnapot r1
y(v g yciCav 14.333, 19.290),
nca6pilG
but all the more striking fromthe pointof view of comparative
philology are the characteristics of the vehicles(a ship,a wagon,
wingedhorses)describedin the versesdealingwiththe returnof
theshipwrecked Bhujyuand thePhaeacianshipsbringing Odysseus
home.Bothvehiclesare "swiftas thought" (To-vveeg )CKLt
ca wg i
-trTEpv~Vle v6ot, "theirshipsswiftas wingor thought" Od. 7.36;
rdthena mdnojavasa"witha wagonswiftas thought" RV 1,117,15cd),
an expressionwhich,althoughbeingfarfromuniquein theRV,is
attestedonlyonce in Homer.Furthermore, the Phaeaciansand the
Nasatyas(in a stanza [3] adjacentto RV 1,116,5[see above])areboth
said to have "animatedships":TLTJtroK6etVaLLt
pecG'vileg "ships using
theirmindstofindtheirgoal" Od. 8.556;naubhir dtmanvdtrbhir "with
animatedships" RV 1,116,3c,or plavdmatmanvdntam "animated
boat"1,182,5ab.Notonlydoesthelatter characterizationexhibitsigns
of phraseological
transparency,manifested in therecurrent element
in and
*neh2us(as vcYag ndus), but the notion of "animated ships"
provesto be as good as unique66in bothcorpora.We may thus
concludethatcertaindetailsregarding theDivineTwinssurvivedas
a conglomeratein Greekand Vedicliterature, realizedin themythof
Bhujyu andin one ofthemost influentialstoriesofWestern literature,
... dstamnvdyondttigryamII
... as thebird(or anywingedanimal)(carried+-) theson of Tugra(Bhujyu)
home[dstam]
66I havefoundsomeforty ofndu-intheRV,butonlyonefurther

instances passage
(whichalso concernstheAMvina) in whichthewordis associatedwiththe"mind"or
the"soul"(1,46,7ab):nava matTndm "theshipof(our)minds."

Homer'sOdyssey.Whereand howthemotiflostitsassociationwith
theDivineTwins,lostitsmythic tiesandturnedintofiction,
is opento
discussionandpartlya matter The factstillremainsthat
ofdefinition.
thesearchforsuchopen-endedtraditain theoldestIndo-European
It shedsnewlightuponthe
cannotbe rejectedas irrelevant.
literatures
transformations
andimaginary potentials a sharedheritage.
of
5. Ritual
Comparative belongto one of themostignoredaspects

ritualistics
ofIndo-European religiousstudies,especiallyifwe regardas itsmain
taskthecarefulcomparison ofwordsandaccompanying actsin ritual
texts.The notionthatsuchtextsarevirtually inexistentexceptforthe
extensiveritualmanualsof theVedicStitrasand Brahmanasis con-
tradictedby thefactthattheoldestdocumented Anatolianlanguages,
HittiteandLuvian,mainlysurvived intextsdescribing theprocedures
of feastsand rituals.The HatticandHurritic stratum so salientin the
mythological texts from Bogazkoy need not have been likewisedom-
inantin theritualtexts,at leastthereare sometextspointing in this
direction.Another wayof pursuing comparative ritualistics
wouldbe
to studyhow ritualacts are alludedto or metaphorically enactedin
poeticdiction.An exampleis themutualreference to thecutting up
victimandthedivisionand distribution
of a sacrificial of speech.67 It
of wordsand actsin situations
indicatesa close affinity governedby
a prescribedorderofperformance. Furthermore, themetaphorical ma-
chinery ofVedicpoetryclearlyshowsthatritualspeechandritualacts
werenotperceivedas distinct categories.68
67Cf. Svenbro1984 forthe Greekdata. Parallelsoccur in Vedic,whereVac

("speech"or "language")is presented victim(RV 1,164,5).See also
as a sacrificial
thefollowing note.
68Durante1968:268ff.The complementarity is salientin
ofpoeticsandritualistics
RV.By wayofexample,theenigmatic nounvaytina seemstoencodemutualreference
to ritualactsand thecompositionof poetry(2,3,6).In likemannertheverbpimrnati
occursinthecontext ofcutting
up meat (1,161,10;4,33,4),thecompositionofpoetry
(7,18,2)and vocal in
modulations ritual
speech(7,103,6). More examples thissort
of

94 PeterJackson
Discussionsof Indo-European ritualshave been concernedwith

such categoriesas the libation69, Indo-European *spend-or *gheu-
--the latterrootmay also have survivedin hereditary priestlyti-
tlesand certainly in thenotionof "pouringprayers"70 (in Greekand
elsewhere)-andthespectacular horsesacrifice. As regardsthelatter
category, resemblances
striking between Vedic,Roman andCelticdata
testifyto thesurvivalof a royalceremony withapparentsexualun-
dertones. JaanPuhvelmadethisassumption all themoreplausibleby
comparing theGaulish name IIPOMIIDVOS (Epomeduos)withthe
regularVedictermfor"horsesacrifice," advamedhd-.7The cosmogo-
nical associationsof sacrifice,especiallyas seen in theIranianand
Germanictraditions surrounding thefigure*(H)jem6s,werebriefly
discussedabove.
I willbringattention to theprospects ofcomparative Hittito-Vedic
ritualistics
by givingan exampleof parallelisms in tworitualtexts.
The comparison involvesa RVedichymn(10,85) forming partof a
nuptialritualdescribedin theSankhayanaGrhyasiitra (1,12,8)and a
Hittitetext(CTH 404) recitedin a ritualagainstdomesticstrife.72 Al-
though I have discussed the parallelselsewhere,73 some unfortunate
inadequacieshavemotivated a rehearsal.The priestin theVedicdo-
mestic(grhya)ritualis instructed to "tie her(i.e. thebride's)rela-
tions(to herbody)a red and blue,woollenor linencordwiththree
(amulet)gems,withtheverse(RV 10,85,28):'It is blue andred,the
sorcery, theadherence, (which)anointsitself(?) (making)yourrela-
tivesthrive,thehusbandis boundwithbonds."'Thenextstanzaofthe
RVedichymnreads:"Giveawaythebridalshirt(?)! Distribute goodto
theBrahmans! Thesorcery, havingacquiredfeet(padvdtt like
bhfitvy),
are foundin Durante1968. Fora discussionof ritually

governedwordsand acts in
see
Indo-Iranian, Schlerath 1974.
69Benveniste 1969.
70Kurke1989.
71Puhvel1955.
72Fora comparison oftheHittite
passageandOvid'sFasti,see Bader1992.
73Jackson1999a,1999b.

thebrideit approachesthehusband."Despitetheenigmatic character

ofthetwostanzas(probably havingsomething todo with defloration),
thedetailstowhichI wishtobringattention herearereasonably clear:
1) theritualconcerns a married couple,2) itinvolves objects which are
attachedtoa redanda bluewoollenorlinencord,3) thecoloursofthe
cordsare associatedwithsorcery(literally a "(malevolent) deed"),4)
thesorcery "acquires feet"(probablyto be understood in a metaphori-
cal sense:it"goesaway").Keepingthesedetailsinmind,we nowturn
to theHittite text.It occursin theritualof thewise womanMa'tigga
fromKizzuuatna.The ritualwas intendedto solve a strifebetween
two membersof thesamehousehold,eitherfather and son,husband
and wife,or brother and sister.The non-Hattic originof theritualas
a wholeis suggested bytherepeatedreference to a malesun-god(ad-
das DUTU-us)(e.g. II 19/20),becausethechiefsolardeityof Hattic
origin(thesun-goddess fromArinna)was female.74 After a number of
apotropaicacts, one of which involves a fish referredto as "bull(for
breeding)of thesea" (arunasGUD.MAH-as'I 38), "theOld Woman
takesa snail(?) andwrapsitin blueandredwool,andshebrandishes
itovertheparticipants intheritualandspeaksas follows:'Carryaway
... shovel foot/spadefoot (paddalis padas), the evil tongue. Let it
carrythemaway,theevil mouth,theevil tongue(idalunEME-an)"'
(III 8-13).75Whatis at stakehereverymuchreminds one ofthepro-
ceduresdescribedin theVedicritual.The context is no longernuptial
butstilldomestic,theconcreteritualartifacts partlyremainthesame
(blue and red wool) as do their
associationwithmalevolence, yetnot
so muchevildeedsas eviltongues.The moststriking case of formal
coincidence, however, is theidentical ofmarked
application apotropaic
vocabulary: theevildeeds or tongues"acquirefeet"(padvdtTbhatvy-
paddalispadas) wheretheycould simplyhavebeen orderedto "get
74Cf. theritualtextin KBo 22.22-26,in whichthe"manliness" ofthesolardeity

is characterized
as "new."As suggestedbyHaas (1994:378),thismayindicatethata
god of Indo-European originwas at stake.It is also notablethatKizzuuatnawas not
thetraditionalhabitatoftheHattians.
75TranslationanddiscussioninWatkins1981.

96 PeterJackson
lost!"Was itnotforthismetaphoric usage,we wouldonlybe dealing

witha homologous seriesofritualactswhichcouldjustas wellbe re-
garded as accidental butthissingulardetailmakes
or quasi-universal,
a strongcase fortheexistenceofa commonVedicandAnatolian ritual
heritageconcerning the domesticsphere.
6. Concluding
remarks
This shortstudyhas aimed to describesome traitsof common
religiousheritageamongpeoplesspeakingIndo-European languages
in pre-Christian and pre-Islamic Eurasia.It has been suggestedthat
theonlypossiblemeansof detecting suchtraitsshouldbe based on
thecoincidence ofetymological, andmotivicconcordances
stylistic in
thetextsat hand,noton thematic similaritieswhicharejust as likely
to occurspontaneously or as theresultof diffusion. The outcomeof
suchtextualcomparisons has notbeenparticularly rich,butmaystill
serveas a promising foundation forfurther explorations ofthechange
andcontinuity of orallytransmitted religious traditions.
Historiansof
religionsusingconceptssuchas "Indo-European religion"or "Indo-
Europeanmythology" should therefore be careful not to confuse
theseconceptswithtypologicalsimilarities in societieswhereIndo-
Europeanlanguageshappened to be spoken.When characterizing
something as "Indo-European," appreciation ofthemethods andresults
of contemporary comparative and is
linguistics philology required.
Without thisappreciation theonlysafebasisformakingsucha claim
disappears.Co-operation betweenlinguists andhistorians ofreligions
is expectedtoresultin a deeperunderstanding oftherangeandlimits
ofIndo-European religions,an issuewhichhasbeenseriously marked
by dilettantism and politicalbias in recent centuries.If pursuedin a
less chaoticandwilfulmanner, Indo-European studiesmayserveas a
usefulcomplement to thestudyof discretetraditions in Old Europe,
theMediterranean world,theNearEastandSouthAsia.
97 B
Svartbaicksgatan PETER JACKSON
SE-753 35 Uppsala,Sweden
@relhist.uu.se
peter.jackson

Appendix:TheIndo-European
deitiesand someoftheirattributes
GODS GODDESSES
*dieus *dioneh2
+*diujneh2 + *dieus
*smei-
h2eusos
*uorunos *diu6sdhugh2tjr
*uerH- *smei-
*sedos *uenos
*uestro- *h2ster
*peik-
_
*bhregh *seh2ueliosio
dhugh2tjr
*uet- +*diu6snepothe/*diu6ssuHnui
*perkWtih3nos uih2-
*p!th2
*diu6sputlo6s + *perkWu'h3nos
(?)
+*plth2uih2- *m6Hter
*smei- *plhI u
*gwhen-
*bheugh_
*(s)tenh2-
DEITIES OUTSIDE THE FAMILY
*diu6snepothle/*diu6ssuHnui *(H)iemds
+ *seh2ueliosiodhugh2tjr IIr.*uiuasuant-
(*hl )ekuos *gWous
*nes- *(s)kert-/*skabh-
us-
*neh2
*seh2uelios *h3rbhjU
*speks- +*uag-ro-
*kWekWlds *tetk-
*h2ogmos*meg6h2s
*gWous *h2ekwjm
neppt
*urHdhos
*h3meigh-
*hlogni-
*pjh2us5(n)
*pah2-*uiHro-*peku-(?)
*promath2eu-

98 PeterJackson
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Towards a Description of the Indo-European Religious Heritage

This content downloaded from 91.229.248.187 on Wed, 18 Jun 2014 07:51:17 AM

This content downloaded from 91.229.248.187 on Wed, 18 Jun 2014 07:51:17 AM

toricalas wellas methodological reasonsforthisscepticism. Without

2 As Bruce Lincoln demonstrates in his recentbook Theorizing

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corpusprovokemethodological and theoretical considerations which

3 Some notableexampleswere collectedin Schulze 1968 [1921]:34f.Having

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instancesof obsolescence.A comparison mayin factbe particularly

This content downloaded from 91.229.248.187 on Wed, 18 Jun 2014 07:51:17 AM

Beforeturning to thedescription ofthereligiousheritage we must

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This content downloaded from 91.229.248.187 on Wed, 18 Jun 2014 07:51:17 AM

To thissetshouldbe addedanother, onlyvaguelydiscerniblesolar

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3.2. A noteon Dumezil

Manymodernstudents of Indo-European religionshave regarded

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92,1,7(cf.Dumrzil1948:90f.);forotherpassagesinAVPsee 72,2; 80,2.

This content downloaded from 91.229.248.187 on Wed, 18 Jun 2014 07:51:17 AM

withtheearth,perceivedas his bridein Vedicioand his motherin

la. *dieusA b. *uorunos

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If thereis any logic to thisstructure,

12Justas it was supposedto haveservedas a

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ator."14He personified thediurnalskyand was possiblyperceivedas

This content downloaded from 91.229.248.187 on Wed, 18 Jun 2014 07:51:17 AM

"as his onlymythic thereis at leastone further

This content downloaded from 91.229.248.187 on Wed, 18 Jun 2014 07:51:17 AM

Vedicpoetry:he was "wide"or "wide-looking" (*uerH-),he bound

ofM. KiimmelinRixetal. 1998,625f.,whoreconstructs an Indo-European root*uer-

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Zoroastriancounterpartof Vedic Varuna.23As a patronof poets,

This content downloaded from 91.229.248.187 on Wed, 18 Jun 2014 07:51:17 AM

mationsof the name were stillassociatedwiththe same god, we

25Despiteinvolvingthe same verbalroot

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ters.He probablyhad a femalecounterpart withtheearth,

bhogd-("windung, Biegung,Schlangenring" accordingtoMayrhofer 1992-96s.v.)in

This content downloaded from 91.229.248.187 on Wed, 18 Jun 2014 07:51:17 AM

successfully in Vedicdata regarding

30Thepluralshould be ndpothleandnotndp5thlas suggested

This content downloaded from 91.229.248.187 on Wed, 18 Jun 2014 07:51:17 AM

This content downloaded from 91.229.248.187 on Wed, 18 Jun 2014 07:51:17 AM

havedenotedthepathof thehorsesof his chariot.39 His association

This content downloaded from 91.229.248.187 on Wed, 18 Jun 2014 07:51:17 AM

was thelogicalequivalentof *dieusph2teris basedon a hypothetical

This content downloaded from 91.229.248.187 on Wed, 18 Jun 2014 07:51:17 AM

said to have "evacuated(or 'transcended')"his own body,48and to

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a distantkin of the"descendants of thewaters"withanycertainty,

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ing"cudgel"(*Faypog,as in *MEkEFaypogand vdjrah< PIE *uag-

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haps intoa mediator

54The basic studiesofthisIndo-European deityareWatkins1970,Oettinger 1998

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I have alreadytouchedupontheconceptualization of heritageas

is theencodedversionofa microscopic mythdecodedas an addressto

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la. dieusA b. uorunos

ing"cudgel"(Faypog,as in MEkEFaypogand vdjrah< PIE *uag-

II uorunos ues- spocos (- h2ster)