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The existence of similarities among the Deities and Religious Practices of the Indo-European peoples allows glimpses of a common Proto-Indo-European religion and mythology. This hypothetical religion would have been the ancestor of the majority of the religions of pre-Christian Europe , of the Indian Religions , and of Zoroastrianism in Iran . Indications of the existence of this ancestral religion can be detected in commonalities between languages and religious customs of Indo-European peoples. To presuppose this ancestral religion did exist, though, any details must remain conjectural. While similar religious customs among Indo-European peoples can provide evidence for a shared religious heritage, a shared custom does not necessarily indicate a common source for such a custom; some of these practices may well have evolved in a process of Parallel Evolution . Archaeological evidence, where any can be found, is difficult to match to a specific culture. The best evidence is therefore the existence of cognate words and names in the Indo-European Languages . PRIESTS The main functionaries of the hypothetical Proto-Indo-European religion would have been maintained by a Class of Priest s or Shaman s. There is evidence for sacral kingship, suggesting the tribal king at the same time assumed the role of high priest. This function would have survived as late as 11th Century Scandinavia, when kings could still be dethroned for refusing to serve as priests (see Germanic King ). Divination was performed by priests, perhaps from parts of slaughtered animals (''see'' Animal Sacrifice , Haruspex ). Watching Bird s possibly also played a role in divination (''see'' Augur , Language Of The Birds ). Examples of the descendants of this class in historical Indo-European societies would be the Celtic Druid s, the Indian Brahmin s, the Latin Flamines and the Persian Magi . Historical Indo-European religions also had priestesses, either Hierodoule s (temple prostitutes), dedicated virgins, or Oracle s, e.g. the Roman Vestal Virgin s, the Greek Sibyl s or the Germanic Völva s (see also Witch ). Some Indo-European societies can be interpreted as being divided into three parts: a Clerical class, a Warrior class, and a class of peasants or husbandmen. Such a division was suggested for the Proto-Indo-European society by Georges Dumézil as the '' Trifunctional Hypothesis ''; this hypotheses is not widely accepted. PANTHEON Linguists are able to reconstruct the names of some deities in Proto-Indo-European Language (PIE) from names occurring in widely spread, old mythologies. Some of the proposed deities are more readily accepted among scholars than others.
Widely accepted deities
Speculative proposals Additional gods may include:
Fantalov's reduction According to the Russian scholar Alex Fantalov , there are only five main Archetype s for all gods and goddesses of all Indo-European mythologiesA. Fantalov, "Indo-European mythologies: genesis and evolution of characters." (materials presented at an international symposium at the Pyotr Veliky Anthropology and Ethnography Museum, Saint Petersburg, 1999). {Link without Title} . He also proposes that these five archetypes were possibly the original deities of the pre-PIE pantheon. These, according to Fantalov, are: # God Of The Sky # God Of Thunder # God Of The Earth/Underworld # Cultural Hero # Great Goddess The sky and thunder gods were heavenly deities, representing the ruling class of society, and in subsequent cultures they were often merged into a single supreme god. On the other hand, the Earth god and the Cultural Hero were earthly gods, tied to nature, agriculture and crafts, and in subsequent cultures they were often split into more deities as societies grew more complex. And while it seems there existed some enmity between the Thunderer and the God of the Earth (which may be echoed in myths about battle of various thunder gods and a serpentine enemy, see below), the Cultural Hero seems to be a sort of Demigod son of either the sky god or the thunder god, and was considered to be the ancestor of the human race, and the Psychopomp . Together with the character of Great goddess, who was a wife of the ruling sky god, the cultural hero thus balanced between the heavenly god of the sky/thunder and the more chthonic god of the earth/underworld. Other scholars contest the use of Fantalov's reduction to only 5 deities, or these particular deities, as original forms. MYTHOLOGY There seems to have been a belief in a World Tree , which in Germanic Mythology was an Ash Tree (Norse Yggdrasil ; Irminsul ), in Hinduism a Banyan tree, in Lithuanian Mythology Jievaras , and an Oak Tree in Slavic Mythology , and a Hazel Tree in Celtic Mythology . In classical Greek Mythology , the closest analogue of this concept is Mount Olympus ; however, there is also a later folk tradition about the World Tree, which is being sawed by the Kallikantzaroi (Greek goblins), perhaps a reborrowing from other peoples.
Related to the dragon-slaying myth is the "Sun in the rock" myth, of a heroic warrior deity splitting a rock where the Sun or Dawn was imprisoned. Such a myth is preserved in Rigvedic Vala , where Ushas and the cows, Stolen by the Panis were imprisoned, connected with other myths of abductions into the Netherworld such as the mysteries of Eleusis connected with Persephone , Dionysus and Triptolemus . There may have been a sort of nature spirit or god akin to the Greek god Pan and the Satyr s, the Roman god Faunus and the Faun s, the Celtic god Cernunnos and the Dusii, Slavic Veles and the Leszi , Vedic Pashupati , Prajapati and Pushan , the Germanic Woodwose , Elves and Dwarves ; There may also have been a female cognate akin to the Greco-Roman Nymph s, Slavic Vila s, the Huldra of Germanic Folklore , the Hindu Apsaras , the Persia n Peri . A possibly similar type of spirit may be found in Jewish mythology, Azazel and the Se'irim , as well as in Arabic Mythology , the Jinn . There may also have been a savage dog or wolf guarding the underworld, such as Greek Kerberos , and Norse Garm . It is also likely that they had three fate goddesses, see the Norns in Norse Mythology , Moirae in Greek Mythology , Sudjenice of Slavic Folklore and Deivės Valdytojos in Lithuanian Mythology . The Sun was represented as riding in a Chariot . DEVELOPMENT The various Indo-European daughter-cultures continued elements of PIE religion, syncretizing it with innovations and foreign elements, notably Ancient Near East ern elements, the reforms of Zoroaster and Buddha , and the spread of Christianity and Islam .
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