The Sky Father and Earth Mother: the Basis of All Indo-European Religions, Part Eleven, the Italic Sky Father

 Iupiter (Jupiter) is the Sky Father of the Italic peoples, which of course includes the Romans. His name derives from the Proto-Italic *Djous patēr ('Sky Father'). Along with the Greek Ζεύς πατήρ (Zeus pater) and the Sanskrit Dyaus‑pitṛ́, it is one of the clearest reflexes of the PIE *Dyēus‑ph₂tēr.

Reflexes of the Italic Sky Father

The Roman Sky Father

Iupiter/Iuppiter/Jupiter/Juppiter is of course the best attested source, and for preference I use the term Iupiter in this series of essays as I consider it the most accurate form of His name. It should be noted by those who may not be familiar with Latin that the initial 'I' or 'J in Iupiter/Jupiter is pronounced as a 'Y'.

 Like the Greek Zeus, Iupiter was both the supreme god and the deity associated with thunder, along with law, oaths, sovereignty, and His cult was situated on the Capitoline Hill in Rome, in the Temple of Jupiter (Iupiter Optimus Maximus). According to tradition, the temple was dedicated in 509 BCE at the beginning of the Republic. This was the ritual centre of the Roman state, where consuls took office, oaths and treaties were sworn, triumphs ended and the generals took the spoils of war. 

The Chief Priest, flamen Dialis of Iupiter was chosen in childhood and was regarded as the living representative in the god's cult. He performed daily sacrifices to Iupiter and presided over oaths, treaties and the protection of the Roman state. Like many Indo-European priests there were manifold taboos which he had to live by, such as not riding a horse, not touching metal, not naming certain objects, et cetera. The flamen Dialis was the Roman continuation of the Indo-European Sky Father priesthood in parallel to the Umbrian priests of Iupater Fisius, the Greek priests of Zeus Polieus and the Vedic hotṛ priests of Dyaus Pitar.

The other two flamen were the flamen Martialis (the priest of Mars) and the flamen Quirinalis (the priest of Quirinus). Together with the flamen Dialis they made up the three flamines maiores (the 'greater priests') and signify the tripartite structure of Indo-European religion:

flamen Dialis

Iupiter: sovereignty, law, oaths. A highly sacred priest, heavily restricted by many taboos.

flamen Martialis

Mars: war. A priest less restricted than the flamen Dialis.

flamen Quirinalis

Quirinus: agriculture, fertility, community. A priest less restricted than the flamen Dialis.

The speculated etymology of flamen is quite instructive: 'one who burns'/'attends the sacred fire'. This activity links the flamen with:

. Vedic brāhman (priest)

. Germanic blót (sacrifice)

. Old Norse blóta (to sacrifice)

The root meaning of the above three terms is 'to swell, to burn, to offer by fire'. Again, this is an ancient Indo-European concept, the worship of the gods with the element of fire. Thus, the full interpretation of flamen maiores would be 'the greater fire-priests'.

The Umbrian Sky Father

Iupater/Iupater Fisius

The epithet fisius means 'of the hearth', thus the full interpretation of Iupater Fisius is Sky Father of the Sacred Hearth. This is the direct cognate of the Roman Iupiter. The sacred hearth was the hearth of the entire community and He was its divine protector. The Umbrian Iguvine Tablets describe fire rituals related to this god. His cultic role according to the tablets centred around major state sacrifices, the purification of the city and army, and sacred lustration rituals.

The Iguvine Tablets consist of seven bronze tablets written in the Umbrian language, which is closely related to Latin, and they date back to the 3rd to 4th centuries BCE. The ancient city of Iguvium (modern Gubbio) was the pre-Roman administrative, religious and cultic centre of the Umbrian people. Apart from the Latin sources, these tablets are the most important source for Italic pre-Christian religion. They provide details about ceremonial processions, sacrifices, prayers, rituals and invocations. The Iguvine priesthood were the Atiedian Brothers (fratres Atiedii), a hereditary fraternity responsible for carrying out rituals and making offerings to the major Umbrian deities. The strict rules and fixed formulas demonstrate that Umbrian religion was a highly formalised one, not primitive in nature and showed a continuity with Indo-European ritual structure. In addition to carrying out highly complex and exact rites, the priesthood was also responsible for the interpretation of omens from the gods. Unlike the Capitoline Hill in Rome, there was no single monumental temple: instead the priesthood carried out the rites in a sacred precinct, a ritual enclosure on the slope of Mount Ingino.

The Oscan Sky Father

Diuve / Díuveí

His name preserves the old PIE root *dyew‑ ('bright sky'). He is thus the 'Sky God'/'Heavenly One'. The Oscan reflex of the Indo-European Sky Father is the least well preserved and only fragmentary information survives. Oscan inscriptions of the reflex appear in southern Italy (Samnium, Campania, Lucania). The clearest forms of the reflex are:

. Dívei Patrei ('to Father Sky')

. Dípatres ('Sky Father')

. Díveís ('to Iupiter')

All of these forms are cognates of:

. Latin Iupiter 

. Umbrian Iupater

. Greek  Zeus Patēr

. Vedic Dyáus Pitā́

Oscan inscriptions indicate that He was associated with mountain sanctuaries, storms, oaths and treaties. Although the priestly titles have not been preserved, we do know that there was a state-level formal priesthood and a sacred enclosure from the inscriptions at the Samnite sanctuary in Pietrabbondante: Díveís Patereís ('to Iupiter the Father') and Díveís sakaraklú ('to Iupiter of the sacred enclosure').

The Sabine Reflex

Diespiter ('Day-Sky Father')

He is a cognate of Iupiter and His areas of responsibility are the sky, daylight and oaths. This deity was later merged with the Underworld God, Dispater ('Underworld Father') but originally the two deities and their names were distinct. The Sabine form of the Sky Father is preserved in Latin sources as Dius Fidius (the 'Sky Father of Oaths'). His name is related to:

. Latin Diovis/Iovis (Iupiter)

. Umbrian Iupater

. Oscan Dívei Patrei

. Greek Zeus Patēr

. Vedic Dyáus Pitā́

His name is the pure Indo-European form of Iupiter and appears in archaic prayers and formulas involving the sky, daylight, oaths and cosmic order. Oaths invoking Him must be sworn in daylight under the open sky, which acts as a witness. This a classic Indo-European feature. As a pre-Roman form of Iupiter, He preserves the oldest layer of that god's identity. His archaic attributes and functions are:

. The father of gods and men

. The Sky Father

. The Shining Sky

. The guarantor of cosmic order

. A witness to oaths

. The bringer of daylight

. The bringer of storms

Due to the great antiquity of this deity, and the fact that he is is a 'linguistic fossil', we have no surviving evidence of a dedicated priesthood but it is highly unlikely that He did not have one. 

The Faliscan Reflex

Iopater/Iupater/Iupater Faliscus

In other words He is Iupater of the Faliscans. It is known that they had a state priesthood but it cannot be proven that this was the same as the Roman flamen Dialis. They had sacred fire cults and oath taking rituals. Like the other Italic reflexes, Iupater was a god of sovereignty, the sky, daylight, oaths and sacred fire, and was a very archaic form of the deity, close to the Umbrian and early Latin variants. The evidence for Iupater Faliscus comes from inscriptions from the 7th to the 3rd century BCE. In early Italic society, such as the Faliscans, there was often little in the way of monumental architecture, which indicates that the gods were worshipped in open-air sanctuaries, on hilltops and with fire altars. This matches the pattern of the Umbrians and Oscans.

Comparison of the Italic Sky Father with the Greek

Similarities

Both names share the same linguistic root and descend from the PIE *Dyēus‑ph₂tēr, 'Sky Father'.

Iupiter < Diēus‑pater

Zeus Patēr < Dyēus‑pater

Both deities are sky and daylight gods, governing storms and granting weather omens. They are supreme gods in their respective religions and oversee oaths, treaties, legal agreements and truthfulness in general. This is reflected in their by-names: Zeus Horkios (Zeus of Oaths) and Iupiter Fidius (Iupiter of Trust).

Both gods are intimately associated with kingship and authority. They share thunderbolt symbolism and have many localised epithets. Each god is also invoked in war and peace.

Differences

While Zeus is a mythic personality, Iupiter is abstract and personal, represented more by symbols than by stories. Zeus did not have a universal priesthood as each city had its own priests. Iupiter had a single and highly regulated priesthood, the flamen Dialis. Greek worship was more temple-centred while Iupiter was more likely to be worshipped in the open air. Unlike Zeus, Iupiter was central to the Roman state.

Greek Influences on the Roman

From the 4th century BCE in Roman iconography, Iupiter began to be depicted as a bearded, muscular man, seated on a throne, holding a thunderbolt and accompanied by an eagle. Originally, the Italic peoples symbolised the god by a stone, the Iupiter lapis. This stone was kept in the Temple of Iupiter Optimus Maximus on the Capitoline Hill. The most solemn of oaths were sworn on it, 'per Iovem lapidem!', 'by Iupiter's stone!' The stone has not survived and no classical author has given a full description of it, but it is likely to have had the following features:

. smooth and rounded

. oval or egg-shaped

. unworked (not carved)

. kept on a pedestal or stored in a chest

. dark in colour

. small enough to be held

Some scholars consider that the stone may have been a meteorite and this is also my assumption, for there had to be something symbolically significant about this stone for it to be held in such reverence. Indeed, it was considered to be the very embodiment of Iupiter Himself. In addition to this stone, the early Iupiter was also symbolised by lightning, fire and the sky.

Early Rome had no myths concerning Iupiter, and thus they adopted and adapted those of Zeus from the Greeks. Some of Iupiter's epithets and cult titles were influenced by the Greeks, such as Iupiter Tonans (Iupiter the Thunderer) from Zeus Keraunios, Iupiter Olympius from Zeus Olympios and Iupiter Panhellenios from Zeus Panhellenios.

Early Iupiter temples were Italic in design, but later ones copied heavily from Greek architecture and the adoption of statues in the Greek style. Roman intellectuals became influenced by Greek philosophy, adopting ideas such as Zeus/Iupiter as cosmic reason, Iupiter as the world-soul and as the stoic god. It is important to remember though, that despite the influence of Greek architecture, mythology and philosophy, Iupiter remained Roman, as the god of the state, laws and oaths, rather than a mythic and divine king. His priesthood remained strictly Italic, the festivals remained Roman and he never became as fully 'human' as Zeus.

The Sky Father and Earth Mother: the Basis of All Indo-European Religions, Part Nine, the Greek Sky Father

 The Greek Sky Father, Ζεύς (Zeus, pronounced 'zay-us') is the Greek reflex of the PIE *Dyēus ('sky, daylight, sky-god'), which also gives us the Sanskrit Dyaus Pita, the Latin Iupiter, the Illyrian/Albanian Zojz and the Hittite Šiuš. He is both the supreme deity of the Greeks and their Thunder God. Functionally, He descends from the PIE *Dyēus ph₂tḗr, whose name is closest to the Latin Iupiter, which descends from the PIE directly via the Proto-Italic *Djous patēr/*Diēus patēr and then the Early Latin Diēspiter ('Sky-Father'), finally to the Classical Latin Iūpiter/ Iuppiter. The Sanskrit Dyaus Pita is likewise a very close linguistic reflex of the PIE.

The functions and domains of Zeus:

. Sky and weather.

. Thunder and lightning.

. Law, justice and kingship.

. Oaths and hospitality.

. Protection of cities and households.

The worship of Zeus was pan-Hellenic, but his worship and cult did vary in form from place to place.

Cultic Reflexes of Zeus

Zeus Olympios

This is Zeus in His most sovereign aspect, where He presides over the other Olympian gods at the centre of the Olympic games, and presides also over the games. Under this reflex Zeus is the god of the entire Greek world, not just a single city. His temple here contained a colossal gold and ivory statue of the god seated, measuring 41 ft in height, created by the sculptor Phidias around the year 435 BCE, raking as one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The ivory parts of the sculpture required constant maintenance to prevent cracking due to humidity, and this maintenance became part of the cultic life of the temple. The temple was eventually desecrated and closed by order of the Christian Roman Empereror Theodosius II. The abandoned temple was stripped and never maintained afterwards, suffering from earthquakes in 522 and 531 CE. As for the statue itself, according to the Byzantine chronicler, it was dismantled and carried off in the 5th century to Constantinople and stored in the Palace of  Lausas as part of a private collection of pagan art, and possibly destroyed there in a palace fire in 475 CE.

Zeus Naios/Zeus Bouleus

Here at the oracle of Dodona, Zeus was worshipped along with the goddess Dione (Διώνη), a pre-Olympian deity, whose name literally means 'The Goddess', the feminine form of Zeus. Indeed it is the genitive form of Zeus, 'of Zeus'/'belonging to Zeus'. It is derived from the same PIE root, *Dyēus, from which we get Zeus, Dyaus, Iupiter and the Baltic Dievas. From this root we also get Dioskouroi, the 'sons of Zeus'. It would appear that Dione was the original consort of Zeus in the oldest mythological layer, prior to the emergence of Hera and Her displacement of Dione. It would seem that Hera's marriage to Zeus was a later political development, connected to the rise of certain city states.

The pairing of Zeus as Sky Father and Dione, the Sky Mother, who later absorbed Earth Mother traits, may reflect an older Proto-Indo-European pairing. The concept of a Sky Father AND a Sky Mother is not unique to the Greek mythology. It may also be found in the Germanic *Tiwaz and Zisa, as well as the Baltic *Dievas and *Dievaitė ('Sky-Goddess', 'Heavenly One'), and the Vedic Dyaus and Dyaus (female). The concept of the Sky Mother will have to be reserved for detailed discussion in a future post or series of posts as this will take me too far away from the focus of this series, which is the Sky Father and the Earth Mother.

At Dodona both deities are worshipped together; Zeus speaks through the rustling of the sacred oak, the wind and the sky. Dione is associated with the tree, the earth beneath it, the water from the sanctuary springs and the doves, which symbolise the divine presence. It must be stressed at this point that She is not Gaia, Demeter or any other cthonic underworld goddess, but a celestial goddess who touches the earth.

The oracle of Dodona contained the following elements:

. The Sacred Oak of Zeus. Priests interpreted the rustling of its leaves, the creaking of its branches and the sound of the wind passing through it as the literal voice of Zeus or Dione.

. The Bronze Cauldrons and Tripods. These were situated around the Sacred Oak and when struck by the wind they sounded like bells and the sounds were interpreted as messages from Zeus and Dione.

. The Selloi/Helloi. These were the male priests of Zeus at Dodona who slept on the ground, never washed their feet and lived in ritual purity. They interpreted the signs given by Zeus.

. The Paleiades. These were the priestesses of Dione, three in number (according to later tradition). They are a direct link to Dione, whose sacred animal was the dove, and this is the meaning of 'Paleiades'. They interpreted the signs given by Dione, one method being through the movement of the doves. 

. Lead Tablets. Pilgrims would write their questions on thin lead tablets and hand them to the priest or priestess who collected and read them, and with the signs given at the oracle, interpreted them on behalf of the gods. The answer to the question was given orally and loudly to the pilgrim and then the tablet was left behind. Eventually, by Christian imperial decree, the Sacred Oak was cut down and the site abandoned.

Zeus Polieus

As Protector of the City of Athens, Zeus was the guardian of civil order. He is both the political and moral centre of the city, the protector of the polis (the Greek city-state). Emphasis was placed upon justice, civic harmony and law. The annual ritual of the Bouphonia ('oxe slaying') took place in Athens, an exceedingly ancient ritual, so much so that in classical times the Athenians themselves no longer understood it. The Bouphonia had the following steps:

. The ox approaches the altar of Zeus Polieus of its own free will and eats the sacred grain (barley cakes prepared by the priests), again of its own free will.

. A man, designated for this purpose, kills the ox with an axe.

. The killer (bouphonos-'ox-killer') of the ox flees immediately.

. The axe is put on trial for murder. Witnesses are summoned, the axe is found guilty and then cast into the sea.

. The ox is butchered and the community shares the meat and is symbolically absolved of guilt. This is the only type of ox sacrifice permitted on the Acropolis. The Bouphonia is clearly a relic of Bronze Age religion which long predates classical Greek religion and its antiquity can be seen in the following features:

. Animism.

. Object trial (the axe as a substitute for a person).

. The concept that animals can commit sacrilege.

. Taboo logic.

The Bouphonia is a Bronze Age reflection of Indo-European sacrifice myths: in this case it is a scapegoat myth or 'Guilt-Transference-Sacrifice'. Scholars have identified the following three types of sacrifice myths:

. The First Sacrifice Myth. Examples include the Vedic sacrifice of Purusha, the primordial being and cosmic giant, whose body becomes the world, following its sacrifice by the Devas. This is echoed in the Norse myth of Ymir, the primordial giant who is slain by Odin and His brothers, and his body becomes the world. 

A much weaker reflex of this myth is to be found in the story of the sacrifice of Remus by his brother Romulus. This is not a cosmogonic myth but a watered down and highly euhemerised version of the PIE original, which accounts for how Rome was built by his sacrifice. His death was ritually necessary for the foundation of Rome. The death of Remus is also a reflex of the Indo-European twin myth, which I intend to explore in a future essay or series of essays: time does not permit me to expand on this in this current post. 

An Iranian parallel to the Purusha myth is that of the first man, the primordial being, Gayōmart (Avestan: Gaya Maretan, meaning 'Mortal Life'), created by Ahura Mazda and killed by Ahriman, the so-called 'evil spirit' of Zoroastrian dualism. As his body decays on the earth, from his seed grows the first human pair, Mashya (male) and Mashyana (female), As in the Norse myth, other things have their origin in his body as well, such as metals, minerals and plants. He is the origin of all life.

In the Greek myth of Dionysus Zagreus, the former is the mystical and primordial form of Dionysus in the Orphic religion, an underworld form of Dionysus, who is born, dismembered, eaten and reborn, thus a god of death, rebirth and the soul, a Greek expression of the Indo-European dismembered cosmic being.

Fragments of this myth are also found in Baltic mythology. No single mythic narrative survives, only scraps to be found in the Lithuanian dainos, the Latvian dainas, agricultural songs and ritual laments. What we can deduce from the Baltic sources is that a divine or semi‑divine figure is cut, mown, or killed, and from his body comes fertility, crops, or cosmic order.

. The Guilt-Transfer Sacrifice

This is where the Bouphonia fits in. Parallels may be found in Germanic law, where objects such as weapons, tools and even animals could be formally tried, Vedic rituals where the sacrificial knife is ritually purified, and in Celtic rituals where the guilt is transferred to a symbolic object.

The Royal/Horse Sacrifice

Examples may be found in Irish kingship rituals, the Roman October sacrifice of a war-horse, Baltic and Germanic horse burials and royal rites, and most especially the Vedic Aśvamedha, the clearest example of the royal horse sacrifice by the most powerful of kings. The subject of horse sacrifice is something which I wish to explore in a future essay.

Zeus Keraunios

Throughout ancient Greece, Zeus was worshipped as the Storm God, invoked for protection during storms, appeased to prevent lightning strikes and associated with mountain-tops and open-air altars. 'Keraunios' (κεραύνιος) has the meaning 'of the thunderbolt', 'thunder-wielding', 'striking with lightning'. It derives from the PIE root *ker‑, meaning 'to strike, cut, smash', a concept preserved with the following Indo-European Thunder Gods:

. Indra strikes with the vajra.

. Thor strikes with Mjölnir.

. Perkūnas strikes with the stone axe.

. Perun strikes with the axe.

. Donar strikes with the club.

. Taranis strikes with the wheel/thunderbolt.

Zeus along with other Indo-European Thunder Gods is closely associated with the oak tree, which attracts more lightning than any other species of tree. This effectively is a meterological observation which over time has become a religious association. The reason for their attarction of the lightning is due to their height and mositure content.

Zeus Xenios

In this reflex Zeus was the protector of strangers and guests, who enforced the rules of hospitality toward strangers and punished those who broke these laws. The Greek noun xénos has the meaning, 'stranger, guest, foreigner, host, guest-friend'. The Greek form may be traced to the PIE *ǵénh₁os /* ǵénos ('stranger, guest, someone from another clan'). Sacred hospitality was clearly a deeply ingrained concept amoung the Proto-Indo-Europeans.

Zeus Ktesios

This is the domestic form of Zeus, worshipped in homes, the protector of property and the family. The etymology of 'Ktesios' (Κτήσιος) suggests that the word in all its forms is connected to possessions, property, acquisition; thus Zeus is the god who protects the home, its contents, wealth and prosperity.

The Nordic Appearance of the Aryan Gods

The following short article was originally posted on my Aryan Myth and Metahistory blog on 23rd of July 2011 and I have reposted it here after reading Wulf Ingessunu's excellent The Sons of God

Over recent years from my studies of the mythologies of various Aryan peoples I have been struck by the similarity in the physical appearance of the Gods of the various pantheons. Hardly without exception they are of Nordic, indeed of extreme Nordic appearance with "snow white" skin, tall in height, light eyed, being mainly blue, grey or green and light haired, predominately blond but also red. There are some exceptions. Poseidon or Neptune, the Greek/Roman sea God has black hair but he is the brother of Zeus/Jupiter and thus of the same divine stock. In the fairy tale of Snow White the heroine of the tale has "snow white" skin but raven hair. *

A cursory study of Homer`s Illiad and Odyssey confirm that in the vast majority of cases the Gods and demi-Gods/heroes are light skinned, light eyed and light haired. Jos Rogiers in his splendid work The Lost Civilization of Homo Supersapiens also makes this observation and does a thorough job of it. I refer readers to Part II Chapter 6 in which he goes into great detail and quoting many references to Aryan myths and fairy tales which consistently describe the physical appearance of the divine beings referred to.

We must not forget that fairy tales, although collected and recorded in post conversion times do contain a great deal of mythological knowledge although much of it has a Christian veneer. The ancient Gods and Godesses of the Aryan peoples could no longer be openly referred to. Many that could not be canonised by the church were subsequently demonised. Many of the Gods continued to survive as fairies, fays, giants, elves, dwarves or banshees. As befitting beings of the Golden Age of Earth the Gods and Goddesses frequently are clothed in white, silver, golden or purple raiment. Often the Celtic ones also appear in green. Often they carry weapons or tools of great value, being gold or silver. This is not surprising as in the Golden Age gold and silver were in great abundance on the earth.

Apart from the major deities which are usually 12 or 13 in number there is a host of other minor Gods and Goddesses and those who are of part divine descent, named as heroes in the Greek tradition. Heroes have only one divine parent, most often it is the father rather than the mother. These heroes or Demi-Gods share the same sort of appearance as the Gods. Nymphs, many giants, valkyries and elves also share this same radiant, beautiful and unearthly appearance. On a personal note I recently had a dream in which a shining blonde Goddess appeared to me and announced: "Iam Eriu, Goddess of the Aryans."

The various Aryan mythologies make it clear that the royal families of the Aryan nations were of divine descent. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles record the Germanic God Woden as being the ancestor of the royal families of the various Anglo-Saxon tribes. Not only were the kings and princes able to claim a divine lineage but many of the common people of the Aryan nations. For instance Tacitus' Germania states in section 2.2: "In ancient lays, their only type of historical tradition, they celebrate Tuisto, a god brought forth from the earth. They attribute to him a son, Mannus, the source and founder of their people, and to Mannus three sons, from whose names those nearest the Ocean are called Ingvaeones, those in the middle Herminones, and the rest Istvaeones." Mannus appears to be the same deity referred to in Indo-Iranian mythology as Manu.

With some justification the Germanic peoples could and indeed should think of themselves as a divine people, sons and daughters of the Gods. Indeed is it not amongst northern Europeans that the Nordic strain is still strongest? Indeed it is our genetic link to the Golden Age Gods who once walked the earth and were overlords of the human races and the parents of some. They will walk the earth again when this present Dark Age of chaos, this Wolf Age, this Iron Age, this Kali Yuga is brought to a violent climax with Ragnarok (Korangar for those with understanding).

*However it is speculated that Poseidon was not an original Greek deity but belonged to a race of Gods from an earlier pre-Indo-European subject population. Indeed we only know with certainty that Zeus, Eos and the Dioskouroi were of Greek origin. There are certainly pre-Greek and pre-Indo-European elements present in Greek mythology. (Edit, 22/3/20)