The Indo-European Connection
The Indo-European Connection is the relationship that exists between the ancient Indo-European peoples. Specifically between the Vedic peoples, Norse peoples, Celtic peoples, Graeco-Roman peoples, and Zoroastrian peoples.
It is within the cultures of these related people that we find an extensive array of connections — similar myths, legends, themes, gods, goddesses, and primeval beings within the traditions of the people, in addition to deeper linguistic similarities, and even shared cultural practices — which I refer wholly as the Indo-European Connection.
Contents
- Introduction
- Indo-European Connections
- Pastoral Roots
- The Search For Knowledge
Introduction
The Indo-European Connection speaks to a deep cultural heritage within a group of modern people. The fact that we all speak…
The Indo-European Connections in
Agricultural & Pastoral Roots
Sophisticated Religious Tradition
A Priestly Class To Maintain It
The Norse–Vedic Connection
The number of connections that we can make between the Norse and Vedic-Hindu languages, traditions, and customs are extensive. Surprisingly extensive, considering their distance apart from one another (India–Norway) which we know to have been established in excess of 4000 years ago.
Pastoralists
Europe was settled by… Both the Vedic Aryans and the ancestors of the Norse lived and died by their cows. Both of these peoples are the descendants of Anatolian/Middle Eastern farmers and pastoralists — the first pastoralists of the world.
The Search For Knowledge
In Vedic tradition, specifically in the Upanishads, both the Devas and the Asuras go to Prajapati to understand what is Self (Atman, soul) and how to realize it. [1] In other words, both of these classes of divine beings seek out advanced knowledge from Prajapati, a higher being or a central being of some sort.
A potential parallel for this in Norse religion is the statement of how the Aesir gods (like Odin and Thor) seek knowledge from the Jotnar, travelling far (to the east, no less) to seek it.
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Indo-European Connections — Pastoral Roots
One of the great Indo-European Connections we find among a wide variety of ancient Indo-European peoples dispersed across a vast land, is their Pastoral Roots. Above we explored agricultural roots including all of the traditions marking the Neolithic Revolution — sedentary living, farming, gardening, animal husbandry.
All of these mark the various Indo-European peoples as distinct. In every direction roughly from Anatolia, in the millennia after the last ice age, they seemed to flood through Eurasia. They reached Ireland, Germany, Scandinavia, India, Iran, Greece, and Rome, bringing with them their agricultural style of living, and everything that came with it.
However, when specifically sets the Indo-Europeans apart, is their specific pastoral culture that emphasize cows. In India, we see the influence of cows in their religion and culture even today. In my experience, finding that an ancient culture was nomadic, had a horse culture, or a cow culture, and an economy based an pastoralism, is the smoking gun for an Indo-European connection.
Indeed in both Prehistory and Ancient History, this is the defining feature of Indo-European Culture, and the principle identifying feature that I look for when trying to determine whether a culture is of the Indo-European nexus or not.
In essence:
Do they have cows?
In this Indo-European Connections Series we explore the extensive connections among the Indo-European peoples. These connections can be cultural, mythological and religious, linguistic, and more, yet in every case they highlight the deep relationship between superficially diverse peoples.
The Definition of War
The ancient Vedic word for war is “the desire for more cows” (if Arrival is accurate … and it turns out that it is).
Check out this..
“The most detailed account of the Gigantomachy[57] is that of
the (first or second-century AD) mythographer Apollodorus.
[58] None of the early sources give any reasons for the war.
Scholia to the Iliad mention the rape of Hera by the Giant
Eurymedon,[59] while according to the scholia to Pindar’s
Isthmian 6, it was the theft of the cattle of Helios by the Giant
Alcyoneus that started the war.” [Giants (Greek) Wikipedia]
A Few of the Pastoral Cultures
In this
The Norse / Battle-Axe Culture —
Irish / Gaelic / Gallic Culture
Vedic Culture
Zoroastrian Culture
An Advanced Nomadic Culture
Traditionally, when we think of an Advanced Civilization, we think of cities, temples, pyramids, palaces, great libraries, roads, and massive standing armies. These metrics in one way or another, define all of the worlds great civilizations of antiquity.
However, while I agree with this definition wholeheartedly, it has gradually occurred to me that there are scenarios where a great civilization might not live up to this archetype.
For example, the Indo-European Peoples.
Resources
- Wikipedia Editors. Asuras. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asura. Accessed 9 June 2024.