Proto-Indo-European Mythology

Have you ever noticed that sometimes different religions will have their own versions of the same story? For example, pretty much every religion has a flood myth.

Linguistic historians have hypothesized that most of the world's languages evolved from an ancient language called Proto-Indo-European, or PIE for short. We don't have any records of this language, but people have tried to reconstruct what it might have been like. Some historians have taken this a step further, and created an entire hypothesized pantheon. Proto-Indo-European Mythology would have been the ancestor to many modern world religions.

Deities:

*Dyḗus ph₂tḗr: The "sky father", god of daylight and the sky. *Dyḗus personified the *deywṓs, which was the heavenly abode of the gods.
*Dʰéǵʰōm Méh₂tēr: The "earth mother", who is paired with *Dyḗus. She is associated with life and fertility, but also with death and the underworld. *Dʰéǵʰōm is also called "*Pl̥th₂éwih₂", which means "the vast one".
*H₂éwsōs: The goddess of the dawn. She was the daughter of *Dyḗus and one of the most important PIE deities. She is associated with rebirth, as she is "born" again every morning.
Divine Twins: Two young men who were associated with horses. They are thought to pull the sun across the sky, and rescue mortals who are in danger. Their main myth involves saving their sister *H₂éwsōs from drowning.
*Perkʷūnos: The god of weather. He wielded a weapon called *mel-d-(n)-, which meant "lightning" and/or "hammer". He was associated with oak trees.
*H₂n̥gʷʰis: A giant snake-like monster, with many heads.
*Seh₂ul: Goddess of the sun, who rides across the sky in a chariot driven by horses. Their gender is disputed.
*Meh₁not: God of the moon. Their gender is disputed.

Myths:

The First Sacrifice

The first humans were *Manu (meaning "man") and *Yemo (meaning "twin"). *Manu, the first priest, killed *Yemo, the first king, and created the world out of their body.

Serpent Slaying

The evil serpent *H₂n̥gʷʰis causes trouble by blocking the water and/or stealing cattle. Fortunately, with the help of the god of thunder, the human *Trito is able to slay the serpent, becoming the first hero.

War of the Functions

Two groups of gods go to war against each other. One group of deities are rulers and warriors, and the other group of deities represent fertility and/or chaos. The war ends with the cosmic order being overturned, and the two groups coming together.

The two types of deities are referred to as *deiwos ("god") and *ansu– ("ruler") respectively. Which group is the "good guys" and which group is the "bad guys" varies in the various myths descended from the original PIE myth.

Son Slaying

The son of a hero is forced to fight his father, who does not realize that they are related. The father defeats the son.