Transcription
Hello and welcome to Kraken Ford. I'm John White, and in this video, we'll be looking at the Indo-European divine twins.
Now, twins appear many times across Indo-European mythology, and they can also be placed into one of two categories: the twins of creation, such as Manus and Yemo, or the divine twins. And it's these twins we'll be looking at in this video. We'll look at their purpose and what they really represent with regards to the evolution of the Indo-European pantheon. And as a bonus topic, this subject would also allow me to explain why this YouTube channel is called Kraken Ford.
So, grab yourself a cup of tea and welcome to the story of the divine twins, and welcome to Kraken Ford. For those of you who haven't watched one of my videos before, we have chapters, subtitles, and the list of citations within the video description to help anyone who wants more information. And this video has a like button, which is more important than ever to press if you like this video, due to changes in YouTube's algorithm lately. And with all that preamble out of the way, I shall begin.
One of the few things we can be sure about regarding the Proto-Indo-European pantheon is the fact that the divine twins were part of it. Mythology about these twins appears in Greek, Roman, Germanic, Iranian, and Indian mythology. And when a piece of mythology appears across these areas and is dated to over 2,000 years ago, it has a pretty good chance of being influenced by the cultures that spoke Proto-Indo-European.
Now, the divine twins are tightly integrated into Indo-European mythology for reasons we'll discuss in a moment. But where the understanding of such things would often be the result of the historian Dumézil, it was in fact a Swedish scholar, Wikander, who made significant insights into the divine twins. Wikander, in the middle of the last century, wrote about the Indian epic, the Mahabharata, and he said it represented humanized Indo-Iranian mythology. And from this, he was then able to show that the twins were connected with the tripartite social structure that was an output of Dumézil's work on the Indo-Europeans. And if that wasn't enough, Wikander then went on to prove conclusively that Indo-European mythology was known amongst the Germanic tribes.
Now, the Indian text of the Mahabharata is itself based on events that happened over 3,000 years ago, and I've shown this in this video, um, how some of it seems to come from the same source as the Iliad and the Odyssey by Homer, which suggests that these stories, the stories within these texts, have Proto-Indo-European origins. What Wikander specifically wrote about, as the Mahabharata is a huge book, is the twins, heroes of Nakula and Sahadeva. And he was able to show that despite being twins, each had a distinct personality, each playing a particular role in the mythology.
Now, with Wikander, he showed that Nakula was the heroic, handsome warrior, and someone skilled with horses. And this warrior was described as having eyes of fire and the shoulders of a lion. But his twin brother, Sahadeva, was a peaceful character associated with the care of cattle and was considered modest, patient, and just. And understanding this, Wikander showed that the divine twins were associated with Dumézil's tripartite system. The warrior was associated with the warrior, the second function of Dumézil's tripartite system. And Sahadeva was associated with the commoner, the third function of Dumézil's tripartite system.
Now, I've spoken a little about Dumézil's tripartite system in this video, but a brief synopsis is that in Indo-European mythology, shortly after the creation of the world, three types of people were created: priests, who represent magic; warriors, who represent courage; and commoners, who grow crops and give food. And these were made from different parts of the body of the sacrifice twin of creation, Yemo. And it was Yemo's same body that was used to build the world. And to supplement this, there was also a king made from a combination of all the body parts of Yemo.
Now, as Indo-European society had three types of people as three classes, then what Wikander is saying is that the divine twins represent two of these classes: warriors and commoners. Now, whilst that sounds straightforward when explained by this, the Rigveda actually states that all Asvins, so the gods of the culture, are equals. And so Wikander tackled that challenge by showing that there were distinctions in the Rigveda, albeit subtle, but were variant enough to show a fundamental distinction between the two brothers. And I do refer to the paper he wrote in the description of this video below.
Now, Wikander also showed that the functions of fertility and warfare associated with the Asvins, and therefore Nakula and Sahadeva, were in fact also applied. So, once they applied to one, and the other set to the other. And to help strengthen his position, he then showed that post-Vedic texts refer to these brothers in their singular form, i.e., they were no longer twins. So, Sahadeva became Deshra, and Nakula became Nakula.
And to understand this was useful, as within the Iranian Avesta, known to reject warfare and all things to do with war, there is a demon known as Naonhaithya from the Vidavdat 10.9.1943. And this name corresponds with the Vedic Nasatya. Therefore, showing that the Vedic hero of Nakula, who was associated with warfare in Indian culture, was demoted to a demon in the Iranian Avesta, and so confirming his association with war and warfare.
As for Nakula's brother, Sahadeva, Wikander wrote that he probably appears in the form of Atar, the son of Ahura Mazda, within the Vesta books, although that argument doesn't have widespread acceptance. Despite this, the implication of Wikander's work is that the divine twins had distinct personalities. They were twins, but they were not the same. They were associated with Dumézil's tripartite system, and this helps place them in the timeline of history just before the major Proto-Indo-European migrations were taking place.
But there was another trait twins had, and this trait is not just found in Indo-European mythology, and that is that they were often considered to have different fathers, with the father's position reflecting the twins' alignment within the social apartheid group they represented. And this is reflected in many mythologies about twins where it's often stated that they had distinctions, with one being considered a lesser person than the other. And this is something also seen in tales where there are two or more brothers; there is almost always a distinction between them, but often no reflex of the divine twins, as it's often more than just one person in tales who is considered the strongest. And it is also much heard urban myth today that the eldest of the twins is more intelligent than the lazy, foolish younger twin.
A clear example of this is in Greek mythology, where Zeus was known to be a father of one of the twins, although let's be honest, he fathered a lot of things. But for this video, he fathered Heracles, where Amphitryon fathered Iphicles. So, the goddess father in the warrior, and the mortal general, who son of a king, fathered the passive twin. And this is paralleled in Vedic religion, where we see the twin Asvins of Dioscuri, in effect, both being called the sons of God, but yet they had different fathers. One who is known as the blessed offspring of the sky, but the other is the son of the mortal Samaka.
From this, we can really conclude that the Indo-European trait of the divine twins is that one would be associated with being a warrior, strong, and aligned with horses, and fathered by a divinity. And the other would be associated with being a commoner, aligned with fertility and cattle, and fathered by a mortal. And this really isn't surprising, as the only other position they could take up would be sovereign within a tripartite system. In effect, that would make them a priest, a king. And this was not appropriate in mythology. In effect, this makes mythological and structural sense that they all could be warriors and commoners.
What is also interesting about this fact is that the equivalent of the sky-father position in Indo-European pantheons as a chief god is also the father of one, or casually both, twins in many Indo-European mythologies. So, this would be Zeus in the Greek pantheon, and his Proto-Indo-European equivalent would have been this *Dyēus*. And it is for this reason that the twins are often called the sons of God, as I mentioned in the Vedic a moment ago. And so, for this reason, the twins would have also been known as *Dioscuri*, which forms the Greek Zeus Kouri, which is why if you have ever looked up imagery of the divine twins, you might see statuettes or engravings referring to them as Dioscuri.
And so, we often say that it is the Dioscuri tradition that the twins were the product of two fathers, which in turn altered their behavior or function. And with the warrior form of the twin being fathered by the sky-father god, or the culture of the mythology that is being examined, and the passive twin being fathered by a mortal. But despite this separation of function within the twins, we do see stories of wars being won as twins, but also alongside this, there are stories about fertility and harvests. And in some iconography, we see the twins wearing pilloi, which are egg-shaped hats representing fertility symbols.
The divine twins are often associated with both war and fertility. And so, to uncover evidence supporting this view, showing those distinct behaviors can be a challenge to find because of these things happening together. But we'll look at an example where this could be found, and that is in Greek mythology. And in one of the more famous divine twin myths, we have Castor and Polydeuces. Where the Greek poet Pindar, who within the Pythian Odes, associates a golden chariot to Castor, and Castor was then honored as found in, uh, the horse race. And his brother, Polydeuces, however, was honored for founding hound racing or dog racing. And right there, we see a distinct difference between the twins, with one being associated with a horse, and an animal of war, and the other with a dog, which is an animal associated with the home and the farm.
Castor and Polydeuces in Greek mythology became Castor and Pollux in Roman mythology, and a cult was established around them. But Castor was also considered a patron of the Roman infantry around 500 BCE, and there was no association with his more passive brother within the infantry. And the reason? Well, it is probably down to the fact that an elite warrior force wants to be associated with a patron who is warlike and not one who is a commoner. And so, certain warriors were nicknamed Castor if they were particularly warlike, but none were named Pollux. And so, this second twin, Pollux, this passive twin, started to fade into the background in some threads of mythology that came out of the Roman infantry, although we still see him as part of the divine twins in a cult that persisted about a thousand years later in Rome.
And so, we see different parts of society acting differently towards the split of the divine twins' abilities, dependent on that part of society's purpose. And we talk more about this one twin who fades away from mythological threads a bit more in a minute, but first, let's look at the horse. And I say that because often the divine twins are often associated with horses. In fact, in some myths, the twins are named after horses. And part of the reason for this is that they were often perceived as warriors, and the warriors of the late Proto-Indo-European cultures were firmly associated with horses.
Now, the horse provided a distinct tactical advantage when it came to war, especially against tribes that weren't as advanced technically with regards to the horse or the wheel. And this made the horse stand out even more in Indo-European mythology. And this also allows us to date the rise of the twins, as horses weren't being ridden before five and a half thousand years ago. And it would be reasonable to put a timeline of say, 5,000 years ago, to give time for these cultures to adopt the horse into their mythology and create some heroes around it.
Before this time, from around 6,000 BCE or 8,000 years ago, the cow or bovine was the divine animal, being so useful that it had to be a gift from the gods. And I discussed more about this in this video about what the Indo-European creation myth means. But as horses became domesticated, first for meat, then for milk, then for riding, it became used as a tool for war. And this allowed the mythology of the Indo-Europeans to evolve. As the importance of the horse grew, it would have replaced the cow as having been considered the main gift from the gods. And so, the cow that was sacrificed by our ancestors became a horse that was sacrificed by our ancestors.
But also, we see that these horse sacrifices were limited to sovereign sacrifices, those around priests and kings, again highlighting the importance of the horse in late Proto-Indo-European culture. And so, to conclude all this, let's look at one more piece of mythology about the divine twins, and one that I feel connected to in a way. And that is the story of Hengest and Horsa, twin brothers who led Jutish mercenaries at the start of the Anglo-Saxon migration into the country we now know as England, a country named after those same Angles. Just in their names, we see them link two horses, with Hengest meaning stallion and Horsa meaning horse. Although, on this basis, you'll probably understand that Hengest is the warrior brother, as his name is associated with more masculinity.
Before I go on with the myth, these divine twins have a close affiliation with this YouTube channel, as Hengest is said to have fought at the Battle of Crayford in 456 or 457 CE. And there, his army slaughtered over 4,000 Britons to help to take over Kent from King Vortigern. Oh, that's how the story goes. And you can read more about this campaign in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, and I will do a deeper dive video on this topic one day, as people often ask me why this channel is called Kraken Ford. Ben, short, this Battle of Crayford took place in a town where I was born and grew up, a town now called Crayford, on the border of Kent and London. But slight digression, but for those who are interested, hope that was useful.
But back to Hengest and Horsa. And are those two warriors actually divine twins? Now, because some of you may know the tales of Hengest and Horsa from the Anglo-Saxon tales, you may wonder if those two Germanic warriors fit the warrior and commoner model. Certainly, the information from the stories in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles do not suggest they have a difference. However, we do see in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles that Horsa fades from the story, leaving Hengest as the sole invader. Now, this disappearance isn't unusual, as we've seen it in Roman sources where Pollux is overshadowed by his warlike brother. And so, we can speculate that this process was being applied to Horsa during the Age of Heroes, where the aggressive Hengest, the stallion, was the one that was remembered in the poems and stories, and so his more passive brother disappeared.
With this disappearance, we are speculating, little that Horsa was the commoner and not the warrior, as the story gives no formal clue to this. But there is a folk legend in Germany, recorded in the book The Legends of the Artus, which mentions a father who gives one of his sons his sword to defend a castle, and the other a plow to farm the fields. And this theme, whilst not directly related to Hengest and Horsa, is so aligned to the Indo-European motif of the warrior and commoner in Germany at a time when Hengest and Horsa mythology was being created, that you can't dismiss it. And all this adds further evidence that the Germanic people understood the Indo-European mythology of the divine twins, and Hengest was the warrior and Horsa the commoner.
However, what this also means for those who are interested in Anglo-Saxon history and their invasion into Kent is that the brothers called Hengest and Horsa are but a tale, a myth, and the remnant of a divine twin story. The actual names of the leaders of the mercenaries who started to take over the land now called England are lost to time.
And so, to look at this as a whole, when viewed as individual mythologies, these stories may not represent much. But when put together, like many of the areas I've covered in these videos on Indo-Europeans, we see the connection, the evolution of mythology, that the divine twins were remnants of our Indo-European ancestors. And they are spoken about so much in Indo-European mythology, they are one of the few pieces of the Indo-European platform that we can be absolutely confident about existing, even if they may have been slightly later in the timeline than the original creation myth that was told.
And with that, I shall end the journey into the divine twins here, and hope you enjoyed the video. So much, or subscribe, or press the like button, or both. And please ask questions and leave your comments below, and I will try to answer as many as I can. So, until the next video, please stay safe and stay well. And this was Kraken Ford.