Divine twins

Ašvieniai, commonly called as the little horses, on the rooftop of a house in Nida

The Divine twins are a mytheme of Proto-Indo-European mythology.

• the Greek Dioscuri
• the Vedic Ashvins
• the Lithuanian Ašvieniai
• the Latvian Dieva dēli
• Alcis (gods)
• Romulus and Remus
• Hengest and Horsa

O'Brien (1982) reconstructs a horse goddess with twin offspring, pointing to Gaulish Epona, Irish Macha (the twins reflected in Macha's pair, the Grey of Macha and the Black of Sainglenn), Welsh Rhiannon, and Eddaic Freyja in the tale of the construction of the walls of Asgard, seeing a vestige of the birth of hippomorphic twins in Loki in the form of a mare (in place of Freyja) giving birth to eight-legged Sleipnir. The myths surrounding Hengest and Horsa could come from a common source, since they were descendants of Woden and Hengest's name meant "stallion" (in German: Hengst) Shapiro (1982) points to Slavic Volos and Veles, and collects the following comparative properties:

• sons of the Sky God
• brothers of the Sun Maiden
• association with horses
• dual paternity
• saviours at sea
• astral nature
• magic healers
• warriors and providers of divine aid in battle
• divinities of fertility
• association with swans
• divinities of dance
• closeness to human beings
• protectors of the oath
• assisting at birth
• founders of cities

Literature

• Steven O'Brien, Dioscuric Elements in Celtic and Germanic Mythology, JIES 10 (1982), 117-136.
• Michael Shapiro, Neglected Evidence of Dioscurism (Divine Twinning) in the Old Slavic Pantheon, JIES 10 (1982), 137-166.
• Donald Ward, The Divine Twins: An Indo-European Myth in Germanic Tradition

See also

• horse sacrifice

This article relating to a European myth or legend is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.v · Categories: Mythological archetypes Indo-European mythology European mythology Animal deities Twins Indo-European deities European mythology stubs Wikimedia Foundation. 2010. Игры ⚽ Поможем написать реферат Gallery of named graphs David Goode Look at other dictionaries: The Legendary Twins — (绝代双娇) also known as The Twins , Handsome Siblings , Legendary Siblings , The Twin Heroes , or Amazing Twins (and other similar variations) is a Wuxia novel written by renowned wuxia novelist Gu Long. It was written between 1966 and February 1969 …   Wikipedia Castor and Pollux — For other uses, see Castor and Pollux (disambiguation). Pair of Roman statuettes (3rd century AD) depicting the Dioscuri as horsemen, with their characteristic skullcaps (Metropolitan Museum of Art) In Greek and Roman mythology, Castor ( …   Wikipedia Proto-Indo-European religion — The chariot, as a symbol of social rank and military strength but also mythologically as the sun chariot (Trundholm sun chariot pictured, Nordic Bronze Age, ca. 160 …   Wikipedia Glossary of Hinduism terms — An article related to Hinduism …   Wikipedia creation myth — or cosmogony Symbolic narrative of the creation and organization of the world as understood in a particular tradition. Not all creation myths include a creator, though a supreme creator deity, existing from before creation, is very common. Myths… …   Universalium epic — epically, adv. epiclike, adj. /ep ik/, adj. Also, epical. 1. noting or pertaining to a long poetic composition, usually centered upon a hero, in which a series of great achievements or events is narrated in elevated style: Homer s Iliad is an… …   Universalium Ashvins — The Ashvins (Sanskrit: अश्विन aśvin , dual aśvinau), in Hindu mythology, are divine twin horsemen in the Rigveda, sons of Saranya (daughter of vishwakarma), a goddess of the clouds and wife of Surya in his form as Vivasvat. The Ashvins are Vedic… …   Wikipedia Glossary of terms in Hinduism — The following is a glossary of terms and concepts in Hinduism. The list consists of concepts that are derived from both Hinduism and Hindu tradition, which are expressed as words in Sanskrit as well as other languages of India. The main purpose… …   Wikipedia Marassa Jumeaux — In Vodou, the Marassa Jumeaux are the divine twins. They are children, but more ancient than any other Loa. Love, truth and justice. Directed by reason. Mysteries of liaison between earth and heaven and they personify astronomic astrological… …   Wikipedia CASTUR AND PULTUCE —    The divine twins corresponding to the Greek Dioskouroi (Kastor and Polydeuces) and the Roman Castor and Pollux, also known as the Tinas Cliniar. This pair is very frequently incised on Etruscan mirrors, facilitated artistically by the symmetry …   Historical Dictionary of the Etruscans 18+ © Academic, 2000-2024 Contact us: Technical Support, Advertising Dictionaries export, created on PHP, Joomla, Drupal, WordPress, MODx. Mark and share Search through all dictionaries Translate… Search Internet Share the article and excerpts Direct link … Do a right-click on the link above and select “Copy Link”