In a previous article, ej...@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Maureen S. O'Brien) says:
>In a previous article, 00mwma...@bsuvc.bsu.edu (If it feels good, do it. If it doesn't: rub it a little. It'll feel good in a minute...) says:
>>i have a question, and it's a detailed one... in polytheistic religions (such
>>as the greco-roman or nordic mythos) is there a standard "set" of gods that can
>>be found? (such as: god of war, god of love, god of death, etc...) i'm very
>While this has been brought up (and I'm sure you'll get some good responses,
>most mentioning Indo-European castes and stuff), I thought I'd comment.
>I think the whole concept of identifying gods as "god of X" is not the most
>helpful thing in the world. A lot of gods (particularly Celtic ones) seem
>to be more "local gods" than gods of a certain professional province.
For example, (and sorry -- I got cut off) Brigid is goddess of fire, poetry,
and smithwork. However, it's probably more helpful to think of her as
the goddess of the Curragh, since she's the only one living there --
whereas Goibhniu (Welsh equiv. Govannon) is god of smithwork (and kills one
of her sons at Second Moytura), and Ogma (sometimes identified with the
Gaulish Ogmios) is the filidh (poet) of the gods. And lots of the gods
dealt with fire.
In fact, Lugh the Il-dana is not the only jack-of-all-trades among the Irish
gods. Most of them have overlapping skills. The same is true among the
Welsh gods, and even among the Greek and Roman ones. (How many times do
people in the Greek stories end up sacrificing to different gods of different
places for pretty much the same thing -- fair winds and a calm sea?)
I think it is only when the gods of different places are brought together
in one place (such as Rome) that their worshippers begin to worry about
which one is better at what.
Comments?
--
Maureen S. O'Brien We are like the roses ---
ad...@dayton.wright.edu We are forced to grow.
