Table of Contents
Crecganford argues that the oldest gods whose names can still be rebuilt belong to speakers of Proto-Indo-European, not to the figures at the first towns. Nobody wrote that language down, so the pantheon is a reconstruction, yet shared words and stories across Europe and much of Asia are its footprint. He puts the culture on the steppe and its later reach with moving herders, and he warns that myth charts flatten time. The creation tale has the twins Manu and Yemo seeking a stable home for the gods. A primordial cow goes with them and is sacrificed, which he takes as the source of later cattle rites. Yemo’s eyes become sun and moon, a picture he admits sits awkwardly beside sun and moon as gods of their own. Around them stand a sky father, an earth mother, a storm god later taken into Zeus, a dawn goddess still seen in Vedic hymns, divine twins, and a guardian of herds. He dates this core to about 7,500 years ago and calls it the earliest named pantheon we can describe.
Key points
- The oldest recoverable god names, in this telling, belong to Proto-Indo-European speakers, not to the first carved sanctuaries.
- The language itself was never written, so the pantheon is reconstructed from later daughter traditions.
- Manu and Yemo seek an ordered home, and a primordial cow is sacrificed to make the world.
- Yemo’s eyes become sun and moon, which clashes with sun and moon also being gods.
- Sky father, earth mother, storm, dawn, divine twins, and a herd guardian fill out the circle.
- Crecganford dates that core to about 7,500 years ago and treats chaos and order as a repeating cycle.
Short quotes
Well, the answer lies in the fact that their pantheon has left footprints of its existence across a significant part of the world.
Crecganford, Crecganford on the Proto-Indo-European gods
He says this group of gods can be traced because later cultures still carry the pattern. Watch at 1:44
That's the origin of rituals and sacrifice in Indo-Europeans that are centered around the bovine.
Crecganford, Crecganford on the Proto-Indo-European gods
Cattle offerings, in his account, go back to the cow in the creation story. Watch at 15:26
Manus placed Yemo's eyes in the heavens, creating the sun above and the moon below.
Crecganford, Crecganford on the Proto-Indo-European gods
Sun and moon are explained as the eyes of the sacrificed twin. Watch at 19:44
The sky father, the earth mother, the storm god, the ocean god, fertility gods, and others kept the cosmos in order as time passed.
Crecganford, Crecganford on the Proto-Indo-European gods
After creation, a set of gods is said to hold the world in order. Watch at 21:49
The next deity we have confidence in is the Dawn Goddess, Husos, who we see clearly in traditions such as the Vedic.
Crecganford, Crecganford on the Proto-Indo-European gods
Dawn is one figure he thinks can be recovered with real confidence, including in Vedic hymns. Watch at 30:33
And with these two deities came a third person, a deity of pastoral life, a guardian of livestock.
Crecganford, Crecganford on the Proto-Indo-European gods
A third figure joins the pair as a protector of herds and pastoral life. Watch at 37:08
Video by Crecganford. Watch on YouTube.