Henry Shephard

To the origins of the cult of Dionysus1

The argument presented in this study concerning a new way to view origin of the famous Indo-European

element of proto-Thracian mythology – wine god Dionysus, relying not solely on the basis of religious

and cultural constructions but also on the archaeological findings and data from the study of linguistic

parallels. I will try to set a good example of how mythological theme, originally confined to its own

internal structure, while being de-semantized and reduced its ambiguity, begins to materialize in its

external relations, connotations of logical ties. This study is not intended as the final word on these

topics but, rather, as a contribution based on the currently available evidence.

In earliest pre-literate times the proto-Thracians had an impact on the ancient mythology formation of a

vast number of western civilization nations, which accelerated the technological advances leading to

emergence of one of the earliest industrial wine-making centers. Wild grapes naturally grow widely in

areas where the earliest centers of human community emerged and since there were a few in numbers,

cultivation of grapes had likely originated in several places independently.2 First grape cultivation

attempts had to meet certain conditions: situated within the zone of wild grapes natural habitat, meet

specific climatic and weather conditions, prove emergence and use of certain words in linguistic system

of given territory, indicating to the production and consumption of wine. Since what causes a plant to be

noticed and cultivated is its religious value3, the key to such search would be the degree of religious and

spiritual life of an ancient society with early differentiation of the deities, in which wine becomes a

separate and important ritual component. If we stipulate the premise that the better wine-making is

developed, the greater is the likelihood of inclusion in the pantheon of a deity with special affinity to

wine and wine-making, one should seek the territory where a god of wine appeared for the first time. In

this situation it is possible to assert with the defined confidence that the earliest religious belief

associated specifically with wine was the cult of Dionysus4, commonly known in archaic Aegean world

and Balkans. However, according to Herodotus5 and other ancient Greek writers6, demigod Dionysus

was of Thracian origin7, being the son of the god Zeus and earthly woman Semele. Various written

1 This article was published in: Индоевропейская история в свете новых исследований: сборник научных статей, М., 2010,

стр.297-310 ISBN 978-5-7017-1653-5. 2 P. McGovern, Ancient Wine: The Search for the Origins of Viniculture, Princeton University Press (Princeton 2003), 152-171.

3 A.G.Haudricourt & L.Hédin, L’homme et les plantes cultivées (Paris, 1946)90. In: M.Eliade. The Secred & Profane: The Nature of

Religion ( 1956)149-150. 4 Hesiod, Works and Days, 609; Euripides, Bacchae, 535, 650, 705-10, 770; Diodorus Siculus, Library of History 4.2.3; Nonnus,

Dionysiaca 12.330;12.394; Aelian, Historical Miscellany 3. 41 5 Herodotus, History, 2:49, 52, 143-146.

6 Euripides, Bacchae230ff,350ff; Apollodorus, The Library 2.191; Suidas "Saboi"(Harpocration s.v., quoting Demosthenes 18.260.

7 Herodotus, Histories 5. 7; Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, 4.81.1; Hesychii Alexandrini Lexicon, ed. K. Latte; Codex Venetus

Graec. 851, formerly Marcianus Graec, 622.

documents of ancient Greece tell the story of a legendary mythical demigod 8 but at the same time in

the image of Dionysus one can see traces of a real historical figure.

Several explanations have been put forward to explain the origin of this god and the meaning of his

name. Russian prominent linguist Vadim Tsymbursky proposed interpretation of the name Dionysus on

the basis of Thracian onomastics: "Our God”, that is, a God of Middle Earth - between Earth and Sky9.

Thus it is, in essence, some scholars see it as an expression of immortality10 worship. External attributes

of the Dionysian cult such as the retinue of Dionysus - Silenus, who taught him winemaking, Sileni (river

demons), Satyrs (demons of forests and foothills), Maenads and especially its main attribute - sacred

wand Thyrsus11/ κφρςοσ point at the specific region - Lower Dniester (and this implication does not

originate merely because of the semantic and phonetic attraction to the older Dniester name – Tyras/ ό

Τύρας). During the prehistoric Neolithic Era, the Dniester River was the center of one of the most

advanced civilizations on earth at the time. This area is recognized as a part of ancient Thracian world12

and corresponds to the natural habitat of wild grapes13 as well as all above mentioned criteria. In this

situation, researchers have identified the early proto-Thracian group with a number of cultural and

chronological formations of the late Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age14 including Usatovo culture of the

Lower Dniester region, which actually has an archaeological foundation15.

There is no doubt that cultivation of grapes in the area situated between the rivers Prut and Dniester

dates as far as Aeneolithic/Chalcolithic age16. The most noteworthy evidence of winemaking early

attempts is from given epoch - IV-III millennium B.C., since excavations of archaeological sites of that era

found remnants of grape cultivation17. As during the period of Usatovo culture in the Lower Dniester and

in its predecessor Bug-Dniester and Cucuteni-Trypillian cultures in Northwestern Black Sea region, there

are some macrobotanical grape evidences of the cultivation of grapes18. Therefore in the Early Trypillian

settlements in Ruseshty - Noi (New Ruseshty) were attested grape seeds. However, they are forms of

grape varieties that have underwent domestication and were deliberately planted around dwellings.

The appearance of the Usatovo type monuments in the Northwestern region of Black Sea is associated

with the arrival into the region of the westbound tribes of the Yamna/Pit-Grave culture, and their

8 Herodotus, Histories 2. 52; Hyginus, Fabulae, 224.

9 В.Л.Цымбурский, Имя Диониса//Colloquia classica et indogermanica III. Классическая филология и индоевропейское

языкознание, (СПб, 2002) 10

E.Rohde,Psyhe 1890-1894257-272; E.Rohde 1925, 2: 27 ff. ; Hyginus, Fabulae 224; Eliade 1956: М.Eliade, The Sacred & Profane: The Nature of Religion,v.‖, (San Diego New York London: A Harvest/HBJ Book 1957), 101-150. 11

Euripides, Bacchae 705-10 expressed it in a word narthex; for the first time the word thyrsus witnessed in the Cratinus comedy "Dionysus -Alexander\" (430 BC. er.); Diodorus Siculus. The Library, Book 4-7,( St. Petersburg, 2005) 299. 12

S.Morintz, Probleme privind originea tracilor in lumina cercetărilor arheologice, Revista de istorie 18. t. 30. (Bucureşti 1977), 1465-1488; also see reference #8 - Eliade 1982, 170-171. 13

В.И.Маркевич, Позднетрипольские племена Северной Молдавии (Кишинев 1981) 193. 14

М.Eliade, A History of Religious Ideas. The University of Chicago Press, (Chicago and London 1982). Vol. 2, 170-179. 15

S.Morintz, Probleme privind originea tracilor in lumina cercetărilor arheologice, Revista de istorie 18. t. 30. (Bucureşti 1977), 1465-1488. 16

З.В.Янушевич, В.И. Маркевич, Археологические находки культурных злаков на первобытных поселениях Прутско-Днестровского междуречья, Интродукция культурных растений (Кишинев 1969) 74-75. 17

З.В. Янушевич, Культурные растения Юго-Запада СССР по палеоботаническим исследованиям (Cultivated Plants of South-West of the USSR in paleobotanical research) (Кишинев 1976)143. 18

В.И. Маркевич, Позднетрипольские племена Северной Молдавии (Кишинев 1981)136.

increased activity, which resulted in gradually falling into decay of classical Cucuteni-Trypillian culture.

During the same period in the Lower Dniester region first appeared amphorae and goblets of Early

Bronze Age cultures from Volyn region and Carpathian Mountains, whose corded ornamentation

influenced culture of ornamental motifs of the Usatovo culture19. Large kitchen and dining Usatovo-type

vessels decorated with ornaments of triangles, embellished with imprints of cords or painted with an

oblique grid may well be associated with the use and storage of wine. It should be noted that Usatovo-

type amphorae and goblets significantly differ typologically with the ceramics of the preceding phases of

the Early and Middle Cucuteni-Trypillian culture located between the lower areas of Prut and Dniester

rivers20. Later, during the Late Bronze Age (XIII-XII centuries BC) after a certain period of time in

Northwestern Black Sea region began developing this amphorae type utensils like pots, the leading

origins from which is the Early Hallstatt cultures of the Middle and Lower Danube21. The height of pots

ranges from 30 to 90 cm22 with volumes up to tens of liters. It is quite possible that this type of

cookware extensively used for making and storing wine. In addition, in the Late Bronze Age develops a

new type of cookware such as large size pithos (πίκοσ/πίκοι) shaped pottery often buried to the neck

unto the ground23. Fragments of large pots and pithos shaped vessels were found in the excavation of

eponymous Tudora settlement in the Lower Dniester region24. In general, πίκοσ/πίκοι type vessels with

molded rollers ornamentation, as well as the pottery are genetically closely related but to the later

Sabatinovka (Noua-Sabatynovka-Koslodzheni) and Belozerka cultures of Northwestern Black Sea

region25.

Material remains suggest early signs of the emergence of the cult of wine in the Lower Dniester in

Usatovo archaeological material. Due to the fact that during the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age in

ancient pastoralist society prevailed meat food, raw materials such as animal hide were in abundance.

Surpluses of animal hide were not only subject to export but were also used for storage and

transportation of wine. It is clear, from the evidence, the remnants of leather products, including bags

and even wineskins found in the inventory of burial barrows of Yamna /Pit-Grave culture in the Lower

Dniester region26. It is most likely to have a wine-making origin, as its earliest cult was centered there.

The integration of textual and archaeological data has led to fruitful results to the knowledge that in the

early manufacture of the wine initially were used leather goatskin vessels to design to make and store

wine. These were called "zalmos” by Thracians. Hence, the name Zalmoxis - deity of Celtic tribes in

19

В. Г. Збенович, Late Trypillian tribes of North Black Sea region/Позднетрипольские племена Северного Причерноморья. (Киев 1974) 141-147. 20

В.Г.Петренко, Новые источники и проблемы изучения позднего Триполья на западе Причерноморских степей (50-125) в кн. Э.Ф.Патокова, В.Г.Петренко, Н.Б.Бурдо, Л.Ю.Полищук. Памятники трипольской культуры в Северо-Западном Причерноморье. (Киев 1989) 110; 139. 21

В.П.Ванчугов, О появлении корчаг в памятниках эпохи поздней бронзы Северо-западного Причерноморья. Археологические памятники Северо-Западного Причерноморья. (Киев 1982) 50. 22

Ibid.: 45 23

И.Черняков, Связи сабатиновских племен Северо-Западного Причерноморья с Восточным Средиземноморьем: По керамическим находкам. Северное Причерноморье: (Материалы по археологии): (Киев 1984) 37-39. 24

А.И. Мелюкова . Работы в Поднестровье в 1958 г. КСИА АН СССР, (Москва 1961)113-134. 25

И.Черняков, Северо-Западное Причерноморье во второй половине II тыс. до н. э. (Киев 1985) 146,151. 26

Л.В.Субботин, Некоторые особенности погребальных обрядов племен ямной культуры устья Днестра (По данным раскопок Семеновской экспедиции) Северо-Западное Причерноморье в эпоху первобытно-общинного строя (Киев 1980) 52-63.

Northwestern Black Sea region most likely originates from it. W.K.C.Guthrie identified him with

authentic Thracian “brothergod” Dionysus27.

It is quite possible, however, as archaeological evidences points out, that pithos (πίκοσ) shaped vessels

with molded rollers ornamentation were brought by the migration of the "Sea Peoples” of the Northern

Black Sea area to Anatolian Asia Minor28. In three Sabatinovka type cookware pithos (πίκοσ) shaped

vessels ornamented with molded rollers were found in the Troy horizon VII A-B (1300 - 1260 years

B.C.)29. Along with such dishes archaeological materials of the Troy - VII horizon contain drinking cups

made with two vertical loop-handles, typical of the cultural block of Noua-Sabatinovka-Koslodzhen30.

Clearly, as the discussion below indicates as well, a reevaluation of these notions is needed.

Almost simultaneously in the Aegean world, in about XIII-XII century B.C. a similar form of ceramics in

the form of large vessels for storing liquid and bulk products became known as Cretan-Mycenaean word

a-po-re-we. Although word amphora became known much later - since IX century B.C. (Greek κώκων;

Ugaritic qtn). We can point to some verbal forms, characteristic to the territory of the Lower Dniester

with authentic ancient Mediterranean and Asia Minor parallels. For example, modern Romanian word

cadă (barrel) used in Lower Dniester region of Moldova to denote a container for the fermentation of

wine, which some scholars see as phonetically similar to the ka-to-se (Mycenaean Linear B script)31 and

to the Latin cadus32. Russian kadushka originates from the same root, likely before the separation of the

Indo-European branches; in Lithuanian kede = barrel. The Greeks often called amphoras such barrels

that would be called in archaic dialects ϰώκων. Round containers used in production of wine in the

Lower Dniester called galeată (Rom.- bucket) provide an exact phonological parallel for the Greek

γαυλόσ/gauloi, Latin gaulus, Ugaritic galu , Akkadian gullatu33. The word vino/вино - wine in Slavic

language is similar to Romanian word of Lower Dniester vin, Mycenaean wo-i-no, Pylosian dialect we-je-

we, Latin vinum, Ugaritic yēna, Hittite wi--ya-na-a/wa-ā-na-as, Luwian wintar / winiyanda, and Cretan

dialect genitive foino, i.e.φοίνω34.

In the Homeric period, the archaic Greek word οἶνοσ (wine)35, a the synonym for Proto-Indo-European

*médʰu (honey; mead)36 stands for strong intoxicating drink made from honey, product of honey

27

M.Eliade, Zalmoxis, The Vanishing God,The University of Chicago Press,(1972), vol.2; Orpheus and Greek Religion by W.K.C. Guthrie, 1952, 1993. 28

И.Черняков, Связи сабатиновских племен Северо-Западного Причерноморья с Восточным Средиземноморьем: По керамическим находкам. Северное Причерноморье: (Материалы по археологии): (Киев 1984) 34–42. 29

C.Blegen, Troy and the Trojans. New York: Praeger, 174. 30

И.Черняков, Связи сабатиновских племен Северо-Западного Причерноморья с Восточным Средиземноморьем: По керамическим находкам. Северное Причерноморье: (Материалы по археологии): (Киев 1984), 36-37, рис.1,3. 31

J. Brown, The Mediterranean Vocabulary of the Vine. Vetus Testamentum, Vol. 19, Berkeley 1969, Fasc. 2, 146-170; Brown 1995: J. Brown, Israel and Hellas. The Mediterranean Vocabulary of the Vine, Walter de Gruyter Publishing, (Berlin-New York 1995) chapter 4, 149-168. 32

J. Mallory& D. Adams, The Oxford introduction to Proto-Indo-European and the Proto-Indo-European world, Oxford University Press (Oxford 2006) 262. 33

J. Mallory& D. Adams, The Oxford introduction to Proto-Indo-European and the Proto-Indo-European world, Oxford University Press (Oxford 2006) 158-159. 34

J. Brown, The Mediterranean Vocabulary of the Vine. Vetus Testamentum, Vol. 19, Berkeley 1969, Fasc. 2, 146-170; R. Gorny, Viniculture and ancient Anatolia, Wine in the Hittite texts. In: The Origins and Ancient History of Wine by P. McGovern, S. Fleming, S. Katz (London-New York 2000) part III, 11, 136-150. 35

Hesiod W.D. 572

fermentation - or drunken honey (honey wine) so-called hydromeli. In the beginning honey drink and

grape wine were inseparable37 until the selection of wild grapes led to cultivation of varietals that

produced higher sugar content, requiring no additional ingredients to create a higher alcohol

concentration in the fermented product.

Other traces of this are to be found in the modern Romanian language, which has Thracian roots, words

zeamă într-un strugure (juice from grapes) is concordant with Knossos zo-a/zoā “broth”38 (in the

preparation of potions), ηζω/zeo of the classical Greek "boil" and Ζεύς /Zeus - "god". In ancient times in

the process of making a number of intoxicating beverages used “boiled” juice, honey and herbs in

goatskin leather bags tied to the neck, called askos or korykos. Remains of such, as noted above, found

in the Lower Dniester.

If the goal is to understand past societies, the human factor needs to be part of the analysis. Even the

seemingly natural process of fermentation to an observer looks similar to boiling. This establishes a

parallel between the deity of grapes Dionysus and Zeus39, viewed as an expression of this word, which to

us is not unfounded. Both deities share similar epithets - Eleuther40, Sabazios and Melanegis. The close

relationship between Thracian Dionysus - Sabazios and Zeus, a jointly worshiped cults in Crete41 is not

limited to just name and mythological kinship but also manifests itself in particular Proto-Thracian

symbolic attributes identified with the two symbols - bull and oak. In light of the present argument one

should note that the above symbols were the leading semantic component in the process of building

ancient temples - sanctuaries in the tumuli of the Lower Dniester42. Thus, the most famous Aeneolithic

sacred burial structure consisting of oak logs placed into the ground in a certain order was uncovered in

the burial tomb of the tumulus near village Krasnoe (Grigoriopol County) in the Lower Dniester region.

Oak logs, despite the abundance in the Dniester alluvial plains of other tree species, were specifically

used to cover burial chambers in Usatovo and Late Yamna/Pit-Grave archaeological sites. Interestingly,

though, in the cited Grigoriopol tumulus, in addition to the wooden structure of the cult, several stones

with zoomorphic shape images so-called букрании/bucranion (stylized bull's head) were found, likely

symbols of fertility43 and affiliated to cult of Dionysus.

The Thracian language belongs to the Indo-European family of languages. Previously it was thought that

together with the Phrygian and other extinct languages of the group, it belongs to the Iranian branch of

Indo-European languages. Most likely the ancient Indo-Europeans (or one of branches) can be

considered a candidate for the identity of the Corded people of Yamna/Pit-Grave culture, which

supports the view that these people inhabited, in the III millennium BC, the modern Moldova, living east

36

Одиссея 4.746; Ригведа 1.84.10 ab; Mallory&Adams 2006, 262; Brown 1995, 139. 37

K.Kerényi & R.Manheim, Dionysos: Archetypal Image of Indestructible Life. Princeton University Press (Princeton 1996),42. 38

linear B clay tablet from Knossos KN Fh 343. 39

E. Bloedow, Evidence for an Early Date for the Cult of Cretan Zeus, In: Kernos Vol. 4 (1991) 139–77. 40

Plutarch, Sylmpos. vii. in fin.; Pindаr, Ol. xii. 1; Strabо, ix. p. 412; Tacitus, Ann. xv. 64. 41

linear B tablet KH Gh3 from Khania, Crete; Godart & Tzedakis 1991, 129–49; Trzaskoma & Smith 2004, 448. 42

Н.Л.Серова, Е.В.Яровой, Григориопольские курганы. (Кишинев 1987). рис.31,1, 152. 43

Ibid.:p.79

of the modern Ukraine and southern Russia44. On the basis of the physical evidence, it is likely that the

Corded people came from somewhere north or east of the Black Sea.

Tsymbursky, in reply to Dechev, put forward the earlier proposed argument of "pre-Indo-European

linguistic substrate” in the whole Baltic-Balkan zone where, in his opinion, the Indo-European Satem

type languages were resulted in creolization between an Indo-European and a non-Indo-European

language substrate45. That the elements of the common Germanic vocabulary and syntactical forms

which do not seem to have an Indo-European origin show Proto-Germanic to be a “creole” language: a

contact language synthesis between Indo-European speakers and a non-Indo-European substrate

language used by the ancestors of the speakers of the Proto-Germanic language. Hawkins argues that

the proto-Germans (protoindogermanische Schicht) encountered a non-Indo-European speaking people

and borrowed many features from their language46. He hypothesizes that the first sound shift of

Grimm's Law was the result of non-native speakers attempting to pronounce Indo-European sounds,

and that they resorted to the closest sounds in their own language in their attempt to pronounce them.

The culture and tribes from which the substrate material originated continues to be a subject of

academic debate and study. Notable candidates for possible substrate culture(s) are the Ertebølle

culture, Funnelbeaker culture, Pitted Ware and Corded Ware culture. The Battle-axe people are an

ancient culture identified by archaeology that has been proposed as candidates for the people who

influenced Germanic with their non-Indo-European speech. Alternatively, in the framework of the

Kurgan hypothesis, the Battle-axe people may be seen as an already "kurganized" culture built on the

substrate of the earlier Funnelbeaker culture. Thracian place names borrow parallel place names from

the Baltic counterparts, and are amply supplemented by archaeological schematics of Gimbutas school

to certain Thracian semantic and morphological characteristics that distinguish these cases against

dialectal reflexes of the same framework for other branches of the Indo-European language family.

New insight on the pre-Germanic substrate hypothesis is offered by genetic genealogy. Among the

majority of Indo-European peoples in the male line the genetic makeup is dominated by various

subclades of the Y-chromosome haplogroup R, while the speakers of Germanic languages present with

an exceptionally high percentage of haplogroups I1 and I2b, presumably used to prevail among the pre-

Indo-European population of Europe.

How to interpret these parsed linguistic facts? Do they give rise to hypothesis that Proto-Thracians

moved in the historical time to the Aegean islands and settled nearly all its major cities? Alternatively,

are these given names to be regarded as drawn by early Greeks and the peoples of the Aegean coast of

Asia Minor in the preliterate period of their history from their ancestors, the historic Thracians?

Thus, the idea of a Proto-Thracian homeland in the coastal zone of the Lower Dniester could be strongly

supported by the observation that in this ancestral home of Proto-Thracians they borrowed from the

44

London Quarterly Review X/2 1813; cf. Szemerényi 1999:12, footnote 6. 45

В. Цымбурский, Фракизмы в ономастике Этрурии и её пантеоне. In: Славянское и балканское языкознание: Человек в пространстве Балкан. Поведенческие сценарии и культурные роли. 2003. М., 1; Дечев 1952: Дечев Д. Характеристика на тракийският език. София, 55-56. 46

John A. Hawkins (1990), Germanic Languages, in The Major Languages of Western Europe, Bernard Comrie, ed. (Routledge); Marlies Philippa et al. (a cura di), Etymologisch woordenboek van het Nederlands, Amsterdam University press, vol. 1, 2003.

early Indo-European names, going back - with the Thracian rearrangement - to the characteristic terms

of Indo-European cultural vocabulary, including the notions of a "sacred king", "libation priest", "horse",

"trinary and quaternary”, that correlated with the semantic complex “hill/tumulus/mound” - “mountain

forest” - “thunder-god”. This hypothetical pre-Indo-European linguistic substrate - a source that

influenced the Proto-Germanic language, and later the Upper High German and Old English, belongs to a

very peculiar linguistic role in the Indo-European language family.

We will revisit these issues, but now we will present the case of what we mean by that, defining the

situation on the example of a word characteristic to the Dionysian cult - Thyrsus – wand/stuff, an

attribute of all characters of the Dionysian myth. Explication of the word Thyrsus directly affects the

interpretation of the processes that occurred at that time on the northern coast of the Black Sea.

Etymology (origin) of this word thyrs/đyrs/þyrs is based on its reference in the language which, we

believe, formed the Indo-European language group, in a territory through which flowed Tyras/ Dniester.

This word means "giant, wizard, sorcerer, and ogre"47, preserved as a relic in Old High German (duris-es)

and Old English (đyrs), with an unclear etymology, and borrowed from pre-Indo-European language

substrate of the northern Black Sea area.

We assign a high probability that the Lower Dniester is the cradle-area praised as legendary

mythological Okeanos48 potamos (Ὠκεανόσ ποταμοσ) – regards as country of giants – peloros

(πζλωροσ)49, situated to the north of the Lower Danube. For Diodorus Siculus and for others it is the

Holy Land (οἵ μ᾽ οἴςουςιν ἐπὶ τραφεριν τε καὶ ὑγριν)50, for Hesiod and Homer - the Holy River (ἱερὸν

ῥόον Ὠκεανοῖο)51. In other words bull-headed (ταυρόκρανοσ) Ocean52 belonged to the religious history

of primitive times, flowing through the fertile land of Gaia (Terra)53, the earth produces everything,

without seed and tilling, wheat, oats and grapevines54, egresses from the Carpathian Mountains55,

flowing through the land of Agathyrsi (Ἀγάκυρςοι)56 (picti agathyrsi) where is the land and city of the

Cimmerians57, and splendid heroes who fallen defending the walls of Troy58, country of the first deified

47

K. P.Wentersdorf , Speculum, Vol. 56, No. 3 (Jul., 1981) 492-516; Петров В./ Petrov V.P., Skify (In Ukrainian) – Scythians (Kyiv 1968), 24, 115-117. 48

Homer. Iliad. XIV, v.193, 200-201,244,300-305. In: Homer. The Iliad with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, Cambridge,

MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. (1924). 49

Hesiod, Theog. v. 159,731; Homer, Odyss. XI. 157-8; The Suda identifies Oceanus and Tethys as the parents of the two Kerkopes, whom Heracles also bested. 50

The earth.[1] [So called] from being a nurse [tiqh/nh] and one who rears. Homer [writes]: "Oceanus, the origin of the gods, and mother Tethys."[1] That is, wet nature and dry nature; A headland of Thrace. Crates [calls it] the large one.[1] And [someone else calls it?] an island near Okeanos, on which the Gorgons [live]; Diodorus Siculus, Lib. III.56; Pindar, Olympian Ode 2. 70 ff (trans. Conway); Posidonius fragm. 69 in Fragm. Hist. gr. III. 282; Dionysius, Orb. Descr. 7; Homer, Odyssey. XII. 1 ff; Homer, Iliad, XIV, v.308, XVIII, v. 541 seqq; Aristophanes, Clouds 264 ff (trans. O'Neill). 51

Hesiod. Works and Days, v.564-570; Hesiod. Theogony,v.787 ff; Homer. Iliad, XIV, v.308, XVIII. v.402; Odyss. XI. 21. 639; XII. 1; Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy 2. 115 ff , 12. 159 ff: 52

Euripides, Orestes E. P. Coleridge, Ed., v.1375. 53

Homer. Iliad. XIV.193,200-201; Hesiod. Theog. v.159, 517-8; Diod. Siculus, lib III. 60. 54

Homer. Odyss. IX. 109; Homer. Iliad, XVIII. 540-550 seqq; Hesiod. Works and Days, v. 169; Diodorus Sicilus, II. 47; Chronicon

Dubnicense, Ed. Florianus, 28 55

Aeschylus. Prometheus Bound, v. 284, fragm.73. 56

Postumius Rufus Festus Avienus, Descriptio orbis terrae, v. 455; The Thracians 700 BC-AD 46 by Christopher Webber and Angus Mcbride,2001 ,p. 16; Ptolemy iii. 5. § 17, 8. § 1, &c. 57

Homer, Odyssey, XI. 13; also in Strabo.Geography.Chapter I.7-8, 13-14.

ancient kings (Ωγενοσ/ὠγζνιοσ ἀρχαῖοσ)59, the father of gods (theon genesis/τε κεῶν γζνεςιν)60 and

Pelasgians61. With Hesiodus though, the genealogy of these kings is reduced to Gaea, the blessed

country near Oceanos potamos. Interestingly, though, there is substantially different semantic

development of the same root observed in the parallel: “a giant – Thyrs” in Tír na nÓg62 – “The land of

perpetual youth”, a realm in the Celtic mythology, as an indicator of the source of unity of the Indo-

European mythological tradition.

In preliterate times, at the time of Homer the word Thyrsus and its reference was nearly lost. However

he gives us the (pre)- or (non)- Greek substitute word - Aigaion (Aίγαίων)63, using folk etymology and

interpreting it - "stronger than others”, while others just equate it with “giant"64. Radermacher

considered him to be a pre-Greek deity65, and that confirmed by the archaeological findings given to

your attention below. The other evidence for legendary human existence with such name related to the

findings of the Lower Dniester is the ti-ri-se-ro-e/Thiris-eroe - "Thyrsus - hero ancestor"66 - a generic

Mycenaean clan ancestral deity, Cultural Hero found in the same palatial Linear B tablets of the Late

Minoan LM and Late Helladic LH periods, where it appeared alongside Dionysos and Zeus67. After all, as

a new invention in later classical Greece - word Dionysus at the Mycenaean period may have denoted

merely one of the gods of fertility, which could be inherent to his image in the pre-historical stage of its

genesis. Confirmation of this could be found in the legendary remaining of Troy (Troy-VI horizon) of Asia

Minor, which Mycenaean stratum contain a curious inscription68 Patori Turi (pa-to-ri Tu-ri) - the father

Tyris, as described by the Cambridge Classics researcher A. Sayce69.

There is one suggestive piece of evidence favoring the identification of these forms. A Mesopotamian

bird matron goddess Siris/Sirish70 (Akkadian name for Sumerian goddess Ninkasi), who was semantically

associated with intoxicating beverages, being the goddess of beer, shows suggestive phonological

parallels, under the analysis proposed here, for base root Thyrs from pre-Indo-European linguistic

substrate.

58

Hesiodus, Works And Days, v. 171. 59

Homer, Iliad, XIV.v.193,199-205,244ff,300-305; Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound, v. 347 seqq; Diodorus Siculus, lib.III. 60; Fragm Hist. Gr. III. 567.14; Hesiodus, Theog. v. 509-510; Pherekydes. Syr.Fr.2.D;. 60

Plutarch. The Face in the Moon, Elegy and Iambus, Volume II, J. M. Edmonds, Ed., Crates, 2.15.3; Homer, Iliad, XIV, v. 193,200-

201, 244; Orphic Hymn 83 to Oceanus (trans. Taylor); Plato.Theaetetus, 180d; Nonnus. Dionysiaca, 23. 236 ff. 61

Hesiodus, Theog. v. 517-8; Diod. Siculus, lib III. 60; Strabo. Geogr. I. 3. 4. 62

“There with wild honey drip the forest trees; The stores of wine and mead shall never fail”. Celtic Myths and Legends, by T.

W. Rolletson (Senate, 1994). 63

R. L. Fowler , ΑΙΓ- in Early Greek Language and Myth, Phoenix, Vol. 42, No. 2, 95-113. 64

Lykillos of Tarrha in 1 Ap. Rhod. 1.1165d.; Alfred Gudemann, Grundriss der Geschichte der Klassischen philologie, 85. 65

L. Radermacher, Mythos und Sage bei den Griechen (Munich etc. 1938) 266 ff. 66

C.Antonaccio, The Thrice Hero and ancestor cult, In: Ancient Greece: from the Mycenaean palaces to the age of Homer by Sigrid Deger-Jalkotzy, Irene S. Lemos, Edinburgh Leventis Studies 3, 384; Douglas Young, Is Linear B Deciphered? * Arion, Vol. 4, No. 3 (Autumn, 1965), 528. 67

Linear B tablet (Tn 316.5, PY 1204, Kn 02); Bennet Jr., The Olive Oil tablets of Pylos (Minos Suppl.2), Salamanca: Universidad de Salamanca, 43-4. 68

Hugo Schuchardt: ' Schlienmann’s Discoveries,' 334-5. 69

A.H. Sayce, The Phrygian Hero Tyris //The Classical Review, Vol. 46, No. 1 (Feb., 1932) Cambridge University Press, p.11. 70

Charles Fossey, La Magie assyrienne (These) (Biblioth. de l Eс. des Hautes Et. Sect, des Sc. relig. Vol. XV), Paris, 1902 ,№ 2., II R 51 b. 1-29 = ZK.

In the process of study of the phenomenon Dionysus became apparent that the word God and the

associated concept underwent certain evolution. This Indo-European term Greeks had already lost in

Mycenaean times, yet they retained some traces of it in the relic derivatives. Mycenaean word di-wo-nu-

so-jo is a classic Greek reinvention that arose due to marginalization and subsequent obscurity of the old

term, although originally was part of the teonym (name of god). As Tsymbursky perceptively noted and

better than him no one would better articulate: "repression [of the concept of God], apparently in pre-

Mycenaean time a continuation from Indo-European base form deiwos to theos (κεόσ), Mycenaean

Greek te-o [Thracian - desa (s), disa (s)] may indicate a substantial change in the concept of divinity by

the time when pre-Greeks resided in the Balkans, who, at some point of time have started to regard him

not as an affective visual phenomenon, diva (Indo-European * dei- (to shine, shine, etc.; Vedic Sanskrit –

didy-ati , etc.)), but in the sense of inspiration, obsession, trends (qeov <Indo-European * dhwes-

"breath, spirit"), that manifested itself, as shown in the analysis of the Homeric material by E. Dodds

[2000], as zigzags of irrational human behavior, in an unpredictable, often absurd acts, excesses,

"kidnapping of the mind", but also in enthusiastic fluxes of inner strength, in prophetic inner voices and

so forth”71.

The very factor that led to a significant change in the concept of deity was the creation of a beverage

that was capable not only of "stealing the mind", but to elicit a prophetic inner voices (Silenus in fact

prophesied72 only after consuming a certain amount of intoxicating drinks), but also appeared to

consolidate the social stratification through the creation of effective religious concept. This factor,

without a doubt, had to leave its mark on history in the form of certain material remains and linguistic

relics. It is not a coincidence, the strength of the utmost importance of the Mycenaean "Tiris-eroe" and

Trojan " Patori Turi ", has been able to survive throughout merciless ravages of time.

Upon consuming intoxicating beverages, a human attempts to express his positive feelings for the world

around him. At first this tendency manifested itself in the form of primitive singing with some primitive

musical accompaniment. Later was developed another form of meta-language - oral rhyming (essentially

repeating the primitive chords of the musical rhythm), expressed in the form of praises. Further, it is

appropriate to note, albeit in passing, that scholars both earlier and later than Winterstein73 have

advanced persuasive arguments that Dionysiac cult must in some way have been central to early

dithyramb74. Dithyramb (δικφραμβοσ) – the immanence and epithet of Dionysus75. Characteristic

features of dithyrambic language from its vestiges in later literature can be traced back to their sources

in Dionysiac cult76. It is clear from the remains of dithyrambic language as a whole that its characteristic

features were associated with the traditional (Dionysiac) dithyrambic abandon: wine, musical

instruments and riotous unconstraint. The early praises in preliterate times were purely musical.

71

В.Л.Цымбурский, Имя Диониса, с.7. In: Colloquia classica et indogermanica III. Классическая филология и индоевропейское языкознание. СПб 72

Aelian, F. H. iii. 18 ; Virgil. Edog. vi, 31, &c.; Cicero. Tuscul. i. 48. 73

Alfred Winterstein, Der Ursprungder Tragodie (Vienna 1925)103. 74

Daniel Mendelsohn The Classical Journal 87, 105-24. 75

Euripide, Bacchae, 527-29. 76

Daniel Mendelsohn. In:The Classical Journal 87(1992) 108.

Presence of musical instruments in the archeological sites77, especially the earliest, such as in Olanesti

that were suited for rhythmic accompaniment, is a proper illustration of the presence of signs of early

Dionysian tradition in the area of the Lower Dniester. From the works of ancient poets78 in the scope of

the dithyrambic vocabulary оf Dionysian cult were used such figures of speech as ςυνκεραυνοΰςαι,

ςυντριαινοΰςαι, ςυγκεραυνόω79 referring to “death by stoning” with subsequent dismemberment

clearly proven by archaeological finds in Lower Dniester80. Another word used in these poetic works:

κεραυνόω81 referred to as “being hit by solid object”, is intricately connected with the dithyramb as a

literary form, as well as with both Dionysiac mythology and cult practices. These elements of worship

were present in the Lower Dniester as indicated by the finds of pieces of stone axes, since the ritual

killings were carried out to resemble a lightning strike, i.e., the thunder of Zeus. Importantly, the word

“God” at that point denoted of being able to shine like lightning. These factors make the Thracian-

Dionysian theme significant and definitely not apriori meaningless - but they also bring into focus

questions about the criteria of credibility that are to be applied to such conjectures, as well as the

interpretation of these parallels in cases where they could be interpreted as real isoglosses. The cultic

Dionysiac dancers were given to wine drinking, vigorous dancing, boisterousness, and obscenity, and

were likely to sung dithyramb in a state of emotional rapture and, characteristically, dancing in circular

formation identified as τυρβάηω,turbasia82 *tyrbasia; surbē, turbē+. As one of the latest forms of the

earliest choral hymn to Dionysus the returning movements of this dance resembles to its originally

antistrophic character of dithyramb. From a phonological standpoint, there is reason to believe that

modern fast-paced dance sârba (one of the traditional dances preserved by descendants of Thracians -

Moldovans, Romanians, Bulgarians, Macedonians, Ukrainians, Hungarians, and by Greeks) is the survival

of this earliest dithyrambic dance and music.

In an attempt of a certain historical reconstruction, we would like to point out to particular

archaeological evidence from the excavations of burial mounds of Chalcolithic-Early Bronze Age period

in the Lower Dniester. The image of the legendary king of Nysa (Νῦσα), Silenus could have been molded

after the leader and high priest of Chalcolithic - Early Bronze Age burial excavated in 1980 in a tumulus

near the village of Purcari83. Burial number 21 is the base for the 1st, the original mound of this tumulus

1, which was 5 meters in height and 60 meters in diameter84. Associated with the original mound of that

tumulus, there were 2 accompanying overlapping burials from Usatovo culture (№ № 9, 30) that were

characterized by smaller burial chambers and much less extravagance in burial inventory. Further

additions to the mound were of Early Bronze Age Pit-Grave origin.

77

С.Иванова,Социальная структура населения ямной культуры Северо-Западного Причерноморья (Одесса 2001). Гл.2, п.3; Гл.3, п.5, рис.7,8. 78

R.Seaford,The ‘Hyporchema’ of Pratinas, Maya 29-30(1977-1978)88,92. 79

Arkhilokhos fr. 77B (= 120W); Kratinos fr. 187K (= 199 K-A); and Bakkhai, 1103. 80

С.С.Попович, Погребения ямной культуры с обрядом демембрации в кургане 3 у с.Талмаза. Индоевропейская история в свете новых исследований ( Москва. 2010) стр.134-138. 81

A.Pickard-Cambridge, Dithyramb, Tragedy and Comedy (Oxford, 1927, rev. 2/1962 by T.B.L. Webster) 1–59. 82

Pollux, Onomasticon, iv, 104; Hesychius, see under ‘tyrbasia’ 83

Е.B. Яровой, Мистика древних курганов. Серия: Тайны древних цивилизаций, (Москва 2005) 87-96. 84

Е.B. Яровой, Курганы эпохи энеолита-бронзы Нижнего Поднестровья. Штиинца (Кишинев 1990)63.

The man, buried in grave 1, burial 21 near the village of Purcari had gigantic height, and judging by the

unusually large skeleton, possessed uncommon physical strength. This immediately made the find the

center of attention in that dig. According to anthropologists (S.Segeda, Ukraine), the height of that man

was 2.15 m, which is rarely seen even in the modern men85.

In the inventory of burial were present all three insignia of power: (1) priesthood, signified by the find of

a small and elegant vessel, decorated with a complex ornamentation (for a detailed analysis of the

semantics of decoration of the vessel, see below) and eight ritual vessels refined shapes with symbolic

painted ocher-colored, and decorated with cord impressions were uncovered, (2) military authority,

signified by the find of a bronze dagger and an ax, and (3) civil authority, signified by the find of a carved

wooden scepter oak-stick, horn hoe and eleven flint composite liner sickle.

Under a large vessel (amphora) was found a bronze awl, and a short knife with a half-worn blade. In

front of the skull were placed bronze chisels, adzes and other tools. All these items are ancient

instruments of production, and their significance in the burial inventory is that they point to the position

of civil authority of whoever was buried. Although the exact determination of their status is uncertain

and awaits a full reevaluation, there is one suggestive piece of evidence favoring the identification of

these forms. Ritual accessories, laid under the amphora suggest a cult of a deity symbolized by the

contents of the vessel, and the shape and size of ritual vessels suggests that they could be used to

perform ceremonies with wine. In this case the skeleton of goat (lamb?) was found directly in the burial

chamber among the sacrificial vessels. One recalls that obscure and ancient figure of Zagreus (Greek:

Ζαγρεύς) is an emanation of archaic Dionysiac rites86, who was considered the god of goats, which was

torn and eaten in his honor. His oldest epithet - Melanaegis87, meaning "wearing a skin of black goat,

and with this epithet, he was first appeared in Greece). To some extent, a similar ratio of funeral goods

(large amphorae pottery, the cup, painted amphora and the bones of sacrificial goat) and its semantics,

serves as a prototype series of the constituent elements of the future of the Dionysian cult.

Headwear of the buried was richly decorated with a dense set of beads made of dozens of small bone

fragments; while next to the skull four temporal rings made of silver were found. The total inventory is

very impressive: in the burial denoted as “1/21 Purcari” several hundred various finds were found,

including six articles (tools) made of copper, and four (ornaments) made of silver, metals that were rare

and expensive at that time in Europe. Of interest is the unusually large size of amphorae from the three

major Usatovo culture burials 11, 21, 30 at the same Purcarian tumulus 1. Their height varies from 29 to

54 cm and the diameter of the widest part of the vessel ranges from 28 to 63 cm, which makes them

stand out from the typical Usatovo ceramics, normally dominated by dishes of medium size, with the

typical heights of the largest vessels not exceeding 17-27 cm88. The general context of this burial as that

85

the measurements made by Ukrainian anthropologist S.P.Segeda, Kiev 86

Linear B tablet PY Ea 75 и PY Gn 431 sa – ka – re – u, Linear B tablet PY An 218 da – i – ja – ke – re – u (Mantero T. Radiographia di un dio. Dioniso, dio della vegetazione, «kouros» e «paredros». Genes (1975)21 – 22. 87

Pausаnius. i. 38. § 8; ii. 35. § 1; Aeschylus. Sept. 700.; Suida. s. v. Eleutheros, s. v. Apatouria; W. Ridgeway, The origin of

tragedy: with special reference to the Greek tragedians (1966)75-76, 83. 88

В. Г.Петренко, Новые источники и проблемы изучения позднего Триполья на западе Причерноморских степей (50-125) в кн. Э.Ф.Патокова, В.Г.Петренко, Н.Б.Бурдо, Л.Ю.Полищук. Памятники трипольской культуры в Северо-Западном Причерноморье. (Киев 1989) 76.

of a cult-significant is supported by the find of a thin-walled cup near the scull, a special ceremonial

vessel for certain rituals and ceremonies. Interestingly, though, there is also the fluidly painted

ornaments and paintings, executed in dark brown and red pigment (ocher) on the miniature amphora

from burial 1/21 (vessel #3)89. At the top of the lid of the vessel and the sides of amphorae were grab

handles in the form of a stylized bull horns (bukranii), while the lid and the body of the vessel were

decorated with meandering lines on the background of a lattice, allowing for a possible interpretation of

this as a picture of the river (Tyras). This type of ornament is not accidental here; however, it was noted

only on this vessel. The Chalcolithic Northwestern Black Sea area rarely found funeral rites of such

pomp, as evident by the the grave itself, and by the associated with this sanctuary the cultic sacrificial

pit - bothros (бофра) (cultic pit 1). This should be viewed together with the confirmed size of the funeral

feast, and the number of animal sacrifices in honor of the buried. This important detail supports our

hypothesis, since Dionysus was considered a god of feasting. Just within the sacrificial burial complex

was found bones from fifteen sheep, two oxen and three deer.

In fact, unusual and rich collection of artifacts in one grave, the associated ancient burial mound and the

extensive, up to 2 m high, stone wall (cromlech/dolmen) of the tomb chamber, again underscore the

high social status of the buried, given the amount of labor it would take to construct the barrow

complex, and the expense of such a funeral. It should be noted that the mounds Usatovo culture,

studied in 1980 at Purcari, were a compact burial consisting of 5 burial mounds, which in total contained

23 Late Cucuteni-Trypillian tombs, with fairly extensive inventory. These graves have also been linked

with a set of complex places of worship with stone walls, bridge-like structures and shrines, filled with

animal bones and pottery fragments. Against this background, the burial of “1 / 21 Purcari” stands out

by the virtues of the size of the burial chamber, a complicated two-layer ceiling assembled of oak logs,

and more than just a rich set of burial items, and, most importantly, the giant height of the buried. This

burial complex, without a doubt, was built for a representative of the tribal elite or the priestly class of

the Usatovo society. The burial inventory and uncovered details of burial rites convincingly demonstrate

the presence of those elements, which in the future, will become central to the cults associated with

worship of Dionysus.

A set of ritual objects and the obvious high social status of the buried in the Purcari mound can be, with

a high degree of confidence, associated with the mythical character, which in the Classical era came to

be known as Silenus, the mentor of Dionysus, from whom the god learned winemaking. The whole

history of socio-historical reconstruction repeatedly proves that various legendary characters often

correspond to very much real, existing people. Theoretically, the deity whom the leader-priest of the

Purcari tomb worshiped could have been Sabazios, or rather its prehistoric prototype. Proto-Thracians

and other tribes, known only by their archaeological names, as well as Indo-European peoples of the

Chalcolithic-Early Bronze Age worshiped Sabaziuos in the form of a bull or a man with small bull horns.

This worship is clearly traceable in the form of a bull cult specific to a number of Indo-European cultures

far beyond the territory of the Lower Dniester. And, if this cult was originally associated with a purely

pastoral-agricultural metaphysics, later, with the development of wine, it developed into a ritual of the

Bacchic character, correspondingly transformed in elements of the Dionysian cults.

89

Е.B. Яровой, Курганы эпохи энеолита-бронзы Нижнего Поднестровья. Штиинца (Кишинев 1990) 69, рис. 30.

It should be noted however, that the collective memory has difficulty restraining "individual" events and

"real" persons. In its operation, it relies on other than history of the structures: instead it uses categories

rather then events, archetypes rather than historical figures. Historical person assimilates with its

mythical model (hero, forefather etc.) and even with his mythological embodiment (such as the staff-

thyrsus), and the event is integrated into the category of mythical action (the fight with the monster

Grendel90, the clash with the Titans, etc.). Thyrs - as a historical person - survived in the memory of his

progeny for two, at the most three generations, despite his remarkable nature, physical qualities and

abilities. Another important contributing factor was the pre-literate nature of their culture. The

appearance of his name in the generated words for material objects with the intent of immortalization

of him as a hero and a forefather in the languages of the ancient peoples reflects the most important

physical and social characteristics of this prehistoric hero. We may add that the word "magician" has

come in Greek and other European languages from the ancient Iranian language (and in fact Northern

Black Sea does not contradict archaeologically the reconstruction of the origin of pre-Hittite/Luwian in

most recent pre-Anatolian period of their history as laying between the pre-Indo-Iranians and the pre-

Indo-European family91), in which Avesta, the ancient Persian sacred book, was written. From the time

of the Athenian polis, the Greeks referred to Zoroastrians as such, while later the word "magician" has

lost its ethno-confessional tone, and came to mean “any priest, astrologer and magician of non-Greek

origin”. The fact that in Indo-European languages there is root word magh - “tall, big”, from which the

Russian “power, strength, help” and “I might” (ie “I am capable”), and the English “might, may”, the

German “Macht, mogen” (same meaning). The ancient Iranian word mogu - “priest” may have

originated from the same common root, and if so, then the derivation of the word "magician" is clear: a

person having power to perform an action, who is able to do something, or, which is relevant, a man

endowed with uncommon physical strength in general. Such as man buried in 1/21 near Purcari, the

central character of such tribute.

What else can support our view? The etymology of the toponym Purcari, an area located in very heart of

Lower Dniester. Judging by the inscriptions in Mycenaean palatial tablets in Linear B is as follows: pu-ka-

wo/purkawoi92 - “fire igniter; fire-kindlers; keepers of the sacred fire; rowers;93 wearers of skins’

(/diphtheràphoroi/)”; or u-pa-ra-ki- ri-ja94 and pu2-ra2-a-ke-re-u95 - translated as "faraway province;

remote region/border; suburbs; outskirts “96 - outskirts of Pylos, named after migrant foreigners97. It is

well known that in the lexicon of Akkad and Babylon there has been attested the word parakku/ pa-rak-

ki, BARA2-MEŠ - «Room of the gods, an altar, Holy of Holies, a platform for the holy throne, throne base

90

Facsimile (1882) of the 18th century autotypes of the cotton MS Vitellius A XV ; David Breeden, The Adventures of Beowulf:

an Adaptation from the Old English. 91

R. Gusmani, Il lessico ittito(Napoli, 1968)79; Гиндин Л.А. Население гомеровской Трои. (М.,1993); In: Цымбурский В.Л. Этно- и лингвогенез Трои как преломление индоевропейской проблемы // Вопросы языкознания (2003) №3 92

Linear B tablets: PY An 39 v.4; Fn 837; Fn 50; Olivier( 1960), 114-119; , J.T. Killen, (1999) Some observations on the new

Thebes tablets. Mycenaean Seminar in January 1999. BICS. (London University of Cambridge 2001) 437. 93

L. R. Palmer, Reviewed work(s): A propos d'un 'liste' de desservants de sanctuarie dans les documents en linéaire B de Pylos by J. -P. Olivier, Gnomon, 34. Bd., H. 7 (Dec., 1962), 707-711. 94

Linear B tablets: PY An 298.1, H3; PY Cn 45.4.5.6.7.11; 95

Linear B tablets: Nn 228.3. 96

Ivo Hajnal, Sprachschichten des mykenischen Griechisch (Salamanca, 1997) 33; Lane (2008), 102-106. 97

S.Nikoloudis, The ra-wa-ke-ta, Ministerial Authority and Mycenaean Cultural Identity. Dissertation. The University of Texas at Austin (Austin 2006); Jean Louis Perpillou, (1968) 209.

(cult dais)" 98(syn. ibratu - «sanctuary in the open air99; also a Chief; or perhaps a king; the first in rank;

gods and goddesses has a dwelling within;100 the great leader. Adaptation by the linguistic phonetic laws

corresponds to the Russian – “ great/giant Chief “101.

Was this a wine-producing region in ancient times and was the wine-making a religious activity? Judging

by the same Mycenaean tablets this can be answered in the affirmative. Wo-no-wa-ti-si 102 - area of

Oinoa (Οỉνόα) or Oine (Οỉνθ) carries meaning of "wine area"103. Word “Oium” in later times (II-IV A.D.)

also meant Holy Land and points to the Lower Dniester. This territory self identified by Proto-Thracians

as – Πζρκθ/Perke104 - the holy land, the land of the sacred fire, and if you remove vowel - as a binder,

you can see a clear semantic and phonetic attraction with Purca105, or Purcari - a derivative that

miraculously survived as a toponym. Περκώτθ is a toponym that appears on the Trojan coast of

Thrace106, as are the well-known Thracian votives to the horsemen deity Περκω Ηρω and Ηρωει

Περκωνει formed as, and belonging to the Indo-European series of derivatives of the root *perkwo-

,*perkwu, which meant “hill (mound) rock, mountain forest, oak(!) or pine”, as well as “the storm god

who dwells on the mountains (mounds)”, such as Dionysus, Zeus and the Hittite Tarhun. Proto-Thracians

themselves were known by name - Kouretes (Πελαςγοί/Pelasgians - wanderers, migrants107). Land of

Kouretes/Curetes was marked with a dedicated special sign as early as the proto-writing of Crete at the

times of Phaistos Disk108.

In an era of Chalcolithic-Early Bronze Age tribes that dwelt north to Black Sea coast established relations

with the distant Mediterranean kingdoms109, where the appearances of the earliest manifestations of

this cult were found. The discovery, in a number of the centers of the Aegean world, of a certain type of

98

A.H.Sayce 1901: А. Sayce, The Religions of Ancient Egypt and Babylonia, Part 2, lecture 9, (1901). The Gifford Lectures (1900-1902) Oxford University, (Edinburgh 1903).; A. Kilmer, Journal of Archaeology and Oriental Studies (JAOS), vol.83, (1963) 429: 274-75, 443: 152-55; Horowitz (1998) 12. 99

A. George, Babylonian Topographical Texts, BM 38602.col.iii (no.10), 1992, 369, 411; (Babylonian manuscript) BM 38602.col.iii (no.10) 101-102; Tintir V 86; A.Kilmer, JAOS 83 429:274-75,443:152-55. 100

H. Talbot,Contributions towards of the Assyrian Language, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Vol IV, Art.1, Part II, (London1870) 47. 101

H. Talbot, Contributions towards of the Assyrian Language, Vol IV, Art.1, Part II, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland (London1870), 63; A Concise Dictionary of the Assyrian Language. By William Muss-Arnolt vol.II Miqqu-Titurru (berlin-London-New York, 1905) 830. 102

Linear B tablets from Pylos PY Vn 48.6 и Pylos Xb 1419, PY Xa 1419; Palmer, (1963), p.414; Kyriatsoulis , (1996). 103

Pylos Xb1519; J. Puhvel, Eleuther and Oinoatis: Dionysiac Data from Mycenaean Greece. In: Mycenaean Studies, ed. Emmett L. Bennett Jr. University of Wisconsin Press (Madison 1964) 168. 104

Stephani Byzantii Ethnica , by Margarethe Billerbeck (ed.). Vol. I: A-G. Berlin/New York: Walter de Gruyter, 2006 (Corpus Fontium Historiae Byzantinae 43/1), Pp. x, 64*-441 ; De Simone C. Etruskischer Literaturbericht: neuveroffentliche Inschriften 1970-1973//Glotta,53,1975, 152. 105

В.Л. Цымбурский, Фракизмы в ономакстике Этрурии и её пантеоне* Славянское и балканское языкознание: Человек в пространстве Балкан. Поведенческие сценарии и культурные роли. М., 2003. 106

Гомер, Илиада. II 835, XI 229, XV 547. 107

Л. А Гиндин, Язык древнейшего населения юга Балканского полуострова. Фрагмент индоевропейской ономастики. М., Наука. 1967. 108

translation of sign В29 of the Phaistos Disk, were in place of the name of city: 29 - 34 - 23 - 25 = KU - R. - TO - P2A = land of Kouretes (by Molchanov, 1980/1988). 109

М.Иевлев, К проблеме связей Северного Причерноморья с Восточным Средиземноморьем в XV–V вв. до н. э., Международные отношения в бассейне Черного моря в древности и в Средние Века. Резюме докладов XI международной научной конференции, 31 мая – 5 июня 2003 г, (Ростов-на-Дону 2003). Internet publication: http://annals.xlegio.ru/life/mobcm11.htm

molded stoneware, not similar to the Achaean, in the period that preceded the fall of the Mycenaean

cities, has attracted the attention of researchers110. Rutter was the first to pay serious attention to this

element, foreign to the Mycenaean culture, and note that the geographic range of this type of pottery is

extensive: Danube, Asia Minor, Troy, North Italy, but the center of the spread of the "barbaric ceramics"

he placed in the territory of the Thracian Hallstatt, stretching from the Balkans to the Dniester River111

and on to the Bug. These rough stoneware plates, according to Rutter, were very close morphologically

to the cultural and historical ceramics of the Noua-Sabatinovka-Koslodzhen culture, which occupied the

territory of from the Lower Danube to the Lower Dnieper in the XIV-XII centuries. BC. According to

Chernyakov includes "barbaric ceramics" from Achaean settlements and Troy belonged to Sabatinovka

culture112. Of great importance for this discussion are findings in North Black Sea region samples of

bronze weapons discovered during the excavation of the archaeological sites of Mycenaean

civilization113. Finds of spearheads and daggers of the Sabatinovka type have been recorded also in the

eastern Mediterranean sea in Crete, Knossos, and Cyprus114.

Gindin referred to the irrefutable linguistic conformity of Homeric Troy with Proto-Thracians115. In

particular, Ζζλεια (in north-eastern Troy) derived from Thracian glosses: ηεασ, ηιλασ, ηίλαι meaning

"wine" <Indo-European * g'hel (H)-yo-/ * g'hl (H)-yo-, Greek χάλισ «new wine," Slavic "зелье". The

antiquity of Thracian-Trojan community - the period of the Early Bronze Age (III millennium BC), he saw

a reflection, even in the name of Troy (Τροία) and Trojans (Τρωεσ) an etymological basis * Trous-, and

argued that it the very foundation that serves as the age-old symbol of Proto-Thracian ethnos, which

gave in the end, the collective term Θράκεσ, Θράικεσ <* Traus-ik = “Thracians”. Gindin creates an image

of Troy, in ancient times which by name consists "Proto-Thrace116. This argument also represents a

considerable interest to researchers because it is known that in Greek mythology king of Troy –

Trous/Τρωσ117 has named the country on his behalf - Troy and itself sounds similar to legendary Thyrs.

The name "Troy" appears in the Hittite archives as Taruisha. At the time of the Egyptian stele of Ramses

III to mention it victory over the Peoples of the Sea “Teresh”. This name is often correlate with the

people "Teresh" mentioned on the Great Karnak Inscription of Pharaoh Merneptah118. Unity of opinion

about whether these newcomers were Trojans in the scientific world is not observed. Names with this

base root attested in Linear B records, such as the commander of military unit to-ro-o. From the

110

K. Lewartowski, The Decline of the Mycenaean Civilization //An Archaeological Study of events in the Greek mainland, Archiwum Filologiczne №43, (Wrocław 1989)64-182. 111

J.Rutter, Ceramic evidence for northern intruders in Southern Greece at the beginning of the Late Helladic IIIС period// American Journal of Archaeology. (Boston 1975), vol. 79. In: Сафронов А.В.Проблема датировки Троянской войны в контексте великого переселения народов в последней четверти II тыс. до н. э., Сборник Русского исторического общества. Вып. 2 (150), 2000, 275-286. 112

И.Черняков, Связи сабатиновских племен Северо-Западного Причерноморья с Восточным Средиземноморьем: По керамическим находкам. Северное Причерноморье: (Киев 1984) 34–42. 113

V. Klochko, Weapons of the tribes of the Northern-Pontic zone in the 16TH-10TH centuries B.C. Baltic-Pontic studies, vol.1 (Poznan 1993)74-76. 114

N. Sandars, The Sea People. Warriors of ancient Mediterraninean 1250-1150 B.C. (London 1978) Times and Hudson, 93-94; Klochko 1993, 129, fig.39. 115

В.Цымбурский, Этно-, и лингвогенез Трои как преломление индоевропейской проблемы, Вопросы языкознания, 2003 № 3, 2. 116

Л.Гиндин, В.Цымбурский, Гомер и история Восточного Средиземноморья, М., (1996). 117

Мифы народов мира. М., 1991-92. т.2, 528, Ф.Любкер, Реальный словарь классических древностей ( М., 2001) Т.3,434. 118

Arthur Weigall, A Guide to the Antiquities of Upper Egypt. (London: Mentheun & Co.1910) 109.

confederacy of seafaring raiders of the second millennium BC names TKR and TRS119 supposedly

identified with Tjeker/Teukroi 120 (synonym of Trojans121) and Tyrrhenians/Τυρρήνιοι 122 were mentioned

in the inscriptions of the era of Ramses II, among the Sea Peoples. However, given the original Greek

epiclesis T-R-S, we open the opportunity to reconcile with the biblical character Tiras, son of Japheth -

the ancestor of the Thracians123.

In the archaeological Troy VII horizon a seal with the Luwian hieroglyphs was found124. In conjunction

with recent data showing that the names of Priam (Πρίαμος) and the other Trojan heroes most likely to

have Luwian origins. It is increasing number among academics who believe that the ancient Trojans

spoke a Luwian dialect and it was the official language of the Homeric Troy. The multitude contacts of

Asia Minor Greeks with the carriers of the Hetto-Luwian religious heritage125 through the elements of

Homer's "epic dictionary"126 has led to the fact that during assimilation of words such as taràu-, taràuili

«hero», taràuilatar “force”, the mythological figure of the Storm God - the supreme deity of Hittite-

Luwian Tarhunt or Tarhu and Lydian epithet of Zeus (Ταρ(ι)γυθνόσ, Taràunt - Lydian hero

Tarhon/Τάρχων or Τάρκων (derived from Proto-Thracian base form Thyrs,-us)) by the Greek language,

their mythological references were reduced and the relationship with the central figure of the Hittite-

Luwian pantheon was lost. Tsymbursky did not seen fundamental typological difference in the implied

relationship between Anatolian Tarhu-, such as *tarhuwa, Greek ταρχφω and the Greek type Βάκχοσ:

βακχεφω “celebrate Bacchic feasts”, "to be initiated into the Bacchic mysteries”, “actually imbued with

Bacchus”, likens him to the carbon-copied into Latin bacchus, bacchor,-ari127. In Asia Minor version of

Greek ταρχφω reflected a motif of heroic burial of the deceased with the transformation into a being

endowed with supernatural powers - in one of the gods or demigods (viz. Greek. α¹νθρωίηω128), an

interpretation based on the idea of overcoming death in worship. Here a distant refraction has taken

place in the word ταρχφω of the some of the chthonic properties and connections of the Thunder God of

the Asia Minor Tarhunta or Tarhu129. Examination of all contexts given in the «Thesaurus Linguae

Graecae» proves that ταρχφω always, without exception, denotes a burial of the remains - mostly

underground, with emphasis on the accented filling of the grave mound/tumulus, sometimes with a

stone niche, similar to the one observed in the Purcari 1/21, the so-called grave of Thyrs, as well as

other tombs in tumuli of the Lower Dniester.

119

Lester L. Grabbe, Israel in Transition T.& T.Clark Ltd (1 Aug 2008)97. 120

Arno Egberts, The Chronology of The Report of Wenamun. Journal of Egyptian Archæology (1991)v.77, 57–67. 121

The identification of Tjeker and Greek Teukroi, Latinized to Teucri, was first made by Lauth in 1867, and was repeated by François Chabas in his Études sur l’Antiquité Historique d’après les sources égyptiennes et les monuments réputés préhistoriques of 1872, according to the Woudhuizen dissertation. 122

according I.M.Diyakonov TRS identifiable to Tyrrhenians. 123

Titus Flavius Josephus , Antiquities of the Jews I.6. 124

J.Latacz,Troy and Homer (Oxford UP. 2004) 69. 125

R.Blümel, Homerisch ταρχφω // Glotta 15, 1926.S.78-84; P.Kretschmer. Die Stellung der lykischen Sprache //Glotta,28, (1939)S.104 ff. 126

Гомер, Илиада.VII,85, XVI, 456, 674. 127

В.Л. Цымбурский, Греческий глагол ΤΑΡΧΎΩ «погребаю» и малоазийский миф о поражении бога-победителя, Вестник древней истории(2007) № 1, 2-21. 128

Г. Надь, Греческая мифология и поэтика (М., 2002.)с.176-178, 181. 129

Carratelli G., Ταρχφω //Archivio glottologico italiano, v.39 (1954)79-82.

And finally the last remark. In the works of the ancient mythographer Gaius Julius Hyginus, in his

Fabulae is the most clearly expressed the name of the discoverer of wine - Cerasus130 – Terasus -Thyrsus.

Semantics of it - horn, horned. Even Thyrsus’s sacrificial vessels are horny and images of the river on the

vessels stands for the wine mixing or water of the Holy River named most likely after him. We would like

to develop and supplement this conjecture by the following considerations at this point because,

apparently, some data on the study of language. It makes sense to compare the Greek word kšraj131

meaning " horn which is blown, or by means of which they drink " with a metaphorical meaning - "an

offshoot of the river bed"; Mycenaean dialect forms keraa / keraha /, derivatives form «keras-t» j m. -

"horned creature" is probably going back to the early basis of Thyrsus. Geologically, it is proved that the

Dniester in ancient times before merging with the Black Sea was divided into two branches, which now

swampy marshes of the Dniester River estuary. So that the value of the Dionysian staff Thyrsus - both

branches had mythological double meanings – as branches of the vine, and as branches of the river

Tyras. Also, in the same etymological dictionary Greek word keraunÒj - «thunder, thunder, lightning and

terpi-kšraunoj (s.v.), ™ gcei-kšraunoj -«the one who throws lightning" (even with the epithet of Dionysos

Sabazios looked through - a form of deity Zios - Zeus ) or derivative keraun ... aj,-n ... thj 132- «stone-

lightning 'Zeus' - a verb - keraunÒomai,-Òw - struck by Zeus’s lightning, all semantically related in the

context of the present argument. Thyrsus, as we noted earlier, worshiped his father God of Thunder

Zeus in the form of Sabazios. Only with the invention of wine gave him the path to enlightenment and

the secrets of the unconscious led him to create a coherent religious system. Brought by small group of

priests to the Aegean basin and Egypt with the waves of the Sea Peoples - tursha, and described by

Plato133 and Pythagoras, from Memphis priests and their mentor Amasis or Sonchis and Assyrian sage

named Zarat134, the name of the founder of the Hermetic sciences - astrology, alchemy and all the

ancient sciences - Hermes Trismegistus135. Proliferated throughout Europe by Knights Templars - name

Theut136 or Thoth Hermes - Thrice Great (Etruscan - Turms, Uralic - En (Priest) (consonant with the

Biblical - Enoch and Aenzu from Kamyana Mohyla, Ukraine) Ossetian - Tutyr, West Semitic creator of

script Taautos/Tauthos/Τααφτοσ - Master of Arts and Sciences, an expert in all Crafts, Scribe of the

Gods, and Keeper of The Book of Life), whose Emerald Tablet of the Lost Knowledge so desperately

seeking by many secret societies today. One can easily imagine that after nearly three thousand years

from the time of the events in the period when the application is complete script came to Hyginus,

though in a somewhat distorted, but almost unchanged information about the legendary Thyrs/Thyrsus,

lived and buried in the vicinity of the Moldovan village Purcari.

130

Hyginus. Review by Wilfred E. Major of P.K. Marshall, Hyginus: Fabulae. Editio altera. 2002, CCLXXIV. Inventors and their inventions I.274; Гигин , Фабулы, Розовый сад I.274. 131

Robert Beekes with the assistance of Lucien van Beek , Greek etymological dictionary, (2009)337. In: Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series, #10. 132

P.Holm., Clem.; Redard Les noms grecs en –thj, 55 in: Hjalmar Frisk, Griechisches Etymologisches Woerterbuch (Greek Etymological Dictionary) (1960) Heidelberg. 133

Plato, Philebus 18 b; Charmides, 156 d. 134

Clement of Alexandria, Stromata. I 69, 6–70, 1;Clementis Alexandrini. Stromata// Patrologiae cursus completes. Series Graeca. P., 1857. T.VIII. 135

L.R. Palmer, Interpretations, p. 263. In: Douglas Young ,Is Linear B Deciphered? Arion, Vol. 4, No. 3 (Autumn, 1965), p.528. 136

Plato, The Dialogues of Plato, vol. 4, transl. by B. Jowett, M.A. in Five Volumes (Oxford University Press, 1892)274c-275b, 391-491.

It seems that the impressive facts of this kind do exist, albeit in a small number. Yet this small number is

explained in particular by the fact that the linguistic material - for the most part consists of personal

names, whereas the archaeological material allows only a very limited conclusive etymologization.

Nevertheless, these few cases seem to be able to shed further light on the early stage of ethnic and

cultural genesis of the Proto-Thracians that happened north of the Black Sea, in the Lower Dniester

basin as part of the general process of formation of the Indo-European language and culture.