Indo-European Poetry and Myth

Abstract The Indo-Europeans — speakers of the prehistoric parent language from which most European and some Asiatic languages are descended — most probably lived on the Eurasian steppes some five or six thousand years ago. This book investigates their traditional mythologies, religions, and poetries, and points to elements of common heritage. In The East Face of Helicon (1997), the author of this present work showed the extent to which Homeric and other early Greek poetry was influenced by Near Eastern traditions, mainly non-Indo-European. This book presents a foil to that work by identifying elements of more ancient, Indo-European heritage in the Greek material. Topics covered include the status of poets and…