Paxuson Part 1: Introduction and Comparison of Cognates
A god of bidirectionality, of liminanlity, paths, doorways, travelers, wealth, shepherds, animals, and fertility. His name means "protector" and his direct linguistic cognates are Pan and Pushan.
Pan and Hermes, Lord of the Wilds, and Master of Trade
Pan is the god of the wild, shepherds and flocks, rustic music and impromptus, and companion of the nymphs. He is also recognized as the god of fields, groves, wooded glens, and often affiliated with sex; because of this, Pan is connected to fertility and the season of spring. He has the hindquarters, legs, and horns of a goat.
Aigókerōs (literally 'goat-horned') was an epithet of Pan descriptive of his figure with the horns of a goat.
Lyterius, meaning Deliverer. There was a sanctuary at Troezen, and he had this epithet because he was believed during a plague to have revealed in dreams the proper remedy against the disease.
Maenalius or Maenalides, derived from mount Maenalus which was sacred to the god.
Pan is famous for his sexual prowess and is often depicted with a phallus. Diogenes of Sinope, speaking in jest, related a myth of Pan learning masturbation from his father, Hermes, and teaching the habit to shepherds. There was a legend that Pan seduced the moon goddess Selene, deceiving her with a sheep's fleece. He has numerous myths relating advances towards many nymphs, who often escape, or attempt to escape, them. He is also said to have had a sexual relationship with Daphnis, a rustic son of Hermes, how to play the pan-pipes(which he was said to create from a nymph he loved who escaped him by being turned in a reed), and also fell in love with him. More humorously, women who had had sexual relations with several men were referred to as "Pan girls."
His origin and source of worship was in Arcadia, an isolated mountainous region of the Peloponnese whose culture is famously archaic for the region. It is believed that Hermes was originally an epithet of Pan who split off early on and became a separate deity associated with boundaries, roads, travelers, merchants, thieves, athletes, shepherds, commerce, cunning, and messages.
Both Hermes and Pan have myths putting in them in relation to Apollon. Hermes is characterized as being nurtured by Apollon who acts as a sort of patron to the young god. Pan and Apollon had a famed music competition in the myth of Midas. Given that we have established Apollon as a cognate of Rudlos, lets keep this in mind.
Hermes is the god of boundaries, roads, travelers, merchants, thieves, athletes, shepherds, commerce, speed, cunning, language, oratory, wit, and messages. He is also a psychopomp, guiding soles to the underworld, and an emissary of the gods. His many epithets include:
epimelios, taking care of animals.
kriophoros. In ancient Greek culture, kriophoros (Greek: κριοφόρος) or criophorus, the "ram-bearer", is a figure that commemorates the solemn sacrifice of a ram.
ktenites, taking care of horses, lions, dogs, etc.
molossos, nursing small animals.
nomios, nursing small animals.
agetor, god of travellers.
chrysorappis, "with golden wand", an Homeric epithet.
diaktoros, an Homeric epithet. Messenger of the gods and conductor of the shades of the dead.
hegemonios, protector of the wayfarers.
oneiropompus, conductor of dreams.
poimandres, shepherd of men.
pompos, conveyor related to the underworld.
psychopompos, conveyor or conductor of souls, and psychogogue, conductor or leader of souls in (or through) the underworld.
sokos eriounios, a Homeric epithet with a much-debated meaning – probably "swift, good-running". But in the Hymn to Hermes Eriounios is etymologized as "very beneficial".
agoraeus, of the agora; belonging to the market (Aristophanes)
empolaios, "engaged in traffic and commerce"
agonios, as president of games.
akaketos "without guile", "gracious", an Homeric epithet.
chthonius – at the festival Athenia Chytri sacrifices are made to this visage of the god only.
dotor Eaon (δώτωρ εάων), giver of good things," an Homeric epithet.
enagonios, presiding over the games.
eriounis, an Homeric epithet with uncertain meaning. Probably helper or bringer of good luck.
eriounios, an Homeric epithet with uncertain meaning. According to Hesychius: oùnei, deṹro, dràme. The Arcadians also oùnon, the Cypriots drómon. This intepretetion relates the epithet to "move quickly".
koinos, fellowship, communion, partnership
ploutodotes, giver of wealth (as inventor of fire)
proopylaios, "before the gate", "guardian of the gate"; Pylaios, "doorkeeper"
sokos (σώκος), the strong one, an Homeric epithet.
stropheus, "the socket in which the pivot of the door moves"
I also want to discuss Dolios, "tricky". No cult to Hermes Dolios existed in Attica, and so "this form of Hermes seems to have existed in speech only, but he was surely still a real power". Hermes Dolios is ambiguous. According to prominent folklorist Yeleazar Meletinsky, Hermes is a deified trickster and master of thieves ("a plunderer, a cattle-raider, a night-watching" in the Homeric Hymn to Hermes) and deception (Euripides) and (possibly evil) tricks and trickeries, crafty (from lit. god of craft), the cheat, the god of stealth. He is also known as the friendliest to man, cunning, treacherous, and a schemer.
Hermes Dolios was worshipped at Pellene and invoked through Odysseus.
(As the ways of gain are not always the ways of honesty and straightforwardness, Hermes obtains a bad character and an in-moral (amoral [ed.]) cult as Dolios)
Hermes is amoral like a baby. Zeus sent Hermes as a teacher to humanity to teach them knowledge of and value of justice and to improve inter-personal relationships. Considered to have a mastery of rhetorical persuasion and special pleading, the god typically has nocturnal modus operandi. Hermes knows the boundaries and crosses the borders of them to confuse their definition.
He is also explicitly associated with thieves and theft. In the Lang translation of the Homeric Hymn to Hermes, the god after being born is described as a robber, a captain of raiders and a thief of the gates. He is also called Klepsiphron (κλεψίφρων), with the mind of a thief, Pheletes (φηλητής), thief. and Phelos (φήλος), deceitful. Autolycus, grandfather of Odysseus, received his skills as the greatest of thieves due to sacrificing to Hermes as his patron. He was often prayed to to avert theft.
Hermes's attributes and symbols include the herm, the rooster, the tortoise, satchel or pouch, talaria (winged sandals), and winged helmet or simple petasos, as well as the palm tree, goat, the number four, several kinds of fish, and incense. However, his main symbol is the caduceus, a winged staff intertwined with two snakes copulating and carvings of the other gods. In Roman religion many of Hermes's characteristics belong to Mercury, a name derived from the Latin merx, meaning "merchandise", and the origin of the words "merchant" and "commerce." In Archaic Greece he was usually depicted as a matured and bearded man, who dressed as a traveler, herald and shepherd. This image remained common on the Hermai, which served as boundary markers, roadside markers, and grave markers, as well as votive offerings. His more famous youthful appearance only shows up later in the Classical and Hellenistic periods.
The earliest form of the name Hermes (Ἑρμῆς) is the Mycenaean Greek *Hermāhās, written 𐀁𐀔𐁀 e-ma-a2 (e-ma-ha) in the Linear B syllabic script. Other forms of the name of Hermes are Hermeias, Hermaōn, Hermān, Hermaios, and Hermaỵos. Most scholars derive Hermes from Greek ἕρμα (herma), 'stone heap'. Hermax, ('heap of stones'), hermaīon, ('gift of Hermes'), hermaīos hills were holy to Hermes.
The etymology of ἕρμα itself is unknown, but is probably not a Proto-Indo-European word. R. S. P. Beekes rejects the connection with herma and suggests a Pre-Greek origin. However, the stone etymology is also linked to Indo-European *ser- ('to bind, put together'). Scholarly speculation that Hermes derives from a more primitive form meaning 'one cairn' is disputed. Other scholars have suggested that Hermes may be a cognate of the Vedic Sarama, mother of all dogs. I find this unlikely, with Sarama more likely deriving her name from other roots.
His cult was established in Greece in remote regions, likely making him originally a god of nature, farmers, and shepherds. It is also possible that since the beginning he has been a deity with shamanic attributes linked to divination, reconciliation, magic, sacrifices, and initiation and contact with other planes of existence, a role of mediator between the worlds of the visible and invisible. According to a theory that has received considerable scholarly acceptance, Hermes originated as a form of the god Pan, who has been identified as a reflex of the Proto-Indo-European pastoral god *Péh2usōn, in his aspect as the god of boundary markers. The PIE root *peh2 'protect' also shows up in Latin pastor 'shepherd' (whence the English pastoral). Later, the epithet supplanted the original name itself and Hermes took over the role of psychopomp and as god of messengers, travelers, and boundaries, which had originally belonged to Pan, while Pan himself continued to be venerated by his original name in his more rustic aspect as the god of the wild in the relatively isolated mountainous region of Arcadia. In later myths, after the cult of Pan was reintroduced to Attica, Pan was said to be Hermes's son.
Pushan by OverlySarcasticProductions
Pushan, The Far-Roaming Shepherd
God of meetings, marriages, journeys, roads, fertility, sheep, and cattle. He is called to stir sexual desire in the bride on her wedding day. He is often seen as a solar deity, although this is connected to his shepherd aspect pretty explicitly.
He was a psychopomp, conducting souls to the other world. He protects travelers from bandits and wild beasts, and protects men from being exploited by other men. He is a supportive guide, a "good" god, leading his adherents towards rich pastures and wealth. His chariot is pulled by goats.
While there are multiple versions of the tale, it is commonly said that Rudra knocks out Pushan's teeth at the Daksha yajna, although he doesn't seem to be the actual target of his rage, angered that he was excluded from the sacrifice.
Cernunnos, The Horned Lord
Cernunnos, A Gaulic deity, whose name is probably more accurately rendered as *Karnonos, meaning "Horned Lord" or "The High Peaked/Horned One". Through the Pillar of the Boatmen, the name "Cernunnos" has been used to identify the members of an iconographic cluster, consisting of depictions of an antlered god (often aged and with crossed legs) associated with torcs, ram-horned (or ram-headed) serpents, symbols of fertility, and wild beasts (especially deer).
Ceisiwr Serith has an excellent dissection of symbols and character in his Youtube video essay, Cernunnos: Looking Every Which Way. Cernunnos has been variously interpreted as a god of fertility, of the underworld, wealth and trade, and of bi-directionality. Cernunnos has been tentatively linked with Conall Cernach, a hero of medieval Irish mythology, and some later depictions of cross-legged and horned figures in medieval art.
I would also like to suggest that the singularly attested Gaulish deity Gebrinius is either an epithet of Cernunnos, or a closely related deity also descended from Paxusan. His name may have been derived from the Proto-Celtic *gabros or “goat,” which in turn comes from the Indo-European *kapros which refers to any male hooved animal. Belgae-focused gaulish pagan blog, Sennobessus Bolgon, assigns the role to Bugius, whose theonym could variously mean "reaper, gatherer", "blue", or a borrowing from Proto-Germanic *bukkaz (or*bukkô), which means "male goat" or "buck". This could also imply that their was a Proto-Germanic deity cognate with Paxuson, and possibly separate from *Wōðanaz.
Derg Corra, Servant of Fionn
The cult of a god in the shape of a stag may be reflected in Irish tradition in the supernatural figure of Derg Corra, a weird servant of Fionn mac Cumhaill(Strong Rudros cognate), dismissed after one of Fionn’s lovers had fallen for him. Fionn went searching for him in the forest and saw him in a tree, sharing a meal with a stag, a blackbird and a trout. This legend, dating from the 8th century, entitled "The Man in the Tree", relates that Derg Corra went about the forest “on shanks of deer”, which is redolent of his shape-shifting power. It is also worth noting that his name means ‘the Red Peaked One’. This, according to Ó hÓgáin, relates him to Cernunnos (‘the Horned or Peaked One’). Other names in the Fianna lore may be evocative of such a cult. When he was young, the hero Fionn mac Cumhaill was called Demne, which is seemingly a corruption of damne, ‘little stag’. Furthermore, the name of his son Oisín, earlier Oiséne, is a diminutive of the word os, ‘fawn’: Oisín is therefore the ‘Little Fawn’. Finally, the name of the grand-son of Fionn mac Cumhaill, Oscar, may signify something like ‘deer-love’.
Cernunnos' name seems to be cognate with Hittite Kurunta. His sacred animal is the stag, although this was not exclusive to him. He is commonly depicted standing on a stag, and Hittite texts identify the god standing on the stag as the god of the countryside. In Yazilikaya, a tutelary god of nature (likely Kurunta as the god is accompanied by the antler sign) is depicted with only a crook. There are also parallels with Kurunta following behind a storm god, as seen in a sea of Mursili III and a relief from Aleppo. There are also depictions of Kurunta holding a bow and arrows, which, outside of him being a tutelary god, also connects him to hunting. The hunting aspect was also emphasized by Tudhaliya IV.
Pashupati, Shiva of the Animals
Over in India, particularly in the east, another cognate of Rudlos, The mighty Rudra, is widely known by his epithet and avatar, Pashupati, who may be related to Paxuson. The name means "Lord of the Animals". While he may be related to the pre-Indo-Aryan deity depicted on the eponymous Pashupati seal of the Indus Valley Civilization discovered in modern day Pakistan, I believe he may be a reflex, or at least influenced by, the PIE deity in question.
In the Atharvaveda, the fourth Veda and one of the later additions to Vedic literature, Rudra is described to be the lord of the bipeds and the quadrupeds, including creatures that inhabited the earth, woods, the waters, and the skies. His lordship over cattle and other beasts denoted both a benevolent and destructive role; he slew animals that incurred his wrath, but was also kind to those who propitiated him, blessing them with health and prosperity. He is also seen a tutelary deity, of the nation of Nepal in particular.
A ghost associated with Windsor Forest and Great Park in the English county of Berkshire. He is said to have antlers growing from his head, ride a horse, torment cattle, and rattle chains. The earliest mention of Herne comes from William Shakespeare's 1597 play The Merry Wives of Windsor, and it is impossible to know how accurately or to what degree Shakespeare may have incorporated a real local legend into his work, though there have been several later attempts to connect Herne to historical figures, pagan deities, or ancient archetypes. He has been associated with Cernunnos by several individuals, which would put him in relation to our theory of Paxuson. However, the evidence itself sadly isn't very strong for him being a Brittanic-Celtic deity. Still, I feel the connection is popular enough to mention it.
In his book The History of the Devil – The Horned God of the West, R. Lowe Thompson suggests that "Herne" as well as other Wild Huntsmen in European folklore all derive from the same ancient source, citing that "Herne" may be a cognate of the name of Gaulish deity Cernunnos in the same way that the English "horn" is a cognate of the Latin "cornu" explaining that "As the Latin cornu changes into horn so might Cerne change into Herne." He adds, "In any case the reader may also be prepared to recognize Cernunnos and the older magician, who emerge as the Wild Huntsman. My assumption is that these two forms have been derived from the same Paleolithic ancestor and can, indeed, be regarded as two aspects of one central figure, will help us to understand the identification of Herlechin and Herne, whom I will take as the most familiar example of the huntsman." Herne however is a localised figure, not found outside Berkshire and the regions of the surrounding counties into which Windsor Forest once spread, and clear evidence for the worship of Cernunnos has been recovered only on the European mainland, and not in Britain. "Herne" could be derived ultimately from the same Indo-European root *ker-n-, meaning bone or horn, from which "Cernunnos" derives. However, a more direct source may be the Old English hyrne, meaning "horn" or "corner", which is inconsistent with the Cernunnos theory.
In the Early Middle Ages, Windsor Forest came under the control of the pagan Angles who worshiped their own pantheon of gods, including Woden, whose Norse equivalent Odin rode across the night sky with his own Wild Hunt and hanged himself on the world tree Yggdrasil to learn the secret of the runic alphabet. It has been suggested that the name Herne is derived from the title Herian/Herjan ("Lord of Hosts/Lord of Armies"), a title used for Woden in his role as leader of fallen warriors (Old Norse: Einherjar). I consider this to be the most likely explanation.
Callirius, King of the Woods
An actual potential celtic cognate, also from Britain. Shout out the Albion and Beyond, A hub for Brittonic polytheists, a great introductory resource.
The root in Callirius’ name comes from the Celtic *kalli, which comes from the root *kel- ‘to cut’. *kalli then refers to the woods, and Callirius is a God of the woods. Derivations of *kalli can be seen in Calleva, the old name for Silchester, meaning ‘town in the woods’. Callirius then means ‘the One of the Trees’ or ‘Woodland King/ King of the Woodland’.
There is a single inscription to Callirius, which reads as follows:
“To the god Silvanus Callirius, Cintusmus, the coppersmith, willingly and deservedly fulfilled as a gift his vow."
Another inscription, found at the same site, may be dedicated to Callirius, without mention of His name:
“To the god Silvanus Hermes gladly vowed this on the fulfilment of his vow.” (RIB 195)
Green suggests that a stag figurine was dedicated to Callirius at Colchester. Albion and Beyond gives this explanation for it:
The stag can be seen as the epitome of the forces of the forest, with their antlers appearing as the branches of the trees in the woods they dwell in [4]. Furthermore, stags are symbols of fertility, strength, speed and alertness, all qualities hunters and warriors seek to cultivate and can therefore be considered patrons for these ventures [4].
The dedication to Callirius was made by Cintusmus himself and is described as a reverse of interpretatio Romana, with Cintusmus finding a Roman deity that reminds him of Callirius. The connection with Silvanus, whose cult was widespread over the Roman Empire, tells us a lot. Silvanus was worshiped by trappers, hunters, farmers, woodcutters and those who lived in and around the forests. While he was associated with hunting, especially in Britain, Silvanus’ primary concern was agriculture and guarding the farm and its flocks, often depicted with farming implements and a dog, presumably a guardian and herder of flocks.
Guardianship over flocks, connection to the wilderness, hunting, prosperity of farmers and their crop, tutelary functions, all of this overlaps pretty well the other cognates. The deer votive offering in particular is interesting, and could imply something more than the apparent forest connection, possibly even hinting a deer-like appearance like Gaulish Cernunnos. While it's far from definitive, it certainly doesn't seem unreasonable to supposse a connection.
Apollon Karneios, The Dorian Shepherd
It has long been debated whether Karneios, the deity honored as an epithet of Apollon during the eponymous Karneia of the Dorians, was a deity syncretized with Apollon or a merely a preexisting epithet, although I think there is a strong Paxuson connection here either way.
The etymology of Karneia is rooted in the Greek word Κάρνος (Kárnos), which is connected to , or Καρνεῖος (Karneîos), which is believed to mean "ram", although the common term for a ram was Κριός(Krios). Compare with Gaulish carnon (“horn”), from Proto-Celtic *karnos, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱerh₂-. From this same root are Greek κέρας (kéras, “horn”), κάρᾱ (kárā, “head”) and κάρηνον (kárēnon, “head; mountain top”) derived. Remembering the archaic, more traditionally Indo-European religion of the Dorian Greeks is helpful here. This makes it easy to connect Karneios with Karnonos(Cernunnos), Kurunta, and possibly Derg Corra or Herne. I even see an argument for reading the name as kar + nos, which could be read as "Horned Lord" or "Horned One", making it directly cognate with Karnonos and Kurunta. According to Hesychius, Karneios means "the god of flocks and herds", in a wider sense, of the harvest and the vintage, and this appears to be largely accepted by academia, and further lines up with aspects of other Paxuson cognates.
This lines up well with Dorian depictions of a horned Apollon(pictured above) in relation to this festival, which connects him with the horned deities of this list. The details of the festival of Karneia also helps here. The chief center of his worship was Sparta, where the Karneia took place every year from the 7th to the 15th of the month Karneius (i.e. Metageitnion, August). During this period all military operations were suspended, as it was among the most important festivals to the Spartans.
The Karneia appears to have been at once agrarian, military and piacular in character. In the last aspect it is supposed to commemorate the death of Karnus, an Acarnanian seer and favorite of Apollon, who, was slain after being accused of espionage by one of the Heraclidae during the passage of the Dorians from Naupactus to Peloponnesus. As punishment, Apollon visited the army with a pestilence, which only ceased after the institution of the Karneia. This tradition is probably intended to explain the sacrifice of an animal (perhaps a later substitute for a human being) as the representative of the god. The agrarian and military sides of the festival are clearly distinguished, with the military functions likely coming later, although still being added on fairly early in Greek history.
The importance attached to the festival and its month is shown in several instances. It was responsible for the delay which prevented the Spartans from assisting the Athenians at the Battle of Marathon. Again, when Epidaurus was attacked in 419 by Argos, the movements of the Spartans under Agis against the latter were interrupted until the end of the month, while the Argives (on whom, as Dorians, the custom was equally binding), by manipulating the calendar, avoided the necessity of suspending operations. This festival is also the reason behind the dispatch of a small advance guard under Leonidas instead of the main Spartan force during the infamous Battle of Thermopylae.
As for the details of the festival, five unmarried youths (Καρνεᾶται) were chosen by lot from each tribe for four years, to superintend the proceedings, the officiating priest being called ἀγητής ("leader"). A man decked with garlands (possibly the priest himself) started running, pursued by a band of young men called σταφυλοδρόμοι ("running with bunches of grapes in their hands"); if he was caught, it was a guarantee of good fortune to the city; if not, the reverse.
In the second part of the festival nine tents were set up in the country, in each of which nine citizens, representing the phratries (or obae), feasted together in honor of the god. According to Demetrius of Scepsis (in Athenaeus iv. 141), the Karneia was an imitation of life in camp, and everything was done in accordance with the command of a herald. In regard to the sacrifice, which doubtless formed part of the ceremonial, all that is known is that a ram was sacrificed at Thurii. Other indications point to the festival having assumed a military character at an early date, as might have been expected among the warlike Dorians, although some scholars deny this. The general meaning of the agrarian ceremony is clear, and has numerous parallels in northern European harvest-customs, in which an animal (or man disguised as an animal) was pursued by the reapers, the animal if caught being usually killed; in any case, both the man and the animal represent the vegetation spirit.
The association with fertility, pastoralism, ram, and common motif of animal chase associated with the harvest, all fit pretty squarely with our understanding of Paxuson.
Gwydion, The Magician of Cymru
