it, as birds. In the Rigveda, where the approach of deities is not a mythical
datum but a liturgical desideratum, there is, I think, no reference to their
taking the bodily form of birds, but there are a number of similes in which
their coming is likened to the descent of birds.^113 In Homer Poseidon, Apollo,
and Athena do fly up from or down to earth as birds,^114 and on other occa-
sions gods perch in trees in bird form so as not to be observed (Il. 7. 58–60,
- 289–91). In some of these passages the god has been conversing with a
mortal in human guise and then flies away as a bird. This has an exact parallel
in the Hervarar saga (10 ad fin.). At the end of his riddle contest with Heiðrek,
during which he has maintained the identity of a stranger called Gestum-
blindi, Odin viðbrast í vals líki, ‘made off in the form of a falcon’. However, it
seems that this faculty was not automatically available to all the Norse gods,
as Loki, in order to go flying, has to borrow a special ‘feathered form’ or
‘falcon form’ (fiaðrhamr, valhamr) from Freyja or Frigg (Þrymskviða 3–5;
Skáldsk. 18).
El DoradoThe gods’ accoutrements, and even aspects of their persons, are often
described as being of gold.^115 Indra and the Maruts are ‘golden’ (hiran
̇
yáya-,
hírı ̄mat-) or ‘gold-coloured’ (híran
̇
yavarn
̇a-) (RV 1. 7. 2; 2. 34. 11; 5. 38. 1, 87.
5; 10. 105. 7). Indra is also híran
̇
yaba ̄hu- ‘gold-armed’ (7. 34. 4) and
háris ́mas ́a ̄rur hárikes ́ah
̇
‘(gold-)yellow-bearded and -haired’ (10. 96. 8).
Varuna’s messenger Vena is híran
̇
yapaks
̇a- ‘gold-winged’, just as Zeus’
messenger Iris is χρυσο ́ πτερο. Aphrodite has χρυση
‘golden’ as a formu-
laic epithet, while Apollo, Dionysus, and Demeter are χρυσοκο ́ μη or
χρυσοθειρ, ‘gold-haired’. These adjectives are not applied to mortals, and
surely mean more than the ‘golden-haired’ which we can apply in English to
children or glamorous young adults. Thor’s wife Sif had hair that was made
out of gold by elves (Skáldsk. 35).
Indra’s horses have gold manes (RV 8. 32. 29, 93. 24), as do those of Zeus
(Il. 8. 42) and Poseidon (13. 24); the Norse gods have a horse called Gullfaxi,
‘Goldmane’ (Skáldsk. 17). The chariots that the gods ride in are of gold
(RV 1. 35. 2, 56. 1, 139. 3, etc.; Yt. 10. 124; Hymn. Dem. 19, 431, Hymn. Hom.
(^113) RV 1. 118. 11; 2. 34. 5; 5. 59. 7, 74. 9, 78. 4; 7. 59. 7; 8. 35. 7, 73. 4; 9. 38. 4; Durante (1976),
120 f.
(^114) Il. 13. 62, 15. 237 f., 19. 350 f.; Od. 1. 320, 3. 372, 22. 240. For Semitic parallels see West
(1997), 185.
(^115) Cf. Campanile (1977), 125 f.; G. Costa, Archivio Glottologico Italiano 69 (1984), 26–52;
West (1997), 112 (sparse Babylonian and Ugaritic parallels).
- Gods and Goddesses 153