Indo-European Poetry and Myth

Characteristics of divinity

Despite the occasional myth of a god such as Baldr who was killed, it is a basic
feature of the gods that they are immortal.^22 In Vedic as in Greek, they are
often referred to as ‘the immortal gods’, or simply ‘the immortals’:deva ̄ ́
amr ́
̇

ta ̄h

̇

RV 3. 4. 11, cf. 5. 69. 4; 6. 15. 18, 18. 15; 7. 2. 11; amr ́

̇

ta ̄h

̇

7. 
   
   
   
   63. 5; Il. 1.
       520 $ν qθανα ́ τοισι θεοι
       
       σιν, etc.; 9. 110 qθα ́ νατοι, etc. The synonym
       Eμβροτο, which corresponds exactly to Vedic amr ́
       ̇
   
   
   
   

ta- (*n

̊

-mr

̊

-to-), is used in
the singular formula θε: Eμβροτο (22. 9, 358, al.), but for the gods in the
plural the inherited word had been displaced by the newer qθα ́ νατοι. The
old lexeme appears in Avestan as aməˇs
̇

a-, and in Zoroastrian theology the
divine entities that Zarathushtra had associated with Ahura Mazda ̄ are called
theAməsˇ
̇

a Spən

̇

ta, ‘Bounteous Immortals’. In Latin, the expected *immortus
is replaced by the extended form immortalis. The gods are the di immortales,
or occasionally immortales alone.
Just as we have seen the phrase ‘all the gods’ in Vedic and Greek, so we find
‘all the immortals’ in a parallel series: RV 1. 59. 1, 72. 2, etc. vís ́ve amr ́
̇

ta ̄h

̇

;
Y. 42. 6 vı ̄spa ̨sca aməsˇa ̨ spən
̇

ta ̨, cf. 71. 4;^23 Il. 10. 463 πα ́ ντων qθανα ́ των, 20.
314, etc.
As human beings are ‘terrestrials’ by contrast with the celestial gods, so
they are ‘mortals’ by contrast with the immortal deities: in Vedic, RV 1. 35. 2
amr ́
̇

tam mártiyam

̇

ca‘immortal and mortal’; 6. 15. 8 deva ̄ ́sas ́ ca mártiya ̄sas ́ ca ̄
‘gods and mortals’, cf. 13; in Avestan, Y. 29. 4 = 48. 1 dae ̄va ̄is ˇc a ̄ masˇ
̇

ya ̄is ˇc a ̄,
cf. 34. 5, Yt. 10. 34, 13. 89;^24 Pahlavi de ̄wa ̄n ud mardo ̄ma ̄n; in Greek, Il. 11. 2 =

19. 2 qθανα ́ τοισι ... (δC βροτοι
    
    σιν; 12. 242, 20. 64 θνητοι
    
    σι κα? qθανα ́ τοισι;


20. 199 qθανα ́ του (δC θνητο7 qνθρ.που, etc. From Latin one might add the
    Naevius epitaph that I have quoted elsewhere, immortales mortales si foret fas
    flere.
    In Iranian generally ‘mortal’ became an ordinary word for ‘man’: Old
    Persian martiya-, Sogdian mrtyy, modern Persian mard. Similarly in
    Armenian, mard, though this may be a loan or calque from Iranian.^25 One has
    the impression that the mortal–immortal antithesis is characteristic of the
    Graeco-Aryan family rather than of Indo-European overall, though it may
    be noted that a Tocharian word for ‘man’ (as opposed to woman), in the A

(^22) Cf. P. Thieme in Schmitt (1968), 122 f.; Durante (1962), 28 = (1976), 91; Schmitt (1967),
193 f.
(^23) See the following note.
(^24) The traditional Indo-Iranian formula lives on, although dae ̄va- in general in the Avesta has
changed its meaning to ‘demon’. Cf. É. Benveniste, ‘Hommes et dieux dans l’Avesta’,Festschrift
für Wilhelm Eilers (Wiesbaden 1967), 144–7.
(^25) Durante (1976), 43 f.

3. Gods and Goddesses 127