Beliefs The reconstructed
cosmology of the proto-Indo-Europeans shows that the ritual sacrifice of cattle, cows in particular, was at the root of their beliefs, as the primordial condition of the world order. The myth of *
Trito, the first warrior, involves the liberation of cattle stolen by a three-headed serpent named *
Ngwhi. After recovering the wealth of the people, Trito eventually offered the cattle to the priest in order to ensure the continuity of the cycle of giving between gods and humans. The creation myth could have rationalized raiding as the recovery of cattle that the gods had intended for the people who sacrificed properly. Many Indo-European cultures preserved the tradition of cattle raiding, which they often associated with epic myths.
Georges Dumézil suggested that the religious function was represented by a duality, one reflecting the
magico-religious nature of priesthood, while the other is involved in religious sanction to human society (especially contracts), a theory supported by common features in Iranian, Roman, Scandinavian and Celtic traditions. The study of
astronomy was not much developed among Proto-Indo-Europeans, and they probably had established names for only a few individual stars and star-groups (e.g.
Sirius,
Ursa Major). The basic word for "god" in
proto-Indo-European is *
deiwós ("celestial"), itself a derivative of *
dei- ("to shine, be bright"). On the other hand, the word for "earth" (*
dʰéǵʰōm) is at root of both "earthly" and "human", as it is notably attested in the Latin cognates
humus and
homo. This suggests a hierarchical conception of the status of mankind regarding the gods, confirmed by the use of the term "mortal" (
*mr̩tós) as a synonym of "human" as opposed to the never-dying gods in Indo-European traditions. The idea is expressed in the
Homeric phrase "of the immortal gods and of men who walk on earth". Proto-Indo-European beliefs were influenced by a resistant
animistic substratum, and the few names that can be reconstructed based upon both linguistic (
cognates) and thematic (
reflexes) evidence are the cosmic and elemental deities: the 'Daylight-Sky' (
*Dyḗus), his partner 'Earth' (
*Dʰéǵʰōm), his daughter the 'Dawn' (*
H₂éwsōs), and his
Twin Sons, the 'Sun' (
*Séh₂ul) and the Sun-Maiden, and deities of winds, waters,
fire, rivers and springs. The
Proto-Indo-European creation myth tells of a primordial sacrifice performed by the first man
*Manu ("Man") on his twin brother
*Yemo ("Twin"), from whom emerged the cosmological elements. Other deities, such as the weather-god
*Perkʷunos and the guardian of roads and herds, *
Péh₂usōn, are probably late innovations since they are attested in a restricted number of traditions, Western (European) and
Graeco-Aryan, respectively.
Rituals Proto-Indo-Europeans practiced a polytheistic religion centered on sacrificial rites of cattle and horses, probably administered by a class of
priests or
shamans. Animals were slaughtered () and dedicated to the gods () in the hope of winning their favor. The king as the high priest would have been the central figure in establishing good relations with the other world. The
Khvalynsk culture, associated with early Proto-Indo-European, had already shown archeological evidence for the sacrifice of domesticated animals. Proto-Indo-Europeans also had a sacred tradition of
horse sacrifice for the renewal of kinship involving the ritual mating of a queen or king with a horse, which was then sacrificed and cut up for distribution to the other participants in the ritual. Although we know little about the role of magic in Proto-Indo-European society, there is no doubt that it existed as a social phenomenon, as several branches attest the use of similarly worded charms and curses, such as ones against worms. Furthermore, incantations and spells were frequently regarded as one of the three categories of medicine, along with the use of surgical instruments and herbs or drugs. Since the earliest evidence for the burning of the plant was found in Romanian
kurgans dated 3,500 BCE, some scholars suggest that
cannabis was first used as a psychoactive drug by Proto-Indo-Europeans during ritual ceremonies, a custom they eventually spread throughout western Eurasia during their
migrations. Descendant
cognates of the root
*kanna- ("cannabis") have been proposed in
Sanskrit śaná,
Greek kánnabis (κάνναβις),
Germanic *hanipa (German
Hanf, English
hemp), Russian
konopljá, Albanian
kanëp, Armenian
kanap and
Old Prussian knapios. Other linguists suggest that the common linguistic inheritance does not date back to the Indo-European period and contend that the word
cannabis likely spread later across Eurasia as a
Wanderwort ('wandering word'), ultimately borrowed into Ancient Greek and Sanskrit from a non-Indo-European language.
Poetry Poetry and songs were central to Proto-Indo-European society. The poet-singer was the society's highest-paid professional, possibly a member of a hereditary profession that ran in certain families, the art passing from father to son as the poet had to acquire all the technical aspects of the art and to master an extensive body of traditional subject matter. He performed against handsome rewards—such as gifts of horses, cattle, wagons and women—and was held in high esteem. In some cases, the poet-singer had a stable relationship with a particular noble prince or family. In other cases, he travelled about with his dependants, attaching himself to one court after another. A transmitter of inherited cultural knowledge, the poet sang as a
recall of the old heroic times, entrusted with telling the praises of heroes, kings, and gods. Composing sacred hymns ensured the gods would in turn bestow favourable fate to the community, and for kings that their memory would live on many generations. A lexeme for a special song, the
*erkw ("praise of the gift") has been identified in early Proto-Indo-European. Such praise poems proclaimed the generosity of the gods (or a patron) and enumerated their gifts, expanding the patron's fame, the path to immortality otherwise only attainable for mortals through conspicuous acts of war or piety. The concept of
fame (
*ḱléwos) was central to Proto-Indo-European poetry and culture. Many poetic dictions built on this term can be reconstituted, including
*ḱléwos wéru ("wide fame"),
*ḱléwos meǵh₂ ("great fame"), *
ḱléuesh₂ h₂nróm ("the famous deeds of men, heroes"), or
*dus-ḱlewes ("having bad repute"). Indo-European poetic tradition was probably
oral-formulaic: stock formulas, such as the
imperishable fame (
*ḱléwos ń̥dʰgʷʰitom), the
swift horses (
*h₁ōḱéwes h₁éḱwōs), the
eternal life (
*h₂iu-gʷih₃), the metaphor of the
wheel of the sun (
*sh₂uens kʷekʷlos), or the epithet
man-killer (
*hₐnr̥-gʷhen), attached to
Hektor and
Rudra alike, were transmitted among poet-singers to fill out traditional verse-lines in epic song lyrics. The task of the Indo-European poet was to preserve over the generations the famous deeds of heroes. He would compose and retell poems based on old and sometimes obscure formulations, reconnecting the motifs with his own skills and improvisations. Poetry was therefore associated with the acts of
weaving words (
*wékʷos webh-) and
crafting speech (
*wékʷos teḱs-).
Warfare Although Proto-Indo-Europeans have been often cast as warlike conquerors, their reconstructed arsenal is not particularly extensive. Several words with the meaning of "spear" (
*gʷéru ;
*ḱúh₁los), "pointed stick" (
*h₂eiḱsmo) or "throwing spear" (
*ǵʰai-só-s) are attested. The term
*wēben meant a "cutting weapon", probably a knife, and
*h₂/₃n̩sis a "large offensive knife", likely similar to
bronze daggers found across Eurasia around 3300–3000 BCE. Proto-Indo-Europeans certainly did not know
swords, which appeared later around 2000–1500. The axe was known as
*h₄edʰés, while the word
*spelo/eh₂ designated a wooden or leather shield. The term
*leh₂wós meant "military unit" or "military action", while
*teutéh₂- might have referred to the "adult male with possession" who would mobilize during warfare, perhaps originally a Proto-Indo-European term meaning "the people under arms". A number of scholars propose that Proto-Indo-European rituals included the requirement that young unmarried men initiate into manhood by joining a warrior-band named
*kóryos. They were led by a senior male and lived off the country by hunting and engaging in raiding and pillaging foreign communities. Kóryos members served in such brotherhoods (
Männerbünde) for a number of years before returning home to adopt more respectable identities as mature men. During their initiation period, the young males wore the skin and bore the names of wild animals, especially wolves (*
wl̩kʷo) and dogs (
*ḱwōn), in order to assume their nature and escape the rules and taboos of their host society. Most
kurgan stelae found in
Pontic-Caspian steppe feature a man wearing a belt and weapons carved on the stone. In later Indo-European traditions, notably the (half-)naked warrior figures of Germanic and Celtic art,
*kóryos raiders wore a belt that bound them to their leader and the gods, and little else. The tradition of kurgan stelae featuring warriors with a belt is also common in
Scythian cultures. A continuity of an "animal-shaped raid culture" has been also postulated based on various elements attested in later Indo-European-speaking cultures, such as the Germanic
Berserkers, the Italic
Ver Sacrum, and the Spartan
Crypteia, as well as in the mythical Celtic
fianna and Vedic
Maruts, and in the legend of the
werewolf ("man-wolf"), found in Greek, Germanic, Baltic and Slavic traditions alike. In a mostly patriarchal economy based on bride competition, the escalation of the bride-price in periods of climate change could have resulted in an increase in cattle raiding by unmarried men. Scholars also suggest that, alongside the attractiveness of the patron-client and the guest-host relationships, the *
kóryos could have played a key role in diffusing
Indo-European languages across most of Eurasia.
Personal names The use of two-word
compound words for personal names, typically but not always ascribing some noble or heroic feat to their bearer, is so common in Indo-European languages that it is certainly an inherited feature. These names often belonged in early dialects to the class of compound words that in the Sanskrit tradition are called
bahuvrihi. As in Vedic
bahuvrihi (literally "much-rice", meaning "one who has much rice"), those compounds are formed as active structures indicating possession and do not require a verbal root. From the Proto-Indo-European personal name
*H₁wésu-ḱléwos (lit. "good-fame", meaning "possessing good fame") derive the
Liburnian Vescleves, the Greek
Eukleḗs (Εὐκλεής), the
Old Persian Huçavah, the
Avestan Haosravah-, and the
Sanskrit Suśráva. A second type of compound consists of a noun followed by a verbal root or stem, describing an individual performing an action. Compounds more similar to
synthetics are found in the
Sanskrit Trasá-dasyus ("one who causes enemies to tremble"), the
Greek Archelaus (Ἀρχέλαος, "one who rules people"), and the
Old Persian Xšayāršan ("one who rules men"). Many Indo-European personal names are associated with the horse () in particular, which expressed both the wealth and nobility of their bearer, including the Avestan
Hwaspa ("owning good horses"), the Greek
Hippónikos ("winning by his horses"), or the Gaulish
Epomeduos ("master of horses"). Since domestic animals also served to sacrifice, there were often used as
exocentric structures in compound names (the bearers are not 'horses' themselves but 'users of horses' in some way), in contrast to endocentric personal names rather associated with wild animals like the wolf, for instance in the German
Rudolf ("a famous wolf") or the Serbian
Dobrovuk ("a good wolf"). == Economy ==