Similarities in the Pantheons of "Pagan" religions

[Rainbow Mage]

I have noticed that some deities across various pantheons share striking similarities and attributes. This is the thread to discuss it and rather you think these pantheons influenced each other or not.

 

[Rainbow Mage]

I see some similarities between Sekhmet and Kali, to point out the first. Sekhmet is a punisher, a bringer of plague, but also a healer. To my understanding Kali is depicted as being a punisher.

 

[Father Heathen]

Cultures borrowed a lot from one another, or shared similar roots. People have always took older ideas and adapted/rehashed them.

 

[Rainbow Mage]

Another similarity I can see is between Wepwawet and Ganesha, who are both regarded as openers of the way. Ganesha is said to be a remover of obstacles and there are several invocations to Wepwawet to remove obstacles.

 

[Rainbow Mage]

Cultures borrowed a lot from one another, or shared similar roots. People have always took older ideas and adapted/rehashed them.

How would we know when this borrowing started and from where?

 

[Breathe]

Indra, Perun, Zeus, and Jupiter are all ruler gods who use lightning as a weapon. Thor is the same, but I think Odin is the ruler within Ásatrú. However, this may be because all these religions descend from a common ancestor.

 

[Rainbow Mage]

Indra, Perun, Zeus, and Jupiter are all ruler gods who use lightning as a weapon. Thor is the same, but I think Odin is the ruler within Ásatrú. However, this may be because all these religions descend from a common ancestor.

Yes and in the Kemetic pantheon Set is associated with thunder.

 

[Breathe]

Yes and in the Kemetic pantheon Set is associated with thunder.

Who is also a war god like Perun and Indra, right?

 

[Rainbow Mage]

If these religions all descend from a common ancestor though, which was that ancestor?

 

[Father Heathen]

How would we know when this borrowing started and from where?

Since prehistoric man gained the ability to orally communicate concepts. Everything started as very simple and primitive ideas and grew with more detail and complexity as they were passed on.

 

[Breathe]

Who knows, Proud. That's going back into prehistory if it happened, I guess.

 

[Rainbow Mage]

Who is also a war god like Perun and Indra, right?

Set isn't as much a war god as he is a god of chaos. He sets things out of balance, but this is viewed as being beneficial, because defying boundries and breaking down the old is essential to growth.

 

[Rainbow Mage]

Another similarity I just thought of between the Hindu and Greek pantheons is triads. The primary gods of Hinduism that form a triad are Vishnu, Shiva, and Brahma yes? Well in Greek mythology Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades all divided the worlds between themselves.

 

[Father Heathen]

I suspect that the common god archetypes each represent, and are rooted in, various aspects of the human psyche.

 

[Rainbow Mage]

I suspect that the common god archetypes each represent, and are rooted in, various aspects of the human psyche.

You could be right, but I won't credit that 100% because I've had experiences with my deities I wouldn't just call the "human psyche".

 

[Justin Thyme]

If you consider your gods to be real then wouldn't they make themselves known to all of mankind? Wouldn't the various cultures see these gods from the perspective of their own culture? From their experiences with these gods? If you look at it this way why wouldn't the pantheons be similar? They are the same gods viewed from different perspectives.

 

[Rainbow Mage]

If you consider your gods to be real then wouldn't they make themselves known to all of mankind? Wouldn't the various cultures see these gods from the perspective of their own culture? From their experiences with these gods? If you look at it this way why wouldn't the pantheons be similar? They are the same gods viewed from different perspectives.

Well maybe you're right, but then again, maybe it wasn't their plan to make themselves known to all mankind. One of the corner tenets of your own religion Christianity is that the Jewish god chose a specific people unto himself and made a covenant with that people because he wanted to work on them first and foremost.

 

[Klaufi_Wodensson]

Well it's easily recognizable in the Germanic, Celtic, and Slavic pantheons. But they were also very close to each other, so that is normal I'd say.

 

[PansarBlack]

Indra, Perun, Zeus, and Jupiter are all ruler gods who use lightning as a weapon. Thor is the same, but I think Odin is the ruler within Ásatrú. However, this may be because all these religions descend from a common ancestor.

Kane was almost the same but lightning was used to jar the soul stuck in the phyical relm loose. Kane was named in Hawii, I don't think they had any contact with Europe

 

[Justin Thyme]

Well maybe you're right, but then again, maybe it wasn't their plan to make themselves known to all mankind.

But based on the similarities we are discussing here it looks like they had no qualms about showing themselves to anyone. We see them, we talk about what we see in our own culture and from our own perspective and the folks across the river see them from their perspective doing something different. The stories are similar but since we think we are special then those people across the river can't be worshiping *our* gods, because *our* gods are *ours*. Their gods must just be similar to our gods.

One of the corner tenets of your own religion Christianity is that the Jewish god chose a specific people unto himself and made a covenant with that people because he wanted to work on them first and foremost.

There are many examples of the God of the Jews also being worshiped by Gentiles in Old Testament times and even God sending his prophet to warn Gentile cities of coming judgment if they didn't repent. And we read in the Bible over and over in the Old Testament of how difficult it was for the Children of Israel to refrain from worshiping other gods alongside their God.