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Threefold death
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Threefold death
The threefold death, which is suffered by kings, heroes, and gods, is a reconstructed Proto-Indo-European theme encountered in Indic, Greek, Celtic, and Germanic mythology.
Some proponents[who?] of the trifunctional hypothesis distinguish two types of threefold deaths in Indo-European myth and ritual. In the first type of threefold death, one person dies simultaneously in three ways. He dies by hanging (or strangulation or falling from a tree), wounding, and by drowning (or poison or burning). These three deaths are foretold, and are often punishment for an offense against the three functions of Indo-European society. The second form of the threefold death is split into three distinct parts; these distinct deaths are sacrifices to three distinct gods of the three functions.
In Welsh legend, Myrddin Wyllt (one of the sources for Merlin of Arthurian legend) is associated with threefold death. As a test of his skill, Merlin is asked to prophesy how a boy will die. He says the boy will fall from a rock. The same boy, with a change of clothes, is presented again, and Merlin prophesies that he will hang. Then, dressed in a girl's clothes, the boy is presented, and Merlin replies, "Woman or no, he will drown." As a young man, the victim falls from a rock during a hunt, is caught in a tree, and drowns hanging head down in a lake.
Myrddin Wyllt also reportedly prophesied his own death, which would happen by falling, stabbing, and drowning. This was fulfilled when a gang of jeering shepherds of King Meldred drove him off a cliff, where he was impaled on a stake left by fishermen, and died with his head below water.
The Norse god Odin is also associated with the threefold death. Human sacrifices to Odin were hanged from trees. Odin is said to have hanged himself and while falling, impaled himself on his spear Gungnir in order to learn the secrets of the runes.
The tenth-century Arab Muslim writer Ahmad ibn Fadlan produced a description of a funeral near the Volga River of a chieftain whom he identified as belonging to people he called Rūsiyyah. Scholars agree that some elements of the funeral correspond to features of funerals distinctive to the north Germanic tribes (such as burning of a ship). Ahmad ibn Fadlan describes a slave girl that, after being asked, volunteers to follow her master in death. She is prepared in many ways over several days, including being given much intoxicating drinks. She is led onboard the ship where the dead chieftain is placed. After some more rituals an old female ritual leader, referred to as the "Angel of Death", loops a rope around the slave girl's neck and while two men pulled the rope, the old woman stabbed the girl between her ribs with a knife. The ship is then set on fire with the chieftain and the slave girl on it. The slave girl is thereby strangled, stabbed, and burned; creating a threefold death.
One of the most prominent examples of this threefold death in three separate sacrifices comes to us from Lucan. In his epic poem, Pharsalia, which relates Julius Caesar's conquest of Gaul, he describes a set of three Celtic gods who receive human sacrifices: et quibus inmitis placatur sanguine diro/ Teutates horrensque feris altaribus Esus/ et Taranis Scythicae non mitior ara Dianae. ("To whom they appease with cruel blood, harsh Teutates, and wild, bristling Esus, and Taranis whose altar is as insatiable as that of Scythian Diana.")
One set of scholia to the Pharsalia, known as the Commenta Bernensia and dating between the 4th and 9th centuries CE, is highly important for an understanding of how these lines relate to Proto-Indo-European culture. “The later... scholiasts... elaborate on Lucan: they elicit the information that Taranis was propitiated by burning, Teutates by drowning, and Esus by means of suspending his victims from trees and ritually wounding them” This scholium is of huge significance to understanding whether this text contains evidence of the threefold death in Celtic worship. It is a distinctive detail, and it matches closely with numerous other details that relate to ritual practice in Indo-European society.
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Threefold death
The threefold death, which is suffered by kings, heroes, and gods, is a reconstructed Proto-Indo-European theme encountered in Indic, Greek, Celtic, and Germanic mythology.
Some proponents[who?] of the trifunctional hypothesis distinguish two types of threefold deaths in Indo-European myth and ritual. In the first type of threefold death, one person dies simultaneously in three ways. He dies by hanging (or strangulation or falling from a tree), wounding, and by drowning (or poison or burning). These three deaths are foretold, and are often punishment for an offense against the three functions of Indo-European society. The second form of the threefold death is split into three distinct parts; these distinct deaths are sacrifices to three distinct gods of the three functions.
In Welsh legend, Myrddin Wyllt (one of the sources for Merlin of Arthurian legend) is associated with threefold death. As a test of his skill, Merlin is asked to prophesy how a boy will die. He says the boy will fall from a rock. The same boy, with a change of clothes, is presented again, and Merlin prophesies that he will hang. Then, dressed in a girl's clothes, the boy is presented, and Merlin replies, "Woman or no, he will drown." As a young man, the victim falls from a rock during a hunt, is caught in a tree, and drowns hanging head down in a lake.
Myrddin Wyllt also reportedly prophesied his own death, which would happen by falling, stabbing, and drowning. This was fulfilled when a gang of jeering shepherds of King Meldred drove him off a cliff, where he was impaled on a stake left by fishermen, and died with his head below water.
The Norse god Odin is also associated with the threefold death. Human sacrifices to Odin were hanged from trees. Odin is said to have hanged himself and while falling, impaled himself on his spear Gungnir in order to learn the secrets of the runes.
The tenth-century Arab Muslim writer Ahmad ibn Fadlan produced a description of a funeral near the Volga River of a chieftain whom he identified as belonging to people he called Rūsiyyah. Scholars agree that some elements of the funeral correspond to features of funerals distinctive to the north Germanic tribes (such as burning of a ship). Ahmad ibn Fadlan describes a slave girl that, after being asked, volunteers to follow her master in death. She is prepared in many ways over several days, including being given much intoxicating drinks. She is led onboard the ship where the dead chieftain is placed. After some more rituals an old female ritual leader, referred to as the "Angel of Death", loops a rope around the slave girl's neck and while two men pulled the rope, the old woman stabbed the girl between her ribs with a knife. The ship is then set on fire with the chieftain and the slave girl on it. The slave girl is thereby strangled, stabbed, and burned; creating a threefold death.
One of the most prominent examples of this threefold death in three separate sacrifices comes to us from Lucan. In his epic poem, Pharsalia, which relates Julius Caesar's conquest of Gaul, he describes a set of three Celtic gods who receive human sacrifices: et quibus inmitis placatur sanguine diro/ Teutates horrensque feris altaribus Esus/ et Taranis Scythicae non mitior ara Dianae. ("To whom they appease with cruel blood, harsh Teutates, and wild, bristling Esus, and Taranis whose altar is as insatiable as that of Scythian Diana.")
One set of scholia to the Pharsalia, known as the Commenta Bernensia and dating between the 4th and 9th centuries CE, is highly important for an understanding of how these lines relate to Proto-Indo-European culture. “The later... scholiasts... elaborate on Lucan: they elicit the information that Taranis was propitiated by burning, Teutates by drowning, and Esus by means of suspending his victims from trees and ritually wounding them” This scholium is of huge significance to understanding whether this text contains evidence of the threefold death in Celtic worship. It is a distinctive detail, and it matches closely with numerous other details that relate to ritual practice in Indo-European society.