PART
2 – Ch.XII.6
(The
principal prehistoric divinities of
XII. 6. Saturn honored in the archaic cult with the name ‘Omolos (Omul).
In the
public cult and the folk traditions of antiquity, Saturn had also the epithet
of ‘Omolos,
a name which presents a special importance for the history of the primitive
times of
According
to the Greek writers (Ephorus, Frag.
Hist. graec. I. 256), in the north-east parts of Thessaly, near the valley Tempe, a high mountain, the most fertile
and rich in springs, was called from immemorial times ‘Omolos,. Certainly, on
one of its highest peaks had once existed a simulacrum of this Homol-os.
But not
only in Thessaly, which formed a Pelasgian territory par excellence, but in
Beotia also, a province inhabited in the beginning by barbarians, as Strabo
says, the high divinity of the physical and moral world was called Zeus
‘Omoloios (Suidas – The
epithet of Homoloios given to Jove was not understood by the authors of
antiquity. Only Pausanias connected it with the mountain Homolos of Thessaly).
We find
the same name in the northern parts of
[1. The divinity Omi was also called Mann in German language. Grimm explains this Mannus as “homo”. The German
mythographers and historians could not find to this day a justified
etymological and historical explanation of the word Tuisto. Doubtless, this word could have no other meaning but that
of Tatal (TN – the Father). In folk
Romanian language, which has conserved to this day a real wealth of archaic
Pelasgian words, Tutu (TN – read Tutsu) means Tata. In ante-historical times the Pelasgians had formed a quite
extended ethnic stratum in
Around
the end of the 5th century, queen Clotilda of the Francs, wishing to
convince her husband, king Clodovic I, to receive the Christian religion,
addressed him, according to what Grigorie
de Tours tells us (II. 29-31; and Grimm,
D.M.I. 96), the following words: “The gods you venerate are figures sculpted in
stone, in wood, or in metals, and the names you give to these gods are “men” (TN – omeni) and not “gods”.
It is a
positive fact that under this mysterious name of ‘Omolos, which
represented an ante-Homeric divinity, ancient Greek and Roman literature
understood Saturn.
Tertullianus, who knew deeply
the pagan folk beliefs (Apolog. 10), and Minutius
Felix, his contemporary (Octavio, p.26;
Lactantius,
We find
the same proof with the epigraphic monuments. On an inscription from
Also,
in the ancient traditions of
[2.
Antandros,
Pelasgian city under the mountain Ida, on the territory of ancient
The
meaning is the same, but we cannot know for sure if the origin of the word
Finally,
the month of December, which at Romans was entirely consecrated to Saturn,
bears even today at the Romanian people the name of Andrea or Indrea (Marian, Holly days at the Romanians, I.
p.97), or in other words it is “the
month of the Man” (TN – luna Omului),
or of the “feast of the Man” (TN – sarbatoarea Omului).
On the
basis of this positive data, we can draw here the following conclusion:
The
word ‘Omolos
appears in Pelasgian antiquity as a general name, given to the first simulacra
sculpted on the rocks of the mountains, which represented in human forms the
supreme divinity of the religion. These figures of the public cult, as well as
the name of “Omul” given them,
emphasize the fact that the Pelasgian religion was the first to introduce in
In
Greek-Roman antiquity, Saturn was represented with a Pelasgian rustic figure,
as an old man with a white beard, with hair reaching to his shoulders (intonsus
avus), his head covered with a sort of veil, sometimes wearing sandals on his
feet (after a bronze figurine from the Louvre museum) and bent down by the
weight of his great age. In his right hand he had, as attribute of him, an
instrument for cutting, called by Greek authors drepanon (Hesiod, Theog. I. 162), or arpe
(Ibid. I. 179), which Hesiod
describes as “angular” and “gigantic”.
This
characteristic emblem of the old god was called falx by the Romans and was assimilated to the sickle, as symbol of agriculture (Macrobius, Sat. I. c.7; Ovid,
Fast. V. 627; Martial, XI. 6).
The
origin of this iconic representation of Saturn goes back to prehistoric times.
One of
the most important megalithic monuments of
And as
distinctive attribute of his worldly power, this figure from
In
Romanian folk traditions has been preserved to this day the memory of the name
“Omul”, which Saturn had in the
ancient religion, as well as that of his rustic emblem. Namely, in the form of
a short legend in verse, the remains of
an ancient folk theogony called “The big
reckoning” were preserved, to which a particular holy power is attributed
when recited.
By its
contents, this genealogical poem was a sort of “Enumeratio deorum”. It
contained in successive order the name, origin and deeds of the various divine
generations.
This folk
poem begins by presenting Saturn under the name Omul Mare (TN – the Big Man), exactly as he had been venerated once
as ‘Omolos
by the Thessalians. As symbolic attributes of his worldly power and reign, Omul mare, also called Dumnezeu, has in Romanian traditions a
“big hatchet” or a “hammer” at his waist [3].
[3. The hatchet was a primitive weapon, it represented the insignia of
power, the scepter of that time. The Roman
fasces, emblem of the power of the empire, which were born in front of the
ancient kings, and during the republic, in front of the consuls, dictators,
praetors, etc, also had a hatchet in
their middle. The Roman pontiffs also had a hatchet as historical insignia (Preller, R. M. II. p.135). The god Ramman of the Assyrians, a divinity of
Pelasgian origin, identical with Jupiter
Ruminus of the Latins, the father of rains and atmospheric changes, was
also shown sitting on a mountain, supporting the sky with his head, and holding
an axe in his hand (Maspero, Egypte et Chaldee, p.662)].
This “Big Man” (TN –
[4. From
the Father high up in the sky, high,
A big cloud rised up,
From
the big cloud,
A big Man emerged, with a big hatchet,
And
from the big Man,
A
big forest emerged, with a big piece of wood,
And
from the big piece of wood,
A
big splinter was cut, and a big church
was made,
With
9 altars, with 9 little altars …
(G. Catana, Valea
Dienei,
Around our place, says G. Catana,
this folk prayer is also called “The big
reckoning”, and it is said at the death bed of a sick person. If the person
who recites it stumbles or makes a mistake, it is believed that the sick man
will die, and if he recited if fluently, the sick will get well.
There was a big Man, he went to the
big forest
With
a big axe, to cut a big piece of wood,
To
make a big monastery, with 9 doors, with 9 altars …
(Haverna village, Dorohoi district, cf.Sevastos, Tales, p.81)
These archaic Pelasgian theogonies
seem to have served as model and also as principal sources for the poem of Hesiod. There exists also another
remarkable resemblance. While the main goal of Hesiod’s Theogony is the victory
of Jove over Saturn and the Titans, “The big reckoning” firstly glorifies the big Man, and in the second part of
this poem, under the influences of the Christian cult, celebrates the divine
triumph of Jesus over the Jews.
The word “
The prophet Daniel (c.7.13) says that he saw in his visions “the son of
Even Jesus is called “the son of
On the territory of ancient
Archaic simulacra with the name of “Omul” seem to have once also existed in
the upper parts of
We talked in this chapter about
Saturn as divinity, because we must know the character of the ancient simulacra
of