THE DIVINE TWINS AND THEIR EARTHLY REPRESENTATIVES
The textual evidence of the Divine Twins is securely dated to the Bronze Age, as they are known by their Vedic name as divine protectors in a treaty between the vassal prince Kurtiwaza of Mitanni and his Hittite overlord and great king Shuppiluliuma from 1350 BCE.
The most detailed evidence, however, comes from the Rig Veda, probably written down in the mid or late second millennium BCE, but referring back to an earlier period. The Greek evidence is generally a bit later, and in Germanic and Celtic texts the importance and the identity of the Divine Twins diminishes, as they were written down much later during the Iron Age and the early medieval period. Baltic folklore retains more evidence of their role (Ward 1968; Zeller 1990). The importance of the Divine Twins is thus greater the further back in time we go. This is supported by archaeological evidence that testifies to their importance during the Bronze Age, whereas they seem to largely disappear during the Iron Age. Their role is thus safely linked to a mature stratum of Indo-European religion in a phase which (on archaeological grounds) cannot be much earlier than 2000 BCE. That is the earliest appearance of twowheeled chariots and well-trained horses that the Divine Twins embody both as chariot drivers and horses.While their role originally was as helpers of the Sun goddess, circling day and night in their chariot to draw the sun and break open the daylight, their roles seem to differentiate over time. Thus in Greek and later Roman tradition one twin represented the warrior function (horse), and the other fertility and farming (ox) (Ward 1970). However, there is a peculiarity of the Divine Twins that makes them interesting from an archaeological perspective, and that is their role as communicators between gods and humans, which includes their many roles as rescuers and protectors, which date back to the Rig Veda (Zeller 1990: 36-84; Oberlies 1993; West 2007: 186ff.), and is also attested for the Greek Dioscuri (Burkert 1985: ch.
5.2). This is also reflected in the fact that in some legends one twin is divine while the other is human, and thus mortal. The obvious implication of this is that if some gods can become human, then some humans can also become divine. This “theocratic” trait creates an alliance between the rules of the gods and the ruling of humans, which materializes archaeologically. It explains the rich evidence of twin depositions and twin representations in iconography during the Bronze Age, beginning already around 2000 BCE.In the Early Bronze Age we find a rare group of burials and hoard finds with twin deposits of objects and chiefly males, the most prominent being Leubingen (Kristiansen & Larsson 2005: fig. 48). The two males, an old and a young person, lay across each other in a cross, as did their weapons, axes and daggers. Here we have a twin deposition linked to the burial of two aristocratic males. It indicates a special relationship between them, and it throws light on the widespread deposits of hoards of twin axes and swords, as well as other objects. A similar cross deposit to that in Leubingen is evidenced in a burial from Brittany (Hansen 2002: fig. 6), just as the often large number of daggers and axes suggests that the royal or chiefly elites were connected by trade and alliances. If we take the cross symbolism in these early contexts to represent the spokes of a chariot wheel, this was also a symbol of the sun. In this way a symbolic link is created between the divine sphere and the earthly sphere defining the twin males and their material correlates as earthly incarnations of the divine, heavenly twins, helpers of the Sun goddess.
However, during the Early Bronze Age it was more common to make ritual deposits of prestige goods in moors and lakes or in the ground. In the Aunjetitz Culture (present-day eastern Germany and central Europe) we also find - along with the many hoards with ring ingots - pair-wise deposits of halberds and axes, in particular.
In multi-type hoards, it is often possible to find twin sets of ritual axes or halberds, which suggests that several of these hoards had a ritual meaning. During Montelius period 1 (1750-1500 BCE), which in Scandinavia corresponds to the time of the Nebra hoard, ritual axes and a group of magnificent swords or scimitars of Hittite inspiration were deposited in pairs. The scimitar was a royal and divine attribute in the Middle East already from the middle of the second millennium BCE, and in Hittite contexts - besides the scimitar - we find another divine attribute: the kalmus. This is a staff with a crook at the end; originally a herding staff. It is known as a symbol of human political power in Egypt from the end of the fourth millennium BCE, appearing in the Indo-European area with the Hittites. The Mycenaeans used the straight staff, as in Mesopotamia. Yet, following the Egyptian tradition, the Hittites and northern Europeans used the shepherd’s crook. Together, crook and scimitar (Krummstab and Krummschwert in German) served as symbols of paramount profane and divine rank, and linked to the Sun god:. “De[r] Krummstab kalmus, [ist] das Herrschaftssymbol des hethitischen Konigs und des Sonnengottes” (Haas 1994: 512f.). Both these symbolic objects were employed in the Nordic realm where we find scimitars deposited in pairs in ritual hoards, and the kalmus is displayed on rock art in Bohuslän, western Sweden, carried by a sun wheel figure/god. These symbols and their transmission to northern Europe point to the same kind of international connections as those underlying the Nebra disc and the famous Kivik grave on the east coast of Scania in Sweden (Kristiansen & Larsson 2005: ch. 5.3). They were part of international connections in the earlier part of the second millennium BCE between the steppe, Anatolia, the Carpathians and Scandinavia which are archaeologically well documented (Kristiansen 1998: fig. 191). But first I want to situate the Divine Twins and their earthly representatives in a Nordic Bronze Age context of the fifteenth and fourteenth centuries BCE with its rich burial evidence. Here, hundreds of rich burials allow us to present a more detailed picture of their now institutionalized role, which materialized in a recurring set of prestige objects of high artistic quality.During the Early Bronze Age period 1 (1750-1500 BCE) there is no strict differentiation between weapons deposited in individual graves and those ritually deposited in pairs, mainly in hoards, except that ritual twin depositions contained mostly unused and beautifully crafted pieces. During the subsequent period 2 (1500-1300 BCE) a differentiation takes place, so that a class of divine cult objects are singled out virtually exclusively for ritual use, and are never or rarely deposited in burials (Vandkilde 1999: figs 8, 9). They are richly decorated cult axes, later also musical wind instruments (lurs), bronze shields and helmets. They belonged to the gods and could not be owned by mortals. In addition, a group of “divine” priestly burials (where the spiral decoration and the other ritual objects define them as being priestly) are now characterized by an exclusive use of - equally priestly - solar and equine symbolism. I shall characterize only the male burials, but they are paralleled by a group of female priestly burials with sun discs and spiral decoration, which are often found in ritual hoards as well (Kristiansen & Larsson 2005: 298ff.). In the Tumulus Culture in Germany the use of wheel pins may have had the same symbolic meaning.
During Montelius period 2 (1500-1300 BCE) the horse head and the employment of spiral decoration/sun symbolism is a defining attribute of a group of chiefly priests in the Nordic realm, as we know them from several hundred rich tumulus burials. We find such images on the handles of razors, which are symbolically formed as ships, and also on belt hooks (Fredell 2003: fig. 5.14). Some of these graves also contain small hat-shaped tutuli2 another reference to the Divine Twins. A typical grave of such Nordic “asvin priests” would thus contain a full-hilted parade sword decorated with sun symbolism, a razor with horse head symbolizing a ship, and also a belt hook with a horse head.
The importance of the horse head as a symbol/replacement of the Asvins is apparent from the Vedic texts:
When, by the horse’s head, Atharvan’s offspring Dadhyac made known to you the Soma’s sweetness.
(Rig Veda Book 1, Hymn CXVI, 12)
Ye brought the horse’s head, Asvins, and gave it unto Dadhyac the offspring of Atharvan.
(Rig Veda Book 1, Hymn CXVII, 22, rendering David A. Warburton)
The role of the horse - and especially its head - in rituals is well known. The horse was divine, and the Asvins were horse-born and symbolized by a horse head in some hymns. The horse head was supposed to be able to speak on behalf of the Divine Twins.
Thus, by the middle of the second millennium BCE we find in the Nordic realm a new religious institution of ritual chiefs, who employed the horse head as a main symbol on razors which could also have been used for medical and ritual purposes. This very same group of graves also contains a special type of full- hilted swords with spiral decorations (the sun symbol), which were used mainly for parading (Kristiansen 1984a), a war axe with spiral decoration, drinking cups with a protruding sun star at the bottom, and sometimes also a so-called “shaman bag”, as in the Hvidegard grave (Kaul 1998: ch. 2.2). We have here all the attributes of a mortal Asvin, or rather a divine “Asvin-priest”. He was a medical expert/healer, a war leader (but not warrior), leader of rituals and drinking ceremonies, and also performed in the important rituals, especially linked to the sun journey, as testified on rock art (Kristiansen and Larsson 2005: fig. 139).
Later in the Bronze Age a goose or swan head replaces the horse head on razors and ritual iconography, and ox horns become a defining element on the helmets worn by ritual priests. The use of such horns corresponds to the several passages in the Veda where the Asvins are called bulls, and, according to the archaeological evidence, this is a later trait. The important role of honey (which is the basis for mead) in the Veda is interesting, as it was part of an important morning ritual for the Asvins in order to break open the daylight.
They used their whips to mix the honey into the soma drink:Waken the Asvin Pair who yoke their car [i.e. chariot] at early morn: may they approach to drink this Soma juice. We call the Asvins Twain, the gods born in a noble car [chariot], the best of charioteers, who reach the heavens.
Dropping with honey is your whip, Asvins, and full of pleasantness. Sprinkle therewith the sacrifice.
(Rig Veda, Book 1, Hymn XXII, 1-3, translation Ralph Griffith)
Renowned, with noble horses, come ye hither: drink Wondrous Pair, the cup that holds sweet juices.
(Rig Veda, Book 7, Hymn LXIX, 3, translation Ralph Griffith)
Herewith, O Asvins, while the dawn is breaking, to this our sacrifice bring peace and blessing.
(Rig Veda, Book 7, Hymn, LXIX, 5, translation Ralph Griffith)
This ceremony is directly reflected in the artful wooden cups in the same graves (Kristiansen & Larsson 2005: fig. 138). Pollen analysis has in two cases demonstrated that cups in graves from this period contained honey, probably as an ingredient in mead/soma (E. Koch 2003), a tradition that is also documented in the Single Grave Culture of the third millennium BCE (Klassen 2005: 39ff.). Thus, when the cup was lifted to the mouth the sun would rise, as the protruding star at the bottom became visible. I can think of no better parallel between a ritual text and its corresponding piece of material culture, although separated by thousands of miles, but once unified by Bronze Age long-distance networks with a Eurasian origin in the early second millennium BCE, to which I shall turn in the next section.
We may conclude that a recurring twin symbolism characterizes a certain segment of the material and iconographic world of the Early and Middle Bronze Age in central and northern Europe. In the Aegean, it is restricted to double and twin axe symbolism, although we find twin figures seated on campstools toasting. The twin symbolism in material culture is introduced already in the Aunjetitz Culture, and in the Leubingen grave we can link the twin symbolism to a ritual pairing of princely “twin” males. In all probability, it defined a ritual dual leadership. Later - during the Middle Bronze Age from 1500 BCE onwards - a class of priestly chiefs can be defined, and they are linked to the Asvins through horse-head symbolism and the exclusive use of sun symbolism through spiral decoration and wheel symbolism. A small number of double or “twin” male chiefly burials continue the tradition introduced by the Leubingen grave. The importance of the ritual sphere is underlined by the production of special ritual objects that are rarely or never found in burials. Thus, a complex ritual and religious system had emerged, headed by chiefly priests (ritual leaders), who were in the service of the Asvins, or rather their worldly representatives. They constitute a ritualized, political leadership. Below them a chiefly group of warriors without ritual functions were now in place defined by the flange hilted sword. A large group of commoners which are ritually invisible must be assumed to have supported this chiefly structure, which was anchored in each local community.
Thus, the twin swords and axes in the Nebra hoard correspond to a widely shared ritual tradition of such deposits, which are the material correlates of the Divine Twins in Bronze Age ritual. It is further supported by the Nebra disc, and later the sun chariot from Trundholm, which links the Divine Twins and the sun cult, and thus confirms their intimate relation. The archaeology thus correlates with the texts and indicates that the Divine Twins were dominant Bronze Age gods from Scandinavia to India.