The primordial Ourea (or more likely Ur-Ea)

The Ourea (/ˈu:rea/, or alternatively Orea /`orea/) were ten primordial deities offspring of Titaness Gaia (or Gaea) that preceded most of the Titans and corresponded to as many respective deified holy mountains as guardians that spanned most of the very ancient known world.

Mount Uludağ, northwest modern Turkey, the ancient Phrygian Mount Olympus or Ulympus

Albeit considered part of the Hellenic (more properly Helenic – and not Greek!) mythology, they are actually inactive characters therein and some only present some action in stories beyond its sphere which, along with the clearly Anatolian structure of the name, strongly recommends an origin from the east.

That said, both forms look most likely Phrygian in descent as the interchange between the sounds /u/ and /o/ as concerns the letter ‘O’ is conspicuous in Old Phrygian, stretching over the best part of their history, where ‘Ω’ and apparently also the diphthong ‘OY’ were introduced to render the former sound in New Phrygian, attested between the first and third century AD (if not earlier).

The Hellenes (more properly Helénoi, or Helénēs), on the other hand, did not use ‘OY’ to render the sound /u/ but ‘Y,’ or ‘Ω’ (Ionians), whereas it was the so-called Koine (Common) that did when it emerged in Anatolia around 330 BC, a ‘bastard’ dialect they didn’t reckon as Hellenic but barbaric anyway.

Which, in turn, spells that ‘Orea’ is the older and ‘Ourea’ a much later form of the appellation in writing though the former effectively contained the latter phonetically.

On top of that, not only the stem ‘or-‘ seems to feature well in Old Phrygian but there was further a similar word ‘ΟΡ-ΥΑΝ’ (voiced as ‘or-uan’ or ‘ur-uan’) that means ‘guardian’ or ‘warden,’ a trait that well fits that of the Ourea.

Nonetheless, the quest of the roots of the name most likely doesn’t wind up here but rather runs far deeper in the past and east among the very influential Hurrians, out of the ranks of whom the Phrygians look as though they may as well have emerged themselves.

Looking closer, the pattern and pronunciation of either Our-ea or Or-ea strongly suggest and reflect a most likely earlier Hurrian form as ‘Ur-Ea’⁽¹⁾ behind it; where ‘ur,’ pronounced as either /ur/ or /or/ just like Phrygian ‘Or-,’ carries the sense of ‘elevated/above ground,’ ‘primeval/primordial’ or ‘source of (divine) light’ whilst ‘ea’ spells ‘earth, ground, mound’ and therefore meets the profile a great deal.

Now, the ten Ourea, or Orea, are lined up on several websites as Aitna (or Aetna), Athos, Helicon, Kithairon, Nys(s)os, Olympus 1, Olympus 2, Oreios, Parnes, and Tmolus – yet a list that doesn’t fully add up on a couple of grounds.

First, there cannot be two (or more) of the same offspring that bear the very same name and yet the above list displays two Ourea under the appellation Olympus, which correspond to the respective mountains in ancient Phrygia and Thessaly. Therefore, one of them is not the original.

Second, the line-up on display doesn’t show Belos (or Belus), a confirmed Oureo⁽²⁾ (or Oreo), which is actually the original name of Mount Olympus in Thessaly (nowadays Greece). The name itself breaks down as Bel-os/us and forms the apparent Anatolian and Hellenic rendering of Bel, Belu or Ba’al (meaning ‘Lord,’ ‘Master’), a major Akkadian, Babylonian and Phoenician god (or gods).

For that matter, Herodorus recounts that Cadmus⁽³⁾ and his men drove away the Hestiaeans, apparently Leleges (Luwian speaking peoples out of Anatolia), from northwestern Thessaly which entails a Phoenician hold over the region, with storm god Ba’al (Zeus)⁽⁴⁾ set up on the ‘throne’ of the mountain, in the wake in deep ancient times.

On the other hand, the Phrygian Olympus is the genuine one as there was actually a Phrygian mountain god named Olympos, who may be the same as the namesake Oureo, that was an early consort of supreme goddess Cybele as well as considered the inventor of the flute and father of the flute-playing Satyrs.

The name Olympus, or alternatively Ulympus, is most likely Phrygian as well. But I will discuss the matter of Olympus, which is very intriguing, at far greater length in a separate post as it merits. For the time, let’s now look at the proper make-up of the Ourea:

Aitna (or Aetna), Athos, Helicon, Kithairon, Nys(s)os, Olympus (Phrygia), Belus (later Thessalian Olympus), Oreios, Parnes, and Tmolus.

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(1) Ea is also the name of the Akkadian and Babylonian god of the earth.

(2) Oureo (or Oreo) is most likely the root of modern Greek ‘όρος’ (`oros,’ mountain).

(3) Belus was also a legendary Pharaoh of Egypt of divine lineage who was further twin brother of King Agenor of Tyre (Phoenicia), father of Cadmus, and long ancestor of Perseus, the legendary founder of Mycenae.

(4) As I have reiterated, Zeus is an epithet (title) and not a theonym applied to king gods and Ba’al was a storm god that resembled the Zeus we have in mind a great deal at that.

Behind the name of Mount Parnitha (Athens)

Along the same lines with Mount Parnāssus (Latin)/Parnassós (Greek), or Parnāssos (with ‘-ss-‘ pronounced the same as in English ‘show’) as it was for the Hellenes, the name of Mount Parnitha (pronounced as ‘`parniθa’) to the north of Athens also shares the same root and descent from Luwian ‘parna,’ which means ‘house/abode’ but even more specifically ‘temple.’

Ancient name and likely development

In antiquity, nonetheless, it carried the name ‘Parnēs’ as Hellenic ‘ΠΑΡΝΗΣ’ was rendered since the letter ‘H’ for the Hellenes, by implication for the Athenians, was called ‘eta’ and was pronounced as a ‘long ε.’

‘Parnitha’ likely derives on its ‘lower’ cases in Latin such as ‘Parnethis’ (genitive) or ‘Parnethi’ (locative) – which very likely have their deep roots (maybe via an Attic/Ionian cognate) in the corresponding Luwian cases that long preceded them – while it seems to emerge in this form in Katharevousa (the purifying tongue), which was an invention as an academic language/dialect by Adamantios Korais in the late 18th century.

Even though digraph ‘th’ in Latin is pronounced as an ‘aspirated t’ just as letter ‘θ’ in Hellenic (‘τ’), which in turn means that the above mentioned would be rendered as ‘Parnētis’ and ‘Parnētī’ respectively therein where the form ‘Parnitha’ (‘parniθa’) I would say certainly comes from its rendering in Koini (Common), where modern Greek descends from.

From the first century BC on, Athens virtually transformed into a Roman city, populated mainly by Romans and other Italian speakers, and as a consequence the Latin language prevailed whilst Roman architecture left a profound stamp on ancient monuments around the city that is evident even today.

Furthermore, judging by the ancient appellation of the mount we can make out that the name of casino Mon Parnes on Parnitha is not accidental after all.

Sacred mount to Zeus (Phrygian Sabazios)

The mount, at that, was held sacred for Zeus, substantiated by his name, who in this case was no other than Phrygian king god Savazios (pronounced as ‘Sabazdios’) that was the supreme deity venerated in the city-state of Athens while, as I have mentioned before, he was also the real god of wine.

Besides, the first component ‘Saba-‘ is associated with wine as a product of grapes must in Phrygian and the second component ‘-zios'(pronounced as ‘-zdios’) spells ‘(king) god’ as the genitive of ‘Zeus,’ also pronounced as ‘Zdeus’ among the Hellenes.

And the selection of Parnitha (‘Parnes’ at the time) as such was not accidental as it was noted for its vines and the fine wine produced from them while upon it also lay the Cave of Pan, yet another deity from Anatolia that is most likely also Phrygian in origin as among the retinue of Sabazios.

As I have further mentioned, ‘Zeus’ is an epithet (title) that means ‘heavenly, mighty’ and not a theonym (name of a god) and as such is attached or applied to king gods such as Amun (or Amen in its proper form), Ti Zeus, Ma Zeus (most likely goddess Cybele), Sabazios, Teshub and Belus among others.

Yiddish Parnes

I don’t know whether it relates but there is a yiddish (European-Hebrew) word ‘parnes’ that denotes the convener of a community and comes from Hebrew ‘parnas’ in a capacity similar to that of a Zeus (king god) as presiding among the gods that also relates to the sense of the ancient name ‘parnes.’

Parnes, one of the ten Ourea

Moreover, there is also Parnes who was one of the ten Ourea, primordial deities and offspring of Gaia that preceded (most of) the Titans, and hasn’t got an active presence in the so-called Greek Mythology suggesting that he lay outside its ‘sphere.’

The Ourea correspond to deified holy mountains as earth guardians, there also seems to be a variation of Orea to it, and the structure of the word suggests an Anatolian origin (the interchange of ‘o’ and ‘u’ as a sound is particularly noted in Phrygian among others).

For that matter, I wouldn’t rule out an even deeper root of the word in a form of ‘Ur-Ea’ most likely descended from the Hurrians, where ‘ur’⁽¹⁾ means something like ‘source of light,’ ‘primeval’ or even ‘elevated/above ground’ whilst ‘ea’ likely spells ‘earth, ground, mound,’ with a potential even earlier origin in Sumer.

Interestingly enough, there was a Hurrian word ‘parni’ that means ‘pure’ that would render ‘Parnes’ as ‘He who is pure/holy’ or ‘the abode of the Pure/Holy,’ which fits the profile of an Oureo, there has got to be said.

Furthermore, there was also an ancient East Iranian/Scythian peoples of the same name (or Parnians) who dwelt in a region around river Hari⁽²⁾, southeast of the Caspian Sea.

As an aside, I reckon that the Hellenic word ‘όρος’ (mountain) has got the same root deriving from ‘Oureo(s)’ or ‘Oreo(s).’

Verdict

Therefore, the verdict of all mentioned above is that ‘Parnes,’ the ancient name of the mount, very likely means ‘the Abode of the Presiding (god)’ or ‘the Abode of the Holy/Pure’ (Zeus), who is no other than Phrygian Sabazios.

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(1) ‘Ur’ is pronounced as either /ur/ or /or/ just like Phrygian ‘Or-,’ showing the same interchange between the sounds of /u/ and /o/.

(2) Hari was another name for the Hurrians, also called Khurri or Khurrite, where the stem ‘khur-/hur-‘ means sun or son, thereby carrying the nuance of ‘pure’ within.

The same interchange of the sounds /u/ and /o/ described above applies here as well incidentally.

Πίσω από το όνομα της Πάρνηθας

Όπως και ο Παρνασσός, ή Παρνάσσος (με ουρανικό ‘σ’ που δεν υπάρχει στη γλώσσα μας) όπως ήταν για τους Έλληνες, το όρος Πάρνηθα στα βόρεια των Αθηνών έχει επίσης ως ρίζα και προέλευση το Λούβιο ‘parna’ που σημαίνει ‘οίκος, κατοικία’ αλλά και ακόμη ειδικότερα ‘ναός.’

Αρχαίο όνομα και πιθανή εξέλιξη

Στην αρχαιότητα, ωστόσο, ονομαζόταν ‘Παρνές’ όπως προφερόταν το ‘ΠΑΡΝΗΣ’ καθώς το ‘Η’ για τους Έλληνες (είχαν μονο κεφαλαία γράμματα), και φυσικά για τους Αθηναίους, ονομαζόταν ‘Έτα’ και προφερόταν ως ‘μακρό ε.’

Το ‘Πάρνηθα’ μάλλον προέρχεται από τις ‘χαμηλότερες’ πτώσεις του στα Λατινικά όπως ‘Parnethis’ (Γενική) ή ‘Parnethi’ (Δοτική) – που πολύ πιθανώς όμως έχουν ρίζα στις αντίστοιχες Λούβιες κλίσεις του που προϋπήρχαν (διαμέσου ενδεχομένως ενός Αττικού/Ιωνικού αντίστοιχου) – και μάλλον πρωτοεμφανίζεται με αυτή την μορφή στην Καθαρεύουσα, που είναι δημιούργημα του Αδαμάντιου Κοραή ως μια ακαδημαϊκή γλώσσα/διάλεκτος στα τέλη του 18ου αιώνα.

Αν και στα λατινικά το δίγραμμα ‘th’ προφέρεται ως ‘δασυνόμενο t’ όπως και το ‘θ’ στα ελληνικά (‘τ΄), που σημαίνει ότι τα παραπάνω θα προφερόντουσαν ως ‘Παρνέτις’ και ‘Παρνέτι,’ ενώ η μορφή ‘Πάρνηθα’ θα έλεγα προέρχεται σίγουρα από την απόδοσή του αντίστοιχου ονόματος στην Κοινή, από όπου προέρχεται και η δική μας γλώσσα.

Από τον 1ο αιώνα π.Χ. και μετά, η Αθήνα έγινε ουσιαστικά Ρωμαϊκή πόλη, κατοικούμενη κυρίως από Ρωμαίους και άλλους ιταλόφωνους, οπότε και η λατινική γλώσσα κυριάρχησε αλλά και η Ρωμαϊκή αρχιτεκτονική ‘στάμπα’ έγινε έντονη, εμφανής στα αρχαία μνημεία γύρω ακόμη και σήμερα.

Επίσης, κρίνοντας από το αρχαίο όνομα του βουνού καταλαβαίνουμε ότι το όνομα του casino Mon Parnes στην Πάρνηθα δεν είναι τελικά τυχαίο.

Ιερό βουνό για τον Ζευς (Φρύγας Σαμπάζιος)

Το βουνό θεωρούταν μάλιστα ιερό για τον Ζευς, κάτι που δικαιολογεί και το όνομά του, ο οποίος στην περίπτωση αυτή δεν είναι άλλος από τον Φρύγα θεό Σαμπάζντιο (Σαβάζιος στην Κοινή) που ήταν και η υπέρτατη θεότητα που λατρευόταν στην πόλη της Αθήνας ενώ, όπως έχω αναφέρει ξανά, ήταν και ο πραγματικός θεός τους κρασιού.

Άλλωστε, το ‘Σαμπα-‘ έχει να κάνει με το κρασί ως προϊόν του μούστου στα Φρυγικά και ‘-ζντιος’ σημαίναι ‘(βασιλιάς) θεός’ ως γενική του ‘Ζντέους,’ που ήταν η προφορά τους ‘Ζευς’ και ανάμεσα στους Έλληνες.

Και δεν είναι τυχαία η επιλογή της Πάρνηθας καθώς φημιζόταν για τα αμπέλια της και το εξαιρετικό κρασί που παραγόταν από αυτά ενώ στο βουνό υπάρχει και το σπήλαιο του Παν, ενός άλλου θεού από την Ανατολία που κατά πάσα πιθανότητα είναι Φρύγας στην καταγωγή επίσης – άλλωστε ήταν και ακόλουθος του Σαμπάζντιου.

Όπως επίσης έχω ξαναπεί, το ‘Ζευς’ είναι επίθετο (χαρακτηρισμός) που σημαίνει ‘ουράνιος, υπέρτατος’ και όχι θεώνυμο (όνομα θεού) και ως τέτοιο αποδίδεται ως τίτλος σε θεούς βασιλιάδες όπως ο Άμουν (ή Αμεν στην κανονική του μορφή), ο Τι Ζευς, η Μα Ζευς (κατά πάσα πιθανότητα η Κυβέλη), ο Σαμπάζντιος, ο Teshub και ο Belos ανάμεσα σε άλλους.

To Ευρω-Εβραϊκό Parnes

Δεν ξέρω αν έχει σχέση, αλλά υπάρχει μια yiddish (ευρωπαιο-εβραϊκή) λέξη ‘parnes’ που δηλώνει τον πρόεδρο μιας κοινότητας και που προέρχεται από το εβραϊκό ‘parnas’ σε μια ιδιότητα που αντιστοιχεί σε αυτή ενός Ζευς (βασιλιά θεού) ως ‘προεδρεύων’ ανάμεσα στους θεούς και να έχει να κάνει με τη σημασία του αρχαίου ονόματος του βουνού ‘Παρνές.’

Παρνές, ένας από τα δέκα Ούρεα

Υπάρχει επίσης και ο Παρνές που ήταν ένας από τα δέκα Ούρεα, αρχέγονες θεότητες και παιδιά της Γκάιας (Γαία για εμάς) που προϋπήρχαν και των (περισσοτέρων) Τιτάνων, ο οποίος δεν έχει καμία δράση στην λεγόμενη ελληνική μυθολογία, κάτι που υποδηλώνει ότι βρίσκεται έξω από τη ‘σφαίρα’ της.

Τα Οuρέα αντιστοιχούν σε θεοποιημένα ιερά βουνά (όρη), φαίνεται να υπάρχει και η παραλλαγή Ορέα του ονόματος,, και η δομή της λέξης φανερώνει προέλευση από την Ανατολία (η παραλλαγή του ‘ο’ και ‘ου’ εμφανίζεται ιδιαίτερα στα Φρυγικά μεταξύ άλλων).

Μάλιστα, προσωπικά δεν θα απέκλεια η ρίζα της λέξης να είναι Ur-Ea βαθύτερα προερχόμενη από τους Hurrians, όπου ‘Ur’⁽¹⁾ σήμαινε κάτι ως ‘πηγή φωτός,’ ‘αρχέγονος’ ή και ‘υπερυψωμένος/υπέργειος’ ενώ το ‘Ea’ πιθανότατα κάτι ως ‘γη, έδαφος. ύψωμα’ με πιθανή ακόμη βαθύτερη καταγωγή στη Σουμερία.

Ενδιαφερόντως, υπήρχε η λέξη ‘parni’ των Hurrians που σημαίνει ‘αγνός, καθαρός’ το οποίο θα απέδιδε το ‘Παρνές’ ως ‘Αυτός που είναι αγνός/ιερός’ ή ‘η Κατοικία του Ιερού/Αγνού,’ που ταιριάζει στο προφίλ ενός Ουρέου, θα πρέπει να ειπωθεί.

Επιπλέον, υπήρχε ένας αρχαιος Ανατολικο-Ιρανικός/Σκυθικός λαός με το ίδιο όνομα (Πάρνοι) που κατοικούσαν στην περιοχή γύρω από τον ποταμό Hari⁽²⁾, νοτιο-ανατολικά της Κασπίας Θάλασσας.

Ως παρένθεση, θεωρώ ότι η ελληνική λέξη ‘όρος’ έχει την ίδια ρίζα και προέρχεται από το ‘Ουρέο(ς)’ ή ‘Ορέο(ς).’

Ετυμηγορία

Συνεπώς, η ετυμηγορία που προκύπτει από όλα τα παραπάνω είναι ότι το ‘Πάρνες,’ το αρχαίο όνομα του βουνού, πολύ πιθανώς σημαίνει ‘Κατοικία του προέχοντος (θεού)’ ή ‘Κατοικία του Ιερού/Αγνού’ (Ζευς), που δεν είναι άλλος από το Φρύγα Σαμπάζντιο.

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(1) Το ‘Ur’ προφέρεται είτε ως /ur/ ή /or/’ όπως και το Φρυγικό ‘Ορ-,’ παρουσιάζοντας την ίδια εναλλαγή μεταξύ των ήχων /u/ και /ο/.

(2) Hari ήταν άλλο ένα όνομα για τους Hurrians, επίσης αποκαλούμενοι ως Khurri (Κούροι) ή Khurrite (Κουρήτε(ς)), όπου η λεξική ρίζα ‘khur-‘ σημαίνει ‘ήλιος’ ή ‘γιος,’ φέροντας έτσι και την απόχρωση του ‘αγνός’ μέσα του.

Η ίδια εναλλαγή των ήχων /u/ και /o/ που περιγράφεται παραπάνω ισχύει και εδώ παρεπιπτόντως.

The Taurus Mountains and influential storm god Tar(h)u behind the name

You may have heard of the Taurus Mountains that very much span the entire length of southern Minor Asia, or ancient Anatolia, separating the Mediterranean coastline from the Anatolian Plateau.

This is actually the Latin form of the name, almost identical to Greek ‘Ταύρος’ (pronounced as ‘tavros’) and near Turkish ‘Toros,’ that carries the meaning of ‘bull’ although I personally don’t reckon this was always the case.

A Semitic origin has been long speculated for it as Ernest Klein proposed (e.g., Aramaic ‘towr’ apparently means ‘bull’) as there doesn’t appear to be a cognate in the ancient Indo-Iranian tongues while Heinrich Kiepert moved along these lines in a slighty different direction lining up Aramaic ‘ṭūrā,’ which means ‘mountain.’

However, the root of the name may lie considerably closer as these mountains were considered the high ground/realm and accommodated many temples of storm gods, therefore equated to sacred, such as Hattian Tar(h)u.

Tar(h)u is actually very similar to or could be the same as Hurrian Teshub or Hittite/Luwian Tarhun/Tarhunt whilst the signature animal of them all was the sacred bull, hence the connection.

Come to that, the mountains and the southeastern region of Anatolia were the early grounds of the Hurrians who are likely those that introduced the cult of storm gods in the Near East.

Hence, I am most confident that ‘Tar(h)u’ is actually the origin behind the name ‘Tauru-s’ (Latin) or ‘Tauro-s’ (Hellenic) as it looks very similar both in structure and phonetically.

There should be noted that the Old Latin form of ‘Tauru-s’ was ‘Tarvu-s’ (or potentially ‘Tarvo-s’ even earlier) where ‘v’ appears on the other side of ‘r’ and in the same place as ‘h’ in Tar(h)u.

That ‘v’ in turn derived on the Etruscan 𐤉 (wau) which had a sound of ‘w’ instead so it would be like Tar(w)u in an early form (Etruscan) rendering a very similar pronunciation to Tar(h) come to that.

Furthermore, in ancient Hellenic (not Greek!) the diphthong ‘αυ’ wasn’t pronounced as ‘av’ nowadays but as ‘aʊ’ just as in ‘brown’ (English), therefore ‘ΤΑΥΡΟΣ’ would be voiced like ‘Towro-s’ which is very similar to the Latin form in pronunciation.

On top of it all, both ‘Tar(h)u’ (Hattian) and ‘Teshub’ (Hurrian)* share the same meaning of ‘conqueror’ while the name of the god in Hittite was Tarhun with a respective verb ‘tarhu’ that meant ‘to prevail/conquer.’

There has to be said that there is an Armenian word pronounced as ‘tɑɾˈχun’ (tarhun) that is actually the name of a plant carrying the sense of ‘dragon plant’ and could as well derive on the ancient Hittite god Tarhun.

After all, ancient Armenia overlapped the lands of the once Hittite Empire and Tarhun was the equivalent or the same god as Hurrian Teshub, a legendary feat of whom was slaying the dragon Illuyanka.

By implication, the god’s name Tar(h)u may more specifically carry then the nuance of ‘Conqueror of the Dragon.’

Consequently, ‘Tauru-s’ (Latin), ‘Tauro-s’ (Hellenic) or ‘Toro-s’ (Turkish) are in fact most likely the name of storm god Tar(h)u** himself, whose signature animal was the bull, as rendered in those languages and not the animal.

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*That said, I personally speculate that Teshub name means something like ‘Lord of the Bull’ instead, given the very similar form of Tešup (Teshup) in Hattian where ‘šup’ means ‘bull.’

** Very likely, the name of Tar(h)u with time came identified with his signature animal, the bull.