The Creation Legends of Hesiod and Ovid

Joannes Richter

Abstract
The following essay describes a set of Germanic keywords and a planetary legend which may have
been originated in Harran, was to be communicated along global trading routes and to be shared by
Germanic peoples.
The legend is cognate with Hesiod's Works and Days, in which five Ages of Man (golden, silver,
bronze, heroes and iron) have been ruled by several planetary deities Cronus, Zeus and Ares. This
legend has been confirmed by Ovid's Four Ages of Mankind, in his poem Metamorphoses.
The Germanic form of this creation legend may have been encoded in the runic ᚠᚢᚦᚩᚱᚳ (Ϝuthark)
alphabet, which starts with a readable keyword ᚠᚢᚦ (“fut”, “vut”, “wut”, “wit”).
Around 400CE the earliest Ϝuthark's alphabet has been carved into the Kylver Stone. Both the
definition of the Germanic alphabet and the Germanic Names for the days of the week have been
dated around 400 CE. The seven-day week spread throughout the Roman Empire in Late Antiquity.
By the 4th century, it was in wide use throughout the Empire.
The Germanic creation legend varies from dialect to dialect, concentrating itself on a set of
keywords such as the divine names (Rod → Thor → Tuw → Vut) and the other basic keywords
such as fut, futte, wight, wit, wittman, witvrouw, wittekind, which are embedded in and synchronized
to a larger evolutionary background at a universally valid common base (such as the PIE-base).
The dual forms and the antipodal bipolarity of man & woman, darkness & light, sun & moon, day &
night, salt water & sweet water in the Creation Legends may have been used to symbolize the
duality in creation. Most of the duality vanished from standard German, but traces of the dual
forms, the relations between husband and spouse and various names such as *Dyeus, Tuisto,
*tiwisko, *Tiwaz including Tiw and Tiu (probably cognate to “two” and “wut”) are recognizable.
The duality is a PIE-feature, which is inherited by the sky-god *Dyeus.
From this description it may be understood that “The Creation Legends of Hesiod and Ovid” may
have been used to define the words “Vut” (“Voden”) and “Tuw”, as well as “Thor”, “Rod” and the
personal pronoun “wit” (“we two”) and “wit” (“to know”).
Germanic languages and dialects
At New Year's Eve 2018/2019 we happened to be guests in an old former village schoolhouse,
which had been transformed to a romantic hotel with a small library of books with information
about the history and dialects of the various districts of Saarland and its surroundings. One of these
books described the local Saarlandic dialect.
Intuitively I noticed the correspondences between the Saarlandic and Limburgish dialects. Also
some traces of special Brabantic sayings could be observed.
My parents had spoken Limburgish and in my youth I had lived most of my youth in North Brabant
and from 1966-1972 in North-Limburg (Netherlands) myself, which allowed me to feel familiar in
these dialects.
I concentrated myself on essentials and tried to trace the main line inside these dialects, which more
or less are located near the borderline between the Germanic and French languages. In the course of
time both the Saarland and Limburg have experienced various switches of their sovereigns and the
languages of government.

The Saarlandic language

Obviously the Saarlandic language had been based on German-oriented dialect, which had been
enriched with a number of French words. In this dialect I discovered the following unusual and
unexpected features:
• The neuter form of unmarried women (in Saarlandic quite common, but in Limburgish only
for close friends and relatives) the women are described as a neuter “it”, “this” or “that”,
which also may be found in Limburgish and in the dialect of Cologne).
• Matrimonial couples are understood as two human halves of one “man”. The male half is
named “hers” and the female half is named “his”.
• The description “that one” for “outsiders”
• The widow is called “wittfraa” and the widower “wittmann”, which suggests to name an
orphan wittekind”.

The neighboring languages

Generally the neighboring languages also reveal unusual and unexpected constructs:
• The widower “veuf” and widow “veuve” in French, which is derived from from Latin
viduus, through a Vulgar Latin *viduvus.
• The personal pronouns “mir” (“we” - in the northern) and “wir” (“we”- in the southern
regions)
• the antipodal prepositions “with” (“weder”, “wed”) and “mid” (“met”)
• the color white in the Dutch word “Witte Donderdag” (“Maundy Thursday”)
• The strange declension of “zwei” (“two”) in the Moselle Franconian dialect
• The wight as the homunculus in the fut (the sperm), respectively ϝut (“wut”) and ϝit (“wit”)
• The divine names in the Germanic pantheon (Rod → Thor → Tuw → Vut)
• The Creation Legends of Hesiod and Ovid
The neuter form of unmarried women
The neuter form of unmarried women (in Saarlandic quite common, but in Limburgish only for
close friends and relatives) the women are described as a neuter “it”, “this” or “that”, which also
may be found in Limburgish and in the dialect of Cologne).
In the Maastricht version of Limburgish the neuter form for women generally is considered as an
affront.
A sample of the neuter “it” may be interpreted as follows “And it (to be understood as
“she”) asked him to do it.” in which the yellow colors mark the female and the blue colors
mark the male pronouns. The word “es” (for it”) has been abbreviated as “s”, which is
integrated in “Unnshatne gefròòt” (“And it has asked him”):
Unnshatne gefròòt, obbers mache dääd. – „and it (=she) asked him to do it.“1.

The “other half” in matrimonial couples

In Germanic languages the personal pronouns of the first (“I”) and second person (“Thou”) seem
have been paired to form common alliance as a married couple, in which husband and wife are life
companions. In Dutch the name of these spouses is “wederhelft” or in German “die Ehehälfte”)
(literally: “the other half”). In Saarland the husband is named “hers” and his spouse is “his”.
In Brabantic dialect the spouses name their partner “mijn mens” (“literally: my man”). This concept
also indicates an intense bond between matrimonial partners, which probably also confirms Plato's
description of the “old religion” in of Aristophanes' speech in Symposium.
According to Plato's dialogue the first human beings had been created as couples, which had to be
split in two individuals (man & man, man & woman or woman & woman) and desperately searched
their partners to be reunited.
There were three sexes: the all male, the all female, and the "androgynous," who was half
male, half female. The males were said to have descended from the sun, the females from
the earth and the androgynous couples from the moon2.

The alternative Creation Legend

From the beginning of documentation this concept and the alternative Creation Legend in Genesis
had been discussed, but discussions also may have caused religious repercussions:

1 (Gen. i. 27) as "male and female" instead of "man and woman,"

The remarkable contradiction between the passages of Eve's creation in Genesis could
not escape the attention of the Pharisees, to whom the Bible was a subject of close
study. In explaining the various views concerning Eve's creation, they taught ('Er. 18a,
Gen. R. viii.) that Adam was created as a man-woman (androgynos), explaining fig.1
(Gen. i. 27):as "male and female" instead of "man and woman," and that the separation
of the sexes arose from the subsequent operation upon Adam's body, as related in the
Scripture. This explains Philo's statement that the original man was neither man nor
woman3.

1 Neutrale Feminina – Dialekte im Saarland

2 Aristophanes' speech in Symposium
3 Adam Ḳadmon (Chapter “Philo”). Author: Louis Ginzberg in the 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia)
Even the widow (Saarlandic: “wittfraa”) and widower (Saarlandic: “wittmann”) still seem to be
considered as a dual concept, in which “wit” eventually may be interpreted as the dual form “we
two”. And finally the orphan might have been derived from the same root “wed”, “wid” or “wit”.
Also the “wicht” (English: “wight”) may be interpreted as a “wittekind”, which as a homunculus has
been thought to exist in the fut (the sperm), or alternatively arose from the “foeteren”, the ϝut
(“wut”, “vut”) of ϝit (“wit”, “we two”).
The dual forms and the antipodal bipolarity of man & woman, darkness & light, sun & moon, day &
night, salt water & sweet water in the Creation Legends may have been used to symbolize the
duality in creation. Most of the duality vanished from standard German, but traces of the dual
forms, the relations between husband and spouse and various names such as *Dyeus, Tuisto,
*tiwisko, *Tiwaz including Tiw and Tiu (probably cognate to “two” and “wut”) are recognizable:
Tuisto, is commonly connected to the Proto-Germanic root *twai – "two" and its
derivative *twis – "twice" or "doubled", thus giving Tuisto the core meaning "double".

One proposed etymology for this variant reconstructs a Proto-Germanic *tiwisko and
connects this with Proto-Germanic *Tiwaz, giving the meaning "son of Tiu". This
interpretation would thus make Tuisco the son of the sky-god (Proto-Indo-European
*Dyeus) and the earth-goddess.[1]

In Plato's dialogue there were three sexes: the all male, the all female, and the "androgynous," who
was half male, half female. Therefore the dual forms could be applied for various gender
combinations.

The “wir”-/“wit”- and the “mir”-/”mit”-words

Germanic languages seem to be prefer “wit”words such as “wittfraa”, “wittmann” and “wittekind”.
In German dialects the personal pronoun of the first person plural “we” varies between the southern
version “mir” (in Saarlandic, Swabian and Bavarian dialects) to the standard German “wir”.
According to Jacob Grimm the dual form is generated by adding or replacing the last character to a
“t” (to indicate the duality “two”).This rule results in a dual form “wit” for standard English, Dutch
and German (“we” or “wir” → “wit”)4.
Various northern Germanic languages such as Northern Frisian have been using dual forms such as
“wit”, “wet” and “wat” (“we two”) but I did not find a dual form “mit” (“we two”) for the southern
personal pronoun “mir” (“we two”) in Saarlandic, Swabian and Bavarian dialects.

The dual forms in other languages

The Bavarian dialect however uses the dual forms és (nominative „you both“) and enk (accusative
„you both“), which today are used as plural forms. In the course of time the Bavarian dialect must
have lost the duality in the dual form for all personal pronouns5.
The Gothic language has been equipped with personal pronouns weis („we“) respectively wit „we
two“. The Gothic language may even have defined a majority of the “wit”-words for example
“wanwit6” (respectively “vanwit”):
A foolish, witless, or insane person; an idiot; a lunatic. Now archaic and rare7.

4 T ist “angehängte zweizahl”. – Wörterbuchnetz – Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob Grimm und Wilhelm Grimm
5 Dualis – Im Bairischen wird die ursprüngliche Dualform als allgemeine Pluralform verwendet. Einen eigenen Dual
gibt es heute nicht mehr.
6 Scribd: Balg a Comparative Glossary of the Gothic Language
7 wanwit
In English “wit” is well-known as a substantive (“wit”, “witness”) and a verb (“to wit”)
The root “wit” also refers to the German word “Witz” (“bright”, “esprit”) and the Dutch word
“wet”for justice and law.
Details for these “wit”-categories have been documented in “De taal van Adam en Eva” (in Dutch).
In the following chapters I will sketch a derivation of the “wit”-root as a divine name from the
planetary concept of the “Sabians”8 of Harran.

The declension of “zwei” (“two”) in the Moselle Franconian dialect

A remarkable declension is found for the number “two” at male, female and neuter versions of
Moselle Franconian nouns.
The declension of the German number “zwei” (“two”) depends on gender (and eventually also in
combination of the persons' age), which results in different versions for men and women and
children9. This usage of this declension may be complicated by the neuter form of unmarried
women, which is not explicitly specified in the samples:
The neuter form of unmarried women (in Saarlandic quite common, but in Limburgish only
for close friends and relatives) the women are described as a neuter “it”, “this” or “that”,
which also may be found in Limburgish and in the dialect of Cologne). In the Maastricht
version of Limburgish the neuter form for women generally is considered as an affront.

The following sample for the Moselle Franconian dialect illustrates the principle:

male female neuter

Elder people zwien (zwe'in) Männer zwou Fraaen zwä (zwäi) Heiser
(two men) (two women) (two houses)
Young people zwe'in Jongen zwou Mädcher zwäi Kenner
(two boys) (two girls) (two children)
Table 1 Declension of the number “zwei” (“two”) in Moselle Franconian dialect

In standard German the expressions are:

male female neuter

Elder people zwei Männer zwei Frauen zwei Häuser
(two men) (two women) (two houses)
Young people zwei Jungs zwei Mädchen Zwei Kinder
(two boys) (two girls) (two children)
Table 2 Declension of the number “zwei” (“two”) in standard German

Obviously some spurious special forms duality are still in use and may be found in dialects. The
duality seems to be related to the Creation Legend.

8 The pagan people of Harran identified themselves with the Sabians in order to fall under the protection of Islam.
(Early Islamic Harran)
9 Quotation of the original German text: “Besonders interessant ist der unterschiedliche Gebrauch des Zahlwortes
"zwei" vor männlichen, weiblichen oder sächlichen Hauptwörtern: zwien (zwe'in) Männer, zwou Fraaen, zwä
(zwäi)Heiser; zwe'in Jongen, zwou Mädcher, zwäi Kenner; (source: Moselle Franconian dialect)
The planetary gods
The Germanic planetary gods (Rod→Thor→Tuw →Vut)
In An Architecture for the Runic Alphabets the encoding of the main Germanic pantheon (Rod →
Thor → Tuw → Vut) in the initial runes of the Futhark and Futhorc alphabets is described as
follows:
The three initial symbols ᚠ,ᚢ,ᚦ in the Elder Futhark and Younger Futhark (~150–1100 AD)
may refer to the personal pronoun of the 1 st person dual (in old-Dutch: “Wut”, → “we
two”), the personal pronoun of the 2nd person singular (“thu” → “thou”) and to 3 deities
“Vut” (Woden), “Tuw” (in English: “Tuw” or “Tue” as in Tuesday) and “Thor”
(symbolized by the rune ᚦ named “Thurs” respectively “Thorn”).
In the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc (400–1100 AD) the 3rd, 4th and 5th runes ᚦ,ᚩ,ᚱ (“Thor”)
additionally may refer to the deities “Thor” and “Rod”.
The initial ᚠ,ᚢ,ᚦ–keyword of the various Futhark and Futhorc suggests the names “Vut”
(Wōden) and the reversed form “Tuw” (Tīwaz) were the first symbols to be represented in
the alphabet's concept.
In Futhorc the name Thor (Þórr or Þur) may have been introduced in a later stage of the
alphabet to compensate the symbolic power of the supreme Roman Jupiter by modifying a
vowel “a” in Futhark to “o” in the Futhorc alphabet10.
The Germanic people probably based their divine names on globally available observations of the
“wandering stars”, which had been identified as the earliest divine beings.

The astronomers of Harran

The astronomers of Harran, the Chaldean and Greek scientists symbolized the unarmed directly
visible “planets” or “wandering stars” by attributing these with vowels (such as Moon = A, Mercury
= E, Venus = H, the Sun = I, Mars = O, Jupiter = U/Y en Saturn = Ω) and metals gold, silver, lead,
iron, tin, copper, quick-silver.
The following table maybe sorted according to the name ΙΑΩΟΥΗΕ (Jehovah11), in which the three
archaic letters A, I, Ω are found in the three most prominent positions.
# Temple/God Planet Day of the week category
1 I Shamash Sun Sunday archaic
2 A Sîn Moon Monday archaic
3 Ω Ninurta Saturn Saturday archaic (father)

4 Ο Nergal Mars Tuesday grandson

5 Y Marduk Jupiter Thursday son

6 H Ishtar Venus Friday bastard

7 E Nabu Mercury Wednesday bastard
Table 3: The Seven Temples of Harran

10 An Architecture for the Runic Alphabets

11 “In the Jewish-Egyptian magic-papyri it appears as Ιαωουηε.” (source: Names Of God - Jewishencyclopedia)
The table has been designed in three sections, which correspond to three cascaded divine names.
The set of main planets (excluding the bastard planets E= Mercury and H= Venus, which
had been detailed and defined “illegal bastards” by Plato in his dialogue Timeaus) might
have been symbolized as IAΩOY (Moon = A, the Sun = I, Mars = O, Jupiter = U/Y en
Saturn = Ω):
1. ΙΑΩ (Jahweh), symbolizing the sun, the moon and Saturn)
2. IAΩ-OY (symbolizing the sun, the moon Saturn and Jupiter and Mars)
3. ΙΑΩ-ΟΥ-ΗΕ (“Jehovah”, symbolizing all 7 planets including the “bastard planets H and E)
The earliest set of vowels which had been attributed to planets seemed to have been ΙΑΩ
(Jahweh), IAΩOY and ΙΑΩΟΥΗΕ (“Jehovah”). The Sun, Moon and Saturn may have been
symbolized as ΙΑΩ.
The Sabians however used other names, such as Il (Sun), Sin (Moon), Nirig (Nirgal or Mars), Enba
(Nebo or Mercury), Bil (Jupiter), Estera (Ishtar or Venus), and Kewan (Saturn).
In other documents the planets' names have been mixing Hellenic and Greek names such as: Ilios
(Helios), Sin, Ares, Nabuq, Bal, Baithi, Kronos, in which the name Ilios (Helios) may also refer to
Ilion (Troya) as the Sun's City. Bal (or Bil) of course is Baal.
Some of the Sabian formulas sound familiar to us:
The Sun is also referred to as Adunay (Adonai), which means “lord.”12.
Of all these planetary symbols13 the sun seems to be the principal planetary spirit:
“As lord of the planetary spirits the Sun's place is in the midst of them.14”
“The Sun, as the greatest, stands in the central or fourth heaven.15”
Originally the Moon however seems to have been the superior element of the Chaldean planets. The
moon-cult belongs to the nomadic and therefore earlier stage of civilization, whereas the sun-god
rises to full importance only after the agricultural stage has been reached16.
According to Genesis 12:1 in Harran God speaks to 75-year-old Abraham and commands him:
“Go forth from your land and your birthplace and your father's house to the land that I
will show you”. (Genesis 12:1). 17

The Greek historians Hesiod and Ovid were the first authors, who documented these astronomical
details in the form of Creation legends. The first creation legend was Hesiod's Works and Days
(Ἔργα καὶ Ἡμέραι) (750 - 650 BC), in which the 5 ages of Man had been assigned to the metals
gold, silver, bronze and iron, respectively the gods Cronos, → Zeus, → Ares. In this legend Man
has been made from an ash-tree.
Another legend has been composed by Ovid (43 BC - † 17 AD) who published a concept in which 4
ages of Man had been assigned by the metals gold, silver, bronze and iron, respectively by the titan
Prometheus and the gods Saturn and Jove.

12 The Planetary Week in Mesopotamia - 4 Angel's Publications - Eberhard Schrader

13 The Sun, the Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn
14 Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th ed., Vol. 17, pp. 556 quoted in The Planetary Week in Mesopotamia - 4 Angel's
Publications - Eberhard Schrader
15 J. M‟Clintock and J. Strong, Cyclopaedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecciesiastical Literature, Vol. 6, p. 82, art.
quoted in The Planetary Week in Mesopotamia - 4 Angel's Publications - Eberhard Schrader
16 source: Šamaš
17 Abraham's Early Life And Travels To Canaan
The seven Chaldean “planets”, which had been selected to define the Names of the days of the week
also may have been used to define four names (Rod→Thor→Tuw →Vut) in the Germanic runic
alphabet. Both concepts for the days of the week and the runic alphabet may have been developed at
the end phase of the Roman empire.

The location of Harran

A few years ago, in May 2013 I studied the Sabians of Harran and documented details in The Seven
Temples of Harran - Explaining the vowel symbols in ΙΑΩ, respectively Some Notes to Sabian
Philosophy and Timaeus.
The ruins of the temples of Harran are still available and may be visited for further investigations.
Various studies provide us with a detailed descriptions, such as:
A small village was built on the site of one of the planetary temples, probably the one
dedicated to the Moon-god Sin.

About half a Kilometer to the South-East stands a large circular platform built of hewn
stones, all very finely fitted together, marking the spot of Saturn in the heavenly
diagram of Sogmatar.

According to a recent reconstruction hypothesis, on top of each platform stood gigantic

representations of the planetary solids associated to each of the seven Planets (Moon,
Sun, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn)18.

The moon god Sin

The moon god seemed to have been a male deity, which does not match to the female Latin word
“Luna”:
The moon god Sin was very important in the Mesopotamian pantheon. In some texts he
is referred to as the father of the gods19.

The city was the chief home of the Mesopotamian moon god Sin, under the Assyrians and Neo-
Babylonians/Chaldeans and even into Roman times.
Sin's temple was rebuilt by several kings, in the 7 th and the 6th century BCE. Herodian (iv. 13, 3)
mentions the town (named Carrhae) as possessing in his day a temple of the moon:
“Not long after they made this agreement, it happened that Caracalla, who was spending the
time at Carrhae in Mesopotamia, conceived a desire to leave the imperial quarters and visit
the Temple of the Moon, for Selene is the goddess20 whom the natives particularly adore.
The temple was located some distance from Carrhae, and the journey was a long one.”

The male and female antipodes

The priority of the male moon god, which is found in Harran, may have been inherited to the
German word “Mond” (“moon”), which is categorized as a male noun. The German word “Sonne”
(the “sun”) is female. In contrast the Latin words for moon (“Luna”) is female and the word for sun
“Sol” is a male noun.

18 The Hall of Records: The temple of the Seven Planets at Sogmatar

19 The Celestial Temple of Sogmatar: A Sacred Site Dedicated to Sin and
20 In contrast to Selene the deity Sin cannot be considered as a female deity.
The Creation legends and the days of the week
Hesiod's Creation Legend
In his work Works and Days (Ἔργα καὶ Ἡμέραι) Hesiod (750 - 650 BC) describes five Ages of
Man: golden, silver, brazen, heroes and iron, in which three gods Cronos, → Zeus, → Ares are
reigning. The planets Mercury and Venus had not been listed in the ruling classes.
1. First of all the deathless gods who dwell on Olympus made a golden race of mortal men
who lived in the time of Cronos when he was reigning in heaven. And they lived like gods
without sorrow of heart, remote and free from toil and grief: miserable age rested not on
them.
2. Then they who dwell on Olympus made a second generation which was of silver and less
noble by far. It was like the golden race neither in body nor in spirit.
3. Zeus the Father made a third generation of mortal men, a brazen race, sprung from ash-
trees[4]; and it was in no way equal to the silver age, but was terrible and strong. They loved
the lamentable works of Ares and deeds of violence; This Age came to an end with the flood
of Deucalion21.
4. Zeus the son of Cronos made yet another, the fourth, upon the fruitful earth, which was
nobler and more righteous, a god-like race of hero-men who are called demi-gods, the race
before our own.
5. And again far-seeing Zeus made yet another generation, the fifth, of men who are upon the
bounteous earth. Thereafter, would that I were not among the men of the fifth generation,
but either had died before or been born afterwards. For now truly is a race of iron, and men
never rest from labor and sorrow by day, and from perishing by night; and the gods shall lay
sore trouble upon them22.

Ask and Embla

It may be a remarkable fact that the Germanic Creation legends also mentioned a creation of man
from an ash tree, which correlates to Hesiod's legend of the “brazen race, which in the third age
sprang from ash-trees...”.
In Norse mythology, Ask and Embla (from Old Norse: Askr ok Embla)—male and
female respectively—were the first two humans, created by the gods. The pair are
attested in both the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional
sources, and the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson. In both
sources, three gods23, one of whom is Odin, find Ask and Embla and bestow upon them
various corporeal and spiritual gifts24.

21 the son of Prometheus

22 Works and Days
23 Hœnir, Lóðurr and Odin
24 Ask and Embla
Ovid's Creation Legend
The Roman poet Ovid25 (1st century BC – 1st century AD) tells a similar myth of Four Ages of
Mankind, in Book 1.89–150 of the Metamorphoses.
Book I of the Metamorphoses26 claims Four Ages of Mankind, in which man was born by a
universal Creator god by molding “earth” into the form of all-controlling gods. This description
probably involves three gods: Prometheus, Saturn and Jove.
1. the son of Iapetus (→ probably Prometheus). Iapetus is a titanic progenitor of mankind. In
Greek tradition Iapetus is a brother of Cronus, who ruled the world during the Golden
Age[12]. In Hebrew tradition Japheth is the son of Noah.
2. Saturn (→ for the golden age) and
3. Jove (→ for the silver, brazen, iron ages).

Ovid's Four Ages of Mankind version 1

Ovid's Four Ages of Mankind are:
• Then man was born whether the god who made all else, designing a more perfect world,
made man of his own divine substance, or whether the new earth, but lately drawn away
from heavenly ether, retained still some elements of its kindred sky-that earth which the son
of Iapetus mixed with fresh, running water, and moulded into the form of the all-controlling
gods.
1. Golden was that first age, which, with no one to compel, without a law, of its own will, kept
faith and did the right.
2. After Saturn had been banished to the dark land of death, and the world was under the sway
of J the silver race came in, lower in the scale than gold, but of greater worth than yellow
brass. Jove now shortened the bounds of the old-time spring, and through winter, summer,
variable autumn, and brief spring completed the year in four seasons.
3. Next after this and third in order came the brazen race, of sterner disposition, and more
ready to fly to arms savage, but not yet impious.
4. The age of hard iron came last. ...Men lived on plunder. Guest was not safe from host, nor
father-in-law from son-in-law ; even among brothers 'twas rare to find affection. The
husband longed for the death of his wife, she of her husband; murderous stepmothers
brewed deadly poisons, and sons inquired into their fathers' years before the time.
These varying versions of the creation legends or their contents may have been handed out by
traders, who visited the Germanic and Celtic peoples.

25 Publius Ovidius Naso

26 prose translation by Frank Justus Miller (1921)
Ovid's Four Ages of Mankind version 2
Another translation Book 1 in Metamorphoses, verse translation by Arthur Golding (1567) quotes a
creation in likenesse to the Gods, but actually performed by Prometheus:
• And, pliant, still retain'd th' aetherial energy:
Which Prometheus tempring straight with water of the spring,
Did make in likenesse to the Gods that governe everie thing.
1. But when that into Lymbo once Saturnus being thrust,
The rule and charge of all the worlde was under Jove unjust,
2. And that the silver age came in, more somewhat base than golde,
3. Next after this succeded streight, the third and brazen age:
More hard of nature, somewhat bent to cruell warres and rage.
4. But yet not wholy past all grace. Of yron is the last
In no part good and tractable as former ages past.

Ovid's Four Ages of Mankind version 3

A third translation in Book 1 of Metamorphoses (by John Dryden ) (1815) quotes:
• Which wise Prometheus temper'd into paste,
And, mixt with living streams, the godlike image cast.
1. The golden age was first; when Man yet new,
No rule but uncorrupted reason knew:
2. But when good Saturn, banish'd from above,
Was driv'n to Hell, the world was under Jove.
Succeeding times a silver age behold,
Excelling brass, but more excell'd by gold.
3. To this came next in course, the brazen age:
A warlike offspring, prompt to bloody rage,
Not impious yet...
4. Hard steel succeeded then:
And stubborn as the metal, were the men.
Overview of the main Germanic gods
Overview of the main Germanic gods, which have been categorized in the days of the week:
Ages Deities (Hesiod) Deities (Ovid) Deities (Germanic) day of the week
Creation son of Iapetus Prometheus Tuisco (?)
(Prometheus)
1-gold Cronos Saturn Rod (→ “Saturn”) Saturday
2-silver Zeus Jove “Þor” (Þūraz/Þunraz → Thursday
Thor) → “Jupiter”
3-bronze Ares “wars” “Þuw” (Tīwaz, Tuw) → Tuesday
“Mars”
Deucalion “Ϝuþ” (Vut, Wud, Wod) → Wednesday
(son of Prometheus) Wōdanaz (“Wodan”) →
“Mercury”
4-iron Modern society
Table 4 Mapping of the Ages of Mankind (Hesiod/Ovid) and the main Germanic gods

Friday
Friday, the day of Frijjō (Frigg; Frīg; Frīja), was earlier the day of Venus, goddess of love.

Saturday
In some West Germanic languages Saturday has been devoted to Saturn. The English "Saturday",
West Frisian Saterdei, Low German Saterdag and Dutch zaterdag are all meaning Saturn's day.[2]

Rod (Saturn)
According to Valentin Taranets the name Ýmir and the Salvic name Bogomir may be considered as
an evidence that the Germanic and Slavic pagan peoples had been contacting in their archaic
territories:
Der Name Ýmir und der slawische Name Bogomir (Gott Umir) zeugen von der Nähe
der heidnischen Stämme der Germanen und der Slawen27.

These contacts and the common runes may be dated from 2000 BCE up to the westward emigration
of Germanic and Slavic people from the Don estuary.
The idea of devoting a day of the week to Rod cannot be proven. Alternatively the Slavs may have
switched the supreme God of Heaven from Deivos (Tiw) to Krodo (Rod) as soon as they
discovered that Rod represented the slowest of the circling planets and the oldest diety.
Rod (Polish, Slovenian, Croatian: Rod, Belarusian, Bulgarian, Russian, Serbian
Cyrillic: Род, Ukrainian Cyrillic: Рід) is a conception of supreme God of the universe
and of all its gods in Slavic Native Faith (Rodnovery).

In the earliest Slavic religion the supreme God of Heaven was called Deivos,[2 ->
Gasparini 2013.] but this name was soon abandoned [4 -> Rudy 1985, p. 4.] to be
replaced by the concept of Rod.

27 Germanische und Slavische Runen Stammen aus einer Quelle by Valentin Taranets
 In some old writings the name appears as Hrodo, Chrodo, Krodo, or the Latinised form
Crodone.[5 → Hanuš 1842, p. 116. ] The 15th-century Saxon Chronicle attests that
"Krodo" was worshipped also by Saxon tribes, who inhabited modern-day northern and
eastern Germany together with West Slavic tribes.[6 -> Delius (1827).] 28

Nimrod
I also checked whether Rod may have been related to Nimrod, who according to an Arabic source
and another Syriac paper is said to have been involved in building the city of Harran.
In Europe the common root for planetary investigations and the planetary gods may have been
performed by the Sabians of Harran.
There was a great temple dedicated to the moon god Sin at Harran, and it is claimed that Harran was
one of seven cities each of which was dedicated to one of the seven planets.
According to an early Arabic work known as Kitab al-Magall or the Book of Rolls (part
of Clementine literature), Harran was one of the cities built by Nimrod, when Peleg was
50 years old. The Syriac Cave of Treasures (c. 350) contains a similar account of
Nimrod's building Harran and the other cities, but places the event when Reu was 50
years old29.

This may seem plausible, but in the Book Genesis Reu is considered to be Abraham's great-great-
grandfather....

28 Rod (Slavic religion)

29 Harran (Religion)
The Names of the days of the week
The Roman and Germanic planetary names
In the Names of the days of the week we may find the names of the visible mixed (Roman and
Germanic) planets.
In English the names refer to the main deities Thor (Jupiter), Woden (Mercury), Tuw (Mars) and
Freya (Venus). Additionally the list with the days of the week of these planets is mixed with the
Sun, the Moon and Saturn.
The Germanic names Wodan → Wut, Thor → Þor, Deiwos → Tuw may have been abbreviated in
the compact runic symbols. The shortened Names of the days of the week may be reduced to two
sets of mirrored names. One name is to be read from the left tot the right. The other name is to be
read from the right tot the left:
“Ϝuþ” (Vut) ↔ “Þuw” (Tuw)
and
“Þor” (Thor) ↔ “Roþ” (Rod).
These four names may be considered as a pedigree in which Roþ” (“Rod”, → Saturn) is the slowest
planet and therefore the oldest of all four deities. The pedigree may be checked in Roman history, in
which Saturn is Jupiter's father and Mars' grandfather.
“Ϝuþ” (Vut or Wut) and “Þuw” (Tuw) are reciprocal names and may be read from both sides.
Theoretically also “Þor” (Thor) and “Roþ” (Rod) are reciprocal if these words really exist as subsets
of the “ᚠᚢᚦᚩᚱ”-Ϝuthark. This reciprocity requires a well-designed concept for the alphabet. It would
be difficult to design a suitable alphabet for a set of four planetary names such as Jupiter, Mercury,
Mars and Saturn.

The Roman pedigree

In a Roman pedigree his legal son is “Þor” (“Thor”, → Jupiter) and obviously his legal grandson is
“Þuw” (“Tuw”, → Mars). At that stage one male god is left as an illegal heir “Ϝuþ” (“Vut”, →
Wodan).
These four generations Rod → Thor → Tuw → Vut may be identified in the runic keyword
“ᚠᚢᚦᚩᚱ” (“ϝuþor”) at the beginning of the Ϝuthark respectively Ϝuthorc-alphabet.
The names Vut (Woden) and Tuw (or Tiw / Deiwos) are located at the Futhark's beginning. Rod and
Þor (Thor) follow at the third character, which is shared in all four names. If this is a valid concept
we may derive the correct sequence in the Germanic pedigree of the four planetary gods.
Platon's Timaeus
I searched for the basic document with philosophical fundamentals and found some in Platon's
Timaeus, in which the harmonics of the planetary system have been documented.
In the following basic quotation Plato categorizes the seven visible planets in two subsets:
• 3 elements with equal swiftness with the sun, but in opposite directions and
• 4 elements with unequal swiftness, but in due proportion.
“And he gave dominion to the motion of the same and like, for that he left single and
undivided; but the inner motion he divided in six places and made seven unequal circles
having their intervals in ratios of two-and three, three of each, and bade the orbits proceed in
a direction opposite to one another; and three [Sun, Mercury, Venus] he made to move with
equal swiftness, and the remaining four [Moon, Saturn, Mars, Jupiter]30 to move with
unequal swiftness to the three and to one another, but in due proportion.”31
This is a strange arrangement, in which a triad [Sun, Mercury, Venus] is opposed to the harmonic
oscillating planetary system [Moon, Saturn, Mars, Jupiter]32.
In the Greek pedigree of the gods Ares 33 (Mars), Hermes34 (Mercury) and probably Aphrodite35
(Venus) have been documented as children of Zeus (Jupiter).
Apart from the Sun and Moon the Chaldean planetary concept arranged the divinities as follows in
three hierarchical levels:
1. Saturn (Kronos)
2. Jupiter (Zeus)
3. Mars (Ares) – Mercury (Hermes) – Venus (Aphrodite)
The (male) sun-god Helios, the (female) moon-god Selene and the Aurora (Eos) were the offspring
of Hyperion and Theia,
Now Mercury (Hermes) and Venus (Aphrodite) both are illegal children of Jupiter (Zeus). The legal
pedigree therefore may be reduced to:
1. Saturn (Kronos)
2. Jupiter (Zeus)
3. Mars (Ares)
Timaeus explains how the Greeks illustrated the insignificance of the planets Mercury (Hermes) and
Venus (Aphrodite) by their illegal positions in the pedigree Saturn (Kronos) → Jupiter (Zeus) →
Mars (Ares).

Harran's seven planets therefore cannot be considered as equal partners. The sun had been
accompanied by two “illegal children” (Mercury and Venus) to meet four other planets (Moon,
Saturn, Mars, Jupiter) in their special universal orbits.

According to the legends Mars and Jupiter had to be considered as the children of the ancestor god
Saturn (Kronos).

30 These Planet-names in brackets have been inserted by the translator Benjamin Jowett , who also ordered the names.
31 Wikisource: Timaeus by Plato, translated by Benjamin Jowett
32 Some Notes to Sabian Philosophy and Timaeus
33 According to Hesiod Ares had been documented as a matrimonial son of Zeus and Hera. Hera and Zeus have three
legal children, but only Ares belongs to the divine category.
34 Hermes is an illegal son of Zeus with a Nymph named Maria.
35 According to Homer Aphrodite is a daughter of Zeus and Dione (and therefore an illegal offspring). She also had
two illegal children with Ares.
The vital elements in the universe's harmony are the Sun, the Moon, Saturn (Kronos), Jupiter (Zeus)
and Mars (Ares), in that order represented by ΙΑΩΟΥ, which initially – before the birth of Zeus -
seems be have been originated as the Trigrammaton ΙΑΩ.
The philosophy of archaic religions
Archaic religions never restricted to pure religious attributes but also included other ever-lasting
and stable boundary conditions such as primary colors, pure metals and vowels, which might
stabilize the religious concept and social order in their society.
However, the actual correspondences between the 7 vowels and 7 planets were never
recorded36.
The choice of Mercury as a leading deity (“Wodan”) of the Germanic pantheon may have been
ruled by the planetary parameters. The Germanic philosophers and warriors may have been
impressed by the quickest of all planets, whereas the Romans despised the “illegality of Mercury's
pedigree” and rather chose for Jupiter.

Sorting the sidereal cycles of the Chaldean planets

From the writings of Aristotle and Hippocrates we know that as early as the 4th Century B.C.E. the
Greek initiates attributed the seven vowels to the seven heavens and planets.[7] Manly P. Hall
(1901-1990) in his Secret Teachings of All Ages[8] discusses the correspondences:
The Greek initiates also recognized a fundamental relationship between the individual
heavens or spheres of the seven planets, and the seven sacred vowels. The first heaven
uttered the sound of the sacred vowel Α (Alpha); the second heaven, the sacred vowel Ε
(Epsilon); the third, Η (Eta); the fourth, Ι (Iota); the fifth, Ο (Omicron); the sixth, Υ
(Upsilon); and the seventh heaven, the sacred vowel Ω (Omega). When these seven
heavens sing together they produce a perfect harmony which ascends as an everlasting
praise to the throne of the Creator. (See Irenæus’ Against Heresies.37)

In contrast the German Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa (1486-1535) proposed the Saturn-Bayt order38,
which maps the seven planets to the seven Hebrew Double Letters( ‫ב‬, ‫ג‬, ‫ד‬, ‫ כ‬, ‫פ‬, ‫ר‬, ‫)ת‬.
In A-Ω: Greek Vowels and the Chaldean Planets the author Leonardo also includes the ascending
and descending Tonal Orders, which may be combined as an overview in the following table:
Henry C. Agrippa Manly P. Hall Leonardo L
Tone
(1486-1535) (1901-1990) Tonal Order T
Vowel (Saturn-Alpha) (Moon – Alpha) vowel (Saturn-Iota) (
A,α Saturn Moon I,ι iː Tree Saturn M
E,ε Jupiter Mercury H,η eɪ Day Jupiter M
H,η Mars Venus E,ε ɛ Bed Mars V
I,ι Sun Sun A,α æ Cat Sun S
O,ο Venus Mars O,ο ɔ Cold Venus M
Υ,υ Mercury Jupiter Ω,ω ɔː Law Mercury J
Ω,ω Moon Saturn Υ,υ u You Moon S
Table 5: Sorting the sidereal cycles of the Chaldean planets

36 A-Ω: Greek Vowels and the Chaldean Planets by Leonardo

37 A-Ω: Greek Vowels and the Chaldean Planets by Leonardo
38 De Occulta Philosophia.[14] - Henry Cornelius Agrippa.Three Books Of Occult Philosophy. Trans. J. F. Edited by
Donald Tyson (St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn, 1993).
The sidereal cycles of the Chaldean planets
The sidereal cycles of the Chaldean planets39 are40:

Planet Sidereal Cycle Day of the week

1 Moon 29.5 days Monday
2 Mercury 88 days Wednesday
3 Venus 224.7 days Friday
4 Sun 365.25 days Sunday
5 Mars 687.1 days Tuesday
6 Jupiter 12 years Thursday
7 Saturn 29.5 years Saturday
Table 6 The sidereal cycles of the Chaldean planets

Ordering the seven “planets” for the days of the week according to their sidereal cycle results in:
Moon, Mercury, Venus, Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn.

Inserting new elements between older categories

In the course of time any new “planet” (and new metals) in this concept would automatically disturb
the pattern of the associated vowels, metals and colors. In the course of time new metals and new
planets may be found and must be integrated between the older categories.

Originally Greek language, the Minoan Linear B and the Phoenician Alphabet used five
vowels. The vowels Y and Ω had been introduced 403 BCE. Maybe the original alphabets
shared one symbol for the short and long versions of the vocals: a short E and a long H
(eta), respectively a short O (omicron) and a long Ω (omega).

The three archaic vowels

In the early eras the seven “planets” also may have started with a smaller subset of the Chaldean
planets. A number of languages such as the Old Persian alphabet use only three vowels A, I, U.
The simplest subset of vowels is the archaic vowel triad “A-I-U”, “A-I-Ω” or Moon (A), Sun (I),
Saturn (U or Ω). This subset is concentrated at the “weekend” in the “days of the week”:
# Planet Vowel assignments Day of the week
Hall Agrippa Leonardo Leonardo
1 Moon A U/Ω I U/Ω Monday
2 Sun I I A A Sunday
3 Saturn U/Ω A U/Ω I Saturday
Table 7: Reduction to the basic triad A-I-U/Ω in “the seven temples of Harran”

39 Visible with an unarmed eye

40 A-Ω: Greek Vowels and the Chaldean Planets
In order to understand the sequence of the vowels in the alphabet we will have to investigate why
the alphabetical vowels in the Greek alphabet have been sorted A-E-H-I-O-Y-Ω.
This will lead us to the frequency spectrum of the vowel generation. The vowel “A” is the common
tone which is generated by an open mouth without contributions of the vocal chords.
In contrast the highest “I” and lowest “U” represent the range of the limiting frequencies which may
be produced by the human voice. In this range “I” and “U” are considered as antipodal elements.
In the conceptual phase of the alphabet the three vowels A-I-Ω are located at the beginning, center,
respectively end of the alphabet. However in the end additional letters may disturb this pattern.
• A at the beginning of the alphabet
• I in the central position (maybe also as a symbolic central pillar to support the sky)
• Ω at the end of the alphabet
This concept may illustrate the importance of the vowels' symbolism.
Another remarkable comment to the divine vowel-names may be found in the work De Elocutione
of Demetrius 41:
“In Egypt the priests, when singing hymns in praise of the gods, employ the seven vowels,
which they utter in due succession; and the sound of these letters is so euphonious that men
listen to it in place of aulos and cithara.”

41 Demetrius, of Phaleron, b. 350 B.C. Spurious and doubtful works late Hellenistic or early Roman period (→
Archaischer Vokalsymbolismus)
The archaic (or fundamental) vowels I, A, U42
In order to sing or utter a vowel the vocal tract must be opened. For a consonant some resistant
medium will have to be inserted.

Fig. 2: IPA vowel chart (Table of vowels)

Most languages use three vowels, usually /i/, /a/, /u/ such as in classical Arabic and Inuktitut (or /æ/,
/ɪ/, /ʊ/ such as in the Quechua-language)43.
→ In Dyaus, resp. Diæus the high/closed vowels (I, Y, and U) will include the central
vowel A or Æ. For this reason I, A and U may be considered as the archaic fundamental
vowels.
The vowels E, O and their derivatives have been introduced in later eras.

42 source: Vowel (Wikipedia)

43 source: Vowel (Wikipedia)
Frontal (I) and backward (U) located Vowels
Vowel backness is named for the position of the tongue during the articulation of a vowel relative to
the back of the mouth. In front vowels, such as [i], the tongue is positioned forward in the mouth,
whereas in back vowels, such as [u], the tongue is positioned towards the back of the mouth.
For their extremely chosen opposite position the I- and U-vowels are to be considered as antipodes.
(Unfortunately the U-position is not shown in this sketch).

3: Tongue positions of cardinal

front vowels

(from: Wikipedia Creative Commons44) -

Tongue positions of cardinal front vowels with highest point indicated. The position of the highest point is used to
determine vowel height and backness

44 Published by Badseed under GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2

Summary
This essay describes a set of Germanic keywords and a planetary legend which may have been
originated in Harran, was to be communicated along global trading routes and to be shared by
Germanic peoples.
The legend is cognate with Hesiod's Works and Days, in which five Ages of Man (golden, silver,
bronze, heroes and iron) have been ruled by several planetary deities Cronus, Zeus and Ares. This
legend has been confirmed by Ovid's Four Ages of Mankind, in Book 1.89–150 of the
Metamorphoses.
Various creation legends suggest a common origin for the adaptations of languages and the legends
of an initial or repetitive creations of mankind respectively the world and the universe.
The communication channels along the trading routes allow these legends to be spread over the
world and influence each other.
Based on existing legends each philosophical school will try to develop its own concept of creation
legends and pass the topic to traders or other visitors. The contributions will be exchanged until the
best-fit and attractive story is to be accepted as the “truth”.
In this essay “The Creation Legends of Hesiod and Ovid” we may recognize Biblical concepts,
which sound familiar. Also Plato's creation legend in the Symposium may have influenced other
creation legends. The dual forms and the antipodal bipolarity of man & woman, darkness & light,
sun & moon, day & night, salt water & sweet water in the Creation Legends may have been used to
symbolize the duality in creation.
The concept of a creation, which starts from one singular word is a quite normal procedure if we
assume a Creator-God who follows the standard concept of sequential step-by-step procedures.
The Germanic creation legend, which also influenced the dialects and languages, may also have
resulted in the runic ᚠᚢᚦᚩᚱᚳ (Ϝuthark) alphabet, which happened to be initiated by the readable
keyword ᚠᚢᚦ (“fut”, “wit” or “wut”). These initial words may symbolize the personal pronoun “wit”
(“we two”), “Vut” (Woden) and “Tiw”.
Around 400CE the earliest Ϝuthark's alphabet has been carved into the Kylver Stone. Both the
definition of the Germanic alphabet and the Germanic Names for the days of the week have been
dated around 400 CE. The seven-day week spread throughout the Roman Empire in Late Antiquity.
By the 4th century, it was in wide use throughout the Empire.
From this keyword ᚠᚢᚦᚩᚱᚳ a number of other basic keywords such as fut, futte, wight, wit, wittman,
witvrouw, wittekind have been derived, which may be used to stabilize the law system and social
order.
The dual forms and the antipodal bipolarity of man & woman, darkness & light, sun & moon, day &
night, salt water & sweet water in the Creation Legends may have been used to symbolize the
duality in creation. Most of the duality vanished from standard German, but traces of the dual
forms, the relations between husband and spouse and various names such as *Dyeus, Tuisto,
*tiwisko, *Tiwaz including Tiw and Tiu (probably cognate to “two” and “wut”) are recognizable.
The duality is a PIE-feature, which is inherited by the sky-god *Dyeus.
The analysis of Saarland's local dialect, Limburg's dialect and other Germanic languages shed a new
light on the mechanisms, which the Germanic population may have applied to control and adapt
their language and their own creation legend.
The creation legend varies from people to people, and from dialect to dialect, concentrating itself on
a set of keywords such as the divine names (Rod → Thor → Tuw → Vut) and the other basic keys
such as fut, futte, wight, wit, wittman, witvrouw, wittekind, which are embedded in and synchronized
to a larger evolutionary background at a universally valid common base (such as the PIE-base).
From this description it may be understood that “The Creation Legends of Hesiod and Ovid” may
have been used to define the words “wit” (“we two”), “Vut” (“Voden”) and “Tuw”, as well as
“Thor” and “Rod”.
Contents
Abstract.................................................................................................................................................1
Germanic languages and dialects.........................................................................................................2
The Saarlandic language..................................................................................................................2
The neighboring languages..............................................................................................................2
The neuter form of unmarried women.............................................................................................3
The “other half” in matrimonial couples.........................................................................................3
The alternative Creation Legend......................................................................................................3
The “wir”-/“wit”- and the “mir”-/”mit”-words................................................................................4
The dual forms in other languages...................................................................................................4
The declension of “zwei” (“two”) in the Moselle Franconian dialect.............................................5
The planetary gods...............................................................................................................................6
The Germanic planetary gods (Rod→Thor→Tuw →Vut)..............................................................6
The astronomers of Harran..............................................................................................................6
The location of Harran................................................................................................................8
The moon god Sin.......................................................................................................................8
The male and female antipodes...................................................................................................8
The Creation legends and the days of the week...................................................................................9
Hesiod's Creation Legend................................................................................................................9
Ask and Embla............................................................................................................................9
Ovid's Creation Legend.................................................................................................................10
Ovid's Four Ages of Mankind version 1...................................................................................10
Ovid's Four Ages of Mankind version 2...................................................................................11
Ovid's Four Ages of Mankind version 3...................................................................................11
Overview of the main Germanic gods...........................................................................................12
Friday........................................................................................................................................12
Saturday....................................................................................................................................12
Rod (Saturn).........................................................................................................................12
Nimrod..................................................................................................................................13
The Names of the days of the week ...................................................................................................14
The Roman and Germanic planetary names..................................................................................14
The Roman pedigree......................................................................................................................14
Platon's Timaeus............................................................................................................................15
The philosophy of archaic religions...................................................................................................17
Sorting the sidereal cycles of the Chaldean planets.......................................................................17
The sidereal cycles of the Chaldean planets.............................................................................18
Inserting new elements between older categories..........................................................................18
The three archaic vowels...........................................................................................................18
The archaic (or fundamental) vowels I, A, U.....................................................................................20
Frontal (I) and backward (U) located Vowels................................................................................21
Summary.............................................................................................................................................22