Gods Names used by the Ancient Macedonians

[Delodephius]

Slovak, the same applies for the 'idiot' case of ODI. Given that Slavonic letters were not (or arguably) used until the 9th century, how can one be certain that the word didn't evolve from ORA-HORA-GORA, likewise for ODI-HODI? How can one be certain that the forms of HORA and HODI were not stabilised in the Slavonic tongues as a result of the literary work from the 9th century? You yourself have previously agreed that there was probably never one 'common' Slavonic tongue or dialects due to various circumstances relating to geography, environment, neighbouring peoples, etc.

The root of the verb "xodati" is *xod. I could see that *xo was once a root to which -d was added. It is also quite possible if not certain that [x] in *xo evolved from the PIE [gʷ] or [ɡʰ].
The root *xod is very productive and creates a large number of other words.

The word "gora" evolved from the PIE root *gʷer- meaning mount: Russ. гора (gora), Lith. guras, Skr. गिरि (giri), Av. gairi, Gk. δειράς (deiras), Alb. gur, Arm. ler, Polish góra, OCS gora

Let me just note that there were no words in Proto-Slavic or any other PIE language in which a single word began with a vowel. In OCS for example only /u/, /o/ and /i/ could begin a word. Other vowels were only in foreign words and this is pretty much the case in the modern tongue. However, the vowels /o/, /u/ and /i/ were mostly only prefixes and did not form roots.

[Soldier of Macedon]

Can anybody go to Gradište near Knežje in Ovče Pole and see if in the morning the dawn is actually white? I mean, if Ovče Pole is a basin then perhaps the dawn is visible on a much higher altitude (because it is lower than the surounding) and is not red but white.



And yes, Bylazora is in Ovče Pole near Knežje at a place today called Gradište. I don't know who said it was Veles but people here have a tendency not to check for facts but just accept whatever others say.

Slovak, Ovce Pole and Veles are in close proximity in central Macedonia, the Veles connection has been made due this proximity and the similarity in words. I know that there is also supposed to be a god called 'Veles', however, the previous name of Vilazora cannot be overlooked or dismissed.

Must go now, I will respond to you other post later, by the way, that is an interesting question about the white dawn element also.

[Magedon]

Can anybody go to Gradište near Knežje in Ovče Pole and see if in the morning the dawn is actually white? I mean, if Ovče Pole is a basin then perhaps the dawn is visible on a much higher altitude (because it is lower than the surounding) and is not red but white.



And yes, Bylazora is in Ovče Pole near Knežje at a place today called Gradište. I don't know who said it was Veles but people here have a tendency not to check for facts but just accept whatever others say.

Yes, definitly true, Slovakche!!!

Iv seen fotos taken from the site of BylaZora - the opening white horizon at dawn is magnificent - and if we dont forget that ancient balkan dudes were fanatical about the Sun God and all of its manifestations - the dawn sun being represented by the child variant of Hoor - the god of silence usually portraid with his finger over his mouth in sign of silence - Hoor-Paar-Kraat - and the Grekocized variations of these 2 god names are ofc Horus and Harpokrat.

Important cities tended to be erected on important geographical sites - important considering their spiritual/pagan beliefs - and in BylaZora the K'Ra-L (king) of Pelagonija probably payed his respects to the dawning, raisi9ng Sun via rituals and offerings.

Vardan

[Soldier of Macedon]

Hey Magedon,

I still lean towards Vilazora at the moment, but it has always been a close competition between that and Bylazora. We should come a consensus some time soon.

[Sarafot]

Well MAcedonians are useing V and not B,B is used only for Bulgars,all other things are like Greek one with V,also i havent seen Greek maps showing place name,i saw it only on Roman where it was writen with V,i was also reed that it was Paionian city,so for me it is VILAZ=Vlez,also ther is Y which could be JA,that is good for BJALA=BELA,but Slovak Gradište is where STOBI stands,Roman city,i dont know Roman name,and why do you opose Vlez vo Gora,or Bela Gora,bouth of them have Macedonian name.

I can feel that you suport Slavic migration to Balkans,but i just dont belive it!You know Slovak arived in Banat during AustroHungary,not before.

Real Slavs for me are Macedonians,but keep op going,may be you will convice me?

[osiris]

i believe the b of byla zora, was mean by the wters to be promounced as a v, but having said that i cannot be sure how the thracians would have pronounced it. what a pity the greek archeological dept, doesnt release for study, the many thracian inscriptions freedman alluded to .

[Delodephius]

Sarafot, Stobi is in Gradsko on the joint of the Crna Reka and Vardar.

[Sarafot]

Sarafot, Stobi is in Gradsko on the joint of the Crna Reka and Vardar.

Yes,sorry my mistake,but also i'll chek Gradište,any way from Veles to Sveti Nikole, it is only abou 20min ride,and you were rigt Gradište is onther side.

[Pelister]

Vasil Ilyov is an idiot.

He is better than you.

[Delodephius]

He is better than you.

Ok, if you think so.

[TheNikoWhiteIch]

Since many of these places that we're talking about (in antiquity) were written in the Greek alphabet, I think it'd be wise to follow the rules of that alphabet. From my understanding of it, Β/β in ancient Greek was pronounced as /b/ rather than the modern /v/. So "Βυλάζωρα (Bylazora)" may actually mean "white/bright dawn." I noticed another connection here between Paeonian, Thracian, and ancient Macedonian. According to Pavel Serafimov, the ancient Macedonian name of the Belasitza mountain range was "Βάλάκρος (Balakros)." He derives the etymology from "Βάλ(ά) (Bal-a)" meaning "white" and "άκρος (akros)" meaning "peak, edge." If this is correct, then it is interesting to find that in ancient Macedonian the word Βάλ/Bal existed to mean white. In that case, it is related to the Paeonian Βυλά/Byla and Thracian -βηλος (belos) meaning white. The Thracian name for Belasitza was Ὄρβηλος (Orbelos) meaning "white mountain." Additionally, regarding the town Στόβοι (Stobi) I believe the etymology is related to the modern Macedonian "Столб (Stolb)" meaning "pillar."

[Starling]

The ancient Greek historian Papastravou lists the following gods as worshiped in Macedonia:

Favlo - God of war

Giga - Goddess of gardens

Gazoria - Goddess of hunting

Zairena - Goddess of beauty

Ksanth/Ksand - God of light

Tatoe - God of dreams

Daron/Darron - God of health

Aret - God of strength

Vedi - patroness of Voden, apparently associated with both fire and water

Zairena/Zirinia and Gazoria are known to be the Macedonian names for Aphrodite and Artemis.

Aphrodite seems to be derived from ave-roditi, ave being related to javen, najava, pojava and adopted into Latin from slavic languages to mean behold, here I am and so on.

Giga seems like it's related to Gaia, though she seems more like a minor deity. Given that Semele is present among Thracians she'd presumably be worshiped among Macedonians. Make Zemele would mean mother earth, often shortened as Make, which given the current form is Majka, likely had Maka as a dialectal variation. The Mycenaean inscription Ma-ka is taken to mean mother Gaia and transliterated as Mā Gā.

Persephone is also known as Kora/Kore, which in Macedonian means crust. The earth's crust would be Zemele Kore. They probably started as aspects of a single goddess.

Also is there a chance Apollo's name refers to a pestle? Pella seems to mean stone, though I've seen it suggested that it originally meant bowl and could be derived from pelsa and he seems to have ties to Siberian Shamanism and medicine men. It's been suggested that he's related to the Hurrian plague god Aplu. There was also something about his arrows bringing sudden death in a manner analogous to disease. The Etruscans seemed to write his name as Aplu or Apulu, though that might not mean much. I'll have to recheck that interlinear translation of the Illiad but apparently Apollo is given the epithet Smintheu (Σμινθεῦ) when the Trojans are asking him to inflict their enemies with a plague. The name is said to be of possible Pelasgian origin and is the source of the epithet Sminthos.

[Amphipolis]

The ancient Greek historian Papastravou lists the following gods as worshiped in Macedonia:

Can you provide his text? (because nothing seems correct here)

[Starling]

What do you mean? I've seen at least half those names mentioned before, though the spelling seems to vary. Gazoria for example has been used as an epithet for Artemis and Diana by Greeks and Romans respectively. Anyway I made a mistake in my notes and put him down as an ancient historian rather than a more recent one and his name is actually spelled Papastavrou but I was primarily noting down the names and functions of the gods so those are definitely accurate.

Greek historian Papastavrou (Papastavrou, I.: Istoria tis Arhaias Ellados, p.496, Hiotelli, Athinai, 1972) said that the ancient Macedonians, outside of the Olympic gods had their own separate gods (probably proto-Slavic gods). For example, the god of war was called “Favlo”, the goddess of gardens was called “Giga”, the goddess of hunting was called “Gazoria” the goddess of beauty was called “Zairena”, the god of light was called Ksanth”, the god of dreams was called “Tatoe”, the good of health was called “Daron”, the god of strength was called “Aret”, the goddess of fire, water and patroness of the city Voden was called “Vedi”.

You now have a citation to look for. Not sure how much it's worth but even wikipedia's disgustingly propagandic page on ancient Macedonians acknowledges some of those gods as being worshiped in Macedonia, so they didn't just come out of nowhere.

As for the rest of my post, it's mostly observations of things that are similar enough to possibly be connected or have existing theories about such connections relevant to the discussion here, which I'm inviting others to add their thoughts about rather than presenting as objective fact. It wasn't specified which tablet the Mycenaean inscription came from but it exists and so does Aplu. Apollo is primarily a god of medicine, plagues were part of his repertoire and the words pestle and pest set precedence for the link between pestles and disease. I'm actively asking people about the plausibility based on what I could find on the subject. Gaia could've come from the Egyptian earth god Geb but the connection between the Mycenaean inscription and the name Gaia is something I found rather than proposed myself. Depending on how long Giga's been around as a gardening goddess she's likely either derived from Gaia or the other way around. The names and roles are just too similar to dismiss.

You claim that none of it's correct and yet at least some of it is. I'd rather you refrain from dismissing something in that manner in the future unless you can explain precisely why you think it's incorrect. The way you go about voicing your skepticism actively discourages further discussion, rather than simply stating that you need more information before you can accept it as true, which would be a fair request on its own.

[Amphipolis]

Some of the names ARE recognizable and have been discussed before, but many aren't. They either don't exist or are misspelled beyond recognition. That's why I asked for the original source, hoping to find correct spelling, credibility and references.

For instance I can't find Giga anywhere, Tatoe sounds like a feminine name, but there's no such name that I could find starting from Tat (male or female), other names are presented in a dehellenised form without their endings (for reasons unknown) etc. Lastly, some of the “different” goddesses are not names but local epithets of the same goddesses.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gazoros

==