Dyēus, The Proto-Indo-European Sky God
The Proto-Indo-Europeans are a theorized group of ancient people that all spoke (roughly) the same language and lived in a section of Eurasian anywhere between 7,000–10,000 years ago. They spread from their initial lands — weaponizing the wheel and the domesticated horse — conquering local peoples they encountered along the way. As culture and time mixed, these offshoots became many of the known ancient civilizations across Europe and Asia.⠀
Much of their mythology is based on studying a linguistic reconstruction from various ancient cultures, and further attested by direct ties of language to common stories across Europe and Asia. For instance, it’s thought the Proto-Indo-Europeans believed the “underworld” was reached by crossing a river (e.g., Vaitarna river, river Styx, etc.), and they may have believed in a world tree that bore fruit of immortality, guarded by a snake or dragon (similarities to folklore from the Norse, Hebrew, Chinese, etc.). While the mythological links between various ancient societies are fascinating, the most common deity across these cultures — and thus, central to the theoretical Proto-Indo-European mythos — was some form of a sky god.
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This sky god (or sky father) is referred to by scholars as “Dyēus.” Dyēus would have been the head of the pantheon. This concept or character could have been the impetus behind many commonly known deities, such as Zeus (Greek), Jupiter (Roman), Dyáuṣpitṛ́ (Vedic), and Tyr (Norse), to name a few.
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While there is no guarantee that such a god was acknowledged and worshipped (or even that Proto-Indo-Europeans existed in the way we think), the linguistic and mythological evidence would seem to suggest it did. In fact, given the similar stories and characters shared by ancient cultures around the world, I’d be surprised if some form of the Proto-Indo-Europeans didn’t exist.
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