Comparative Mythology

In a magisterial work, Jaan Puhvel unravels the prehistoric Indo-Euopean origins of the traditions of India and Iran, Greece and Rome, of the Celts, Germans, Balts, and Slavs. Utilizing the methodologies of historical linguistics and archaeology, he reconstructs a shared religious, mytholoigcal, and cultural heritage. Separate chapters on individual traditions as well as on recurrent theesgod and warrior, king and virgin, fire and watergive life to Comparative Mythology as both a general introduction and a detaled reference.