UKKO: The God of Thunder of the Ancient Finns and
His Indo-European Family
Monograph 51 – Unto Salo
In this investigation into the
mythology associated with the Finnish sky god Ukko, Unto Salo,
professor of archaeology at the University of Turku, tells us that
around the fourth millennium B.C., the skies above Stone Age Finland
were ruled by an Eagle Thunderbird. However, evidence for this
Thunderbird disappeared after an anthropomorphic Indo-European
god arrived from the Aryan skies over the steppes, hurling thunderbolts
from the clouds. First called by the Finns simply Ilmamo or Ilmarinen
(ilma = sky), but later known familiarly as ukkonen (the old man), Ukko
became the Finnish god of thunder, lightning, fire, wind, and rain. It
was at this time, around 2000 BC, that the manufacture of stone
hammer-axes, the weapon of Ukko and neighboring Indo-European sky gods,
began in Finland, and when around 500 BC these were replaced by metal
hammer axes, forges came under Ukko's care because the forging of metal
weapons required fire, wind, water and magical incantations.
Both the Indo-European gods and Ukko lost their sanctity with the
coming of Christianity, but in Finland, even into the Middle Ages,
respect for Ukko remained so strong that Christian missionaries avoided
attacking him as an enemy of souls, in the way they attacked the
Scandinavian and Baltic Indo-European thunder gods, Thor and Perkunas,
and as a result Ukko was fondly remembered in Finland until even
comparatively recent times.
The mythology of the ancient Finns and its sources; Iron Age society
and its gods; Ukko and other euphemisms for the God of Thunder; Rauni;
Ukko behind his euphemism; Ilmari, the God of the Winds; Ilmarinen,
forger god and heroic smith; Ukko and shooting the fire; By Hieros
gamos; The testimony of the elliptical fire stones; Ukko’s cloak;
Thunderbolts; Ukko’s wedge, nail, fingernail, arrow, and chisel;
Foreign thunderbolts; Ukko’s sword; Ukko’s hammer, ax, and club; The
Thunder God and Mother Goddess; The Battle Axe Culture and the God of
Thunder; Tapering-headed battle axes and the God of Thunder; Ukko in
the skies of the lake region?; The evidence of the Late Neolithic
shaft-hole axes; The Bronze Age shaft-hole axes; Historical-linguistic
viewpoints; The Bird God; Ukko’s long history: Conclusions, arguments,
assumptions; Abbreviations; plus Eighty Illustrations
ISBN 0-941694-95-X
ISBN 0-941694-94-1
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2006, Pages 146 with 70 figures
Paperback: $46.00
Hardcover: $68.00
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JIES
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