Before this, he wasn’t known to have enthroned imagery, and the Creator or Sky father understanding didn’t seem to be as prominent.
Yahweh was worshipped through Fire altars, sacrifice, and a pillar of fire. All of which is very similar to that of the Persian Supreme Sky father Ahura Mazda.
The Zeus influence came from the Greco-Roman cults to where Iao / Iuppiter / Sabaoth, Eloai were merged with the ideas of Dionysus or Zeus. Coins were minted stating BACCHIVS IVDAEVS where the Romans were equating Yahweh to Bacchus (Dionysus), though Zeus-Haddad (Haddad being Ba’al) or Sabazio (Zeus and Sabaoth / Yahweh) were understandings as well. (3)
1. With the Roman adoption of Christianity, they merged the understanding of Jupiter with that of Yahweh / El under the umbrella term of Deus. This is a return to the terminology of greater Indo-European connections of that of Dyḗus. Without mentioning the trinitarian and Indo-European connections (as with the Goths it was a mixture of acceptance and unacceptance with the Arian Christianity) the later converted Gothic people and other Germanics, who adopted Christianity as a court language/religion only at first, began to use their languages terms for the deity which is equivalent to God. While I will make a personal observation that Germanic understanding of God was heavily influenced by Scythian /Alan and Persian understanding by relation and by Tengriism via Hunnic influences resulting in animistic/tribal chieftain concept that had fire altar worship, sacrifice, and solar / sky aspects incorporated already.
1. As Christianity spread in the Germanic regions via the converted Goths, Franks (who worshiped Woden previously), later Anglo-Saxons, and lastly Scandinavian’s “God” and his son “Jesus” were more Germanized (and somewhat Celtic influenced) than Hebraic or Roman influenced. This can be seen in the poems like the Dream of the Rood where Jesus is made to be a Germanic warrior. In the various paintings and artwork depicting God or Jesus leading Celto-Germanic warriors. In artifacts like the Frank’s Casket which depicts Christian stories and motifs mixed with that of the Roman origin story of Romulus and Remus but also has Nordic depictions of Egil, Weyland, and possible allegations to Odin’s horse Sleipnir, or the Germanic divine horse twins as well as other depictions.
1. Odinic understanding of Jesus’s Sacrifice seems to be more prevalent within Germanic Christianity than others. Though Jesus is very similar in the Roman context to that of the sacrifices and symbolism of Dionysus and Heracles. The Odinic sacrifice of himself to himself is very much the interpretation that Northern Christianity, be it Roman or Protestant, has adopted theologically. The covering of the blood/sacrifice in general Christianity is by how one is saved. However, this sacrifice, in the same way, was how Wisdom was obtained and thereby how worshippers of Odin are given the Runes and divine understanding, which in some ways one could extrapolate as “Salvation”.
1. For further reading on this topic, one can look at the Gothic Bible and the word’s that were chosen to be translated via which Germanic or Runic roots, as well as the Saxon Heliand. Also, I have suggested a few books below for further study (4-7).
I by no means am against Hebraic people’s worshipping their understanding of the divine. The goal of my message is more regarding Christians and their recent (past hundred or so years) obsession with fully equating European and Germanic Christianity or understanding of God as that of Yahweh instead of realizing that God is just as much Odin or Zeus as Yahweh. While, if one wants to be a “universalist” they could see these as one and the same. However, this is just in motif. It is more than the Hebraic understanding of God was changed to become more Indo-European and less like the original Henotheistic worship that it came from.
Yahweh was worshipped through Fire altars, sacrifice, and a pillar of fire. All of which is very similar to that of the Persian Supreme Sky father Ahura Mazda.
The Zeus influence came from the Greco-Roman cults to where Iao / Iuppiter / Sabaoth, Eloai were merged with the ideas of Dionysus or Zeus. Coins were minted stating BACCHIVS IVDAEVS where the Romans were equating Yahweh to Bacchus (Dionysus), though Zeus-Haddad (Haddad being Ba’al) or Sabazio (Zeus and Sabaoth / Yahweh) were understandings as well. (3)
1. With the Roman adoption of Christianity, they merged the understanding of Jupiter with that of Yahweh / El under the umbrella term of Deus. This is a return to the terminology of greater Indo-European connections of that of Dyḗus. Without mentioning the trinitarian and Indo-European connections (as with the Goths it was a mixture of acceptance and unacceptance with the Arian Christianity) the later converted Gothic people and other Germanics, who adopted Christianity as a court language/religion only at first, began to use their languages terms for the deity which is equivalent to God. While I will make a personal observation that Germanic understanding of God was heavily influenced by Scythian /Alan and Persian understanding by relation and by Tengriism via Hunnic influences resulting in animistic/tribal chieftain concept that had fire altar worship, sacrifice, and solar / sky aspects incorporated already.
1. As Christianity spread in the Germanic regions via the converted Goths, Franks (who worshiped Woden previously), later Anglo-Saxons, and lastly Scandinavian’s “God” and his son “Jesus” were more Germanized (and somewhat Celtic influenced) than Hebraic or Roman influenced. This can be seen in the poems like the Dream of the Rood where Jesus is made to be a Germanic warrior. In the various paintings and artwork depicting God or Jesus leading Celto-Germanic warriors. In artifacts like the Frank’s Casket which depicts Christian stories and motifs mixed with that of the Roman origin story of Romulus and Remus but also has Nordic depictions of Egil, Weyland, and possible allegations to Odin’s horse Sleipnir, or the Germanic divine horse twins as well as other depictions.
1. Odinic understanding of Jesus’s Sacrifice seems to be more prevalent within Germanic Christianity than others. Though Jesus is very similar in the Roman context to that of the sacrifices and symbolism of Dionysus and Heracles. The Odinic sacrifice of himself to himself is very much the interpretation that Northern Christianity, be it Roman or Protestant, has adopted theologically. The covering of the blood/sacrifice in general Christianity is by how one is saved. However, this sacrifice, in the same way, was how Wisdom was obtained and thereby how worshippers of Odin are given the Runes and divine understanding, which in some ways one could extrapolate as “Salvation”.
1. For further reading on this topic, one can look at the Gothic Bible and the word’s that were chosen to be translated via which Germanic or Runic roots, as well as the Saxon Heliand. Also, I have suggested a few books below for further study (4-7).
I by no means am against Hebraic people’s worshipping their understanding of the divine. The goal of my message is more regarding Christians and their recent (past hundred or so years) obsession with fully equating European and Germanic Christianity or understanding of God as that of Yahweh instead of realizing that God is just as much Odin or Zeus as Yahweh. While, if one wants to be a “universalist” they could see these as one and the same. However, this is just in motif. It is more than the Hebraic understanding of God was changed to become more Indo-European and less like the original Henotheistic worship that it came from.