Who were the Aryans?

1. Who were the Aryans?

2. The Term ‘Aryan’ • Derived from the ancient Indian language Sanskrit for ‘noble’: • Scholars have found passages in the Rig Vedas that seemed to describe the Aryans as invaders who conquered their way into the Punjab

3. More on the Aryans... • Aryans defined themselves as a religious-linguistic group. • The Aryans were very much like the apostles of the Rig Veda. They wrote its poems and passages. • Some Sanskrit speak chiefs and poets of the Rig Veda had names such as Bulbutha or Brbu that were foreign to Sanskrit; the Aryan’s of the Rig Vedas were thus not ‘genetically pure’ • However, the ‘Aryan’ people DID exist – but to not confuse them with the authors of the Hindu Rig Veda and for obvious political reasons, most scholars now refer to the ‘Aryans’ as the ‘Indo-Europeans’.

4. Indo-Europeans • The Indo Europeans and the ancestors of most Europeans, the Iranian peoples and to some degree the Northern peoples of India:

5. Who were they? • A Farming people who lived in the Eurasian Steppe between 4000BC to around 2500BC • They spoke Proto-Indo-European, the mother of hundreds of languages • They are believed to have been a fair skinned people, much like the Europeans of today • They are known to have domesticated the horse by 4000BC, which would prompt their migrations into Asia and Europe

6. Proto Indo European • Proto Indo European was a fully developed language by 4000-3500BC. • Overtime, different Indo-European communities would naturally mutate the language, forming their own e.g proto-Albanian, proto-Slavic etc • Due to language re-construction, linguistic scholars have been able to recreate some Proto Indo European Words: • Swéḱs – six • Nas – nose • Éḱwos – horse • Leuk – light

7. Proto-Indo –European Language Family

8. Indo – European Religion • The Indo-European’s pagan religion, is known to have had a priestly caste • Was a polytheistic religion Believed in: • Sun God ‘Dyeus’ – later became Greek ‘Zeus’ • God of lightning ‘Perkwunos’ – later became Slavic ‘Perun’ • Protector of flocks ‘Welnos’ – Anglo-Saxon ‘Wuldor’ • The Indo – European’s therefore had a profound impact on the polytheistic religions which formed after the migration; most notably Hinduism.

10. Evidence for Migrations • Language • Religion (until Christianisation of Europe) • Mythology • Archaeology • Rig Vedas • DNA