Threefold death
A reconstructed Indo-European motif of death by three means.
The threefold death is a reconstructed Proto-Indo-European theme found in Indic, Greek, Celtic, and Germanic mythology, typically suffered by kings, heroes, and gods. Proponents of the trifunctional hypothesis distinguish two types: a simultaneous death by hanging, wounding, and drowning (or their equivalents), often as punishment for an offense against the three functions of society; and a death split into three distinct sacrifices to three distinct gods of the three functions.
Quick Facts
- Mythological figures associated
- Myrddin Wyllt, Odin
- Archaeological example
- Lindow Man
- Type
- Reconstructed mythological theme
- Cultures
- Indic
- Greek
- Celtic
- Germanic
- Associated deities
- Odin
- Teutates
- Esus
- Taranis
- Key sources
- Welsh legend
- Norse mythology
- Ibn Fadlan's account
- Commenta Bernensia
- Vita Columbae
Facts from the source article.
Literary sources
In Welsh legend, Myrddin Wyllt, one of the sources for Merlin of Arthurian legend, is linked to the threefold death. As a test of his skill, Merlin prophesies how a boy will die: first by falling from a rock, then by hanging, and finally by drowning. The boy later falls from a rock during a hunt, is caught in a tree, and drowns hanging head down in a lake. Myrddin Wyllt also reportedly prophesied his own death by falling, stabbing, and drowning, which was fulfilled when shepherds drove him off a cliff, where he was impaled on a stake and died with his head below water. The Norse god Odin is associated with the threefold death as well; human sacrifices to Odin were hanged from trees, and Odin himself is said to have hanged himself and while falling impaled himself on his spear Gungnir to learn the secrets of the runes. The tenth-century Arab writer Ahmad ibn Fadlan described a funeral near the Volga River of a chieftain belonging to people he called Rūsiyyah, whose funeral included a slave girl who volunteered to follow her master. After several days of preparation, she was led onto the ship where the dead chieftain lay; an old female ritual leader looped a rope around her neck, two men pulled the rope, and the old woman stabbed her between the ribs with a knife. The ship was then set on fire, so the slave girl was strangled, stabbed, and burned, creating a threefold death. Lucan's epic poem Pharsalia describes three Celtic gods who receive human sacrifices.
Archaeology
Alfred Dieck claimed a high number of up to 1,860 known bog bodies in Europe, though archaeologist Don Brothwell considers that many older bodies need re-examining with modern techniques. The physical evidence allows a general reconstruction of how Lindow Man was killed, but does not explain why. Some archaeologists suggest bog bodies may relate to religious practice, though there is division in the academic community; in the case of Lindow Man, whether the killing was murder or ritualistic is debated. Anne Ross proposed that the death was an example of human sacrifice and that the triple death—throat cut, strangled, and hit on the head—was an offering to several different gods. The wide date range for Lindow Man means he may have died after the Romans conquered northern England, and historian Ronald Hutton challenged the interpretation of sacrificial death.
More in Human Sacrifice in Folklore and Mythology
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