Near Eastern Influence on the Dioskouroi: Meslamtaea, Lugalirra and Twin Door Gods

Katie Rask (The Ohio State University)

It is usually believed that the Dioskouroi derive from a common Indo-European prototype and they are frequently compared to the Indian Aşvini found in the Vedic poems. The religious model of Indo-European studies, however, is unsatisfactory in explaining the development of the chthonic Twins in Lakonia, especially in light of their early iconographic associations with the dokana and gates. Instead, I suggest that certain elements of the Twins, especially their role as chthonic door spirits, have possible Near Eastern origins.

I provide evidence that door twins were a common feature in Mesopotamian art, appearing on seals holding the ‘doorpost symbol’ and named in textual evidence. In particular, the sons of the sky-god Anu, Meslamtaea and Lugalirra, offer noteworthy similarities. The spirits were associated with the underworld, were described as door guardians, used in apotropaic spells, and their statues were placed before gateways in order to avert evil. Amulets and terracotta figurines show them as armed warriors until the end of the Assyrian period. By this time, contacts between Asia Minor and Lakonia were strong, and Near Eastern religious influence appears in several Lakonian cults. Twins occur on seals from Cyprus and Melos, and the 8^th c. BCE inscription naming the Dioskouroi attests to their worship in the Spartan colony of Thera.

Although originally the Dioskouroi may be purely Lakonian, an Aegean and Near Eastern connection explains some of their rarest features while the similarities seen in the Near Eastern model are far more compelling than those proposed by the previous Indo-European theory.