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From: "Charles Lincoln" <charles.e.lincoln@worldnet.att.net>
Newsgroups: alt.archaeology,sci.anthropology,sci.archaeology,soc.history.ancient
Subject: Triads and Trinities of Gods and Goddesses 
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Date: Sat, 04 Jan 2003 01:18:54 GMT
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The key names in discussing triads are
(1)     Georges Dumezil---if you're interested in trifunctionalism, he
didn't just write the book, he wrote about two dozen books "Archaic Roman
Religion" (University of Chicago Press) is the best available in English,
most of the rest are in French, although several other titles have been
translated;
(2)    Georges Duby "The Three Orders"---and other works, related to Dumezil
but not imitative;
(3)    Dumezilian followers such as Jaan Puhvel "Comparative Mythology"
(Johns Hopkins U. Press, 1989)
(4)    F. Scott Littleton "The New Comparative Mythology"
(5)    Charles Edward Lincoln, "Ethnicity and Social Organization at Chichen
Itza, Yucatan", Ann Arbor: University Microfilms, Ph.D. Dissertation (1990).
        The Natchez of Mississippi, through their final destruction in 1729,
also had an interesting trifunctional social structure composed of the
"Suns" (=Maya "Ahaus"), the "Noble Persons," or the Warriors (under the
leadership of someone with the intriguing French Name of "Serpent Pique"
("Tatooed" or "Ruffled" Serpent), and the "Honored Persons" (who were
commoners who attained "honorific" status through sacrificial offerings of
children and crops....All of these were above the lowly "puants" or
"stinkards"----John L. Swanton is still the main source on these folks.
        Hawaiian society as described by Marshall Sahlins ("Islands of
History") and Valerio Valeri ("Kingship and Sacrifice in Hawaii") was
tri-functional/tripartite (as to the elite, anyhow).
        Trifunctionalism, it seems to me, is universal, even though Dumezil,
who started the studies, originally believed it to be characteristically
Indo-European.  The American Constitution consists of a Dumezilian Triad of
"Judge-Kings" (Article III, the Judiciary, with life-appointments),
"Warrior-Kings" (Article II, the Executive "Commander-in-Chief" on down
through the ranks), and the "Producers" (Article I, Congress, in charge of
money, at least as "originally intended....").
        Of course, the French "Ancien Regime" of Three-Estates: "Lords
Spiritual" (the Clergy), "Lords Temporal" (the fighting, ordinary nobility
who led armies), and the "Third Estate" or "Bourgeois" who led the
Revolution of '89---is another trifunctional "constitution"---and the
Revolutionary Flag or "Tricolour" embodies the three ancient Indo-European
symbolic colors representing the three estates.....
        So there you have it....
"Saint David and the Angels" <saintdavid@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:3E14E8D3.ED2D16BD@hotmail.com...
> Hello,
>
> I am compiling a list of triads, or trinities of gods,
> and goddesses in various pantheons, for an article
> I am writing.
>
> I am looking for something along the lines of the
> Hindu Trimurti, Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva.
>
> Could you provide another example, along with
> a book recommendation, and website?
>
> Signed,
>
> Saint David