Third Reich Golden `Celtic` Cauldron Discovered in Bavarian Lake

I first heard of the sinking of a golden Celtic style cauldron in the Chiemsee in Bavaria in the Preface of Steven L. Akins 2008 book The Lebor Feasa Runda A Druidic Grammar of Celtic Lore and Magic. There appears to have been very little published on this subject and I was not even aware of the cauldron`s discovery until viewing Channel 5`s documentary Nazi Temple of Doom: Revealed last night. It is almost as if there has been a suppression of pulicity over this incredible historical find. It would appear that the fate of and the question of ownership of this artifact is still the subject of an ongoing court case and fraud trial. If anyone has any additional information or news about this suject please contact me via this blog.

Taken from www.spiegel.de from 17/8/07.

So there it was, the legendary "Holy Grail" -- in a safe not far from the Zurich airport. Investor Svetlana K. from Kazahkstan had been prepared for almost anything on that day last March. But when she saw what had been described as "probably the most important art-historical discovery in the Western Hemisphere" in front of her, all the other superlatives used in the four-page prospectus faded into the background. "An object of such pre-eminence has probably never been introduced onto the open art market," the document stated, adding that, "Given the proper promotion, experts believe its value could reach a sum of around €1 billion" ($1.4 billion).

A veritable dream bargain seemed to be just within reach: The vessel -- made of 11 kilograms (24.3 lbs) of gold, decorated with Celtic ornaments and said to be more than 2,000 years old -- did indeed exercise an irresistible fascination on the beholder.

But the woman from Kazakhstan had been warned that there was one hitch: She had to snap up the bargain quickly. After all, an investment opportunity like this doesn't come along every day, she was told. That made sense to Svetlana K. and her business partner Vladimir T., and a short time later they transfered the equivalent of €1.1 million ($1.5 million) to Switzerland via a Moscow bank, in exchange for a share of the potential earnings from the marketing of the golden pot.

The Swiss million-dollar deal represents the most recent climax in an adventure story that began with the discovery of the cauldron in the Chiemsee, a lake in Bavaria, in 2001. From the very beginning the artifact has been accompanied by an aura of mystery. Whether it involved occult Nazi groups, gloomy Celtic rituals or even black magic intrigues -- the golden pot could always be made to somehow fit into the story. There were even rumors that the Bavarian state government was holding back secret analyses of the heathen pot -- "presumably in response to pressure from the Catholic Church." Others claimed that coded messages lay concealed inside the vessel's golden reliefs.

The only reliable truth about the origin and use of the cauldron is that no one knows anything definite about it. But what is certain is that another story lurks behind the mysticism and magic. And that story is set in the rough demi-monde of dubious art dealers and shady jugglers of capital.

The Bavarian Finance Ministry is involved in the saga, as is 43-year-old professional treasure hunter Jens E. -- a man who is considered a big shot in his milieu. As early as 1996, he registered a company for the trading and procurement of excavation findings.

Black magic?

But Jens E.'s great coup is said to have come only in 2001, when an acquaintance told him about a strange discovery in the Chiemsee. The hobby diver, locally known as "Lui," had come across a strange object in May of that year, while diving off a beach near the town of Arlaching. The object "lay about unobserved" for weeks, insiders say. It was only in the summer that Jens E. realized how valuable it was and offered the diver his services as an agent. Once "Lui" agreed, Jens E. is said to have engaged art dealer Thorsten K. Between the end of 2001 and the beginning of 2002, Thorsten K. then passed the freshly polished and gleaming golden pot on to the Bavarian State Archaeological Collection in Munich to be analyzed.

The collection's director, Professor Ludwig Wamser, had to begin by answering the burning question: Is the object even antique? The reliefs -- horned divinities, warriors blowing their horns and figures with ancient swords -- seem genuinely Celtic. But the manufacturing process -- and in particular the nature of the soldering technique used -- led the Bavarian specialists to conclude the cauldron had been manufactured during the 20th century -- possibly during the Third Reich.

But determining the pot's age was not just of historical importance -- it also decided the question of ownership. Unlike most other German states, Bavaria does not have a "treasure trove law" -- a legal regulation that makes the state the proprietor of any valuable objects that are dug up. If the cauldron once belonged to the Nazi state, the complicated legal situation would mean that the Bavarian state was its sole proprietor -- otherwise it would have to share ownership with the finders.

On Feb. 1, 2002 -- only a few weeks after receiving the golden bowl -- Wamser presented his astounded colleagues with the "Celtic discovery of the century," as one audience member recalls. Speaking at Würzburg University's venerable Toscana Hall, the professor presented the experts with "a veritable fireworks display of images, a magnificent spectrum of color photos," a person who attended reports. Wasn't the Chiemsee pot a dead-ringer for the silver Gundestrup cauldron retrieved from a moor in Jutland in 1891? Was an archaeological sensation in store for Germany?

The excitement in the hall was close to the boiling point when Wamser casually dropped his punchline: The pot, he announced cheerfully, was a forgery -- manufactured from modern gold, probably by the Nazis. They had planned an "Elite NSDAP School" not far from the place where the artifact was discovered, and might have used it for bizarre consecration rites.

The guests began murmuring amongst themselves. Had SS leader Heinrich Himmler not once employed Otto Rahn, the self-proclaimed Holy Grail researcher? Rahn was thought to have searched the castle ruins of the medieval Catharist sect in southern France for the mystical chalice that was purported to have once caught the blood of Jesus on the cross. Had the Nazis perhaps wanted to instrumentalize the myth of the Holy Grail by manufacturing a copy of the Celtic Gundestrup cauldron? The lecture caused such a stir in professional circles that the press got wind of it: On Aug. 6, 2002, news of the Chiemsee cauldron first hit the headlines.

Hitler's bedpan?

Even as ruminations on the identity of the finders, and jokes about "Hitler's bedpan" were still making the rounds in the Chiemsee area, treasure hunter Jens E. was already fervently haggling with the Bavarian Finance Ministry over the rights to the cauldron. In June of 2003, the ministry finally broke several months of silence and announced that the artifact had been sold to a "reputable private person," and that the deal had been brokered by one of the finders. To this day the identity of the purchaser -- thought to be a Munich collector -- and the purchase price, which the finders split equally with the Bavarian government, remain a secret. Only the gist of the results of the scientific analysis was made public: The cauldron neither dates to the time of the Celts, nor can it be traced to a legal estate from the Nazi era, according to the meager details released by the ministry.

But the second part of that statement appears somewhat surprising, especially given that the most concrete lead so far might very well have led to a high-ranking Nazi official. The senior director of the long-established Munich jeweler's company Theodor Heiden stated that he can clearly recall the detailed account of a former colleague. This witness claims to have been told by the company's goldsmith Alfred Notz, before the latter's death in the 1960s, about a "golden cauldron weighing more than 10 kilograms (22 lbs.), with a figurative ornament and manufactured by means of the paddle and anvil technique." The cauldron was manufactured in Heiden's workshop between 1925 and 1939, according to Notz -- at the request of the Munich company Elektrochemische Werke München. Its director, Albert Pietzsch, is said to have been a well-known customer of the goldsmith's workshop.

Pietzsch, an engineer, was in personal contact with Hitler from 1920 onward and provided Hitler with generous donations. Pietzsch's investment paid off: The industrialist, who became a member of the Nazi Party in 1927, later rose to the position of Military Economy Leader ("Wehrwirtschaftsführer") and even became the president of the Reich Chamber of Commerce ("Reichswirtschaftskammer"). Pietzsch was arrested by the Allies at the end of the war but if he did know something about the cauldron and its whereabouts, he took that knowledge with him to his grave when he died in 1957.

Following its sale by the Bavarian Finance Ministry, the artifact changed hands again in the spring of 2005. According to insiders, the bowl first reappeared in the orbit of a London letterbox company by the name of Morgan Stanwick, before being passed on to a joint-stock company of the same name in the Swiss canton of St. Gallen.

The director of Morgan Stanwick, whose headquarters is a stately villa in picturesque Jona, is the Swiss citizen Marcel W. -- an eloquent manager who is involved in the business of several companies and boasts a colorful past. Public prosecutors in Darmstadt are currently investigating W. because of dubious capital transfers. And now their Swiss colleagues have also developed an interest in W. -- because of the alleged swindle the investors from Kazakhstan fell victim to. He is said to have spun them the story of the Holy Grail and charges were filed against him in October 2006.

He is alleged to have presented them with a "participation contract" stating that the cauldron could reach the price "level of the golden funerary mask of Tutankhamen." Furthermore, an "expert on Celtic art" is quoted as allegedly "confirming a liquidable current market value of between €250 and €350 million" ($339 and $339 million) for the cauldron.

Questioned by SPIEGEL, this expert is now distancing himself from his "statement." In order to estimate the value of such an object, he says, it first needs to be proven that the object is in fact genuine. Marcel W., on the other hand, did not want to comment on the allegations.

His customers -- who have already paid "several million euros for the purchase price and lump sum payments" in order to "take possession of this piece of world cultural heritage" -- are now seriously concerned about their investment. Their fears seem to be justified. Swiss public prosecutors have, in any case, confiscated the Chiemsee cauldron. It's now just an everyday court exhibit in a fraud trial.

Tolkien and the Use of the `Ar` Prefix

The writings of J.R.R. Tolkien are replete with Aryan undertones and references.
According Robert Foster[The Complete Guide to Middle-Earth] under the entry "Ar:[Ad.:`royal,king`] Prefix attached to royal names of those rulers of Numenor who took their names in Adunaic."
There are literally scores of personal and place names that feature the Ar prefix. As a scholar of Germanic and Celtic languages Tolkien must have understood the significance and meaning of this term. It is highly significant that the prefix features so prominently, the name Aragorn being one of the most well known.
I will be make an in depth study of this subject as I continue my researches into Tolkien`s work.
In the meantime please enjoy this poem by Tolkien which concerns the mythical land of Aryador from the Book of Lost Tales, Part One:



In the vales of Aryador
By the wooded inland shore
Green the lakeward bents and meads
Sloping down to murmurous reeds
That whisper in the dusk o’er Aryador:

Do you hear the many bells
Of the goats upon the fells
Where the valley tumbles downward from the pines?
Do you hear the blue woods moan
When the Sun has gone alone
To hunt the mountain-shadows in the pines?

She is lost among the hills
And the upland slowly fills
With the shadow-folk that murmur in the fern;
And still there are the bells
And the voices on the fells
While Eastward a few stars begin to burn.

Men are kindling tiny gleams
Far below by mountain-streams
Where they dwell among the beechwoods near the shore,
But the great woods on the height
Watch the waning western light
And whisper to the wind of things of yore,

When the valley was unknown,
And the waters roared alone,
And the shadow-folk danced downward all the night,
When the Sun fared abroad
Through great forests unexplored
And the woods were full of wandering beams of light.

Then were voices in the fells
And a sound of ghostly bells
And a march of shadow-people o’er the height.
In the mountains by the shore
In forgotten Aryador
There was dancing and was ringing;
There were shadow-people singing
Ancient songs of olden gods in Aryador.’

Further News on the Ancient Aryan City of Arkaim

A very recent news article to supplement the information that I have already published on Arkaim.
The image accompanying this is a reconstruction of an ancient female inhabitant of Arkaim. This article was copied from Russia Beyond the Headlines.

August 20, 2012
Andrei Konstantinov, Russky Reporter
Ancestors of the people who settled Iran and India and founded great global cultures had their beginnings in the Urals region of Russia.
Arkaim: Prehistory on the steppe
Arkaim is an archaeological complex in the Southern Urals steppe, which is dated to the 17th century BC. Source: ITAR-TASS.

In 1987, the Arkaim Valley was slated to become the bottom of a giant reservoir. A dam had already been built, and archeologists were busy wrapping up the kind of exploratory works that are always performed ahead of such operations. It was at that time that a group appeared with news of something strange in the steppe. The archeologists knew they had stumbled upon something big the moment they saw from their plane a giant figure made up of nested circles with lines radiating from the centre. The figure looked like an Indian mandala or a wheel with spokes. Later the experts began to suspect that the ancient town had been built by the very same people who had invented the mandalas – the Aryan tribes that moved into India and Iran.





The scientists managed to protect Arkaim and prevent the valley from being flooded and in the early 1990s, it became clear that, 500 years prior to the Trojan War, in the times of the Egyptian pyramids and the rise of Babylon, there was a country of some 20 towns in the Southern Urals, each of which had its own breathtaking citadel.





Going to Arkaim



“The Uy River seems to form a natural boundary between the forest-steppe and the steppe. That’s where the Aryan lands begin,” said Gennady Zdanovich, who heads the expedition that excavates the Country of Towns, looking solemnly into the fog. “The Aryan expanse – that’s where their burials mounds are. We have the world’s earliest chariots, which were built a thousand years prior to the Greeks. They’re two-wheel horse-drawn war carts.”



Local guide Sergei Malyutin, the youngest in a long line of archeologists in his family, grew up in Arkaim. “In the early 1990s, we had an idea that seemed progressive for that time – to create an ethno-cultural museum, an outdoor museum that would incorporate tourism, education and research,” Malyutin said.



“An eco-museum is not just a building with show cabinets,” Malyutin said.



In fact, in this case, the museum is the steppe around the camp itself. A few steps away from the campsite is a collection of Stone Age homes reconstructed by the archeologists. The foundation is formed by thousands of horse bones instead of stone, which has always been in short supply in the steppe. The famous caves with Paleolithic drawings on the walls were not actually inhabited, but used for ceremonies and rites.




In the opposite direction from the Stone Age home is a nomad tent, or yurt, as well as Kurgan stelae and a burial mound with dummies that represent dead bodies. This is the Iron Age, the time of the Scythians. The archeological findings dating from those times always include horses (the Scythians invented the stirrup), weapons and aggressive “Scythian animal style” art.



“We take the stuff that can be destroyed in the steppe,” Zdanovich said. ‘We want to create a museum dedicated to all the ethnic groups that used to live here.”



This ancient land has just as much history as Jerusalem. The only thing that looks odd on the local map is the name of the village of Parizh (Paris), which was named in honor of victory in the War of 1812, in which local Cossacks fought.



Life on the steppe



There are no artifacts in the place where the ancient mandala citadel of Arkaim once stood. “You might as well enjoy standing on this ancient land,” said Zdanovich. His dream is to build New-Arkaim nearby, a full-scale replica of the citadel. Until now, the only way to study the fortress has been to use the miniature model in the museum. Two circles of defensive walls – wooden frames covered in clay. Inside, the houses abut each other and are located radially with their doors on the roofs. All the houses look the same; there do not appear to have been particularly rich or poor families. Each house has a well, and most have a smelt-furnace to make bronze from mixtures of copper and tin ore. Robust bronze gave a powerful impetus to the development of technology and culture, which is why the era is now called the Bronze Age. They made needles and fishhooks from bones, clothing from leather and fabric woven from hemp. They mostly ate cereals with meat and occasionally fish.



“The traditional economic model that we are accustomed to now was created at that time – with cattle, small cattle and crop farming,” Zdanovich said. “The most common crops on Arkaim patches were millet, onions and barley.”



Cattle were kept outside the citadel, between the walls and the moat.



“It was crucial for them to surround themselves with water. The towns were built near a river and encircled with a canal,” Zdanovich said. “This must have had some symbolic significance as well.”


Everything is symbolic here – from ceramic ornaments to the town itself, which was all built at the same time to a comprehensive plan. But there are no drawings, no images of gods, no inscriptions. Nevertheless, the power of its legacy is proved by the fact that when one generation moved, burning the town up as they left, another generation would go back to the same spot and accurately rebuild it – every well, every post in its designated place. This happened over and over again, and there are records that they did not stay for a great length of time.



“A frustrated civilization” is what archeologists call it. But sometimes it feels that “a misunderstood civilization” is a better name because of the sheer scope of the mystery that surrounds it. Even the burials are very odd – a male and a female lie together, embraced, with the female wielding a battle ax over her companion’s head. Sometimes the dead were buried in the fetal position, implying either a new birth or that death is just a dream.



Zdanovich says that the Aryans came here from the west, probably from the Volga, and then moved to Central Asia. He believes that their sacred drink included cannabis boiled in milk with an addition of ephedra.



“The Rigveda and Avesta contain descriptions of the place where the Aryans came from – it has birch trees and climate looking like ours. They have similar burials and the skeletons are of the Indo-European anthropological type. There is another, key feature – the chariots, which were used only by the Aryans at that time.”

Aryaman/Airyaman/Ariomanus/Eremon/Irmin-the Divine Concept of Aryanness

Within the various Indo-European mythologies there exists a God who encapsulates within Himself the very nature and essence of Aryan man.
My readers may wish to familiarise themselves with the contents of my article "`Ar` as a Prefix in Aryan God/Goddess Names" posted on 4/8/12 on this blog before going any further.
Aryaman[Indo-Aryan], Airyaman[Iranian], Irmin[Germanic], Ariomanus[Celtic-Gallic] and Eremon[Celtic-Irish] are all cognates of the same deity which must hearken back to Proto-Indo-European times. Apart from the linguistic similarity, these Indo-European peoples are spread over different parts of the globe making linguistic borrowing highly unlikely. Therefore the undivided Aryans must have had a common name for this God.
Aryaman is a solar deity and represents the spirit and very essence of Aryan society.
Jaan Puhvel has this to say about Him: "Aryaman- is originally a neuter abstract, something like `Aryanness`, the deified embodiment of social self-identification."
He goes on to link Aryaman with the Iranian Airyaman: "His Indo-Iranian ancestry is proved by his Avestan counterpart Airyaman...."[Comparative Mythology].
Eremon[Irish] is closely related to Ariomanus[Gallic]. Puhvel states: The king of the sons of Mil, Eremon, is etymologically the equivalent of the Gaulish Ariomanus, reflecting the same personified *aryomn `Aryanness` as is seen in the Vedic Aryaman and the Iranian Airyaman."
The sons of Mil is a mythological reference to the Celtic and thus Aryan invaders of Ireland/Eire-the land of the Aryans.
These Celtic and Indo-Iranian deities are all connected amongst other things with road building and marriage contracting.
Furthermore Puhvel links these four deities with the Germanic Irmin who is specifically a Saxon God. The Irminsul, which is the West Germanic equivalent to the North Germanic Yggdrasil, a world pillar or tree contains the name of this deity, signifying that like His cognates He is a solar deity. The Old Saxon word irmintheod means `mankind` and by extension `Irmin`s people`. Again we have the same sort of meaning as found in the name Aryaman.
We can draw further links with the Indo-Aryan Manu or the Germanic Mannus. Mannus is the divine ancestor of the Germanic peoples. Manu has a similar position amongst the Indo-Aryans. The `manus` in Ariomanus and the `mon` in Eremon may be indirectly linked to this Indo-European divine ancestor.
*Aryomn, the reconstructed PIE word for this deity indicates that His presence is to be found not only amongst the Indo-Iranians but to the chagrin of the Aryan-hating liberal multiracialists He is present amongst the Celts and Teutons as well indicating once more the appropriateness of the term `Aryan` as a self-designation for all native Indo-Europeans. It is also an indication that `aryanness` is a concept worth cherishing and protecting. It is the spiritual and physical essence of who we are as Aryans.
Thus the Ar-man is thus son[ar] of light, he is the son of the Aryan Gods and Goddesses as we have long known and felt within us. His totem is the eagle, the aar and his rune is the ar rune:" The `ar`, the `urfyr`[primal fire, god], the `sun`, the `light` will destroy spiritual as well as physical darkness, doubt, and uncertainty. In the sign of the Ar the Aryans-the sons of the sun-founded their law[Rita], the primal law of the Aryans, of which the earn, or eagle[Aaar], is the hieroglyph."[Guido von List, The Secret of the Runes/Das Geheimnis der Runen].

*Perkunos-The Original Name of the Northern PIE Thunder God

For a long time I have recognised the special relationship between the Germanic, Baltic and Slavic Thunder Gods, not only in their functions, characteristics and physical attributes but also in the shared etymological origins of His name.
The reconstructed name of the Proto-Indo-European Thunder God is *Perkunos. From this name we derive the name of the Baltic Thunder God Perkonis amongst the Prussians[Prussian is an extinct Baltic language], Perkons from the Latvian and


Perkunas from the Lithuanian. All these aforementioned languages are Baltic which is now recognised as the oldest Indo-European language group. I suggest that scholars should direct their efforts in exploring the language, folklore and mythology of the Balts for in so doing we will learn more about our shared Aryan past.
Amongst the Slavic peoples He is named Perun[Czech]and Pyerun[Russian]and Perunu[Old Russian].
There is a possible cognate with the Indic Parjanya, an alternative name for the Hindu God Indra[who is also called Indara amongst the Iranians].
There would not appear to be a direct association with the Germanic Thor/Thunar/Donar but we should recollect that an alternative name for Jord[Thor`s mother] is Fjorgyn which Jaan Puhvel[Comparative Mythology] states is a cognate.
The Celtic Taranis is cognate with the Germanic Thunar and thus indirectly liked to *Perkunos.
All this is suggestive of a very close shared mythological link between the Balts, Slavs and Teutons and a more tenuous link with the Celts. No doubt this is because the Teutons remained as one people with the Balts and Slavs long after the dispersal of the Celts and the link between the Balts and Slavs is much longer still.
These Thunder Gods all carry an axe or a hammer. The Baltic and Slavic Thunder Gods are generally seen with an axe which my readers will know from earlier articles is a much older weapon than the hammer and Thor`s hammer developed from this.
Also the first axes were made of stone and this is reflected in the etymology of hammer which originally meant `stone`.
The antiquity of the northern European Thunder God is also reflected in the Baltic and Slavic names which are derived from PIE *peru which means `stone`.
Amongst our ancestors an association between the Thunder God and the stone axe was made in the concept of thunder falling to earth in the form of a stone axe.
Another thing that these Thunder Gods have in common is their physical and material characteristics-red bearded/red haired, hot-tempered and rambling across the heavens in a chariot pulled by a goat or goats.
The Thunder God amongst the Balts and Slavs is regarded very much as their supreme deity. I believe that at one stage this was also the case amongst the Teutons but as we know in some parts of the Germanic world Thor was still recognised as occupying this position, such as in the north Germanic language area. The cult of Odin/Woden/Wotan appears to have developed in the south Germanic language area and spread northwards.
Amongst the Greek and Roman pantheons the Thunder God[Zeus/Jupiter] still reigned as supreme which is an indication of His great antiquity and importance.
Within the Germanic heathen community we need to give proper recognition to the Thunder God and not shy away from exploring the myths, folk tales and folklore of related northern Aryan peoples and indeed other non-Indo-European speaking peoples such as the Finns for it would appear that Finnish mythology has much in common with Germanic mythology.
The Finnish Thunder God is Ukko, whose sacred trees are the oak and the rowan and His weapon is an axe or a hammer, sometimes a stick or a sword. It is believed that He has Indo-European origins. Iron age specimens of axe and hammer pendants have been found in Finland. His name may have developed from Perkele which seems suspiciously related to *Perkunos.

Sources: Comparative Mythology by Jaan Puhvel.
The Oxford Introduction to Proto-Indo-European and the Proto-Indo-European World by J.P. Mallory and D.Q. Adams.
European Myth and Legend by Mike Dixon-Kennedy.

Wotans Krieger Recommends Parsifal DVD

Performed in Bayreuth, the sacred place where Wagner intended this music drama to be staged it features a very Nordic looking Parsifal played by Poul Elming.
How refreshing to enjoy the spectacle of a traditional performance. However we should not be surprised about this as the Stage Director and Set Designer is Wolfgang Wagner who unlike his brother Wieland understood the necessity to be faithful to the intended interpretation and portrayal of this 13th and last music drama.
Too often we have witnessed since the days of Wieland the de-germanification of the Master`s works and this is nothing other than a betrayal of both the Master himself and Aryan culture.
Linda Watson as Kundry was simply magnificent!
This production captures the true essence of the drama and the set design is both traditional in spirit but innovative in technical design. Without any hesitation I would recommend this particular production to all true Wagnerians.

`Ar` as a Prefix in Aryan God/Goddess Names

It should not come as any surprise to us that as our ancestors identified so closely with their Gods, going so far to identify themselves as being children of the Gods that we should find the Ar[Aryan] prefix and its cognates[Her/Ir] as components in the names of our deities.
Most significant is the God name Aryaman[Sanskrit] who has cognates in Avestan[Airyaman],Gaul[Ariomanus], Old Irish[Eremon]and German[Irmin/Hirmin]. Jaan Puhvel states in Comparative Mythology "Aryaman-is originally a neuter abstract, something like `Aryanness`, the deified embodiment of social identification."
Ahriman is a later Zoroastrian entity and an alternative name for the demon Angra Mainyu. We must not forget that Zoroastrianism like other monotheistic religions has its basis in the demonisation of ancient Aryan Gods. We have witnessed the same process throughout christianised Europe.
Aryaman is a God who is primarily concerned with the institution of marriage but also road/pathway building and maintenance. However more than this, as Puhvel states He embodies the very concept of being an Aryan, something which our ancestors were very much aware of even hundreds and thousands of years after the break up and dispersal of the Proto-Indo-European people. The fact that this God name is found amongst the Celts and Teutons and not just the Iranians and Indo-Aryans signifies once and for all that the term `Aryan` is an appropriate and indeed the most fitting term for Aryan self-identification but unlike `Indo-European` and `Indo-Germanic` it is a value loaded term and this is why it is hated by the `liberal` establishment.
It is a term which is associated with the eagle, the supreme totemic symbol of the Aryan peoples, with light, honous[Ehre], nobilty, aristocracy, the martial spirit and light complexioned physical features. It is also associated with the plough and agriculture as scholars are now beginning to appreciate, for the spread of agriculture in Europe during the Neolithic period was the consequence of waves of returning Indo-Europeans.
Other Gods, Godesses and semi-divine heroes bear this prefix in their names:
Ares, Artemis, Aurora, Arjuna, Eriu, Arthur/Artur, Arawn, Arianhod, Artio, Arduinna[bear Goddess from the Ardennes], Arnemetia[Goddess from Derbyshire, England], Artaies[Gaul], Hercules/Heracles, Arvagastiae[matrons from near Aachen], Arvolecia[Germanic healing Goddess from mid 2nd century CE Brough in East Yorkshire, England], Arnhofdi[Old Norse-`the one with the eagles`s head`-Odin], Herblindi[Old Norse-`the one who blinds the enemy army`-Odin], Herass[Old Norse-`army god`-Odin], Herjafodr[Old Norse-`father of the army`-Odin], Herjan[Old Norse-`lord`-Odin as leader of the Wild Hunt], Herteitr[Old Norse-`the one liking armies`-Odin], Hertyr[Old Norse-`army god`-Odin], Hervor[valkyrie], Herja[Old Norse-`to devastate`-a valkyrie]and Hermann/Arminius.
The `Ar` prefix is also to be found in countless ancient Indo-European personal names and especially those of heroes and prominent people, in particular from ancient Greece.