Artemis possibly infuencing Amaterasu?

[fraa Jad]

We know about the hybrid Indo-Greek pantheon that influenced the kind of Buddhism (and Buddhist ideas that arguably conrtibuted to the creation of Christianity back in the west); that ultimately went to Japan. Artemis is a Moon goddess, Atamerasu is a Sun godess. Appolo is a Sun god, and also the twin of Artemis. Do you think there might be a historical connection there?

 

[Phalamus]

???

They have literally nothing in common other than being female.

Hellenistic Buddhism was a thing, but only in Central Asia. Also, Amaterasu is a Shinto goddess and Shinto predates Buddhism

 

[fraa Jad]

Shinto, until just before Imperial Meiji state Shintoism was extremely syncretic with Buddhism.

 

[Nivek]

We know about the hybrid Indo-Greek pantheon that influenced the kind of Buddhism (and Buddhist ideas that arguably conrtibuted to the creation of Christianity back in the west); that ultimately went to Japan. Artemis is a Moon goddess, Atamerasu is a Sun godess. Appolo is a Sun god, and also the twin of Artemis. Do you think there might be a historical connection there?

I would say Amaterasu is closer to Athena but both are pagan symbol done very independant each other

 

[fraa Jad]

What I wanted to ask is: is it possible that Artemis got picked up as a Indo-Greek Buddhist diety in India, that then got trasferred though Chinnese Buddhism to Japan, and then got reinterpreted as a Shinto diety?

 

[Nivek]

Shinto, until just before Imperial Meiji state Shintoism was extremely syncretic with Buddhism.

Shinto was his own thing before they imported buddhist in the VIII Century, is just never got organize till much later, Shinto was dynamic, not static for much of the pre-meiji japanese story.

What I wanted to ask is: is it possible that Artemis got picked up as a Indo-Greek Buddhist diety in India, that then got trasferred though Chinnese Buddhism to Japan, and then got reinterpreted as a Shinto diety?

Frankly, i don't know enough about mythology to answe that, japanese are fans of Indian mythology but to say the influences of Amaterasu, that is outside my range...you need to ask an expert in Asian Mythology, japanese one too

 

[Persephone]

What I wanted to ask is: is it possible that Artemis got picked up as a Indo-Greek Buddhist diety in India, that then got trasferred though Chinnese Buddhism to Japan, and then got reinterpreted as a Shinto diety?

Given that records of Amaterasu being worshiped are found from circa 712 CE, not to mention that the mythological stories are vastly different, I'm gonna say no. To quote Wikipedia:

Records of the worship of Amaterasu are found from the c. 712 CE Kojiki and c. 720 CE Nihon Shoki, the oldest records of Japanese history. In Japanese mythology, Amaterasu, the goddess of the sun, is the sister of Susanoo, the god of storms and the sea, and of Tsukuyomi, the god of the moon. It was written that Amaterasu had painted the landscape with her siblings while she created ancient Japan.[2] Amaterasu was said to have been created by the divine couple Izanagi and Izanami, who were themselves created by, or grew from, the originator of the universe, Amenominakanushi.[3] All three deities were born from Izanagi when he was purifying himself upon entering Yomi, the underworld, after breaking the promise not to see dead Izanami and he was chased by her and Yakusan-no-ikaduchigami (八雷神), surrounding rotten Izanami. Amaterasu was born when Izanagi washed out his left eye, Tsukuyomi was born from the washing of the right eye, and Susanoo from the washing of the nose.

 

[Saya Aensland]

If such a transfer had happened, her cult would've left a breadcrumb trail of local celestial body goddesses whose name begins with A in her travel through eastern Asia.

 

[Nivek]

That is exactly what I was asking. Was Amateratsu an import, along with the rest of Buddhism, only later (centuries later) fitted in the Shinto Pantheon, of a reflection of a long dead Indo-Greek goddess (Artemis/Amateratsu).

Amaterasu was Native but again could have been influenced the the indo-buddhist pantheon, techically you would argue an image of Vishna is Izanami...but i'm not savy to make that stament.

 

[herkles]

We know about the hybrid Indo-Greek pantheon that influenced the kind of Buddhism that ultimately went to Japan. Artemis is a Moon goddess, Atamerasu is a Sun godess. Appolo is a Sun god, and also the twin of Artemis. Do you think there might be a historical connection there?

It should be noted that both Artemis and Apollon did not start out as moon and sun gods. they are Selene and Helios who are the gods of the moon and sun respectively. It was later on when Artemis picked up aspects of Selene and Apollon did so with Helios. I am honestly not sure when the syncretization occured myself.

 

[fraa Jad]

Amaterasu was Native but again could have been influenced the the indo-buddhist pantheon, techically you would argue an image of Vishna is Izanami...but i'm not savy to make that stament.

Nivek, Izami seems like a dipshit and seems is nicer than Vishnu-- who seems also like an arshehole

 

[Shahrasayr]

No. There is no linguistic or mythological correlation between Amaterasu and Artemis. Any of the Shinto deities influenced by Indic deities are from Puranic strains, which had few (if any) Hellenic motifs in their myths.

It should be noted that both Artemis and Apollon did not start out as moon and sun gods. they are Selene and Helios who are the gods of the moon and sun respectively. It was later on when Artemis picked up aspects of Selene and Apollon did so with Helios. I am honestly not sure when the syncretization occured myself.

Findings indicate the Apollonic Cult had already assimilated Hyperion and Helios by the late 7th century BCE, imported from across the Aegean. In the Cyclades and the Anatolian isles we see more explicit worship of Helios survive due to reinforcement by their proximity to the Near East, where foreign trade routes compounded Solar cults.