The cosmogonic concept of the enemy brothers is present is most of the significant Indo-European cultures, without though being limited to them. The topics of the enemy brothers, twins, is very popular in terms of world creation and is an important starting point for major events, such as, in the case of Romulus and Remus, the foundation of a city. These important facts are, in essence, a repetition of the cosmogony and the primordial sacrifice for the good of the many.
As Zarathustra “spoke”, in the Persian mythology Ahura Mazda created the Universe and the cosmic order. He created the two twin spirits, Spenta Mainyu and Angra Mainyu. The first is benevolent, loves truth, justice, light ad life, while the latter is destructive, cunning, lover of darkness and death. The fight between them is our history, everything we go through and the choices between the good and the evil that we daily have the chance to make. In Avesta, the holy book of the Zoroastrianism, Ahura Mazda is assimilated to Spenta Mainyu, representing the good in contrast with Angra Mainyou, who represents the evil. One lives in heavens, while the other lives underground, our earth being the eternal battlefield of the fight between them. Later on, Zurvan (Time), appears as the father of the twin brothers Ormazd and Ahriman, Ormazd being another name for Ahura Mazda. The brothers rule the world alternatively until Ormazd’s final victory. This concept appears also in the Manichaean dualism, a religion where God is sometimes called Zurvan, Ormazd being the primordial human who is destroyed by the forces of the darkness but is then saved by God’s second creation, the Soul (light).
According to the Roman mythology, Rome’s foundation is based on fratricide. Romulus and Remus are the children of Rhea Sylvia, sister of Numitor, the king of Alba Longa, dethroned by his brother Amulius. A fight between brothers is also present in this usurpation, Numitor, the rightful king, being violently deposed by his brother. The order of things is troubled. Amulius kills all Numitor’s successors and obliges the latter’s sister to become a vestal. But Rhea Silvia becomes pregnant by her union with Mars, the god of war, giving birth to the legendary twins. Amulius order that these be left on the banks of the Tiber, but they are found by a she-wolf who suckled them. The brothers survive until they are found by a shepherd, who would raise them to maturity when, learning their true story, they return to Alba Longa and take revenge over their usurping uncle. As soon as Numitor returns to this throne, they leave Alba to establish a new city. The twins ask for gods’ help in choosing the right place to do so. The gods select Romulus, who starts ploughing borders around the Palatine Hill on which to build the walls of the future Eternal City. Remus, jokingly or to challenge his brother, jumps over the line ploughed by Romulus who kills him in a rage, shouting that anyone who dares step over the wall of the city will be killed that way.
There are several common mythological themes in this legend. The exposure of the child immediately after birth. Moses, Oedipus, Paris (who had been suckled by a female bear) and other legendary characters were exposed to such first initiation, which once surpassed is followed by a second initiating “journey”, living among common people, their adopting parents, shepherds, foresters, slaves. There is one exception: Moses, born as a slave, who later came to grow up in the pharaoh’s family. It is also worth mentioning the sacrifice required for the birth of a strong, fighting people: Remus’s death in exchange for the glorious future of the city.
However, this sacrifice has the role of “original sin” in the conscience of the Romans. A curse leading the sons of Rome to kill one another, eventually leading to the fall of the city.
In the Greek mythology, as well as in the mythology of a number of European peoples, such as the Celts and the Germanic, there is an exception from the rule of the enemy brothers. Twins love and support each other. Nothing can separate them, not even death. The twin brothers Castor and Pollux (the Dioscuri) were born by Leda from her union with Zeus. When Castor was killed in an altercation with Idas and Lynceus, another famous pair of twins and cousins of the Dioscuri, Zeus got angry and killed Idas with a lightning, taking Pollux with him to the heavens. However, the latter asked his father to share the gift of immortality with his brother from Hades. Zeus then allowed them to spend alternatively one day among the gods and one day in the world of the dead. Another version of the myths tells that Zeus turned them into the constellation of the Gemini. They were considered the protectors of seamen and travelers. The Spartans adopted them as gods of the light.
In the Egyptian mythology, Osiris, a primordial king of Egypt, is killed by his brother Set (Seth). Osiris is the life-giving force, the prosperity and the order, while Seth is the opposite. After his murder, Isis, Osiris’s wife, gives birth to a boy, Horus, whom she protects from Seth’s fury. Horus finally wins and re-establishes the order in the kingdom of Egypt, resurrecting Osiris.
At the proto-Slavs, the rival twins ruling and balancing the world are Belobog (White God) and Cernobog (Black God). Belobog is an old man, with a white beard and a stick, all dressed in white. He only appears during the day and does good, bringing happiness and success to mankind. Obviously, Cernobog is the malefic brother, associated with darkness, cold, famine, poverty and disease. These two fight twice a year for the control of the seasons. At the dawn of the world their fight gave rise to night and day, summer and winter and triggered the movement of the celestial bodies. Again, the balance created by the fight between the good and the evil can be noticed. However, Belobog was a respected god. Evil is necessary, there can be no universal balance without it. White and Black, as in the principle of Yin and Yang in the Chinese philosophy, are opposite, contrary, though interconnected and complementary.
In the Romanian traditional culture, Brethren and Unbrethren are two brothers who create the world by their fight. Both fly above waters when Brethren asks his brother to go into the water and bring some earth for them to rest. Unbrethren successfully brought a small quantity of earth from which Brethren makes a small plate (or a bed) on which they lay both. However, Unbrethren wishes to be the sole master of the earth and tries to throw Brethren into the water. The land starts spreading and the waters withdraw, the world being thus created. In other versions of the myth, God is Brethren and Devil is Unbrethren.
“At the beginning, when there were no heavens and stars, nor the Earth with all its things and beings, everything was void and complete darkness and nothing could be seen. In this void and darkness there were two brothers who would wander here and there. They were God and Devil. They were true brothers, but did not get along with each other, because God was good and rightful while Devil was mean, cunning and unfair. This is why, although Devil would call God “my brother”, God would always call Devil “my unbrother”. But the biggest enmity Devil had against God was because God had the power to do whatever he wanted, while Devil had no such power. This is why Devil envied and hated God and would try through various devilish tricks and deceits to undo and tarnish everything good God would do. God had also another name, “Merciful”.
Then the myth continues with the creation of valleys and mountain. After Devil has tried to push God from the piece of land, the land expanded and grew so big that the waters had no sufficient place in the newly created world. Then God sent the bee to the hedgehog to ask what could be done. The hedgehog contemptuously answered that since God is omniscient, he was in no position to give some advice. Then the bee left and eavesdropped, learning that mountains and valleys had to be created to make space for water. The hedgehog, angry that his secret had been revealed, cursed the bee for her excrements to be eaten by humans. But God turned the bee’s excrements into honey.
The origins of the myth of the Brethren and Unbrethren are ancient, being probably the result of mixing very old local popular beliefs with some others coming from other territories. Several explanations have been given:
An explanation would be that these myths originate from the cult of the pair gods-heroes in the Carpathians-Danube area, such as the Cabeiri, the Danuban knights and the Dioscuri. Another argument is that the Persian religious dualism survived through Manichaeism and through neo-Manichaean sects, such as the Paulicianism and the Bogomilism.
In an essay entitled Fărtate și Nefărtate (Brethren and Unbrethren), Lucian Blaga maintains that the bogomilic influence only existed at the level of popular mythology and religious folklore, without a theological doctrine being developed.
Another explanation would be the origin of the myth in Central Asia, at the Turkish-Mongolic peoples (Mircea Eliade). Local solutions were not excluded either, based on the reminiscences of “Thracian-Scythian substrate”
The existence of the religious dualism of ancient Slavs, mentioned above, should also be taken into consideration.
The dualist cosmogonic patter of the myth of the Brethren and Unbrethren is certain. The world is created both through cooperation and confrontation between God and Devil. The dualist explanation is simple. The imperfections of the world we live are easier to explain through dualism. Good cannot exist without evil, God cannot exist without Devil.
