/09_comparative/2_notes

The Axial Age is a contested macro-convergence claim, not an established synchrony: the data support a broad mid-first-millennium-BCE band of transcendence-oriented reflection, not a single dateable simultaneous breakthrough

Descent, contact, and convergence are distinguishable in practice only by sequence-level parallels, attested corridors, and tree/areal congruence — never by motif resemblance alone

Motif: The Dying-and-Rising God

Motif: The Great Flood

Motif: The Sky Father (*Dyḗus ph₂tḗr cognate set)