Caucasus Mythology

[Arkhon Arkhozh]

Caucasus Mythology



www.payvand.com/news/06/nov/Caucasus-Map.jpg

As opposed to the Middle East, the Caucasus is the place just north of whats considered the Middle East. They all seem to be connected especially to Greek Mythology.

I.Azerbaijan

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoroastrianism_in_Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan being right next to Iran were basically just Zoroastians since ancient times. Ethnically a lot of Turkic people live there now from the Turkic migrations like how they settled in Turkey itself and is considered a Turkic country today and mostly Muslim.

II.Armenian Mythology

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armenian_mythology

The Armenians are an Indo-European people and had their own mythology. Being close they were influenced by Zoroastrianism and believed in Ahura Mazda as the father of all gods and goddesses. They called him Aramazd.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aramazd

Their gods and mythology is said to resemble the Greek myths. In a way I guess you could say Armenian Mythology would be what it would be like if the Greeks and Persians became friends. Some big gods.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vahagn

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayk

This site here shows links between the Armenian, Iranian and Greek gods.

www.armenian-history.com/Armenian_mythology.htm

III.Georgian Mythology

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgian_mythology

North of Armenia, this is currently the place thats having really bad trouble with Russia with the bombings and some people lost their homes because of it as well and winter is close. Their gods and myths seem to be close to their neighbors and Greek mythology as well. Just click on the various links of the gods to read about what they are like.

IV.Ossetian Mythology

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ossetian_mythology

This is north of Georgia though it doesn't appear on this map. The Ossetians used to be called Alans, the name of the particular Iranian tribe from the Sarmatians that settled in the area. The Ossetians/Alans are an Indo-European and Iranic tribe. This is the mythology that contains Batraz that may of inspired the myth of King Arthur. As well as the Nart Sagas which tells heroic stories of a race of giants known as the Narts of which Batraz is one of. The Nart Sagas shows links to other Indo-European religions such as Norse, Greek and Hindu.

Nart Sagas

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nart_saga

Mother of the Narts

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shatana

The King Arthur link

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_basis_for_King_Arthur#Sarmatian_connection

Batraz

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batraz

People and the country

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ossetians

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ossetia

Old name for the people and the country. Alania is interesting. It was a Christian mideval kingdom although it was a few hundred years too late to be the basis for Camelot although its fun to look at it that way.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alans

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alania

The Sarmatians of which the Alans came from.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarmatian

Nart Sagas at Amazon

www.amazon.com/Nart-Sagas-Caucasus-Legends-Circassians/dp/0691026475

The contraversial book about the King Arthur connection to Batraz.

www.amazon.com/Scythia-Camelot-Reassessment-Arthurian-Characters/dp/0815335660

Tha major Iranic tibe of which the Sarmatians are closely related to.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scythians

Scythian mythology. Theres not much here.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scythian_mythology

[Kain]

Looks like good stuff. Lots of links there, but I'll get through them eventually.

[Arkhon Arkhozh]

Well heres some fun facts about mythology from the Caucasus that I think everyone here might enjoy to hear about. Come and lets look at this map.


www.fpif.org/selfdetermination/conflicts/maps/ossetia.jpg

Ok now we have a much better map. Ok the fun information is, is that some elements of mythology of the Caucasus is directly related to aspects of Greek mythology. See where it says Georgia on the map? And do you see the Black Sea? Well it was the Black Sea that Jason and the Argonauts sailed to get the golden fleece. In that cool movie its where they fought the skeletons and that hyrdra like creature. Back then it was called Colchis.

Some interesting links to check out for fun.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason_and_the_Argonauts_(film)

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argonautica

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argonauts

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Fleece

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talos

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colchis

Now there is something else really cool. I think we all know the basic myth of Prometheus right? Well the myth says he was chained somewhere in the Caucasian mountains. There are two myths from that area that have what appear to be alternate versions of the Prometheus myth.

For the Georgian version he is called Amirani.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amirani

From this site I found the two stories.

www.mythography.com/forums/index.php?act=Print&client=printer&f=4&t=532

I'll quote the Georgian one below.

"Consider another major Promethean tradition, that of the Georgian epic hero Amirani, treated splendidly at length (both analytically and comparatively) by Georges Charachidze.

Amirani is born in a torrent of red, being ripped prematurely from the belly of his mother, gold-haired Dali, a divine protectress of wild animals. God becomes his godfather and gives him superhuman strength, then hands him to a peasant to raise with his own two sons. The three boys amuse themselves by attacking everyone who passes by, until Amirani attacks a three-headed giant. As he cuts off each head, each exudes a worm that grows into a serpent -- one white, one red, one black. Amirani kills the white and red ones, but the black one swallows him. In desperation, he cuts open its belly from inside and issues back into the world. He then attacks and massacres a fortressful of demons -- but again he almost drowns, this time in the rising lake of their blood that he has shed. Suddenly one wall of the black fort breaks and the red lake pours out. Thus he escapes.

During an attempt to abduct the demon-king's daughter, the two foster-brothers are killed; and although Amirani manages to slaughter the entire demon-army, king and all, he is so distraught by his bronthers' deaths that he commits suicide. But the demon-girl revives all three.

Amirani now fares forth alone, encountering a half-dead giant whose leg falls on him, pinning him down. God sees his despair and grants him yet more strength, so he escapes again. But now there is none strong enough to oppose him, as he lays waste to the world -- except God himself. So he challenges God. Although the details of the contest vary, it always involves trying to pull out a pillar or post that God has rooted all the way through the earth and then some. It always ends with Amirani chained to the pillar and God shutting Amirani under a dome of rock "like a cap". Amirani's winged hunting dog, Q'ursha ("Black Ears," a "puppy born of eagles"), tries to lick away his master's chains, but whenever he almost succeeds, they renew themselves. (This renewal is aided by human blacksmiths hammering ritually on their anvils on a particular day of the year, for fear the destructive Amirani will return.)"

[Arkhon Arkhozh]

Now lets look at the map again. See where it says North Ossetia and South Ossetia with the Georgia space? That used to be the kingdom of Alania , an Iranian tribe of people. This is where the Nart Sagas come from. Narts being the race of heroic giants. The Nart Narsan seems to be linked to Prometheus.

From that site above I'll quote the portion that says this below.

"For example, in one of the great Caucasian sagas, the Nart hero Nasran rides to the Blessed Peak (Elbrus) to fetch fire from the giant Paqua: {Q} Suddenly he heard a voice like thunder resounding from the top of the mountain, as though someone were talking, and to him it seemed that the sky had split into two. It was Paqua saying, "You, little man! What have you come here to do? If you do not go back, you shall perish at my hands." "You stand in God's place, and they say you are benevolent," said Nasran, trying to flatter Paqua. "If that is so, then why have you taken fire away from the Narts? Why have you sent bitter cold so that we shall freeze to death?" "If you want to return home, then go! Don't make my head hurt! If you continue in this way . . . I shall chain you to the highest peak. I shall hold you prisoner until you die!" Paqua bound Nasran's body all around in chains and then fastened him to the summit of the Blessed Peak. Paqua had an enormous eagle. This ravening beast was greedy for human flesh. The wicked Paqua was enraged and set loose his huge eagle. The eagle's wingspan was so great that it could not fly down in the valleys. When it flew, it blocked out the sun so that the earth became enshrouded in darkness. It flew up and landed on the chest of th mighty Nart Nasran. It tore open his chest with its powerful beak. It drank his heart's blood and pecked at his lungs with its razor-sharp beak. . . . Chained to the Blessed Peak, Nasran roared and moaned, his cries being carried by the wind to the Narts. {/Q}

The Narts try to rescue Nasran but fail. Finally Nart Pataraz offers to go and bring back both fire and Nasran. From the foothills he cries to Paqua: {Q} "Call off your giant bloodthirsty eagle from Nasran and send it down here from the mountain!" Then the sky grew very dark. This meant that the giant eagle had arisen from the mountain. The wings of this wicked bird brought darkness everywhere. The horse on which Pataraz sat grew frightened. . . . Pataraz laid another lash on Little Black. Thereupon Little Black gave a snort and leaped up into the sky, and they began to fight with the monstrous eagle. . . . It was a great ordeal for Pataraz to fight with the wicked bird, but despite this he was finally able to shoot an arrow through one of its wings. When he did this it was as though someone had opened a window; the sun shone through the eagle's wing, and it became light once more. . . . In this way Nart Pataraz vanquished Paqua's eagle. {/Q} Pataraz then fights off one monster after another, who shake the ground as they fall, until Paqua flees, leaving Pataraz free to unchain and rescue Nasran.

If the eagle started out as an image for the ash-cloud, it really did "bring darkness everywhere" (see chapter 8). And here it helps to think back on why Prometheus is the particular mythological figure who brings fire. It is not just because fire is associated with particular mountaintops; it is also because eruptions cause static electricity -- that is, lightning, another real-life "bringer of fire" (see chapter 8). Throughout the world, fire is often though to have made its way "into wood" by lightning strikes on trees. And who is Prometheus's enemy -- indeed the one who attached him to the mountain? Zeus, the wielder of thunderbolts. So the story has a kind of internal consistency (Logic Crosscheck) that is largely lost on the modern reader.

The modern Nart versions include virtually everything in Hesiod: the eagle, the chains, and the shaft. The liver has been transmuted into heart and/or lungs. Olrik points out that the local inhabitants insist that the existence of Amiran (another local name for the Prometheus figure) "is not something one is expected to believe in, but something one can actually see." Actually see. And it is this mnemonic quality of the mountain that makes it possible for the stories to remain more or less intact, and that holds the Fogging Effect somewhat at bay.

If you look at all the "Prometheus" stories, in fact, you find that it is only the imagery that is unusual; the events are hard-edged, actual events, and quite indisputable. There was once a fire attached to Elbrus, eruptions do shut out the sun, storms do occur in the vicinity of high mountains, and earthquakes are not uncommon in the local fault zone."

[Arkhon Arkhozh]

And then there is another interesting part that tries to link Prometheus to Loki. Not sure I agree entirely but its an interesting idea regardless.

I shall quote it below.

"These geological findings strengthen the hypothesis that the story of Loki is a changed later version of the same myth as Prometheus, since for that to be true, the events would have to have antedated the breakup of the Indo-European tribes, whom archaeologists and linguists widely reconstruct as still living more or less together near the Caucasus around 3000 BC.

In fact, Loki and Prometheus share enough peculiar features that we can now puzzle out Loki's nature, long since obscured by the Silence Principle. (1) Both are of the race of "giants" or the equivalent. ... Prometheus is the son of Titans and classed as a Titan; yet (2) he lives with and generally sides with the gods -- just as Loki, who is of the race of giants, gnerally lives with and works for the gods. (3) Both are noted for their clever craftsmanship (Prometheus using especially clay, and Loki repeatedly instigating the dwarves to forge metal treasures), (4) Both betray the gods they live with -- Prometheus by stealing fire from the gods for mankind, and Loki by a whole series of pranks, such as destroying the beautiful golden hair of the grain goddess Sif. That is, (5) both Loki and Prometheus are sometimes good/helpful (like gods) and sometimes evil/destructive (like giants). (6) Loki and Prometheus suffer the same punishment, being chained to rocks while being tortured daily in punishment for their misdeeds. (7) The writhings of Loki and the Caucasian Prometheus-figures cause earthquakes.

Now let's recast the problem like a Sphinx's riddle. What active (Willful) element is the most ambiguous, being among the most useful to humans ("good") and yet among the most destructive ("evil")? Data: it is used in metalworking and with clay, can destroy an entire crop of ripe grain in no time, and sometimes appears on mountainsides in conjunction with earthquakes.

Surely the answer is fire. Loki, like Prometheus, must have once been some kind of fire deity. When Loki accompanies Thor to visit the giant ?tgar?-Loki (who lives is a sort of "antimatter" world) and is nudged out in an eating contest by the giant's henchman, Logi (who ate not just the meat but the bones and the trencher too), it eventually turns out that "the man called Logi was 'wildfire' and he burned the trencher just as quickly as he did the chopped meat". Domestic fire was paired to fight against wildfire and just barely lost."

[Reno]

It's a somewhat plausible theory, but I think it's making a lot of assumptions. It could well be true that they're connected, though.