How does Svyatogor differ from other Russian heroes? Legends and traditions

Svyatogor- Russian hero epic epic, standing outside the Kyiv and Novgorod cycles and only partially in contact with the first in the epics about s.

Epics about Svyatogor

Svyatogor in the epic is a huge giant, “higher than a standing forest”; it can hardly be carried by mother earth. He does not go to Holy Rus', but lives on the high Holy Mountains; During his journey, mother cheese shakes the earth, the forests sway and the rivers overflow their banks.

One day, feeling colossal strength within himself, he boasted that if there were a ring in the sky and another in the earth, he would turn heaven and earth upside down. He heard this and threw the handbag in which it was enclosed to the ground. Only a plowman could lift the purse. Svyatogor tries in vain to move his handbag while sitting on a horse, and then, getting off the horse and holding the handbag with both hands, sinks into the ground up to his knees and here, unable to overcome the “earthly pull” contained in the handbag, he ends his life. In another version of the epic, Svyatogor does not die, but Mikula reveals to him the secret of the handbag.

According to another story, Ilya Muromets, on the way, under an oak tree, in an open field, finds a heroic bed 10 fathoms long and 6 fathoms wide. He falls asleep on it for three days. On the third day, a noise was heard from the north side; the horse woke up Ilya and advised him to hide in an oak tree. Svyatogor appeared on horseback, holding a crystal casket on his shoulders, in which was his beautiful wife. While Svyatogor was sleeping, his wife seduces Ilya into love and then puts him in her husband’s pocket. IN further path the horse tells Svyatogor that it is hard for him: until now he was carrying the hero and his wife, now he is carrying two heroes. Svyatogor finds Ilya and, having asked how he got there, kills unfaithful wife, and with Ilya enters into a brotherhood. On the way near the Northern Mountain, the heroes meet a coffin with the inscription: . The coffin turned out to be too big for Ilya, but the lid slammed shut behind Svyatogor, and he tried in vain to get out of there. Having transferred part of his strength and his sword to Ilya, he orders the coffin lid to be cut, but with each blow the coffin is covered with an iron hoop.

Episode three - ; he asks Mikula how to find out his fate. Mikula sends him to the Northern Mountains, to the prophetic blacksmith. When Svyatogor asked him about the future, he predicted his marriage to a bride who had been living in a seaside kingdom for 30 years in a rotting place. Svyatogor went there and, finding the sick woman lying on the floor, placed 500 rubles near her, hit her in the chest with a sword and left. The girl woke up; the bark that covered it came off; she turned into a beauty, and the hero, hearing about her beauty, came and married her. After the wedding, Svyatogor saw a scar on her chest, found out what was wrong and realized that you couldn’t escape fate.

You can't escape fate

Svyatogor went along a wide road, and on the way he met a passerby. The hero let his good horse run towards that passer-by, but he couldn’t catch up with him: he would ride at full trot - the passer-by was walking ahead; he walks in step - a passer-by walks ahead. The hero spoke these words:
- Oh, you’re a passer-by, stop for a moment, I can’t catch up with you on a good horse.
A passerby paused, took his purse off his shoulders and laid the purse on the damp ground. Svyatogor the hero says:
- What do you have in your purse?
- But get up off the ground. You'll see for yourself.
Svyatogor got off his good horse, grabbed the purse with his hand - he could not even move; He began to raise it with both hands - only a spirit could let him under his purse, but he himself sank knee-deep into the ground. The hero speaks these words:
- What do you have in your purse? I don’t have the strength to become, but I can’t even move my purse.
- I have earthly cravings in my purse.
- Who are you, and what is your name, what is your patronymic?
- I am Mikulushka Selyaninovich.
- Tell me again, Mikulushka, tell me how I can find out the fate of God?
- But go along the straight road until you reach the rosstan, and from the rosstan turn left and set off your horse at full gallop, and you will come to the Severnye Mountains. Near the mountains, under the great tree, there is a forge, and you ask the blacksmith about your destiny.
Svyatogor rode along the straight road, turned left from the rosstan, set off his horse at full gallop: he began to good horse to jump, to jump over rivers, to jump over seas, to let wide expanses between your legs. Svyatogor the hero rode for three days and reached the Severnye Mountains, then to the great tree and to that forge: in the forge a blacksmith forges two fine hair. The hero speaks these words:
- What are you forging, blacksmith?
The blacksmith answers:
- I forge destiny, who will marry whom.
-Who should I marry?
- And your bride in the kingdom of Pomerania, in the throne city, has been lying in rot for thirty years.
The hero stood there and thought for a moment: “Let me go to that kingdom of Pomerania and kill that bride.”
He came to the kingdom of Pomerania, to the throne city, he came to a poor little house, he entered the hut; there is no one at home, only the girl lies in the rot: her body is like spruce bark. Svyatogor the hero took out a purse of money and put it on the table, took his sharp sword and beat her with a sword on her white chest, and then left the Pomeranian kingdom.
The girl woke up and looked: it was as if the fir bark had fallen off her, and she had become a beauty - nothing like this had ever been seen in the world, never heard of on white, and there was a purse of money lying on the table. With that money she began to trade and amassed a countless golden treasury, built scarlet boats, loaded up with precious goods and sailed across the glorious blue sea. She came to the great city on the Holy Mountains and began to sell precious goods.
Rumors about her beauty spread throughout the city and throughout the kingdom. Svyatogor the hero also came to look at the beauty - he fell in love with her. He began to woo her, and she married him. When he married her and went to bed, he saw a scar on her white breast and asked his wife:
-What kind of scar do you have on your white chest?
His wife answered him:
- An unknown person came to our kingdom of Pomerania, left a wallet of money in our hut, and I slept soundly. When I woke up, I had a scar on my chest, and it was as if the spruce bark had fallen off my body, and until that time I had been lying in rot for thirty years.
Then Svyatogor the hero realized that you can’t escape your fate.

Coffin for Svyatogor

Svyatogor taught Ilya Muromets
To all your heroic exploits.
One day they were walking in the field,
They saw an iron coffin in an open field.
What kind of miracle is this?
Who is destined to lie in that coffin?
That Muromets Ilya fell into the coffin -
He lies there, just like a little child.
To know, that tomb was not determined for him by the Lord God.
Svyatogor the hero fell into that coffin -
It’s as if that coffin was made after him.
And he wants to get out of there, but he can’t:
There were three iron hoops on the coffin,
And the roof of the coffin moved.
Then Svyatogor the hero says:
- That’s right, death is written for me here too,
Surely this coffin fell out of the cloud.
Come down to the ground, Ilya Muromets,
I will breathe the heroic spirit,
You will receive strength from me.
Then he fell low to the ground,
I took in as much power as I could.
“I don’t need it anymore,” he says,
I am content with as much strength as I have!
Then Svyatogor the hero said:
- Farewell now, my brother of the cross,
I'll say goodbye to you forever here.
And you yourself go to Holy Rus',
Now fight with all the heroes -
Death is not written for you in an open field...

This epic hero is the oldest and strongest of the entire heroic squad. In all epics Svyatogor is his martyr own strength. She is imprisoned in him, that in a stuffy dungeon, she arrives day by day, but there is nowhere to put her: there is no hero in the world to match Svyatogor, there is no one to compare his strength with! The earth cannot bear its weight.
Svyatogor is the embodiment of inapplicable, useless, blind force, the image of an ancient giant (for example, he puts in his pocket

The epic "Svyatogor and Mikula Selyaninovich" - famous work ancient Russian epic. She talks about the famous giant hero.

Bogatyr Svyatogor

Epics about Svyatogor belong to East Slavic mythology. This is one of the most ancient Russian cycles. It is beyond the popular Novgorod and Kyiv cycles. At the same time, it intersects with them in some epics dedicated to the meetings of Svyatogor with Ilya Muromets.

According to the popular plot of the epic, Svyatogor was very heavy. So much so that the earth could not bear him. At the same time, he himself could no longer overcome the gravity of the earth and sank with his feet into the ground. According to another legend, Ilya Muromets and Svyatogor take turns trying on a coffin made of stone. They suddenly meet him on their way. In this epic, Svyatogor is a hero for whom the coffin was just right.

However, once in the coffin, he finds out that he cannot get out of it, even the lid does not lift. Just before his death, Svyatogor manages to transfer part of his power to Ilya Muromets through breathing. This is how the most famous epic defender of the Russian land becomes even stronger.

Description of Svyatogor

As a rule, in epics Svyatogor is described as a huge giant of incredible strength. He is taller than the trees in the forest. He visits Holy Rus' itself only occasionally. Basically he prefers to live on the high Holy Mountains almost completely alone.

When he does leave his home, the whole neighborhood knows about it. The ground beneath him sways, the trees sway, and the rivers simply overflow their banks.

Svyatogor is the personification of the ancient Russian hero, the pre-Christian hero of the Slavic epic, who is the personification of the power of the Russian people and their divine destiny.

It is noteworthy that the father of the epic Svyatogor was a “dark”, that is, a blind man. And this is a clear sign that he belonged to the beings of the other world.

The gigantic forces of Svyatogor

In the summary of the epic about Svyatogor, there is often a plot in which he feels gigantic powers within himself. To prove this, he boasts that he is able to turn heaven and earth if there were two rings: one in the sky and the second in the earth. Another famous epic hero named Mikula Selyaninovich heard about this. He then threw the bag containing all the “earthly burdens” onto the ground.

In the epic "Svyatogor and Mikula Selyaninovich", summary which is given in this article, our hero makes unsuccessful attempts to somehow move this bag without getting off his horse, but fails. Then he dismounts and tries to lift the bag with both hands. But instead of lifting it above his head, he sinks into the ground almost up to his knees, because he cannot overcome the earth’s pull. This is how he ends his life, unable to confirm in reality the words about his strength and power.

There is another version of how the epic “Svyatogor and Mikula Selyaninovich” develops. After reading it completely, you can find out a different ending to this story. In it, Svyatogor remains alive, and Mikula, taking pity on him, reveals the secret of her unaffordable bag.

Epics with Ilya Muromets

In the epics about Svyatogor, the content of which is given in this article, perhaps the most famous Russian epic hero, Ilya Muromets, is often found.

The plot is well known in which Ilya Muromets finds a real heroic bed almost in an open field, under an oak tree. It is 10 fathoms long and another 6 wide. The tired hero of the Russian epic falls asleep on it for three whole days.

In this epic, Svyatogor and Ilya Muromets meet on the third day, when Ilya’s horse wakes him up. A noise is heard from the north side, which alarmed the animal. It is the horse that advises the hero to hide behind an oak tree.

The appearance of Svyatogor

At this moment Svyatogor appears. He sits on a horse and holds a crystal casket in his hands. It contains his beautiful wife. Svyatogor himself lies down to rest on the heroic bed. While he is sleeping, his wife notices Ilya Muromets. She seduces him into love and puts him in the pocket of her giant husband, so that unnoticed he will continue his journey with them.

In this epic, Svyatogor and Ilya set off on a further journey, with one of them unaware of the existence of the other. His horse begins to talk to Svyatogor, who complains that it is very difficult for him, because until now he was carrying only one hero and his wife, but now there are two heroes. This is how the insidious plan of Svyatogor’s wife is revealed.

The giant hero quickly finds Ilya in his pocket. He asks carefully and in detail how he got there. Having learned about his wife’s infidelity, Svyatogor, without any regret, kills her. He enters into a brotherhood with Ilya. Together they continue their journey.

Stone at the crossroads

Near the Northern Mountain, the heroes encounter the famous stone at the crossroads, which was later repeatedly found in other heroic epics. It is written on it that as a result, only the one who is destined to lie there will end up in the coffin.

The heroes begin to try on the stone coffin. It turns out to be too big for Ilya, but Svyatogor fits just right. As soon as Svyatogor lies down in it, the lid immediately slams shut behind him. He is no longer able to lift it, cannot get out and ends his life in this coffin. Having transferred part of his mighty strength, as well as his sword to Ilya Muromets, he asks Ilya to cut the hated coffin. But everything is in vain. With each blow, the coffin is only covered with a powerful iron hoop.

Svyatogor's wedding

Another popular plot of Svyatogor’s epic is his marriage. In this epic, Svyatogor and Mikula talk about how to find out the future, their upcoming destiny.

Mikula gives the hero practical advice - to go to the Northern Mountains. They are also called Siverskaya. There, according to him, lives a prophetic blacksmith who can give answers to all these questions.

Svyatogor comes to the blacksmith, who predicts that he will soon get married. His bride will be from a distant seaside kingdom. Svyatogor goes there and looks for the sick Pomeranian Film, as the blacksmith predicted, she lies on the pus (as in Ancient Rus' called manure). Svyatogor lays next to her, hits her in the chest with a sword and leaves.

From everything that is happening, the girl wakes up and comes to her senses. She lay in the rot for 30 years, so awakening is difficult for her. During this time, her entire body was covered with ugly bark. But as soon as she comes off, it turns out that underneath she was hiding a beautiful woman. Rumors about the beauty of the beautiful stranger reach Svyatogor itself. He immediately comes again to this overseas kingdom and takes her as his wife.

Only after the wedding Svyatogor discovers that his young wife has a scar on her chest. He recognizes the mark from his sword and realizes that this is exactly the woman who was predicted for him.

Legends about Svyatogor

In the analysis of the ancient Russian epic, much attention is paid to the analysis of legends dedicated to Svyatogor. Their detailed study leads researchers to three fundamental conclusions.

Firstly, they highlight the motive of raising the bag. This plot is very common not only in Russian legends, but also among other peoples in tales about heroes and giants. For example, about Volga, Anika, Samson, Kolyvan. Thus, in ancient Yugoslav poetry, the analogue of Svyatogor is Prince Marko. In the Caucasus, a similar situation befalls Soslan.

Suma corresponds to a stone in other legends, for example, in epics about a stream. This, in turn, coincides with the story from the biography of the exploits of Alexander the Great. About how the inhabitants of the paradise capital give him one pebble as tribute. However, it turns out that this pebble cannot be weighed or measured in any way.

In a symbolic interpretation, this sum corresponds to human envy. A similar legend is found among the ancient Scandinavian peoples - in an episode about a dispute between Thor and a giant.

A cheating wife

Secondly, researchers of the ancient Russian epic analyze in detail the situation with Svyatogor’s marriage and his unfaithful wife. They see parallel motives in Persian authors in a book called “Tuti-name”. This famous collection short stories humorous, didactic and even erotic content, which was extremely popular in ancient India.

Often, episodes with weddings and adultery, similar to the story of Svyatogor, can be read in Buddhist fairy tales. Many reputable researchers are inclined to believe that this episode is of Eastern origin.

The very episode of the marriage of the hero Svyatogor is attributed by most literary scholars and historians to folk tales, which at that time relied on popular medieval stories.

This is especially noticeable if you analyze these legends in detail. Thus, a trip to the sorcerer-blacksmith to the north is reminiscent of an episode from the epic “Kalevala”. Spouse, for a long time lying on a pustule, is also found in an old Russian story, in which the main character is Tsarevich Firgis.

IN this moment It has already been possible to collect many parallels in order to study in detail the personality of Svyatogor, but still there remains a lot of unclear and incomprehensible things in it. For example, it was never possible to definitely find the absolute prototype of the strongman Svyatogor. There are only a few hypotheses. For example, it could be with whom Wilhelm Wollner compares Svyatogor.

Folklorist Ivan Zhdanov believes that the real prototype of Svyatogor was the biblical strongman Samson. Literary critic Alexey Veselovsky puts forward a similar version.

But the historian of Russian literature Mikhail Khalansky notes the similarity of stories about Svyatogor with Russian ones folk epics. Most likely, his name is an epithet that comes from the name of the places in which he lived - the Holy Mountains.

Magic power

The famous researcher of Russian fairy tales and folklore also expresses his opinion on this issue. He believes that Svyatogor personifies a primitive force that cannot be used in ordinary standard life.

That is why it is doomed to failure and subsequent death.

Native from Chernigov

There is also a version that the epic about Svyatogor and Mikula Selyaninovich, like other epic stories about this hero, originally took shape in Chernigov.

The fact is that in one of the epics Svyatogor appears as a hero defending the Chernigov prince named Oleg Svyatoslavovich. On this basis, archaeologist Boris Rybakov puts forward the version that the epic initially took shape precisely in the environment of the Chernigov prince. This means that it could reflect much earlier tales, for example, the epic of the early 10th century.

Svyatogor is the son of Rod, the brother of Svarog, and the Svarozhichi were his nephews. Svyatogor in the epic is a huge giant, “higher than a standing forest”; it can hardly be carried by mother earth. He does not go to Holy Rus', but lives on the high Holy Mountains; During his journey, mother cheese shakes the earth, the forests sway and the rivers overflow their banks.

Slobodchikov Viktor Gennadievich. "Svyatogor".

Svyatogor is older than many gods. His father is called “dark,” that is, blind, erroneously: Rod is primordial, omnipresent, all-seeing. Svyatogor was born in order to stand guard over the world of Reveal and not to let dark monsters from Navi come here. The entrance there was at the foot of a huge stone pillar on which the sky rested. The pillar itself (or the World Tree) was located in the holy mountains, where the giant’s name comes from. It is not an easy matter to stand on the border of Light and Darkness. Other giants, the Gorynychi - Gorynya, Dubynya and Usynya - were born by the dark, blind ruler Viy out of envy and in opposition to Svyatogor. Viy, partially familiar to us from Gogol’s story, appointed his three sons to guard the exit from Navi so that the souls of the dead could not escape from there. So, standing on the other side of the border, they were enemies of Svyatogor.

Nicholas Konstantinovich Roerich. "Svyatogor". 1942

The giant got tired of defending the gods, whom he had never really seen, and he decided to build stone staircase into the sky and look at them for yourself. Rod did not deprive him of strength and Svyatogor coped with the work: he reached the very throne of the Most High in heaven. God did not scold him for his self-will, but praised him for his work and said that he would fulfill any desire of the giant. Svyatogor asked for immeasurable strength and more wisdom than any of the gods.

Andrey Ryabushkin. "Svyatogor". 1895

Eh, I wish I knew that any desire also has reverse side, so I would probably be careful not to ask for intelligence and strength. “You will be stronger than the Svarozhichi, but the stone itself will overpower you,” the Most High answered him. “You will become wiser than the gods, but man will deceive you!” The giant just grinned in response, not believing what was said. Surely he, who built a staircase to heaven from rocks, should be afraid of some pebble! Well, what about the small human race, the bugs under our feet, what can they do to them?

The enormous weight of Svyatogor prevented him from leaving his post and moving to other places. Yet one day, according to Mokosh’s prediction, he was forced to leave the Holy Mountains.
Svyatogor asks Mikula how to find out his fate. Mikula sends him to the Northern (Siver) Mountains, to the prophetic blacksmith. When Svyatogor asked him about the future, he predicted his marriage to a bride who had been living in a seaside kingdom for 30 years in a rotting place. Svyatogor went there and, finding the sick Plenka Pomorskaya on a pustule, put 500 rubles near her, hit her in the chest with a sword and left. The girl woke up; the bark that covered it came off; she turned into a beauty, and the hero, hearing about her beauty, came and married her. After the wedding, Svyatogor saw a scar on her chest, found out what was wrong and realized that you couldn’t escape fate.

Klimenko Andrey. "Svyatogor and the Blacksmith of Fate."

Once, feeling gigantic powers within himself, he boasted that if there were a ring in the sky and another in the earth, he would turn heaven and earth upside down. Mikula Selyaninovich heard this and threw the bag on the ground, which contained “all the earthly burdens.” Svyatogor tries in vain to move the bag while sitting on a horse, and then, getting off the horse and holding the bag with both hands, sinks into the ground up to his knees and here, unable to overcome the “earthly pull” contained in the bag, he ends his life. In another version of the epic, Svyatogor does not die, but Mikula reveals to him the secret of the bag.

Ivan Vasilievich Simakov. “The Russian hero Svyatogor is pulling his saddle bag.” 1917

I. Ya. Bilibin. "Ilya Muromets and Svyatogor." 1900s

I. Ya. Bilibin. "Ilya Muromets and Svyatogor's wife." 1912-1916

On the further journey, the horse tells Svyatogor that it is hard for him: until now he was carrying the hero and his wife, now he is carrying two heroes. Svyatogor finds Ilya and, having asked how he got there, kills his unfaithful wife, and enters into a brotherhood with Ilya. On the way near the Northern Mountain, the heroes encounter a coffin with the inscription: “Whoever is destined to lie in a coffin will lie in it.” The coffin turned out to be too big for Ilya, but the lid slammed shut behind Svyatogor, and he tried in vain to get out of there. Having transferred part of his strength and his sword to Ilya, he orders the coffin lid to be cut, but with each blow the coffin is covered with an iron hoop.

A. Klimenko. "Ilya and the coffin of Svyatogor."

On maned horses on shaggy ones,
On golden stirrups on unraveled ones,
The brothers, the youngest and the eldest, are coming,
They travel for a day, and two, and three,
They see a simple trough in the field,
They run into a coffin, and a big one:
The coffin is deep, made of oak,
With a black roof, heavy, languid,
So Svyatogor raised it,
He lay down, covered himself and joked: “It’s just right!
Help, Ilya, Svyatogor
Go out into God's open space again!"
Ilya hugged the roof, grinned,
I swelled my entire overweight liver,
Moved it up... No, wait!
"You with the sword!" - a voice is heard from the coffin.
He is for the sword, - anger is engaged,
The heart lights up in the chest, -
But he doesn’t take the sword either: he cuts,
Let him not do good, but destroy:
Wherever it hits, the hoop is ready,
The iron bond is growing:
Do not rise from the tomb crypt
Svyatogor forever and ever!
Ilya started fighting - God’s will.
Driving away along a wide field,
Wipes away a tear... Took it away
Russian power Earth half:
Go to a different path.
To other things!

Bunin Ivan Alekseevich

The history of Svyatogor is also known in Greece: either it was brought there by the Aryan people of the Dorians, or by the Balkan Slavs. Only the Greeks began to call Svyatogor, in their own way, Atlas (or Atlas). His wife Plenka was considered the oceanid Pleione. Their daughters were named Pleiades. These girls became stars, and Perseus, showing their father the head of Medusa the Gorgon, turned Atlas into a rock. These mountains in Africa are still called Atlas.

Yudin Georgy. "Mikula Selyaninovich and Svyatogor."

Konstantin Vasiliev. "The Gift of Svyatogor"

K. Chelushkin. "Svyatogor".

Andrey Mazin. "Svyatogor".

Alexey Fantalov. "Svyatogor and the blacksmiths."

The meaning of the word SVYATOGOR in the Brief Biographical Encyclopedia

SVYATOGOR

Svyatogor is a hero of the Russian epic epic, standing outside the Kyiv and Novgorod cycles and only partially in contact with the first in the epics about the meeting of Svyatogor with Ilya Muromets. Svyatogor in the epic is a huge giant, “higher than a standing forest”; it is hardly carried by the mother of cheese the earth. He does not go to Holy Rus', but lives on the high Holy Mountains; During his journey, the mother earth shakes, forests sway and rivers overflow their banks. One day, feeling colossal strength within himself, he boasted that if there were a ring in the sky and another in the earth, he would turn heaven and earth upside down. Mikula Selyaninovich (var. - elders) heard this and threw his handbag to the ground, which Svyatogor tries in vain to move while sitting on a horse, and then, getting off the horse and holding the handbag with both hands, sinks into the ground up to his knees and here, without overcoming " earthly cravings" contained in her handbag, ends her life. According to another story, Ilya Muromets, on the way, under an oak tree, in an open field, finds a heroic bed 10 fathoms, 6 fathoms wide. He falls asleep on it for three days. On the 3rd day a noise was heard from the north side; the horse woke up Ilya and advised him to hide in an oak tree. Svyatogor appeared on horseback, holding a crystal casket on his shoulders, in which was his beautiful wife. While Svyatogor was sleeping, his wife seduces Ilya into love and then puts him in her husband’s pocket. On the further journey, the horse tells Svyatogor that it is hard for him: until now he was carrying a hero and his wife, now he is carrying two heroes. Svyatogor finds Ilya and, having asked how he got there, kills his unfaithful wife, and enters into a brotherhood with Ilya. On the way near the Northern Mountain, the heroes meet a coffin with the inscription: “Whoever is destined to lie in the coffin will lie in it.” The coffin turned out to be too big for Ilya, but the lid slammed shut behind Svyatogor and he tried in vain to get out of there. Having transferred part of his strength and his sword to Ilya, he orders the coffin lid to be cut, but with each blow the coffin is covered with an iron hoop. The third episode is the marriage of Svyatogor; he asks Mikula how to find out his fate. Mikula sends him to the Northern Mountains, to the prophetic blacksmith. To Svyatogor’s question about the future, he predicted his marriage to a bride who had been living in a seaside kingdom for 30 years in a dungeon. Svyatogor went there and, finding the sick woman on a pus, put 500 rubles near her, hit her in the chest with a sword and left. The girl woke up; the bark that covered it came off; She turned into a beauty and Svyatogor, hearing about her beauty, came and married her. After the wedding, Svyatogor saw a scar on her chest, found out what was wrong and realized that you couldn’t escape fate. Analysis of these three plots led researchers to the following conclusions: 1) The motif of lifting a handbag is common in the epics of other peoples and in tales about other heroes: Anika, Kolyvan, Volga, Samson. In Yugoslav poetry, the role of Svyatogor is played by Prince Marko; The same thing is said in the Caucasus about the Nart Soslan. The handbag corresponds to the stone in the epics about the Stream, which coincides with the medieval story about Alexander the Great, to whom the inhabitants of the paradise country give a stone as tribute; this pebble, which can neither be weighed nor measured, means in a symbolic interpretation Jewish sage human eye = envy. A parallel one is the ancient northern legend about Thor’s dispute with a giant. 2) Parallels for the second motive, about Svyatogor’s unfaithful wife, are indicated in the Persian collection Tuti-Nameh, in the tales of 1001 nights, in Indian Buddhist tales. This is probably an episode eastern origin. 3) The episode about the tomb of Svyatogor is indicated by parallels in apocryphal legends about Aaron and Moses, undoubtedly Jewish origin. Legends and stories about such a coffin are known among the Little Russians, Koshubs, Italians, Gypsies, Magyars, ancient Egypt. 4) The episode about the marriage of Svyatogor, known only to those who have been there, goes back to folk tales based on medieval stories that “do not delay the judgment of God” (compare the story in the “Roman Acts” translated into Russian in the 17th century). In its details - a trip to the northern sorcerer-blacksmith - this visit is reminiscent of an episode of "Kalevala". Marriage to a girl lying on a rotting spot occurs in an old Russian story about Tsarevich Firgis. Despite the mass of parallels collected to illuminate the personality of Svyatogor, it remains poorly explained. The prototype of the Russian Svyatogor the strongman cannot be considered found, although many hypotheses have been proposed: Wolner compares him with Saint Christopher, who, according to legend, carried Christ across the water; Zhdanov argues, with greater probability, that the prototype of Svyatogor was the biblical Samson. Veselovsky believes, on the contrary, that the traits of Svyatogor passed onto the epic Samson the hero; in another place he points to a possible source - “Alexandria”, which says “about the great man whom Alexander was surprised to see”: he was lying on high mountain 1000 steps long and 200 wide, which resembles a bed. S. Khalansky notes the possible influence of Caucasian legends about giants and sledges and the similarity of the Ossetian Mukkara with Svyatogor. Sun. Miller framed the question of the influence of Caucasian fairy tales on Russian ones and their connection with each other more convincingly. The name Svyatogor can be considered an epithet created from his place of residence - the Holy Mountains. See Hilferding "Onega epics"; Rybnikov (I); Or. Miller "Ilya Muromets"; Wollner "Untersuchengen"; Khalansky "Great Russian epics of the Kyiv cycle"; Vsevolod Miller "Excursions"; Zhdanov "On the history of epic poetry"; Veselovsky "South Russian epics" (IV); "Journal of the Ministry of Public Education", 1888, May; Petrov "Proceedings of the Kyiv Theological Academy", 1878, May; Machal "O bohatyrskem epose slovanskem" (I). V.P.

Brief biographical encyclopedia. 2012