| Abstract [eng] |
The article offers a new and essentially different approach to the origin of the mythologemes the great fence, nine spleens of the boar, nine gates of hell, a living being in hell, dead body hanging in a tree, Sovius ↔ Melchizedek mentioned in a late insertion to the chronicle by John Malalas, i.e. in its Old Russian translation called Chronograph of 1262 (in the connective tale in the end of Section 17 and Section 18, which describes Sovius and his many relatives, also Section 33, ‘The Legend of Melchizedek’). The myth of Sovius presents three main types of burial: in-ground burial, hanging in a tree, and cremation. The legend is composed of these essential mythological circumstances: (a) Sovius, the founder of the ancient tradition of burning the dead and a guide of souls in hell, hunted a wild boar; (b) he gave nine spleens of the hunted animal to his sons to fry them. Instead of bringing them back to the father, the sons ate the spleens; (c) this made Sovius angry and he descended into hell. After passing through eight gates, Sovius needed assistance from one of his sons to go through the ninth gate; (d) after dining with his father in hell, the son buried Sovius in the ground. In the morning, the father started to complain of worms and insect bites. The next night, the son hanged his father’s body in a tree. Sovius was displeased with the burial due to the bees and mosquito bites. Finally, the son burned Sovius’ body. The father felt relief. The article analyses these mythological facts on the basis of the formal correlation between the factographic motifs of the Bible and ethnological equivalents in Slavic rites. According to the Holy Writ, cremation can be related to the satanic fallacy and a way for pagans to sacrifice their dead to evil. This is why the word ‘hell’ was used to describe the place where Sovius went. In religion and folklore, hell is a location or a state in the afterlife in which evil souls are subjected to punitive suffering, usually through torture, as eternal punishment after death. The punishment in hell typically corresponds to the sins committed during life. Sometimes these distinctions are specific, with damned souls suffering for each sin committed. It should be noted that the nine deadly sins, also known as the capital vices or cardinal sins, which originated with the Desert Fathers, were classified by Evagrius Ponticus (Εὐάγριος ὁ Ποντικός, 345–399 AD), the Christian monk and ascetic, one of the most influential theologians in the late fourth-century Church. The most prominent feature of his doctrine was the system of categorising various forms of temptation. In his brief treatise Περὶ τὰς ἀντιζύγους τῶν ἀρετῶν κακίας (De vitiis quae pposite sunt virtutibus, ‘On the Vices Opposed to the Virtues’), Evagrius Ponticus developed a list of nine evil thoughts, or terrible temptations (λογισμοί): (1) γαστριμαργία ‘gluttony versus abstinence’ (2) πορνεία ‘fornication versus chastity’ (3) φιλαργυρία ‘avarice versus freedom from possessions’ (4) λύπη ‘sadness versus joy’ (5) ὀργή ‘anger versus patience’ (6) ἀκηδία ‘acedia versus perseverance’ (7) κενοδοξία ‘vainglory versus freedom from vainglory’ (8) φϑόνος ‘jealousy versus freedom from jealousy’ (9) ὑπερηφανία ‘pride versus humility’. On the basis of this list, it has been stated that the numerical value of the mythologemes nine spleens of the boar and nine gates of hell of the myth of Sovius can be related to the nine evil thoughts which cause the perdition of the human soul. It should be emphasised that the referent spleen of the pig, as a sacrificial and apotropaic object, was used by the Slavs but not by the Balts. Given the interpretation of pigs in the Holy Writ, these creatures are considered to be unclean animals, which are related to the demonic connotation of the evil spirit. Pigs were also known as objects of pagan worship, or a symbol of a hated animal, by the early Christians. On the basis of the presented mythological material of the Slavs (they used to offer the spleen of a pig to the deceased, and also to leave sacred food at the gates), we can draw the cautious conclusion that the etiology of the mythologeme spleen of a pig, a dish for the deceased and chthonic creatures, might be ascribed to the Slavs. A comparative analysis of the factographic data of the myth of Sovius and the coordinating systemic Biblical equivalents, and also the ethnological similarities of Slavic rites, results in the following conclusions: 1. The stories of the myth of Sovius and the Lithuanian fairy-tale ‘Chambers in the Sky’ (Kambariai danguje [АТ 802C*]) are of a different genesis. 2. The bi-ritual of burial by the Old Russians (in-ground burial and cremation) mentioned by the tenth-century Arab Muslim writer Ahmad ibn Fadlan should be related to ritual equivalents found in the myth of Sovius. 3. Eating the spleen of a boar presupposes the sacrificial and apotropaic object used by the Slavs (cf. the Slavic mythologeme a spleen of a pig, food for the deceased and chthonic creatures), but not by the Balts. 4. The mythologeme a great fence is genetically related to the sacred connotation of Eden, or the Heavenly Jerusalem, the sacred walled city protected from evil. 5. The mythologeme nine gates of hell should be related to the nine evil thoughts (λογισμοί ‘types of wickedness’, classified by Evagrius Ponticus), which cause the perdition of the human soul. 6. An etiological link between different types of torments of the soul and gates, i.e. the place ascribed to leave food for the deceased, presupposes an ethnological feature of the East Slavs, but not an old rite of the Balts. 7. The image of a dead body hanging in a tree should be related to the paraphrase of the Old Testament, i.e. to the curse of God devoted to people buried in that way. 8. The cremation of Sovius and its positive assessment should be related to the characteristics of the demonological story, as people in Medieval Europe believed in the igneous nature of the devil’s messengers. 9. The relationship between Sovius and Melchizedek can be justified by a comparison of the pagan guide of souls in hell (i.e. Sovius) and the deified personage (i.e. false god ↔ pagan idol) Melchizedek, worshiped by heretics Μελχισεδεκιανοί in the third century. 10. The factographic data of the Chronograph of 1262 do not presuppose relicts of the ancient Baltic religion. The aim of the bespoke scholastic work devoted to the second denunciation of the pagan rites mentioned in the Bible is that pagans are ascribed to the damned in hell. |
