Pygmies ( dr. Greek Πυγμαῖοι ) in Greek mythology [1] are the fairy-tale people of dwarfs . The Iliad (III, 6) briefly mentions their battles with cranes [2] . According to I.V. Shtal , there was an early epic poem “Geranomakhiya” (“the battle with cranes”), attributed to Homer [~ 1] .
They are usually localized in North Africa ( Libya ), but also in India and Thrace [4] [5] . In particular, Indian pygmies mention Ctesias and Philostratus .
For other mythical dwarfs, see Kerkopes . There are significant parallels between this story and the folklore ideas of the peoples of the Caucasus about dwarfs [6] .
Content
Myths
The myth was described in detail in the epic poem of Boy , which is set forth by Antonin Liberal , Elian , Athenaeus, and briefly Ovid [7] . According to the variant of Elian and Athenaeus, Gerana (the "crane", English ) was the queen of the pygmies, whom they practically deified, and said that she was more beautiful than all the goddesses. Hera was angry and turned her into a crane (according to Ovid, this happened after Hera won the match), and now she is fighting the pygmies. A land tortoise was born from Gerana and Nicodamant.
A slightly different version is given by Antonin Liberal [8] . According to his story, a girl from the land of the pygmies of Enoy did not honor Artemis and Hera. She married Nicodamant and gave birth to a pug son. All the pygmies brought her gifts on the occasion of the birth of her son. Hera turned Aenea into a crane and unleashed a war between her and the pygmies. According to I.V. Stahl, the name of Enoy is associated with a circle of myths about Dionysus .
There are other references [9] . According to Hesiod, the pygmies were born of Gaia [10] . Pygmies are considered to have come from either King Pygmy [11] or from Dora , son of Epaphus [~ 2] . According to the dictionary of Hesychius , Pygmy is the epithet of Adonis and Apollo among the Cypriots [12] .
In a later development, the legend of the pygmies is included in the tales of Hercules . When the latter defeated the Libyan giant Antei , son of the earth, and rested after the struggle, the pygmies, who lived like sand ants , crawled out in droves, fully armed, from their minks and attacked him. They wanted to avenge Antei, since they, like him, were children of the earth. Hercules, waking up, took them all to his lion's skin and carried away with him [13] .
In literature and art
Aristotle considers them to be real people [14] . Some researchers tried to explain the legend of the pygmies to the existence of dwarf peoples in tropical Africa , already known to the Egyptians .
Greek art, especially vase painting, loved to portray the comic war of the pygmies with cranes. If the images of the VI century BC. e. (the earliest of them - in the vase of Francois ) pygmies are represented by well-built people, although not tall, then to the IV century BC. e. they turn into thick dwarfs with emphasized phallic signs [15] [16] [17] .
In the essay of the 7th century Chinese historian Li Tai, “ Ko di chi ” (“Description of All Lands”, written in 638 ), it is said that south of Daqin (that is, the Roman Empire) there is a country of dwarfs where people are only 3 chi tall ( about 90 cm). When dwarfs cultivate fields, they are attacked by white cranes. Then people from the country of Datsin, giants of 10 Zhangs (about 31 m) in height protect them from cranes [18] . How the Chinese story of Greek mythology became known remains unclear.
Interpretation
(cf. L. v. Sybel, “Mythologie der Ilias”, 1877, and L. F. Voevodsky, “Introduction to the Odyssey mythology”, Odessa, 1881; the latter explains the legend of the pygmies from the point of view of the solar theory).
In the monograph by I.V. and art. According to her interpretation, cranes appear in myth as natives of the other world, and the meaning of myth is in the struggle of life and death, while in the visual arts it appears to be included in the circle of Dionysian subjects [19] . Later, the plot is presented in the Byzantine Moldovan prayer dedicated to Saint Bacchus [20] .
Notes
Comments
- ↑ Information about her is in the dictionary of the Courts [3] .
- ↑ Stephen of Byzantium [12] .
Sources
- ↑ Myths of the peoples of the world. M., 1991-92. In 2 t. T. 2. S.312
- ↑ Homer. Iliad III 3-7
- ↑ Stahl, 1989 , p. 265.
- ↑ Stahl, 1989 , p. 38-44.
- ↑ Stahl, 1989 , p. 74-83.
- ↑ Stahl, 1989 , p. 200-224.
- ↑ Ovid. Metamorphoses VI 90-92; Alian. On the nature of animals XV 29; Athenaeum. Feast of the Sages IX 393e-f, see Stahl I.V. Epic Traditions of Ancient Greece. M., 1989. S. 66-67
- ↑ Antonin Liberal. Metamorphoses 16
- ↑ for example, Babry. Fables I 26 (Aesop does not); Ovid. Fasti VI 176; Nonn. Acts of Dionysus XIV 333—338
- ↑ Hesiod. List of women, fr. 150 M.-U.
- ↑ Scholia to Homer. Iliad III 6, see Stahl 1989, p. 26
- ↑ 1 2 Stahl, 1989 , p. 226.
- ↑ Philostratus. Pictures II 22
- ↑ Aristotle. Animal History VIII 76
- ↑ Stahl, 1989 , p. 83-98.
- ↑ Stahl, 1989 , p. 169-170.
- ↑ Stahl, 1989 , p. pasting between s. 96 and 97.
- ↑ Yuan Ke . Myths of Ancient China. M., 1987. S. 193 and comm. on p.331
- ↑ Stahl, 1989 , p. 99-160.
- ↑ Stahl, 1989 , p. 184-194.
Literature
- Stahl I.V. Epic Traditions of Ancient Greece: Geranomakhiya. Experience of typological and genre reconstruction. - M .: Nauka, 1989 .-- 304 p. - 4500 copies.
- Pygmies // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.