Zhidovin (from Zhid ) - a hero from the Russian epic, the enemy and combatant of Ilya Muromets , the hero of the epic "Ilya Muromets and Zhidovin" According to the story of the epic, an unknown horseman drove from the land from Zhidovskaya past a heroic outpost in the Tsarskaya ( Tsutsorsky ?) Steppe. The heroes decide to pursue. The choice falls on Yesaul Dobrynya, since Grishka’s boyar son , Vaska Dolgopoli and Alyosha Popovich are not good enough to chase - one is boastful, the other is clumsy, and the third is mercenary. However, having seen the horseman, Dobrynya Nikitich left for the heroic outpost. Only the chieftain Ilya Muromets decides to fight with the unknown rider. First, the fighters fight on spears, then on clubs, and then hand-to-hand. Only after defeating the enemy Ilya learns that his enemy is "at Zhidovinikh, son of Zhidovin." Ilya chopped off his head.
According to a number of researchers [1] , it reflects the struggle of the Russian state with the Khazaria (where Jews lived, called Jews in Russia). Another character of "Khazar" origin in Russian epics is Mikhailo Kozarin .
Notes
- ↑ Leonard Arthur Magnus, “The heroic ballads of Russia”, “Another great feat of Ilya is the slaying of Zhidovin (Zhid, Jew). Zhidovin is the standing symbol of the hostile folk of the Khazar, who were converted to Judaism. "Zhidovin is also known as infidel (nevezhe) and is an unreal and symbolic figure."