Slavic epics about the Holy Mountain. Svyatogor the hero Opinion about the epic Svyatogor and Ilya Muromets
This is a strange hero - majestic, stern and at the same time pathetic, tragic. He is fantastically strong, many times stronger than Ilya Muromets, but the strength in him is somehow useless. This hero does not perform feats, like Ilya Muromets, for the sake of his native land, does not crush its enemies, does not fight evil. He has no father, no mother, no friends. Even the native land, as it is said in the epic, “does not bear it”, cannot withstand it. He does not go either to the open field, like other heroes, or to Kyiv-grad. He lives like a giant hermit, alone in the mountains and himself resembles a formidable motionless rock. This mountain giant is doomed to death, because his life is meaningless, his strength is useless. And all the epics about Svyatogor tell how he gives up his life. He dies not in battle, but in competition with some unknown, irresistible force. This power is not human, it lies in some objects, and Svyatogor, despite his great power, cannot cope with it. In the epic “Svyatogor and Ilya Muromets” this object becomes an empty coffin, where Svyatogor lies down, as if jokingly, but cannot get out. The “oak lid” has closed, and Ilya cannot open it. Svyatogor asks:
- You break the lid with a saber,
Ilya Svyatogor obeyed,
He takes the saber sharply,
Strikes the oak coffin,
Where will Ilya Muromets strike?
Here the iron hoops become
Ilya does everything that Svyatogor advises in order to rescue him from the coffin, but each action only worsens the situation and brings the end of the hero closer. Apparently, Svyatogor’s meeting with the coffin is fate, and death is inevitable. Svyatogor, realizing that his death is near, wants to transfer his power to Ilya Muromets. But Ilya doesn’t need this power; he has enough of his own.
In another epic, Svyatogor wants to lift a “saddle bag,” but cannot tear it off the ground.
He takes his bag, and with one hand -
This handbag won't move,
How he takes both hands,
He strained himself with heroic strength.
Svyatogor is stuck in the ground up to his knees,
And on the white face there are not tears, but blood flowing...
Why is this bag so heavy that the hero grew into the ground and found his death here? It turns out that in the purse there is “earthly craving”, “the burden of mother damp earth”. This is what the hero tried to compete with - with great earthly power! The epic seems to warn: in such a struggle - unjust, destructive - the hero will lose, because the land needs to be plowed, developed and protected, and not compete with it in power and strength. Svyatogor, the hero of old times, far from the concerns and interests of the Russian land, is leaving forever. New heroes are coming who see their calling in service native land, in protecting her from enemies.
Four stories about the epic Russian hero Svyatogor.
What are epics? Epics are a genre folk art which was passed down orally from generation to generation. Thanks to this tradition, we can still learn a lot about the time when there were no televisions, newspapers, or even books.
Epics differ from fairy tales in that such events, heroes, actually happened in real story. Perhaps some things were exaggerated, embellished or forgotten, but the very essence, the thread of the plot of the story practically did not change over time and have survived to this day as stories about once-occurring events in a beautiful, even melodious fairy-tale form.
Just a few decades ago, epics were treated with prejudice, almost like the bedtime stories of some Hans Christian Andersen, but now epics are considered even from a historical, research point of view. They contain many confirmations of historical facts that actually happened and existing heroes, who are now called epics. Epics, Byl- a story about someone's life historical hero, a hero or a tale about an incident, a story that did not take place in a person’s imagination.
The hero of this material, Svyatogor himself, is an epic hero, a giant, whose height reached above the forest, to the very clouds. Some researchers of the mysteries of history, who study the supposedly giants who once existed on earth, descendants of the Lemurians, classify the epics about Svyatogor as facts confirming the existence of giant people on earth in the distant past. As he walks and rides, the trees shake and sway. Surprisingly, Svyatogor, being a hero and hero with superhuman strength, practically does not participate in any wars and lives somewhere apart, without communicating with the human race. He does not travel to Rus', but lives permanently in the Holy Mountains.
Slavic tales about Svyatogor (EDITION: “Epics”. Leningrad, 1957):
Bylina: SVYATOGOR AND EARTHLY CRAVING
Svyatogor got ready for a walk in an open field,
Saddles his good horse
And he drives through an open field.
Svyatogor has no one to measure his strength with,
And the strength is in the veins
This is how it shimmers with life.
It feels heavy, like a heavy pregnancy.
This is what Svyatogor says:
“How would I find traction,
So I would lift the whole earth.”
Svyatogor runs over in the steppe
For a small saddle bag;
He takes the chaser, touches the purse - she won’t hide,
If he moves his finger, it won’t wobble,
It's enough to hit the horse with your hand - it won't rise.
“For many years I traveled around the world,
But I didn’t experience such a miracle,
I have never seen such a marvel:
Small saddle bag
It won’t hide, it won’t collapse, it won’t rise.”
Svyatogor gets off his good horse,
He grabbed the purse with both hands,
Raised my purse above my knees -
And Svyatogor sunk into the ground up to his knees,
And on the white face there are not tears, but blood flowing.
Where Svyatogor got stuck, he couldn’t get up,
That was the end for him.
Bylina: SVYATOGOR AND THE GROB
How Ilya rode out on a good horse,
As I thought about it myself:
“What kind of hero-carrier am I?
In battle, death is not written down,
As in a fight, it’s not said.
I will also go to the holy places and mountains,
I’ll check on the heroes,
Am I talking about Yegor-Svyatogor?
There are seasoned heroes and great ones,
He is, yes, he was from the mountains,
I haven’t tried it yet.”
Ilyushenka Muromets stopped by
Are you sure there are high mountains here?
The gorges underneath were dense.
How the monster rides is a miracle,
He is still sitting on a good horse,
He had never seen such a miracle,
He had never heard such a miracle.
How he rode away on a good horse,
Hit with his heroic club
I'm going to blow his mind right here.
And somehow the monster is coming,
He sits on a horse and dozes,
After all, a miracle won’t look back,
He's hesitating forward.
Ilya Muromets was here,
He himself thought about it some more:
“As I used to drive and run into,
As soon as I caught the little heads,
I was kicking some good horses.
Now I don’t have the same strength as before,
Moguta has become but not the same.”
And he hit it with a club and into a damp oak tree -
The oak flew apart, but it was raw.
Like another time I ran into a monster,
I beat his violent head -
Like sitting on a horse and dozing,
Let the miracle never look back,
But on a good horse it won’t stagger
From that heroic blow.
How Ilya came here for the third time,
I hit him really hard here,
Hit him hard here.
The monster ducked back
She grabbed Ilya by the yellow curls,
He lowered it into his pocket and deep,
He drove ahead and went ahead.
That horse became at Svyatogor’s,
My legs started to buckle,
For each one he began to stumble.
But Yegor spoke about nothing:
“And what about you, you’re a heroic horse,
The legs began to bend,
Are you going to stumble over this place?”
And the horse spoke to him about it:
“It’s hard to carry two heroes,”
The legs began to bend,
Stumble over the edge,
How two heroes ride here
And on me, on a good horse.”
How did he put his hand in his pocket?
How I took Ilyushenka out of my pocket,
I started asking him:
“What are you, a brave, good fellow?
You dare to run into me now,
Hit me three times.”
And Ilya says these words:
“Yes, I need to get to know you,
It's your strength to try it.
How your fame spread widely
Across all the lands, across all the hordes,
How very strong you were -
That's why I ran over now
On you, good fellow." —
“Thank you, Ilyushenka Muromets,
How did you run into me and hit me?
Three times here, three great ones, -
As if bitten three times like a mosquito, -
But thank you for this, after all,
You've met me.
May you be my little brother,
I will still be a big brother.
If I hit you,
It’s like you’re the only one who’s become dust,
Your bones would fly apart."
Let's go along the selgas, along the rafts
Tell, show residence.
They arrived at one place,
There’s a coffin lying there, but it’s a stone one,
After all, the coffin is lying and arranged.
“Oh, Ilyusha, lie down in the coffin.”
Ilya fell into this coffin, -
As Elijah’s coffin won’t stick,
Very wide, very long.
“No, that’s not how the coffin is built,
Now I can’t eat this.”
Svyatogor says these words:
“Come out, Ilya, have a quiet laugh,
And the coffin is not built for you, after all,
And I think it will do now.”
Ilya came out of the grave and said:
“It’s not right for you to lie in this coffin,”
You won’t be able to come out of the grave, after all.”
Yes, as soon as Svyatogor lay down, after all,
Yes, it looks like there is a coffin for him.
“Cover the lid, after all,”
The lid is right there, right there.”
How did Ilya put the lid on?
Whether it’s Svyatogor or him.
“How did you remove the lid?”
Ilya set to work on the lid, after all, -
It’s like the lid has grown here
He couldn’t, he couldn’t, but he couldn’t take the lids,
He can’t take the lids anyway.
Like that one and Ilyusha Muromets
With his heroic club
It's cracking this lid.
“How, how can I come out from the grave?”
Ilya hit here with a club -
Here I dropped a hoop and some green ones;
He hit, since the hoop is green -
There was another hoop here;
He hit the green hoop a third time -
The third time the hoop became green.
But now they sing to Yegor and his glory,
How the hoops became around the coffin.
“Take the sword and the mighty ones,
After all, whip, whip, and these hoops,
Let me come out of the grave!”
Duck here takes it, but the sword, -
Yes, he can’t lift his sword.
“But no, you, hero, are Svyatogor,
I can’t take your sword from the ground,
I can’t lift myself off the ground now.”
“Ilya, come, come down,
To the coffin, and to the crack,
I'll sigh and give you more
The strength in you is doubled now,
How will you own my sword?
After all, he, Ilyusha, fell to the crack,
He sighed, stood up with his sword,
How he poked and with a sword -
Green hoops ran along,
Another time I tapped it - the hoops were green.
Here they sing the glory of Svyatogor.
“How come, Ilyusha, to the crack,
I will sigh - all my strength will be with you.” —
“Don’t worry about your strength anymore.” —
“If you fell down, maybe another time,
I would sigh with a sigh and the dead,
You should have fallen asleep by the coffin,
How would your life end here?
How are you, Ilyushenka Muromets,
How can I tie you to my oak tree?
To my great grave,
How to tie a good horse, after all,
Tie him tightly,
So that even a good horse might die here,
No one can own a good horse,
A good horse, still a hero.”
How Ilya tied the silk reins
After all, he’s still a good horse -
Here is Svyatogor, here is a good horse.
Here they sing the glory of Svyatogor,
Glory is sung for centuries and centuries,
And fame will not escape him.
Bylina: Svyatogor and Ilya Muromets
In the glorious city of Muromlya,
In the village there was Karacharovo,
Ilya Muromets, a peasant son, sat in Sydney,
Sydnam was imprisoned for thirty years.
The Emperor and his father were leaving
With my mother to do some peasant work.
How two walkers came
Under that window there is something crooked,
The Kaliki say these words:
“Oh, you, Ilya Muromets, peasant son!
Open the wide gates for the Kalikams,
Let the little boy into your house.”
Ilya Muromets holds the answer:
“Oh, you little pedestrians!
I cannot open the wide gate,
I've been sitting in Sydney for thirty years.
I have no control over my arms or legs.”
The passers-by are talking again;
“Get your feet up, Ilya,
Open the gate wide,
Let him go to your house."
Ilya showed off his quick legs,
Opened the gate wide
And he let the Kalik into his house.
The walkers came,
They lay the cross according to the written word,
They bow in a learned way,
They pour a glass of honey to drink,
They bring it to Ilya Muromets.
How the drinker Medvyapago drank the charm,
His heroic heart flared up,
His white body began to sweat.
The Kaliki will speak these words:
“What do you feel in yourself, Ilya?”
Ilya beat his forehead, the Kalik congratulated:
“I hear a great strength inside me.”
The pedestrians say:
“You, Ilya, will be a great hero,
And death in battle is not written for you:
Fight and fight with every hero
And with all the boldness;
And don’t go out so much to fight with Svyatogor the hero:
The earth carries it on itself through force;
Don't go fight with Samson the hero:
He has seven angelic hairs on his head;
Don’t fight with the Mikulov family either:
Mother earth loves him;
Don’t go to Volga Seslavich again:
He will not take it by force, but by cunning and wisdom.
Bring out, Ilya, your heroic horse,
Go out into the open field in the expanse,
Buy your first stallion
Put him in a log house for three months,
Feed him white millet,
And three months will pass,
Watch the stallion in the garden for three nights
And roll out the stallion at three dews,
Bring him to the high tyn:
How will the stallion jump over the tine?
And this way, and that way,
Ride it wherever you want
He will carry you."
Here the Kaliki got lost.
Ilya went to his parents and father
For that peasant job,
It is necessary to clear the fell from the oak log:
He knocked out everything
Unloaded it deep into the river,
And he went home himself.
Father and mother woke up from a sound sleep
They were scared: “What kind of miracle happened?
Who would do the job for us?”
The work was done, and they went home.
When they came home, they saw:
Ilya Muromets walks around the hut.
They began to ask him how he recovered.
Ilya told them,
As the walkers came,
They gave him a drink of honey to drink:
And from then on he began to control arms and legs,
And I got a great power.
Ilya went to the open field of Razdolitsa,
He sees: the man is leading the stallion unwisely,
Burago of a shaggy stallion.
Ilya bought that stallion,
What the man asked for, he gave;
I put the stallion in the log house for three months,
I fed him Beloyar millet,
Gave him fresh spring water;
And three months passed,
Ilya began to indulge the stallion in the garden for three nights;
Roll it out at three dews,
He brought me to a high place,
And the snowstorm began to jump over the tine,
And in this direction, and in the other direction.
Here Ilya Muromets saddled a good horse, bridled
I took it from my father, from my mother’s forgiveness-blesser
Ilya ran into a white linen tent in an open field,
There is a tent under a great damp oak tree,
And in that tent there is a considerable heroic bed:
The valley bed is ten fathoms,
The width of the bed is six fathoms.
Ilya tied the good horse to the oak tree,
He lay down on that heroic bed and fell asleep.
And the heroic sleep is strong:
For three days and three nights.
On the third day the good horse heard him
Great noise from under the silver side:
The mother of cheese, the earth, sways,
The dark forests are shaking,
Rivers overflow from steep banks.
A good horse hits the damp ground with its hoof,
Can't wake up Ilya Muromets.
The horse spoke in human language:
“Oh yes, Ilya Muromets!
You sleep on yourself, you sleep,
You don’t know anything bad about yourself:
Svyatogor the hero is going to the tent.
You let me down into the open field,
And climb the harsh oak tree yourself.”
Ilya showed off his quick legs,
He let the horse go into the open field,
And he himself stood out in the damp oak.
He sees: the hero is riding above the standing forest,
He rests his head on a walker under the cloud,
A crystal casket is carried on his shoulders.
The hero came to the oak cheese,
He took the crystal casket from his shoulders,
He unlocked the casket with a golden key:
It turns out that the wife is a hero.
Such a beauty in this world
not seen and not heard:
She is tall and has a slinky gait.
The eyes of a clear falcon, the eyebrows of a black sable,
From the dress the body is white.
How did you come out of that casket?
She collected it on the table, laid out the broken tablecloths,
I put sugar on the table,
She took out a honey drink from the casket.
Svyatogor the hero had lunch
And he and his wife went to the tent to lie down,
Do different things for fun.
Here the hero fell asleep.
And his beautiful, heroic wife
I went for a walk in the open field
And she spotted Ilya in the damp oak.
She says these words:
“Oh, you, burly, good fellow!
Get off the oak cheese
Come down and create love with me,
If you don't listen,
I’ll wake up Svyatogor the hero and tell him,
That you forcibly brought me into sin.”
Ilya has nothing to do:
You can’t talk to a woman, and you can’t get along with Svyatogor;
He got down from that oak cheese
And he did the job commanded.
The beauty, the heroic wife, took him,
She put it in her husband's deep pocket
And she woke up her husband from a sound sleep.
Svyatogor the hero woke up,
He put his wife in a crystal casket,
Locked it with a golden key
He mounted a good horse and rode to the Holy Mountains.
His good horse began to stumble,
And the hero beat him with a silk whip
On fat thighs,
And the horse will speak in human language:
“Before I carried a hero and a heroic wife,
And now I’m carrying a heroic wife and two heroes:
Divya will poke me!”
And Svyatogor the hero pulled out Ilya Muromets
From his pocket, and began to question him,
Who he is and how he got into his deep pocket.
Ilya told him everything in truth, in truth.
Then Svyatogor killed his heroic wife,
And I exchanged crosses with Ilya
And he called him little brother.
Svyatogor taught Ilya all the grips,
Heroic trips,
And they went to the Severny Mountains,
And they drove along the road to the great tomb,
The signature on that coffin reads:
“Whoever is destined to lie in a coffin will lie in it.”
Leg Ilya Muromets:
For him, the house is both large and wide.
Svyatogor the hero lay down:
The coffin hit him.
The hero speaks these words:
“The coffin was definitely made about me.
Take the lid, Ilya, close me.”
Ilya Muromets answers:
“I won’t take the lid, big brother,
And I won’t close you:
You're making a big joke,
I was going to bury myself.”
The hero took the lid and closed the coffin with it;
Yes, how I wanted to raise you,
No way;
He struggled and tried to lift and said
Ilya Muromets:
“Oh little brother!
Apparently, fate was looking for me,
I can't lift the lids
Try to raise your face."
I tried it Ilya Muromets
Lift the lid, but where is he!
Svyatogor the hero says:
“Take my treasure sword and strike across the lid.”
Ilya Muromets is not even able to lift Svyatogorov
treasure sword.
Svyatogor the hero calls him:
“Bend over to the coffin, to the small crack,
I will breathe upon you the heroic spirit.”
How Ilya bent
And Svyatogor the hero breathed on him
With your heroic spirit:
Ilya sensed that strength was in him
It has increased three times as much as before,
He picked up the treasure sword and struck across the lid.
From that great blow
Sparks flew
And where did the treasure sword strike?
An iron strip grew in that place.
Svyatogor the hero calls him:
“It’s stuffy for me, little brother,
Try hitting the sword along the lid again.”
Ilya Muromets hit along the cover,
And then an iron strip grew.
Svyatogor the hero will speak again:
“I’m suffocating, little brother:
Bend over the crack, I'll breathe on you again
And I will give you a great strength.”
Ilya Muromets answers:
“I will have strength, big brother;
Otherwise the earth won’t be carried on itself.”
Svyatogor the hero said here:
“You did well, little brother,
That you didn’t listen to my last command:
I would breathe a dead spirit on you,
And you would lie dead next to me.
And now goodbye, take possession of my treasure sword,
And the goodness of my heroic horse
Tie it to my coffin.
No one but me can control this horse.”
Then a dead spirit came out of the crack,
Ilya said goodbye to Svyatogor,
He tied his good horse to that coffin,
Svyatogorov belted the sword-treasurer
And I went to the open field in the expanse.
Bylina: BURIAL OF SVYATOGOR
They were driving here, Svyatogor and Ilya, where, God knows. They drive, they drive, they look - they ran into a coffin. The coffin is big, it doesn’t fit anyone. It stands empty. Svyatogor says to Ilya:
- Well, try, lie down, isn’t it the cut on you?
Ilya obeyed and lay down like a small child in a coffin. The coffin is not built according to him. And Svyatogor lay down - just right for him.
Well, I tried, he wants to get up. But he won’t be able to come out of the coffin: the lid is pulled shut. He says to Ilya:
“Ruby,” he says, brother, with all his might.
Ilya raised his club and began to hit the coffin: Once he hits, the iron hoop will hit him. Another time he hits, another hoop will jump. Svyatogor says:
- No, apparently I can’t get out of here. And why did you climb?
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The mighty giant Svyatogor is the most powerful character in ancient Russian epics. However, the hero does not fight enemies and does not protect the lands of Rus'; he appears in legends for instructive lessons and as a symbol of boundless, irresistible power. The giant is seen in only five legends, in two he is accompanied by.
Mythology
The origin of Svyatogor is laid down in Slavic mythology: the giant is the son of the creator god Rod. The hero’s task is to protect the world of Reveal from the invasion of evil monsters from Navi. You can get to Yav through the entrance, which is located near the foot of the pillar holding up the sky. The world tree (as the pillar was called) was located in the holy mountains - hence the name of the giant. On the other side of the “barricade”, at the entrance to Nav, three dark giants were on duty - Gorynychs, who tried not to let out the souls of the dead, eager to escape. Svyatogor was in constant conflict with Gorynya, Dubynya and Usynya.
During the reign of Constantinople, the giant hero learned his fate: according to prophecy, a monster of snake blood, living in the depths of the sea, was destined for his wife. Svyatogor was upset, but still went in search of the bride. The mythical hero ended up on an island abandoned by people, where he came across a snake. Out of fear, he hit her with a sword, left the altyn and disappeared.
In the form of a snake was a beautiful queen named Plenka, bewitched by the lord of the sea. After the blow, the spell fell, the girl managed to multiply the money left by the giant and revive the island - people returned to a piece of land in the middle of the endless sea, temples and palaces grew. The film decided to increase gold and gems trade in Constantinople, where she went. Here the heroine met Svyatogor, married him and gave birth to a bunch of children, from whom many nations of the world originate.
When the road to the kingdom of the heavenly gods opened, Svyatogor, placing one mountain on top of another, appeared to Vyshen. The giant asked the ruler to endow him with remarkable strength so that no god or spirit could compare with him. The generous Vyshen fulfilled Svyatogor’s wish, but predicted that the hero would be defeated by human cunning and stone. And so it happened - the daughter had to be given to the earthly man Van, who had outwitted the hero, and the black stone of Veles, which had absorbed earthly cravings, drove the giant into the ground up to his waist. Svyatogor turned into Mount Ararat.
The character's story echoes the heroes of ancient Greek legends - the titan Atlant lives in them, married to the oceanid Pleion and who later became a rock.
Image and legends
From mythology Svyatogor migrated to epics. The hero appears in later folk legends as a “useless” hero, because he does not perform brilliant feats, and his strength does not lead to anything good. Researchers believe that Svyatogor personified uncontrollable animal power, which is doomed to death.
The characterization of the hero is impressive: a huge giant rides on an equally large horse - “higher than a standing forest, lower than a walking cloud.” The head is crowned with a helmet that touches the clouds. An indispensable attribute of the image was an eagle sitting on the right hand. When the mighty Svyatogor gallops across the earth, rivers overflow their banks and forests sway.
The character appears in epics with three storylines. In one legend, he boasts of his strength and claims that he could easily turn the Earth over. The plowman decided to make fun of the strongman by handing over a bag with “earthly draft”, which Svyatogor was unable to lift - he only sank his feet deep into the ground. This is where his life ended. In another tale, Mikula, taking pity on the hero, told the secret of the bag.
The epic with Ilya Muromets also has two options. Once Svyatogor met with a Russian hero, who began to beat the giant with a club, but the blows were like mosquito bites. To calm his opponent, Svyatogor put Ilya and the horse in his pocket. On the way, the heroes came across a stone coffin, into which Svyatogor decided to lie down as a joke and was never able to remove the lid. Dying, I breathed out part of the mighty strength of Ilya Muromets.
Another legend tells about the betrayal of Svyatogor’s wife with a Russian hero. Ilya Muromets fell asleep in a sweet dream under an oak tree in an open field. Three days later, a giant rode to this place on horseback with a crystal casket in which he hid his beautiful wife. While he was sleeping off a long journey, his wife bewitched Ilya and secretly placed it in her husband’s pocket. When the secret was revealed, Svyatogor killed the unfaithful woman, but became friends with Muromets.
The third epic story tells about the marriage of a giant, repeating a plot from mythology with minor changes. Mikula Selyaninovich sent Svyatogor to the clairvoyant blacksmith to tell him the details future fate. Koval prophesied that the guest would have a monster from the seaside kingdom as his bride, who, after being struck with a sword, turned into a beauty. Hearing about a girl with a lovely appearance, Svyatogor went to woo. After the wedding, I noticed a scar on my wife’s chest and believed that fate couldn’t be avoided just like that.
In culture
Svyatogor is inferior in popularity in culture and art to other heroes. The hero is mentioned in the legendary fairy tale “Ilya Muromets”, filmed by director Alexander Ptushko in 1956. In the film, created based on epics, as well as works, the dominant hero receives a giant’s sword as a gift.
Modern children are also familiar with Svyatogor. In the cartoon “Alyosha Popovich and Tugarin the Serpent” (2004), the sword goes to Alyosha, but here the character, who is presented as a Rostov priest, hands over the weapon with his own hand. He voiced it.
Art connoisseurs have the opportunity to admire the painting “Svyatogor”, painted by Nicholas Roerich in 1938. The artist more than once turned to the theme of epic heroes, trying to convey the power of the Russian people. The giant is depicted against the backdrop of snow-capped mountains, which ones exactly remain a mystery. Perhaps the Himalayas, because the painter created another masterpiece on an expedition to Central Asia.
“Svyatogor” combines Russian and oriental elements: the hero is dressed like a typical ancient Russian warrior, but his facial features are Asian. The painting is an exhibit of the Moscow Museum of Oriental Peoples.
In Kolomna in the mid-90s of the last century, the “Svyatogor” Center for Russian Military Culture was opened. Children and teenagers learn the basics of Russian hand-to-hand combat, fencing, shooting, study mythology, and the history of costume.
Svyatogor seems to us to be a huge creature, whose power is comparable to a mountain. This is truly a giant, the son of the Mother - Damp Earth who gave birth to him and did not bear him.
However, he himself turns out to be not omnipotent and cannot cope with the “earthly pull” that is contained in the heavy bag: when he tries to lift it, he sinks his feet into the ground.
In another epic, he, riding with Ilya Muromets, stumbles upon a stone coffin; the heroes begin to try it on, and the coffin fits Svyatogor. He cannot lift its lid and dies, having breathed part of his power into Ilya before his death.
The most ancient hero
Svyatogor can hardly be called a hero, since he does not perform any feats; but at the same time no evil comes from him. A huge warrior and hero with remarkable strength, Svyatogor cannot use it anywhere. He wanders the earth, measures his strength with other heroes and natural phenomena, but remains alone. He has no relatives, no friends, not even enemies.
One epic says about his feelings: “Heavy from the strength, as from a heavy burden.” Therefore, Svyatogor is a very tragic figure. The reason for this image of Svyatogor partly lies in his antiquity: he is one of the oldest characters in Russian epics, barely “torn off” from the natural elements. Perhaps he, like Mother Earth, goes back to some kind of Proto-Indo-European archetype. However, it cannot be said that fate does not send anything good to Svyatogor.
So, in one of the epics he marries a real beauty. The prophetic blacksmith predicted to him that he would marry a girl who had lived for 30 years on pus (manure) and overgrown with ugly bark. Svyatogor goes there, finds this girl, Plenka Pomorskaya, lying in the dirt, chops her in the chest with a sword, leaves 500 rubles and leaves. But from the blow, Film wakes up, recovers and turns into a beauty. Svyatogor accidentally heard about her beauty, found her and took her as his wife; After that, he discovered a scar on her chest and realized who she was.
In the epics of Svyatogor there are such characters as:
- Ilya Muromets, with whom he later became friends
- Mikula Selyaninovich, to whom Svyatogor boastfully tells about his enormous strength
- The film is a mythical beauty that has temporarily acquired an ugly essence.
Svyatogor - a fantastic and symbolic hero
An indicative plot is in which Svyatogor rides a horse and holds a casket on his shoulders in which his beautiful wife sits. He comes across a huge bed. It belongs to Ilya Muromets, but he hid in advance when he heard the sound of hooves. Svyatogor fell asleep on the bed, his wife noticed Ilya and cheated on Svyatogor, and then hid him in her husband’s pocket.
Svyatogor woke up and galloped on, but his horse betrayed Ilya’s location. Svyatogor in anger killed his unfaithful wife, and fraternized with Ilya Muromets. This plot is illogical and implausible, but it is intended to demonstrate the size and strength of Svyatogor, in comparison with which other heroes are so small that they can get into his pocket.
The epic about the death of Svyatogor has symbolic meaning: ancient characters die, and they are replaced by new, younger ones (Ilya Muromets), personifying the new Russian state, but within which there is still the same spirit of the old hero.
Many consider it fiction, comparing it with fairy tales. However, the epic, that is, true reality, differs significantly from folk fantasy. Of course, the events described in the legends are much exaggerated. But scientists find evidence that they took place in real life. For example, in the caves of the Kyiv Lavra there rests an incorruptible crayfish who lived during the reign of the prince. At the same time, Svyatogor lived - a hero who repeatedly met with the winner of the Nightingale the Robber.
Ilya Muromets, Dobrynya Nikitich and Alyosha Popovich are the most famous trio of ancient Russian epic knights, the prototypes of which, by the way, were real people. But the legends tell about another person, no less revered. This is the hero Svyatogor, whose biography is known mainly from epics. What he was like is not known for certain. After all, at the time when Svyatogor the hero lived, there were no cameras or television. According to legend, he was a real giant: he could easily put another knight in his pocket, and even with a horse! He also carried with him a casket containing his beautiful wife. The epics tell how the hero of our story met Muromets, how they became sworn brothers, how Svyatogor got married (the moral is: you can’t escape fate) and how he punished his unfaithful wife.
According to epics, the hero lived on the high Holy Mountains (hence his nickname), but did not visit the cities and towns of Rus'. Why? The Russian hero Svyatogor was taller than the forest, his head reached the clouds. When he got ready to set off on his journey, the world shook, rivers overflowed their banks, forests swayed. Mother Earth Cheese held him with difficulty. That is probably why he so rarely left his home and went to the people. His strength was very great, and even increased day by day. But this was his curse, his torment: there was no other knight who could compare in strength with the hero. So he didn't know what to do with her, and in the end she killed him. We can definitely say that Svyatogor is a supernatural being, and therefore is doomed to death in advance. Confirmation of this is the coffin he found in an open field, which accepted the hero’s body and stopped his ordeal.
According to one version, Svyatogor the hero is a descendant of the Lemurians, the giants who previously inhabited our planet. Perhaps the last of his kind, that’s why he stayed away from her, while treating her very friendly, although he did not understand her. However, such a judgment remains just a hypothesis - without confirmation or refutation.
But some researchers believe that they have found the hero's final resting place. The boyar mound Gulbishche near Chernigov also dates back to the period of the war between the inhabitants of Rus' and the Pechenegs. The person buried in it (Svyatogor the hero?), although he did not belong to the princely family, was still very noble and important, as evidenced by the objects in the burial. The deceased's weapons and belongings are of impressive size. Perhaps the historical prototype of the glorious epic knight rests here? It is worth noting that the location of the mound also suggests the veracity of the epics. Gulbishche is located on the Boldin Mountains, not far from the Holy Grove. Weren't these rocks the home of Svyatogor?
Be that as it may, it can be assumed that a man of enormous stature and great strength, so vividly described in the Slavic epic, really walked the Russian soil and did good.
