Gotteswahrnehmung: Wege religiöser Erfahrung (German Edition)
There is an identical inscription on the reverse side of the stele. A newly discovered inscription from Pirabat, near Alashkert. Here and in the following three lines, N. Ro 27, Vo Salvini draws a distinction between two ideograms denoting king: The aiding forces of the kings of the land of Etiuhi 24 came to their assistance. Haldi is powerful, Haldi s weapon is powerful. Gabeskiria shared with me his opinion about the plausibility of associating the name with Erusheti.
However, in other contexts the names appear in a different order: Salvini sees it as one word: Presumably, it was located near modern Alashkert. Harutyunyan reconstructs ta-nu-bi and offers the following translation: I paved my way against However, this interpretation is associated with some contradictions, which the scholar points out himself: Paiteru found in the annals of Tiglath-Pileser may refer to the same tribes Asatiani He who will ruin this inscription, who will destroy it, burries it in the earth, throw in water, who will replace it, conceal it away from the sun, who will enforce someone else to do so, telling him Destroy the inscriotion!
The land of Etiuhi, as mentioned, was a great union of South Caucasian tribes, or their collective name and comprised a greater part of the modern Armenian territory. It is associated with a number of tribes in the Urartian texts The last phrase is usually left untranslated though part of the words in it are known. For more details, see below. But rendering the names of the deities with ideograms is to be understood as an intentional ambiguity aimed at the maximum effect.
The Urartians would perceive the triad as their own supreme gods, while the conquered people would interpret it as the unity of the Urartian and local deities and would treat the inscription with more awe Gordeziani Thus, the Klarjis and their allies must have been active in an area by far south than the historical territory of Klarjeti. The texts refer to the campaigns of the northern tribes to the right bank of the Araxes river; 3. These tribes settled a vast territory from the right bank of the Araxes river to the historical Klarjeti 34 and possibly, even more northenwards.
However, in this case, at the end of the 9 th century, Katarza must have been a large and powerful formation, comparable with Urartu of the period. If identified with Daiaeni of the Assyrian texts, 35 it must have been a regional leader throughout several centuries. Thus, the choice is to be made between the first and the second versions. I believe the text contains indirect hints that may guide us along the two options.
CTU A describes the same event with different formulae: Returning from the land, they found this spring. In some cases they may not be understood in their direct sense, but can be regarded as standard structures designating a successful campaign in general. The ways of referring to enemies are also worthwhile to consider. CTU A, , , , , Thus some territories were called after their principal city, while others were nominated after their inhabitants.
The same ethnopolitical unit could be expressed by different formulae depending on the context. We could plausibly assume that Minua finally subdued the region and the local tribes. The Urartian expansion northwards continued and victorious inscriptions appear as far as the areas of Erserum and Kars e. CTU A , They conquer modern Armenia and build fortifications there.
It is not difficult to reconstruct the main points of the route: Apart from the text in question, it also appears in texts A , the territory of modern Gyumri. The route is quite logical taking into account the mountainous landsacpe of the region. Where did he go afterwards to the north-east or to the south or south-west , to reach Apuni and Uiteruhi? According to the texts, Apuni and Uiteruhi seem to be quite distant lands.
Regrettably, it is not easy to establish the exact localization of the lands only by the study of the routes. Linguistic material can also be of some help. Urartian texts abound in place and ethnic names that later appear in Greek, Armenian and Georgian sources to refer to the tribes and settlements of the region.
Though many identifications are disputable, the number of the place names may compel an assumption that Urartu had relations with the more or less developed ethnocutural and political world rather than with separate individual tribes whose location is not identified. While a couple of place names and, moreover, ethnonyms could have plausibly changed their location over centuries, it is less likely to expect a shift of the whole system of place names.
Therefore, when attempting to specify the location of the place names found in the Urartian texts, which can be more or less reliably identified with Georgian and Armenian place names attested in other sources, we could take into consideration their later location Gordeziani a: Though part of the words are known to us, the whole formula is not translated. According to Diakonoff, kam a ni may denote the previous, earlier referred. In the above-mentioned text, it presumably refers to a certain group of men and women.
There is no translation available for inini gurdari. It must denote a state in which the people mentioned must have found themselves. The phrase follows the description of the Urartians trophies and presumably refers to the fate of some of the captives. It is also reflected in the Urartian texts, 44 where in the formula rendering the act of taking captives, the reference to human trophies is normally followed by the phrases I have slaughtered some and took others alive.
However, we also come across the following phrase: In my opinion, a special mention of taking captives to the capital city may imply that they were treated as hostages. Seizing hostage could serve as a lever for giving one s relations with a half beaten enemy a desirable direction. CTU A , , , , , , , , , M Geographical Names according to Urartian texts, Wiesbaden. Scholars continue to argue whether in the initial version of the myth the destination of the expedition was indeed Colchis or whether the version developed after Greek settlements started to appear in the Black Sea region, while before then, the Land of Aeetes could have been thought to be located somewhere in Ethiopia 1.
If the tradition anyway refers to the Black Sea littoral, then it could have been the southern part, i. As the question has been covered in many works 5 , now I will only attempt to give a brief account of the arguments set forth by the supporters of the traditional viewpoint the identification of the land of Aeetes with Colchis already in the early versions of the myth: As concerns the part of the myth relating about the Argonauts flee from from Aeetes and the settlement of the Colchian pursuers in the Adriatic, it remains less explored.
As it is known, three important philologists and poets of the Hellinistic period, Calimachus, Lycophron and Apollonius of Rhodes employ the version where the Colchians reach the Adriatic in. This version obviously became quite popular since then. Though a number of details remained disputable for a long time, none of the ancient authors doubted the Colchians settlement in the Adriatic. The version is supported by such reliable and scrupulous authors as Strabo and Pliny the Senior.
The following question may naturally arise: While the issue has so far been found historically irrelevant in Georgian scholarship, those interested in Paleo-Balkan questions see some historical truth in the episode, while companies interested in attracting tourists to the Adriatic resorts obviously find it quite profitable to incorporate the region into the scope of Argonautica 7.
As I have pointed out already in 8 , the issue truly deserves closer attention of Georgian scholars. This prompts me to offer a deeper insight into the question. First, let us recall some details of the Colchian pursuit, so exhaustively described by Apollonius of Rhodes IV, ff: Aeetes sends his ships, led by Medea s brother Apsyrtus, in pursuit of Argo.
Enraged Aeetes requires back her treacherous daughter. At first, Argo takes the same route by which she arrived in Colchis. However, on the coast of the Paphlagonians, at the mouth of the river Halys, Medea advises the sailors to sacrifice a thank offering to Hecate and erect a temple in her honour. Having done so, the sailors remember the words of the seer Phineus who warned them to return home by a different route. Therefore, they sail along the banks of Istros, from where they enter the Adriatic Sea and reach the Brygean isles of Artemis.
Apollonius notes that part of the Colchian pursuers left Pontus by passing between the Cyanean rocks IV, , i. As concerns the Argonauts, they entered the river by another mouth, Narex. This enabled the Colchians to get to the Adriatic before the Argonauts. They passed by the boundaries of the Scythians, mingled with the Thracians, the Sigynni, the Graucenii and the Sindi, inhabiting the vast desert plain of Laurium, afterwards they passed by mount Angurum, and the cliff of Cauliacus, by which, according to Apollonius, Istros, dividing its stream, falls into the sea on this side and on that.
Finally, they reached the Laurian plain and then sailed into the Cronian, i. The Colchians occupied all the islands expect two Brygean isles of. On one of these islands was a sacred temple, while on the other landed the Argonauts, who had sailed into the Adriatic later. As the Argonauts had no chance to escape, they decided to reach the following agreement with Apsyrtus: As the Golden Fleece was obtained by Jason through the fulfillment of Aeetes tasks, it would remain with the Colchians by justice, while Medea would stay in the temple of Artemis until any of the righteous kings would decided whether she ought to return home or accompany the Argonauts.
Medea, frightened and exasperated at the decision, offered a new, vicious plan, which would enable them to slaughter Apsyrtus. She would persuade her brother that the Argonauts had taken her away by force. Then she would entice him aboard for a face-to-face talk with the help of messengers and precious gifts, while ambushed Jason would take a chance to kill him. When the scheme was implemented successfully, the Argonauts fiercely destroyed the Colchians, left without the leader, and escaped the other Colchian ships under the veil of night. When in the mourning the pursuers learned about the death of their leader, they searched the whole Adriatic but could not find Argo.
The Colchians, awaiting Aeetes wrath, refused to return to their homeland, and decided to remain in the foreign region. Some of them settled on two Brygean islands, where the Argonauts had been staying, and their progeny was called the Apsyrtides in memory of Apsyrtus. Some built a city by the Illyrian river, near the Encheleans, where there is the tomb of Harmonia and Cadmus. Others found their home amid the mountains which are called Ceraunian.
Thus, Apollonius specifies three regions in the Adriatic where the Colchians settled: Other sources offer additional information about the Colchian Diaspora in the Adriatic: Mela II 57 ; b they settled near Dizerus river, which was given a name after the search for Meadea Lycophr together with scholia of Tzetzes, Steph. It can be presumed that the Colchians, who came to the Adriatic via the Istros river, must eventually have been joined by their compatriots that had followed the Bosporus, as the latter too would have been reluctant to return to Colchis, for the fear of Aeetes wrath 9. The Colchian pursuers are an intrinsic detail of the homebound Argonauts adventures, which would gradually modify along with the expansion of the Greeks geographical awareness.
Some earlier authors believed that the Argonauts had sailed from Phasis through Oceanus to the south, till they reached the Libyan desert by crossing the Erythrian Sea. There they carried Argo on their shoulders for 12 days till they came to Lake Tritonis and afterwards reached the Mediterranean Sea via the Nile Hecat. Others believed that the Argonauts returned to their homeland by the same route as they had taken to Colchis Herodor. After the Hellenes knowledge of the Balck Sea georgaphy expanded, part of the authors came up with a version that the Argonauts sailed into the Tanais river and from there carried Argo on their shoulders to the Northern Ocean, then sailed to the Pillars of Hercule, i.
This version was obviously shared by Callimachus. Some authors supporting this version found that from Istros the Argonauts carried their vessel on their shoulders to a river flowing into the Adriatic Peisandr. Zosimos, V 29, Iust. Bearing in mind the Greeks knowledge of the world geography before the classical period, it will become clear why the Argonauts route invited controversial ideas.
In the period when the myth was developed, presumably, appr. The 11 th th centuries, the only body of water which the Greeks called sea was the Mediterranean, while the rest of the world was believed to be washed by the Oceanus, the world river, where continents were dispersed as islands, i. As concerns the Black Sea, the Greeks ideas were controversial. The Black Sea too was considered to be a sea or pontos, but it was supposed to be connected with the Oceanus, the world river, and with the Mediterranean Sea by Hellespont.
Its southern shores were inhabited by the peoples. One of those tribes was called the Halizones, which presumably is a speaking name meaning surrounded by the Sea This means that Homer associated them with the sea. As concerns the destination of the Argo, Aeetes city, according to Mimnermus, it was located on the bank of Oceanus fr. According to the Odyssey, the island of Circe must have been located in the Sea of Aeaea.
The ship coming from the land of the Cymmerians had left the stream of the river Oceanus and had come to the wave of the broad sea, and the Aeaean isle Hence, if Mymnermus locates the city of Aeetes on the bank of the Oceanus, then Aeaea island, which according to Homer, was in the same area, must have been located in the open sea. In connection with the Oceanus, I would like to highlight one important point that deals with relationship of Aea with Ethiopia.
In his work Aia 12 , A. Lesky suggests that in the Odyssey the land of Aeetes and Aeaea Island, related to it, are supposed to be located in the same region as Ethiopia in the early beliefs of the Hellenes.
His central argument is that both locations are associated with Helios. According to the Odyssey, Aeaea is the island where is the dwelling of early Dawn and her dancing-lawns, and the risings of the sun Od. Mimnermus further specifies that the rays of Helios rest in a golden chamber thalamos on the bank of Oceanus in the city of Aeetes, Mala 11a. According to the Odyssey I, 22ff. In his other fragments, Mimnermus further specifies the details of Helios route Fr.
Neither he nor his horses can take a breath. When Eos rises from the Oceanus, he flits on his goldwinged bed, fashioned by Hephaestus, from the land of the Hesperides to the land of the Ethiopians, where swift steeds harnessed to a chariot await him. Having mounted his chariot, Helios starts his ascent. Proceeding from this, A. Lesky and his followers believe Ethiopia to be the place from where Helios rises. As according to the Odyssey, in Aeaea there are the palace and Eos and the place of sunrise, the land of the Ethiopians and the island of Circe can be considered to be in the same geographical area.
In my opinion, the supporters of this statement must have overlooked a point which I will attempt to expound below. Let us remember the Odyssey. It contains a number of passages about the island of Circe. Neither Circe and Hermes nor the poet himself ever mentions. Nor does the well-known extract from Mimnermus anyway associate the land of Aeetes with Ethiopia. In my opinion, when describing the places of sunrise and sunset, Homer and Mimnermus follow the mythopoetic tradition.
According to it, the farthest east, symbolically represented by Ethiopia, and the farthest west again Ethiopia in Homer and the land of the Hesperides in Mimnermus are the members of the binary opposition: He neutralizes the opposition by his motion. As concerns the land of the Aeetes, Helios, being Aeetes father, is linked with it genetically. Evidently, there existed another tradition in connection with the sunrise, which said that the rays of Helios were stored in his son s land, likewise located in the farthest east. However, Homer and Mimnermus do not relate this land to Ethiopia, neither do they claim that Helios swift steeds and chariot were to be found here or that this land was the beloved place for gods to carouse.
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Consequently, in early sources the land of Aeetes and the Island of Circe were not related to the land Ethiopia. Was the episode of the Colchian pursuit part of the early versions of the myth of the Argonauts? I believe the very logic of story most plausibly indicates that it was. It is difficult to imagine that the son of Helios, the powerful king could take no notice of the seizure of the Golden Fleece. A hint at this can be seen already in the Homeric Odyssey, where Argo is referred to as famed by all Od. Therefore, I believe that the story of taking Medea against her father s will, Medea s complicity in slaughtering her brother, her assistance in overcoming the dangers and the Colchian pursuers reluctance to return to Colchis for the fear of Aeetes must have been known already in the early versions of the myth.
Individual details of the pursuit would vary in accordance with the poets imagination. Apsyrtus episode could be cited as an example: It is difficult to say which version is earlier: Unlike these details, whose versions vary in different accounts, the episode of the Colchian pursuit is reported almost in all versions. That the pursuers could not capture the Argonauts and were therefore unable to return home seems to be taken for granted in all the accounts. Since the 3 rd century BC, ancient sources claim insistently that the pursuers settled in the Adriatic.
The specialists of Paleo-Balkan studies attempt to justify the information by considering historical facts. They believe that after the Milesian colonists discovered Colchis in the 7 th -6 th centuries BC and the expedition of the Argonauts became closely associated with the eastern Black Sea littoral, the relations between the Mediterranean and Colchis intensified. At the time, part of the Milesian colonists migrated from Colchis to the Adriatic, which could have generated the version of the Colchians settlement in the Adriatic.
Thus, along with the transformation of the myth in the Hellenistic period, the migration of Greek colonists could have been reflected in the pursuers episode However, such interpretation of the information provided by ancient authors may not seem plausible enough as the learned men of the Hellenistic period are less likely to have confused Greek colonists with autochthonic Colchians; or Calimachus, a merited philologist, could hardly have failed to realize that the word which he took for Colchian in fact belonged to the language of the Greek colonists.
These observations prompt the following question: How else can we explain the information provided in Greek sources about the Colchian settlement in the Adriatic? I believe they can be associated with possible relations between Colchis and the Adriatic in the 15 th th centuries BC, which can be inferred from archeological and linguistic evidence.
Archeological evidence reveals interesting encounters between Colchis and the so-called Terramare and Danube valley cultures dated to the 2 nd millennium and the early 1 st millennium BC The encounters are so significant that some scholars even do not rule out the existence of a Colchian ethnic element in these regions of Europe Anyway, close relations between the regions in the Middle and Late Bronze Ages are found fairly plausible. Elements typical of Colchian culture appear in northern Italy and the Danube area after a strong Kartvelian component.
The Colchian Migration apparently started a new stage in the relations between the Kartvelian tribes and the Balkan, Danube and northern Italian regions, which was reflected in archeological as well as linguistic data. In this connection, it would be interesting to study the substrate vocabulary of modern Adriatic inhabitants, whose languages are mostly Slavonic. Now I will only confine myself to ancient Macedonian vocabulary preserved in ancient Greek sources. I will dwell on several so-called Macedonian formatives that are not attested either in the Mycenaean or the Homeric epics. This may compel us to assume that the formatives must have been unknown to Pre-Greek and early Greek dialects and must have been considered by Greek lexicographers to be pure macedonisms Let us discuss several of them: The form is not widespread in Greek and its origin is not known The Macedonian formative obviously stems from the common Kartvelian variant of the pre-differentiation period rather than from the later Zan stem.
The second version with i, according to notes mentioned by Strabo V , was used in Magna Graecia by the Cymmerians to denote an underground dwelling. The etymology is unknown I believe the root must have been borrowed by Macedonian from the same source. Its etymology is unknown A formative corresponding to the Georgian-Zan root can be found in Macedonian.
Thus, the dal-, qal- root implied the meaning of saltiness. In this case too, the Macedonian formative shows relations with the Kartvelian archetypical root. Its homophonic equivalent in Greek had different meanings: Strabo V, C presents an extract from Calimachus, according to which the Colchian pursuers of Argo founded a city and, as mentioned above, called it Pola, which in their language denoted fugitives.
This etymology, attested in Calimachus fragments, is also mentioned by a number of other ancient authors. Bearing in mind Calimachus erudition, his statements are to be treated with due consideration and should not be taken for his poetic imagination, all the more so that no convincing etymology of the place name has so far been offered. It is highly likely that the rb- cluster im anlaut could have lost the first consonant r when borrowed by Greek, while Kartvelian b, due to its relatively low degree of voicing, could have been replaced by p in Greek It is mentioned as early as by Hesiod in the so-called Catalogue of Rivers Theog.
A river with the same name is also attested on the island of Crete, giving name to the city of Istron, analogically with a number of place names with istr- element found in the Danube area The meaning of the root can be related to some quality of a river. Taking into account the swift flow of the affluent Danube River, the meaning of the root could be associated with swiftness. The study of ancient proper names and vocabulary associated with the Danube area and the Adriatic, especially its so-called Illyrian part, may further reveal a number of interesting linguistic encounters.
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As concerns the above-considered examples, they may prompt the following hypothesis: If the discussed formatives are really Kartvelian borrowings, they must have penetrated the region and languages in question before the 1 st millennium BC as they are marked by common Georgian-Zan and not merely Zan properties. Hence, it is difficult to agree with those who associate the myths about the Colchian settlement in the Adriatic with the migration of part of the Ionian colonists inhabiting the eastern Black Sea littoral in the 6 th -5 th centuries BC.
It is unlikely that the Hellenistic authors could have confused the Ionian Greeks with the Colchians. That the Colchians were known as early as the Late Bronze Age is suggested by the following: The majority of scholars believe that ko-ki-da and ko-ki-de-jo formatives found in Linear B texts of Knossos of the Mycenaean period are ethnic names derived from Kolc j, doj If we agree that the Mycenaean formatives indeed have this meaning, then the appearance of the Colchians on the island of Crete also need to be accounted for.
It is hard to believe that in the 14 th century hired or enslaved people were taken to the central city of the island directly from Colchis. It might be more logical to associate the Cretan Colchians with the Caucasians migrated to the Adriaic. The following question may naturally crop up: If the episode of the Colchian pursers settlement in the Adriatic, described by Apollonius, really reflects the Colchian migration from the eastern Black Sea littoral in the Late Bronze Age, why is it missing in the earlier versions of the myth?
Why did it become popular only in the Hellenistic period? In my opinion, this can be explained by the fact that the Greeks relations with the region of the Colchians possible migration started in a relatively later period. The Illyrian coast of the Adriatic must have fallen in the scope of their interest only in the late classical period, i. The Illyrian kingdoms start to appear on the historical scene no earlier. This is the period when the episode of the Colchian pursuers settlement in the Adriatic appears in the Greek tradition.
The version must have been rooted in the historical memory of the Illyrians. However, it could not have been influenced by the Greek tradition as the version of the Colchian settlement in the Adriatic, as seen above, was unknown in earlier Greek sources. Thus, the process of the inclusion of the Adriatic episode into the myth of the Argonauts can be presented in the following way: Thus, the discussions presented above may allow us to speak about the following historical prerequisites determining the inclusion of the Adriatic episode into the myth of the Argonauts: It should not be ruled out that in the Late Bronze Age, people known as Colchians might have been compelled by some reasons to migrate in quite large numbers and settle the Adriatic.
Later, the Greeks start intensive relations with the region and get acquainted with the tradition preserved in the memory of the Illyrians about the Colchians descendents, who must already have assimilated. This might have prompted Greek authors to associate the Illyrian Colchians with the myth of the Argonauts. Greek and Roman Studies, 10 1 , 10 2 , Tbilisi ; 5 For more details, see: The Argonautica and World Culture, Phasis.
Conclusive Comments, Tbilisi , ff. Gordeziani, Tbilisi , ff. DNP, 8, ff. II, Zweiter Gesang, Fasz. Kommentar, Leipzig , ff. Greek and Roman Studies, 9, ff. KEW, ; for the development of r in front of d in western Georgian dialects, cf. Greek and Roman Studies, 12, , ff. Myth, Archaeology and History, Phasis. Greek and Roman Studies, 10 1 , , 20 ff. Tsetskladze, Leiden , ff. The inscription on the picture says that Hercle is Uni's son unial clan.
Such a scene is not the only one ever found. However, there is one myth about Hera and Heracles, which is somehow linked to this version depicted on the Etruscan mirror. The legend is preserved in works by Diodorus of Sicily and Pausanias. The story is as follows: Fearing jealous Hera, Alcmene left newborn Heracles in the field beyond the walls of Thebes. Instructed by Zeus, Athena called Hera to have a stroll there. The goddess of wisdom made Hera pity the crying and hungry baby abandoned by his mother and asked her to feed the child.
Hera breastfed Heracles, but the latter sucked so hard that the embittered goddess flung him aside. Breastfeeding Heracles, Hera made him immortal and, as the myth says, the spilt milk was transformed into the Milky Way. Van Der Meer L. In particular, Etruscan Heracles has a beard and he is not a baby like in the Greek myth. It is also noteworthy that in almost all versions of the Greek myth, Hera is Heracles' wet nurse, not mother. We have devoted a special study to Etruscan Hercle, which made it clear that the image consists of two chronological layers. One of them originates from a later period and is indeed linked to the Greek mythology on Heracles.
This layer took shape as Hellenic mythology became more popular after Greek colonists established first settlements in Italy in the 8 th century BC. The second layer is more archaic and is linked to the Pre-Indo-European population of the Mediterranean region. Analyzing archaeological data and information from ancient sources, we drew the following conclusions: Hercle is an organic deity for the Etruscan religion; 2. Hercle is the son or an adopted son of a supreme god possibly Uni ; 3.
Hercle seems to be linked to the celestial world; 4. Hercle cannot be regarded as the Etruscan interpretation of Heracles. It is noteworthy that Roman Hercules also proved not to be a simple copy of Greek Heracles. The explanation by mythographers that "Heracles" is derived from "Hera" and "Cleo" "Hera's glory" seemed unnatural back in ancient times. It is difficult to imagine that the glorification of Heracles through his rivalry with Hera could have contributed to the creation of his name. The "awkwardness" was sensed by authors of antiquity, who referred to the aforementioned episode of breastfeeding and other myths to "settle" relations between Hera and Heracles, noting at the same time that Heracles was called Alcaeus before Hera adopted him.
Presumably, the mother of proto-heracles was quite popular among the Pre-Indo-European tribes of the Mediterranean region. The fact that her name "disappeared" in the new name of her son and was replaced by Hera was probably a manifestation of Greek expansion. In particular, the recognition of Heracles as Zeus' son probably shows that the cult was incorporated in the Greek pantheon cf.
It is clear that the Greek religion and mythology accepted the step, because this cult was highly popular. However, the recognition of Heracles and Dionysius did not imply the recognition of their mothers, as they were mortal women. Moreover, Heracles acquired a new mother unrivalled Hera. That was why Alcmene's son Alcaeus was called Heracles. At the same time, the same deity, who was believed to be Uni's son, continued its existence in the Etruscan world of ancient Italy.
Given the aforementioned, what is depicted on the mirror of Volterra? In our opinion, it depicts the tradition or ritual of foster adoption, which was characteristic of the Pre-Greek and Pre-Italic population of the Mediterranean region and was preserved in the Etruscan tradition.
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An adult person presumably, most frequently man sucked the breast of his foster-mother possibly in the presence of eyewitnesses , becoming her foster son. Let us now consider the tradition of foster adoption from the ethnological viewpoint. Ethnography has established three types of kinship: There is no single term in special literature to denote the latter. Such kinship is called "fictitious", 9 "spiritual", 10 "artificial", or "milk" 11 kinship.
Researchers regard as such kinship emerging on the basis of adopting and baptizing children, entrusting babies to wet nurses, entrusting children to other families, and becoming sworn brothers. It is obvious that Hera's breastfeeding baby Heracles, which was mentioned above, is a reflection of such kinship. It probably corresponds to the tradition of entrusting babies to wet nurses. The theme depicted on the Etruscan mirror is different from the types of artificial kinship found in Greek myths.
The former is not linked to entrusting babies to wet nurses. It is rather an example of adoption and the inscription on the mirror explains this. To be more precise, it is a specific type of adoption foster adoption. The tradition of foster adoption depicted on the Etruscan mirror is very specific.
It has no analogues in the ancient world. However, it is interesting that it seems to be linked to the specific ethnic version of foster adoption widespread in almost all Georgian regions. Like the theme shown on the mirror of Volterra, it is about the adoption of an adult person by a family with no blood kinship to him. In this case, the mother of a family adopts an alien son, who has his own family. As artificial kinship, the act of foster adoption implied, as a rule, specific relations not only between two people in this case, between a foster mother and a foster son , but also between two families.
Let us now consider concrete examples from the Kartvelian world. This tradition was quite widespread in Georgia's mountain regions, particularly in Khevsureti. In his White Collar, a young protagonist of the story says: The Tsiklauris made me Tsiklauri. The families of Mgelika and Totia adopted me. I touched Nanuka's, Iamze's, and Mzekala's breasts with my teeth".
The ritual was almost the same as in Khevsureti and Svaneti. Specifically, in Samegrelo, "a mother, who had lost her son, would adopt a son in a ritual that created the full illusion of breastfeeding. A young man would visit his mother-to-be and touch her breast with his teeth, which was called 12 Javakhadze N. Selected Works in Six Volumes, vol. II, Tbilisi , in Georgian. The foster son would then say an oath: From that moment on, the mother, who had lost her son would become his dida pu chapili and he would become skuachapili.
The sons of the family would become foster brothers and daughters foster sisters" If in Lechkhumi, a woman adopted a son to replace her own son, the foster son would touch her breast with his teeth on the first anniversary of the death of the woman's son. In the Georgian fairy tale Reed Girl, the prince tells the giant's mother: The mother of the giant adopts him as her son and helps him, explaining: In particular, the protagonist in the well-known Georgian fairy tale Aspurtsela finds it to be the only way to make his mother say the truth.
Numerous other parallel rituals that may be found during the research may provide an opportunity to draw reliable conclusions. It is of course impossible to make a universal conclusion at this stage of research, but it is obvious that the ethnographic and folklore materials, which ethnological studies are based on, are indeed important in studying relations between various peoples.
A number of fundamental works have been created recently 20 on Mediterranean-Georgian relations and such materials may serve as an additional argument. The author of the project and editor-in-chief Naira Gelashvili. Special editor Lia Chlaidze compiled the collection of works and wrote the Introduction and notes, Tbilisi , 46 in Georgian. Planeta, Tbilisi , 9 in Georgian. And what is more, we find no unity within a single episode of her mythic life, especially when one is dealing with the big number of narratives from different time periods.
However, Apsyrtos s death as J. Bremmer had noticed, received little attention from classical scholars. In the paper we aim to investigate the elaboration and the development of Apsyrtos myth in the 1 For very important and multidimensional investigation of Medea see Medea, Essays on Medea in Myth, Literature, Philosophy and Art, ed. Our study, we hope, will elucidate the role Medea played in Apsyrtos murder as well as throw the light on different interpretations of this story in the sources of the various time periods. Besides, this study serves to another goal also.
The analyze of various accounts concerning the locale of Apsyrtos murder and the settling of the Colchians in Adriatic will help to learn more details about the Kartvelian Aegean relationship and migration processes in the ancient period. We have to note beforehand, that the numerous versions of this myth are created by varying of the above components of the myth. Therefore these components appear to be the main variables of the myth. In order to make our study more clear to comprehend and at the same time technically more easy for operating with large number of the data, we have used these variables to classify many versions of the myth into the main group variants.
The classification of the group variants is to be based on one of these variables. We have chosen the variable specifics of the murder and based on it created the group variants of the story. Our choice was caused by the fact that this variable seemed to us as the most essential element of the myth, and at the same time it appeared to be most convenient to connect with it other data of the myth in more or less chronological order. The most important element of this variable the specifics of Apsyrtos murder seems to be the status of Apsyrtos in the moment of the murder.
The scholars mainly agree that the oldest version of Apsyrtos myth seems to be the one, in which Apsyrtos is a little child. According to this version, Medea takes her younger brother while flying from Colchis. Their assumption is based, on the one hand, on the fact, that the oldest known variant of the myth Pherecydes account presents this very version, and, on the other hand, on the suggestion, that the above version presents the. When they were pursued, the baby was killed, dismembered and his limbs were thrown into the river Pher.
The problem of the interpretation of these fragments lies in defying of the performer of the murder. Some scholars suggest, that the actual killer of Apsyrtos was Medea 5 notwithstanding the fact, that in the text Medea isn t named as a killer, the verbs sf xai killing and kbale n throwing stand in infinitives and the word mel santej the performers of dismemberment is presented by the participium in the plural the same plural form of mel santej we see in second scholium.
All this can only mean one thing there was more than one killer. Medea, , The second group of the scholars, who do not ascribe Apsyrtos murder to Medea, consider the performers of Apsyrtos murder among these candidates: Hardt, Oxford , n. Medea took the baby Apsyrtos and brought him on Jason s advice to the Argonauts. When they were being pursued, they killed the baby According to Dyck, from the surviving reports it can not be made out whether Jason or Medea was the actual killer. Now if we turn to the third variable of the myth the place of Apsyrtos murder, we ll see that in our oldest version of above mentioned Pherecydes, the baby was killed in a river, which is identified as Phasis 7.
The further argument for this view is Statius Thebais, V, and the scholium on this line: The poet calls Phasis bloody because flying from her father s pursuit Medea scattered over it the pieces of killed brother. When Medea had seen the approaching Colchians, she killed her brother, cut him into pieces and then threw the limbs into the depth of the sea. Gathering the pieces Aeetes delays the pursuit, buries Apsyrtos and names the place of the burial Tomeus Apoll. Thus, the murdered for Apollodorus is Medea and the deed happens to take place in the western part of the Black Sea, in so called Scythian shore, near the place, where the town Tomi is situated mod.
Almost identical story we see in Tzetze s scholium on Lycophron s Alexandra Tzetz. Zenobius account follows these versions Zen. Ovid presents the grislier tale of Apsyrtos murder. In his poem little Apsyrtus is also taken away and killed by Medea, though the locale of the murder is slightly changed. This time Medea slaughters his brother not near Tomi, but in Tomi itself. According to Ovid, After Medea had seen the approaching compatriots, she struck the blow to Apsyrtos standing by her, dismembered him and scattered his limbs over the neighboring fields Ovid.
Besides, Medea hangs the hands and the head of her brother over the rock to be clearly seen by the Colchians from the sea.
Apsyrtos dismembered pieces are also scattered over the fields spargere per agros in another poem of Ovid Ov. It is noteworthy, that Tomeus is just one of his versions of the place of Apsyrtos murder. In other articles of his Ethnica three other locales of Apsyrtos death are named also known to us from the ancient sources. Cicero also places the murder of Apsyrtos on the western coast of the Black Sea Cic. The status of Apsyrtus is same in Seneca s Medea, though the murder is mentioned to happen in two different places in the sea and in the fields of Colchis.
In the line Apsyrtus body is scattered over Pontus sparsum ponto corpus, whereas in line Medea asks rhetorically: Where should I go, to Phasis, the Colchians and to the fields, which I stained with my brother s blood? The specifics of the murder in not presented altogether in the stories provided by Arrianus and Procopius of Caesarea.
But still we placed these stories in this group as in these stories the place of the deed second variable of the myth is also the Black Sea area, the area, in which Apsyrtos murder is localized in this group. But one thing must be mentioned here unlike the above sources, the terrible deed is performed in the accounts of Arrianus and Procopius at the south-eastern coast of the Black Sea.
The etymology of the toponyme Apsaros the scholars locate the place west of Batumi in Procopius and Arrianus stories is also derived from the place of Apsyrtos murder. Moreover, Arrianus informs, that in the past the place Apsaros was called Apsyrtos Arrian. The murder of Apsyrtos in Arrianus account is ascribed to Medea, while in Procopius story this act is ascribed to both to Jason as well as to Medea. The site Apsyrtos the place was named like this according to the writer in the early period as the place where Apsyrtos was killed in the Black Sea is known to Stephanes of Byzantium.
Apsyrtos murder here does not exceed the Black Sea area. In the accounts of Arrianus, Procopius of Caesarea and Stephanes of Byzantium, where Apsyrtos status is not mentioned, the murder takes place on the southeastern coast of the Black Sea, namely in Apsaros near Batumi. Outcoming from these data Wilamowitz s suggestion, that in the oldest version of the myth Apsyrtos murder took place in the Apsyrtian Island in Adriatic, seems unconvincing.
Wilamowitz based his theory on the etymology of the Absortes the name of the inhabitants of the island of Apsyrtides , which he had derived from Absyrtus. According to him as the toponyme s name is derived from the name of the mythological hero, the connection between two entities should have been very old. Thus, the Apsyrtian Island must have been the original locus of Apsyrtus death and consequently, the version of the myth presenting this story should be regarded as the oldest one.
The Apsyrtian island is also the place, where: Therefore, the etymology of the Apsyrtides is not connected only with Apsyrtos murder. II, Berlin , foll. According to Dyck the attempt of Wilamowitz to establish against the oldest literary sources the Apsyrtian island of Istria as the original locus of Apsyrtus murder is unconvincing as well. Besides, Dyck suggests, that the major island of the group is called Aywroj free of scurvy Herodian I, , 17 Lentz and considers this form to be an original one.
The name for the island group Ayurt dej he explains as a result of folk etymological crossing of Aywroj and Ayurtoj Dyck, , Otherwise, the version of the myth, which places Apsyrtos murder in Apsaros previous Apsyrtos near Batumi according to the same logic, should be considered as the oldest version and the toponyme Apsaros must also be considered as the original place of Apsyrtos murder. Especially because in this version the etymology of this toponyme is derived from the name of the mythic hero much more directly as the ancient writers themselves spoke about this derivation the accounts of Arrianus and Procopius of Caesarea discussed above.
Our suggestion that Apsyrtos murder in the oldest strata of the myth does not exceed the Black Sea area 11, does not contradict the fact of the settling of the Colchians in Adriatic, as their settling in Adriatic is not connected directly with Apsyrtos murder. For example, in the later reflections of the myth that of Apollodorus and Tzetzes, which we had placed in this variant group Aeetes sends out a large number of the Colchians in search of Argo after he had buried Apsyrtos in Tomis.
As the Colchians had not achieved their goal, they did not return back and settled in various places of Adriatic area some settle in the Ceraunian Mountains, others in Ilyria, in Apsyrtian Island. One part of the Colchians caught up with the Argonauts at Pheacea and demanded Medea from the local king. But as they neither had nor got what they had demanded, they did not return back and settle in Pheacea Apoll. I, 9, 24; Tzet. Therefore, he is not taken away to the Argo. This variant of the crime, as Lesky had suggested, should have been introduced in this myth by tragedy and supposedly it should have been originated from the demand of the dramatic unity.
According to the scholars, the tragedy most likely described Jason s deeds 11 See also Kaukhchishvili T. In the oldest version Media kills Apsyrtos in Colchis and scatters his pieces in Phasis, it means, that here we can not speak about the long voyage of the Colchians together with Apsyrtos and their settling in the Apsyrtian island. The motive of the crime is not explained. According to Pearson, the motive of the murder of Apsyrtos in the house must be similar to the motive narrated by Pherecydes, namely the delay of the pursuit, for if the reason had been different, it would have been stated by the ancient scholiasts.
The name of the murder is not given in Sophocles above fragment. Speaking to the chorus, Medea herself admits this: O, father, O my native city, From you I was parted in shame, having killed my brother Eur. Therefore, in Euripidean version Medea not only kills her brother, but performs a sacrireligeous deed as murders him in most holly place of the house at the hearth, what makes her crime more abominable.
In Pearson s opinion, the Latin authorities, for example Cic. Seneca s Medea is to be added to this list. Unlike him, the scholars mostly suggest, that the fields in Ovid s Heroides VI are the fields not in Colchis, but around Tomis. Therefore, we can not ascribe this deed to Medea, as is the case with some scholars.
Kovacs, I, Harward As Bremmer notes, the hearth of the private houses or cities were sacred centers like altars and symbolized the solidarity of the family and the community, also they were places were suppliants seek for protection Euripides took some trouble to represent the murder as particularly sacrireligious Medea, , At the altar killed Apsyrtos either killed at the altar of Artemis, as Apollonius tells, or at the hearth in homeland as Callimachus Call. The murder was performed in the Colchian fields Sen.
Consequently, this group variant of Apsyrtos myth presenting also the old version of the story, places Apsyrtos murder in Colchis in Aeetes palace or in the nearby fields. The pursuing of the fugitive Argonauts by the Colchians are narrated in these stories as well. Sophocles lost tragedy Scythians, as some scholars consider, worked out the legend of the Argonauts being pursued by the Colchians and seeking refuge among the Pheaceans.
The canonical version of this variant is the epic poem of Apollonius of Rhodes Argonautica. Apsyrtus, a young man, is sent by Aeetes to chase the fled away Argonauts. The Colchians pursue them down the river Ister and block off every exit to the sea. The Minyae decided to give her in ward of Leto s daughter apart from the throng, until some of the kings that dispense justice should utter her doom, whether she must return to her father s home or follow the chieftains to the land of Hellas. When Medea had heard this decision, sharp anguish shook her heart.
She called Jason, reminded him the oath given to her and offered him the guile to distract Apsyrtos. According to her plan she would send false messages to Apsyrtos and promise to give him back the fleece. To get it he had to come alone in the sanctuary of Artemis to speak to her. Trusting his sister, Apsyrtos indeed came alone to the sanctuary at night. When she began to speak with his sister, Jason lying in ambush jumped upon and killed him treacherously Ap. Therefore, the actual killer of Apsyrtos in 17 Urushadze A.
In the interpretation of this tragedy he follows Nauck s edition - TGF Nauck, For the different interpretation of this tragedy see Pearson, , , who considers that this tragedy presented the murder of Apsyrtos in Scythia, near Tomis. The locale of the heinous murder is defined concretely the Illyrian coast of Adriatic.
The same version in brief is presented by the scholiast of Euripides Medea Sch. Several other authorities consider the Apsyrtian Island as the place, where Apsyrtos murder took place: Strabo presents Apsyrtos as a pursuer and ascribes the murder of Apsyrtos to Medea Strab. Plinius does not mention the name of the murderer. According to him the island took the name from the murder of Apsyrtus, what happened on it Pl. Stephanes of Byzantium follows Plinius etymology about the island s name Step. Note, that this version of Stephanes of Byzantium is already his third version concerning the locale of Apsyrtos murder scholium to Lychophron s Alexandra also states, that Medea had killed Apsyrtos, who was pursuing the Argonauts Schol.
The locus of the murder is not mentioned here. Eudocia s account combines in some extent the variants of I and III groups. On the other hand, it is Medea, not Jason who performs the murder, dismembers and scatters the pieces over the sea like it happened in the variant versions of the I group Eud. In Eudocia s story the pursuing Colchians do not return back and settle on the island.
In Hyginus version Apsyrtus status is the same that of a pursuer, but the Apollonian order of the events is changed here. In Apollonius poem the development of the events are as follow: Medea stays with Jason and the Colchians settle temporarily in Pheacea. Absyrtus is determined to fight for Medea, but the king intervenes the king in Apollonius poem was ruling over the inhabitants of Corcyra.
They take the king as an arbiter. The king tells his wife about his proposal how to decide the problem of Medea.
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Arete then secretly informs the king s decision to Jason 20 It is noteworthy, that the name of the island Apsyrtides firstly appears in Strabo. The wedding of Jason and Medea follows. Medea stays with Jason in accordance with the king s judgment to what both parties announce their agreement.
But despite this agreement, Apsyrtus fearing his father continues to pursue the Argonauts. He catches them up second time on the island of Minerva: When Jason was sacrificing there to Minerva and Apsyrtus came upon him, he was killed by Jason. Medea gave him burial and they departed. The Colchians fearing Aeetes remained there and found a town, which from Absyrtus name they called Absoros. As Hyginus comments, this island was located in Histria, opposite Pola Hyg.
The great popularity of Apollonius Rhodes poem caused much influence of this poem on the subsequent interpretations of this myth. This influence is evident especially in Valerius Flaccus poem Argonautica. Apsyrtus is here the commander-in-chief of the pursuing Colchians, though they catch up with the Argonauts in different from Apollonius place. The scene is laid in the Black Sea, near Tomis, at the mouth of the river Istros. There on the island called Peuke Jason and Medea celebrate their wedding before the Colchians appear it should be noted, that wedding of the couple in this poem does not result from the Colchians demand to give up Medea.
Apsytus and the Colchians arrive on the island after the wedding ceremony is over and demand the Argonauts to give them Medea. The Argonauts in Valerius poem like Apollonius heroes are strongly disposed to hand Medea over to the Colchians and require from Jason the same. Jason does not appear to contradict them. Medea foresees her fate and overwhelmed with an immense rage meets vis-a-vis with her husband and drastically blames him in treacherous decision Val.
As the other versions of the group Orphic Argonautica also presents Apsyrtos as a pursuer. Aeetes son catches up with his sister at the mouth of the river Phasis. Apsyros is murdered the agents stand here in Plural form! The waves of the sea take the corpse and strand it near the Apsyrtian Island, quite far from the place of the murder Orph. Therefore, in the poem the Apsyrtides is not the place of Apsyrtos murder, but the place where his corpse is washed ashore. Two scholia of Apollonius poem tell that a pursuer Apsyrtos catches up with the Argonauts near one of the mouths of Istrus: Istrus has three mouths; one of them is called the beautiful mouth as Timagetus tells.
The poet narrates that Apsyrtus sailed up here Schol. A different version of Apsyrtos murder we see in the scholium of. According to the orator Leon Apsyrtus was poisoned, not murdered Schol. What is remarkable here is the fact, that the name of the poisoner is not given.
We do not see here the name of Medea, the famous poisioner. Therefore, in this group variant, which presents Apsyrtos as an adolescent pursuer, his killer appeared to be different agents: Supposedly, the Argonauts are implied here Orph. Apsyrtus murderer is not named in Plinius account as well; c the murderer is Medea in Strabo s account as well as in Stephanes of Byzantium s article jayurt dej. Eudocia s somewhat combined version ascribes this deed to Medea as well.
It is noteworthy, that in this group version the murder mainly takes place in Adriatic Area Ap. From this group only in one version that of Orphic Argonautica Apsyrtos is killed in Colchis. Therefore, the analyze of the above date revealed, that the ancient sources did not ascribe the murder of Apsyrtos only to one agent Medea, though Medea is presented as the performer of this deed in large number of the sources.
In I group variant a murderer is either not identified or Medea is named as the killer of her brother. Exception from this is one source the article Tomeus of Stephanes of Byzantium, where this deed is performed by both agents Medea and Jason. The versions of II group variant here the evidences are much fewer either ascribe this heinous act to Medea or they do not identify a killer. In III group, in which Apsyrtos himself is a pursuer, the murderer is: Chronologically, as we see, Apsyrtos killer in the earliest strata of the myth namely, in the accounts of Pherecydes and the fragments of Sophocles in not named.
The first author identifying Medea as her brother s murderer is Euripides. However, Apollonius of Rhodes offers different story of Apsyrtos murder despite the immense influence Euripides tragedy had on the subsequent interpretations of the myth. Interesting is the suggestion of Dyck, who considers that Apollonius strived to divide the responsibility of the murder between Jason and Medea, on one hand, and to provide a plausible motive for Medea s action on the other hand.
Apsyrtos in the poem is not an innocent boy, but commander-in-chief of the Colchian fleet demanding the Argonauts to. With the regard that Medea was in great danger, her behavior seemed to be much more understandable though her role is not played down in the poem, as she is the author of the plan by which Jason kills Apsyrtos. After the period, when Medea s role in Apsyrtos murder was somehow smoothed, in the accounts of the later authors, we see Medea as the actual killer of her brother. It is Ovid, who most grisly describes the killing by Medea of the innocent little brother Ovid, Trist.
At the end we would like to make just a brief note. The earliest versions of Medea s mythic biography, especially her Corinthian and Colchian stories present Medea as a performer of the villainous acts in lesser degree. This tendency as we saw is revealed in the discussed myth of Apsyrtos.
The contradiction between Greek and Barbarian was not as sharp in the early periods of the Greek history as it turned out to be later, from the period of the Greek-Persian wars. But the development of Medea s image in this context is the subject of a separate article. Information and comments about the myth regularly emerged in the written sources of the Hellenic, Hellenistic, and Byzantine eras. It is noteworthy that they are numerous and, at the same time, the main object in the myth the Golden Fleece is presented in the sources in various manners.
In the text of the early period, the Golden Fleece is identified with golden wool. Back on the verge of the 8 th and 7 th centuries BC, Hesiod, who systematized Hellenic mythology, mentioned a ram that "had golden skin".
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For Pindar the Golden Fleece is "a skin with shining golden wool"; 3 for Euripides it is "a skin of pure gold", 4 and so forth. The aforementioned views proved to be so reliable and viable that they were shared even by authors of the Byzantine era. For example, John Tzetzes effectively repeated Hesiod's story and wrote: West, Oxford "Phrixum autem perlatum Colchos arietem immolasse pellemque eius auream Iovi sacrasse", op.
It is said that Phrixus sacrificed it to Zeus there". Old Greek philosopher of the 4th century BC Euhemerus and his followers searched for rational elements in every myth, story or legend, providing rational explanations. Old Greek author of the 4th century BC Palaephatus was the first among Euhemerists who regarded as unrealistic the events linked to the ram described in the myth of the Golden Fleece. In his opinion, it was impossible for this ram to carry someone on its back to Colchis across the sea and Phrixus could not have been so ungrateful as to kill the ram that saved him and sacrifice his skin to Zeus.
He though that in reality, the Golden Fleece was presumably a golden statue, which Phrixus, who travelled to Colchis by boat not on the back of the ram! Would you like to tell us about a lower price? Read more Read less. Kindle Cloud Reader Read instantly in your browser. Product details File Size: October 30, Sold by: Share your thoughts with other customers.
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