Or myths about constellations, stars, planets (in a broader sense – also lunar myths and solar myths). In the typologically early group of Astral myths, stars or constellations are often represented as animals, often in such myths we are talking about hunting animals. For the Evenks, the sky is the taiga of the upper world, in which the space elk Heglun lives, every evening stealing and taking the sun into the thicket. The four stars of the Ursa Major bucket are understood as the legs of Heglun, and the three stars of the bucket of this constellation are understood as a hunter (or three hunters), sometimes as the mythological Mangi bear hunting for an elk. Ursa Minor in one of the variants of the Evenk Astral myth appears as a calf of an elk, the Milky Way – as a trace of the skis of a hunter-bear who has eaten too much elk meat.
A characteristic feature of Astral myths is the presence of several cosmic characters incarnated by nearby constellations. In the Astral myths of the Indians of South America, one of the constellations appears as a tapir, the other (Orion or the Pleiades) – as parts of the body of a dismembered hero. Variants of these myths differ in which part of the body corresponds to which constellation (or star). The most common motif is the explanation of many (usually 12 or 10) constellations by means of Astral myths, in which the same number of animals appears. In the legends of the South American Indians (in Guyana), each of the constellations embodies the soul of one of the animals. Further development of such astral myths leads to the construction of a system of correspondences between 12 constellations and the same number of animals. In basic terms, this system is close to the system that existed in Ancient Babylonia, where the allocation of 12 signs of the zodiac was based on it, later adopted by the Greek tradition (the zodiac is from the Greek ζώον, “animal”) and continued in other European traditions. These systems show similarities with ancient Chinese and other East Asian systems on the one hand, and American Indian systems on the other. In all these systems, which may either be the result of an independent parallel development or a consequence of the diffusion of the same complex of ideas (which is assumed in relation to the ancient Chinese cycle of 12 animals, apparently formed under the influence of the West Asian), on the basis of Astral myths, a natural picture of the movement of heavenly bodies was built, described by means of mythological symbols – animals.
In Sumerian-Akkadian mythology, each god had its own heavenly body (planet). Particular importance was attached to the planet Venus, the personification of which in Sumerian mythology was the goddess Inanna; the planet Venus was revered by all the Semites (Astar, Ishtar, Astarte) as a deity associated, in particular, with fertility and love. The cult of the Semitic deity Astar influenced other peoples of the same cultural circle, as evidenced by the penetration of the Semitic word into neighboring languages (in particular, Indo-European: Hittite hašter, “star”, Greek άστήρ, “star”, άστρον, “constellation” ). In Sumerian cuneiform, the sign depicting a star acquired the meaning of “sky”, “god” (it was read an, dingir; cf. Sumerian sky god An). The borrowing by other peoples of Eurasia of the Sumerian-Akkadian terminology associated with Astral myths and the symbolism of the signs of the zodiac shows that the Sumerian-Akkadian Astral myths, associated with systematic observations of the heavenly bodies and with a whole complex of veneration of the stars, had a great influence on the culture of other peoples.
Astral myths highlight a number of motifs that were widespread throughout Eurasia. These include the motif of a star (or constellation) as a dog that is chained, but is trying to break free from the chain, which can be dangerous for the entire universe (this Astral myth is known in Slavic and East Asian versions; the corresponding name for the star is Dog’s Tail or Dog – known in Rome and ancient India and, apparently, is common Indo-European). The image of the Big Dipper as a chariot (or wagon) is extremely widespread, found in Sumerian-Akkadian mythology (Sumer. mar. gid. da as “wagon” – Big Dipper), in all ancient traditions that continue Indo-European mythology, but also in ancient Chinese and some American Indian (bororo) mythologies.
In a significant number of archaic mythologies, stars or constellations are described as objects that ended up in the sky or belonged to the upper world. In the mythology of the Nenets, the stars are lakes on the “earth”, which serves as a firmament for people (this “earth” is the lowest of the seven heavens). In Ket mythology and the mythology of the Selkups (one of the Samoyedic peoples – see Samoyedic mythology), stars are considered copies of trees that grow in the “upper sky” (Ket kon, “stars”, “roots”; Selkup kon-tϊ, “root”) .
An extremely common motif in Astral myths is the idea of people who have moved to the sky and become a star or constellation there. This explains the origin of a large number of constellations and many stars. For example, in Greek mythology, the Big Dipper is Callisto (turned by the Hero into a bear, and then by Zeus into a star); the constellation Bootes – taken to the sky by Triptolem (option – Icarius), the constellation Virgo – taken to the sky by Erigone (options – Astrea, Dike), the Pleiades – seven sisters, daughters of Atlanta, etc. The Kets know the constellation Dejtδγδn – “blacksmiths” (apparently corresponds to the constellation Cassiopeia), which tells that seven (the Kets have a sacred number) blacksmiths made a knife on the earth (at a time when the “earth grew”, that is, at the very beginning of the universe); suddenly they were in the sky and turned into constellations. In the mythologies of the American Indians, the motif of the “wife of the heavenly body” is widespread. Myths of this type tell of Indian women who wanted to become the wives of two stars (or the sun and the moon), but do not comply with the prohibition not to look down at the earth (the usual mythological motif of the prohibition to look back – see Eye) and therefore die or are forced leave the sky. According to other versions of the myth, the wives of the stars themselves turn into constellations. Explanations of twin stars by twin myths are widespread. In Greek mythology, the origin of the Gemini constellation is associated with the myth of the Dioscuri – Castor and Pollux (Pollux). In the Australian dualistic mythologies of the Kulin tribes, the cultural hero Bunjil and his brother Palian are told that they live in the sky, and they are identified with the stars from the Gemini constellation Castor and Pollux. Apparently, a similar projection of the dual organization of the tribe onto the sky also takes place among the Kets, who consider Ursa Minor the star of the dual half of Qent’aen, Ursa Major the star of the dual half of the “Fire People” (Bogd iget koh, “star of the fiery man”). It was said that the “first fiery man” participated in the elk hunt, thanks to which these constellations occurred.
Some constellations were considered traces of the movement of mythological heroes. According to the Selkup myth, the Milky Way is the “road of heavenly Iya” or “the path of Iya”. The hero of this Astral myth – Iy set off on a journey when a cold east wind blew; Iy, poorly dressed, completely cold; walking across the sky, he left traces that formed the Milky Way. Similarly, in the Ket Astral myths, the Milky Way is described as the road of one of the three mythological characters: the Son of Heaven (Esya), who went hunting to the western side of the sky and froze there, the hero Albe, who pursued the evil Khosedem, or the first shaman Doha, who ascended this road to the sun . The origin of the name “Milky Way” is associated with the Greek myth, according to which it arose from the drops of milk of the goddess Hera spilled across the sky.
Often, in the mutual arrangement of the constellations, they saw a trace of the struggle of two or more mythological characters with each other (for example, in the myths of the Indians of Central Brazil) or saw the image of some mythological plot [for example, in Greek mythology, the location of the constellation Orion moving across the sky behind the Pleiades , was explained by the myth of the Pleiades and Orion; Cassiopeia. Coffee (Cepheus), Perseus, Andromeda – a group of constellations united by the myth of Perseus and Andromeda].
In many cases, it is possible to find some external signs that explain the frequent connection of the same (or similar) Astral myth with the same constellation among different peoples (and in some cases it is possible to assume a completely independent development, as in the timing of the Gemini constellation to the twin dualistic myth in Australia and among the peoples of the ancient Near East and adjacent regions of Europe). The reddish color of Mars among different peoples caused the inclusion of this planet in the circle of ideas associated with the god of war (in Sumero-Akkadian mythology, in ancient mythology – see Mars, etc.): the classification role of the heavenly body was determined by its features.
The typologically early Astral myths are characterized by the great importance that was attached to the “fixed” stars – in contrast to the planets, the Moon and the Sun. So, according to Australian mythological ideas, not only rain and cold, but also solar heat depends on the Pleiades (the special role of this constellation is also noted in South Asian myths, in particular early Indian ones; their traces are also assumed in the symbolism of seals from Mohenjo-Daro).
History Astral myths, whose common features can be explained not only by the common features of the constellations, stars, and planets, but also by the diffusion of certain complexes of ideas (which is very likely in relation to the Babylonian astronomical phenomena), are closely connected with the fate of the earliest ideas about the starry sky. Comparatively developed astronomical knowledge is undeniable for the era starting from the 4th millennium BC. e., when megalithic structures appear in Western Europe and in the Mediterranean basin (including in the East – right up to the Caucasus), some of which, for example, the cromlechs of Stonehenge (in England, 2nd millennium BC .), are interpreted by scientists as ancient observatories. The Babylonian ziggurats, temple structures also used for observing the stars, can be seen as offshoots of this near-Mediterranean early culture, which attached special religious importance to the study of heavenly bodies. The long-noted similarity of the Babylonian Astral myths and the symbols (signs of the zodiac) associated with them with other similar ones can be explained both by direct Babylonian influence (which is likely in relation to Greek and some Near Eastern traditions) and by connection with even earlier cultures of the Mediterranean circle. In the ancient era, the Babylonian influence can be assumed in relation to the Etruscan Astral myths. The main source for their study is (along with the news of Roman authors and some examples of Etruscan art) a bronze model of a sheep’s liver for divination from Piacenza, which is a model of the sky with the names of deities inscribed on it, each of which corresponds to a certain area of the sky. In the Etruscan Astral myths, as in others that experienced Babylonian influence, a systematization is found that allows us to talk about the features of pre-science. Further development of knowledge about the starry sky, assimilated through Babylonian science, leads to the formation of astrology. A characteristic feature of astrology was the assumption of the impact of the movements of heavenly bodies both on the fate of the whole world and mankind (the doctrine of world cycles, already witnessed in Babylonia, and later in India), and on the fate of individuals (hence the idea of a horoscope). In a fairly systematized form, the foundations of these ideas are already attested in the Old Babylonian texts of divination (beginning of the 2nd millennium) and in later Assyrian tablets. The mythologized interpretation of heavenly bodies (especially comets) is characteristic of the entire European and Arab Middle Ages, when astrology took shape as a special discipline that combined the tradition of astral myths with the beginnings of astronomical knowledge.
Astral myths. (most often through astrology) influenced the artistic work of writers in Europe at the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of modern times (French poet F. Villon, English poet of the 17th century J. Donne; W. Shakespeare, later J. W. Goethe). In the subsequent period, images similar to A. m. are found (possibly as archetypal) among the symbolists (in Russia, for example, in A. Blok – cf. his poems addressed to the comet: “You threaten us with the last hour from blue eternity, star”).
Bibliography:
Anisimov A.F., Cosmological representations of the peoples of the North, M.-L., 1959; Nature and man in the religious ideas of the peoples of Siberia and the North. L., 1976; Ivanov V. V., Old Balkan and Common Indo-European. the text of the myth about the hero – the killer of the Dog and Eurasian parallels, in the book: Slavic and Balkan linguistics, v. 4, M., 1977; Hawkins, J., White, J., Unraveling the Stonehenge Mystery, trans. from English, M., 1973; Boll G., Kleine Schriften zur Sternkunde des Altertums, hrsg. von V. Stegemann, Lpz., 1950; Boll F. Bezold K., Sternglaube und Sterndeutung. Die Geschichte und das Wesen der Astrologie, 3 Aufl „ Lpz. – V., 1926; Gundel W., Sterne und Sternbilder im Glauben des Altertums und der Neuzeit, Bonn-Lpz., 1922; Roeder H., Eine neue Darstellung des gestirnten Himmels in Ägypten aus der Zeit um 1500 v. Chr., Das Weltall, 1928, Jg. 28, N. 1; Thomson S., The star-husband tale, in Liber saecuiaris in honorem J. Qvigstadii, Oslo, 1953 (Studia septentrionalia, t. 4); Scherer A., Gestirnnamen bei den indogermanischen Volkern, Hdlb., 1953.
V. V. Ivanov.
(Source: “Myths of the peoples of the world”.)
Photo by Alexander Kozlov: https://www.pexels.com/photo/marble-statue-at-lakeside-in-park-5842220/
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