“Georgian mythology”的意思、由来-开放百科全书

Like many another rich and ancient body of myth, that of the Georgians has been coloured by the belief systems of the

many cultures with which it has come into contact over the millennia. The bedrock upon which it is founded is, by definition, the indigenous mythology of the Kartvelian peoples themselves, whose first emergence from the darkness of prehistory is believed by many scholars to occur with the founding of the Kingdoms of Diauehi, Colchis and Iberia. This said, the consensus of scholarly opinion is that the proto-Kartvelians (possibly to be identified with the Mushki) originated in Ancient Anatolia, where their religious ideas would have come into contact with those of the Hattians, the Hittite empire, the Hurrians and Urartu. Later influences include the mythologies of the Ancient Greeks^[1], the Vainakh peoples^[1] and Iranians - the last-named comprising both the belief systems of the Northern Iranian nomad Scythians and Sarmatians (still preserved to some extent in the mythology of their descendants the Ossetians) and that of the Zoroastrian religion of the Ancient Persian empire, which has left such an enduring legacy among the nations of the Caucasus.^[2] (See also Iranian religions)^[3]

Georgian myths and legends are preserved mainly as popular tales. Many of them have eventually fused with Christian legends after the Christianization of Georgia seventeen centuries ago.

The evangelizing of Georgia was, however, far from uniform: while the lowland populations embraced Christianity in the fifth century, the highlanders of the mountain valleys in the Greater Caucasus range were converted only ten centuries later - and in a superficial way at that. It follows from this that accounts of pagan practices in the lowland Christian kingdom are poorly preserved in fragmentary form through brief passages in national chronicles and literary classics. Survivals of pagan beliefs and practices in the Georgian plains are thus, understandably, heavily influenced by Christianity, lacking in mythological unity and essentially folkloric.^[4]^[5]

Khevsur / Pshav Creation Myth ( N.E. Georgia )

In the beginning there existed only Morige Ghmerti and his Sister. She made him unhappy, so he cursed her. The sister became a demon. For every good thing that Morige Ghmerti created, the Demon created an evil thing to mar / oppose it. Woman too was a creation of the Demon, as were the lesser demons ( Georgian Devi (დევი) - see below ) , while man and the lesser gods were creations of Morige Ghmerti. The lesser gods grew weary in their unceasing fight with the demons and fled to the upper world of Zeskneli, leaving behind them men. The men however lacked the power to resist the demons, so the lesser gods ( Georgian Ghvtis Shvilni (ღვთის შვილნი) - see below ) hunted down the demons and drove them underground to the netherworld of Kveskneli. The demons left behind them the women who, like them, were part of the evil creation.^[5]

Men and women are thus only emanations of, or substitutes for, the gods above and the demons below, respectively. The same principle holds true for all created things : the entities and substances of the universe are divided into two antagonistic series, one wild and demonic, the other social and divine. The only entities or substances that are truly real are those of the upper world of Zeskneli and the lower world of Kveskneli. The middle world inhabited by humans is thus only a place of passage, mediation and meeting and the beings who people it have no essence in themselves, being only emanations of the divine or subterranean worlds, or else their unions.^[5]

This mountain Georgian creation myth recalls to some extent that of the Zoroastrians, in that it involves the marring of the good creation of a benign creator by an evil spirit ( compare Angra Mainyu's attempts to mar the creation of Ahura Mazda - see Bundahishn ). It differs radically, however, in its attribution of gender to the principles of good and evil and still more distinctively in its vision of a primordial heavenly harmony of twin creative principles as a brother and sister couple ( - disruption of which incestuous union sets in motion creation, with all its attendant woes).

Cosmology

In pre-Christian Georgian mythology, the universe is perceived as a sphere. It comprises three worlds or levels, known as skneli (სკნელი):

These three worlds are connected by a world tree growing on the edge of the universe (or in other accounts a tower, chain, or pillar) - a common theme in the mythologies of many other cultures ( compare, for example, Yggdrasil, Égig érő fa and Iroko ). Beyond them and the universe is Gareskneli (გარესკნელი), "the world of oblivion", an endless void of darkness and eternity.

There are also two bodies of water and two of fire ( each 'element' having both a subterranean and a celestial form ) with unique influences upon human life. The moon (considered a brother) and the sun (considered a sister) traverse these two realms regularly, but in opposite directions.

After Christianization, Zeskneli became associated with Heaven, Kveskneli with Hell, and spiritual travel between these worlds associated with death alone, to the exclusion of older, more shamanic conceptions of the otherworld journey.

Practices of Shamanic Type

The mountain Georgian equivalent of the shaman is the Kadagi, a person ( of either gender ) who has become permanently possessed by one of the class of minor ( i.e. local / specialised ) divinities known most often by the name of Hat'i ( = 'sign' ), but also by those of Dzhuar ( = 'cross' ) and Saghmto ( = 'divinity' ). The Hat'i numbered several hundred at the turn of the nineteenth century and the word Hat'i could designate not only a divinity of this class but also its manifestation ( as image, object or real or imaginary animal ) and the place ( temple / sanctuary ) where it was worshipped. The Kadag would go into trance, both at religious rituals and at events important in individual or collective life, and his or her indwelling Hat'i would foretell the future in a special secret or sacred 'language of the Hat'i '. ^[5] ( See also Spirit possession ).

A second type of practitioner of shamanic type (exclusively female) was the Mesultane - the word deriving from Georgian suli 'soul'. A Mesultane - usually a woman, although sometimes as young as a girl of nine - was a female who possessed 'the faculty of visiting the beyond in spirit'.

At certain times these females would plunge into 'a lethargy broken by mutterings', following which they would awaken and describe their 'journey', communicating the requests of the dead to particular individuals or to the community at large. From their ability to enter these trance states they would derive honours and prestige.^[6]

List of Supernatural Beings from Georgian Myth

Gods

Demigods, heroes, and notable people

Spirits, creatures, and other beings

See also

References

1. ^¹²Tuite, Kevin, The Meaning of Dæl, Symbolic and Spatial Associations of the South Caucasian Goddess of Game Animals, Université de Montréal
2. ^Medes and Persians in Transcaucasia: Archaeological Horizons in Northwestern-Iran and Transcaucasia by Stephan Kroll in Continuity of Empire. Assyria, Media, Persia ed. G.B. Lanfranchi, M. Roaf, R. Rollinger (Padova 2003).
3. ^¹² Marshall Lang, David, The Georgians, pub. Thames and Hudson 1966 as vol. 51 in the series Ancient Peoples and Places
4. ^Charachidzé, Georges, Le système religieux de la Géorgie païenne: analyse structurale d’une civilisation, pub. Paris: Maspero 1968.
5. ^¹²³⁴Charachidzé, Georges : essay : Religion and Myths of the Georgians of the Mountains in Bonnefoy, Yves Mythologies, translated from the original French edition of 1981 (and restructured in more encyclopedic form) by various translators under the direction of Prof.Wendy Doniger, pub. The University of Chicago Press 1991, vol. 1 pps. 308-316 ( in part 3 Celts, Norse, Slavs, Caucasians and their Neighbors ).
6. ^Ginzburg, Dr. Carlo Ecstasies: Deciphering the Witches' Sabbath, first published in English by Hutchinson Radius 1990 {{ISBN|0 09 174024 X}}, page 194.
7. ^Virsaladze, Elena Bagratovna, 1976 Gruzinskij okhotnichij Mif i Poeziia (translation : 'Georgian Myth and Poesy of the Hunt') pub. Nauka, Moscow.
8. ^Gvelesiani, Mariam. To Interrelations of Georgian Armazi, Armenian Aramazd and Iranian Ahuramazda.New Alliance Foundation.
9. ^Protectress of the Ibex
10. ^Chaudhri, Anna, The Caucasian Hunting Divinity, Male and Female: Traces of the Hunting-Goddess in Ossetic Folklore, essay constituting Chapter 13 of The Concept of the Goddess, eds. Sandra Billington and Miranda Green, pub. Routledge 1996 {{ISBN|0-415-14421-3}}, pps. 166-177.
11. ^Tuite (2004)
12. ^[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/beer-and-blood-sacrifices-meet-the-caucasus-pagans-who-worship-ancient-deities-10451756.html The Independent]
13. ^Tuite, Kevin (2000). "Lightning, sacrifice and possession in the traditional religions of the Caucasus".
14. ^Colarusso, John, Nart Sagas from the Caucasus, pub. Princeton University Press 2002 {{ISBN|0-691-02647-5}}. Tales 16, 17, 20 and 21.
15. ^¹²³⁴⁵⁶⁷⁸⁹¹⁰¹¹¹²¹³¹⁴¹⁵¹⁶¹⁷¹⁸¹⁹²⁰²¹²²²³²⁴²⁵²⁶²⁷Georgia: Past, Present, and Future
16. ^Testen, David. 1989. The kingdom of the Kajes in The Non-Slavic Languages of the USSR: Linguistic Studies ed. by H. Aronson, pps. 158-175. Chicago: Chicago Linguistic Society.
17. ^The Knight in Panther Skin, a free translation into prose from the Georgian verse of Shota Rustaveli by Katharine Vivian, pub. The Folio Society London 1977, page 166.
18. ^Vaja Pshavela: 3 Poems, translated into English by David Rayfield, pub. Borbalo Group, Georgia 2002.
19. ^{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GYjc5POwJjAC&pg=PA261|title=American, African, and Old European Mythologies|last=Bonnefoy|first=Yves|date=1993-05-15|publisher=University of Chicago Press|year=|isbn=9780226064574|location=|pages=260|language=en}}
20. ^The Saga of Sassoun a retelling in English from the original Armenian text of Bishop Garegin Srvandztiants (and later versions) by Mischa Kudian, pub. Kaye & Ward Ltd., London, 1970.