The Nart sagas (
Abkhaz: Нарҭаа ражәабжьқәа; ''Nartaa raƶuabƶkua''; ady, Нарт тхыдэжъхэр, translit=Nart txıdəĵxər; os, Нарты кадджытæ; ''Narty kaddžytæ''; ''Nartı kadjıtæ'') are a series of tales originating from the
North Caucasus
The North Caucasus, ( ady, Темыр Къафкъас, Temır Qafqas; kbd, Ишхъэрэ Къаукъаз, İṩxhərə Qauqaz; ce, Къилбаседа Кавказ, Q̇ilbaseda Kavkaz; , os, Цӕгат Кавказ, Cægat Kavkaz, inh, ...
. They form much of the basic
mythology
Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narrat ...
of the ethnic groups in the area, including
Abazin
The Abazin, Abazinians or Abaza ( Abaza and Abkhaz: Абаза; Circassian: Абазэхэр; russian: Абазины; tr, Abazalar; ar, أباظة), are an ethnic group of the Northwest Caucasus, closely related to the Abkhaz and Circassi ...
,
Abkhaz,
Circassian,
Ossetian,
Karachay
The Karachays ( krc, Къарачайлыла, Qaraçaylıla or таулула, , 'Mountaineers') are an indigenous Caucasian Turkic ethnic group in the North Caucasus. They speak Karachay-Balkar, a Turkic language. They are mostly situat ...
-
Balkar, and to some extent
Chechen-
Ingush folklore.
Etymology
The term ''nart'' comes from the
Ossetian ''Nartæ'', which is ''
plurale tantum
A ''plurale tantum'' (Latin for "plural only"; ) is a noun that appears only in the plural form and does not have a singular variant for referring to a single object. In a less strict usage of the term, it can also refer to nouns whose singular fo ...
'' of ''nar''.
The derivation of the
root
In vascular plants, the roots are the organs of a plant that are modified to provide anchorage for the plant and take in water and nutrients into the plant body, which allows plants to grow taller and faster. They are most often below the sur ...
''nar'' is of
Iranian
Iranian may refer to:
* Iran, a sovereign state
* Iranian peoples, the speakers of the Iranian languages. The term Iranic peoples is also used for this term to distinguish the pan ethnic term from Iranian, used for the people of Iran
* Iranian lan ...
origin, from
Proto-Iranian
Proto-Iranian or Proto-Iranic is the reconstructed proto-language of the Iranian languages branch of Indo-European language family and thus the ancestor of the Iranian languages such as Pashto, Persian, Sogdian, Zazaki, Ossetian, Mazandarani ...
''*nar'' for 'hero, man', descended from
Proto-Indo-European
Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. Its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-European languages. No direct record of Proto-Indo-E ...
''
*h₂nḗr''. In
Ingush and
Chechen, the word ''nart'' means 'giant'.
Characters
Some of the characters who feature prominently in the sagas are:
*
Sosruko
Sosruko, Sosruquo, or Sosriqwa (; os, Сослан, ''Soslan''; kbd, Сосрыкъуэ, ''Sosryqwa''; krc, Сосурукъ/Сосуркъа, ''Sosuruq/Sosurqa'') is a central character in many cycles of the Nart sagas of the Caucasus.
Sosr ...
(
Ubykh,
Abkhaz and
Adyghe: ''sawsərəqʷa'' (Саусырыкъо);
Ossetian: ''Soslan'' (Сослан)) – a hero who sometimes also appears as a
trickster
In mythology and the study of folklore and religion, a trickster is a character in a story (god, goddess, spirit, human or anthropomorphisation) who exhibits a great degree of intellect or secret knowledge and uses it to play tricks or otherwi ...
*
Batraz
Batraz, Batradz, or Pataraz (Ossetian language, Ossetian: ) is a central character in the North Caucasian myths known as the Nart sagas. The Narts were the central figures of the folklore of peoples of the North Caucasus.
Myth
Batraz (''Бат ...
(Ossetian: Батырадз) – the leader and greatest warrior of the Narts
*
Satanaya
Satanaya ( Adyghe Сэтэнай ; Kabardian Сэтэней ; Ubykh ; Ossetian Сатана Satana) is a mythological figure who appears in many cycles of the Nart sagas of the North Caucasus.
Satanaya is the mother of the Narts, a fertility ...
(Ubykh: ''satanaja''; Adyghe: ''Setenej'' (Сэтэнай); Ossetian: ''Satana'' (Сатана)) – the mother of the Narts, a
fertility
Fertility is the capability to produce offspring through reproduction following the onset of sexual maturity. The fertility rate is the average number of children born by a female during her lifetime and is quantified demographically. Fertili ...
figure and matriarch
*
Tlepsh Tlepsh ( Adyghe Лъэпш ) is a mythological figure who appears (as a blacksmith and also a powerful leader) in some cycles of the Nart sagas of the Caucasus, in which his Ossetian counterpart is the smith Kurdalægon. Tlepsh's name is a borrowi ...
(Adyghe and
Abaza: '; Ossetian: ''K
wyrdalægon'' (Куырдалæгон)) – a blacksmith deity
*
Syrdon (Ossetian: Сырдон) – a trickster figure compared by
Georges Dumezil Georges may refer to:
Places
* Georges River, New South Wales, Australia
* Georges Quay (Dublin)
*Georges Township, Fayette County, Pennsylvania
Other uses
*Georges (name)
* ''Georges'' (novel), a novel by Alexandre Dumas
* "Georges" (song), a 19 ...
to the Norse god
Loki
Loki is a god in Norse mythology. According to some sources, Loki is the son of Fárbauti (a jötunn) and Laufey (mentioned as a goddess), and the brother of Helblindi and Býleistr. Loki is married to Sigyn and they have two sons, Narfi or Na ...
(see
:ru:Сырдон)
*
Pkharmat
Pkharmat ( ce, Пхьармат , translit=Pẋarmat , lit=creator of the nation/language/land) is a legendary hero of the Vainakh people who stole fire for mankind, thus allowing them to forge metal, cook food, and light their homes, and uniting ...
(
Chechen: ''Pẋarmat'' (Пхьармат)) – in the
Nakh peoples
The Nakh peoples, also known as ''Vainakh peoples'' (Chechen/Ingush: , apparently derived from Chechen , Ingush "our people"; also Chechen-Ingush), are a group of Caucasian peoples identified by their use of the Nakh languages and other cult ...
'
Vainakh epos, a
blacksmith
A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...
figure who steals fire from the gods for the mortals
*
Dzerassae
Dzerassæ ( os, Дзерассæ) is a figure in Ossetian mythology best known as the daughter of the water deity Donbettyr and the mother of several Nart saga heroes. She was the wife of Aexsaertaeg. With him, she was the mother of the twin heroe ...
(Ossetian: Дзерассæ) – daughter of the sea-god
Donbettyr
Donbettyr ( os, Донбеттыр) is the god of all waters, and the protector of fish and fishermen in Ossetian mythology. He is related to a Scythian deity of the same name. His name is possibly derived from ''don'', meaning 'river', derived fr ...
, and mother of many Nart heroes
Study and significance
The first Westerner to take note of the Nart stories was the German scholar
Julius von Klaproth, who traveled to the Caucasus during the first decade of the 19th century. The earliest written account of the material is attributed to the
Kabardian author
Shora Begmurzin Nogma
''A Door into Ocean'' is a 1986 feminist science fiction novel by Joan Slonczewski. The novel's themes include ecofeminism and nonviolent revolution, as well as Slonczewski's own knowledge in the field of biology.
Premise
The novel is set in the ...
, who wrote in Russian in 1835–1843, published posthumously in 1861. A German translation by
Adolf Berge
Adolph Bergé or Adolf Pyetrovich Berzhe (russian: Адольф Петрович Берже) (July 28, 1828, St. Petersburg – January 31, 1886, Tiflis) was an Imperial Russian bureaucrat and an Orientalist historian, with principal interests i ...
was published in 1866 . The stories exist in the form of prose tales as well as epic songs.
It is generally known that all of the Nart corpora have an ancient Iranian core, inherited from the
Scythians
The Scythians or Scyths, and sometimes also referred to as the Classical Scythians and the Pontic Scythians, were an Ancient Iranian peoples, ancient Eastern Iranian languages, Eastern
* : "In modern scholarship the name 'Sakas' is reserved f ...
,
Sarmatians
The Sarmatians (; grc, Σαρμαται, Sarmatai; Latin: ) were a large confederation of Ancient Iranian peoples, ancient Eastern Iranian languages, Eastern Iranian peoples, Iranian Eurasian nomads, equestrian nomadic peoples of classical ant ...
, and
Alans
The Alans (Latin: ''Alani'') were an ancient and medieval Iranian nomadic pastoral people of the North Caucasus – generally regarded as part of the Sarmatians, and possibly related to the Massagetae. Modern historians have connected the Al ...
(the latter being the ancestors of the
Ossetians
The Ossetians or Ossetes (, ; os, ир, ирæттæ / дигорӕ, дигорӕнттӕ, translit= ir, irættæ / digoræ, digorænttæ, label=Ossetic) are an Iranian ethnic group who are indigenous to Ossetia, a region situated across the no ...
). However, they also contain abundant local
North Caucasian accretions of great antiquity, which sometimes reflect an even more archaic past.
The Ossetes consider the Nart epic to be a central feature of their national identity. Based especially on the Ossetian versions, the Nart stories have been valued by scholars as a window towards the world of the
Iranian
Iranian may refer to:
* Iran, a sovereign state
* Iranian peoples, the speakers of the Iranian languages. The term Iranic peoples is also used for this term to distinguish the pan ethnic term from Iranian, used for the people of Iran
* Iranian lan ...
-speaking cultures of antiquity, and as an important source for comparative Indo-European mythology. For example, the philologist
Georges Dumézil used the Ossetian division of the Narts into three
clan
A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship
and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clans may claim descent from founding member or apical ancestor. Clans, in indigenous societies, tend to be endogamous, meaning ...
s to support his ''
Trifunctional Hypothesis
The trifunctional hypothesis of prehistoric Proto-Indo-European society postulates a tripartite ideology ("''idéologie tripartite''") reflected in the existence of three classes or castes— priests, warriors, and commoners (farmers or trades ...
'' that the
Proto-Indo-Europeans
The Proto-Indo-Europeans are a hypothetical prehistoric population of Eurasia who spoke Proto-Indo-European (PIE), the ancestor of the Indo-European languages according to linguistic reconstruction.
Knowledge of them comes chiefly from t ...
were similarly divided into three castes—warriors, priests, and commoners.
The
Northwest Caucasian
The Northwest Caucasian languages, also called West Caucasian, Abkhazo-Adyghean, Abkhazo-Circassian, Circassic, or sometimes ''Pontic languages'' (from the historical region of Pontus, in contrast to ''Caspian languages'' for the Northeast Cauc ...
(
Circassian, Abkhaz-Abasin and Ubykh) versions are also highly valuable because they contain more archaic accretions and preserve "all the odd details constituting the detritus of earlier traditions and beliefs", as opposed to the Ossetian ones, which have been "reworked to form a smooth narrative".
Connections to other mythology
Some motifs in the Nart sagas are shared by Greek mythology. The story of
Prometheus
In Greek mythology, Prometheus (; , , possibly meaning " forethought")Smith"Prometheus". is a Titan god of fire. Prometheus is best known for defying the gods by stealing fire from them and giving it to humanity in the form of technology, kn ...
chained to
Mount Kazbek
Mount Kazbek or Mount Kazbegi is a dormant stratovolcano and one of the major mountains of the Caucasus, located on the Russian-Georgian border - in Russia's North Ossetia region and Georgia's Kazbegi District.
At 5,034 m (16,515 ft) high, it ...
or to
Mount Elbrus
Mount Elbrus ( rus, links=no, Эльбрус, r=Elbrus, p=ɪlʲˈbrus; kbd, Ӏуащхьэмахуэ, 'uaşhəmaxuə; krc, Минги тау, Mingi Taw) is the highest and most prominent peak in Russia and Europe. It is situated in the we ...
in particular is similar to an element in the Nart sagas. These shared motifs are seen by some as indicative of an earlier proximity of the
Caucasian
Caucasian may refer to:
Anthropology
*Anything from the Caucasus region
**
**
** ''Caucasian Exarchate'' (1917–1920), an ecclesiastical exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Caucasus region
*
*
*
Languages
* Northwest Caucasian l ...
peoples to the ancient Greeks, also shown in the myth of the
Golden Fleece
In Greek mythology, the Golden Fleece ( el, Χρυσόμαλλον δέρας, ''Chrysómallon déras'') is the fleece of the golden-woolled,, ''Khrusómallos''. winged ram, Chrysomallos, that rescued Phrixus and brought him to Colchis, where ...
, in which
Colchis
In Greco-Roman geography, Colchis (; ) was an exonym for the Georgian polity of Egrisi ( ka, ეგრისი) located on the coast of the Black Sea, centered in present-day western Georgia (country), Georgia.
Its population, the Colchians a ...
is generally accepted to have been part of modern-day
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to the ...
.
In the book ''From Scythia to Camelot'', authors
C. Scott Littleton
Covington Scott Littleton (July 1, 1933 – November 25, 2010) was an American anthropologist who was Professor and Chair of the Department of Anthropology at Occidental College. A co-founder of the ''Journal of Indo-European Studies'', Littleto ...
and Linda A. Malcor speculate that many aspects of the
Arthurian legends
The Matter of Britain is the body of medieval literature and legendary material associated with Great Britain and Brittany and the legendary kings and heroes associated with it, particularly King Arthur. It was one of the three great Wes ...
are derived from the Nart sagas. The proposed vector of transmission is the Alans, some of whom migrated into northern France at around the time the Arthurian legends were forming. As expected, these parallels are most evident in the Ossetian versions, according to researcher
John Colarusso
John Colarusso is a linguist specializing in Caucasian languages. Since 1976, he has taught at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario.
Colarusso has published more than sixty-five articles on linguistics, myths, politics, and the Caucasus; he h ...
. For more details, see "
Historicity of King Arthur – Lucius Artorius Castus and the Sarmatian connection."
Differences between Nart legends
There are some differences between the various versions of the Nart legends. For example, the Ossetian versions depict the Nartic tribe as composed of three distinct clans that sometimes rival one another: the brave Æxsærtægkatæ (to whom the most prominent Narts belong), the rich Borætæ, and the wise Alægatæ; the Circassian versions do not depict such a division. The Abkhaz versions are unique in describing the Narts as a single
nuclear family
A nuclear family, elementary family, cereal-packet family or conjugal family is a family group consisting of parents and their children (one or more), typically living in one home residence. It is in contrast to a single-parent family, the larger ...
composed of Satanaya's one hundred sons. All of these versions describe the Narts as a single coherent group of (mostly) "good" heroes.
Some Nakh (
Chechen-
Ingush) legends include a group called the ''Nart-Orxustxoi'', which includes the most prominent Narts known from the other versions (e.g. Seska-Solsa corresponding to Sosruko/Soslan, Khamtsha-Patarish corresponding to Batraz/Batradz, etc.) In contrast to the Ossetian and Abkhaz versions, the Nakh legends depict the Narts as warlike bandits who fight against local good heroes such as Koloi-Kant and Qinda-Shoa (with Qinda-Shoa corresponding to Sawway/Shawey).
Shayan Javadi, the Persian translator of "Nart" by matching the Ossetian, Abkhaz, Abaza, Circassian, and Ubykh versions, has been able to identify the lineage of some characters who have only been named. For instance, by recreating a character named "Qânzezâd (Abaza: Qanzhoquo)," he believes that he is the son of Azaukhan in the Ossetian version.
See also
*
Chechen-Ingush mythology
*
Epic poetry
An epic poem, or simply an epic, is a lengthy narrative poem typically about the extraordinary deeds of extraordinary characters who, in dealings with gods or other superhuman forces, gave shape to the mortal universe for their descendants.
...
*
Norse Saga
is a series of science fantasy role-playing video games by Square Enix. The series originated on the Game Boy in 1989 as the creation of Akitoshi Kawazu at Square. It has since continued across multiple platforms, from the Super NES to the Play ...
*
Ossetian mythology
Ossetian mythology is the collective term for the beliefs and practices of the Ossetian people of the Caucasus region, which contains several gods and supernatural beings. The religion itself is believed to be of Scythian origin, but contains many ...
*
Scythian mythology
The Scythian religion refers to the mythology, ritual practices and beliefs of the Scythian cultures, a collection of closely related ancient Iranian peoples who inhabited Central Asia and the Pontic–Caspian steppe in Eastern Europe throughout C ...
*
''The Magic Pipe'' (film)
*
Uastyrdzhi
Nykhas Uastyrdzhi ( os, Ныхас Уастырджи, ) is the name of Saint George in Ossetian folklore. Uastyrdzhi is the patron of the male sex and travellers as well as being a guarantor of oaths, like his Iranian counterpart Mithra wit ...
*
Kurdalægon
Kurdalægon ( os, Куырдалӕгон), also spelled and known as Kuịrdalägon, Kurd-Alägon, Aläugon, Kurd-Alä-Uärgon, is the heavenly deity of blacksmiths in Ossetian mythology. His epithet is "the heavenly one"; he shoes the dead man's ...
*
Bogatyr
A bogatyr ( rus, богатырь, p=bəɡɐˈtɨrʲ, a=Ru-богатырь.ogg) or vityaz ( rus, витязь, p=ˈvʲitʲɪsʲ) is a stock character in medieval East Slavic legends, akin to a Western European knight-errant. Bogatyrs appear m ...
References
Sources
*
*
**Also published as , with an introduction by
Adrienne Mayor
Adrienne Mayor (born 1946) is a historian of ancient science and a classical folklorist.
Mayor specializes in ancient history and the study of "folk science", or how pre-scientific cultures interpreted data about the natural world, and how these ...
*
*
Further reading
Circassian Nart sagas
* , English translations
* , Russian translations
*Articles:
**
**
**
Ossetian Nart sagas
*
*, three collections of legends (Dzhanayev, Gutiev and Skodtayev/Kibirov, the latter from the Digor dialect area). The first collection (the 1946 Dzhanayev edition) is also available in the form o
olderan
neweraudio recordings
*: a translation, with slight modifications, of the Dzhanayev edition at the previous link
* (legends collected from the Digor dialect area, edited by M. Gardanti)
Abkhaz Nart sagas
*
Karachay-Balkar Nart sagas
*
* , detailed set of tales
*Russian translations from
** , (part 1)
** , (part 2)
Chechen-Ingush Nart sagas
*
*Accounts of Chechen and Ingush beliefs by Ch.E.Akhriev
**
**
*
Miscellaneous
* , Causcasian folklore articles
*
* Дувакин Евгений Николаевич. "Кельто-кавказские фольклорные параллели и возможные сценарии их происхождения"
OLKLORE PARALLELS BETWEEN CELTIC AND CAUCASIAN TRADITIONS: THE EURASIAN CONTEXT AND POSSIBLE SCENARIOS OF THE ORIGIN Индоевропейское языкознание и классическая филология, no. 23-1, 2019, pp. 295-307. URL: https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/kelto-kavkazskie-folklornye-paralleli-i-vozmozhnye-stsenarii-ih-proishozhdeniya (дата обращения: 29.09.2021). (In Russian)
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nart Saga
Epic poems
European folklore
North Caucasus
Ossetian mythology
Abkhaz literature
Ubykh language
Circassian mythology
Sagas