The topic of the princes' symbolism turned out to be very interesting and multifaceted. It directly touches the foundation of the ancient worldview - Rod. Therefore, I decided to continue my series of articles dedicated to the Princes. The first part - "Princes and Centaurs" - will receive its logical continuation next time, but for now I would like to concentrate on another, but closely related symbol from the same topic, which organically fits into the whole story. Again, it will be difficult not to touch on related topics, which, like branches, intertwine with each other, but I will try to focus on only one element out of many, otherwise you can talk endlessly about everything and nothing at the same time.
So, you probably noticed that in the heraldry of many European houses there is a bird … conditionally an Eagle.
So, he was on the banners of the Roman legionaries - the famous Aquila. Wikipedia says very succinctly:
From the Roman Empire, the eagle passed to the Holy Roman Empire, gaining a second head. And by the way, mind you, "Roman bird", not "Roman eagle".
I am now following the official chronology, so do not reflect too much on the topic “There was no Rome! Everything was invented in the 19th century !! " From a symbolic point of view, no matter when it was all written, even in the "oldest" manuscripts we see only pieces of the puzzle, fragments of meanings, while in the songs and ceremonies of the 19th century there are missing pieces. Such is the chronological mess.
Again, I'm not touching the difference between a two-headed and a normal eagle. The main thing is the very image of the bird. Yes, yes, you need to look not where the clever guys usually point: if they poke in the head, look at the wings …
The concentration of eagles in Eastern Europe is going through the roof, losing its strength in the West, and that says something. If we look at the coat of arms of the Russian Empire, we will see that, for example, the Chernigov, Prussian or Polish princes have the Eagle in the heraldry:
Promotional video:
And if the bird is not on the coat of arms itself, then it can sit somewhere on top of the "extended version" of the image.
Going deep into the ancestral roots, we meet the Eagle in the Piast heraldry - the first Polish princely dynasty, officially semi-mythical and, probably, completely mythical unofficially.
Coat of arms of the Piast. Polish white eagle.
This white eagle has its own legend, according to which the ancestor Lech founded the oldest city of Gniezno where he saw a white eagle. The Polish Gniezno is, of course, the NEST, which already says a lot about this symbol.
Subsequently, the white eagle became the sign of the entire Rzeczpospolita.
The black eagle was the symbol of the first princely dynasty of Chekhov. Before he was replaced by Leo for reasons not clear to me. However, the replacement was made by Vladislav II after his coronation. And we see a similar lion on the coat of arms of the Thuringian dynasty, with which Vladislav became related, having married Jutta. You yourself understand: this does not happen for a prince to change the symbolism of his kind to please his wife's family. Something is unclean there. The Eagles gave way to the Lions.
Remember these two ancient dynasties with their eagles, they will still be useful to us.
The Serbs also have a white eagle since the Middle Ages, two-headed this time, which they inherited from the Nemanich family (ancestor - Stefan Neman), whose history is closely connected with Raska.
Help from Wikipedia:
Does Raska, in which the Germans ruled Nemanichi, surrounded by the independent Krajina, remind you of anything?
The two-headed white eagle also appears in the heraldry of the Petrovic-Njegos dynasty, whose founder Danila was Metropolitan of Montenegro. The modern coat of arms of this country is also with an eagle (and with a lion, which the Petrovichs already had).
Of course, the Russian double-headed eagle is historically a kind of Byzantine symbol of the Palaeologus clan, whose name I would translate as “Ancient symbol” (πάλαι - long ago, before; λόγος - logos, about which you can read in the article about “God the Word”). You yourself understand that this is far from a self-name, but rather a historical name, the same as Tamerlane, for example. As if the instruction of masons to historians "look here." The clan's coat of arms is this:
Well, you can decide for yourself how much you trust historians. I am still a supporter of the fact that "it is also written on the fence" …
The fact is that Byzantium, Russia, and part of the Balkans are Orthodoxy, the Holy Roman Empire with Poland and the Czech Republic is Catholicism. There are one- and two-headed eagles here and there, so you cannot attach to the political-religious canon, and then all the Byzantine claims, like the Roman ones, have nothing to do with it. In the case of Byzantium, in general, everything is complicated - this is the same "Greek kingdom" that was cherished and cherished by the "true Orthodox" Romanovs, as the source of all Russian religious spirituality of the Greek rite. Like, where would we be without Byzantium …
In any case, the Palaeologic double-headed eagle is the same unknown symbol as the European single-headed eagles. However, the European ones have one very serious justification: the eagle is the bird of Zeus (Jupiter). And this is already a good hint and even a vector.
The first princes of the Western Slavs
See what an interesting thing. It was not for nothing that I asked you to remember the first ruling dynasties of Poles and Czechs. Indeed, in their idea, they echo each other and the Hellenic myth, in which the eagle also appears. But you should have already got used to the fact that I am giving a bunch of official information not because I believe it, but only in order to extract unsinkable symbols from it and based on them tell a slightly different story.
At one time, each nation composed its own "national" chronicle. Well, so that at least some kind of national idea was, around which you can rally a herd, pride in the past great achievements of ancestors (there are not very many of our own), etc. Now alternatively minded Russians have the idea of "Hyperborea", "Arctida", well, or "Tartaria". The older generation has the USSR and, forgive me, but with all the love for the Motherland, Victory in the Great Patriotic War (not fictional, but seriously cultivated). In the 19th century, there was the Tale of Bygone Years. For the Czechs, the Chronica Boemorum from Kozma of Prague served this purpose. It's all foldable and European-style. We read (translated into Russian by G. E. Sanchuk in 1962):
A little distracted. I have not yet analyzed this character separately, but Libusha haunts me. If only because, in addition to the Czech Libušin, there are also the Polish cities of Lubava and Lublin, in Germany there is the famous center of the super-influential trading Hansa Lübeck - the former Slavic Lubica Lubica, renamed a la Deutsch. The Lyubech Congress in Lyubech is also remembered in history. Well, and in the legend about the founding of Kiev (which may actually turn out to be the Polish Kuyava … in the same place next to Chelmno or Kulm - that is, "Novgorod" (Holmgard) from the Scandinavian sagas), three brothers appear with their sister Lybed (Swan) - what is not yet one Libusha? The history of Eastern Europe is a mess, my friends …
But back to the Czechs. It so happened that the proud men no longer wanted to be under the thumb and forced Libusha to choose a prince for them … I note that here, as in the Norman theory of the Rus, the prince must be called from afar:
This moment is good to feel the real power of the prince and realize his role. This is a dad whom children-subjects cannot contradict. And that's okay! Religion in one God is based on the same principle. For THE FATHER IS THE LAW! And this law [in a decent world] serves the benefit of society, even if someone is not satisfied. For both the father-god-prince and the children-subjects are all one system that must survive at any cost, which is organized based on its own needs. Father-Prince-God is the spirit of this system, the bearer of its moral principles and traditions. He protects, he punishes. You should know and understand this, but I ask you to remember it for further analysis. Again, the prince is not a god, but he is deified, since he is the face of the entire system, its embodiment in the people. Like Jesus for all Christians.
And so it happened:
I would like to draw your attention to the fact that the local "enslavement" is equivalent to the Orthodox "servant of God" and has no negative meaning.
To the attentive reader, I believe, the connection with the famous Greek myth has already been opened, but for now I will turn to the Poles. If the Czechs had the first princes from the Přemyslid clan, then the Poles were from the Piastovichi. Do you think this is such a big difference?
We open "Chronica et gesta ducum sive principum polonorum" by Gallus Anonymous (translated into Russian by L. M. Popova, 1961):
Again we see that the future prince is connected with foreigners.
The highlighted fragments are markers by which it is possible to determine that this event belongs to the Christmastide ritual (drinking mead, slaughtering a pig-boar, giving it a name in accordance with fortune-telling-astrology). From the passage, we see that the history of the Poles begins with the PAHAR and the ALIEN, like the history of the Czech Přemyslids. Well, on the territory of Poland there is a city called Przemysl, which Russian sources call Przemysl. There were several Przemysls among the Piasts. From Wikipedia:
Well, and drum roll…. In Greek myths, “thinking ahead” is Προμηθεύς, i.e. Prometheus.
Prometheus had a brother, Epitemeus, who made trouble by allowing his wife Pandora to open the damn box (or actually a vessel) … Epitemeus, by analogy with Prometheus, is translated as “thinking after”, that is, “in hindsight”. And in the Czech Chronicle, Přemysl had a successor, Nezamysl. The parallel is simply the most direct, which makes it completely ridiculous, why historians do not see it point-blank.
I doubt that "thinking ahead" is the best dictionaries have to offer. For example, the Polish “pesky” “Przemyśl” in German sounds like “Premissel”, the Czechs spell this city “Přemyšl”. Here it is absolutely impossible not to see the analogy of our "Industry, Industry" in this "Przemysl". From Dahl's dictionary:
That is, Prometheus / Přemysl with us is the one who arranges the future, tries, cares about someone, gets something for life with his work and mind. That is why the Slavic "Prometheans" were PAHARS (Oracz), since the Plow and the Arable Land are well-known symbols of the cultivated field, which differs from the wild in that it was plowed (worked on), and now it is ready to be useful. That is, CULTURED: Latin "cultus" - "processed, cultivated; protected, nurtured; (figuratively) revered, respected; (figuratively) dressed, decorated."
And what did the Old Testament tell us there? Adam and Eve CLOTHED (covered themselves with leaves) and left Paradise to earth to work in the sweat of their brow. That is, the comrades have cultivated.
And we see that Přemysl gave the Czechs laws, taught them how to live, made them CULTURAL, which Libusha warned them about - they lost their freedom, that is, they ceased to be wild, but had the rules and obligations - they became “servants of God” … not in the biblical sense, but in the normal way, they found the Patron. And patronage - from the word "cover", that is, the same cultural clothing, by the way. How Uranus "covered" Gaia everywhere, resulting in the appearance of the first titans. Partly about slaves was already discussed when we talked about the Aryans.
The whole trick of the biblical cover of nakedness is that it comes from Satan (read the article about the Evil One). And that's okay. Therefore, Satan is again denied when they are baptized … naive. But this fact is very useful to us.
And no matter what all sorts of clever people say, Hellenic poetry is much more subtle and turns to more ancient symbols. If the Czechs / Poles have a deeply peasant image of arable land, the Greeks go further - they speak of divine fire.
Prometheus
Prometheus stole the fire of Hephaestus and took it to the people, for which he was severely punished by Zeus: chained to a rock and given to be torn apart by an eagle, which every day pecked at his liver.
It is interesting for our topic that in this myth both Přemysl-Prometheus and the heraldic symbol of the Přemyslids / Piastovichs - the Eagle, from which everything began, appear simultaneously. Well, isn't it weird? This means our client!
This image is now accepted to be regarded as revolutionary. Titan went against the patriarchal elite system, for which he suffered. Self-sacrifice in the name of humanity and other near-Christian blah blah blah …
However, let's not forget that this myth, like all others, does not apply to the modern system of values, although it has not changed much, and one should not so quickly pull on it the meanings that we are operating now.
Let's get rid of the Hollywood trendy color of the old legend. After all, it was Western playwrights who drove the image of a revolutionary hero into our minds. Any film about a superhero or a young dreaming romance is built on exactly this - to go against the system. And in ancient times such "hot heads" would be called "ghouls". So the meaning of this legend must be sought in other places that have nothing to do with the fashion of the 21st century.
To be more precise, the origins of the myth are the same as in general in 80% of all Indo-European folklore. The fight of the "thunderer" with the "cunning". Just as the Scandinavian Thor chained poor Loki in a cave, hanging over him a snake, whose venom continually dripped onto the sufferer's head, so Zeus hangs Prometheus for divine punishment. We, apparently, also once had a similar plot, where Veles acted as a martyr, and Perun acted as a punishing hand, but already among the Balts, this plot is very much smoothed out. A kind of version with an age rating of "13+", when there is no blood, no strong word … Censorship. But we have some details that complement the big picture. In Christianity, you yourself know who was chained to suffer, and, by the way, according to some spiritual verses, they did it with aspen stakes (nails), like some kind of evil …
But how dare I speak unflatteringly about Prometheus? About who brought fire to man ?!
Well, in general, it was not me who came up with it, just read the legends more carefully, and not study them from encyclopedias.
First of all, I will immediately say that, perhaps, Prometheus got his name just from the very fact of his receiving fire. He did not create it out of nothing. He GOT it. I mean, THROUGHTED and carried it to a person, thereby TAKING CARE of him, PROVIDED THE FUTURE of a rational being. - Everything, as according to Dahl's dictionary. And now a person himself can trade and take care of his future.
And here are the epithets that the main written source of Hellenic mythology Hesiod (whose name, by the way, means "Asiatic") selects for Prometheus in his "Theogony":
- "ποικιλόβουλον": the first word ποικίλον is cunning, changeable, confusing, variegated, diverse, patterned, ambiguous. The image is clearly visible. That is, not particularly "admiring" color of this "cunning" epithet, rather "ornate" and "multivariance", which, in fact, is a trick. The second word is "βουλή" - "will" (yes, as I see, I read it), well, or a dictionary (if you don't believe me) "intention, decision, plan, project." The official translation is "Prometheus, cunning for inventions", but, as we see, "Προμηθέα ποικιλόβουλον" is more about "resourcefulness" or "fickleness of will (intentions, desires)". Honestly, like in a frying pan)).
- "ἀγκυλομήτης", where the second root is associated with the mind (according to the dictionary "μῆτις" is "skill, plan, scheme, plan, ability to weigh in the mind, idea"), consonant with our "thought", and the first is "angle", that is, in the meaning of "curve" (having the shape of a hook or angle), which pokes our nose into "cunning". And there is proof of this. After all, Prometheus became famous even before the theft of the fire: he tried to fool Zeus when making a sacrifice, which has already caused the displeasure of the Almighty. Well, not a saint at all. This is what the epithet "ἀγκυλομήτης" - "the cunning thinker" tells us. Veresaev translated this word similarly - "cunning".
- "πάντων πέρι μήδεα εἰδώς" is the official translation of "among all the most cunning for inventions", but after digging in the dictionaries, I came to the conclusion that there is still something like "the image is all around," I apologize for the tongue-tied language. In general, one who can express anything in any form (or formula).
- "Προμηθέα ποικίλον αἰολόμητιν" - the official translation of V. V. Veresaeva says: "Prometheus with a cunning, skillful mind", but the word αἰολόμητιν is not taken into account in the translation at all. I know the word "αἰολό" from a passage from the Odyssey, it has the same root as our Veles:
In principle, without going into details, one could stop at this and say that αἰολόμητιν is “one who conceals his intentions / thoughts” and this will be true. But if you expand your idea a little, then this “concealment” is the most direct sign of the Evil Devil, Shaitan, Veles, Prometheus …
It was interesting to read from Afanasyev that the Slavic word … I don’t remember what kind of people, “Prometnuti” means “Turn around” in the context of putting on a disguise. And that's all right, it's all about the same external and deceptive (changeable) appearance, which was demonstrated by the mummers "devils" during Christmas time. And this again runs parallel to the Veles theme. But back to the "Provider".
We see that he turned out to be not a noble revolutionary at all, but “dodgy”, “ornate thinking”, “expressing everything”, which echoes “concealing thoughts”, since to express something is to clothe it in some form. And this is the first layer, which does not take into account the depth of the root "μητι", which is constantly repeated here, as if "thoughts". But if you reread all the translations of it, and even run to the Sanskrit "mani" and compare it with "man" - "man", then you will understand that in the epithets of Pro-METEU there is a lot of "figurative expression" or " representations, imaginations "(the word" meditation "will help you … just not that esoteric garbage, which is stuffed with the" spiritual gurus "of the profane, but a real Latin word). In principle, this is in plain text and is said in the words of Hesiod analyzed above "Ἰαπετιονίδη, πάντων πέρι μήδεα εἰδώς", where "πέρι μήδεα "- why not" about metey "?
Since "Satan" was originally called the material nature of our changeable reality (in contrast to its spiritual - semantic - component, after all, matter is only a shell, a sign in reality, but what is hidden behind it is the subject of philosophy and, in general, "divine"), and not some kind of evil, pumped-up horned guy, you can roughly imagine what the "hiding" Prometheus is … And what does this semi-biblical image of "clothing" mentioned earlier have to do with it? And you can also think about why idols and idols were called "pagan" and "satanic", and why they were so important. As well as scarecrows, and Christ, who by his crucifixion is so much like a scarecrow … And why is he called "the son of God", that is, "the INCARNATION of God on earth."
Uh-huh, and Prometheus with us, then, brought fire to man … And what did we do with the stuffed animals there? BURNED!
Actually, that's why Prometheus steals fire. The Greeks did not have such a clear personification of fire as the Agni of the Hindus, which is almost the most important object of the Rig Veda. Therefore, they used the fire of Hephaestus in the legend. As you know, Hephaestus is a blacksmith, he CREATES. And he does it with fire. It embodies the conceived into reality through work with fire. And again there is a reference to the "Production - Production", and the "Craft" too. After all, with the help of conventional fire (again, this is just a symbol), something new is achieved, which did not exist in our reality before, but from what is obtained (invented and created) this reality is being built, isn't it?
The dearest is sacrificed to the fire to get what it wants. As in real life, if you want to get something, you have to spend resources, labor, mental, material. Fire acts as a process. It's like baking something ready-made from raw material (design) in an oven.
But that would be too easy …
For Hindus, Agni is a transmitter between gods and people, and this is the main theme of Přemysl / Prometheus - a cultural hero who taught the savages to live “like a human being,” that is, “toiling in the sweat of their brow”, according to the laws of “gods”.
You just need to grow up a little with your mind and forget that the gods are "X-men" hovering on the clouds. In more or less high-quality sources on archetypes and the psychology of society, one can find a completely sane version that the gods are personified rules of different spheres of life, according to which one must live (“worship - obey”) so that no trouble happens (“punishment of the gods”). Take, here, the Labor Protection Rules, familiar to everyone who works in production. What do production veterans usually say about them? - "They are written in blood." That is, these rules are not taken from the ceiling, as, say, the notorious "Slavic-Aryan Vedas" or "Veles's book", but from real experience and, unfortunately, the practice of accidents. Those "divine" rules in question become a tradition, after which their source is successfully forgotten, taboos and rituals come instead,and various poets and scribblers come up with a plot that holds the meaningless remains together. This is how myths and rituals are obtained that have been observed for generations. "Because everyone does it, and I do it." “BECAUSE THIS IS THIS IS THE PARENTS AND THEIR PARENTS DOING” …
This is where we need folklore fire.
Bonfires and candles
Three questions to fill in: 1 - why are the holidays of Christmastide (German Yule) and Kupala, which is mirror to him (as well as the Celtic days of Samhain and Beltane, alternative and shifted in time by a couple of months), associated with the so-called "rampant of the evil spirits", are accompanied by making fires? 2 - why in churches they light a candle when they pray for something? 3 - why is it customary to make a wish for a shooting star?
There is only one answer to these questions, and it is related to what is written above.
From Stoglava:
From the "Struggle of Christianity with the remnants of paganism in ancient Russia" by N. M. Galkovsky:
Well, and from "Paganism of Ancient Rus" by Rybakov B. Ya., who brought these data together:
Eh, the tongue itches here and tell about Thursday, but the article has already grown to a huge size …
Well, and for flavor:
The purifying effect of fire is, of course, not quite the topic. But still curious.
It turns out that fire is a connection with ancestors during a commemoration. That is why we still light the icon lamp. Therefore, in churches, we also put a candle next to the icons of saints during prayer for well-being, health, and so on. After all, "holy saints" present us with the image of our ancestors. And it is no coincidence that every city once had its patron saint, for the city goes back to the founding families.
A candle is placed to "call" them "to the light". A candle, like a ritual bonfire, is like a transmitter between the worshiper and the ancestors-saints. When praying, they use their help … Well, like making a phone call, apparently. And, accordingly, the shooting star is fire, so it is not her who makes a wish, but through it … again, like through a transmitter.
And this is not my fantasy. In Sanskrit, for example, there are epithets Agni, which simultaneously bind fire, sacrifice, and summoning. For example, the same होतृ - hotr. Actually, sacrifice through fire is always a call to oneself (convocation). It got into modern Western folklore and became the main attribute of various witchcraft: do you remember how Hollywood draws witches to us? - they always furnish the whole room with thick candles and let's summon spirits, demons and other navs.
I believe that our Russian "hearth" does not have a Türkic etymology at all (but on the contrary), as Fasmer tried to convince us of this, but is associated with the word "veche" - "assembly" (ligature). The Greek analogue of this veche, in my opinion, is Ἑστία, Ἱστίη, which means “hearth” and is personified in the form of Hestia or Vesta. That is why the so-called Pritania developed in Hellas, in which the central city fire burned. Accordingly, these buildings, on the one hand, were the "temples of Hestia", on the other, a place of political gathering and court (again, the court is from the word "vault", that is, a meeting). When new colonies were founded, they are said to have lit their fire from the central Pritanium. Thus, there was a symbolic connection between the center and the provinces, which we successfully observe during the Olympic Games,where, as it were, the "Greek fire" is carried to the host country of the competition - the transfer of tradition and the creation of a subsidiary (or rather, filial) relationship, they say, this state is currently under the auspices of the Greek "gods".
It must be understood that this is not just that, but only because the fire of Pritanium, like Hestia, symbolized the hearth of the Clan, that is, the connection with the ancestors, with those who SET THESE RULES, which became the traditions and cultural basis of the entire society. Through the fire, the ancestors watch over the living.
This is what Prometheus got for people - a connection with ancestors, that is, a connection with traditions, with rules, ultimately, with their experience. It is only due to the experience of our predecessors that we, in fact, use the Internet, telephone, toilet paper … We can create. A man, unlike many animals, is born, well, in general, never adapted to life. And until our parents teach us, as their parents taught them (but what can I say, their own mothers and grandmothers are always busy with young mothers). This connection is expressed in fire.
And this fire is brought by Prometheus, which is, as we understood, a kind of implicit (cunning, significant) sign or an idol … or "creature", as the medieval monks would say (created).
And that's right! After all, what is the end of all these Christmas, Kupala and other celebrations? What is all this straw collected for? - FOR RITUAL STUFF !!! And the point here is not at all in the overestimated theory of scientists about a dying and resurrecting god (it works in other places)! The scarecrow is simply killed, initially burned, just like the ancient ancestors were cremated at the funeral. They are burned in order to free (where the theory of "cleansing by fire" came from) from the "idol, idol" - a temporary working shell, and to include the spirit in the "host" or "cathedral", like the saints, or, as was the case with the Greeks, "put on the sky in the form of constellations "- again" lights "or" distant fires ", which, according to astrological views, influence" from there "on our life - their descendants. Here again, fire acts as a transmitter. From here are the feet of the Scandinavian shining gold Valhalla.
And then the image of the Thunderer Eagle, tormenting Prometheus, lies in a completely different plane of the story, and in no way in the meaning of "the punishing instrument of Zeus."
Is it an eagle? No, well, that's an eagle. For the same Hesiod "αἰετὸν τανύπτερον", where αἰετὸν is "eagle", although the root "αἰε" is like "ve", which refers us to "wind" and "wing" - "wings" said in two about the eagle specifically. In Russia they called it more tactfully - "whirlwind". Already in the next lines we see a replacement for "τανυσίπτερος ὄρνις", where "ornis" is simply "bird" (although here you can see for yourself that "orni" and "eagle" may have one root). The funny epithet "τανυσίπτερος" is "long feathers", where "τανυ" in the sense is our "pull", because the Greek "long" is comparable to our "thin". Long and thin is elongated. Well, how do you like such an "eagle" with extended feathers-wings? Looks like a real bird? Or maybe it's still the same fireWhose feather tongues stretch upward? And this fire is tormenting our "straw" Prometheus?
Well, "the haircut has just begun."
Continued: Part 2
