The cycle of legends about the people who once lived in the North and North-West Caucasus constitutes the epic about the Narts. The plot lines of individual legends are often intertwined with each other, and sometimes break off. The Narts believed that all kinds of fabulous creatures lived around them: giants, gnomes, inhabitants of the underwater kingdom and dragons.
The main characters in all legends are heroic and brave people, sledges. The Nart epic can also be viewed from the point of view of understanding the culture of the megaliths, as well as their supposed time of origin. Undoubtedly, once there was a people who developed a wonderful technology for stone processing. And of course, he could not disappear without a trace, something should have remained in the memory of descendants in the form of myths, fairy tales or just mentions.
It is impossible to answer with complete certainty the question of who the sleds were. In the storylines of the legends, it is easy to draw parallels with both Russian and Georgian fairy tales, and with Greek mythology.
There are entire scientific works on the analysis of deities and celestials proving some connection between the Nart epic and the Scythians, as well as with Indo-Aryan and ancient Iranian mythology.
What is the reason for these differences of opinion? Probably, the whole point is that the population living in the North and Northwest Caucasus has different origins. For example, the Abkhaz and Adyghe languages are related to the ancient Khatt language, while the Ossetians trace their origins to the Alans. This means that the fact is confirmed that the bearers and keepers of the Nart epic were peoples that were different both in terms of historical and geographical path, and in linguistic development.
The proof is that the legends, covering a wide range of human life and having many intersecting and completely separate plots, have common features, for example, the word "nart" (nyart) appears everywhere, as well as the name of one of the main or even central female figure Satanai (Satan, Sataney, Shatana), etc. This suggests that most of the stories are of North Caucasian origin.
Of course, it was not done without borrowing, copying plots and plot reflections. But no epic source can exist without it. It reflects the changing religions that naturally bring their stories and characters.
How are the megaliths connected with the Nart Epic? Everything is very simple: the Adyghe peoples believed that the construction of dolmens was the merit of some dwarfs - isp (spu).
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Legend has it that the Caucasus was once inhabited by a tribe of short men - dwarfs. They lived on the inaccessible peaks of mountains and ridges and were engaged in cattle breeding. Their favorite means of transportation were hares, which they rode on horseback. Since then, there is a belief that the legs of these long-eared animals are still tangled with little men, so they cannot run like other animals.
The Ispyas were distinguished by their sharp mind and incredible strength, developed crafts and skillfully worked with metals. The main qualities of the representatives of this people were their independence and love of freedom.
In the neighborhood with them, but in valleys and gorges, lived evil giants - inyzh, who did not differ in a special mind and occupied a lower level of development. Their body was covered with long and thick hair. Giants lived in caves.
It was these evil monsters that were enslaved by the brave and strong isp and forced to work for themselves. Inyzhi were engaged in the construction of houses in which the dwarfs lived and which we now call dolmens.
Perhaps the test would have survived to this day, but some kind of catastrophe of universal significance occurred, and both peoples disappeared from the face of the earth. The few surviving men moved deep underground and rarely came to its surface. Only sometimes the sledges could meet their leader at night - a little old man with a long gray beard, proudly riding a rooster along the ridges.
If in Adygea, in the opinion of the local population, the probationers were engaged in the construction of exclusively dolmens, then in Abkhazia they believe that small houses, however long disappeared, and the Atsanguars are also the work of their hands.
Atsanguars are hedges made of stones on the tops of ridges that have survived to our times. Fences were built in a variety of shapes and were sometimes subdivided into several parts adjacent to each other.
Most often, atsanguars are found in the territory from the Tuapse level to Abkhazia.
Of course, there is a legend that tells about the joys and sorrows of the Atsans, or Tsani, - the same dwarfs, but mentioned in the Abkhaz Nart epic. According to her, the azanguars are not only the remaining sections of hedges behind which the azans kept cattle, but also the remains of their dwellings and fortresses. Researchers claim that their construction was completed approximately one and a half thousand years BC, however, there is some disagreement regarding the exact dating, since the remains of ancient hedges, as a rule, were constantly joined by new and new ones, and it is also difficult to separate the ruins of old koshes and modern extensions to them, which have been used and reconstructed many times over the centuries.
The amazing and laborious work of collecting scraps, parts and legends of the Nart epic was done by the Abkhaz researcher and ethnographer Sh. D. Inal-Apoy, he also compiled a harmonious myth about dwarfs - azans.
Once upon a time there was a dwarf people. It was either simultaneously with the sledges, or a little earlier. The atsans lived in houses and fenced their territories with stone walls. They were distinguished by their freedom-loving character and strength and did not recognize anyone over themselves, including God. The Atsans were at a fairly high level of development - they learned everything themselves and helped the Narts in some way. Then the little men became proud and they began to scold and tease God in every possible way. And he didn't know what to do with them. And so God sent his son (nephew) to the Azans so that he could find out the weaknesses of the rebellious people. The dwarfs raised and raised the boy, and God learned the secret of their invulnerability.
As a result, a universal catastrophe occurred and all the Azans died either from a great fire, or from a flood, or from a sharp cold snap. Few people escaped and settled somewhere underground. They still strive to get out, but all their attempts end in failure.
As a result of research, it turned out that the Narts had their own national hero, whose mother belonged to the Azan people.
It should also be noted that there is a legend in the Nart epic that strongly resembles the Greek myth about the titan Prometheus and Hercules, his liberator. However, this is not surprising, since all kinds of versions of this legend are present in almost all Caucasian peoples.
In the Nart epic, instead of Prometheus, the elder of the Narts Nasren-Zhache (among the Abkhazians - Abrskil) appears, who enters into a struggle with the inhabitants of heaven. For insolence, God chained him to the mountain. Another hero, Peterez (Batraz), saved him and brought fire to the sleds. According to some versions of this legend, the liberator is the son of dwarfs and sleds.
The Georgian folk hero-theomist Amirani successfully plays the role of Prometheus, chained to a rock, in the Georgian epic. And this is an excellent clue for determining the exact dating, since traces of the hero's image can be seen in archaeological finds (Trialeti Cup, Kazbek treasure, belt from Mtskheta) dating back to the III millennium BC. This means that the Caucasian megaliths were created not earlier than this millennium, since, according to legends, the little people lived before and, in part, simultaneously with the Narts.
Where did the sleds disappear and how did it happen? There are two opinions on this matter. Some believe that the sledges left voluntarily, others that their disappearance occurred as a result of a grand catastrophe and is nothing more than God's punishment.
In one of the Adyghe legends, the reason for the disappearance of the Narts is a small inconspicuous man (petsy). Because of him, the Narts decided to leave their land, and the land went to the Circassians. But before leaving, the sledges asked the god Tha to do something that would remind people of them. God fulfilled their request by creating a culture like corn.
Who was this inconspicuous man? A modern man played his role. He was very different from the Narts and was not a superhero. This indicates that if the probationers existed, then they practically did not differ from modern people.
It becomes clear that epic works that mention dwarfs (creators of megaliths) are common in areas where megaliths are located - in Adygea (Circassia) and Abkhazia. Another fact is interesting, namely, that in the Nart epic dolmens are not mentioned at all, with the exception of the Adyghe legend about Ispah, which, by the way, stands out a little in some moments.
The construction of dolmens is in no way connected with the methods of burial mentioned in the epic. In the literature that has survived to this day, nothing is said about the fact that the art of stone processing and the choice of rock was used for some specific needs. It cannot be said that such a building as Psynako-1 is intended for cult rituals and places for games.
However, the conducted research has shown that dolmens were quite visited in due time. This is proved by the fact that their stone plugs, ground very precisely to the hole, were badly worn out, as if they were often used. The cork of the dolmen under the mound with the gallery (Psynako-1) was supported by a stone; without it, it would have simply fallen out of the hole. The underground passage to the dolmen has a constant cross-section, which is approximately 0.5 m in diameter. In order to penetrate the underground dolmen, it was necessary to crawl about 10 m along the gallery (dromos). The latter fact suggests that dolmens were used as structures for various rituals.
One thing can be said with absolute certainty: the ancient civilization, which served as the basis for the beginning of the accumulation of a series of legends about sledges, is in no way connected with dolmens. The study of individual events and famous names proves that the Caucasian culture was of no small importance in the formation of the epic. It existed before the final delimitation of languages and had a significant impact on the development of the Caucasian peoples. Archaeological finds related to the plot of Amirani (Georgia), Abrskhila (Abkhazia), Amir (Dagestan) or Nasren (Adygea) indicate that dolmens were built already in the III millennium BC. The later dates of their construction do not have sufficient justification and they can be refuted.
We offer to dream up a little. If you look closely, with the exception of information from the Abkhaz legend about the origin of Tsvitsva, the sleds have nothing to do with dwarfs throughout their many adventures. Some individual tales about collisions with underground gnomes somehow do not fit with dwarfs - inhabitants of peaks and ridges. Even in the legend of Zvitsva itself, the azans are not characterized in any way: they are neither bad nor good, nor helpers, nor enemies, nor masters, nor subordinates. That is, they do not carry a cosmic-natural load like fabulous creatures that necessarily contain a certain moral idea. It is clear that this moment greatly differs the characters of the legend as with other creatures of the Caucasian epic - inyzhs (aynyzhs), devas, underwater donbettyrs, celestials and dragons,and so with the dwarf gnomes of the northern epic, existing underground.
This legend could not have come from the peoples of another area, since it tells about a specific type of buildings - dolmens and azanguars. It turns out that here we can say about the elements of information about the once real people of megalith builders.
It will be useful to once again recall the main points of the myth, while somewhat distracting from the details.
Once upon a time, stunted people lived, including on the tops of the ridges. They had more opportunities or were able to develop new technology that was not available to narrator-Narts. These people did not wage wars with anyone, they created megalithic structures. Abrupt climate change has led to their disappearance. The legend also contains the motive of independence from God, which is generally inherent in the Abkhazian-Adyghe-Abaza version of the Nart epic. In many episodes, there is practically no mention of God.
Independence from God is especially characteristic of versions of the Nart epic in the areas of dolmen structures. In order to make it more understandable, it can be recalled that, unlike, for example, Greek mythology, the heroes of the Narts of the megalithic region do not expect help and support from the gods. They treat them as equals. This suggests that either this option was quite ancient, or it was influenced by another nation, a culture that has a slightly different way of seeing and thinking.
At one time, there were enough colonies on the Black Sea coast for the epic to fall under the influence of the Hellenes, as well as Christianity and Islam. Undoubtedly, this is reflected in the epic, but to a lesser extent than in other places.
We can also recall that there is a certain peculiarity in the construction technique of some dolmens, which allows us to speak of a different logic of megalith builders in general.
How would a modular house be erected now, for example, from stone bricks, blocks? It must have been that first they tried to level all the surfaces of the modules-blocks, and only then they started assembling the structure.
But among the dolmens there are such stone blocks that are lapped along a curved surface along several faces at once. That is, the lumps were fitted already during assembly and in several places at once. And the objection that it is inconvenient to do the job in this way will be unconvincing. Megalithic builders thought differently, despite the fact that the level of technology allowed them to make straight surfaces.
It is worth saying that the fitting of huge boulders on a curved surface in several planes at once is found in all megalithic regions of the world, including Mexico and South America.
Echoes of another culture with excellent thinking, which, most likely, affected not only the construction technique, naturally caused some controversy in relations to the gods among the Narts or among those who retell these stories. Over time, some details were erased, events were forgotten, and only the logic of actions remained. That is why the narrator ranked such people among the godless. However, no one will vouch for the reliability of this, since it is possible that all these are echoes of distant and formidable events.
So, what is this people of megalith builders themselves? The dimensions of the dolmens are very small, so for what purpose were they built? This remains a mystery. Most likely, this is how stories about small unsightly people appeared.
There is one more unclear point, namely the disappearance of the megalith builders. There were several natural disasters at that time.
The first of these disasters is the eruption of the Santorini volcano in Crete. As a result, the highly developed culture of the island was erased from the face of the earth in the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. Then it can be assumed that the main role was played by secondary effects, for example, strong smoke in the atmosphere, which could cause a temporary cooling, and in almost all corners of the globe.
The second disaster is the breakthrough of the Sea of Marmara. A long time ago, the Black Sea was a freshwater lake, the level of which was 150-200 meters lower than now. The Azov Sea did not exist, and the Kuban and Don fell into the lake, apparently, as one river. Various studies by scientists have shown the date when the disaster occurred. This is 5600 BC.
Most likely, the current bottom of the Black Sea was once the cradle of modern civilization. This is confirmed by the fact that there are no whole dolmens near the sea coast, and if there are such dolmens, they are usually either very large (Dzhugba, Volkonka), or under the kurgan or enclosed in tholos (Arkhipo-Osipovka, Novorossiysk).
It is quite possible that the destructive effect of water, as well as weather disasters caused by a relatively rapid increase in the area of the sea (lake) surface, affected here. The Dardanelles could not have collapsed on their own, most likely there was something else here, probably an earthquake.
It is impossible to say with complete certainty about which catastrophe - the first or the second - influenced the course of events. In any case, you can be sure that the catastrophe was and was reflected in the epic. Over the centuries, some details could be forgotten, but the human imagination helpfully drew new ones. Thus, for a rather long time of the existence of the myth, the information, most likely, has undergone some changes.
According to the Abkhaz legend, the sea level was higher than now. Then, if we take the myth literally, the lifetime of the megalith builders must be pushed back even further, into the ice age - the 7th millennium BC. Then the effect of natural disasters is understandable: new rivers and lakes were formed, the deflection of the earth's crust changed. Some doubts may arise, because practically not a single myth has existed for several millennia. The longest existence of an oral legend does not exceed 2000 years.
Why are there so few legends? Several factors are at play here, namely:
- movement of people to other territories;
- getting people into dependence on a stronger culture and, as a result, assimilation;
- complete destruction of the nation.
Over the centuries, it became clear that it is impossible to completely displace, let alone subjugate, any Caucasian people is simply impossible. Each valley is a natural fortress, and Caucasian peoples are born warriors.
And since the entire Caucasian coast (from Gelendzhik to Abkhazia) consists of deep valleys, the ridges of which go into the sea, then we can say that there are all the prerequisites for the epic to exist for a very long time and reflect in itself all the information about the events taking place over the centuries.
Pleshakov Sergey
