An epic is a heroic story. Heroic epic as a literary genre

1 The concept of the heroic epic.

• "Epos" - (from Greek) word, narration,

• one of the three types of literature that tells about various events of the past.

• The heroic epic of the peoples of the world is sometimes the most important and the only evidence of past eras. It goes back to ancient myths and reflects man's ideas about nature and the world.

• Initially, it was formed in oral form, then, acquiring new plots and images, it was fixed in writing.

• The heroic epic is the result of collective folk art. But this does not detract from the role of individual storytellers. The famous "Iliad" and "Odyssey", as you know, were recorded by a single author - Homer.

"The Tale of Gilgamesh" Sumerian epic 1800 BC

I table tells about the king of Uruk Gilgamesh, whose unrestrained prowess caused much grief to the inhabitants of the city. Deciding to create a worthy rival and friend for him, the gods molded Enkidu from clay and settled him among wild animals. Table II is devoted to the single combat of the heroes and their decision to use their strength for the good, chopping precious cedar in the mountains. Tables III, IV and V are dedicated to their preparations for the journey, travel and victory over Humbaba. Table VI is close in content to the Sumerian text about Gilgamesh and the heavenly bull. Gilgamesh rejects Inanna's love and rebukes her for her treachery. Offended, Inanna asks the gods to create a monstrous bull to destroy Uruk. Gilgamesh and Enkidu kill the bull; unable to take revenge on Gilgamesh, Inanna takes her anger out on Enkidu, who weakens and dies.

The story of his farewell to life (table VII) and Gilgamesh's lament for Enkidu (table VIII) become a turning point in the epic tale. Shocked by the death of a friend, the hero sets off in search of immortality. His wanderings are described in IX and X tables. Gilgamesh wanders in the desert and reaches the mountains of Mashu, where scorpion men guard the passage through which the sun rises and sets. The "mistress of the gods" Siduri helps Gilgamesh find the shipbuilder Urshanabi, who ferried him through the "waters of death" disastrous for humans. On the opposite shore of the sea, Gilgamesh meets Utnapishtim and his wife, whom the gods gave eternal life in ancient times.

Table XI contains the famous story of the Flood and the construction of the ark, on which Utnapishtim saved the human race from destruction. Utnapishtim proves to Gilgamesh that his search for immortality is futile, since man is unable to overcome even the semblance of death - sleep. In parting, he reveals to the hero the secret of the "grass of immortality" growing at the bottom of the sea. Gilgamesh extracts the herb and decides to bring it to Uruk to give immortality to all people. On the way back, the hero falls asleep at the source; a snake rising from its depths eats grass, sheds its skin and, as it were, receives a second life. The text of Table XI known to us ends with a description of how Gilgamesh shows Urshanabi the walls of Uruk erected by him, hoping that his deeds will be preserved in the memory of posterity.

"Mahabharata" Indian epic of the 5th century AD.

"The Great Tale of the Descendants of Bharata" or "The Tale of the Great Battle of the Bharatas". Mahabharata is a heroic poem consisting of 18 books, or parv. In the form of an appendix, she has another 19th book - Harivansha, i.e., "The genealogy of Hari." In its current edition, the Mahabharata contains over one hundred thousand slokas, or couplets, and is eight times as long as Homer's Iliad and Odyssey taken together.

The main story of the epic is dedicated to the history of irreconcilable enmity between the Kauravas and the Pandavas - the sons of two brothers Dhritarashtra and Pandu. In this enmity and the struggle caused by it, according to the legend, the numerous nations and the tribes of India, north and south. It ends in a terrible, bloody battle in which almost all members of both sides perish. Those who have won the victory at such a high price unite the country under their rule. Thus, the main idea of ​​the main story is the unity of India.

Medieval European epic

• "Nibelungenlied"- a medieval Germanic epic poem written by an unknown author in the late 12th - early 13th century. Belongs to the number of the most famous epic works of mankind. Its content is reduced to 39 parts (songs), which are called "adventures".

• The song tells about the marriage of the dragon slayer Siekfried to the Burgundian princess Kriemhild, his death due to Kriemhild's conflict with Brunhilda, the wife of her brother Gunther, and then about Kriemhild's revenge for the death of her husband.

• There is reason to believe that the epic was composed around 1200, that the place of its origin should be sought on the Danube, in the area between Passau and Vienna.

• Various assumptions have been made in science regarding the identity of the author. Some scientists considered him a shpilman, a wandering singer, others were inclined to think that he was a clergyman (perhaps in the service of the Bishop of Passau), others that he was an educated knight of a low family.

The Nibelungenlied combines two initially independent plots: the legend of the death of Siegfried and the legend of the end of the Burgundian house. They form, as it were, two parts of the epic. Both these parts are not fully coordinated, and between them one can notice certain contradictions. So, in the first part, the Burgundians receive a generally negative assessment and look rather gloomy in comparison with the bright hero Siegfried they kill, whose services and help they so widely used, while in the second part they appear as valiant knights, courageously meeting their tragic fate. . The name "Nibelungs" in the first and second parts of the epic is used differently: in the first, these are fabulous creatures, northern treasure keepers and heroes in the service of Siegfried, in the second - Burgundians.

The epic primarily reflects the chivalrous worldview of the Staufen era ( Staufen (or Hohenstaufen) - the imperial dynasty that ruled Germany and Italy in the XII - the first half of the XIII century. The Staufen, especially Frederick I Barbarossa (1152-1190), tried to carry out a wide external expansion, which ultimately accelerated the weakening of the central government and contributed to the strengthening of the princes. At the same time, the Staufen era was characterized by a significant but short-lived cultural upsurge.).

Kalevala

• Kalevala - Karelian - Finnish poetic epic. Consists of 50 runes (songs). It is based on Karelian folk epic songs. The processing of Kalevala belongs to Elias Lönnrot (1802-1884), who linked individual folk epic songs, making a certain selection of variants of these songs and smoothing out some of the bumps.

• The name "Kalevala" given to the poem by Lönnrot is the epic name of the country in which Finnish folk heroes live and act. Suffix lla means place of residence, so Kalevalla- this is the place of residence of Kalev, the mythological ancestor of the heroes Väinämöinen, Ilmarinen, Lemminkäinen, sometimes called his sons.

• In Kalevala there is no main plot that would connect all the songs together.

It opens with a legend about the creation of the earth, sky, luminaries and the birth of the main character of the Finns, Väinämöinen, by the daughter of air, who arranges the earth and sows barley. The following tells about the various adventures of the hero, who, by the way, meets the beautiful maiden of the North: she agrees to become his bride if he miraculously creates a boat from fragments of her spindle. Having started work, the hero wounds himself with an ax, cannot stop the bleeding and goes to the old healer, who is told a legend about the origin of iron. Returning home, Väinämöinen raises the wind with spells and transfers the blacksmith Ilmarinen to the country of the North, Pohjola, where he, according to the promise given by Väinämöinen, forges for the mistress of the North a mysterious object that gives wealth and happiness - the Sampo mill (runes I-XI).

The following runes (XI-XV) contain an episode about the adventures of the hero Lemminkäinen, a militant sorcerer and seducer of women. The story then returns to Väinämöinen; his descent into the underworld, his stay in the womb of the giant Viipunen, his obtaining from the last three words necessary to create a wonderful boat, the departure of the hero to Pohjola in order to receive the hand of a northern maiden are described; however, the latter preferred the blacksmith Ilmarinen to him, whom she marries, and the wedding is described in detail and wedding songs are given outlining the duties of the wife and husband (XVI-XXV).

• Further runes (XXVI-XXXI) are again occupied by the adventures of Lemminkäinen in Pohjola. The episode about the sad fate of the hero Kullervo, who unknowingly seduced his own sister, as a result of which both, brother and sister, commit suicide (runes XXXI-XXXVI), belongs in depth of feeling, sometimes reaching true pathos, to the best parts of the whole poem.

Further runes contain a lengthy story about the common enterprise of three Finnish heroes - obtaining the Sampo treasure from Pohjola, about making a kantele by Väinämöinen, playing on which he enchants all nature and lulls the population of Pohjola, about Sampo being taken away by heroes, about their persecution by the sorceress-mistress of the North, about the fall Sampo at sea, on the beneficence of Väinämöinen home country through the fragments of Sampo, about his struggle with various disasters and monsters sent by the mistress of Pohjola to Kalevala, about the hero’s wondrous game on a new kantele created by him when the first one fell into the sea, and about the return of the sun and moon, hidden by the mistress of Pohjola (XXXVI- XLIX).

The last rune contains a folk apocryphal legend about the birth of a miraculous child by the virgin Maryatta (the birth of the Savior). Väinämöinen gives advice to kill him, as he is destined to surpass the power of the Finnish hero, but the two-week-old baby showers Väinämöinen with accusations of injustice, and the ashamed hero, having sung in last time marvelous song, leaves forever in a canoe from Finland, giving way to the baby Maryatta, the recognized ruler of Karelia.

• Other peoples of the world have developed their own heroic epics: in England - "Beowulf", in Spain - "The Song of My Sid", in Iceland - "Elder Edda",

• in France - "Song of Roland", in Yakutia - "Olonkho", in the Caucasus - "Nart epic", in Kyrgyzstan - "Manas", in Russia - "epic epic", etc.

• Despite the fact that the heroic epic of peoples was composed in different historical settings, it has many common features and similar features. First of all, this concerns the repetition of themes and plots, as well as the common characteristics of the main characters. For example:

• folk heroic epic arose in the era of the decomposition of the primitive communal system and developed in ancient and feudal society, under conditions of partial preservation of patriarchal relations and ideas, in which the typical heroic depiction of social relations as blood, tribal could not yet represent a conscious artistic device.

  In classical form epic bogatyr-leaders and warriors represent a historical nation, and their opponents are often identical to historical "invaders", foreign and infidel oppressors (for example, Turks and Tatars in glory. epic). The "epic time" is already here - not the mythical era of the first creation, but the glorious historical past at dawn national history. The most ancient state political formations (for example, Mycenae - "Iliad", the Kiev state of Prince Vladimir - epics, the state of four Oirots - "Dzhangar") act as a national and social utopia turned into the past. In classical form epic historical (or pseudo-historical) persons and events are glorified, although the very depiction of historical realities is subject to traditional plot schemes; sometimes ritual-mythological models are used. The epic background usually consists of the struggle of two epic tribes or nationalities (to a greater or lesser extent correlated with real history). Often in the center military event- historical (the Trojan War in the Iliad, the battle on Kurukshetra in the Mahabharata, on the Kosovo Field - in Serbian youthful songs), less often - mythical (the fight for Sampo in Kalevala). Power is usually concentrated in the hands of an epic prince (Vladimir - in epics, Charlemagne - in the "Song of Roland"), but the bearers of active action are heroes, whose heroic characters, as a rule, are marked not only by courage, but also by independence, obstinacy, even fury (Achilles - in the Iliad, Ilya Muromets - in epics). Obstinacy sometimes leads them to a conflict with the authorities (in the archaic epic - to the fight against God), but the directly social nature of the heroic deed and the commonality of patriotic goals for the most part provide a harmonious solution to the conflict. IN epic mainly the actions (deeds) of the characters are drawn, and not their emotional experiences, but their own plot story complemented by numerous static descriptions and ceremonial dialogues. A stable and relatively homogeneous world epic corresponds to a constant epic background and often measured verse; the integrity of the epic narrative is preserved when focusing on individual episodes.

  The main features of the ancient epic

  1) in the center of the narrative is a person, his fate and participation in the fate of the state (city, etc.);

  2) the form of narration - a journey with adventures and accomplishment of feats;

  3) the image of a hero - the image of a warrior: a winner, a heroic person;

  4) the obligatory presence of heroes of a special plan - superpowers (in Greece and Rome, this force is the gods);

  5) language and style are very heavy, cumbersome; slow development of plots, many author's digressions;

  6) the author in the course of the narrative takes different positions: either an observer, or a participant in events, or a historian writer (but in the medieval epic the author's principle is weakened due to the existence of most works in oral form).

  4. The origin and formation of the ancient Greek historical epic. Homer and the "Homeric question"

  Monuments of the heroic epic are the most valuable part of cultural heritage and an object of national pride of peoples. The history of national literature begins with the epic,
  and book heroic epics usually go back to oral-poetic examples of this genre. Folklore is the cradle of verbal art. If the elucidation of the genesis
  of this or that epic monument is extremely important for understanding the ways of formation
  national literature, the study of the origin
  and early forms of the heroic epic as a whole - the most important
  aspect in the study of the "prehistory" of world literature.
  It is in this regard that in this work
  the most ancient heroes and plots of archaic
  epic monuments.
  In the history of literature, one can single out a whole "epic
  » an era worthy of special study
  in folklore and theoretical-literary terms.
  Analysis of archaic epic monuments in comparison
  with the folklore of culturally backward peoples makes it possible
  in turn highlight in this "epic"
  epoch the most ancient step on which the "Promethean"
  the pathos of protecting the first conquests of human civilization
  (naively identified with his tribe) in
  the fight against the elemental forces of nature has not yet retreated
  in front of military heroic heroics in their own
  sense of the word. This stage is characterized by a certain limitation
  worldview and primitiveness of poetic
  means, but at the same time, as always in art, it is inherent in
  a unique beauty.
  Let's move on to a brief overview of the main concepts
  the origin of the epic in modern science.
  In the spirit of the historical school, they interpret the origin
  heroic epic by K. and M. Chadwicky, authors of the multi-volume
  work on the epic "The Formation of Literature" 1 . Central
  the thesis of the Chadwicks - historical accuracy, chro-
  uniqueness of the epic. As an example, they point to
  that "Beowulf" more accurately defines Hygelac
  as the king of the Geats (and not the Danes) than the Frankish chronicle.
  The Chadwicks have no doubt that the Irish epic,
  The Iliad or the Bible can be a reliable source
  to establish the identity of Conchobar, Agamemnon or
  David. Literally all epic heroes are compared by the authors
  with persons mentioned in the chronicles and annals,
  and, in particular, accept without a shadow of a doubt all hypotheses
  Sun. Miller about Russian heroes. Even for Mi-
  kula Selyaninovich they find a historical prototype
  in the face of a certain Mikula from Pskov.
  The non-historical elements of the epic, according to the Chadwicks,
  serve artistic purposes and do not question
  its historical accuracy. The Chadwicks find
  that many elements are losing their historicism due to the gradual
  forgetting one or another event, which leads
  to chronological confusion (Ermanarich, Theodoric,
  Attila is depicted in the German epic as contemporaries);
  similar historical names and events are mixed
  (Vladimir Svyatoslavich and Vladimir Monomakh; murder
  son John IV and Peter I), the exploits of the lesser known
  a historical person is attributed to a more famous one,
  wonderful birth stories finally appear
  hero.
  Deviation from the original historical fact and development
  poetic fiction signify, according to the views
  Chadwicks, the transition to myth, i.e. myth turns out to be not
  the first, and the last stage in the formation of the epic.
  Rectilinear comparison of epic with messages
  chronicles about events and persons, consideration of the myth as
  stages of decomposition of the epic and the approval of the aristocratic
  the origin of the epic - this whole complex of ideas
  completely coincides with the attitudes of the Russian historical
  schools.

  The Homeric question is a set of problems related to the authorship of the ancient Greek epic poems "Iliad" and "Odyssey" and the personality of Homer. A sharp statement of these problems was made by the book of Friedrich August Wolf, Prolegomena to Homer, published in 1795.

  Many scholars, called “pluralists”, argued that the Iliad and the Odyssey in their present form are not the works of Homer (many even believed that Homer did not exist at all), but were created in the 6th century BC. BC e., probably in Athens, when the songs of different authors transmitted from generation to generation were collected and recorded. The so-called "Unitarians" defended the compositional unity of the poem, and thus the uniqueness of its author.

  New information about the ancient world, comparative studies of South Slavic folk epics and a detailed analysis of metrics and style provided enough arguments against the original version of the pluralists, but also complicated the view of the Unitarians. Historical-geographical and language analysis The Iliad and Odyssey allowed them to be dated around the 8th century BC. BC e., although there are attempts to attribute them to the 9th or 7th century. BC e. They, apparently, were built on the Asia Minor coast of Greece, inhabited by Ionian tribes, or on one of the adjacent islands.

  Different scientists have different estimates of how big the role was creative individuality in the final form of these poems, but the prevailing view is that Homer is by no means merely an empty (or collective) name. The question remains unresolved whether the Iliad and the Odyssey were created by the same poet or are the works of two different authors, although modern computer analysis of the text of both poems has shown that they have one author.

  This poet (or poets) was probably one of the Aedi who, at least from the Mycenaean era (XV-XII centuries BC), passed on from generation to generation the memory of a mythical and heroic past. There was, however, not the primordial Iliad or the primordial Odyssey, but a certain set of established plots and a technique for composing and performing songs. It was these songs that became the material for the author (or authors) of both epics. What was new in Homer's work was the free processing of many epic traditions and the formation of a single whole from them with a carefully thought-out composition. Many modern scholars are of the opinion that this whole could only be created in writing.

  5. Iliad and its heroes. Features of the epic in the poem.

  The Iliad is an epic poem of 15,700 hexameters attributed to Homer, the oldest surviving monument of ancient Greek literature. The poem describes the events of the Trojan War. In addition, the poem is probably based on folklore stories about the exploits of ancient heroes.

  The Iliad begins with a conflict in the camp of the Achaeans (also called Danaans) besieging Troy. King Agamemnon abducted the daughter of the priest of Apollo, for which a pestilence begins in the Achaean army. Achilles criticizes Agamemnon. But he agrees to replace one captive with Briseis, who belongs to Achilles. The 9-year siege (I, 259) is on the verge of collapse, but Odysseus corrects the situation.

  In the second song, Homer describes the forces of the opposing sides. Under the leadership of Agamemnon, 1186 ships sailed to the walls of Troy, and the army itself numbered over 130 thousand soldiers. Various regions of Hellas sent their detachments: Argos (under the command of Diomedes), Arcadia (under the command of Agapenor), Athens and Locris (led by Ajax the Great), Ithaca and Epirus (under the command of Odysseus), Crete (under the command of Idomeneus), Lacedaemon (Spartans Menelaus), Mycenae, Rhodes (under the command of Tlepolemus), Thessaly (myrmidons of Achilles), Phocis, Euboea, Elis, Aetolia, etc. , Paphlagonians (under the command of Pilemen), Pelasgians, Thracians and Phrygians.

  Since the Trojan War began with the abduction of Helen, in the third song, her legal husband Menelaus enters into single combat with the actual one - Paris. Menelaus wins the duel, but the goddess Aphrodite saves Paris and carries the wounded man away from the battlefield. Due to the fact that the duel did not end with the death of one of the opponents, it is considered invalid. The war continues. However, neither the Achaeans nor the Trojans can prevail. The immortal gods help the mortals. The Achaeans are patronized by Pallas Athena, the Trojans by Apollo, Ares and Aphrodite. However, the fifth canto narrates how, in a cruel slaughter, even the immortal Ares and Aphrodite are injured at the hands of the Achaean Diomedes. Seeing the power of Pallas Athena, the leader of the Trojans, Hector, returns to Troy and demands rich sacrifices to be made to the goddess. At the same time, Hector shames Paris, who has hidden in the rear, and reassures his wife Andromache.

  Returning to the battlefield, Hector challenges the strongest of the Achaeans to a duel, and Ajax the Great accepts his challenge in the seventh song. The heroes fight until late at night, but none of them can prevail. Then they fraternize, exchange gifts and disperse. Meanwhile, the will of Zeus leans towards the Trojans and only Poseidon remains faithful to them. The Achaean embassy goes to Achilles, whose army is inactive because of a quarrel between their leader and Agamemnon. However, the story of the disasters of the Achaeans, pressed by the Trojans to the sea, touches only Patroclus, a friend of Achilles. Counterattacking, the Trojans almost burn the Achaean fleet, but the goddess Hera, who is favorable to the Achaeans, seduces and lulls her husband, the god Zeus, to save her favorites. Seeing the Achaean ship set on fire by the Trojans, Achilles sends his soldiers (2500 people) under the control of Patroclus into battle, but he himself evades the battle, holding anger at Agamemnon. However, Patroclus dies in battle. First, Euphorbus strikes him in the back with a spear, and then Hector inflicts death blow pike in the groin. The desire to avenge a friend brings Achilles back into play, who, in turn, kills Hector by hitting him with a spear in the neck. At the end of the Iliad, a lawsuit unfolds over the body of Hector, which Achilles initially refused to give to the father of the deceased for burial.

  Gods of the Iliad

  Mount Olympus has a sacred meaning in the Iliad, on which the supreme god Zeus, the son of Kronos, sits. He is revered by both the Achaeans and the Trojans. He towers over the opposing sides. Zeus mentions a dark-haired brother Poseidon, who unambiguously supports the Achaeans (XIII, 351). Zeus has a wife, Hera (also the daughter of Kronos, who also considers the Ocean to be her father - XIV, 201) and divine children: Apollo (whose abode is called Pergamum), Ares, bright-eyed Athena Pallas, Aphrodite, Hephaestus. Hera and Athena are on the side of the Achaeans, and Apollo and Aphrodite are on the side of the Trojans.

  EPIC STYLE. The poems are epic in style. Its defining features are: a strictly sustained narrative tone; unhurried thoroughness in the development of the plot; objectivity in depicting events and persons. Such an objective manner, impartiality, almost excluding subjectivism, is so consistently sustained that it seems that the author does not betray himself anywhere, does not show his emotions.

  In the Iliad, we often see how Zeus is unable to decide the fate of the hero himself, takes the scales in his hands and throws on them the lot of heroes - Hector (XXII, 209-213) and Achilles and two troops - Trojan and Achaean (VIII, 69 -72, compare XVI, 658); the fate of Sarpedon and Patroclus is also decided (XVI, 435-449; 786-800). Often the gods take a direct part in the battles: in order to

  the Achaeans could have acted more successfully against the Trojans, Hera puts Zeus to sleep (XIV). And in the last battle, Zeus himself allows the gods to take part (XX). In the Odyssey, the participation of the gods is more formal: Athena finds and equips a ship for Telemachus (II, 382-387), illuminates the hall in front of him with a lamp (XIX, 33 ff.), etc. The promise of Zeus to punish Agamemnon, given in beginning of the Iliad (I), is carried out only a long time later. Even the wrath of the gods - Zeus and Apollo in the Iliad, Poseidon in the Odyssey - does not organic value during the course of the poem. In his narration, the poet retains a majestic calmness, and such places as the scene with Thersites in the second song of the Iliad are very rare, where the author clearly pursues his tendency. In general, his exposition is distinguished by objectivity; he nowhere reveals his face and does not speak about himself.

  6. The Odyssey is a heroic poem of wanderings.

  The Odyssey is the later of the two great poems of the ancient Greek heroic epic. Like the Iliad, with which the Odyssey is connected both thematically and ideologically, the Odyssey arose no earlier than the 8th century. BC e., her homeland is the Ionian cities of the coast of Asia Minor, the author, if we conditionally apply this word to a folk storyteller, is, according to legend, the blind singer Homer.

  The heroes and heroics of Homer's poems are united and integral, many-sided and complex, just as integral and many-sided life is, seen through the eyes of a narrator, wise by the experience of the entire previous tradition of epic knowledge of the world.

  The capture of Troy by the Achaeans with the help of cunning was described in one of the songs of the Odyssey. The blind singer Demodocus, singing the cunning king Odysseus, recounted the whole history of the construction of a huge wooden horse, inside which the bravest of the Achaeans hid. At night, after the Trojans dragged the monstrous horse inside the fortress walls, the Achaean warriors came out of the horse's belly, captured and destroyed the "sacred" Troy. It is known that the ancient Greeks had apocryphal poems in which further events were described in detail. Trojan War.

  It spoke about the death of the valiant Achilles, who died from the arrow of Paris, the culprit of the Trojan war, and about the construction of a wooden horse fatal to the Trojans. The names of these poems are known - "Small Iliad", "Destruction of Ilion", but they have not reached our time.

  First, Odysseus and his companions enter the country of wild people - kikons, then to peaceful lotophages, then to the island of the Cyclopes, where the Cyclops Poliphenes, a savage and cannibal, ate several of Odysseus's companions and nearly destroyed him.

  Then Odysseus gets to the god of the winds Eol, then he gets to the robbers of the lestrigons and to the sorceress Kirk, who kept him for a whole year, and then sent him to the underworld to find out his future fate.

  By a special cunning trick, Odysseus passes by the island of the Sirens, half-women, half-birds, who lured all travelers to him with their voluptuous singing and then devoured them. On the island of Trinacria, Odysseus's companions devour the bulls of Helios, for which the god of the sea Poseidon destroys all the ships of Odysseus; and only one Odysseus escapes, nailed by waves to the island of the nymph Calypso. He lives with Calypso for 3 years, and the gods decide that it is time for him to return home to Ithaca. Within several songs, all the adventures of Odysseus are described on the way home, where at this time the local kings are courting Penelope, faithful wife Odyssey, waiting for him for 20 years.

  As a result, Odysseus nevertheless gets to the house, together with his son Telemachus, kills all the suitors, and, having suppressed the rebellion of the suitors' supporters, reigns in his own house and begins a happy peaceful life after a 20-year break.

  Despite the fact that Odysseus' journey home lasted 10 years, the Odyssey covers even less time than the Iliad and the action takes place over 40 days.

  "Odyssey" can also be set out on separate days, during which the events depicted in it take place.

  It is quite obvious that the compiler or compilers of the poem divided the image of what is happening by day, although in Homer this division is not quite exactly expressed in some places.

  If we sum up the distribution of action by day in the Odyssey, it should be noted that out of 40 days, at least 25 days do not find a detailed presentation for themselves. Those. of the 10 years of Odysseus' wandering, the poem depicts only the last days before Ithaca and a few days in Ithaca. About the rest of the time, i.e. in essence, about 10 years, either is told by Odysseus himself at a feast at Alcinous, or they are only mentioned.

  Undoubtedly, the Odyssey is a much more complex work of ancient literature than the Iliad.

  Studies of the "Odyssey" from a literary point of view and from the point of view of possible authorship are ongoing to this day.

  As a result of a review of criticism of the Odyssey, one can come to the following conclusions:

  1. In the "Odyssey" a combination of elements of two independent poems is found. Of these, one can be called the "Odyssey" proper, and the other "Telemechia".

  2. "Odyssey" represented the return of Odysseus from Calypso through Scheria to his homeland and his revenge on suitors in a conspiracy with his son, as it is depicted in the XVI song. Penelope recognized her husband here after the suitors were killed by him.

  3. The author of this ancient "Odyssey" himself already used more ancient songs: he combines a separate song "Calypso", a free fantasy on the theme "Kirk", with "Theakis", his processing of the story in the third person into the story of Odysseus himself is noticeable.

  4. In "Telemachia", which tells about the journey of Telemachus to Pylos and Sparta, there is a decline in the art of composition in comparison with the "Odyssey". The combination of "Calypso" with "Theakia" is done so skillfully that the coherence and sequence of the story is completely irreproachable. On the contrary, in Telemachia, Telemachus' journey itself and the stories of Nestor and Menelaus to him are very weakly connected with the rest of the action of the poem, and even direct contradictions open up here for the attentive reader.

  5. The epilogue of the Odyssey presents a contamination separate parts of the two poems mentioned above, and of an older origin than the final edition of the Odyssey.

  6. The activity of the last editor of the Odyssey was to combine parts of the ancient Odyssey, Telemachia and that processing of the epilogue, which was mentioned. The editor's inserts are characterized by some features of the language, the borrowing of many verses from ancient poems, and the ambiguity and inconsistency of the presentation. In some cases, the inserts are based on extracts from ancient sources. The editor also introduces the content of cyclic poems into the Odyssey.

  7. Didactic epic of Hesiod.

  The tribal community quickly decomposed, and if Homer was the eve of class society, then Hesiod already reflects the orientation of a person within class society. Hesiod-writer of 8-7 centuries BC The didacticism of his writings is caused by the needs of the time, the end of the epic era, when heroic ideals dried up in their bright immediacy and turned into teaching, instruction, morality. In a class society, people were united by this or that attitude towards work. People thought about their ideals, but because while purely commercial and industrial relations have not yet matured and the old domestic relations have not died, the consciousness of people has turned the latter into morality, a system of teachings, instructions. Class society divided people into haves and have-nots. Hesiod is the singer of the ruined population, not profiting from the collapse of the ancient community. Hence the abundance of gloomy colors. “Works and Days” was written as an admonition to brother Pers, who, through unjust judges, took away from Hesiod the land that belonged to him, but later went bankrupt. The poem is an example of a didactic epic that develops several themes. The first theme is built around preaching the truth, with interjections about Prometheus and the myth of the five ages. The second is devoted to field work, agricultural implements, livestock, clothing, food, and other attributes of everyday life. The poem is interspersed with various instructions that depict the image of a peasant who knows how and when to arrange his affairs profitably, sharp-witted, far-sighted and prudent. Hesiod also wants to be rich, because. "The eyes of the rich are bold." The morality of Hesiod always comes down to divine authorities and does not go beyond the arrangement of economic affairs. Hesiod is very conservative and very narrow in his mental horizon. Hesiod's style is the opposite of luxury, verbosity and breadth of the Homeric epic. It impresses with its dryness and brevity. In general, the style is epic with all its distinctive features (hexameter, standard expressions, Ionian dialect). But the epic is not heroic, but didactic, an even epic narrative is interrupted by the drama of mythological episodes unknown to Homer, and the language is full of common expressions, traditional formulas of oracles and quite prosaic morality. The morality is so strong and intense that it gives a very boring and monotonous impression. But Hesiod is observant and sometimes draws very vivid pictures. ancient life. He also has features of some poetry, but poetry is full of moral and economic instructions. On the example of his work, one can observe social shifts and contradictions. Hesiod's poems amaze with an abundance of various kinds of contradictions, which, however, do not prevent us from perceiving his epic as a kind of organic whole. Hesiod, after the onset of the slave system, on the one hand, is a poor man, on the other hand, his ideals are connected with enrichment, either in the old or in the new sense. His assessment of life is full of pessimism, but at the same time, labor optimism, hopes that, thanks to constant activity, happy life. Nature for him is primarily a source of benefits, but Hesiod is a great lover of her beauties. In general, Hesiod was the first historically real poet of ancient Greece, reflected the turbulent era of the collapse of the tribal community

  8. Ancient lyrics, its main forms, images and means of expression .

  Ancient lyrics arose with the advent of the individual poet, i.e. when a person realized his independence, separating himself from nature and the collective. The term "lyrics" replaced the earlier one - "melika" (from "melos" - melody). According to Plato, melos consists of three elements - words, harmony and rhythm. The ancients understood melos as a combination of music, poetry and orchestika (dance art). The word "lyric" implies accompaniment musical instrument- lyre, cithara or flute. Lyrics classical period has come down to us in the form of fragments or quotations cited by ancient authors. The first work of ancient lyrics dates back to the 7th century: in April 648 there was an eclipse of the sun, mentioned by Archilochus. The heyday of ancient lyrics dates back to the 6th century BC.

  Greek lyrics are divided into declamatory and song (melos), which, in turn, is divided into monodic and choral.

  Declamatory lyrics include elegy and iambic.

  An elegy is a lament, a lament, performed with the accompaniment of a flute. Subsequently, the mournful character is replaced by an instructive, motivating one. It was performed at feasts and folk gatherings. Traces of a mournful character are preserved in tombstone inscriptions - epigrams.

  The most common was the civil, military-patriotic elegy. Its famous representative was Callinus of Ephesus:

  There is a legend about how, during the Second Messenian War (671 BC), the Spartans asked the Athenians for a commander. The Athenians, in mockery, sent the one-eyed and lame Tyrtaeus, a school teacher and poet, but he so inspired the Spartans with his warlike elegies that they won. There is also a legend about how the Athenian legislator Solon, from a noble family, went bankrupt, traveled a lot and returned to Athens, when the Megarians conquered the island of Salamis from the Athenians. Under the guise of a madman, Solon stood in the square and began to appeal to the honor and patriotism of the Athenians, after which, according to Plutarch, the Athenians returned Salamis. Solon's elegies are gnomic, i.e. moralistic and aphoristic character.

  The representative of the love elegy was Mimnerm (c. 600 BC), who preferred the death of old age and the absence of pleasure, called love "golden Aphrodite" and sang love for the flutist Nanno. He dreamed that a person would live only 60 years, but without illness and worries. To which Solon objected that if without worries and illnesses, then why not 80? Mimnerm is also considered the first representative of the erotic elegy. The combination of public and private themes is noted in the lyrics of Theognis from Megara. Of his 1400 poems, only 150 are love elegies. Theognis is an ardent and vicious enemy of democracy, he divides people into "good" - aristocrats, and "vile" - demos. A separate collection of poems by Theognis is made up of instructions in piety to the boy Kirk.

  At the agricultural festivals of fertility, characterized by revelry and foul language, mocking songs were sung against individuals - iambs, as a means of expressing personal feelings. Iambics were metrically compiled by iambic proper (~ -) and trochai, i.e. trochee (-~).

  Simonides of Amorgos sang of courage in the face of the calamities of life. He distinguishes 10 types of women descended from 10 animals, and considers only those who descended from a bee to be good. Hipponact is considered the father of parody, creates in the language of the streets and dens, portrays himself as a beggar, he ridicules the gods, painters, women.

  The poet Archilochus was compared with Homer. The son of an aristocrat and a slave, i.e. “declassed”, he participated in the battle with the Thracians as a hired soldier, later he died in battle. His unsuccessful affair with Neobula, the daughter of Lycambus, whom Archilochus brought to suicide with his iambs, is known. In addition to iambs, he wrote elegies (merry, courageous, cheerful), epigrams, epitaphs, musical compositions for flute. He is a warrior, a womanizer, an “idle reveler” and a philosopher, witty and merciless towards enemies.

  Monodic lyrics are represented by three great poets. These are Alcaeus, Sappho and Anacreon.

  Alcaeus is a poet of the era of the struggle of the demos against the aristocracy, who fled from mainland Greece to the islands, in particular to the island of Lesbos. He tells about the vicissitudes of his fate. The state is depicted as a ship in raging waves (this image was subsequently borrowed by Horace). His mood is aggressive, his sense of life is tragic, while his favorite topics are nature, love, women and wine. Wine is a remedy for all sorrows, a “mirror for people”, in it is the only consolation. His quatrain dedicated to the “violet-haired” Sappho is known.

  On Lesbos, men and women formed closed communities and spent time outside the family. At the head of the women's community - "the house of the servants of the Muses" - was the poetess Sappho (or Sappho). The circle of interests of the commonwealth was also the theme of her poetry - women's cults, love, jealousy. According to one legend, she threw herself off a cliff out of love for the young Phaon. According to another, she lived to old age, was married, had a daughter, Cleida. Despite the existing speculation about Sappho's morality, Alkey called her “pure.” Sappho wrote hymns to Aphrodite, laments for Adonis. , then him.

  Anacreon adjoins Alcaeus and Sappho in the lesbian lyrics (second half of the 6th century). His poetry is full of merry, graceful and playful eroticism. He describes the games of Eros, love madness. Anacreon fixes one moment, without philosophical reasoning. The characteristic features of his poetry - liveliness, clarity, simplicity, elegance served as an example for imitation in all ages.

  Choral lyrics arose from hymns to the gods - this is nome, paean, prosody (During the processions), parthenium (maiden song), hyperhema (in honor of Apollo), pyrrichia (in honor of Ares).

  At the end of the 6th - beginning of the 5th century, in the era of the heyday of choral lyrics, the most common genres were dithyramb (impulsive, exalted songs in honor of Dionysus, performed by a choir of 50 people dressed in goatskins and masks), epiniky (song in honor of the winner at the annual sports competitions) and enkomy (song in honor of a certain person).

  The most famous representatives of choral lyrics were Stesichorus, Ivik, Simonides, Pindar and Bacchilid.

  Stesichorus wrote hymns, paeans, bucolic and erotic poems. There is a legend that he portrayed Elena the Beautiful in a bad light and went blind, then wrote that it was the ghost of Elena - and regained his sight.

  Ivik, a wandering poet, was killed by robbers. He wrote encomia dedicated to various personalities, hymns of love content.

  Simonides of Ceos sang the heroic events of the Greco-Persian war. It is known that he defeated Aeschylus in a competition of epigrams in honor of those who died at Marathon. He wrote epinicia, frenes (funeral laments), dithyrambs, epigrams. His expressions in the form of aphorisms were quoted by Xenophon, Plato, Aristophanes: “Everything is a game, and nothing should be taken too seriously”, “I am not looking for something that cannot be.”

  Pindar is the most celebrated of all the classical lyricists. 4 books of his epinicia have come down to us, in each of which the winner of different games is sung: Olympic, Pythian, Nemean and Isthmean. Pindar's style is solemn, majestic, especially in patriotic lyrics.

  Bacchilid, the nephew of Simonides of Ceos, wrote odes and dithyrambs (his “Theseus” is the only dithyramb that has come down to us in its entirety). Bacchilidus is alien to the inflexible aristocracy of Pindar, he praises the valor of man in general.

  9. Melic poetry. Alcaeus, Sappho, Anacreon.

  The place of origin of literary melika, i.e., individual song poetry, is the large island of Lesbos off the western coast of Asia Minor, where a cultural upsurge began earlier than in other parts of Greece. Here already in the 7th century. a number of prominent poets appeared. Terpander was known for his "nomes" (see ch. VI, o. 135), Arion from Mephimne on Lesbos was considered the ancestor of "dithyrambs", chants in honor of Dionysus, which later served as the basis of the tragedy (see ch. VIII). Arion lived in Corinth under the tyrant Periander. The introduction by this tyrant of the cult of Dionysus in Corinth (Herodotus, I, 23) was a democratic event, and therefore one can think that Arion was a conductor of the same direction. Both of these poets used the Dorian dialect.
  The simplest forms of meli poetry are given by monodic, that is, monophonic, lyrics. The Aeolian (Lesbosian) poets Alcaeus and Sappho and the Ionian Anacreon were engaged in it.
  The richness and variety of the melodies of song poetry corresponded to the richness of the poetic design. Melika differs from simple forms of elegiac and iambic poetry in that it allows combinations of feet of different numbers of mora. The so-called "logaedes" are especially common, representing the connection of trocheal feet with dactylic ones. The simplest types of Logaeds are the “glycon” verse (named after a poet unknown to us), having the form: - U - UU - U - (-), and the “ferekrates” verse often adjoining it (after the poet of the end of the 5th century BC). BC), the scheme of which is U - UU - U. Sometimes verses are combined into whole stanzas. The stanzas invented by the Lesbos poets Alcaeus and Sappho were widely used not only in Greek, but also in Roman literature. The Sapphic stanza has the following scheme:

  The first three verses of the stanza each consist of one dactyl in the middle with two trochees in front and behind, while the fourth verse consists of one dactyl and one trochee. In the "Alcaean" stanza, the first two lines have the same structure: they begin with an indifferent syllable, followed by two trochees, a dactyl, and two more trochees with the last syllable truncated; the third verse consists of four iambs, and the fourth is a combination of two dactyls with two trochees. Its scheme is as follows.

  The literature of the western early Middle Ages was created by new peoples inhabiting the western part of Europe, the Celts (Britons, Gauls, Belgae, Helvetians) and the ancient Germans, living between the Danube and the Rhine, near the North Sea and in southern Scandinavia (the Suevi, Goths, Burgundians, Cherusci, Angles, Saxons, etc.).

  These peoples first worshiped pagan tribal gods, and later adopted Christianity and believed, but, in the end, the Germanic tribes conquered the Celts and occupied the territory of present-day France, England and Scandinavia. The literature of these peoples is represented by the following works:

  • 1. Stories about the life of saints - hagiographies. "Lives of the Saints", visions and spells;
  • 2. Encyclopedic, scientific and historiographic works.

  Isidore of Seville (c.560-636) - "etymologies, or beginnings"; Bede the Venerable (ca. 637-735) - “about the nature of things” and “the church history of the people of the Angles”, Jordanes - “about the origin of the deeds of the Goths”; Alcuin (c.732-804) - treatises on rhetoric, grammar, dialectics; Einhard (c.770-840) "Biography of Charlemagne";

  3. Mythology and heroic-epic poems, sagas and songs of the Celtic and Germanic tribes. Icelandic sagas, Irish epic, Elder Edda”, Younger Edda”, “Beowulf”, Karelian-Finnish epic “Kalevala”.

  Heroic epic- one of the most characteristic and popular genres of the European Middle Ages. In France, it existed in the form of poems called gestures, i.e. songs about deeds, exploits. The thematic basis of the gesture is made up of real historical events, most of which date back to the 8th - 10th centuries. Probably, immediately after these events, legends and legends about them arose. It is also possible that these legends originally existed in the form of short episodic songs or prose stories that developed in the pre-knight's militia. However, very early episodic tales went beyond this environment, spread among the masses and became the property of the whole society: they were equally enthusiastic listened not only to the military class, but also to the clergy, merchants, artisans, and peasants.

  The heroic epic the whole picture folk life was the most significant legacy of the literature of the early Middle Ages and occupied in artistic culture Western Europe is an important place. According to Tacitus, songs about gods and heroes replaced history for the barbarians. The oldest is the Irish epic. It is formed from the 3rd to the 8th centuries. Created by the people in the pagan period, epic poems about warrior heroes first existed in oral form and were passed from mouth to mouth. They were sung and recited in a singsong voice by folk storytellers. Later, in the 7th and 8th centuries, after Christianization, they were revised and written down by learned poets, whose names remained unchanged. Epic works are characterized by the chanting of the exploits of heroes; interweaving of historical background and fiction; glorification of the heroic strength and exploits of the main characters; idealization of the feudal state.

  Features of the heroic epic:

  • 1. The epic was created in the conditions of the development of feudal relations;
  • 2. The epic picture of the world reproduces feudal relations, idealizes a strong feudal state and reflects Christian beliefs, hr. ideals;
  • 3. With respect to history, historical background it is clearly visible, but at the same time it is idealized, hyperbolized;
  • 4. Heroes - defenders of the state, the king, the independence of the country and the Christian faith. All this is interpreted in the epic as a public affair;
  • 5. The epic is associated with a folk tale, with historical chronicles, sometimes with a chivalric romance;
  • 6. The epic has been preserved in the countries of continental Europe (Germany, France).

  The heroic epic was greatly influenced by Celtic and Norse mythology. Often epic and myths are so connected and intertwined with each other that it is quite difficult to draw a line between them. This connection is reflected in a special form of epic tales - sagas - Old Norse prose narratives (the Icelandic word "saga" comes from the verb "to say"). Sagas were composed by Scandinavian poets of the 9th-12th centuries. - scalds. The Old Icelandic sagas are very diverse: the sagas about kings, the saga of the Icelanders, the sagas of ancient times ("The Saga of the Velsungs").

  The collection of these sagas has come down to us in the form of two Eddas: the Elder Edda and the Younger Edda. The Younger Edda is a prose retelling of ancient Germanic myths and legends, made by the Icelandic historian and poet Snorri Sjurluson in 1222-1223. The Elder Edda is a collection of twelve verse songs about gods and heroes. The compressed and dynamic songs of the Elder Edda, dating back to the 5th century and apparently written down in the 10th-11th centuries, are divided into two groups: tales about gods and tales about heroes. The chief of the gods is the one-eyed Odin, who was originally the god of war. The second most important after Odin is the god of thunder and fertility Thor. The third is the evil god Loki. And the most significant hero is the hero Sigurd. The heroic songs of the Elder Edda are based on all-Germanic epic tales about the gold of the Nibelungs, on which there is a curse and which brings misfortune to everyone.

  Sagas also became widespread in Ireland, the largest center of Celtic culture in the Middle Ages. It was the only country in Western Europe where the foot of a Roman legionnaire had not set foot. Irish legends were created and passed on to their descendants by druids (priests), bards (singers-poets) and felids (soothsayers). A clear and concise Irish epic was formed not in verse, but in prose. It can be divided into heroic sagas and fantastic sagas. The main hero of the heroic sagas was the noble, just and courageous Cuchulainn. His mother is the king's sister and his father is the god of light. Cuchulainn had three faults: he was too young, too bold, and too beautiful. In the image of Cuchulainn, ancient Ireland embodied its ideal of valor and moral perfection.

  In epic works, real historical events and fairy-tale fantasy are often intertwined. Thus, the "Song of Hildenbrand" was created on a historical basis - the struggle of the Ostrogothic king Theodoric with Odoacer. This ancient German epic of the era of the migration of peoples originated in the pagan era and was found in a manuscript of the 9th century. This is the only monument of the German epic that has come down to us in song form.

  In the poem "Beowulf" - the heroic epic of the Anglo-Saxons, which has come down to us in a manuscript of the early 10th century, the fantastic adventures of the heroes also take place against the backdrop of historical events. The world of "Beowulf" is the world of kings and vigilantes, the world of feasts, battles and fights. The hero of the poem is Beowulf, a brave and generous warrior from the people of the Gauts, who performs feats and is always ready to help people. Beowulf is generous, merciful, faithful to the leader and greedy for glory and rewards, he accomplished many feats, opposed the monster and destroyed it; defeated another monster in an underwater dwelling - Grendel's mother; entered into battle with a fire-breathing dragon, which was enraged by the attempt on the ancient treasure guarded by him and devastated the country. At the cost of his own life, Beowulf managed to defeat the dragon. The song ends with a scene of the solemn burning of the hero's body on a funeral pyre and the construction of a mound over his ashes. Thus, the familiar theme of gold, which brings misfortune, appears in the poem. This theme would be used later in chivalric literature as well.

  Immortal monument folk art is "Kalevala" - the Karelian-Finnish epic about the exploits and adventures of the heroes of the fairy-tale land of Kalev. "Kalevala" is composed of folk songs (runes), which were collected and recorded by a native of a Finnish peasant family, Elias Lennrot, and published in 1835 and 1849. runes are the letters of the alphabet carved on wood or stone, which were used by the Scandinavian and other Germanic peoples for religious and commemorative inscriptions. The whole "Kalevala" is a tireless praise of human labor, there is not even a hint of "court" poetry in it.

  In the French epic poem "The Song of Roland", which has come down to us in a manuscript of the 12th century, it tells about the Spanish campaign of Charlemagne in 778, and the main character of the poem, Roland, has his own historical prototype. True, the campaign against the Basques turned into a seven-year war with the "infidels" in the poem, and Charles himself - from a 36-year-old man into a gray-haired old man. The central episode of the poem - the Battle of Roncevalle, glorifies the courage of people who are faithful to their duty and "sweet France".

  The ideological intent of the legend is revealed by comparing the "Song of Roland" with those historical facts that underlie this legend. In 778, Charlemagne intervened in the internal strife of the Spanish Moors, agreeing to help one of the Muslim kings against another. Having crossed the Pyrenees, Charles took several cities and laid siege to Zaragoza, but after standing under its walls for several weeks, he had to return to France with nothing. When he was returning back through the Pyrenees, the Basques, annoyed by the passage of foreign troops through their fields and villages, ambushed the Ronceval Gorge and, attacking the French rearguard, killed many of them. A short and fruitless expedition to northern Spain, which had nothing to do with religious struggle and ended in a not particularly significant, but still unfortunate military failure, was turned by storytellers into a picture of a seven-year war that ended in the conquest of all of Spain, then - a terrible catastrophe during the retreat French army, and here the enemies were not Basque Christians, but all the same Moors, and, finally, a picture of revenge from Charles in the form of a grandiose, truly “worldwide” battle of the French with the connecting forces of the entire Muslim world.

  In addition to the hyperbolization typical of the entire folk epic, which affected not only the scale of the events depicted, but also in the pictures of the superhuman strength and dexterity of individual characters, as well as in the idealization of the main characters (Roland, Karl, Turpin), the saturation of the entire story with the idea of ​​a religious struggle against Islam is characteristic. and the special mission of France in this struggle. This idea found its vivid expression in the numerous prayers, heavenly signs, religious appeals that fill the poem, in the denigration of the "pagans" - the Moors, in the repeated emphasis on the special protection provided to Charles by God, in the image of Roland as a knight-vassal of Charles and a vassal of the Lord, to whom he before his death, he stretches out his glove, as if to an overlord, finally, in the form of Archbishop Turpin, who with one hand blesses the French knights for battle and absolves the dying of sins, and with the other he himself strikes enemies, personifying the unity of the sword and the cross in the fight against the "infidels".

  However, the "Song of Roland" is far from exhausted by its national-religious idea. It reflected with great force the socio-political contradictions characteristic of the intensively developing in the 10th - 11th centuries. feudalism. This problem is introduced into the poem by the episode of Ganelon's betrayal. The reason for including this episode in the legend could be the desire of the singer-narrators to explain the defeat of the “invincible” army of Charlemagne as an external fatal reason. But Ganelon is not just a traitor, but the expression of some evil principle, hostile to any public cause, the personification of feudal, anarchist egoism. This beginning is shown in the poem in all its strength, with great artistic objectivity. Ganelon is depicted by no means as some kind of physical and moral freak. This is a majestic and brave fighter. The Song of Roland does not so much reveal the blackness of an individual traitor - Ganelon, as it exposes the fatality for the native country of that feudal, anarchic egoism, of which Ganelon is, in some respects, a brilliant representative.

  Along with this opposition of Roland and Ganelon, another opposition runs through the whole poem, less sharp, but just as fundamental - Roland and his beloved friend, the betrothed brother Olivier. Here not two hostile forces collide, but two variants of the same positive principle.

  Roland in the poem is a mighty and brilliant knight, impeccable in the performance of his vassal duty. He is an example of knightly prowess and nobility. But the deep connection of the poem with folk songwriting and folk understanding of heroism was reflected in the fact that all the knightly traits of Roland were given by the poet in a humanized form, freed from class limitations. Roland is alien to heroism, cruelty, greed, anarchic willfulness of the feudal lords. He feels an excess of youthful strength, a joyful faith in the rightness of his cause and in his luck, a passionate thirst for a disinterested feat. Full of proud self-consciousness, but at the same time devoid of any arrogance or self-interest, he devotes his entire strength to serving the king, people, and homeland. Seriously wounded, having lost all his comrades-in-arms in battle, Roland climbs a high hill, lies down on the ground, puts his faithful sword and Olifan's horn next to him and turns his face towards Spain so that the emperor knows that he "died, but won in battle." For Roland, there is no more tender and sacred word than "dear France"; with the thought of her, he dies. All this made Roland, despite his knightly appearance, a true folk hero, understandable and close to everyone.

  Olivier is a friend and brother, Roland's "dashing brother", a valiant knight who prefers death to the dishonor of retreat. In the poem, Olivier characterizes the epithet "reasonable". Three times Olivier tries to convince Roland to blow Olifan's horn to call for help from the army of Charlemagne, but three times Roland refuses to do so. Olivier dies along with a friend, praying before his death "for the dear native land."

  Emperor Charlemagne is Roland's uncle. His image in the poem is a somewhat exaggerated image of the old wise leader. In the poem, Karl is 200 years old, although in fact, by the time of the real events in Spain, he was no more than 36. The power of his empire is also greatly exaggerated in the poem. The author includes in it both countries that really belonged to her, and those that were not included in it. The emperor can only be compared with God: in order to have time to punish the Saracens before sunset, he is able to stop the sun. On the eve of the death of Roland and his troops, Charlemagne sees a prophetic dream, but he can no longer prevent the betrayal, but only pours "streams of tears." The image of Charlemagne resembles the image of Jesus Christ - the reader is presented with his twelve peers (compare with the 12 apostles) and the traitor Ganelon.

  Ganelon - vassal of Charlemagne, stepfather of the protagonist of the poem, Roland. The emperor, on the advice of Roland, sends Ganelon to negotiate with the Saracen king Marsilius. This is a very dangerous mission, and Ganelon decides to take revenge on his stepson. He enters into a treacherous agreement with Marsilius and, returning to the emperor, convinces him to leave Spain. At the instigation of Ganelon, in the Ronceval Gorge in the Pyrenees, the rearguard of Charlemagne's troops led by Roland is attacked by outnumbered Saracens. Roland, his friends and all his troops perish, without stepping back from Ronceval. Ganelon personifies in the poem feudal selfishness and arrogance, bordering on betrayal and dishonor. Outwardly, Ganelon is handsome and valiant (“he is fresh-faced, in appearance and bold and proud. That was a daring man, be honest with him”). Disregarding military honor and following only the desire to take revenge on Roland, Ganelon becomes a traitor. Because of him, the best warriors of France die, so the ending of the poem - the scene of the trial and execution of Ganelon - is natural. Archbishop Turpin is a warrior-priest who bravely fights the "infidels" and blesses the Franks for battle. The idea of ​​a special mission of France in the national-religious struggle against the Saracens is connected with his image. Turpen is proud of his people, who in their fearlessness cannot be compared with any other.

  The Spanish heroic epic "Song of Side" reflected the events of the reconquista - the Spaniards conquering their country from the Arabs. The protagonist of the poem is Rodrigo Diaz de Bivar (1040 - 1099), a well-known figure in the reconquista, whom the Arabs called Cid (lord).

  The story of Cid has provided material for many gothapsego and chronicles.

  The main poetic tales about Sid that have come down to us are:

  • 1) a cycle of poems about King Sancho the 2nd and about the siege of Samara in the 13th - 14th centuries, according to the historian of Spanish literature F. Kel'in, “serving as a kind of prologue to“ The Song of My Side ”;
  • 2) the “Song of My Sid” itself, created around 1140, probably by one of Sid’s warriors, and preserved in a single copy of the 14th century with heavy losses;
  • 3) and a poem, or rhymed chronicle, "Rodrigo" in 1125 verses and adjoining romances about Side.

  In the German epic "The Song of the Nibelungs", which finally took shape from individual songs into an epic legend in the 12th-13th centuries, there is both a historical basis and a fairy tale-fiction. The epic reflects the events of the Great Migration of Peoples of the 4th-5th centuries. there is also a real historical person - the formidable leader Atilla, who turned into a kind, weak-willed Etzel. The poem consists of 39 songs - "ventures". The action of the poem takes us to the world of court festivities, knightly tournaments and beautiful ladies. The protagonist of the poem is the Dutch prince Siegfried, a young knight who accomplished many miraculous feats. He is bold and courageous, young and handsome, bold and arrogant. But the fate of Siegfried and his future wife Kriemhilds, for whom the treasure with gold of the Nibelungs became fatal.

  1). The question of the origin of the heroic epic - one of the most difficult in literary science - has given rise to a number of different theories. Two stand out among them: "traditionalism" and "anti-traditionalism." The foundations of the first of these were laid by the French medievalist Gaston Paris (1839-1901) in his major work The Poetic History of Charlemagne (1865). The theory of Gaston Paris, called the "cantilena theory", is reduced to the following main provisions. The fundamental principle of the heroic epic was the small lyrical-epic cantilena songs, widespread in the 8th century. Cantilenas were a direct response to certain historical events. For hundreds of years, cantilenas existed in oral tradition, and from the tenth century. the process of their merging into large epic poems begins. The epic is the product of long-term collective creativity, the highest expression of the spirit of the people. Therefore, it is impossible to name a single creator of an epic poem, while the very recording of poems is a process rather mechanical than creative,

  The positions of "traditionalists" and "anti-traditionalists" were brought together to a certain extent in his theory of the origin of the heroic epic by Alexander Nikolaevich Veselovsky. The essence of his theory is as follows. imagination. After a while, the attitude to the events set forth in the songs becomes calmer, the sharpness of emotions is lost and then an epic song is born. Time passes, and songs, in one way or another close to each other, add up to cycles. And finally, the cycle turns into an epic poem "As long as the text exists in the oral tradition, it is the creation of a collective. At the last stage of the formation of the epic, the individual author plays a decisive role. The recording of poems is not a mechanical act, but a deeply creative one.

  The foundations of Veselovsky's theory retain their significance for modern science (V. Zhirmunsky, E. Meletinsky), which also refers the emergence of the heroic epic to the 8th century, believing that the epic is the creation of both oral collective and written-individual creativity.

  Only the question of the fundamental principles of the heroic epic is being corrected: they are usually considered to be historical legends and the richest arsenal of figurative means of the archaic epic.

  It is no coincidence that the beginning of the formation of the heroic (or state) epic is attributed to the 8th century. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire (476) for a number of centuries, there was a transition from slave-owning forms of statehood to feudal ones, and among the peoples of Northern Europe there was a process of final decomposition of patriarchal-clan relations. The qualitative changes associated with the establishment of a new statehood definitely make themselves felt in the 8th century. In 751, one of the largest feudal lords in Europe, Pepin the Short, became the king of the Franks and the founder of the Carolingian dynasty. Under the son of Pepin the Short, Charlemagne (reigned: 768-814), a huge state was formed in territory, including the Celtic-Romanesque-Germanic population. In 80b, the pope crowned Charles with the title of emperor of the newly revived Great Roman Empire. In turn, Kara completes the Christianization of the Germanic tribes, and seeks to turn the capital of the empire, Aachen, into Athens. The formation of the new state was difficult not only because of internal circumstances, but also because of external ones, among which one of the main places was occupied by the unceasing war of the Christian Franks and Muslim Arabs. Thus, history entered the life of medieval man with authority. And the heroic epic itself became a poetic reflection of the historical consciousness of the people.

  The appeal to history determines the decisive features of the difference between the heroic epic and the archaic epic. The central themes of the heroic epic reflect the most important trends in historical life, a specific historical, geographical, ethnic background appears, and mythological and fairy-tale motivations are eliminated. The truth of history now determines the truth of the epic.

  In heroic poems created different nations Europe, a lot in common. This is explained by the fact that a similar historical reality has undergone artistic generalization; this reality itself was comprehended from the point of view of the same level of historical consciousness. In addition, the artistic language, which has common roots in European folklore, served as a means of depiction. But at the same time, in the heroic epic of each individual people there are many unique, national-specific features.

  The most significant of the Heroic poems of the peoples of Western Europe are: French - "The Song of Roland", German - "The Song of the Nibelungs", Spanish - "The Song of My Side". These three great poems make it possible to judge the evolution of the heroic epic: "The Song of the Nibelungs" contains a number of archaic features, "The Song of My Sid" shows the epic at its end, "The Song of Roland" - the moment of its highest maturity.

  2) GENERAL FEATURES OF THE HEROIC EPOS

  During the period of the Mature Middle Ages, the development of the traditions of folk epic literature continues. This is one of the significant stages in its history, when the heroic epic became the most important link in medieval literary literature. The heroic epic of the Mature Middle Ages reflected the processes of ethnic and state consolidation and the emerging seigneurial-vassal relations. The historical theme in the epic expanded, supplanting the fabulous mythological one, the importance of Christian motifs increased and patriotic pathos intensified, a large epic form and more flexible style were developed, which was facilitated by some distance from purely folklore samples. However, all this led to a certain impoverishment of the plot and mythopoetic imagery, so subsequently the chivalric romance again turned to folklore fiction. All these features of the new stage in the history of the epic are closely interconnected internally. The transition from the epic archaic to the epic classics, in particular, was expressed in the fact that the epics of the peoples who had reached the stage of a distinct state consolidation abandoned the language of myth and fairy tale and turned to the development of plots taken from historical legends (still continuing to use, of course, old plot and language clichés dating back to myths).

  Tribal interests were pushed aside by national interests, albeit in an embryonic form, so in many epic monuments we find pronounced patriotic motives, often associated with the struggle against foreign and heterodox conquerors. Patriotic motifs, as is specific to the Middle Ages, partly appear in the form of opposition of Christians to "infidel" Muslims (in Romanesque and Slavic literatures).

  As said, the epic at the new stage depicts feudal strife and seigneurial-vassal relations, but due to the epic specifics, vassal fidelity (in the Nibelungenlied, Roland Song, Song of my Side) usually merges with fidelity to the clan, tribe, native country, state. A characteristic figure in the epic of this time is the epic "king", whose power embodies the unity of the country. He is shown in a difficult relationship with the main epic hero - the bearer of folk ideals. Vassal loyalty to the king is combined with a story about his weakness, injustice, with a very critical image court environment and feudal strife (in the cycle of French poems about Guillaume of Orange). The epic also reflects anti-aristocratic tendencies (in songs about Dietrich of Bern or in "Songs about my Sid"). In the epic-heroic works of the XII-XIII centuries. sometimes the influence of the courtly (knightly) novel also penetrates (in the Nibelungenlied). But even with the idealization of courtly forms of life, the epic basically retains folk-heroic ideals, heroic aesthetics. In the heroic epic, some tendencies are also manifested that go beyond its limits. genre nature, for example, hypertrophied adventurousness (“Raoul de Cambrai”, etc.), material motivations for the hero’s behavior, patiently overcoming adverse circumstances (in “The Song of My Sid”), drama, reaching tragedy (in the “Nibelungs” and in “The Song of Roland"). These diverse trends testify to the hidden possibilities of the epic kind of poetry, anticipate the development of the novel and tragedy.

  The stylistic features of the epic are now largely determined by the departure from folklore and a deeper processing folk traditions. In the process of transition from oral improvisation to recitation from manuscripts, numerous enjambements appear, i.e. transfers from verse to verse, synonymy develops, flexibility and variety of epic formulas increase, sometimes the number of repetitions decreases, a clearer and more harmonious composition becomes possible (“Song of Roland").

  Although extensive cyclization is also familiar to oral art (for example, in the folklore of Central Asia), the creation of epic works of large volume and their addition into cycles is mainly supported by the transition from oral improvisation to a handwritten book. Apparently, bookishness also contributes to the emergence of a “psychological” characteristic, as well as the interpretation of a heroic character in terms of a kind of tragic guilt. However, the interaction of folklore and literary literature actively continues: in the composition and especially the performance of many epic works, the participation of shpilmans and jugglers during this period is great.

  6) One of the most remarkable monuments of medieval literature is the epic legend of the French people - "The Song of Roland".

  An insignificant historical fact formed the basis of this heroic epic and, over time, enriched by a number of later events, helped to spread the legends about Roland, about the wars of Charlemagne in many literatures of Western Europe.

  The Song of Roland clearly expresses the ideology of a feudal society, in which the faithful service of a vassal to his overlord was an untouchable law, and its violation was considered betrayal and treason. However, the features of courageous steadfastness, military prowess, disinterested friendship and a thoughtful attitude to what is happening were not received in the poem, as well as in the remarkable monument of the creativity of the Russian people "The Tale of Igor's Campaign", class-feudal confinement; on the contrary, these convincing properties of the valiant defenders of the motherland - military leaders-peers and their vassals, were perceived as typical, popular. An even greater degree of recognition and sympathy from the broad masses of the people was facilitated by thoughts about defending the fatherland, about shame and the danger of defeat, which run like a red thread through the entire poem.

  What is a "heroic epic"? What is the correct spelling of this word. Concept and interpretation.

  heroic epic Giy E. as a special genre - in Western Europe and beyond - continues the traditions of archaic narrative folklore. Initially, it arises on the basis of the interaction of a heroic fairy tale song and primitive mythological tales about the first ancestors - "cultural heroes". Mythological legends about the creation of the world, mythologized pictures of nature often remain the background of the narrative. Traces of panegyrics or actually historical traditions in early, still archaic forms G.hoo E.a very weak. Gyy E. develops in the course of ethnogenesis and the settlement of tribes. It is still being created in the form of an oral tradition and retains traces of oral improvisational techniques. The mixed form characteristic of the most ancient narratives (transmission by song or verse of only speeches and some descriptions, and the rest by prose) is also retained in the early samples of G. E. a. The heroic characters of heroes, often personifying a tribal group, are sometimes endowed with shamanistic features. In archaic epics there are motifs of theomachism. The classical, mature form of G.ogo E.a arises along with the development of statehood. The most important source of the plot is historical legends about intertribal and interfaith wars, about outstanding military leaders, about kings, etc. At the same time, a powerful, obstinate, “violent” heroic character of a hero is being formed, capable of entering into conflict with the authorities, although this conflict in a society that still retains the ideal of tribal “harmony” is usually resolved peacefully. In Western European literature, only relics of the archaic, early form of the epic have been preserved. Examples of it are the mythological songs of the Old Norse Edda, partly an Irish epic. This stage was better reflected in the Finnish songs collected in the Kalevala from the peoples of the North Caucasus (the so-called. Nart epic ) and outside Europe - in the Turkic-Mongolian epic of the peoples of Siberia, in some African epic monuments. Most of the European epic monuments that developed during the period of the mature Middle Ages have been preserved in book form and belong to the classical forms of the epic. The separation from folklore contributed to the development of a more sophisticated style, despite the fact that the origin of both the style and the figurative system from folklore origins is undoubted. In the process of transition from oral improvisation to recitation according to manuscripts, transfers from verse to verse (enjambements) appear, synonymy, flexibility and variety of epic "formulas" are enhanced. A clearer composition, a greater volume of the epic becomes possible. However, the role of singers - shpilmans and jugglers - remains significant for a long time. The historical themes in the European epic have largely overshadowed the fabulous and mythological. One of the leading motives was the defense of the motherland and Christianity. G. E. at this stage tells about feudal strife and lord-vassal relations, but vassal loyalty, as a rule, merges with loyalty to the clan, tribe, state, epic king, whose power symbolizes the unity of the country. In an epic-heroic work, traces of courtly-romantic influence are sometimes noticeable, but even in this case, the heroic aesthetics are completely preserved. In Western European literature, the Irish and Old Norse epics are the most archaic. In Irish (surviving in the form of prose sagas, in Irish - shke-la), purely mythological legends underwent a kind of euhemerization and were transformed into legends about the settlement of Ireland by several ethnic waves. Memories of real tribes (for example, the Belgians - "the Bolg people") were mixed with the idea of ​​​​a purely mythical tribe of the goddess Danu and demonic Fomorians. The tribe of the goddess Danu owns the main gods of the Irish pagan pantheon - Dagda, Nuada, Oghme, Lug. The mythologically colored history of the creation of relief, crafts, social institutions, royal power was intertwined with the story of the battles of the tribe of the goddess Danu with Fir Bolg (the first battle of Moitura) and with the Fomorians (the second battle of Moitura). The god Nuadu retains the archaic traits of a priest-king, on whose condition fertility depends; so when he loses a hand, he transfers power to another (Bress). The oldest, actually epic cycle of the Irish epic - Ulad (Ulster) creates a kind of historicized frame of the heroic age in the form of the eternal struggle of Ulad, ruled by King Con-Khobar, and Connaught, headed by the evil sorceress Medb and her husband Ailil. The cycle, apparently, took shape in the III-VIII centuries. The protagonist of the cycle is Cuchullin, who appears in different versions as either the son of the god Lug, or his incarnation, or the fruit of an incestuous relationship between Conchobar and his sister. All options are based on mythological. The original name of this hero is Setanta, which indicates a connection with the historical tribe of the Setantsi, but after defeating the terrible dog of the blacksmith Kulan (initiation motive), he receives a new name Kuhullin, that is, “the dog of Kulan”, because he must temporarily replace the dog he killed ( the motive is primarily totemic). The main military event in which the heroism of Cuhullin is manifested is the fight for the magic bull (“The abduction of the bull from Ku-alnge” is often called the “Irish Iliad”) - a purely fantastic ritual-mythological theme, reminiscent of such wars in the epic archaic, such as the fight for Sampo in Kalevala. The biography of Kuhullin is typical of a heroic tale. It includes miraculous birth, heroic childhood, initiation motives (not only the mentioned victory over a terrible dog, but also temporary deprivation of the head and training in the art of war with the witch Skatakh), as well as difficult matchmaking for Emer and love for the side (Fand fairy), and, finally, death due to taboo violations. Figures of fairies, witches, sorcerers, etc. bear the stamp of mythology, but the quasi-historical frame of the narrative contributes to the rethinking of all this fantasy in the spirit of the classic epic. Cuchullin himself has a heroic character characteristic of a mature epic, which leads him to death precisely because of his noble qualities, including a kind of patriotism. In many ways, the Finn cycle has a similar character, partly reflecting the activities of the secret male union of the Fenni and, in addition, including a number of sagas, where stories of civil strife are combined with mythological motifs. It is possible that the saga of the fall of the house of Da Derg arose in the order of the historicization of the eschatological myth. The Welsh mabinogion, through which the Celtic themes penetrated into French chivalric (courtly) novels, also re-actualize the fabulous-mythological layer. The poetic ancient German epic is very rich. Its main monuments are the Old Icelandic "Edda" (preserved in a manuscript of the 13th century, the sources are very ancient), the Anglo-Saxon "Beowulf" (formed in the 7th-8th centuries), the ancient German poetic passage "The Song of Hildebrand", much later ( ca. 1200) the extensive “Song of the Nibelungs”, “Kudruna” (or “Gudruna”, early 13th century), German songs and legends about Dietrich of Bern, as well as Old Norse prose sagas. The epic of the Germanic-speaking peoples is much more diverse than the Irish and includes both a real mythological archaic (the mythological epic about the gods in the Scandinavian, more precisely, the Old Icelandic Edda) and stories about heroes close to the heroic tale, who have already entered the historical tradition (such as Beowulf, Helgi, Sigurd- Siegfrid, Völund), as well as heroic narratives that grew out of genuine historical legends about the events of the “great migration of peoples” and describe wars in the form of private tribal strife (the circle of the Nibelungs, “songs” about Hildebrand and Walder) and, finally, postclassical epic, represented by the Icelandic prose sagas. The Old Norse epic, preserved in Iceland in the form of the Edda verse collection (sometimes called the Elder Edda) and retellings in Snorri Sturluson's Younger Edda, contains both mythological and heroic-historical plots. From the point of view of metrical and stylistic criteria, the mythological "songs", i.e., the poems of the "Edda", are older than the heroic ones, and the Old Norse gods appearing in them resemble archaic "cultural heroes". The supreme god Odin, corresponding to the continental German Wodan, has the features of a creator and a priest-shaman. He is the miner-thief of the giants of sacred honey (which is a source of poetic and shamanic inspiration), as well as magic runes. The thunder god Thor (corresponding to the ancient German Donar) is a heroic fighter who protects the gods-aces and people from giants-jotuns and other monsters embodying the forces of chaos. Loki, on the contrary, is a negative version of the "cultural hero", that is, a mythological trickster. He cunningly obtains mythological values ​​from dwarfs and giants for the gods, and from the gods for the giants. He is the "operator" of the eternal circulation of mythological values. Loki, in particular, kidnaps the goddess Idunn and her rejuvenating apples, the hair of the goddess Siv, the jewelry of the goddess Frein, Thor's hammer, Mjolnir, captured by the giants: he forces the dwarfs to forge wonderful objects. True, he invents a fishing net - like a real "cultural hero", but at the same time he is in hostile relations with other gods, makes fun of them at meetings of the gods, and destroys the bright god Baldr. If Odin is the father of the gods, then Loki is the father of some monsters: the terrible wolf Fenrir, the world serpent Jormungand and the mistress realms of the dead Hel. In the eschatological battle, he participates on the side of the chthonic forces of chaos against gods and people. The type of trickster similar to Loki is rarely found in the epic. The exception is the North Caucasian Syrdon in the legends about the Narts. Actually heroic plots of the German peoples either develop through the later historicization of heroic myths and fairy tales, or directly grow out of historical legends. In the Anglo-Saxon epic, the main theme is Beowulf's struggle with monsters. This theme is undoubtedly fabulous and mythological, but it is inserted into the historical frame of the legend of the Odvoredat kings in Ley-re (Hleir). This plot, apparently later, was penetrated by Christian reminiscences and traces of acquaintance with the Roman epic. Beowulf himself is represented by the Geat (Gauts-kim) king, but his name does not alliterate, as was customary, with the names of the Gaut kings and literally means "bee wolf", i.e. bear. In the Icelandic sagas there are many plots parallel to Beowulf, in one of them the hero's name is Bjarki, that is, a bear. Most likely, the image of Beowulf goes back to the fabulous dragon-slayer and "cultural hero", later historized. In the songs of "Edda" about Helga, fabulously heroic biographical motifs are vividly presented. His birth is accompanied by the scream of eagles, the fall of sacred waters, the twisting of the threads of fate by the Norns. At the age of one day, he already becomes a hero, and his father gives him a name, a "noble" bow, a sword and power over the lands. In another version (there are three "songs" about Helgi), the Valkyrie Svava gives him the name, who then protects him in battles. In this version, we are not talking about early, but, on the contrary, about the late maturation of the hero. It is given the features of a fabulously epic seat. Revenge for his father, committed by him, is also a typical motif of a heroic tale. Very characteristic is Helga's love for the Valkyrie, reminiscent of the theme of heroic matchmaking. The name of Helga's father fluctuates in different songs (Sigmund? Hjörvard?), which also correlates with his fabulous mythological roots. This did not prevent Helgi from being portrayed in the Anglo-Saxon epic about Beowulf as a representative of the Danish royal house of the Skildings, the father of the famous Danish king Rolvo, i.e. Hrolf Kraki. But here Helgi appears as an ancestor, an ancestor, which may also have mythological roots. Another hero of the "Edda" - Sigurd, corresponding to the continental German Siegfried, apparently, was originally, like Helgi, a fabulous hero. Attempts to connect it with real historical figures (Sigerik, Sigibert, Arminius) are unconvincing. In the Eddic song about the dragon Fafnir defeated by Sigurd (the motif itself is archaic), Sigurd calls himself an orphan who does not know his parents, although his father Sigmund is mentioned in this song and in other places. A similar paradoxical motif is also found in the Turkic-Mongolian epic of Siberia and points to a relic of the idea of ​​an ancestor. Next to this mythological relic, we find characteristic fairy-tale mythological motifs: the upbringing of an orphan by a blacksmith, the killing of a dragon, revenge for a father, love for a Valkyrie, heroic matchmaking, the death of a hero. The conquest of the "betrothed" for another (Gunnar, corresponding to the ancient German Gunther) is a ritually permissible, but less common plot. The inclusion on the continent of the legend of Sigurd-Siegfried in the Nibelung cycle connected this fabulous hero with the all-German historical legends of the era of the “great migration of peoples”. These are the Gothic and Burgundian legends about the death of the Burgundian kingdom (437), about the battle on the Catalaunian fields (451), about the death of the Hun leader Attila (Icelandic Atli, German Etzel - 453), about the death of the Ostrogothic kingdom in the Black Sea region ( 375), about Ermanarikh (Icelandic Jormunrek), Theodoric the Great, that is, the epic Dietrich of Bern, and others. The "great migration of peoples" appears in the German continental epic as a "heroic" time. In the Scandinavian Eddic version, the historical flavor is somewhat erased. Historical-heroic plots came to Scandinavia from the continent, but at the same time, Scandinavia retained the archaic layer of the all-German epic, which in turn does not exclude some elements of secondary mythologization. In the plot circle of the Nibelungs (the Gyu-Kungs of the Edda correspond to the Burgundians of the Nibelungenlied), Gudruna's revenge is carried out in relation to her second husband Atli, who lured her brothers to the death. Her counterpart Kriemhild in the Nibelungenlied takes revenge not for her brothers on her husband Etzel, but on her brothers for the murder of her first husband, Siegfried. The Scandinavian version undoubtedly reflects an older stage in the development of historical tradition still on continental German soil: Attila allegedly died on the bed of the German captive Ildigo (i.e. Hilda, Krimhilda), who avenged her brothers. It is clear that originally tribal ties were valued above family ones. But one way or another, the historical tradition itself presents historical events in the form of family and clan strife. The defeat of the Huns on the Catalaunian fields is also interpreted in the epic as a struggle for the paternal heritage of the two Gothic princes Angantyr and Khlod; Ermanarikh (Yormunrek) also becomes a victim of the brothers' revenge for their sister Su-nilda (in Icelandic - Svanhild). Outside of the Edda and the Nibelungenlied, namely in the old German epic song about Hildebrand, the meeting of Hil-debrand (Theodoric's old combatant) with Hadubrand (Odo-acre's young combatant) on the battlefield is interpreted in the spirit of the traditional international story-battle father and son (cf. with Irish, Russian, Persian legends). In the Nibelungenlied, in contrast to the Edda, the youthful adventures of Siegfried (here a Dutch prince) - such as acquiring treasure and invisibility caps, defeating a dragon, acquiring invulnerability, wooing Brynhild for Gunther - are told in a patter and taken out of the scope of the main action. The love of Siegfried and Kriemhild, presented in a light courtly stylization, is, as it were, an introductory plot presented against the backdrop of the court life of the Burgundians. As for the truly historical figures - such as Hamdir, Hlöd, Etzel, Dietrich of Bern - the fairy tale motifs of their biographies are completely relegated to the background. But they have the same heroic characters, like Sigurd-Siegfried or Helgi in both Scandinavian and continental German variants. In "Edda" permanent epithet Hamdir - "great in spirit", and Hogni, brother of Gunnar - "brave". Hamdir and Sorli go to certain death in the camp of Yormunrek, not wanting to give up the feat to which their mother incites them. Out of pride, Gunnar decides to go to Atli's headquarters, despite bad omens, a warning from his sister, and the persuasion of those close to him. He asks the Huns to cut out his brother's heart, fearing that he would not show weakness (but even a carved heart does not tremble on a platter), and he fearlessly dies in a snake pit. The proud courage of Gunnar corresponds to the cruel revenge of Gudrun on Atli's husband for the death of his brothers. She kills and cooks her own children for her husband's "lunch". Women in heroism are not inferior to men: Gudrun does not cry over the body of Sigurd and cruelly avenges the death of her brothers, Brynhild herself climbs the funeral pyre. In the Middle High German Nibelungenlied, the world of the heroic tale is relegated to the background, but the historical tradition is also greatly transformed and forms the background for the family feud between the Worms court of the Huns and the royal house of the Burgundians. The clan and tribe are replaced by the family and the feudal hierarchy. Hagen, unlike Högni in the Edda, is no longer Gunther's (Gunnar's) brother, but his vassal, moreover, putting the honor of his overlord above his life. Now main conflict arises from a dispute over whether Siegfried is Gunther's man. Intoxicated with anger, Kriemhilda manifests genuine demonism and dies herself, destroying both her family and the state. Another extensive poem has a different character. “Gudruna” (or “Kudruna”), where there is an adventurous fabulousness in the spirit of not so much a heroic, but a fairy tale: the fate of the heroine resembles the fate of Cinderella, the theme of matchmaking and the motive of raising Prince Hagen on the island are resolved in a fairy tale style; heroic conflicts end in reconciliation. Sharply different from the German poetic epic are Romanesque, that is, French (“The Song of Roland”, “The Song of Guillaume” and other numerous “songs about deeds” - chansons de geste, which developed in the X-XIII centuries) and Spanish (“ Song of my Sid, XII century). There are no obvious traces of fairytale-mythological archaism in the Romanesque epic, and its main source is historical tradition. Historical prototypes Most of the heroes of the French epic belong to the Carolingian era. In the French epic, as in the "Song of the Nibelungs", seigneur-vassal relations were clearly reflected. But in the "Song of Roland" and in some other French poems, family-but-feudal conflicts are subordinated to the general patriotic pathos. The Spanish epic is in many ways close to the French, and the art of Spanish epic singers - huglars - has much in common with the art of French jugglers. The associated verse and a number of epic formulas are also similar. The Spanish epic, like the French, is based on historical tradition and is even more focused on the fight against the Moors, on the theme of the reconquista, that is, the reverse conquest of the Iberian Peninsula. The distance between the historical events described and the time of creation of the epic poem is much shorter than in the French epic. The lifetime of the famous leader of the reconquista Sid (his name is Ruy Diaz de Bivar, Sid is his nickname from the Arabic Al-Seid, which means "master") is the second half of the 11th century. In the poem, Cid, more associated with the Leonese than the Castilian nobility, is driven out by King Alphonse VI but continues to fight the Moors; in the end, reconciliation sets in (cf. similar motifs in the French epic, in Homer's Iliad, in the Russian epic, etc.). After reconciliation with the king, he still has to establish himself in the court environment, where some, especially the Infantes of Carrion, despise him as less noble. They behave impudently and treacherously, covet his wealth, marry Sid's daughters for profit, and then they are abandoned, etc. Sid restores his honor with a duel. In another, later poem about Sid, and then in romances, his youth is told, the theme of the hero's "epic childhood" is developed. Fragments of other epic narratives have been preserved in the Castilian chronicles: “The Song of the Seven Infantes of Lara”, “The Siege of Zamora”, “Tales of Garcia Fernandez”, etc. It is worth mentioning the Modern Greek, i.e. abroad X-XI centuries). Digenis is a kind of fairy-tale hero, showing strength and courage from childhood, killing lions and dragons, heroically kidnapping a bride, taming an Amazon, etc. These fairy tales are inserted into the historical frame of the struggle against the Caliphate. Digenis himself is the son of a Greek woman and an Arab emir who converted to Christianity; the poem contradictoryly combines the ideas of a well-known religious tolerance associated with the origin of the hero, and the idea of ​​Christian missionism. Literature: Volkova 3. N. Epos of France. History and language of French epic legends. M., 1984; Gurevich A. Ya. "Edda" and the saga. M., 1979; Meletinsky E. M. "Edda" and early forms of the epic. M, 1968; he is. Introduction to the historical poetics of the epic and the novel. M., 1986; Mikhailov A.D. French heroic epic. Questions of poetics and stylistics. M., 1995; Potanin G. M. Oriental motifs in the medieval European epic. M., 1989; Smirnitskaya O.A. The Poetic Art of the Anglo-Saxons // Old English Poetry. M, 1982. S. 171-232; Smirnov A.A. Spanish heroic epic and the legend of Side // Song of Side. M., L., 1959. S. 165-213; Steblin-Kamensky M.I. Old Norse Literature. M., 1979; he is. Elder Edda // Elder Edda. M., L., 1963. S. 181-213; Tomashevsky H. B. Heroic tales of France and Spain // Song of Roland. Coronation of Louis. Himskaya cart. Song about Sid. Romancero. M., 1976. (BVL; v. 10); Heusl er A. Germanic heroic epic and the legend of the Nibelungs (with an introductory article by V.M. Zhirmunsky). M, 1960; Yarkho B.I. Introduction// Song about Roland. M., L., 1934; Vedier J. Les légendes ?piques. Recherches sur la formation des chansons de geste. V.I-IV. P., 1908-1913; Brodeur A.C. The Art of Beowulf. Berkeley, Los Angeles, 1950; Gautier L. Les ?pop?es fran?aises. Etudes sur les origines et l "histoire de la litt?rature nationale. P., 1882; Lot K. Etudes sur les l?gendes? piques fran?aises. P., 1958; Manelach A. Naissance et d? veloppement de la chanson de geste en Europe. V. I-IV. Gen?ve, P., 1961-1980; Markale J. L "? pop?e celtique d" Ireland. P., 1971; Medieval Literature and Folklore Studies / ed. by J. Mandel, B. Rosenberg, New Brunswick, 1970; Menendes Pidal, R. La chanson de Roland y el neotradicionalismo, Madrid, 1959; Siciliano, I. Les chansons de geste et l"?pop?e. Torino, 1968; Vries J. de. Altnordische Literaturgeschichte. bd. 1-2. V., 1964-1967. E. M. Meletinsky