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Culture Hero's Intrepid Past (Prometheus, Loki, Syrdon

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Culture Hero's Intrepid Past (Prometheus, Loki, Syrdon ISSN 0258-0802. LITERATŪRA 2015 57 (3) CULTURE HERO’S INTREPID PAST (PROMETHEUS, LOKI, SYRDON… COYOTE…)1 Fatima Eloeva Department of Classical Philology Vilnius University Erika Sausverde Centre of Scandinavian Studies Vilnius University Abstract. The paper compares Loki of the Scandinavian and Syrdon of the Caucasian material (the Nart epic tradition) with the evolution of the character of Prometheus as described in the early texts (Theogony and Works and Days by Hesiod) and with his later transformation as described in Prometheus Bound by Aeschilus. This comparison makes it possible to demonstrate the general pattern of evolution which can be described as (chthonian) deity → trickster → culture hero. In this we do not agree with Eleazar Meletinskij’s statemwent, according to which the culture hero – Demiurge – is the most ancient character in the world folklore, while the trickster is a subsequent transformation of the image of the culture hero. Employing the Greek model (Hesiod’s Theogony) as our starting point, we will argue that an intriguer / a trickster is the most ancient mythological character, while the culture hero emerges as a result of later developments. Keywords: trickster, culture hero, chthonian deity, metaphor, myth, comparative mythology, semantic evolution, idea of progress. Before the High and Far-Off Times, O my Best Beloved, came the Time of the Very Beginnings; and that was in the days when the Eldest Magician was getting Things ready. […] He took the Elephant–All-the-Elephant-there-was–and said, ‘Play at being an Elephant,’ and All-the-Elephant-there-was played. […] But there was one Elephant […] who was full of ’satiable curtiosity [sic] and that means he asked ever so many questions. And he lived in Africa, and he filled all Africa with his ‘satiable curtiosities. […] He asked questions about everything that he saw, or heard, or felt, or smelt, or touched, and his uncles and his aunts spanked him. Rudyard Kipling No method requires more erudition than the comparative, and yet none is less fruitful. Nevertheless, the comparative method continues to dominate research on individual myths. M. I. Steblin-Kamenskij 1 The shorter version of this paper see in Eloeva, Sausverde, 2015. 98 Introduction1 Loki versus Syrdon (Dumezil 1959; Ker- enyi 2010; Mikhailov 2011). Research- Opening our paper with the quotation from ers studied them mostly at the synchronic Mikhail Steblin-Kamenskij’s book Myth level, statically, attempting in this way (Steblin-Kamenskij 1982, 28; 2003, 230) to reconstruct the proto-stage. We, how- we pay once again homage to the great ever, aim to examine their development scholar whose legacy continues to be held diachronically, in evolution3. The idea is in high regard in the academic world. Be- to compare Loki of the Scandinavian and sides, comparative mythology is a fasci- Syrdon of the Caucasian material (the nating realm that has mesmerized human- Nart epic tradition) with the evolution of ity for centuries. We too cannot resist the the character of Prometheus as described temptation. Nevertheless we believe that in the early texts (Theogony and Works Steblin-Kamenskij’s statement is rather and Days by Hesiod”) and with his later debatable. Comparative mythology offers transformation as described in Prometheus approaches and models through which the Bound by Aeschilus. We believe that this human mind perceives and analyses the comparison will help us to demonstrate the world. For this reason one can hardly call general pattern of evolution which can be it useless. described as (chthonian) deity → trickster This paper deals with the question that → culture hero. has been extensively discussed in Indo- The comparison of these three charac- European comparative mythology. It is ters allows us to suggest that, at least ten- the question of the parallels and affinities tatively, they all belong to the model of the which can be observed between certain so-called trickster which can be found in epic and mythological characters – An- the Coyote spirit in some Native American cient Greek Prometheus, Syrdon of the mythologies, who stole fire from the gods Narts’ epos and Scandinavian Loki. Previ- (or stars, or sun). A similar motive can be ously the three characters have been exam- found in the stories about the Rabbit in the ined in pairs – Prometheus versus Loki,2 South Eastern United States or the Raven 1 2 Apparently, the first scholar to compare Loki and 3 An exception in this trend for the synchronic ap- Prometheus was George Dumezil, in his early work of proach to Loki’s character is found in the analysis of- 1924 (Dumezil 1924). Jan de Vries calls Loki in his fun- fered by Anatoly Liberman in his book The Word Heath damental research on the history of Old Germanic reli- (1994) and especially in the brilliant etymological retro- gion the “Germanic Prometheus” (de Vries 1967, 272). spective given in the Postscript, which characteristically The resemblance of the two characters two different bears the title “How Loki Laufeyjar Son Lived Up to mytho-poetic traditions has been noted regularly by var- His Name.” Liberman states that the Loki myths were ious researchers (see, for example, Rooth 1961; Simek determined by the “punning possibilities inherent in his 1995; Meletinskij 1988). This comparison was based name”. He goes on to say that the development of the mainly on the motive of punishment of both characters, hero starts from a kind of chthonic divinity (initially the their bounded state, their suffering caused by torture name Loki meant “somebody who locks, delimitates”) and, finally, their liberation. Their similar Kulturträger later transforming into the Ruler of the Down World, characteristics were considered to be less significant. God of Fire (versus Lucifer), trickster etc. Liberman Referring to Dumezil (1924), Jean-Paule Vernant briefly demonstrates convincingly, how in accordance with commented that the inherent ambivalence of the two pre-Saussourian logic, the initial name Loki shapes and heroes and their specific intellectuality challenged the determines the subsequent modifications and functions ruling gods (Vernant 2003). of the hero, see Liberman 1994. 99 which stole fire from his uncle beaver and senting an early stage of the development eventually gave it to people. of myth, while Prometheus of Aeschylus There is nothing new in this assertion – belongs to the world of fiction. it has long been accepted by comparative mythology. Here we are dealing with a The Concept of Myth kind of mythological universalia. In this Creating myths and subsequently analys- paper we will attempt to prove that the ing them from the point of view of their trickster and intriguer – a character who origins and construction seems to have transgresses the rules because of his “sati- become one of the distinctive occupations able curtiosity,” as Kipling put it – consti- of Homo Sapiens and, arguably, one of his tutes the first stage in the transformation most favoured and ancient pursuits. from a character into a culture hero (Long The study of the origins of myths and 2005). mythology is a well-established area of In this we do not agree with Eleazar Me- scholarly enquiry (Steblin-Kamenskij letinskij’s statement, according to which 1982). It was in Ancient Greece (where the culture hero – Demiurge – is the most many theories had been put forward and ancient character in the world folklore, rejected before restarting their life in the while the trickster is a subsequent trans- general history of the “world of the mind”) formation of the image of the culture hero that numerous attempts were made to in- (Meletinskij 1959). Employing the Greek terpret myths allegorically. Empedocles model (Hesiod’s Theogony) (Athanassakis was among the first to offer a symbolic 1983) as our starting point, we will argue analysis of Greek mythology. In his in- that an intriguer /a trickster is the most terpretation, Poseidon represents water, ancient mythological character, while the Apollo – light, etc. (Russel 1967, 81). culture hero emerges as a result of later Critical interpretation of myths goes as far developments (Aeschylus, Προμηθεὺς back as the Pre-Socratic tradition. Euhe- Δεσμώτης, Prometheus bound). One can merus viewed them as accounts of actual suggest that the moment the culture hero historical events, which later became dis- emerges, myth disappears and gives way torted on account of numerous retellings. to fiction. Analysing the Neo-Platonic perception In this paper we will focus on the ques- of myths, Sergei Averintsev remarked that tion of whether the semantic development symbol per se is probably as old as Homo attributed to these characters – chthonian Sapiens. Yet, he argues that the strict divi- deity → trickster → culture hero – corre- sion between symbol and object, as well lates with the transformation and changing as the concept of allegory, is relatively value of the idea of progress within differ- new (Averintsev 2004). The distinction ent cultures. Our inferences are based on between symbol and allegory was es- the belief that while reconstructing pos- tablished at the end of the 18th and early sible transformations of a character, one 19th centuries within the tradition of Ger- should make use of Greek material, where man Romanticism, notably in Schelling’s Prometheus of Hesiod acts according to works. Thus, Greek antiquity begins with the behaviour model of a trickster thus pre- myths that were alive and evolving and 100 for this reason, could not be isolated and of the interpretation of myth by anthro- analysed. Myth supposes integrity of its pologists – theories of mythology share a symbolic content and its material mani- common logical basis, there is no inherent festations and excludes any possibility of contradiction between them. While inter- analytical approach or speculation. In sub- preting a particular myth one can combine sequent periods myth came under severe the approaches of Claude Lévi-Strauss and criticism.
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