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Tales Of The Narts
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Book Synopsis Tales of the Narts by : John Colarusso
Download or read book Tales of the Narts written by John Colarusso and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2020-11-03 with total page 512 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An exciting collection of mythology about heroes, heroines, villains, and monsters in the intriguing world of the nomad warriors of the Caucasus The Nart sagas are to the Caucasus what Greek mythology is to Western civilization. Tales of the Narts expands the canon of this precious body of lore by presenting a wide selection of fascinating tales that are part of a living tradition among the peoples of Ossetia in southern Russia. A mythical tribe of nomad warriors, the Narts are courageous, bold, and good-hearted, but also capable of envy, cruelty, and violence. In this wonderfully vivid and accessible collection, colorful and exciting heroes, heroines, villains, and monsters pursue their destinies though a series of exploits, often with the intervention of ancient gods.
Download or read book Nart Sagas from the Caucasus written by and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2014-09-15 with total page 576 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Nart sagas are to the Caucasus what Greek mythology is to Western civilization. This book presents, for the first time in the West, a wide selection of these fascinating myths preserved among four related peoples whose ancient cultures today survive by a thread. In ninety-two straightforward tales populated by extraordinary characters and exploits, by giants who humble haughty Narts, by horses and sorceresses, Nart Sagas from the Caucasus brings these cultures to life in a powerful epos. In these colorful tales, women, not least the beautiful temptress Satanaya, the mother of all Narts, are not only fertility figures but also pillars of authority and wisdom. In one variation on a recurring theme, a shepherd, overcome with passion on observing Satanaya bathing alone, shoots a "bolt of lust" that strikes a rock--a rock that gives birth to the Achilles-like Sawseruquo, or Sosruquo. With steely skin but tender knees, Sawseruquo is a man the Narts come to love and hate. Despite a tragic history, the Circassians, Abazas, Abkhaz, and Ubykhs have retained the Nart sagas as a living tradition. The memory of their elaborate warrior culture, so richly expressed by these tales, helped them resist Tsarist imperialism in the nineteenth century, Stalinist suppression in the twentieth, and has bolstered their ongoing cultural journey into the post-Soviet future. Because these peoples were at the crossroads of Eurasia for millennia, their myths exhibit striking parallels with the lore of ancient India, classical Greece, and pagan Scandinavia. The Nart sagas may also have formed a crucial component of the Arthurian cycle. Notes after each tale reveal these parallels; an appendix offers extensive linguistic commentary. With this book, no longer will the analysis of ancient Eurasian myth be possible without a close look at the Nart sagas. And no longer will the lover of myth be satisfied without the pleasure of having read them. Excerpts from the Nart sagas ? "The Narts were a tribe of heroes. They were huge, tall people, and their horses were also exuberant Alyps or Durduls. They were wealthy, and they also had a state. That is how the Narts lived their lives. . . ." "The Narts were courageous, energetic, bold, and good-hearted. Thus they lived until God sent down a small swallow. . . ." "The Narts were very cruel to one another. They were envious of one another. They disputed among themselves over who was the most courageous. But most of all they hated Sosruquo. . . . A rock gave birth to him. He is the son of a rock, illegally born a mere shepherd's son. . . ."
Download or read book Nart Sagas written by and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2016-06-07 with total page 454 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The sagas of the ancient Narts are to the Caucasus what Greek mythology is to Western civilization. This book presents, for the first time in the West, a wide selection of these fascinating myths preserved among four related peoples whose ancient cultures today survive by a thread. In ninety-two straightforward tales populated by extraordinary characters and exploits, by giants who humble haughty Narts, by horses and sorceresses, Nart Sagas from the Caucasus brings these cultures to life in a powerful epos. In these colorful tales, women, not least the beautiful temptress Satanaya, the mother of all Narts, are not only fertility figures but also pillars of authority and wisdom. In one variation on a recurring theme, a shepherd, overcome with passion on observing Satanaya bathing alone, shoots a "bolt of lust" that strikes a rock--a rock that gives birth to the Achilles-like Sawseruquo, or Sosruquo. With steely skin but tender knees, Sawseruquo is a man the Narts come to love and hate. Despite a tragic history, the Circassians, Abazas, Abkhaz, and Ubykhs have retained the Nart sagas as a living tradition. The memory of their elaborate warrior culture, so richly expressed by these tales, helped them resist Tsarist imperialism in the nineteenth century, Stalinist suppression in the twentieth, and has bolstered their ongoing cultural journey into the post-Soviet future. Because these peoples were at the crossroads of Eurasia for millennia, their myths exhibit striking parallels with the lore of ancient India, classical Greece, and pagan Scandinavia. The Nart sagas may also have formed a crucial component of the Arthurian cycle. Notes after each tale reveal these parallels; an appendix offers extensive linguistic commentary. With this book, no longer will the analysis of ancient Eurasian myth be possible without a close look at the Nart sagas. And no longer will the lover of myth be satisfied without the pleasure of having read them. Excerpts from the Nart sagas "The Narts were a tribe of heroes. They were huge, tall people, and their horses were also exuberant Alyps or Durduls. They were wealthy, and they also had a state. That is how the Narts lived their lives. . . ." "The Narts were courageous, energetic, bold, and good-hearted. Thus they lived until God sent down a small swallow. . . ." "The Narts were very cruel to one another. They were envious of one another. They disputed among themselves over who was the most courageous. But most of all they hated Sosruquo. . . . A rock gave birth to him. He is the son of a rock, illegally born a mere shepherd's son. . . ." In a new introduction, folklorist Adrienne Mayor reflects on these tales both in terms of the fascinating warrior culture they depict and the influence they had on Greco-Roman mythology.
Book Synopsis Legends of the Caucasus by : David Hunt
Download or read book Legends of the Caucasus written by David Hunt and published by Saqi. This book was released on 2012-05-28 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Caucasus has an extremely rich folk literature, almost unknown among English speakers, which includes myths, legends, magical tales, anecdotes and proverbs. The one hundred and one legends included in this book reflect the cultures of fourteen different ethnic groups - their dynamism and the matters that concerned them: survival against external dangers, the risk of starvation and the persistence of the family or clan as a coordinated group. Descended from an oral tradition, much of their knowledge was retained in memories and passed down the generations. Yet, with the introduction of the alphabet, the way of life they portray is rapidly becoming extinct. An incomparable collection, Legends of the Caucasus conveys the poetry and romance of these swiftly vanishing tribes. 'This book has brought into light some of the hidden treasures of the Caucasus ... A major contribution not only to the study of the Caucasus, but also to world folklore.' John Colarusso, McMaster University, Canada 'Inventive and meticulous in rendering the extraordinary folk poetry of the many nations of the Caucasus ... [This is] essential reading for anyone seeking an insight into the cultures of the Caucasus.' Donald Rayfield, Queen Mary University of London, UK
Book Synopsis From Scythia to Camelot by : C. Scott Littleton
Download or read book From Scythia to Camelot written by C. Scott Littleton and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-10-23 with total page 430 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume boldly proposes that the core of the Arthurian and Holy Grail traditions derived not from Celtic mythology, but rather from the folklore of the peoples of ancient Scythia (what are now the South Russian and Ukrainian steppes). Also includes 19 maps.
Download or read book The Avestan Hymn to Mithra written by and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2007-12-03 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Avestan Hymn to Mithra, written in the fifth century BC, is the one extensive, ancient literary record of the attributes, companions and cult of the Iranian god whose worship spread, five or six centuries later, as far as Britain. Dr Gershevitch here reproduces Geldner's text and critical apparatus of the Hymn, adding his own introduction, translation and commentary. The introduction offers an orientation on the main problems concerning Mithra: how the god came to be included in the Zoroastrian religious system, his relation to Zarathustra's god Ahura Mazdah, his functions, his development from the stage at which the Indian Mitra is found in the Rig Veda, and the extent to which the Western Mithras has preserved the characteristics of the Avestan Mithra. The text is faced by the English translation, and is followed by Dr Gershevitch's exhaustive commentary.
Download or read book China Bound written by Robert Bickers and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2020-03-05 with total page 577 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From its origins in Liverpool in 1816, one unusual British firm has threaded a way through two centuries that have seen tumultuous events and epochal transformations in technologies and societies. John Swire & Sons, a small trading company that began by importing dyes, cotton and apples from the Americas, now directs a highly diversified group of interests operating across the globe but with a core focus on Asia. From 1866 its fate was intertwined with developments in China, with the story of steam, and later of flight, and with the movements of people and of goods that made the modern world. China Bound charts the story of the firm, its family owners and staff, its operations, its successes and its disasters, as it endured wars, uprisings and revolutions, the rise and fall of empires - China's, Britain's, Japan's – and the twists and turns of the global economy. This is the story of a business that reshaped Hong Kong, developed Cathay Pacific Airways, dominated China's pre-Second World War shipping industry, and helped pioneer containerization. Robert Bickers' remarkable new book is the history of a business, and of its worlds, of modern China, Britain, and of the globalization that entangled them, of compradors, ship-owners, and seamen, sugar travellers, tea-tasters, and stuff merchants, revolutionaries, pirates and Taipans. Essential reading for anyone with an interest in global commerce, China Bound provides an intimate history that helps explain the shape of Asia today.
Book Synopsis Conceptualising Divine Unions in the Greek and Near Eastern Worlds by :
Download or read book Conceptualising Divine Unions in the Greek and Near Eastern Worlds written by and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2022-01-04 with total page 334 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume is an interdisciplinary investigation and contextualization of the various concepts of divine union in the private and public sphere of the Greek and Near Eastern worlds.
Download or read book Gods and Robots written by Adrienne Mayor and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2020-04-21 with total page 294 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Traces the story of how ancient cultures envisioned artificial life, automata, self-moving devices and human enhancements, sharing insights into how the mythologies of the past related to and shaped ancient machine innovations.
Book Synopsis Circassian History by : Kadir I. Natho
Download or read book Circassian History written by Kadir I. Natho and published by Xlibris Corporation. This book was released on 2009-12-03 with total page 576 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Circassian History relates the heroic struggle for survival of one of the most ancient nations in the world, with a unique language and a highly developed distinctive culture. Beginning from 1555, Circassian princes began seeking the friendship and protection of czarist Russia against the aggressions of the Ottoman Turks and Crimean Khans. However, Czarist Russia unleashed its colonial war against Circassia to build the necessary harbors on the Black Sea. Their Nart Epos and archeological finds of the Maikop dolmen and barrow cultures testify that the ancestors of the Circassians lived and prospered on the same territory at least since the advent of the Bronze Age. Their Homeland in North Caucasus stretched from the main ridge of the Caucasus Mountains to the northeastern Black Sea and eastern Azov seacoasts. Its northern boundaries run from Lake Manych and along the Terek Riverthe northern boundary of Kabarda. Beginning from 1555, Circassian princes began seeking the friendship and protection of czarist Russia against the aggressions of the Ottoman Turks and Crimean Khans. However, Czarist Russia unleashed its colonial aggression and conquered Circassia to build the necessary harbors on the Black Sea. Russia planned to seize Bosphorus and Dardanelles with the passage to the Mediterranean Sea, weaken the position of the Ottoman Empire, deal a powerful blow on the trade interests of Great Britain, and gain the upper hand over the European powers in the contest for world supremacy. In this unequal war, Russia occupied Kabarda in 1779. By 1822, it stripped off the Kabardinian princes of the right to rule in their own land and subjected them and their country to the dictatorship of the commanding generals of the Russian armed forces. Thus, early and masterfully, Russia had cut off Kabarda from its western kindred and then directed its military might against Western Circassia. During this period, Russia launched a powerful worldwide propaganda campaign, portraying the Circassians to the Western world as the marauding savages who should be obliterated from the face of the earth in order to ensure peace in the region. At the same time, Russia kept increasing its armed forces in this region. For example, during General Yermolovs time, Russia increased its army in this region from 5075,000, excluding the Cossacks. Russia added 47 new battalions since 1831 and another 40,000 soldiers in 1840. In short, a 210,000 Russian armies and 80,000 Cossack Cavalries were conducting military operations in Circassia during 18531856. Later, Russia reinforced it with 24,000 Russian infantry corps and 2 dragoon regiments and artillery. Russia suffered colossal losses in the Russo-Circassian War. Since the time of Catherine II to 1864, 1.5 million Russian soldiers fell in this country, excluding the Cossack losses as they were not considered a part of the regular Russian army. From the beginning until the end of the war, the Russian army had burnt and pillaged twenty, thirty, fifty, and one hundred Circassian villages at a time, destroying the harvest and driving out the cattle; the Russian army killed or uprooted the native inhabitants and settled Cossack and Russian stanitsas in the territory, according to the planned genocide. As Russian generals stated openly, Russia needed the Circassian lands, not the Circassians. Finally, Russia crushed the Circassian nation in 1864, forced them from their historical Motherland, drove them to the Black Sea shore under Russian bayonets, and threw them into the confines of the Ottoman Empire thus completing its planned genocide. At the present time, as a result of the genocide, 90 percent of the Circassian population lives scattered all over the world. They survived the planned Russian genocide, the cold, deprivations, epidemics, and other companions of their forcible exile. They became exemplary citizens of many countries, established their own new republicsAdigey, Kabardino-Balkaria
Book Synopsis A Grammar of the Kabardian Language by : John Colarusso
Download or read book A Grammar of the Kabardian Language written by John Colarusso and published by University of Calgary Press. This book was released on 1992 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the first comprehensive grammar of a non-Indo-European language from the Northwest Caucasian family in a language other than Russian. Kabardian is complex at every level. A Grammar of the Kabardian Language gives the reader the first account of the syntax of this language. It will give the area specialist access to the language. It will give the linguist interested in complex languages access to an extraordinarily difficult language, and it will give the theoretical linguist access to a language that exhibits topological exotica at every level of its grammar, from phonetics to the lexicon.
Book Synopsis Gilgamesh Epic and Old Testament Parallels by : Alexander Heidel
Download or read book Gilgamesh Epic and Old Testament Parallels written by Alexander Heidel and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 1949 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cuneiform records made some three thousand years ago are the basis for this essay on the ideas of death and the afterlife and the story of the flood which were current among the ancient peoples of the Tigro-Euphrates Valley. With the same careful scholarship shown in his previous volume, The Babylonian Genesis, Heidel interprets the famous Gilgamesh Epic and other related Babylonian and Assyrian documents. He compares them with corresponding portions of the Old Testament in order to determine the inherent historical relationship of Hebrew and Mesopotamian ideas.
Download or read book The Amazons written by Adrienne Mayor and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2016-02-09 with total page 538 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The real history of the Amazons in war and love Amazons—fierce warrior women dwelling on the fringes of the known world—were the mythic archenemies of the ancient Greeks. Heracles and Achilles displayed their valor in duels with Amazon queens, and the Athenians reveled in their victory over a powerful Amazon army. In historical times, Cyrus of Persia, Alexander the Great, and the Roman general Pompey tangled with Amazons. But just who were these bold barbarian archers on horseback who gloried in fighting, hunting, and sexual freedom? Were Amazons real? In this deeply researched, wide-ranging, and lavishly illustrated book, National Book Award finalist Adrienne Mayor presents the Amazons as they have never been seen before. This is the first comprehensive account of warrior women in myth and history across the ancient world, from the Mediterranean Sea to the Great Wall of China. Mayor tells how amazing new archaeological discoveries of battle-scarred female skeletons buried with their weapons prove that women warriors were not merely figments of the Greek imagination. Combining classical myth and art, nomad traditions, and scientific archaeology, she reveals intimate, surprising details and original insights about the lives and legends of the women known as Amazons. Provocatively arguing that a timeless search for a balance between the sexes explains the allure of the Amazons, Mayor reminds us that there were as many Amazon love stories as there were war stories. The Greeks were not the only people enchanted by Amazons—Mayor shows that warlike women of nomadic cultures inspired exciting tales in ancient Egypt, Persia, India, Central Asia, and China. Driven by a detective's curiosity, Mayor unearths long-buried evidence and sifts fact from fiction to show how flesh-and-blood women of the Eurasian steppes were mythologized as Amazons, the equals of men. The result is likely to become a classic.
Book Synopsis China's Muslims and Japan's Empire by : Kelly A. Hammond
Download or read book China's Muslims and Japan's Empire written by Kelly A. Hammond and published by UNC Press Books. This book was released on 2020-09-30 with total page 315 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this transnational history of World War II, Kelly A. Hammond places Sino-Muslims at the center of imperial Japan's challenges to Chinese nation-building efforts. Revealing the little-known story of Japan's interest in Islam during its occupation of North China, Hammond shows how imperial Japanese aimed to defeat the Chinese Nationalists in winning the hearts and minds of Sino-Muslims, a vital minority population. Offering programs that presented themselves as protectors of Islam, the Japanese aimed to provide Muslims with a viable alternative—and, at the same time, to create new Muslim consumer markets that would, the Japanese hoped, act to subvert the existing global capitalist world order and destabilize the Soviets. This history can be told only by reinstating agency to Muslims in China who became active participants in the brokering and political jockeying between the Chinese Nationalists and the Japanese Empire. Hammond argues that the competition for their loyalty was central to the creation of the ethnoreligious identity of Muslims living on the Chinese mainland. Their wartime experience ultimately helped shape the formation of Sino-Muslims' religious identities within global Islamic networks, as well as their incorporation into the Chinese state, where the conditions of that incorporation remain unstable and contested to this day.
Book Synopsis Morphology of the Folk Tale by : V. Propp
Download or read book Morphology of the Folk Tale written by V. Propp and published by Univ of TX + ORM. This book was released on 2010-06-03 with total page 188 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This seminal work by the renowned Russian folklorist presents his groundbreaking structural analysis of classic fairytales and their genres. One of the most influential works of 20th century literary criticism, Vladimir Propp’s Morphology of the Folk Tale is essential reading for anyone interested in examining the structural characteristics of fairytales. Since it first appeared in English in 1958, this groundbreaking study has had a major impact on the work of folklorists, linguists, anthropologists, and literary critics. “Propp’s work is seminal…[and], now that it is available in a new edition, should be even more valuable to folklorists who are directing their attention to the form of the folktale, especially those structural characteristics which are common to many entries coming from different cultures.”—Choice
Book Synopsis Flying Snakes and Griffin Claws by : Adrienne Mayor
Download or read book Flying Snakes and Griffin Claws written by Adrienne Mayor and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2022-07-26 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A treasury of astonishing mythic marvels—and the surprising truths behind them Adrienne Mayor is renowned for exploring the borders of history, science, archaeology, anthropology, and popular knowledge to find historical realities and scientific insights—glimmering, long-buried nuggets of truth—embedded in myth, legends, and folklore. Combing through ancient texts and obscure sources, she has spent decades prospecting for intriguing wonders and marvels, historical mysteries, diverting anecdotes, and hidden gems from ancient, medieval, and modern times. Flying Snakes and Griffin Claws is a treasury of fifty of her most amazing and amusing discoveries. The book explores such subjects as how mirages inspired legends of cities in the sky; the true identity of winged serpents in ancient Egypt; how ghost ships led to the discovery of the Gulf Stream; and the beauty secrets of ancient Amazons. Other pieces examine Arthur Conan Doyle’s sea serpent and Geronimo’s dragon; Flaubert’s obsession with ancient Carthage; ancient tattooing practices; and the strange relationship between wine goblets and women’s breasts since the times of Helen of Troy and Marie Antoinette. And there’s much, much more. Showcasing Mayor’s trademark passion not to demythologize myths, but to uncover the fascinating truths buried beneath them, Flying Snakes and Griffin Claws is a wonder cabinet of delightful curiosities.
Book Synopsis Greek Fire, Poison Arrows, and Scorpion Bombs by : Adrienne Mayor
Download or read book Greek Fire, Poison Arrows, and Scorpion Bombs written by Adrienne Mayor and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2008-12-30 with total page 319 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A comprehensive look at WMD's antecedents, from flamethrowers of the Peloponnesian War to plague-bearing booby traps.... Rich and entertaining." -Newsweek Featuring a new introduction by the author. Flamethrowers, poison gases, incendiary bombs, the large-scale spreading of disease... are these terrifying agents and implements of warfare modern inventions? Not by a long shot. Weapons of biological and chemical warfare have been in use for thousands of years, and Greek Fire, Poison Arrows & Scorpion Bombs, Adrienne Mayor's fascinating exploration of the origins of biological and unethical warfare draws extraordinary connections between the mythical worlds of Hercules and the Trojan War, the accounts of Herodotus and Thucydides, and modern methods of war and terrorism. Greek Fire, Poison Arrows & Scorpion Bombs will catapult readers into the dark and fascinating realm of ancient war and mythic treachery-and their devastating consequences.
