Piotr wrote
In relation to Chris's post
> I am interested in whether or not anyone on the list can comment on
> Proto-Indo European themes in the Nart epics (allegedly the remains
of
> Scythian myth) - specifically the sword in the lake motif (Batradz
commiting
> his sword to the waters three times - an obvious parallel to the
Continental
> Arthurian tales). It has been noted that this motif appears in
Japanese myth
> - with the theory that it was transmitted to the Japanese by the
Scuthians.
<Piotr>
Well, if it's some archetypal Iron Age motif, it could have been
borrowed by Proto-Celtic myth-makers from some Pontic source
(Anatolian??? Caucasian?? Cimmerian?? Scythian? ca. 1000-800 BC?)
possibly via some Pannonian intermediary or other. Bronze swords do not
seem to have been treated with as much respect or to have had as much
symbolic importance as iron ones.
However, if the motif is that early, i.e. definitely pre-Arthurian, one
would expect it to recur here and there: other dying heroes should have
chosen a similar way of parting with their favourite swords whether in
Celtic or Celtic-influenced (Germanic?) folklore. As far as I know, it
recurs only geographically -- in Britain there are several ponds or
'meres' where Bedivere reputedly threw Excalibur away. I've been near
one of them, Dozmary Pool on Bodmin Moor in Cornwall.
The connection between the Nart sagas and the Arthurian legend has
apparently been discussed in the literature. Here's a whole online
bibliography (in case you haven't got this URL):
http://www.geocities.com/Eureka/Enterprises/2493/bibnartsaga.htm
Interesting stuff. There is one other possible connection between
Arthur and the Scythians. A cataphract of auxilliary Sarmatian cavalry
was posted to Britain in the 3rd century AD, and seem to have had a
disproportionate effect upon the military from Britain. In addition to
the myth of the Sword in the Lake, there is also the Arthurian myth of
the sword in the stone (unfortunately accounted for fairly late, and
not mentioned by Nennius or any of the really early Arthurian tale
tellers) that seems to have a Scythian/Sarmatian origin. Some have
even found a Sarmatian origin in the name of Arthurs sword, Excalibur
was the Norman French for Caladfwlch, a Welsh word derived from
Calad-Bolg meaning "Hard Lightning". Later it developed to become the
Caliburn of
Geoffrey and Monmouth and finally the Frenchified Excalibur that we
know today.
This identification of the Sword with lightning is an old IE motif that
occurs in many places (including the Scytho-Sarmatian mythos).
Hope this helps
John