Le mytho-cycle héroïque dans l’aire indo-européenne : Correspondances et transformations helléno-aryennes
(1996) ISBN: [9068318136], xviii + 253 pp. pages, published
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- (en) This comparative study of the ‘heroic mytho-cycle’ is based on the thesis that 1° in the Indo-European ‘mythologic era’, a heroic cycle was orally transmitted for serving as history of the primeral (heroic) ages, viz. the ages of the heroes or half-gods ; and 2° that heroic mytho-cycle is organized structurally in a corresponding form in at least two grand ‘Gesta’. The corpus for comparison consists of three representative traditions, namely, the archaic Greek, the archaic Indo-Aryan and the archaic Osseto-Aryan. The two great Gesta distinguished in each of the three heroic mytho-cycles are, in Greece, that of Herakles and that of the war of Troy, in which the hero Achilles distinguishes himself; in India, that of Rāma and that of the Bhārata war, from which emerges the hero Arjuna; in Ossetia, that of Soslan and the group of martial episodes in which the hero Batraz plays a role. The early Greek Epics (Homer and rest of the Epic cycle) are taken as the point of departure, furnishing the topics from which the comparisons procede. First, there is an internal analysis of the traditions, and then the comparison with the other traditions, concerning episodes and their different versions, motifs and their variants, etc. Concludes inter alia that the deeds of Herakles, of Rāma and of Soslan each articulate themselves around the 'greatest' hero of the tradition, the hero who by building intimate relations to the space, especially through his continuous deplacements, lends his Gesta an original geographical structure. This hero distinguishes himself by the divine origin of his father, with which there is more or less directly related a motif of Amphitryon implying his powerful father. This hero is characterized by his extraordinary physical power, rivaling that of the mightiest of supernatural beings. He very soon becomes the hero 'outside of the tribe' (deprived of a promised kingdom, in the same manner in India and Greece), travelling the world of margins and savage nature, with which he shares a series of characteristics. His savage aspect is thus reflected in the misdeeds he is forced to commit, be it the single misdeed of the mutilation of enemies, or those structured in a group of three following the herologeme of the 'three sins of the warrior'. He is a specialist in the extermination of monsters, supernatural beings physically characterized by a multiplicity of limbs and always by a type of conditional immortality (‘unkillability’ more precisely). It is inter alia because of that title that he is seen as the auxiliary/helper par excellence for the people, whom he protects or saves, and for the gods, for whom he has (re-)estab-lished the rites (disturbed by impiety). The hero, being deified, has the career privilege of staying alive forever, to be again able to intervene as a god in the life of men.
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Vielle, C. (1996). Le mytho-cycle héroïque dans l’aire indo-européenne : Correspondances et transformations helléno-aryennes. Université catholique de Louvain - Peeters Publishers. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/266669