[1] References to eastern
Asia Minor and the Caucasus appear in the most ancient extant
myths of humanity. These references and/or allusions, which are
not numerous, nonetheless bespeak some acquaintance by diverse
peoples with the area east of the Halys river and west of the
Caspian Sea, an area including what is today central and eastern
Turkey, Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan. Trade and migrations
were the two principal conduits by which goods and people passed
to and from this area, and impressions were left in the early
literature of the Greeks, Mesopotamians, Hurrians and Indo-Iranians.
Archaeological evidence confirms the existence of trade relations
between the southern shore of the Black Sea and Greek city-states
in the 9-5th centuries B.C.(1).
Areas south of the Armenian highlands, as well, provide archaeological
evidence for trade with parts of the highlands even farther back,
as early as the 8th millennium B.C. (2).
Migrations of peoples from eastern Asia Minor and the Caucasus
to lands to the south, east, and west, are the other likely source
for references to this area in mythology. Evidence of migrations,
however, is not complete and controversy surrounds every aspect,
from the participants and the languages they spoke, to their motives,
and especially the directions of the migrations (3).
This study examines the
geographical references and allusions to eastern Asia Minor and
the Caucasus in the ancient myths of the Greeks, Sumerians, Hurrians,
Iranians, and Indians, and analyzes the images they define. During
the past century, [2] significant comparative analysis has been done
on the Armenian and Georgian deities and their would-be
counterparts in the pantheons of neighboring societies. The works
of scholars such as the Armenists Abeghian, Adontz, Ananikian,
Karst, Khalatiants', and Matikian, and the Caucasiologists Allen,
Charachidze, Grigolia, Inadze, and Tseretheli, belong in this
category.(4)
Similarly, the works of mythologists such as W. Burkert, G. Dumezil,
and K. Kerenyi have at their base comparative analyses of deities,
their functions, and the shared themes found in western and eastern
mythologies (5).
The geographical focus adopted in the present study both expands
the volume of pertinent source material and, simultaneously, frees
it from the requirement of having to possess some echo in the
extant mythologies of the Armenians and Georgians.
Before turning to an examination
of the relevant myths, two topics must be discussed briefly for
the light they shed on the myths themselves: (1) the ecology of
the area in antiquity, and (2) difficulties involved with using
mythological material for research in general. During the third
through first millennia B.C., when most of the myths discussed
below evolved, eastern Asia Minor differed in important ways from
its modern incarnation. First, many now-extinct or dormant volcanoes
were then active. The two Ararats, Aragats, Nemrut, Suphan, Rewanduz,
and Savalan were among the more prominent volcanoes spewing molten
lava and rocks into the night sky, surely stimulating the awe
and imaginations of observers. Second, the flora and fauna were
richer in this early period. Large parts of the area were covered
with forests so dense that later [3] Akkadian sources (8th century
B.C.) describe Sargon's troops having to literally hack their
way in. Herds of wild elephants roamed in the Van-Urmiah area
and as far west as the Euphrates river, while throughout eastern
Asia Minor there was a profusion of types of birds, fish, bears,
and mountain cats no longer found there. Not only were the flora
and fauna richer in antiquity relative to the present but, in
antiquity, this area was richer relative to its contemporary neighbors.
Because of its favorable cool climate, eastern Asia Minor was
home to prized varieties of hardwood trees essential for building,
trees which did not grow in the hotter Mesopotamian lands to the
south (6).
According to the naturalist V. Hehn, quite a number of plants
and animals passed from or through this area to lands to its west
and south (7).
In addition to such botanical and biological diversity, eastern
Asia Minor and the Caucasus were (and remain) blessed with great
mineral wealth. The abundance of copper, iron, gold, silver, lead
and zinc, and their presence in outcroppings of rocks which did
not require extensive mining, led to the early development of
metallurgy here (8).
In the past sixty years, some scholars have suggested that the
horse-drawn war chariot was developed or perfected in eastern
Asia Minor (9). Built from native hardwoods and strengthened
with metal alloys, this invention gave the local populations
such a military advantage
that they were easily able to subdue or control their neighbors,
who fought as horseless infantry. In the view of a recent study,
sometime in the second millennium B.C., bands of armed warriors,
riding in horse-drawn chariots left eastern Asia Minor, eventually
reaching Greece, the Levant, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Iran, and India (10).
During the past two centuries, hypotheses which [4] make central and
eastern Asia Minor a point of diffusion have enjoyed popularity
among certain historians, linguists, archaeologists, botanists
and others (11).
Whatever the validity of the diffusionist hypotheses, the features
of ancient Asia Minor and the Caucasus mentioned above: volcanic
activity, dense forests, botanical and biological diversity, and
metallurgical advances are clearly reflected in the myths referring
or alluding to this area.
Finally, a few words are
in order about using mythological material for research in general.
First, there is no consensus concerning the meaning, significance,
or purpose of myths. Are myths a society's equivalent of an individual's
dreams or fantasies? Are they belles-lettres intended to
be read and enjoyed or epic utterances recited on important occasions?
How reliable are they for historical and/or economic information?
Answers to such often unanswerable questions vary from myth to
myth. Clearly, it is the richness and multifaceted nature of many
of the earliest myths which has contributed to their popularity
and durability, and has permitted diverse investigators from Stith
Thompson to Sigmund Freud to find in them reflections of their
own categories (12).
Second, despite the fact that this study follows the traditional
designation of myth as "Greek", "Sumerian",
etc., the actual origins of the oldest myths are unknown. The
Theogony of the 8th-7th century B.C. Greek author Hesiod
is a case in point. For generations regarded as an original early
Greek account of the origin of the gods, it today is considered
a Greek reworking of a Middle Eastern myth (13).
A number of other Greek myths have also been paired with Middle
Eastern sources(14).
The Gilgamesh cycle [5] of stories is an example of another type of
difficulty. Considered a Sumerian creation, versions exist in
several Middle Eastern languages--each version substituting local
names for the cities, mountains, and rivers found in the exemplar (15).
A myth such as "Jason and the Argonauts" illustrates
yet another problem. This myth, which is merely alluded to by
Homer in the 8th century B.C. clearly predates him, but by how
much? Fifty years, five hundred years? Because of such considerations
and the present limits of archaeology, it is impossible to accurately
date most of the mythological material presented below.
This exposition will examine
the following topics under the general headings of Greek, Middle
Eastern (Sumerian/Akkadian, Hurrian), and Indo-Iranian mythology:
myths concerning Aia, the Caucasus, the land of the Arimi, the
Amazons, Mount Mashu, Aratta, Kumiya, Zalpa, Airyanem Vaejah and
the Arax river. The major primary sources, which are discussed
in greater detail where appropriate, include, for the Greek section,
the Odyssey, and Iliad, of the 8th century B.C.
Greek poet Homer, the Theogony of the 8th-7th century Hesiod,
the Odes of the 6th-5th century Pindar, Prometheus
Bound by the 5th century Aeschuylus, and the Argonautica
by the third century Apollonius of Rhodes; for the Middle Eastern
section, the third-second millennia cycles of stories about the
heroes Gilgamesh, Enmerkar, and Kumarbi; and for the Indo-Iranian
section, the Rig Veda and the Avesta, both
generally assigned to the mid-second millennium B.C.
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