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Zmei (Russian)
A ''Zmei Gorynich'' or ''zmei'' (; plural: ), in skazka, ''skazki'' (Russian folktales) and bylina, ''byliny'' (Russian epic poetry), is a Slavic dragon, dragon or serpent, or sometimes a human-like character with dragon-like traits. Zmei Gorynych and Tugarin Zmeyevich, two well-known ''zmei'', appear as adversaries of the bogatyri (heroes) Dobrynya Nikitich or Alyosha Popovich. Nomenclature The word zmei in Russian is the masculine form of ''zmeya'', a feminine noun, meaning "snake" or "serpent". But the term ''zmei'' always implicitly refers to the flying kind all over Russia. The "flying serpent" (; ) and the "fiery serpents, fiery serpent" (; ) are given separate entries, as pan-Slavic concepts in the "Slavic Antiquities: Ethnolinguistic Dictionary" published in Russian. Yet these two naturally share close similarities, for instance, they both assume serpent/dragon shape in air but human shape on ground, both are "mythological lovers" of women, and associated with mete ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zmeu
The ''Zmeu'' (plural: ''zmei'', feminine: ''zmeoaică'' / ''zmeoaice'') is a fantastic creature of Romanian folklore and Romanian mythology. Though referred by some sources as a dragon, the zmeu is nevertheless distinct, because it usually has clear anthropomorphic traits: it is humanoid and has legs, arms, the ability to create and use artifacts such as weapons, and to ride a horse, and has the desire to marry young girls. There are commentators that class it as a giant (equivalent of an ogre), or a devil, or even a vampire. In some stories, Zmeu appears in the sky and spits fire, or has the ability to change form. In other stories, it has a magical precious stone on its head that shines like the sun. It likes beautiful young girls, whom it kidnaps, usually for the purpose of marrying them. It is almost always defeated by a daring prince or knight-errant. The zmei has also been conflated with or confused with the ''dracu'' or with the '' balaur'' type dragon. Etymology M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Snake
Snakes are elongated limbless reptiles of the suborder Serpentes (). Cladistically squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales much like other members of the group. Many species of snakes have skulls with several more joints than their lizard ancestors and relatives, enabling them to swallow prey much larger than their heads ( cranial kinesis). To accommodate their narrow bodies, snakes' paired organs (such as kidneys) appear one in front of the other instead of side by side, and most only have one functional lung. Some species retain a pelvic girdle with a pair of vestigial claws on either side of the cloaca. Lizards have independently evolved elongate bodies without limbs or with greatly reduced limbs at least twenty-five times via convergent evolution, leading to many lineages of legless lizards. These resemble snakes, but several common groups of legless lizards have eyelids and external ears, which snakes lack, althoug ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ivan Tsarevich
Ivan Tsarevich ( or Иван-царевич) is one of the main heroes of Russian folklore, usually a protagonist, often engaged in a struggle with Koschei. Along with Ivan the Fool, Ivan Tsarevich is a placeholder name, meaning "Prince Ivan", rather than a definitive character. ''Tsarevich'' is a title given to the sons of tsars. He is often, but not always, the youngest son of three. In the tale "The Three Tsardoms" he is a son of Nastasya the Golden Braid. Different legends describe Ivan with different wives, including Yelena the Beautiful, Vasilisa the Wise and Marya Morevna. Ivan is the main hero of multiple Russian folktales. He is almost always portrayed either as the third son of a peasant family or as the third son of a king. In the latter stories, he is called Ivan Tsarevich, which means "tsar's son". ("Ivan" is one of the most common Russian forenames.) The friends and foes of Ivan Tsarevich are often mythic figures, from magical animals to deathless beings ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alexander Afanasyev
Alexander Nikolayevich Afanasyev (; – ) was a Russian Slavist and ethnographer best known for publishing nearly 600 East Slavic and Russian fairy and folk tales, one of the largest collections of folklore in the world. This collection was not restricted to Great Russia, but included folk tales from what are now Ukraine and Belarus as well. The first edition of his collection was published in eight volumes from 1855 to 1867, earning him the reputation of being the Russian counterpart to the Brothers Grimm. Life Alexander Afanasyev was born in the town of Boguchar in the Voronezh Governorate of the Russian Empire (modern-day Voronezh Oblast of Russia) into a family of modest means. His mother Varvara Mikhailovna Afanasyeva came from common people. Alexander was her seventh child; she became very ill after giving birth and died by the end of the year. The children were raised by their father Nikolai Ivanovich Afanasyev, who had the rank of titular councillor and served as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Multi-headed Animal
Polycephaly is the condition of having more than one head. The term is derived from the Greek stems ''poly'' (Greek: "πολύ") meaning "many" and ''kephalē'' (Greek: "κεφαλή") meaning "head". A polycephalic organism may be thought of as one being with a supernumerary body part, or as two or more beings with a shared body. Two-headed animals (called bicephalic or dicephalic) and three-headed (tricephalic) animals are the only type of multi-headed creatures seen in the real world, and form by the same process as conjoined twins from monozygotic twin embryos. In humans, there are two forms of twinning that can lead to two heads being supported by a single torso. In dicephalus parapagus dipus, the two heads are side by side. In craniopagus parasiticus, the two heads are joined directly to each other, but only one head has a functional torso. Survival to adulthood is rare, but does occur in some forms of dicephalus parapagus dipus. There are many occurrences of multi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bylina
A (, ; ), also popularly known as a ''starina'' (), is a type of Russian oral epic poem. deal with all periods of Russian history. narratives are loosely based on historical fact, but greatly embellished with fantasy or hyperbole. originate from the times of Kievan Rus', but had only survived in northern Russia by the time they were collected. In a strict academic sense, can be defined as a specific verse meter known from certain Russian sung epics, ballads and humorous songs. Terminology The word derives from the past tense of the verb "to be" () and implies "something that was". The term most likely originated from scholars of Russian folklore ( folklorists); in 1839, Ivan Sakharov, a Russian folklorist, published an anthology of Russian folklore, a section of which he titled "Byliny of the Russian People", causing the popularization of the term. Later scholars believe that Sakharov misunderstood the word in the opening of '' The Tale of Igor's Campaign'' as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fiery Serpents
The Fiery Serpent (, , ; ) is an evil spirit in Slavic folklore. Nomenclature In Russia, the ''ognennyi zmei'' is also known as the (, 'serpent-lyubak'), (, 'raider'), (, 'raid'), (, 'flyer'), or (, 'flying one'). Also (, 'beckoner' <" 'to beckon') or (, 'charmer'). In Ukraine, the (, 'tempter, seducer'; var. ), aka (), is a demon in the form of a fiery snake (meteor) that flies towards women. It is also called (, 'flying one'), (, 'flyer'), (, 'raid'), or (, 'raider'). The pan-Slavic "fiery serpent" has been termed ' () in Ukrainian. The Belarus form is () for "flying serpent". In the Serbian epic ballads, i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alyosha Popovich
Alyosha Popovich (, , literally ''Alexey, son of the priest''), is a folk hero of Kievan Rus', appearing in Russian folklore. He is a bogatyr (a medieval knight-errant) and the youngest of the three main bogatyrs, the other two being Dobrynya Nikitich and Ilya Muromets. All three are represented together in Viktor Vasnetsov's famous painting ''Bogatyrs''. In Bylina, byliny (ballads), he is described as a clever-minded priest's son who wins by tricking and outsmarting his foes. He defeated the dragon Tugarin Zmeyevich by trickery. Character Alyosha Popovich is "noted for his slyness, agility, and craftiness, may be fun-loving, sometimes being depicted as a ‘mocker of women’, and may occasionally be a liar and a cheat", as described by James Bailey. His tongue-lashings are attested by his mockery of Tugarin's gluttony and insult to the unfaithful Princess. His clever ruse was his disguise as a deaf pilgrim to make Tugarin approach him without caution. He then plays a practica ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Slavic Dragon
A Slavic dragon is any dragon in Slavic mythology, including the Polish żmij, Russian '' zmei'' (or ; ), Ukrainian (), and its counterparts in other Slavic cultures (See below). The physiognomy resembles a combination of the classical dragon and a snake (as a winged serpent), less often depicted with two legs and/or more than one head. Similar representations include the Aztec Quetzalcoatl ( Feathered Serpent) or Caduceus ( Sumerian symbol of the god Enki borrowed into Greek mythology). The Romanian '' zmeu'' could also be deemed a "Slavic" dragon, but a non-cognate etymology has been proposed. A ''zmei'' may be beast-like or human-like (assuming dragon form in air, human form on ground), sometimes wooing women, but often plays the role of chief antagonist in Russian literature. In the Balkans, the ''zmei'' type is overall regarded as benevolent, as opposed to malevolent dragons known variously as '', '' ala'' or ''hala'', or ''aždaja''. The Polish ''smok'' (e.g. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dobrynya Nikitich
Dobrynya Nikitich () is one of the most popular bogatyrs (epic knights) from the " Kievan" series of Russian folklore based on bylina (epic songs) originating from the area around the capital of the Kievan Rus, Kiev. According to the bylinas, Dobrynya Nikitich is the son of the Ryazan voivode Nikita. Albeit fictional, this character is based on a real warlord Dobrynya, who led the armies of Svyatoslav the Great and tutored his son Vladimir the Great. Many byliny center on Dobrynya completing tasks set him by prince Vladimir. Dobrynya is often portrayed as being close to the royal family, undertaking sensitive and diplomatic missions. As a courtier, Dobrynya seems to be a representative of the noble class of warriors. He is a professional archer, swimmer, and wrestler. He plays the gusli, plays tafl, and is known for his courtesy and cunning. Bailey & Ivanova tr. (1998), p. 81. Dobrynya and the Dragon The following summary is after the version localized in the Povenets ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bogatyr
A bogatyr (, ; , ) or vityaz (, ; , ) is a stock character in medieval Bylina, East Slavic legends, akin to a Western European knight-errant. Bogatyrs appear mainly in Kievan Rus', Rus' epic poems—Bylina, ''bylinas''. Historically, they came into existence during the reign of Vladimir the Great (Grand Prince of Kiev from 978 to 1015) as part of his elite warriors (''druzhina''), akin to Knights of the Round table, Knights of the Round Table. Tradition describes bogatyrs as warriors of immense strength, courage and bravery, rarely using magic while fighting enemies in order to maintain the "loosely based on historical fact" aspect of bylinas. They are characterized as having resounding voices, with patriotic and religious pursuits, defending Rus' from foreign enemies (especially nomadic Turkic peoples, Turkic steppe-peoples or Finno-Ugric tribes in the period prior to the Mongol invasions) and their religion. Etymology The word ''bogatyr'' is not of Slavic origin. It derives f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
