ИЗВЕСТИЯ СОИГСИ

The article is devoted to one of the cycles of the Narts’ epic of the Ossetians – Soslan / Sozyryko cycle. The subject-motive composition of the cycle of Soslan is diverse and multivariate. Some plots can be considered typical: the birth of a hero made of stone, hardening, being raised in the underwater kingdom, the struggle with giants, winning a wife, a journey into the underworld. However, some motifs are found only in Soslan cycle. For example, many heroes were hardened by the celestial blacksmith Kurdalagon, but only Soslan was tempered in wolf’s milk. The main narrative material in Soslan cycle reflects the following motifs and plots: the birth of Soslan from the stone fertilized by either Wastirdji, Sainag-aldar or a shepherd on the bank of a river; hardening of Soslan in wolf's milk, gifts of the celestials to Soslan and Narts; rescuing Uruzmag; Soslan is looking for the strongest; Soslan's marriage; Soslan suffers defeat and a strip of skin is cut off from his back; Soslan makes Narta's daughters-in-law sew him a fur coat from the scalps and the whiskers of the husbands killed by him; Soslan captures the fortress of Gori / Hyz; Soslan takes the herds of the Narts to graze them on the lands of the sons of Tara, whom he overcomes by cunning; Soslan pretends to be dead in order to mislead the enemy; he visits the kingdom of the dead. In some plots Soslan acts as a cultural hero, in others - performs social functions (leader in campaigns), the third group of plots reflect initiation myths in which Soslan is the subject of initiation.

Keywords: Narts’ epic, mythology, plot, motive, Soslan, initiation, cultural hero.

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