The Nart sagas (Abkhaz: Нарҭаа ражәабжьқәа; Nartaa raƶuabƶkua; ; ) are a series of tales originating from the North Caucasus. They form much of the basic mythology of the ethnic groups in the area, including Abazin, Abkhaz, Circassian, Ossetian, Karachay-Balkar, and to some extent Chechen-Ingush folklore.
Etymology
The term nart comes from the Ossetian Nartæ, which is plurale tantum of nar. The derivation of the root nar is of Iranian origin, from Proto-Iranian *nar for 'hero, man', descended from Proto-Indo-European *h₂nḗr. In Ingush and Chechen, the word nart means 'giant'.
Characters
Some of the characters who feature prominently in the sagas are:
Sosruko or Soslan (Ubykh, Abkhaz and Adyghe: sawsərəqʷa (Саусырыкъо); Ossetian: Soslan (Сослан)) – a hero who sometimes also appears as a trickster Batraz (Ossetian: Батырадз) – the leader and greatest warrior of the Narts Satanaya (Ubykh: satanaja; Adyghe: Setenej (Сэтэнай); Ossetian: Satana (Сатана)) – the mother of the Narts, a fertility figure and matriarch Tlepsh (Adyghe and Abaza: ; Ossetian: Kwyrdalægon (Куырдалæгон)) – a blacksmith deity Syrdon (Ossetian: Сырдон) – a trickster figure compared by Georges Dumezil to the Norse god Loki (see :ru:Сырдон) Pkharmat (Chechen: Pẋarmat (Пхьармат)) – in the Nakh peoples' Vainakh epos, a blacksmith figure who steals fire from the gods for the mortals Akhsar and Akhsartag (Ossetian: Æхсæр, Æхсæртæг) are twin brothers who are heroes in Ossetian mythology and sons of Warhag. Akhsartag is also the father of the narts Uryzmaeg and Haemyts. Dzerassae (Ossetian: Дзерассæ) – daughter of the sea-god Donbettyr, and mother of many Nart heroes. Uryzmaeg (Ossetian: Уырызмæг, Орæзмæг, Урузмæг, Adyghe: Орзэмэдж/Озырмэс, Kabardian: Уэзырмэс, Chechen: Орзми, Ingush: Урузман, Abkhazian/Abaza: Уазырмас, Karachay-Balkar: Ёрюзмек) is the hero of the Nart saga, son of Akhsartag and Dzerassae. Haemyts (Ossetian: Хæмыц, Adyghe: Хъымыщ, Kabardian: Хъымыщ, Chechen: Хамчи, Ingush: Хамча, Abkhazian: Хмышь, Abaza: Хъмыщ, Karachay-Balkar: Хымыч) is the hero of the, son of Akhsartag and Dzerassae, the father of the hero Batraz and the twin brother of Uruzmaeg, with whom they often went on conquest campaigns together.
Study and significance
The first Westerner to take note of the Nart stories was the German scholar Julius von Klaproth, who traveled to the Caucasus during the first decade of the 19th century. The earliest written account of the material is attributed to the Kabardian author Shora Begmurzin Nogma, who wrote in Russian in 1835–1843, published posthumously in 1861. A German translation by Adolf Berge was published in 1866 . The stories exist in the form of prose tales as well as epic songs.
It is generally known that all of the Nart corpora have an ancient Iranian core, inherited from the Scythians, Sarmatians, and Alans (the latter being the ancestors of the Ossetians). However, they also contain abundant local North Caucasian accretions of great antiquity, which sometimes reflect an even more archaic past.
The Ossetes consider the Nart epic to be a central feature of their national identity. Based especially on the Ossetian versions, the Nart stories have been valued by scholars as a window towards the world of the Iranian-speaking cultures of antiquity, and as an important source for comparative Indo-European mythology. For example, the philologist Georges Dumézil used the Ossetian division of the Narts into three clans to support his Trifunctional Hypothesis that the Proto-Indo-Europeans were similarly divided into three castes—warriors, priests, and commoners.
The Northwest Caucasian (Circassian, Abkhaz-Abasin and Ubykh) versions are also highly valuable because they contain more archaic accretions and preserve "all the odd details constituting the detritus of earlier traditions and beliefs", as opposed to the Ossetian ones, which have been "reworked to form a smooth narrative".
Connections to other mythology
Some motifs in the Nart sagas are shared by Greek mythology. The story of Prometheus chained to Mount Kazbek or to Mount Elbrus in particular is similar to an element in the Nart sagas. These shared motifs are seen by some as indicative of an earlier proximity of the Caucasian peoples to the ancient Greeks, also shown in the myth of the Golden Fleece, in which Colchis is generally accepted to have been part of modern-day Georgia.