Nart saga

The Nart sagas are a series of tales originating from the Caucasus Mountains in Georgia. They form the basic mythology of the tribes in the area; some are simply stories, but some have value as creation myths and ancient theology.

Modern peoples in the area are mainly Muslim, meaning that the Nart sagas are not remembered as well as they used to be. The Ubykh, Abkhaz, Circassians and the Ossetians all have versions of the Narts sagas; the Northwest Caucasian versions are thought to be more archaic than the Ossetic version.

The Narts themselves are a race of giants. Some of the characters who feature prominently in the sagas are:

• Sosruko (Ubykh and Abkhaz sawsæræq^wa), a powerful but devious man who is the smallest of the Narts; as a character, he is sometimes cast in the light of the trickster god, comparable to the Scandinavian Loki.
• Satanaya (Ubykh satanaya, Adyghe seteney) is the mother of the Narts, a fertility figure who is also an authority over her children. She can be compared to the Greek Demeter.
• Tlepsh (Abaza lhapsh^w), a figure comparable to Hephaestos in Greek mythology, a blacksmith and leader who was close to Satanaya.

The proximity of the Caucasian peoples to the ancient Greeks is demonstrated by the fact that some motifs have been borrowed from the Nart sagas into Greek mythology; in particular, the story of Prometheus chained to the mountain has its origin in the Nart sagas.

See also: Epic poetry

External Links

A site explaining some of the basics behind each of the most prominent of the Narts can be found at http://www.nartimus.com/nusite.html.