Evolution of the heroes of Armenian epic

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to show the downward evolution of the epic heroes, from the gods to the heroes of joke. The great heroes of the first Armenian epic - ethnogonic tradition, Hayk, Aram and Ara, are obviously epicised images of ancient native gods, who, after changing the religious system of people - the introduction of Iranian pantheon, moved to a lower level of epic heroes. The same phenomenon is observed after the adoption of Christianity: the god Vahagn in the second ancient epic “Vipasank” appears as the son of King Tigranes, and a variant of the name of the god Mihr (Mher) are worn by two heroes of the third epic “Daredevils of Sasun” (“David of Sasun”). Some gods and heroes, especially after Christianisation, were demonised, and some passed into a fairy tale. In the Hellenistic era, in Armenia, as in some other countries, kings were deified: e.g., Tigranes the Great was deified as Vahagn. Strangely enough, this phenomenon was repeated in the USSR: Lenin and Stalin, one might say, were deified. At the same time, they became the heroes of epic works and fairy tales. However, the era of Khrushchev and the condemnation of Stalin’s “cult of personality” put an end to the Soviet heroic epic: Stalin was demonised and then another genre of folklore became relevant - political joke (anecdote). The new leaders of the USSR were its main target, but Lenin and Stalin continued to stay as important characters.