Валерия Косякова – Apocalyptic Concepts in the Middle Ages (страница 2)

Archaic myths, in their various forms, represent an idea inherent to the worldview of their era. This is the idea of the renewal of natural cycles, the renewal of life on earth, and the cleansing of humanity from accumulated sin. Myths, legends, and traditions tell of the destruction of humanity (partial or total); they convey a positive idea of the infinity of existence, because death is followed by a return to the original: after the destruction of the old world, a new one will be born. The poetics of myth presupposes analogical thinking: just as a human being is born, grows up, ages, and dies, so the world goes through a similar vital cycle. Most often, after the End of the World, which comes as a flood or other global catastrophe that destroys people, a couple—a man and a woman—survives, from whom the human race begins anew, or the deity itself creates a new world.

The oldest myth of the destruction of humanity by flood was recorded in writing in the Sumero-Acadian culture long before the Bible. A partially surviving clay tablet from the city of Nippur, dating back to the 3rd millennium BC, tells of a worldwide flood 3: a certain deity (most likely Enki, the deity responsible for the earth and waters) informs the other gods of his desire to preserve humanity, hoping that the survivors will build temples and make their cities religious centers. With the exception of one ruler—Ziusudra, the Sumerian prototype of the biblical Noah—the entire world is mired in sin, not honoring the gods. Instigated by God, Ziusudra builds a ship to escape the flood: “ All the storms raged simultaneously with unprecedented force. And at that very moment the flood inundated the main sanctuary. For seven days and seven nights the flood inundated the earth. And the winds carried the enormous ship across the stormy waters. Then came Utu (the sun god), the giver of light to heaven and earth. Then Ziusudra opened a window on his great ship. And Utu, the hero, penetrated the great ship with his rays. Ziusudra, the king, prostrated himself before Utu. The king killed a bull for him and slaughtered a sheep 4. " The flood is also described in the Sumero-Akkadian-Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh, one of the oldest surviving literary works in the world, the earliest fragments of which date back to the 2nd millennium BC.

In India, the doctrine of the destruction of the universe was known since Vedic times (2000–1500 BCE). Commentaries on the Vedas (Brahmanas) and ancient epics (Puranas) developed the idea of four generations of the world—yugas. In its first generation (Kritayuga), the world is more perfect than in subsequent ones. With the advent of subsequent yugas, man deteriorates spiritually and physically: the world order regresses, the mind and body weaken, and lifespan shortens. The divine day, lasting 8.64 billion years, consists of the "day of Brahma" (kalpa: Sanskrit kalpa— "order," "law") and the "night of Brahma" (pralaya: Sanskrit pralaya —disintegration, dissolution). The Mahakalpa (Brahma's lifespan: 100 divine years) and its accompanying Mahapralaya (Sanskrit: mahapralaya —great disintegration) form a more grandiose cyclical cycle. However, the great disintegration is not final and is inevitably replaced by a new birth (sarga: Sanskrit: sarga , from the root srj —to release, to emit).

Buddhism posits a similar cyclical nature of time, a gradual, regressive decline of the universe. The Buddhist period of the mahakalpa is followed by the destruction of all worlds, including the human world. The collapse of the worlds proceeds from the lowest to the highest. First, the most "long-term" and terrible hells decay and collapse (there is a theory that this destruction will occur because no one will be born in the hells anymore, as the universe will no longer contain "malicious" violators of karmic laws). Following the lower worlds, the human worlds will begin to collapse. When they too turn to dust, the worlds of the gods and demigods will also begin to perish, and eventually even the palaces of the celestials will crumble. With the completion of the cycle, the entire universe is destroyed. Then, after a vast period of time, the universe unfolds anew. In Buddhism, the series of mahakalpas is considered endless and beginningless.

Ancient Egyptian myths also tell of the destruction and rebirth of the human race. But the unique monuments of this culture are the "Pyramid Texts" (Old Kingdom - 24th–22nd centuries BC ), the "Sarcophagus Texts" (Middle Kingdom — 21st – 17th centuries BC), and the "Book of the Dead" (New Kingdom — 16th – 12th centuries BC) tell not of universal death, but of individual death. Initially, funeral texts, intended to ensure the king a blessed life beyond the coffin, were read aloud. They were later transferred to the sarcophagi of courtiers and nobles, and finally to papyri adorned with drawings depicting burial scenes, funeral rituals, and posthumous judgment. This is how the "Book of the Dead" emerged—a complex religious and magical collection that evolved over centuries. Sacred texts, where ethical teachings were intertwined with ancient magic, included various works related to the afterlife cult. The famous 125th chapter of the "Book" describes the posthumous judgment of Osiris over the dead, which was depicted on the walls of tombs, then on sarcophagi, and gradually became a part of the ancient Egyptian iconographic canon. The crowned Osiris, king and judge of the afterlife, was depicted seated on a throne, holding a staff and whip—the symbols of royal authority. The gods sat above him. In the center of the courtroom stood a scale on which the gods Thoth and Anubis weighed the heart—a symbol of the soul of the deceased. In chapter 30, the deceased asks his heart not to testify against himself at the trial. So, on one side of the scale is the heart (soul, conscience)—light or burdened with sins—and on the other is truth, represented by the feather of the goddess Maat or her figurine. If a person led a righteous life on earth, their heart and feather weigh equally; if they sinned, the heart outweighed the feather. The acquitted deceased was sent to the afterlife, while the sinner was devoured by the monster Amat (a creature with the head of a crocodile and combining the features of a lion and a hippopotamus). The defendant delivered a long justification speech to his judges and the jury: “Here I come to you, Lord of Truth; I bring the truth, I drive away lies. I have done no injustice to people. I have done no evil. I have not done what is an abomination to the gods. I have not killed. I have not diminished the loaves in the temples, I have not diminished the food of the gods, I have not snatched funeral offerings from the dead. I have not diminished the grain measures, I have not shortened the lengths, I have not violated the fields' measurements, I have not increased the weights, I have not tampered with the scales' needles. I am pure... "5

The story of humanity's decline is also told in the myths of Ancient Greece, integral to Western European culture. In his poem "Works and Days," Hesiod presents the world as a gradual degradation occurring over the course of five epochs. The first epoch—the "golden age" under the Titan Cronus—was a kind of paradise: people lived long, never aged, and their existence seemed akin to that of the gods. But then humanity descended: the Silver, Bronze, Heroic, and Iron Ages. With the advent of each new age, life, as seemed natural, worsened. Hesiod believed he lived in a less than ideal era of the world's old age: the heroic times were over; the world, once energized, had exhausted its energy, and Zeus would destroy it when children were born gray-haired. Heraclitus believed that the world would ultimately be destroyed by fire. Plato, in his Timaeus, suggests an alternative: the destruction of the world by a flood.

Not only in the fertile south but also in the north, humanity pondered the End of the World. In Norse mythology, so attractive for film adaptations, a vivid eschatological image is presented in the scenes of a cosmic battle described in the Eddas. The dead seer Völva, summoned from the grave by Odin, predicted the last day of the world's existence—Ragnarök. Its arrival would be preceded by the breakdown of tribal norms, bloody strife among kin, and moral chaos. The Vafthúrdnir, the Elder Edda, and the Younger Edda also mention a three-year "giant winter" preceding Ragnarök. According to the prophecy, on the day of Ragnarök, the monstrous wolf Fenrir will break free from his bonds and swallow the Sun, plunging the world into darkness—then the sea will overflow its banks, and the world serpent Jörmungandr will emerge from the depths. These monsters will be joined by the fire giant Surtr, with his flaming sword that scorches the earth, Hel, the ruler of the underworld, and the treacherous fire god Loki, along with the giants. A ship of the dead will arrive. The army of the sons of Muspelheim will ride across the rainbow bridge Bifröst, which will collapse in the process. All the Aesir, led by Odin, will oppose the army. In the final battle, Odin and Fenrir will perish, Thori and the serpent Jörmungandr will fall, and all the others will perish too, for neither evil nor good can defeat each other. Then the giant Surt will destroy the earth with all his fiery might, thus ending the battle between Darkness and Light. But the world's destruction will be followed by its rebirth: the sons of Odin and Thor will survive and settle in the Valley of the Gods (in the center of Asgard). The woman Liv and the man Livthrasir will survive, sheltered in a grove, and will once again give rise to the human race.