A Nyíregyházi Jósa András Múzeum évkönyve 47. (Nyíregyháza, 2005)

Régészet - János Makkay: The Miracle Stag in Ancient Greek mythical stories and their Indo-Iranian counterparts

Makkay János antlers on the heads of suckling hinds, and also on heads of horses) were parts of such early steppic elements, the prehistory of which can be led back, on their original steppe territories, to very early, Early Bronze Age and even Upper Palaeolithic, times. The veneration in which horses were held by early Indo-Iranians of the steppe, and the horse sacrifice accompanying its earliest domestication in the Early Bronze Age followed the horse wherever it was brought (POLOMÉ 1994., 0STMO 1997. 313314.). In Early Mycenaean Greece, too. As I also wanted to prove (MAKKAY 2003. 29-32.), the legendary story about the inland wandering of Odysseus also reflects dim memory of the original home of those Early Iranian aristocracy who came to take a firm stand in Argos and lay the foundation of the Mycenaean royal power. The long oar, or 'winnowing-fan' of Odysseus (Od. 10.293-295., 11.119-137.) can, in my opinion, be only interpreted by the help of one of the specific symbolic finds of Early Bronze Age inhabitants of the steppe and forest steppe belts of the Ural-Volga-Don area, the so-called cult shovels or spades, which were power symbols of the Andronovo culture and its territorial group, the Sintashta culture in the first quarter of the 2

nd Mill. B.C. (MAKKAY 2003. 34-39.).

50 Odysseus, on the other hand, is linked by many traits to Sisyphus and stories around him, even he was his son. Sisyphus' grandson, Bellerophontes further connect this chain to the circle of narratives about the miracle horses, and as such, to the origin of domesticated horses from the steppe area in the Early Bronze Age. Curiously enough, there are mythological details according to which Odyssesus had become a horse (ALLEN 1995.). An important part of these mythical stories, the invention of the golden bridle and giving of it by the Goddess Athena to Bellerophontes is in full accord with one important archaeological discovery, that of the disc-shaped cheek-pieces by people of the same Andronovo-Sintashta groups around the end of the first quarter of the 2

nd Mill. B.C. (MAKKAY 2000. 38-41., with further literature). As a matter of fact, this type of horse bridle has its very good parallels in similar pieces discovered in Shaft Grave IV at Mycenae, Athens, Dendra and Kakovatos, dating to the beginning of the LH or shortly before (MAKKAY 2000. 38-39., with further literature). As I have already mentioned, the late A. Heubeck, writing a general introduction to the modern commentaries on Homer's Odyssey, remarked as follows: „There are many indications that Odysseus is a very ancient figure in Greek myth. Not only is there his name, which, like that of Achilles, cannot be explained from Greek and points back to older strata. There are also many adventures and situations which seem to be closely connected with our hero from the very beginning of literate tradition: encountern with witches and giants, monsters and cannibals, his journey to the underworld, his contacts with daemonic beings. All this suggests that Odysseus' roots lie in the world of fairy-tale, perhaps even in the realm of magic and shamanism," (HEUBECK 1988. 19.). All this is in full harmony with the above-mentioned details. Three decades before, the late Emily Vermeule wrote in her excellent lecture to the effect, that „the agricultural and nomadic world of Europe, South Russia, and the Balkans may impinge closely, ... there is certainly a link in habits, profusion of gold and ceremony of rite, love of horses, stags, and lions in odd decorative poses, intricacy of ornament and crescendo of rhythm, though few direct archaeological links." (VERMEULIÍ 1975. 23., 25., 49.). Since then, the number of suggested archaeological links has considerably increased (MAKKAY 2000. 18-58., points 1-31, and also 6062. MAKKAY 2003. 22-39.). Bronze Age cultures with domesticated horses, chariots and a bronze metallurgy appeared in a wide and long zone from the Carpathians to the Pontic steppes, with related groups as far as the Urals and beyond (SHERRATT in EASTON-HAWKINS-SIIHRRATT-SIIERRATT 2002. 511 For a detailed investigation of this issue, see my next paper, to be published in NyJAMÉ: The oar of Odysseus, and related questions. 44