Yu.E. Berezkin, E.N. Duvakin

Thematic classification and distribution of folklore and mythological motifs by area

Analytical catalogue

Introduction
Bibliography
Ethnicities and habitats

A19c1. Solar cart .15.17.23.27.30.35.

The sun goes across the sky in a wagon or sleigh.

Latins, Sumerians, Babylonians, Ancient India (Rigveda), Ancient Greece, Hittites, Iranian written tradition (Avesta), Northern Selkups.

Southern Europe. Latins [Ovid's "Metamorphoses" (line of er): Phaeton came to the house of his father, the sun god; he promised to comply with his son's every request; Phaeton asked to be allowed within one day control his father's chariot; the sun god was forced to agree and Phaeton set off at dawn; four horses pulled into a chariot rushed at great speed, frightened Phaeton could not was to hold them and dropped their reins; the horses rushed the chariot across the sky and descended so low that the earth began to blaze and the rivers evaporated; the Earth pleaded to Jupiter, who threw his perun, the chariot scattered, and the incinerated Phaeton fell into Eridan]: Ovid. Met. II. 1-366; Hyg. Fab. 152a [Myths attributed to Guy Julius Gigin, who lived at the turn of the eras, but most likely date back to the 1st and 2nd centuries: "Phaeton, son of the Sun and Clemena, secretly boarded his father's chariot and, rising too high above the ground, fell into the Eridan River in fear. When Jupiter struck him with lightning, everything started to burn. In order to take the opportunity to exterminate the entire mortal family, Jupiter pretended to put out the fire. He streamed from everywhere and the entire mortal family died, except Pyrrhus and Deucalion. And Phaeton's sisters, who, despite his father's ban, harnessed horses for him, turned into poplar trees" (trans. Torshilova D.O.)]; Hyg. Fab. 154 ["Phaeton, the son of Clemen, the son of the Sun, and the nymph Meropa, who is considered Oceanida, learned from his father's story that the Sun is his grandfather, obtained his chariot, but made poor use of it. Because he was driving too close to the ground, everything caught fire from the proximity of the flame. Striked by lightning, he fell into the Pad River. The Greeks call this river Eridani and was the first to mention it by Ferekides. The Indus, on the other hand, caused the heat of the near sun to darken their blood and turned black" (trans. D.O. Torshilova)]; Manil. Astr. I. 716-749 [Astronomy by Mark Manilius (1st century); on the Milky Way: "This light that cuts through the darkness of the night makes the human mind ask about the divine: maybe the building of the universe is splitting into parts and in New light enters the resulting crack; what fears does a person feel when looking at damaged skies? Perhaps the sky closes, and where the edges of the hemispheres converge, a strange scar appears, a seam filled with air that has become dense, holding the foundations of the high heavens together. Or is it more true that in ancient times, the horses of the Sun raced the other way, along a different path? Over the centuries, have the scorched stars lost their color, and the dark blue sky was covered with ash? From ancient times, the story of Phaeton flying across the sky in his father's chariot has come down to us; looking enthusiastically at the unusual picture of the heavens up close and rejoicing like a child, he drove the chariot forward, trying to surpass father, and lost his way, and the rebellious horses took an unusual path; the unsuitable constellations could not withstand the heat of the lost fire and the weight of the chariot, which lost control. Why is it strange that the heavens are burning and the Earth turned into a fire burning in every city? When the fragments of the scattered chariot scattered in different directions, the sky turned white. Today, the stars bear the traces of that ancient fire, showing the consequences of the disaster that occurred in the sky" (trans. E.M. Steerman)]; Alaura, Bonechi 2012 [references to ancient sources and discussion reference to Fulgence, Bishop of Rusla at the beginning of the 6th century; horses in both ancient and ancient Eastern sources, four, are associated with dawn, sunrise, afternoon and evening and have similar color and characteristics]: 61-62.

Western Asia. Sumer [the earliest evidence of ideas about the sun's chariot is the text on King Gudea's cylinder A (XIX:13-16, 22-23): The magnificent buckle of sun god Utu (lo splendente tiro del sole) Utu), due to sunrise; further (XIV:25): the best ecvids (i destrieri scelti - niskum, i.e. something of the highest quality about animals or objects), a famous team, Utu's favorite team; there are no other 3rd millennium BC texts directly mentioning the solar cart]: Alaura, Bonechi 2012:14-15; Sumer, Akkad [in incantesimo a Utu II millennium BC (KAV 64 IV: 24-27) mentions a second team; it mentions "a lion with the face of a bird zú {Anzud?} , terrible, terrible; a lion with a terrible snake eye, devouring everything; a lion with the face of a dragon, a murderer; a beast with a lion's face that gives off a monstrous glow"; the same in the bilingual, the hymn to Utu; there is a lacuna in this place, but judging by its size, it contained the names of the animals of the second team; however, in incantessimo a Utu, animal names are preceded by the anše denominative, which defines them as the end/ecvids {the root is the same as "donkeys" in most languages}; these horses/ecvids seem to take on monstrous appearance during the night journey of the sun in the lower world]: Alaura, Bonechi 2012:63.

South Asia. Ancient India (Rigveda): Macdonell 1897:30 [Surya rides in a stallion wagon (lots of stallions, mares, seven horses or mares)], 31 [in one case Surya is named white a sparkling stallion led by Ushas; Surya's horses are his rays; Surya's seven mares are daughters of his wagon].

The Balkans. Ancient Greece ["Historical Library" by Diodorus of Sicily (1st century BC): "Many poets and historians say that young Phaeton, son of Helios, begged his father to give him his father for one day quadruple team. Helios agreed, and Phaeton drove four horses, but could not hold the reins, but the horses did not obey the young man, turned away from their usual path and for the first time, wandering across the sky, burned him, forming the current one the circular Milky Way, and then, burning the ground in many places, burned vast spaces on it. Enraged by what was happening, Zeus struck Phaeton with lightning and brought the sun back on track. The phaeton, on the other hand, fell at the mouth of the river, which is now called Pad, and in the old days it was called Eridan. His sisters mourned Phaeton's death so sadly that, due to excessive sorrow, they even changed their nature into poplars" (trans. O.P. Tsybenko)]: Diod. Sic. V. 23. 2-3; [On Astrology by Lucian Samosatsky (2nd century): "Phaeton outlined the path of the Sun, but not quite correctly; he died, leaving his research unfinished. Those who do not know this consider Phaeton to be the son of Helios the Sun and tell a completely implausible myth about him: as if Phaeton came to Helios the Father asking him to drive a solar chariot, he gave and outlined the driving rules. Phaeton boarded the chariot, but due to his age and inexperience, he kept him too close to the ground, sometimes too far away from it, so that he killed people with cold or unbearable heat. Zeus struck him in anger for this with a great lightning bolt. The phaeton fell, and his sisters surrounded him and cried a great deal. This continued until they changed their image, and to this day they stand as black poplars and shed amber tears for Phaeton" (trans. N.N. Zalessky)]: Luc. De astr. 19; Ancient Greece ["From Songs to Nanno" by Mimnerm (late 7th century BC); about Helios: "He rushes quickly through the wave into a concave bed with a winged. /It is wonderfully made by Hephaestus's clever hand/From multicolored gold. He rushes from above the waters, /He rests in a sweet dream, from the Hesperides country/To the land of Ethiopians. Eos/Fast horses are waiting for him with his chariot, born at dusk. /Having risen, Hyperionov's son ascends his chariot..." (per. V.V. Veresaeva)]: Mimn. Fr. 5 (Gent. -Pr.) = 4 (Gasparov). 5-11.

Iran - Central Asia. The Iranian written tradition (Avesta) [sun (hvar, =Vedic svar; surya - derived from svar; related to Greek Helios) has fast horses]: Macdonell 1897:31-32.

Western Siberia. Northern Selkups [Ylynta kota was Nom's wife, quarreled with him, went to live deep underground; at the same time she gave birth to layers of the upper tier of the earth, i.e. inhabited land Middle world; she has two daughters with fiery faces; one, the heavenly Sun, harnesses a sky deer into a sledge every morning, travels around the world; her second daughter lives with her mother in the underworld, her face it blazes with green fire; it is the sun of the dead; when you go upstairs, you can see the northern lights]: Pelikh 1998:29.