Змей из Малатьи в свете новоопубликованного изображения на оттиске печати из ГМИИ

Восток. Афро-азиатские общества: история и современность. 2021. № 26. С. 6–17.

Шелестин В. Ю., Nemirovsky A., Ясеновская А. А.

The paper provides analysis of dragon-slaying motifs from Anatolia in the 2nd millennium
BC represented at the Malatya Relief H (the orthostat AMM 12250), sealing from the Pushkin Museum
I 2 б 1591 and in Hittite myths of Illuyanka and Hedammu. The scholars often regarded Malatya Relief
H as depicting the plot of Illuyanka myth, but the discovery of dragon-slaying scene on the sealing
from the Pushkin Museum gives grounds for re-analyzing them, including the depictions of heroes,
of the serpents and of the battle in each of these four monuments. The iconographical monuments in
contrast to the literary ones depict the hero acting alone; most of Anatolian dragons have front paws.
The iconography depicts the decisive fight as the close combat while in the narratives the close combat
gives more advantages to the serpent. We have shown the similarity of composition in general as well
as the concrete details of the artifacts that allow to trace the development of the dragon-slaying myth
and to solve some problems of interpretation for the Malatya Relief H (the number of dragon-slaying
heroes, the functions of weapons). Despite all distinctions between the images of heroes that we could
explain by the changes in the Anatolian pantheon through the emergency, development and collapse
of the Hittite kingdom, we can state that the dragon-slaying motif as depicted at the orthostat AMM
12250 roots back at least to the 18th century BC when it was first reflected at the Old Assyrian sealing
from the Pushkin Museum I 2 б 1591.

Keywords: мифология Востока, ancient religion and mythology, Змееборец, Глиптика, Late Hittite reliefs, Arslantepe-Malatya, Old Assyrian seals, dragon-slayer, Арслантепе-Малатья, позднехеттский период

Publication based on the results of: Anthropology of Socio-Cultural Systems: Historical Dynamics and Regional Variability (2021)