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Ancient Gods and Goddesses

Korant, Vodin, Zemla, Ziva, Svetovid, Sreca, Vodnar, Hrust, Orjak, Bog, God Belin, Zmaga, Junak, Catez, Dogana, Vesna, Noreia and Carontan, Svarog, Kresnik, Maya, Baba, Jarnik, Triglav

Spiritual Figures

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Goldenhorn


	•	Goldenhorn Tales


	•	The Friulian Goldenhorn

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Beautiful Vida

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King Matthias - And the Tradition of the Slovenian Historical State

Marcus Tanner: 'Did you know that Dracula's best friend was a warrior bookworm?'

Introduction to Slovenian Mythology

Dr. Jožko Šavli

The column Slovenian Mythology (Slovensko bajeslovje) on our website was introduced for two reasons. Firstly, because the individuality of our Slovenian mythology in pre-Christian Carantania (Slovenia) has been ignored by the academicians and, consequently, also by the school apparatus and the mass media. According to their view, the original Slav gods have been identical to the Russian ones. Therefore, they simply adduced the Russian deities as those of the Slovenian pagan belief.

Actually, there are no traces of »Slav« (Russian) deities in the Slovenian people's tradition. If any traces of pagan pantheons are ever found, they rather depict parallels to the pagan world of the Polabians (Elbe Slavs) and the Pomeranians, who, like the Slovenians, are direct descendants of the ancient Veneti (Vends, Sloveneti). Anyway, the historical and social, as well as the mythological development of these people have been different. Therefore, the Polabian - Pommeranian gods, first attested in the 12th century AD, cannot be merely copied and introduced in the historic non-attested Slovenian pagan pantheon. This, for example, quoted already the well-known Slovenian writer Anton Tomaž Linhart in 1791. However, it was at the beginning of the Slovenian National Awakening.

Secondly, it is true that the records do not mention Carantanian pagan gods. But it was quite natural, that after Christianization (after 750 AD) many symbols and elements of the pre-Christian period continued to be present in people's life. They were in particular connected to the veneration of Saints. Thus, they reflected values of humanity and did not oppose the Christian doctrine itself. Moreover, they corresponded to the general Christian symbolism (water, stone, etc.).

The anti-Christian, or better said, the anti-Catholic policy, which, after the WW1, the Yugoslav regime wrongly directed against the Slovenian Christian tradition, stressed in particular the »dignity« of ancient paganism, which should have been suppressed under »forced« Christianization. The regime, in particular the ex-Communist party, would like to »burden« the Catholic Church with attempts of violent Christianization of the Slovenian people.

In this connection, Christianization should have meant a »yoke«, imposed by the »German« missionaries and their masters upon the Slovenians. After the WW2, in Communist Yugoslavia, the Theological Faculty of Lublana should have addressed such a version perhaps. More then ever do I remember the words of Prof. France Perko: »still today one can see on Slovenians, that they received Christianity as enslaved people« (lecture, Draga, Opcine 1980). But nothing similar is quoted in the historical records.

An easy demonstrable falsification! From a much later period, for example, the records quote the following case. In 1331, a certain De Glugia from Cividale (Cedad) in capacity of an inquisitor organized a »crusade« against the inhabitants of Kobarid, in the upper Soca (Isonzo) Valley, where the spring under a tree should have been »idolized«. But in this case it is quite doubtful, that it was about the remains of true paganism. Thus, the tree and the water found as symbols in the Slovenian popular tradition, are also Christian symbols. It was probably about an act, whereby the participants had to prove themselves to the people, in order to gain their respect.

After Christianization, the ancient values continued to live on in Slovenian people's tradition. Therefore, the presentation of Slovenian Mythology, as far as it can be reconstructed in Carantha, certainly does not have the purpose to glorify the ancient »ideal« pagan world. On the contrary, it calls attention to the great spiritual world, found in the cultural tradition of Slovenians. In all probability, these spiritual values were decisive for their survival in modern times.

Mythology of Venets

Dr. Jožko Šavli

Nikolaj Mihajlov, the Russian professor, who teaches at the University of Udine (Friuli, Italy), also introduced the question of Slovenian mythology in his interview for Lublana's Daily Newspaper "Delo" (30.5.01), where he stated: "it is very rich". However, this "richness" he does not specify in any way, but he quotes the following:

"I think that the Slovenian mythological tradition retained some very archaic lines on the basis of which we can also reconstruct some fragments of the common Slav mythology. Nowadays the main concern in mythological explorations is in the reconstruction of what originated before the Slavic people were Christianized. Some people are looking at the scientific reconstruction of the Slovenian mythology with great skepticism just because they have such a vast number of unbelievable mythological and also ethno-genealogical, but of course, imaginative theories. I would rather not talk about Venets . . ."

That he would rather not talk about Venets, is understandable for someone who is teaching at a university that is financed by Rome. Because of the financial structures in Italy, all the branches of humanity studies are tuned only to the ancient Romans, Latins and Italians, and represent, even if unofficially, the ideology of the state. Professor Mihajlov is obviously not game to confront this ideology with the discoveries of Venets. In this way he skips over to the supposed 'Old Slavs', that he does not name directly, for this would be too banal. He only points to the existence of an 'all-Slav' Pantheon. This one in fact does not exist and it never existed. However, for Slovenians, Pan-Slavism also builds its propaganda about our ancestors, 'the Ancient Slavs' in this imaginary pantheon, which is merely an ideological and academic edifice. Next the people were emotionally fired up, especially by author Franc Finžgar with his passionate novel, "Pod svobodnim soncem" (Under the Free Sun), that was intended for the wider public and ordinary intellectuals. That is generally how the misconception entered the Slovenian mind. It also influenced greatly, probably even decisively, the interests of Slovenian semi-intellectuals towards the great Slavic Russia, from where they later also accepted communism, under the brotherly coat of grand pan-Slavism.

The consequences of this Pan-Slavic romanticism is such that in our schools today still, a false 'Slavic' pantheon, that has the Russian deity at its stern, is taught: Perun, Dažbog, Svarog, Veles, naturally Morana and others. All these presumed 'common' deities that were wrenched away from Carantanians (Slovenians) "with fire and sword" by the German missionaries, are still today one of the fundamental components of the regime's (government's) ideology based on old liberalism, anti-Christianity, Pan-Slavism and Yugo-Slavism. Even though there is not the faintest trace of them with Slovenians, and they cannot be juggled, even scientifically. But, with Slovenians it is just the opposite. We find traces of ancient Venetic deities, and professor Mihajlov is obviously aware of them.

The truth is that Belin, god of light and sun remained in the Slovenian memory up to the present. Quite understandably we do not find their catchwords in the Slovenian encyclopedia that is still written in the frame of the Yugoslav and Pan-Slavic ideology. However, the first Slovenian opera (1780) that is now lost, was already named 'Belin'. He was also the principal deity of ancient Noricum. Alongside him, as the mother of the land, was the deity Norea. The god of war in Noricum was Latobius. Roman sources also contain reports about these deities. Although, Triglav, god of the universe, is not mentioned in them, yet, archeological excavations also contain this evidence. Linhart specifically mentions him in his history (1791). Kresnik, who shows certain parallels with the Indian Krishna (similarly with some other deities: Agni, Yama, Vishnu), and with it the ancient Venetic base has not yet been scientifically examined.

Belin (Belenus) was the protector of ancient Aquileia, even during the Roman period. The fact that he remained in Slovenian memory could be partly explained by the fact that he was, in the early Christian period, in at least some of the regions, likened to Christ, obviously in the image of 'The Sun, the Redeemer' (Sol Salutis). In the vicinity of Galjano near Cividale (Cedad), a little church has been preserved until now, that is consecrated to St. Belin.

In Greek scriptures a story about Fetonte has been preserved, obviously Venetic, even though he is presented as the son of Zeus. Zeus has thrown him into an amber river because in his sunny yoke (sun's carriage??), he came too close to the earth and could have burned it. The sisters buried him and mourned him, and their tears turned into the River Jantar. The River Eridan is presumed to be the present River Po, yet it is more likely that it was the River Isonzo (Soca, Slovenia) because the path of River Jantar finishes at its mouth there, near Aquileia.

These are only some of the concrete facts that were suppressed in the above-mentioned interview. It is quite possible that the Yugoslav-oriented newspaper 'Delo', even though it is constantly endeavoring to be printed on 'democratic paper', would not have even published the interview with the Russian professor if he had actually spoken of the ancient Slovenian and naturally the Venetic pantheon. This was certainly necessary, so that it would not influence the awakening of consciousness, of obviously veiled Slovenian lambs. Such an intention naturally does not reflect science, but only the totally clear Pan-Slavic ideology that cannot be accepted by everyone uncritically.

Goldenhorn - The Steinbock of the Alps

A Slovenian Tale

The dramatic moment, when Zlatorog (the Goldenhorn) descends the Wild Hunter into the precipice, because he commited outrageous deeds, i.e. he injured God's divine nature.

(Der dramatische Augenblick, in dem Goldenhorn den Wildjäger in die Tiefe stösst, da er frevelte, d.h. die Natur und die göttliche Welt verletzte.)

Dr. Jozko Šavli, KdB, FSAI, FAS
Heraldry, An International Journal,
Torrance (Calif.), 1995
excerpt

Among the findings from prehistoric times there appear many steinbock- pictures, particularly those found on the beautiful situlas of the Hallstatt period (5th century B.C.), which were unearthed in Northern Italy and in Slovenia. These pictures are evidently connected to the ancient mythology , in which animals with golden horns appear, and which was wide-spread throughout the Indo-European area. The components of this mythology have been conserved in many tales until today.

In these tales is the eternal struggle between light and darkness the most important action, as illustrated in scenes of the Wild Hunt, in particular shall be mentioned here the scene of the Wild Hunter, shooting at the Sunny Deer (A. Kuhn, 1869). Therefore, it could be argued that all Indo-European people once shared a myth in common, in which the God of the Night and Storm hunts and shoots the Sunny God, who is showing himself in form of a deer. In various regions we find other similar animals besides the sunny deer. For example, in the mountain areas the white Steinbock with golden horns even finds its reputation.

In Rigveda, in India (1st millennium BC), a sunny horse of this kind was celebrated as a holy animal. Later on, we find further development towards the figure of the unicorn that arrived across Mesopotamia and Egypt in the Greek and Latin world. Afterwards, in the Middle Ages the unicorn became a symbol of the Blessed Virgin.

In any case, the holy animal with horns, or better said, the animal with golden horns, represented light. It is God's messenger and it is hunted by the Wild Hunter (the powers of darkness).

The image of a similar holy animal entered also the mythology of the classic era. Greek authors mentioned it already in their tales, meaning Pindar and Euripides in the 5th century BC and later, in the 2nd century BC, it was mentioned again by Apollodorus as well. Moreover, Callimachos reports to us in the 3rd century BC, that Artemis' coach was drawn by four hinds with golden horns.

Among the Latin authors, Valerius Flaccus, in the 1st century BC, and Quintus Smirneus, in the 4th century AD, report a deer with golden horns. Anyway, in Pliny's stories appears the real deer, i.e., without golden horns, that later entered the medieval legends, especially those of St. Eustachius and St. Hubertus. These legends narrate the story of a hunter that follows a deer. At the moment, when the hunter sees the deer, it turns around and carries the host between its horns, converting him into a holy man.

In popular tales all over Europe we find many animals with golden horns, belonging to the same Indo-European origin. A similar animal could be also a chamois goat (Tyrol, Albania, Bulgaria), or a ram (Macedonia, Romania, Bohemia), an ox (Finland, Estonia), or a golden goat (Walloon Belgium, Provence), and so on.

To the most beautiful tale of this nature that emerged, belongs to "Goldenhorn" (Zlatorog), which originated in the Slovenian Julian Alps. It was registered and published in German by Karl Deschmann (Ljubljana 1868). Its contents could be summarized as follows:

Once upon a time there was an Alpine paradise in the northeastern part of the Julian Alps beneath the peak of Triglav. The place was inhabited by the so-called White Ladies, who were the benefactresses of the people in the valley, but they made sure that no strangers entered their mountain territory. White goats pastured on the mountain ridge that rose vertically above the valley of the Isonzo river .

In case that a stranger should try to approach them, they made rocks fall down, so that the intruders would fall into the precipice.

The white goats were lead by a white steinbock with golden horns named Zlatorog, whom the White Ladies made invulnerable to every lesion. When a hunter fired at him and caused to spoil a drop of his blood, a plant with mysterious balm, called the Triglav rose, sprang up and a leaf of this plant healed Zlatorog immediately. Moreover, his golden horns had a divine magic all of their own in sense of forgiveness and redemption. If someone succeeded in plundering one of the steinbock's golden horns, instead to punish him, he would obtain the keys to the gold and silver chamber, watched by a three-headed serpent on Mountain Bogatin.

In the suburbs of Bovec, on the junction of the rivers Isonzo and Koritnica, there used to be an inn in those days, which was frequently visited by merchants, travelling on horseback. The innkeeper's daughter was the prettiest girl in the whole valley. Many suitors wanted to marry her, but she gave her love to a young man from the Trenta Valley. He was considered to be the best hunter as far as the eye could reach, and therefore, he was called the Trenta Hunter.

It was a sunny Sunday when the young girl danced with an Italian merchant. The Trenta Hunter asked her to dance with him, but the girl replied that the Italians were much more refined gentlemen than her lover. For he, even though he knew all the treasures of the mountain, he never brought her a single Triglav rose.

The young man, deeply offended, left the inn. On his way he met the Green Hunter, who told him about the treasures guarded on Bogatin mountain. The same night, they both climbed the mountain and the next morning they met Zlatorog. The Trenta Hunter fired at him, but the buck, healed by the Triglav rose, charged them, making the Trenta hunter fall into the precipice.

The next summer, when the shepherds returned to the Alps, instead of an Alpine paradise, they found desolated rocky grounds. The White Ladies had left the mountain world and Zlatorog had ruined all the beautiful meadows in his anger. The marks of his horns can still be seen on the rocky ground today.

The Zlatorog tale is filled with mythological components of Wild Hunting, that had its source in the Indo-European antiquity. Here, the role of the Wild Hunter, i.e., the tresspasser, belongs to the man (the Trenta Hunter), meanwhile, his tempter the Green Hunter, the representative of the darkness, is identified with the evil in the Central European, as well as in the Slovenian tradition.

Furthermore, it seems that the motifs of the Alpine steinbock (Capra ibex ibex) and the Wonder Flower entered the Situla-arts in the Eastern Alps and Northern Italy during the 6th and 5th century BC. The ornaments on the various utensils portray animals, some of them with horns, marching in a row. Several of these animals eat flowers.

Moreover, the Greek author Aristotle, in the 4th century BC, gives detailed information about the Greek steinbock (Capra aegagrus), i.e., when he is hit by a bullet he eats the wonder flower and is immediately cured in the same way as the Alpine steinbock.

After Aristotle, many Greek and Latin authors cited the Dictamnon, namely the wonder flower:

Theophrastus, Philostratus, Cicero, Virgil, Plutarch, Dioscurides, and so on. The antique writers, who inherited the symbol from Aristotle, had no knowledge of this plant. The prevailing opinion today is that it was identified with Origanum Dictamnus from Crete. But this flower was rare already in those times, and therefore a similar plant, named Dictamnus Albus, was used for its healing powers.

The saga about "Goldenhorn" (Zlatorog) survived through the Middle Ages, and although it cannot be adapted to any Christian legend, it neither was in opposition to any. Moreover, in the 19th century AD, "Goldenhorn" arose to a mythological symbol.

It was the German poet Rudolph Baumbach, a native of Thuringia, who stayed in Trieste and visited the Julian Alps at the time when the saga was published. Deeply impressed by the story he wrote the famous poem entitled Zlatorog (Leipzig 1877). The poem about "Goldenhorn" and the presumptuous hunter, who had the audacity to profane the mountain world, impressed also numerous cultural circles.

So, the Zlatorog tale conquered the public of Central Europe. The story has been translated from German into Czech, Slovenian, Polish, Lusatian, Italian and Serbian. Four German and one Slovenian composers set it into an opera. "Goldenhorn" (Zlatorog) became a symbol of the spotless mountain world of Middle Europe and an admonitory against its devastation.

Hirschbrunnen - Berlin Tempelhof (established 1912)

Some bibliography:

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K. Deschmann, Die Sage vom Goldkrikel (Zlatorog), Laibacher Zeitung (20. 2.), Ljubljana 1868

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R. Baumbach/A. Funtek, Zlatorog - Eine Sage aus den Julischen Alpen (German-Slovenian edition), Munich 1968

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L. Kretzenbacher, Die Sage und Mythos vom Zlatorog (accompanying word to the German-Slovenian edition), Munich 1968

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R. Wildhaber Das Tier mit den goldenen Hoernern, Alpes Orientales VII, Muninch 1975


	•	W. Lucke, Die Situla in Providence (Rhode Island). Ein Beitrag zur Situlenkunst des Osthallstattkreises, Berlin 1962


	•	(cf: Slovenska Znamenja)

Goldenhorn Tales

Goldenhorn appears, apart from the Julian Alps, also in Friuli and in Tyrol

The village of Andreis in the Alps north of Pordenone (Friuli),

were the tale of the "chamois with golden horns" was registered.

Dr. Jožko Šavli

As already quoted in "Slovenska znamenja", the well-known popular tale of Goldenhorn (Zlatorog) - The Steinbock of the Alps, was first published in German language by Karl Deschmann (Lublana 1868). Later, several scholars were of the opinion, that Deschmann's registration did not reflect the people's original version of the tale, the way it was written down in the surroundings of Bovec in the Upper Isonzo (Soca) Valley. Indeed, during the translation process, the original people's story was very probably rewritten in a fluent literary text. It is very likely, that the true original story of Goldenhorn was already forgotten at the turn of the century. Only the image of the "goat with golden horns" remained in the memory for so long. Nevertheless, the majority of scholars do not oppose the fact, that at one-time a version of this favourite tale about Goldenhorn existed.

The only exception among the scholars was Milko Maticetov, the well-known Slovenian ethnologist, who always rejected the possibility of a really existing original tale, which Deschmann rewrote and published in German. Let us adduce one of his quotations in this connection: The quasi-absolute silence of all the informants is only explainable in a unique way, Goldenhorn must be Deschmann's invention, its compiler and author together... In a few words, we can say, that Deschmann's text is a late-romantic mystification. See Maticetov's comments concerning the book: Anton von Mailly, Leggende del Friuli e delle Alpi Giulie, Gorizia 1996, p. 212.

It seemed that I never was able to accept such a vehemently expressed assertion by Maticetov. Thus, seen from a cultural and political view point, Karl Deschmann was German oriented, and he did not endeavour to go deeply into Slovenian national treasures. He registered the Goldenhorn tale only for pure scientific reasons. Indeed, he was a well-known serious museologist. It is probably not just an "invention" from his side, not to mention the Goldenhorn story. But what was the purpose?

The denial of such an excellent tale would mean also a considerable impoverishment of the Slovenian popular tradition. According to my researches, the inner experience and the spiritual level of the common Slovenian people altogether, are able to conceive a tale like that of Goldenhorn. I would say, the roots of the tale go even back to pre-historic times. In my opinion, the image of Goldenhorn presents a messenger of Belin, the ancient god of the universe (cf. our article God Belin). But let as quote two other tales of Goldenhorn, the veracity of which cannot be denied.

The Friulian Goldenhorn

Since times immemorial horned animals played a role in the lives of our ancestors. The picture shows the figure of a steinbock that frequently appears on the fries of the prehistoric vessels called situlas (6th/5th century BC). It very faithfully reminds of Goldenhorn. (The colours have been added.)

Here is a case of a registered Goldenhorn tale from Friuli, which was sent to my attention. It is about a considerable different tale in comparison with Deschmann's registration. In this tale appears a chamois with golden horns instead of the steinbock, which for some centuries already, does not exist anymore in the Friulian Alps. The below reported tale was registered in Friul by Mme Carla Scagnetti (Pordenone), in the locality of Andreis (Pordenone Province, Friuli, Italy). The English and Italian translation is as follows:

The Chamois with the Golden Horn

Once upon a time, there was a good-natured Prince, who lived with his family and servants in a poor country, but he had God's blessing. He was helpful and kind to every one and therefore, he was well liked by his subjects. The day came when his beloved mother died. She was a good lady, who many years ago was injured, when his father, the King, found her on his return from the war. He brought her to his castle and healed her wounds. Afterwards he married her without asking who she was or where she came from. The herdsmen said that she was a Countess from a far away country. But others said that she was a witch, who transformed at night time only. Someone even said, that she was a gypsy, one of those from the caravans.

Before she died, she called her son at her bedside, and began to speak with a faint voice. But the only word he could understand was "...chamois..." In desperate search to find out what his mother tried to tell him, he could not find peace within himself. Fortunately, when the women dressed the defunct for the coffin, they found a golden lamina sewed into her skirt, bearing written words, which no one was able to understand. Several people said, these were God's words; but others said, that they were the devil's words, and they could not come to an agreement.

At this moment a limping humpback with a black rebuke passed by, who compared to a Mazzariol (imp). He opened his mantle and under it he carried an iron lamina with the same inscription as found at the defunct lady, but written in Latin. The interpreting priest said that there was written, "Take the chamois with the golden horn."

Then, all the people remembered the chamois they saw at night-time, leaping on the mountain summits with something sparkling on the head. Together they started out to find the chamois, but quite soon they got tired and returned home. Only the son continued to search throughout the countryside, until one evening, already completely tired out, he spotted the chamois for a very brief moment. He approached the animal very slowly, but the chamois moved further and further away, so that he had to follow it for endless days and nights.

Finally, they reached a countryside, which presented the most beautiful part of Paradise. On the meadows grazed large flocks of cows and horses, the fields yielded wheat twice a year. The chamois came to a stop and brushed his horns on a rock. Due to the impact the golden horns severed from its head, and the Prince finally succeeded to hold them in his hands. At this moment the chamois, like a gleam, transformed into a nice girl, who said: "Open the horn!" The Prince opened it and inside he read the inscription: "This is the most beautiful countryside in the world: once upon a time it pertained to your mother, now it is yours!"

Il Camoscio dal Corno d'oro

C'era una volta un principe buono, che viveva con la sua famiglia e con i suoi servitori in un paese povero, ma benedetto dal Signore. Tutti gli volevano bene, perchè aiutava ed era gentile con tutta la gente. Ma un bel giorno è morta la sua madre, una donna buona, che il Re suo padre aveva trovato ferita mentre tornava dalla guerra e che aveva sposato senza chiederle nè chi era nè da dove veniva. I pastori dicevano, che era una contessa di un paese lontano, altro dicevano invece una streva, che girava solo di notte; chi diceva era una zingara, di quelle dei carrozzoni.

Prima di morire, aveva chiamato accanto al letto suo figlio e con un filo di voce aveva iniziato a parlare, ma egli aveva compreso solo "...camoscio...". Disperato, non era capace di darsi pace, per non aver capito ciò che aveva detto la sua madre. Per fortuna, quando le donne l'avevano vestita per metterla nella cassa, le hanno trovato cucita nella gonna un pezzo di lamina d'oro, con scritte parole che nessuno fu capace di comprendere. Alcuni dicevano che erano parole del Signore, altri dicevano che erano parole del diavolo e non si mettevano d'accordo.

In quel momento è passato un gobbo zoppo con un capellaccio nero, che assomigliava al Mazzariol, ha aperto il mantello e sotto aveva una lamina di ferro con le stesse parole di quella della morta, ma scritte in latino. Il prete le ha lette e ha detto che era scritto "Prendere il camoscio dal corno d'oro".

Allora tutti si sono ricordati del camoscio che vedevano di notte saltare sulle cime dei monti e che aveva sulla testa qualcosa che brillava. Si sono messi tutti a vedere chi poteva trovarlo, ma si sono stancati subito. Solo il figlio ha continuato a cercare in tutti i paesi finchè una sera, stanco morto, sotto il temporale ha visto il camoscio. Pian piano si avvicinava ma il camoscio andava sempre più in là, ed egli sempre dietro per giorni e notti.

Finalmente sono arrivati in un paese che era più bello del Paradiso. I prati erano pieni di mucche e di cavalli, nei campi si tagliava il frumento due volte all'anno. Il camoscio si è fermato e ha struscicato le corna su una roccia; a forza di "ruzzare" il corno d'oro si è stancato ed il principe l'ha preso in mano. In quell stesso momento il camoscio, con un lampo, è diventato una bella giovine che hadetto: "Apri il corno!" Il principe ha aperto il corno e ha visto che dentro c'era scritto: "Questo è il paese più bello del mondo: un giorno era di tua madre, oggi è il tuo."

The Tyrolian Goldenhorn

In the Ötztal Valley (Tyrol) we find another well preserved tale of the "beautiful chamois. The golden horns of the chamois have long been forgotten, but in origin they certainly existed. The tale was narrated on the Austrian Radio (ORF, December 19, 1994). Thereafter, its contents was translated and published in Slovenian by Ivan Tomažic in the miscellanea section of "Veneti in Etrušcani" (Veneti and Etruscans, Vienna 1995, p. 199). The story tells the following:

Quite above the valley, where round and round glaciers are found, there dwelt once upon a time the salige (nymphs), who were three very nice ladies, taking care of the local chamois, marmots, steinbocks... The fauna all around belonged to them too. At one-time a hunter came with his bow to fire at the chamois. The most beautiful chamois with snow-white hair stood on top of a rock. The hunter aim at him... But above the rock, the prettiest of the women appeared. She was entirely dressed in white and had long hair with a veil extending down to the ground. She looked great and was of indescribable beauty, so that one would feel intimidated from talking to her.

She was inverted looking towards down and exclaimed with open arms: "Leave my chamois in peace! Woe to you, if you will fire!" But the hunter aimed up and fired the arrow. The lady stood on the edge of the rock. The hunter got frightened, fell, overturned, and he precipitated into the glaciers. There he remains dead until the ice will bring him to the sunlight after thousand years.

The Tyrolian version of Goldenhorn (Zlatorog) is very similar to the Slovenian one. It must be considered that at one-time the original myths of Goldenhorn were widespread all over the Alps. The present-day Alpine people are speaking different languages for several centuries already, but they evidently have common predecessors, from whom they inherited the Goldenhorn tale, which remained preserved in different variants. It is one of the most important proofs that the ancient people of the Veneti or Vends had common ancestors.

Beautiful Vida

Beautiful Vida, a drawing by A. Koželj (in Slovenian Ballads and Romances, Celovec 1912)

Dr. Jozko Šavli

Yet, in the Slovenian people's songs there also appears another image of the Slovenian woman. It shows her as a sensible personality, full of sentiments and feebleness, longing for a happy life. Today, such a point of view is nearly normal for a woman. But it was different for a woman in the severe times of the past. It is a question of the ballad called Lepa Vida (beautiful Vida), which originates from ca. 11th century BC, when the Arabs attacked several times the Adriatic coast. The contents of the ballad is, in short, as follows:

Young Vida had a husband, getting on in years, and a child. One day, she stood at the beach and washed diapers. Then, a coloured gentleman arrived in a bark and invited Vida to follow him to Spain, what Vida did. There, she dwelt at the court of the Spanish queen, who liked her very much. But Vida was not happy. She longed for home, for husband and for child, and she secretly cried and cried. She asked the moon, what her husband was doing? The moon said, that he went in his boat out on the sea searching for her. The sun said, that her child died. Vida could not endure her sadness any longer, and she died of a broken heart.

In Slovenian literature of the19th/20th century, several literates dealt with Vida's fate. In their works they would always put the question of Vida's guilt into a different perspective. But not one of them condemned her action, even if it was only a symbolic question. All writers respected Vida's deep sentiments and, above all, her deep longing for home, husband and child, after she succumbed her weakness.

Popular Slovenian lyrics present other female figures, like Mlada Breda (Young Breda) or Mlada Zora (Young Zora)... The Slovenian mythological king, Kralj Matjaž, who is also a hero in the battles with the Turks, takes a bride called Alencica. - The heroine figure of Miklova Zala has been preserved since the battles with the Turks. She was captured by the enemy and led off to Turkey. But she escaped prison and walked to her village on foot . She reached her home at the moment, when her fiancé Mirko was to be married to another girl.

(cf: The Carantanian Lady)

King Matthias

Kralj Matjaz

And the Tradition of the Slovenian Historical State

"At midnight on Christmas Eve a Linden will grow..."

Dr. Jožko Šavli

says Sergij Vilfan, a Slovenian professor of Juridical History: King Matthias represents the central personality concerning the State and its leadership in the Slovenian tradition; he has the figure of a ruler as the Slovenian people pictured him. (cf. Sergij Vilfan: Pravni motivi v slovenskih narodnih pripovedkah in pesmih /Juridical motifs in the Slovenian sagas and poems/, Etnolog, Lublana 1943, p. 6). Many stories are preserved until today among Slovenians about this mythological king. He is like Arthur among the British or Holger among the Danes or Svatopluk among the Czechs, and so on. But he still presents more than that, because he just cannot be compared to any historical person, and this circumstance makes him a very complex figure.

The researchers of peoples tradition could not believe that Slovenians, a people who "never had their own rulers and State" could imagine such a mythical figure. Thus, they looked for a model that Slovenians accepted to serve as their national historical hero. One possibility could have been the Emperor Frederic II († 1250), the other one Matthias Corvinus († 1490), the Hungarian King. The latter, because of his namesake, must have been the most suitable one to serve as the leading character for Slovenian`s King Matthias. Such were the researchers results explained already in the Austrian Monarchy and it maintained its ground also in the new constituted Yugoslavia, which Slovenians entered after WW1. There, after decenniums of repetition in schools the "Hungarian" King Matthias became the "truthful figure". It is true, that in some Slovenian epic poems Matthias beats the Turks "in Hungary", and rescues from them his bride Alencica. In 15th - 16th centuries, they occupied this country for ca. 150 years.

A King Matthias' motif from 1876 on a painted beehive front (celnica, in Slovenian) kept in Slovenian Ethnographical Museum in Lublana. - Matthias is sitting at a stone table holding a sceptre in his hand. He already arose, and the bread is no longer wound around the table. The linden on both sides are green. Because of the peoples sense for symmetry, there are two linden trees.

Nevertheless, the stories about the very King Matthias goes back into a period, when Slovenians still were a pagan people and started to be Christened (8th century). This is more than half a millennium before King Matthias Corvinus was born. Beside this, his stories are spread all over Slovenian speaking territories, where the Hungarian king never set foot on. And not at last, his incursions in some Slovenian areas brought violence and robbery. Why did the Slovenian people choose such a figure as their mythical King?

Drawing by Fr. Drobnikar, published in the Slovenian magazine "Dom in svet" in 1903. - The grand mother is telling the children King Matthias stories: A wayfarer can be seen through the perforation in the cavern, in which King Matthias and his army sleep. But the linden is already in blossoms, and the little bird with its voice (symbol of God's voice) is calling Matthias to awake.

Obviously, the academic people followed instructions given to them by the respectively ruling regimes in centres outside of Slovenia. What King Matthias concerns, the very truth is, that it all happened under very diverse circumstances. Notwithstanding, one could draw a thread of contents throughout them, and this is, in short, as follows:

King Matthias was a good but mighty and powerful pagan ruler. On the battlefield he always defeated other kings. Therefore he became haughty, and he challenged in his fight God himself. As punishment he was defeated in this fight. Only a very small number of warriors remained around him, who all found refuge in the shadow of a linden tree. Finally, a great mountain covered him and his army.

Since then, King Matthias and his soldiers sleep in a mountain cavern, and expect their time. He is leant on a stone table. His beard is growing longer and longer and is slowly winding around the table. When it will wind for the ninth time, his hour will come.

It will come on Christmas Eve, when at midnight a linden will grow in front of the cavern. It will become green and will blossom for an hour, then it will dry up. But in the meantime, Matthias will rise; he will pull his sword and awake his army. They will go in the fight against his enemy. All the people, young and old, will pick up their weapons and King Matthias' army will be so numerous like foliage and grass around him.

The decisive fight will take place on the field, where Matthias was defeated once. The linden scent will encourage them and will heal the wounds of injured warrior in no time. They will gain victory over the kings enemies and the antichrists. King Matthias will free the Holy Land and the entire world. Then, they will conclude peace of the world on the battlefield, under the linden with seven tops, and Matthias will hang his shield on the linden, as sign of a durable peace.

Such is the eschatological message of Matthias' stories. It started in a period, when Slovenians still were a pagan people. His stories reflect the most important events in the history of Slovenians, like "Matthias challenges God". This was followed by the Christianization of Slovenians, later the Arabic incursions on their coast, then the wars against Turks for two hundred years, and finally nationalism and atheism (antichrist). Thus, King Matthias cannot be identified with whichever historical person. He personalises the same Slovenian nation.

His legend is full of symbols from the early Christian and the Romanesque period: The linden (tree of life), the scent of its blossoms meaning God's intervention; the shadow (God's protection); the dry linden or dry tree is the Cross, and the fact, that the tree (cross) became green, means Salvation... It is obvious, that Matthias sagas need to be revised in their explanation. First, the revision should be done in the same Slovenia, where Matthias is still shown as a "Hungarian" king, and where the very value of the Slovenian tradition has been concealed.

Marcus Tanner: 'Did you know that Dracula's best friend was a warrior bookworm?'

Marcus Tanner reveals how he uncovered the gripping subject of his new biography: the warrior, book-worm and friend of Dracula known as the Raven King

Marcus Tanner: correspondent and chronicler of worlds in various states of dissolution

By Murrough O'Brien

Sunday, 20 April 2008

Carantha's observation:

In his last days, his conquests behind him, his glory assured, Matthias Corvinus ("the Raven King"), the 15th-century ruler of Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Transylvania, eastern Austria, Slovakia and Ruthenia, decided to build a library. Perhaps this great devotee of astrology was showing some prescience: perhaps he knew his greatest legacy would not be his conquests or his castles. His library, said to rival even the Vatican's, was a wonder. But of the 5,000 volumes he is said to have amassed, only 214 remain. What happened? The Turks happened. What was not squandered by his heirs or destroyed by pillage ended up in Europe's cultural cemetery, Constantinople, and was grubbed up by Europe's grave-robber, Venice.

Corvinus was the son of Janos Hunyadi, the great Transylvanian crusader in the wars waged to contain Turkish expansion in Europe. He had a lot to live up to, but was given a lot to trade off. He halted the Turks in Bosnia, humiliated the Holy Roman Empire, built palaces, forged alliances, was hailed as the saviour of Christendom, and died without a legitimate heir. Forty years after his death, the Turkish invasion of Hungary brought all his achievements to dust. All but one.

It's a deeply stirring story and Marcus Tanner, the Balkan correspondent at The Independent from 1988 to 1994, responds to it with an engaging mixture of passion and breeziness. Awarded the MBE in 1995 for services to literature, he has written on the Celts, Ireland, Croatia and Latvia, but with The Raven King, he has hit upon a fascinating yet little-known true-life tale that has all the hallmarks of gripping fiction.

In Central Europe, at least, Matthias Corvinus possesses the combined mystique of Pericles, King Arthur and Father Christmas. "I had no notion of the library – I only knew of him as a person that children sang nursery rhymes about," says Tanner. In Hungary, he's a philosopher king, a Renaissance sage. "In Slovenia, he's remembered as a fairy tale; he has a long beard and lives in a mountain. The cave in which he sleeps is guarded by ravens. And there's an annual festival held in his honour where they make these 'Matthias castles' out of snow. The villagers say he will come again to restore everything. When the apple blossom comes one year, Matthias will ride out. His wife, too, has completely changed. From being this Italian battle-axe, she's now this gracious beauty with flowing gold hair."

That this great figure of folklore should have been in life a profoundly modern and Western figure is not the paradox we might imagine, for Matthias was a great unifier of nations. After the failed uprising of 1848-9, a bitter, humiliated Hungary re-invented him as a Magyar patriot (that he was part- Romanian was ignored). Now there is some hope that his true status will be restored.

"He looks both forward and back," says Tanner. "You don't want to exaggerate the extent to which he was a modern European. But in a sense he was. Hungary then was amazingly confident and progressive. It wasn't based on one nationality at all. There were no anti-Semitic purges. No wonder he was beloved by Jews: they serenaded him in the city." This can be seen as a moral and intellectual victory over unpropitious origins. "He transcended his background. He was capable of retaining what he wanted from his roots without being encumbered by them."

This paragon of tolerance and magnanimity had some unlikely dinner guests – Vlad "the Impaler" Tepes (perhaps better known now as Dracula) being one. When I suggest that Matthias kept him as a sort of anti-mascot, a lightning rod to draw off divine wrath, Tanner hits me with an astonishing fact. "For an awful lot of what we know about Dracula, Matthias is the source, and he had a wicked sense of humour. There was the papal nuncio sitting there and Matthias would be saying: 'Of course, I haven't told you: he puts babies on spikes, he really enjoys cutting pregnant women to pieces and stuff.' Now the papal nuncio was writing this all down. I think Matthias got a real buzz out of that... he obviously didn't take it seriously. After all, he allowed his own cousin to marry Dracula... Matthias could say he had a Dracula at the end of the garden."

Any student of Balkan politics must enter a menagerie of contending national myths. In his time as Independent foreign correspondent, Tanner covered Bulgaria, Slovenia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Bosnia, Romania and Hungary, and warring claims have left him sceptical about assertions of ownership when we just don't know who arrived where first. "You'll meet Albanians who will tell you, 'Under that Serbian monastery is an Albanian Catholic church.'"

His book Last of the Celts showed a world in dissolution. I ask him if he's attracted to cultures whose abiding characteristic is delicacy. "True of the Celts, certainly: gossamer threads dissolving under harsh light. But with the Balkans what interested me was the question of national identity, its fluidity – the incidental way in which it arises... Most people would say the Croatians and the Celtic nations were in a very similar situation in the early 19th century. Those parallels interest me." He observes that a national language was re-forged in the Balkans while it was lost in the Celtic lands. Political will in the former case had much to do with it, but there is something else. I suggest the sheer difficulty of the Celtic languages, their eccentricity from the linguistic mainstream.

"Absolutely. I asked a Gaelic enthusiast in Scotland: 'Why have you never considered a revolution in your spelling, to make it simpler?' The response was outrage. 'In the Balkans there were these ruthless language reforms...' It seems that just as English was imposed on the Celtic lands, so were Slavic tongues re-imposed on the western Balkans.

Authors in the flesh rarely reflect the spirit of their writings and this is true of Tanner. The magisterial, sometimes sombre author is hardly discernible in the jovial, puckish figure opposite me. The subject of Matthias, I suggest, must have come as a relief after his work as a Balkan correspondent. "Absolutely. I don't regard him as a saint, I don't believe he wanted to save the world. I think he wanted to rule over a very big state. He took tons of money in taxes and spent it in a way which many would regard as pretty outrageous, but I did find his story incredibly optimistic. I enjoyed writing about Matthias because I did find him inspiring. He had a profound belief in the West – if you want to put it that way – optimistic, always fiddling around with crazy inventions, giving everything a go. It sounds ridiculous, but writing about his death left me in tears."

The story of the Raven King has itself all the lineaments of epic. His family arose from obscure Transylvanian origins; Matthias brought both his family and his nation to a simultaneous apogee. Then the nation fell, and its ruler's works were levelled. Then the light of his heritage began to glow again.

The story of the Turkish occupation remains a bitter one, however: "You could have been a child in the time of Matthias and grown up to see the annihilation of everything he built. Everything went – the churches, the palaces, even the towns. There's almost nothing in Hungary dating before 1680."

Tanner is not squeamish on the subject of the Ottoman legacy in the Balkans: "It was a disaster. On the edge of the Ottoman empire, it was a catastrophe: whole towns deported, churches destroyed, whole histories wiped out. Further in, it was a bit better."

In his book, Tanner highlights the paradox that of all Matthias's works, only the most delicate survive. "I found it so odd that the flimsiest of all his creations was still around. You hold this book and you know that Matthias held this little thing, like holding a little baby, and it's still there. The journey of these books is almost biblical."

He laughs when I ask what drew him to the Balkans: "I was sent there!" But before he became a journalist, Tanner trained as a priest (he studied theology at Cambridge). "I was taking these evening services for four, five people, sitting in this building that had been full in its heyday. It was all a bit much. It might have been different had I been a bit older, but in your mid-twenties... I would have been a disaster as a vicar. Also, I wasn't very sympathetic!

Well, Marcus Tanner is certainly no sentimentalist but I can't stamp my seal on this last self-assessment.

Carantha's observation:

King Matthias in the cave under Mt. Peca, a sculpture by Niko Pirnat (1932), which had been destroyed by a Yugoslav adherent during the German invasion of 1941.

Concerning the above article about the Raven King, we would like to take this opportunity to warn of academic lies, in sense of which the legendary Slovenian hero King Matthias (Kralj Matjaž), celebrated in the sagas, should have been no other than Matthias Corvinus, the King of Hungary in the 15th century AD. This lie is constantly propagated by academicians, even though the King Matthias’ sagas originated at the time of Christianization of Slovenians in the 8th century AD, whereas the Raven King lived in the 15th AD. Why such lies?

Says Prof. Sergij Vilfan (Etnolog 1943, 3): King Matthias… is the central figure of the Slovenian tradition concerning the State and its leadership; he has the feature of an ideal ruler, as the Slovenian people pictured him …

However, the State tradition of Slovenians was negated by pan-German oriented and financed historians in the one-time Austrian Monarchy. The same thesis was also applied in the new-constituted Yugoslavia after WW1. The Slovenian State tradition was damaging to the Yugoslav (great-Serbian) ideology, in sense of which only the Serbs, the leading Yugoslav people, should have benefited from historic State tradition. Therefore, to King Matthias, even though only a mythical Slovenian ruler, his Slovenian origin simply had to be negated. Slovenians, a people “without own rulers and State idea”, who presumably were only a tribe, could not have had a “proper” mythical king. Their mythical leader should have been no other than the Hungarian king.

In 1951, Prof. Ivan Grafenauer published a miscellanea containing the King Matthias sagas, with bibliographical notes. Anyway, also he did not try to reject the lie about his “Hungarian” origin. Why? Because of the obligatory Yugoslav ideology. This ideology was surveyed by SANU (Serbian Academy) and carried out by the secret service, which in Tito's totalitarian Yugoslavia controlled all institutions and structures.

How deeply Serbian circles feel disturbed by the Slovenian historical State tradition, has been proven by Jože Pirjevec, a Trieste historian (but raised in Belgrade). In 1995, he published a booklet in Italian, in which he presented to the Italian public Serbs, Slovenians and Croatians (he transcured Macedonians). Concerning Slovenians, he affirmed, among other things:… When they settled in the 2nd half of the 6th century, they, in distinction to Serbs and Croats, were lacking perhaps their tribal name… (p. 123). – Slovenia, what a disturbing nation for modern imperialistic movements!?

In 1962, a new sculpture was placed into the cave of Peca. It is the work of the skulptor Marjan Keršic– Belac.

Please read also: King Matthias (Kralj Matjaz) and the Tradition of the Slovenian Historical State