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THE MEDIEVAL HERO A Comparative Study in Indo-European Tradition 3rd Edition CONNELL MONETTE SIRIUS ACADEMIC PRESS 28203 SW 110th Ave Wilsonville, Oregon 97070 USA siriusacademic.com © Copyright by Connell Monette (2013) This book is a revised and corrected edition of an earlier version published in 2011 with Runa-Raven, and originally published in 2008 with Verlag Dr Müller as The Medieval Hero: Christian and Muslim Traditions, itself based on the author’s doctoral dissertation at the Centre for Medieval Studies at University of Toronto. First edition: 2008. Second edition: 2011. ISBN: 978-0-9847767-4-0 Cover design by Connell Monette and Waldo Thompson Images of the Sassanid plate (front cover) and Sassanid shield boss (back cover) are copyright of Wikimedia Commons All rights reserved. No part of this work may be copied or reproduced in any way without the expression written permission of the author(s) and the publisher. ii FOREWORD Á te, pitar Marutām, sumnám etu / má nah súryasya samdŕśo yuyothāh. Abhí no vīró árvati kşameta / prá jāyemahi, Rudara, prajábhih. ‘Be kind, O Father of Maruts, do not cut us off from the sunlight. Oh Rudra, may the Hero not harm [us], may our children be many.’ – The Rigveda, 14th century BCE. The epic hero of the ancient and medieval world is a problematic character: he simultaneously embodies the bright dream of a protective and courageous aristocrat, and the brutal fact of a violent man with a talent for killing. This dichotomy is often found in the characters of Indo-European heroes, who are at once both responsible for the protection of their society/state and its stability, yet by virtue of their capacity for violence, are bound to exist on the margins of society – they are never fully accepted as trusted members of their community. The hero has several complex functions within epic literature: he serves as a mediator between the mundane and supernatural worlds; he serves to protect his society, but is sometimes the bringer of social chaos; he supports the monarch, yet often this relationship is fraught with tension. Curiously, the biographies of the medieval Irish and Persian heroes Cúchulainn and Rostam demonstrate a number of analogous episodes. This study examines these heroes’ genesis episodes, boyhood deeds, filicide episodes, heroic duels, Otherworld raids, and death tales; in addition, it finds significant thematic parallels between Old English Beowulf and the Persian Haftkhān-i-Rostam from the epic Shahnameh. These analogous episodes are used as a framework to see how Irish, Persian, and Old English literature deal with such concepts as loyalty, honor, fame, uncontrolled rage, the Otherworld – and the above all – the heroic code. This study then considers the potential modes of narrative transmission (oral and literary) that would explain the occurrence of these analogues, and questions whether the analogues are evidence of a common Indo-European heroic tradition, and/or of early contact between supposedly distant members of the iii (Indo-European) Celtic and Iranian tribes. This second edition of The Medieval Hero includes a new final chapter examines the rise (or remanifestation) of the Monstrous Hero in contemporary literature and media, and new concluding remarks to the study. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Deepest thanks are due to Professors Ann Dooley, Maria Subtelny, and Andy Orchard of University of Toronto, for their time, guidance, and patience, and to Professor Dean Miller for his many helpful comments on this research. Thanks are also due to good friends and colleagues at University of Toronto (Canada) and Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane (Morocco), and especially to my family for their continuing love and support. Special thanks are due to Waldo Thompson for suggesting this third edition, and for his efforts in preparing the manuscript for publication. ******* For my wife Fatiha and daughter Miriam, with all my love. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Copyright ii Foreword iii Acknowledgements v Abbreviations vii Introduction 1 Chapter 1. The Genesis of the Hero 29 Chapter 2. Epic Boyhood Deeds and Totemic Aspects 55 Chapter 3. The Filicide Episodes in the Shahnameh and Aided Óenfir Aífe: the Hero as Social Disruptor 94 Chapter 4. Overwhelming Rage 123 Chapter 5. The Hero as Otherworld Mediator 139 Chapter 6. Mortality and Immortal Fame 198 Chapter 7. Analogue and Source 226 Chapter 8. The Monstrous Hero (or Monster-As-Hero) 239 Concluding Remarks 254 Bibliography 256 vi ABBREVIATIONS CCC Compert Con Culainn DIL Dictionary of the Irish Language IE Indo-European LL The Book of Leinster LL TBC Táin Bó Cúailgne from the Book of Leinster LU Lebor na hUidre MU Mesca Ulad S Shahnameh S TBC The Stowe Verson of Táin Bó Cúailgne TBC Táin Bó Cúailgne vii viii INTRODUCTION Violence is deeply rooted in the human psyche, and the evidence of this is all around us. Through international networks like CNN, BBC, and Al Jazeera, we are confronted daily by the gruesome reminder of humanity’s instinct to maim, kill, and destroy. Further, the instinct for violence is not merely a part of global politics, but the basis for much of contemporary entertainment. Movies, television series, and electronic media are frequently driven by simulated or actual violence, and the ways in which violence is depicted or enacted is shown with realism that is improving at an alarming rate. Even the sports industry has shown a sharp increase in blood or combat sports over the last decade, with competitions that recall the gladiator games of ancient Rome. As we move further into the twenty-first century, our sense of equity, tolerance, and political correctness may continue to improve, but our fascination with violence is no less powerful than in the centuries prior. Yet this does not mean that violence is without rules. Sports have been called (correctly) a form of ritualized warfare, and even modern combat has its conventions or rules of engagement. Yet significantly, a fascination with violence does not necessarily mean a desire to see mass slaughter. In fact, as long as humanity has been capable of violence, it appears to have been equally capable of codifying how that violence could occur. Certainly in ancient and medieval times, most civilizations developed a warrior code which dictated how, when, and where violence should occur, and by whom it was to be inflicted. This is especially true of the group of cultures that are related culturally and linguistically by the term ‘Indo- European’. In The Epic Hero, Dean Miller states that ‘behind the potently projected dream of an aristocratic dominance lurks the brutal, material fact of the superior force of the weapon wielder and war maker, the warrior; while before him – the aristocrat – is projected the image of the hero, the warrior ideal, encased in the special epic description of his adventures and his fate, known, feared, and admired in so many guises and so many cultures.’1 The passage is a useful entry to my entire discussion since it points out the stark contrast between the bright dream of a protective and courageous aristocrat, and the brutal 1 fact of a violent man with a talent for killing. This dichotomy is often found in the characters of Indo-European heroes, who are at once both responsible for the protection of their society/state and its stability, yet by virtue of their capacity for violence, are bound to exist on the margins of society – they are never fully accepted as trusted members of their community. In this group we might place heroes such as Achilles, Beowulf, Hadingus, Il’ja, and Hercules; certainly so in the case of the Irish and Iranian heroes Cúchulainn and Rostam, for reasons which will be discussed below.2 It seems a paradox, that the very attributes which empower the hero to defend his home and people are the same attributes which – if unmoderated – make that same hero a menace to society; but perhaps it is the very purpose of the warrior which is itself the threat to society. This study will focus on the functions of the epic hero, followed by the attributes which are identified with this enigmatic figure.3 For several reasons, I will be limiting this study specifically to address the champions of the Irish and Iranian traditions, but the model produced by this process of comparison may demonstrate parallels with other traditions, such as Anglo-Saxon, Greek, and Welsh.4 The question may be asked: why a study of specifically Irish and Iranian champions, when such a wide range of characters from other Indo-European epics is available? The answer is two-fold. First, the national epics of both Ireland (the Táin Bó Cúailnge) and Iran (the Shahnameh) share several important features: the earliest copies of each text have been dated to within 200 years of each other; the composer(s) of the epics claim the tale is ancient and that the written form is simply a redaction.5 There is strong evidence that the epics’ composer(s) were familiar with the classical epic literature in the Greek tradition and perhaps other countries – and for socio-political reasons were endeavouring to write a national epic for their own states (in fact, the author of the Shahnameh tells us this much); and the composers of the two epics are writing several centuries after the national conversion to a new religion (Christianity, in the case of Ireland, and Islam in the case of Iran).6 The second reason is that, in recent years, the analogues between medieval Iranian and Celtic literature have become the subject of considerable interest, yet no serious study has been undertaken to examine their inherent parallels.7 This being the case, and since most 2