Heroes who Sinned; Prometheus, Amirani and Jesus

Some heroes do things that the chief God doesn't approve of, despite being popular amongst the people. The stories are found within the myths of the "Chained Heroes", stories such as Prometheus, stories that have a darker side than most realize.

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► References
“Iran and the Caucasus” Journal. Brill.

Movsaēs Xorenac‘i, Patmut‘iwn Hayoc‘, ed. M. Abełean and S. Yarut‘iwnean, Tiflis, 1913; repr., New York, 1981; Yerevan, 1991 (with additional collations of MSS by A. B. Sargsean).

[leekestner]

There are also so many ties to the story of Loki. Loki starts out as a trickster hero who uses his skills for the good of the Asir. But he turns darker and darker and is eventually chained beneath the World Tree (Chthonic) with his son the wolf Fenrir, while a dragon drips caustic spit onto him (Torture). When finally released Ragnarok, the End of the World begins.

[Mariam_Kir]

❤ omg omg omg ❤ I can't believe you are taking about a Georgian myth!

I've been watching your channel, loving how you trace the oldest myths and wondering how they compare to the myths of my country, Georgia. I even strated doing my own research about it, inspired by your videos. This video is like my dream come true ❤

[rina-ehre]

I found this channel by accident.

I was amazed at how high quality the information was presented here.

And I can recommend it even to those who do not understand English, since there are accurate subtitles in almost any language.

Great treasure.

[TehRedBlur]

Early Christian creeds contemporaneous with the Apostles include a confession of the resurrection of Christ. As such, the bodily resurrection of the dead in fact predates much of the New Testament. It is one of the earliest Christian beliefs of which we have a historical record.

[jayabee]

There's a fair amount here about hair. Cutting off hair takes away power. How common is that?
Also the braid of the Dev being used to get to the princess in the tower put me in mind of a jumbled story of Rapunzel.

[aanchaallllllll]

0:00: 🔗 The myth of the chained hero is a fascinating motif found in various cultures, with the Greek myth of Prometheus being one of the most well-known examples.
5:30: 🔥 Zeus punishes humans by taking away their ability to make fire, but Prometheus helps them regain it by giving them burning fennel.
11:17: 🐉 Summary: This text discusses different myths involving dragons and their punishments.
17:15: ❤ Darjelani falls in love with the goddess Dali at first sight and spends the night with her in a cave.
22:28: 👁 The sons threaten to burn their mother's chest to find out the true story of their father's missing eye.
28:12: 🗡 Amirani stabs the developer after hearing a song from the ogre's belly.
33:26: 😢 Amirani falls in love with Ketu but is faced with opposition from her father and his armies.
38:48: 🗺 The origin of the myth of Prometheus in the Caucasus region is uncertain, but it likely dates back at least 3, 000 years.
44:13: 🌍 The motif of being swallowed by a creature is found in various ancient cultures, including Georgian folklore.
49:39: 🐂 The myth of Amadani involves his birth, being placed in different animal bodies, and being abandoned by a source or the sea.
55:25: 🔍 The myth of Prometheus and its similarities with other myths like Amirani and Jesus suggest a common origin in ancient narratives about the struggle between life and order.
Recap by Tammy AI

[SarahTheRebelOfficial]

I love that you kept saying “heroic deeds” and I kept thinking “this guy doesn’t seem to be helping anyone” because it’s a good reminder that different cultures had different standards of heroism & what it means to be a hero

[johnsteiner]

Amirani losing an eye to eventually see even better, and then be bounds makes me wonder if this also contributed to the story arc for Odin's quest for wisdom.

[JIMA-Club]

There's a Jewish canonical story about Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai (1-2 century). It tells that when he exited the cave in which he hid from the Romans for 12 years, he burned whatever he looked at out of critical wrath.
God said: "Do you intend to destroy my world? Get back into the cave!". He left the cave again after 12 months with more compassion and appreciation of man.

[ring]

I love your videos, I find myself waiting for them excitedly. Thank you for being such a great content creator.

[phileiv]

Thank you infinitely for sharing all of this. Your videos have shown me much more than words can describe. Seriously.

[hhhhhh]

The Biblical story that most resembles Amirani's saga is the story of Samson. At least these similarities exist between the two: the hero in question is a strongman who travels around beating up and killing huge amounts of people/creatures; cutting someone's hair causes their death; the hero has an unhappy ending, ending up getting chained to a pillar; the hero's strenght is thanks to his mother, resulting either from her own miraculous nature or from a prayer said by her.

[thebordoshow]

I thought I was the N1 scholar of Amirani and here I listen to a version with elements I've never heard before 😮

Great job in covering the myth. And good thing I still have a version to cover in the future with added elements. Every region in Georgia has its own unique version, so I could tell and retell this epic many times over.

Few things to note.
In most versions devi and dragons are distinct, first amirani battles devi King, then 3 gveleshapi dragons (black white and red) each brother takes on 1 and the black servant swallows Amirani. Then the serpent goes to her mother Veshap Leviathan and story goes as you told.
Also in most stories Amirani can't lift the dead hero's leg, which sents him into existential crisis about mortality and that's why he battles the god.

Oh yea! Very important. Most versions Amirani directly challenges God to a duel, God asks him to lift his pole, he fails so he is later chained to that pole. Dragon comes to avenge his side but "saint George" turns the dragon into stone. And that's where the Caucasus mountains come from.

Well, there are tons more variations to cover, and I'm very happy you brought it the attention this myth deserved.

One thing I'll disagree is that I don't think Amirani and Prometheus are that related. Son of dali is closer to Gilgamesh or Heracles to me than God of foresight (which he has none). They just share the same jail.

Also I believe Amirani myth is much older, as the main background players are the Bronze age Forge Priests which Amirani swore to kill, unfortunate for me I guess.
The story unfortunately haven't been written down until the 9th century a.c. but there are many art depictions we can assume are from that tale, and unlike most others, Georgian mythic world is still active and practiced in the high mountains, so it's a living faith.

Also Also, Amirani being a Godson of the chief God is not just a fluke, the biggest heroic epic of Georgia are about the 3000 heavenly warriors known as Godsons, who are godchildren of Morige, chief God of order.

Thanks for covering this story. Cheers!

[aariley]

It's interesting because the gnomes and dwarves myths deal with caves, underworld, cycles of the earth too. It may sound campy, but I would really like to know if, this being the haunting season, if any if the popular Halloween creatures feature into these ancient myths and how.

[jamesonkimbrel]

The way that all of these myths point ultimately to the same place is so profound that they definitely contain great truth

[Zumbs]

Trickster god, chained up and regularly tortured ... I can't help thinking of Loki. He also stole the hair of Sif. And Iamani giving an eye to a powerful creature, sounds a bit like Odin, even though they got two very different things out of it. (Edit: I can see that Jon already replied to similar comments, noting that he is considering a video on trickster gods.)

[marybeth]

Another informative and entertaining discussion and sharing of Myths!!!❤❤❤❤❤❤

[bjarkiengelsson]

Perfect timing, Jon! A fresh video and a cup of coffee to start the day - let's go!

[jayabee]

I had not been aware of the trickster aspect of the Prometheus character. I had read as a child the story of prometheus bringing knowledge of fire to humans and I had thought he and Jesus had that in common as kind of a son of a God who did stuff for humans and was punished for it.
Also though a parallel to the serpent bringing knowledge to people so there's your trickster I guess. And he was also punished.

[chriselliott]

Great content as always, lots of depth of our ancestors and their mental framework of reality and beyond.. always appreciate your videos Mr.White.