‘Die dood van Digenis’ - mistifikasie van ’n Bisantynse held
Literator
| Field | Value | |
| Title | ‘Die dood van Digenis’ - mistifikasie van ’n Bisantynse held | |
| Creator | Hendrickx, B. | |
| Description | The Byzantine akritic poem, "The Death of Digenis", which manifests all the characteristics of the Byzantine Neo-Hellenic tragoudi, is a good exemplum of an epic song, where mystification (in its anthropological sense) is used to idealize the hero. Historically the akritic songs (9th - 13th cent. A.D.) refer to the ongoing war on Byzantium’s frontiers between the Christian defenders of the empire and the Moslem invaders. The poem's structure, its historical-epic elements and especially its symbolism are examined in this article. It thus becomes clear that the unknown poet juxtaposes present, past and future in such a way that Digenis’s heroic (but human) exploits of the past are integrated in a supernatural climax, where the hero in his struggle loses to Charon (Death - Archangel Michael). Consequently Digenis, whose name means ‘bom twice', complies on the one hand with the tragic destiny of an epic death, and on the other hand passes through a kind of initiation ritual into the Christian host of the heroes of Heaven. | |
| Publisher | AOSIS | |
| Date | 1993-05-03 | |
| Identifier | 10.4102/lit.v14i1.693 | |
| Source | Literator; Vol 14, No 1 (1993); 99-106 Literator; Vol 14, No 1 (1993); 99-106 2219-8237 0258-2279 | |
| Language | eng | |
| Relation |
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:
https://literator.org.za/index.php/literator/article/view/693/863
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