Daniel and Ragnarök: Hybrid Mentality in the Pictorial Tradition of Early Rus’

Byzantine culture and aesthetics had a significant impact on the imagery of early Rus’—and not unidirectionally, but rather in the form of cross-cultural dialogue. Both traditional visual arts and monumental temple architecture often present symbolic diversity as a consequence of cultural hybridism. So, through the Biblical imagery and the Byzantine canon of aesthetics, one can clearly see the subjects and symbols of regional pre-Christian traditions. The motive to write this essay іs based on the study of Professor Nadiia Nikitenko on the frescoes of St. Sophia Cathedral of Kyiv, represented in this issue. Observing the missing South Tower image recorded by F. Solntsev in 1871, the researcher interprets the wolf-like two-headed monster and the hero with the weapon as if sprouting from it, as a Last Battle confrontation between Fenrir and Odin (emphasizing his bird-like helmet) (Fig. 1b). These parallels have brought about a number of remarks that we develop in our research. The confrontation scene between the hero and the monster (often two mirrored ones) is a popular subject of art of the early Middle Ages (Fig. 2, Fig. 3), which originated within the civilizations of the East in 4–3rd millennia BC, inspiring the imagery of the biblical origin. The scene “Daniel in the Lions’ Den” spread among the population of the Middle Dnieper, the British Isles, and Northern Europe especially in the 6–7th centuries, and then in the 11-12th. In the Vendel-Scandinavian context, similar compositions are often interpreted as a depiction of Ragnarök: the confrontation between Fenrir vs Odin, or Fenrir vs Tyr (and we insist that the very two were initially to fight in the Last Battle, while Odin / Wotan as the leader of Valhalla should have struggled with the mistress of Hel before the “classic” Eddic model was spread). In our opinion, it is not a coincidence that these scenes were massive in the middle of the 6th century: the probability of Climate disaster of 536 AD and Justinian Plague connection with the European and near East eschatological mood is claimed, as well as Nordic soteriology formation at that time. Therefore, even images of clearly Christian (Byzantine) origin had to be perceived in the context of the native worldview in the East and Northern Europe. Next time eschatological ideas erupted in 1000 AD and existed for some time after. The “Confrontation Scene” of the St. Sophia South Tower also has both Hellenic (Byzantine) and Scandinavian reading: Hercules defeats the hellish dog Cerberus as Infernal forces and, at the same time, it is Víðarr, the son of Odin, who defeats Fenrir-wolf. In the Ragnarök-related mythology, he was one of the only few who survived the end of the Universe. Víðarr brings hope and begins a new kingdom on a renewed earth. Therefore, we assume that the circumstance of the South Tower decoration was the death of Volodymyr and the war of his son Yaroslav with his brothers for the throne of Kyiv. Among the Varyags elite, Yaroslav’s triumph could have been seen as such a renewal.