Christian Demonology and Popular Mythology

Gog and Magog in the Slovenian Folk Tradition

GOG AND MAGOG IN ThE SLOvENIAN FOLK TrADITION ZMAGO ŠMITEK in 1882 an article on national folk traditions was published in Kres, a Klagenfurt monthly, which contained a legend entitled “The great Wall of China,” recorded in the tolmin area (nW slovenia) by Fonovski. The story is as follows: The Chinese were at war with the neighboring king. at that time, the son of god was travelling around the world, and when they heard that he could perform miracles, they asked him to make peace between them and their neighbors. god ordered the apostles and disciples to scatter sand around the country and behold, as soon as the sand was scattered, a tall, thick wall sprang up and not a soul could enter China any more. so the Chinese king is called the ‘walled-in king’ because god himself walled him in (Fonovski 1882, p. 577). This account belongs to a large group of slovenian legends about the travels of the holy Family (Jesus and mary accompanied by st Peter and other saints) and their adventures and miracles. based on older models (dating from the time of the Crusades) (Kotnik 1943, pp. 79–87), slovenian folk poetry and legends emerged from the seventeenth century onwards, i.e. after the normalization of religious life in the baroque period (merhar 1956, p. 60). an analysis of the legend about the great Wall of China confirms that its religious, moral and didactic role fitted the mental and emotional level of baroque man. nevertheless, boris orel has pointed out that the “pattern of legends about the travels of anthropomorphic holy individuals reveals how the 238 CHRISTIAN DEMONOLOGy AND POPULAR MyTHOLOGy wandering knights and mythical heroes of the fairytales were replaced with travelling saints and Christ” (orel 1933, p. 44). Could an older substratum be detected in our legend as well? in my opinion the legend is based on the episode of gog and magog from classical and medieval traditions related to alexander the great. The asian campaign of alexander of macedonia, which lasted from 334 to 323 bC, was an undertaking unrivalled in the antiquity. according to reports by contemporary historians, tales of individual events from his long expedition, which took him as far as western india, were immortalized in folk tales in classical greece. a considerable number of these tales were included in the alexander romance, which, in addition to historical and fictional episodes, encompassed philosophical commentaries and passages from hebrew apocalyptic prophecies of the old testament. an important romance biography of alexander the great was presumably written in alexandria during the Ptolemaic period (around 200 bC or earlier) by Pseudo-Callisthenes. it was known in western europe through valerius’s latin vulgate version from around 300 aD. This work was influential primarily in the ancient orient. in the tenth century the romance was translated into latin from the byzantine text of Pseudo-methodius by the arch-presbyter leo of naples. Known under the title of Historia de proeliis, it was extremely influential in medieval europe. several versions of the alexandride, based on byzantine sources, were also known to exist among the southern and eastern slavs. another romance of considerable importance for the Western european tradition related to alexander is the first century historical romance De rebus gestis Alexandri Magni by the roman historian Quintus Curtius rufus, which uncritically quotes various classical sources and other texts, such as the forged letter Alexandri Magni epistola ad Aristotelem magistrum suum de situ et mirabilius Indiae, and the report of alexander’s encounter with indian brahmans (“Commonitorium Paladii and Collatio alexandri magni cum Dindymo”) (ross 1963, pp. 5–65). since alexander’s letters were contained in a late fourteenth century manuscript from gornji grad (f. 3’: “epistola alexandri regis ad aristotelem”; f. 3’–4’: “epistola ad alexandrum regem”, etc.) and in another late fourteenth century manuscript of unknown origin (f. 39’– 62’: “epistola alexandri ad aristotelem”), they must have exerted some 239 gog anD magog in the slovenian FolK traDition influence over slovenian folk tradition (Kos 1931, pp. 88–89. no. 49, p. 116. no. 76). That the theme was still popular in the following century in the slovenian territory can be surmised from a copy of seifriet’s epic about alexander, transcribed in 1456 by herman Thallner of trebnje. slovenian libraries keep several incunabulas which tell of alexander’s life, such as the Historia Alexandri Magni (1483); the Historia scholastica by Peter Comestor...