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Difference between revisions of "Besokian Cosmogony (text)"
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The text tells the story of (and is in turn the only source for) the Besokian creation myth. The story shows many parallels with the creation myth of its surrounding cultures; both the Divine Sequence and the Three Hills feature prominently, showing a series of deities create the sea, the first mountain, the sun, and finally, life. While overall fairly similar to the Olgish creation myth, the Hêrûn hâm Hôrenod notably begins directly with the Divine Sequence, omitting note of any previous ages. It also, unlike Olgish and Kalparian mythology, does not imply creation from chaos but presupposed the existence of two fundamental entities, represented as a juxtaposition of light and darkness and femininity and masculinity, placing this text closer to the dualistic mythologies of Seligon. Curiously, while respecting Besokian matriarchy and consistently listing female characters before male ones, the actions of the gods appear in inverse order, male before female, as usual in the Divine Sequence, suggesting the myth itself is not of Besokian origin but was imported, possibly from Avalian or Nokimi sources (see [[Divine Sequence#Origin]]). | The text tells the story of (and is in turn the only source for) the Besokian creation myth. The story shows many parallels with the creation myth of its surrounding cultures; both the Divine Sequence and the Three Hills feature prominently, showing a series of deities create the sea, the first mountain, the sun, and finally, life. While overall fairly similar to the Olgish creation myth, the Hêrûn hâm Hôrenod notably begins directly with the Divine Sequence, omitting note of any previous ages. It also, unlike Olgish and Kalparian mythology, does not imply creation from chaos but presupposed the existence of two fundamental entities, represented as a juxtaposition of light and darkness and femininity and masculinity, placing this text closer to the dualistic mythologies of Seligon. Curiously, while respecting Besokian matriarchy and consistently listing female characters before male ones, the actions of the gods appear in inverse order, male before female, as usual in the Divine Sequence, suggesting the myth itself is not of Besokian origin but was imported, possibly from Avalian or Nokimi sources (see [[Divine Sequence#Origin]]). | ||
The portrayal of the gods themselves is more formalized and geometrical than in other religions, portraying the six gods | The portrayal of the gods themselves is more formalized and geometrical than in other religions, portraying the six gods as emerging directly from the two Proto-Beings and forming a female/light and male/dark trilogy. A moon-related deity is omitted entirely, keeping the pantheon symmetrical. This further removes this version of the creation myth from its, explicitly asymmetric, Olgish neighbour and places it closer to the highly formal pantheons of Seligon; the latter are significantly more complex, however, suggesting the Besokian version reflects an earlier stage of the myth, possibly in turn supporting a Nokimi over an Avalian origin. | ||
The narrative as a whole is relatively broad and does not give as many details as, for example, the Olgish account, but most common elements are present, so ''Sen'' ‘the tall one’, the first mountain that the divine sisters rest upon before creating life. Shênûrish, the fire deity, is said to have travelled to ''Manârishen'' ‘heat-land’ to light Kôhêrûn’s torch, similar to how Delgor is said to have lit the sun from Dóiteán in Olgish mythology. Once the Divine Sequence is completed and the Kônôwîs and Kôdâlon descend from the Sen, the myth of the Three Hills is given in a formal almost identical to that in the Lonsorigi; as this text precedes the latter by almost 3000 years, the ''Hêrûn'', possibly in the form of a Soskish descendant, is generally presumed to have influenced the Olgish account. All three hills are named in the Besokian text, making it one of only a few to mention all three locations by name, as ''Kâmârod'', ''Nishûnâc'', and ''Nôrashet''. Nishûnâc is identified as ''enâc'' ‘here’, suggesting it was already the name used for the complex the text was found in. Kâmârod is placed vaguely ‘in the west’, while the location of Nôrashet is left unspecified. Neither hill appears on the Old Besokian World Map, possibly implying that they were not seen as geographical locations but rather as ethereal places, possibly worlds before life and after death, taking earthly life at Nishûnâc in their centre, or three distinct ages, then placing Nishûnâc between them as an ‘intermediate’, rather than the Olgish ‘Last Age’. | |||
===List of names and places mentioned=== | ===List of names and places mentioned=== | ||