Animals in fine art history. The image of animals in folk art

And minimalism is a genre in fine art dedicated to our smaller brothers. The heroes of the works of animal artists are animals and birds (animal - from Latin “animal”). Love for life and nature, perception of oneself as a part of the living world - this is what drives the brush of creators, bowing their heads before the creatures to which man is greatly indebted.

History of animalism in painting

Animal painters in their works try to maintain the accuracy of the image of the animal and at the same time add artistic expressiveness to the image. Often the beast is endowed with human traits, actions and emotions. The origins of this type of art lie in the primitive world, when in cave paintings ancient people tried to convey the anatomy of the animal, its beauty and danger to humans.

From the origins of antiquity

Sculptural monuments of animals and animalistic ceramics are an integral part of the history of Ancient Africa, America and the East. In Egypt, gods were often depicted with the heads of birds and animals. Ancient Greek vases also contain decorative images of animals. Animal art was equally developed in all countries.

Middle Ages

The Middle Ages added an allegorical and fabulous quality to images of animals. The favorite characters of the masters of that time were dogs. True friends surrounded a person in everyday life, on a walk, or while hunting. The famous Venetian painter of the 16th century, Veronese, introduces the image of a dog into religious subjects - animals follow the Savior’s foot.

Renaissance

Renaissance masters tried to paint animals from life, which was quite difficult. You can’t force any animal to freeze and pose. In the 17th-18th centuries, animal painting developed rapidly in the Netherlands, France and Russia. Images of animals can be found in paintings Rembrandt, Rubens And Leonardo da Vinci. In Russian creativity, Serov gave special meaning to images of animals - his illustrations to Krylov’s fables convey the ideas of instructive texts with inimitable liveliness and satire.

On the threshold of the millennium

The 19th-20th centuries moved animal painters a little away from romanticism and sublimity in creating images of animals. Realism becomes a characteristic feature of the era. Painters try to accurately convey the anatomy of the animal. Color, pose, habits - everything is so photographic in the paintings that it is sometimes difficult to see the trace of the artist’s brush. Later, hyperrealism became widespread in animal painting, when small details are brought to the fore at the will of the master who wants to emphasize one of the qualities of the animal.

Famous paintings and artists of the animal genre. Creators of the East

One of the first representatives of animal painting in painting was the Chinese artist Yi Yuanji, who worked at the beginning of the 11th century. He became famous for his unique images of monkeys in scenes imbued with the style of the East. Emperor Xuande of the Ming Dynasty continued his ideas. Drawing monkeys and dogs was his favorite pastime.

Painters from Europe and the world

Famous German Albrecht Durer, who worked during the Renaissance, left numerous watercolors and lithographs that quite realistically convey images of animals ( "Lion", "Rabbit", "Stork" and others).

The Fleming Frans Snyders (XVI-XVII centuries) is considered a truly outstanding animal painter. His still lifes with hunting trophies are real masterpieces that adorn numerous galleries and exhibition halls in Europe. Some of the artist’s most popular paintings are “Deer Hunting” and “Fox and Cat”.

Animal painting was not a popular genre of painting at that time, but the bourgeoisie loved to commission paintings of horses and other domestic animals. Portraits of people in the Baroque style often included images of birds and animals.

It is also impossible not to remember one of the strongest animal artists of the 20th century - Canadian Robert Bateman. His bison, elephants, lions, deer and leopards look at the viewer from the window of wildlife, slightly open on the master’s canvas.

Russian artists

Russia has revealed many great animal painters to the world. Vasily Vatagin devoted his life to studying the habits and plasticity of animals. His works in graphics, watercolor and pencil are so piercing that you feel the breath and gaze of the animal on you. Excellent examples of works in the animalistic genre of Serov - "Horse Bathing" And "Oxen".

Another unsurpassed master of Russian animal painting is Konstantin Savitsky. It was his famous bears that ended up in Shishkin’s painting “Morning in a Pine Forest.” Evgeny Charushin, Konstantin Flerov, Andrey Marts are representatives of the Soviet period in the development of the direction.

Animal painting in the modern world is very close to the art of photography. Fine craftsmanship and great love for living beings are required to create such masterpieces. Artists seem to be knocking on the human heart with a request: “Take care of this natural world, it is leaving us.”

Russian State Pedagogical University named after. A.I. Herzen

Faculty of Fine Arts

Department of Art Education and Museum Pedagogy

COURSE WORK

IN ART HISTORY

“The image of animals in folk art”

Completed by a student

III year OZO group No. 4

Ivanova L.G.

INTRODUCTION

Chapter I. Animals as a symbol in folk art.

1 Folk art: specificity and symbolism.

2 Zoomorphic pendants.

Chapter II. The image of a bird in folk art.

1 Bird symbol.

2 Whistling birds.

3 Image of a bird in Russian folk embroidery.

4 Bird's egg in folk art.

CONCLUSION

Bibliography.

INTRODUCTION

folk art folklore bird

The course work is devoted to the image of animals in folk art.

We live among symbols without even realizing it.

In everyday life and works of art, people often replace various phenomena and concepts with a sign symbolizing the elements, gods, and animals. These signs may vary. From geometrically simple ones (cross, triangle, disk) to images of humans and other living beings, and their combinations.

A symbol is a sign that has a systemic and functional meaning. It is created and used in public life for a specific purpose - storing and transmitting information, sometimes intended for certain circles or groups. The symbol defines convention, information content, and ambiguity.

Symbolism is a system of signs or figurative structures, rich in various shades of meaning. And the symbols themselves are closely connected with ideology, everyday life, and are considered, a kind of “instruction” for human behavior in society.

At the same time, an allegory is a simple encrypted thought with the only possible content.

And the third concept, widely used in art, is an attribute - an object, an animal, a sign - which is depicted with a certain character and by which he can be identified.

In primitive times, when a system of symbols was taking shape, people tried to determine the nature and phenomena surrounding them with the help of signs, totems, gods, and also to influence them in the desired direction.

Cult symbolism, which underwent minor changes, retained its meaning for centuries and even millennia. The clear symbol system of Ancient Egypt, of course, was not a discovery of that time. It was created over centuries and not by one person, but by society as a whole.

Antique symbolism borrowed a lot from Ancient Egypt and became widespread in Western Europe after the Crusade to Constantinople in the 13th century.

The symbols have multiple meanings. Each sign can have a large number of meanings and, what is especially important, they can not only complement, but also contradict each other.

There are two ways to create symbolic systems. One develops, is filled with new meanings in a certain region, the other is inherited or migrates from other regions. This probably explains the fact that in various epics of the world and folk ideas there is a significant similarity in the use of symbols and their meanings. This is especially noticeable in the works of ancient Egyptian and ancient authors, in Irish sagas, German epics, Slavic epics and in general among the peoples of Indo-European culture.

At the same time, some symbols belong to a certain region, have developed and are used in the life of a given society.

Much has now been forgotten. However, the preservation of old symbols - according to D.S. Likhachev - is one of the tasks of modern society and is considered by him as the concept of “ecology of culture”.

One of the embodiments of symbolism in world culture is folk art.

Russian folk art is a kind of Troy, hidden from us by layers of cultural eras. First of all, it is a fusion of customs, styles, rituals of many peoples inhabiting our land, where geography has always dominated over religion and blood.

Some crafts have a centuries-old history and traditions dating back to antiquity, others arose before our eyes, literally in the last decade. They are very diverse.

Even before the advent of writing, people began to write their books, using ornamental signs, images of birds, animals, people, and plants. In these books, he talked about his life, about his beliefs, customs, his idea of ​​the world - in a word, about everything that surrounded a person, what he carried within himself, and what Georgy Gachev calls the national cosmos.

And many centuries after the invention of writing, and even to this day, people continue this work, reproducing features and cuts, and signs of people's memory, perhaps even forgetting their meaning.

The purpose of this course work is to consider the image of animals in folk art.

Job objectives:

identify the specifics of folk art;

consider the image of a bird in folk art.

Chapter I. Animals as a symbol in folk art

1 Folk art: specificity and symbolism

In its pre-princely period, being free, the Russian land gave shelter to many tribes and peoples fleeing from conquerors, famine, conflicts - from the south, west and east. And only by the end of the first millennium they tried to unite into a kind of superethnos, within the boundaries of both a single supra-tribal Russian language and a single supra-tribal God, not forgetting the gods of the faiths and customs of their tribes that they brought with them. That is why, speaking about the main subjects of Russian folk art, we have to turn to the experience of cultures both in our north and in the west, south and east, and see in folk art a kind of supertext of the common book of people's memory.

Few people now remember that clay and wooden figurines, images on fabric in the distant past participated in magical rites, were the visible, real embodiment of totems - the mythical ancestors of a given clan (tribe), idols, spirits, gods, people and animals sacrificed powerful forces of nature. But today we can make an attempt to understand, to read what was written down in the people's book. The materials on which it was written were different. The genres are also different - toys, embroidery, household utensils, housing and clothing.

The folk toy - in its original form, a cult and ritual sculpture, an instrument of magic - was at the same time a phenomenon of folk art, in which the aesthetic and sacred principles were fused together.

The images of toys preserve echoes of ancient paganism and contain the “memory” of the distant past: the beliefs and superstitious ideas of the people. As this issue was developed, it turned out that it is significant, very serious, and the images of folk toys often have in their life and origin not only centuries, but also thousands of years ago, sometimes even more ancient. The toy combined two amazing features: on the one hand, it often turned out to be very ancient in shape, comparable to examples, say, even of early antiquity (such are the similarities of many female clay figurines with the famous and now famous figurines of maiden-priestesses - goddesses from snakes - from the Knossos Palace on Crete, discovered by the famous archaeologist Evans); on the other hand, the toys turned out to be filled with an amazing vitality that made them native to every era, despite their such a long existence and the minor changes that occurred in their forms. Clay and wooden horse-whistles are always extremely generalized in form and expressive; the master does not convey any details, but focuses our attention on the horse’s head, its muzzle and flexible neck; the body is given in an extremely generalized, simple manner, and in the further form we seem to “guess” the appearance of the skate. His image echoes, for example, images of bronze pendant horses among the ancient Slavic tribes of the Vyatichi, Radimichi, Krivichi and others of the 11th-13th centuries. The similarity is striking. We see the same images, but in wood and clay, on toys of the Russian North, in a number of toys from Gorodets, in numerous and incredibly varied toys made from clay, by Abashev, Filimonov, Vyatka (Dymkov) and many others. And everywhere they express an ancient, full of great content and sometimes quite complex mythological image. It, of course, has long been forgotten, lost, but through the efforts of scientists the veil is lifted over the mystery, and we begin to see what is no longer visible at first glance. Their ornamentation is also often ancient: it is a primitive geometric pattern, the same as many archaeological products, not only on ancient sculpture, but in general on products of various types and purposes. This antiquity of the ornament of toys has been noted by many, and it, as a rule, accompanies the most ancient toys in form and image. Northern wooden and clay skates are so simple and extremely laconic in their strong and strong colors; in the Gorky region, the most primitive wooden skates were made in Lyskovo and Yakovlevo; their painting is simple geometric in nature; Many ancient images were preserved by the Filimonovskaya and Abashevskaya clay toys. Now many other centers of the simplest clay toys have been discovered and are being directly investigated. It is very typical for the northern and especially central regions of our country, where clay toys are very widespread, where craftsmen sculpt figurines of horses and riders, animals and birds, some of them serve as whistles (this is, as a rule, the most ancient type of product

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CAMEL
Abstinence, restrained respect - associations that reflect Christian ideas that a camel is able to meekly carry heavy loads and travel vast distances without water.
Jesus Christ used the camel as a metaphor for the difficulty of getting into heaven for the rich: “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God” (Gospel of Mark 10:25).
In Western art (and on Roman coins), the camel often serves as an allegory for Asia. The magic camel is a Christmas emblem in Christianity.
VOL
Strength, patience, hard work; everywhere - a positive symbol. As an ancient powerful helper in plowing, the ox was considered a very valuable animal, which became the reason for its frequent sacrifice, especially in cult rituals associated with the harvest and offspring.
The ox is a Christian symbol of Christ's self-sacrifice, as well as the emblem of St. Luke and the clergy in general. The ox is often seen with the donkey in Nativity scenes, and is sometimes sculpted to support baptismal fonts. As a symbol of nature subservient to the human mind, the ox is a Taoist and Buddhist attribute of sages, and in China it is an emblem of speculative education. White ox is prohibited as food in some cultures.
In fine art there are often images of death, whose cart is drawn by black oxen; they can also be an attribute of the allegorical figure of Night. The ox is more of a lunar symbol, as opposed to the solar bull.
WOLF
Ferocity, deceit, greed, cruelty, evil, but also courage, victory, concern for food. In early pastoral societies, the wolf is represented in myth, folklore, and fairy tales as a predatory creation of nature.
The huge, dire wolf was both a symbol of gluttony and sexuality. Chinese tradition associates the wolf with gluttony and debauchery.
In Scandinavian myth, the symbol of chaos was the giant wolf Fenrir, who swallows the Sun at the end of the world. The wolf swallows the Sun in one of the Celtic legends.
The wolf is the sacred animal of Apollo in Ancient Greece and Odin (Bodan) in Scandinavian mythology.
The wolf in Turkey has quite positive symbolism. He was a totem animal in Central Asia.
In Mexico and among the American Indian tribes, the wolf was a symbol of dance and, like the dog, was associated with spirits and accompanying souls in the afterlife.
OTTER
A lunar symbol also associated with fertility and religious initiation rites in both Africa and North America. The Chinese attributed these friendly and playful animals with extremely high sexual activity, and in fairy tales they often turn into women who seduce men.
HYENA
In the European tradition, a symbol of cowardly greed and hypocrisy; a medieval Christian metaphor for Satan, who feeds on sinners. However, the hyena is present in West African rituals involving animals as an assistant to the lion: for the Bamara people of Mali it is a guardian symbol. In ancient Egypt, she was endowed with the power of a deity, possibly due to her ability to see at night.
HIPPOPOTAMUS
Brute strength, destructiveness, fertility - an animal with strong ambivalent symbolism. The hippopotamus goddess Tawaret, a meek creature, half-human, half-animal with a huge belly, holds papyrus in her paws, which has protective powers, symbolizing the safety of women and children. She accompanied the destroyer god Set and sometimes served as an instrument of revenge.
ERMINE
Purity and chastity are virtues that the ermine personifies. In addition to snow-white fur, he was associated with the concept of cleanliness by the belief that stoats die if their white winter coat gets dirty. Trimming the clothing or hats of nobles, judges, and masters with ermine fur symbolized moral or intellectual purity.
DOLPHIN
Rescue, transformation, speed, power of the sea, love. Emblem of Christ the Savior. The symbolism of the dolphin comes directly from the natural friendliness, playfulness and intelligence of this marine mammal. In Greek, Cretan and Etruscan mythologies, the gods themselves travel on dolphins. Dolphins were also believed to rescue drowning heroes or deliver souls to the Isles of Bliss (which later influenced their significance in Christian symbolism). They were an attribute of Poseidon. Dionysus (Bacchus) turned drunken and wicked sailors into dolphins and turned himself into a dolphin to take Cretan pilgrims to his sanctuary at Delphi.
As an emblem of Christ's sacrifice, the dolphin was often depicted wounded by a trident or with the secret symbol of the cross - an anchor. Intertwined with the anchor, the dolphin is a symbol of caution (speed limit). The heirs to the French throne were called Dauphins (dolphins), but without any relation to the symbolism of dolphins - it was a personal name that became the title of the rulers of the province of Dauphin and passed on to the French kings in the 14th century.
HEDGEHOG (Porcupine)
A culture hero for early nomads in Central Asia and Iran, he was associated with the gift of fire and agriculture. Similar importance was attached to the porcupine in East Africa. Rolled up into a spiky ball, it was an analogy to the sun's rays. The hedgehog was associated with war because it was an attribute of Ishtar, the Babylonian goddess of war. Early Christian writers approvingly described his cleverness in shaking off grapes, rolling on them, and carrying them on his needles. This habit seems to have been the reason for its later connection in Christian art with gluttony. The hedgehog is also a symbol of touch.
TOAD
According to European superstitions, a companion of witches, reminiscent of the death and torment of sinners. This demonic symbolism comes from ancient Near Eastern countries and is probably based on the disgust caused by the mucus covering the body of this animal.
Toads were widely used in Chinese medicine, where they were considered symbols of the moon, moisture, messengers of rain and were therefore associated with wealth and good fortune; within the framework of the “yin-yang” philosophical system, toads were associated with the “yin” sign.
The fabulous three-legged toad was an inhabitant of the moon; It was believed that lunar eclipses were caused by the toad swallowing the night star.
The symbolism of rain and fertility associated with the toad is also found in pre-Columbian Mexico and in parts of Africa, where this amphibian acquired the status of a cult hero. It is curious that the connection of the toad with darkness and evil, greed and lust, which medieval Europeans saw, was adjacent to the symbolism of birth and rebirth (based on the transformation of an egg into a tadpole and then into a toad).
In addition, the toad was associated with longevity and wealth. It was a very common belief that the toad, like a snake, carried a precious stone in its forehead, symbolizing good luck.
HARE RABBIT)
This animal was most often associated with the moon; it is also a symbol of fertility, desire, procreation, cyclical rebirth, agility, speed, vigilance and magical power. The hare lunar symbolism was reinforced by watching them play in the moonlight. In African, Native American, Celtic, Buddhist, Chinese, Egyptian, Greek, Hindu and Teutonic myths, the hare was associated with the lunar and female reproductive cycle. In Taoist art, the moon hare was depicted mixing the elixir of longevity or immortality in a mortar. In Imperial China, the hare was a symbol of yin and a harbinger of good luck (in China it also symbolized homosexuality).
Some North American Indian tribes have elevated the hare to the status of a cult hero. As fertile animals, hares and rabbits were often associated with magic and fertility remedies, and were seen as aids during difficult childbirths.
The hare was an attribute of the goddesses of the moon and hunting in the ancient and Celtic worlds, as well as the Greek goddess Aphrodite (in the Roman mythology of Venus), the gods Eros (Cupid) - as the embodiment of love, Hermes (Mercury) - as a fleet-footed messenger. Ancient associations with fertility and rebirth in Teutonic and Norse traditions underlie the symbolism of the Easter Bunny or Hare (a reference to the hare-headed Eostre, the Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring). As a divine or semi-divine creature, the hare was often a forbidden food.
Jews considered the hare an unclean animal. From this and from his sexual appetite, he became a symbol of lust in Christianity, although his ability to quickly jump over rocks made him also an allegory of the believer seeking refuge in Christ.
SNAKE
The most significant and complex of all the symbols embodied in animals, perhaps the most ancient of them. Sexual and agricultural symbolism remained a core element of later snake cults. However, the obvious analogies with the penis and the umbilical cord (which unite the symbols of the masculine and feminine principles in the snake) do not fully explain the almost universal symbolism of the snake in mythology. The snake was primarily a magical religious symbol of the forces that gave birth to life, sometimes it depicted the Creator God himself. Oroboro - a snake biting its own tail - is a symbol not only of eternity, but also of divine self-sufficiency.
In the symbolic list, the snake was considered to be in constant contact with the secrets of the earth, waters, darkness and the underworld - lonely, cold-blooded, secretive, often poisonous, swiftly moving without legs, capable of swallowing animals many times larger than itself and rejuvenating by shedding its skin. The shape of the snake's body, as well as its other characteristics, gave rise to many comparisons - with waves and hilly terrain, lowland rivers, vines and tree roots, rainbows and lightning, the spiral movement of the Cosmos.
In African myths, a rainbow snake, with its tail resting on the waters of the underworld, reaches the heavens with its head. In Norse myth, the huge, unpredictable storm serpent Midgard holds the world in its embrace. The head of a snake crowned the prows of Viking ships, which had both protective and frightening meanings.
In South America, eclipses were explained by the fact that the sun or moon was swallowed by a giant snake. According to ancient Egyptian myth, the barge on which the Sun travels every night through the kingdom of the dead is threatened by the snake Apep and the help of another snake is needed so that the barge of the Sun can appear above the horizon in the morning. In Mexico, Quetzalcoatl, an Aztec version of the divine serpent-bird found in folklore throughout the South and Central. America, unites the forces of earth and sky.
The symbolism of protection and destruction that unites all these snake myths shows that the snake has a dual reputation, a source of power if used correctly, but potentially dangerous and often an emblem of death and chaos as well as life. An example of the positive symbolism of a snake is the yoga concept of “kundalini” - a symbol of internal strength, psychic energy and hidden spiritual power - a snake-like ball of vital energy located at the base of the spinal cord. In Egypt it was called "urai" or "diadem of the pharaoh" - a protective snake emblem of royal power that defeats enemies. A snake entwined around the solar disk, or a cobra with a lion's head were the usual emblems of solar protection. In India, cobra deities (nagas) were symbols of protection and had a positive reputation, as in the image of Buddha sitting under the cover of a seven-hooded cobra. And in India, and in some other regions, snakes often turn out to be the guardians of shrines, sources of water and treasures.
Paradoxically, the snake is often used as a symbol of healing and medicine. Images of a snake nailed to a cross, which are found in medieval Christian art, thus became a symbol of the resurrection and the superiority of the spirit over the flesh.
The duality of the snake’s reputation, its symbolism, balancing between fear and worship, influenced the fact that it appears either as a progenitor or as an enemy, and is considered either a hero or a monster.
In Western folklore, the symbolism of the snake is mostly negative. The reason for this is its forked tongue, which makes one assume hypocrisy and deception, and the poison, which brings unexpected and instant death. In Tibetan Buddhism, the “green snake” is one of the three basic animal instincts inherent in humans - hatred. The snake is one of the five harmful animals in China, although it sometimes appears in positive roles. In Iranian Zoroastrianism, the snake is one of the worst omens, foreshadowing the appearance of Satan, and it also symbolizes the darkness of evil.
The serpent entwined around the forbidden tree in paradise is a plot that has many parallels in folklore. In ancient Greek myth, the snake guards the golden apples of the Hesperides, as well as the tree on which the golden fleece hangs.
Snakes are also characteristic of Semitic fertility cults, where they were used in sexual rituals that brought the coming of God closer. Eve offered Adam the forbidden fruit (a symbol of a sacrilegious attempt to gain divine power), which can be interpreted as a warning to the Jews: do not be tempted by such competing cults. Hence the Jewish and Christian tradition that presents the serpent as the enemy of mankind and even identifies it with Satan (Revelation 12:9). Therefore, in Western art, the snake has become the main symbol of evil, sin, temptation or deception. She was depicted at the foot of the cross as an emblem of original sin, in scenes of the temptation of Christ, and also under the foot of the Virgin Mary.
BOAR (BOAR)
A primitive symbol of strength, brazen aggression, selfless courage in almost all of Northern Europe and in the Celtic tradition, where the boar was a generally accepted symbol of warriors. The boar also had sacred significance in other places: as a symbol of the sun in Iran and as a symbol of the moon in Japan, where the white boar was taboo during hunting. The ferocity of the wild boar evoked a mixture of fear, admiration and respect. Its zoomorphic symbolism is confirmed by the discovery of sculptures of small sacrificial boars and a larger stone boar in the very south of the Iberian Peninsula. The Druids, who called themselves "boars", identified themselves with occult forest knowledge.
Respect for the boar spread to India, where Vishnu, under the name Varaha, incarnated himself as a boar, who jumped into a stream of water and raised the earth, captured by demons, to his tusks. Destructive brute force is another side of the boar's symbolism: it was a monstrous rival of Hercules (in Roman mythology Hercules) and also of the Egyptian god of daylight Horus, whose eyes were torn out by his uncle Set, in the guise of a black boar. The boar became a Jewish and Christian symbol of tyranny and lust.
CARP
In China it is an emblem of masculinity, male sexual energy, in Japan - samurai fortitude, perhaps due to the contrast between his vigorous leaps in the water and the calmness at the moment when he is caught and dies. His longevity was also admired in the East; carp was also a symbol of good luck. Carp pennants were hung on ship masts or roofs to protect a ship or house from fire.
WHALE
An expressive symbol of the colossal in nature, but also an ancient symbol of rebirth (the "ark" and the womb), most clearly expressed in the biblical story of Jonah, who was swallowed and vomited back by the "great whale". The belly of the whale represents the mysterious darkness of initiation leading to a new, enlightened way of life.
The symbolism of the ark is also found in Islamic texts. The whale is associated with the idea of ​​initiation in Africa and Polynesia. In Southeast Asia, there are myths about cult heroes freed by a whale. Keith is often associated with Leviathan. Medieval ideas about the whale's mouth as the gates of hell were based on ignorant ideas about the terrible monsters of the seas and oceans.
COBRA
Includes basic snake symbolism. The cobra rising above the ground and spreading its hood had especially sacred significance in the religious art of India and Egypt.
Aaron's staff, which turned into a cobra that scared the pharaoh, may well have been just a cobra rising to attack. There is no doubt that Cleopatra's means of suicide was a small cobra. The large Indian cobra was mythologized and became a magical Naga - the keeper of treasures. This cobra was also identified with Shesha or Ananta, the cosmic snake on which Vishnu rested between the stages of the creation of the world. In Buddhism, the cobra is a symbol of instinct. In Cambodia, the wonderful seven-headed Naga is a symbol of the rainbow, the connection between earth and sky.
GOAT
Masculinity, potency, lust, cunning and destructive tendencies in a man; fertility and care for food in a woman. The ambiguous symbolism of the goat breaks down along the line of gender. The Amalthea goat was the revered nurse of the Greek god Zeus (in Roman mythology Jupiter), her horn is a cornucopia (the symbolism is clearly based on the beneficial properties of milk for feeding children). The vitality of the goat impressed the ancients, as evidenced by its associations with several Sumerian-Semitic and Greek gods.
Goats are an analogy for sinners in the gospel sermon about the Day of Judgment, when Christ will separate them from the sheep and send them into eternal fire (Gospel of Matthew, 25:32, 25:41). Hence probably the goat-like appearance of the medieval devil, an association reinforced by the goat's reputation as a malevolent, destructive creature. Goats were also the personification of stupidity. In China, where "goat" and "yang" were homonyms, the goat is a positive masculine symbol, as in India, where, as a skilled climber of mountain peaks, the goat was associated with superiority. In the zodiac signs Capricorn is a symbiosis of goat and fish.
COYOTE
Creative or harmful ingenuity. Among the Indians of North America, the coyote has a reputation as a great deceiver, a skillful and cunning pretender, and an inventor. The Shoshone and other western tribes believe that the coyote is responsible for death, along with other natural disasters (freezing, flooding).
COW
An ancient symbol of mother's milk and (like the bull) the cosmic forces that created the world. In many cultures from Ancient Egypt to China, the cow was the personification of Mother Earth. She also symbolized the moon and the sky, due to her crescent-shaped horns and her milk, which was associated with the Milky Way. Nut, the Egyptian sky goddess, was sometimes depicted as a cow with a star in her belly, her feet resting on the four quarters of the earth's disk. The Great Mother Hathor, the goddess of the sky, joy and love, the nurse of all things on earth, was also often depicted as a cow. As an emblem of power, the cow was often depicted with the disc of the sun between its horns, reflecting the idea of ​​a celestial mother cow caring for the sun during the night.
The black cow is involved in funeral rituals in India, and the white cow is a symbol of enlightenment. In both the Hindu and Buddhist traditions, the calm, balanced nature of the cow coincided so completely with the ideas of pious life that it became the most revered and sacred animal. Her behavior was an example of happiness and serenity: for example, in ancient Greek holiday rites, a white heifer, decorated with garlands of flowers, opened the processions of dancing and singing people.
CAT
Cunning, the ability to transform, clairvoyance, intelligence, attentiveness, sensual beauty, female anger. These nearly ubiquitous associations had varying symbolic weight and meaning in ancient cultures. In Egypt, where there was a very significant cult of the cat-headed goddess Bastet, cats were considered sacred animals that bring goodness.
In iconography, the cat was depicted as an assistant to the sun, tearing off the head of the afterlife snake. The cat was also associated with other lunar goddesses, such as the Greek Artemis, the Roman Diana, and the Norse Freya (who rode a chariot drawn by cats).
In ancient Rome, the inherent willfulness and freedom of behavior of cats made them an emblem of freedom. However, in other places, their nightly cries and frightening changes in appearance (dilation of pupils, extension and retraction of claws, sudden transitions from calm to aggressiveness) evoked negative symbolism. The Celts attributed evil cunning to black cats, in the Islamic tradition they were considered one of the incarnations of genies, in Japan cats were considered harbingers of bad luck, Japanese fairy tales describe that cats could inhabit women's bodies. The misogynistic symbolism of cats is entrenched in the English epithet "cattish" (vicious, sarcastic, cunning, insidious - in relation to a "woman").
In India, where the cat was considered the embodiment of animal beauty, Buddhists were forced to restrain their ill will towards them - like snakes, cats refused to mourn the death of the Buddha. The most negative image appears in the extensive folklore about witches, where cats appear as close associates of Satan, are associated with satanic orgies, and are considered lustful and cruel incarnations of the devil himself.
CRAB
A lunar symbol, since its behavior resembles the phases of the moon - it throws off a shell to find a new one - which led the Australian aborigines to think about the connection of the crab with the idea of ​​​​rebirth. The same symbolism is sometimes used in the Christian tradition.
The Incas considered the crab to be a glutton, eating a piece of the moon every night, as a result of which it decreases. In Thailand and some other regions it is used in rain spell rituals. The crab also symbolizes deception in some places, for example in China, and again because of its behavior. His impulsive movements suggested this idea.
CROCODILE
Destructive gluttony is the executor of God's punishment; lord of water and earth, life and death. For Europeans, these tropical animals were more of a legend, and inspired a feeling of hostility and unaccountable horror.
In India, the crocodile was depicted as a makara, a fish with a crocodile head, one of the creatures on which Vishnu could travel. In Egyptian religious art, death is often depicted as a crocodile.
In the visual arts of the American Indians, the crocodile appears with an open mouth into which the sun goes every night, and in some myths of the peoples of Central America it acts as the creator of the earth or as an assistant to the gods during this process. The symbolism of rebirth associated with the crocodile is also present in the Liberian (West African) initiation ritual - the scars after circumcision are considered to be the marks of the jaws of a crocodile swallowing young men, after which they emerge as men.
In the East, the crocodile sometimes acts as a huge sea monster, as one of the images of chaos, or as a dragon that personifies evil.
Similar symbolism of the crocodile is found in many Asian countries, where it represents the conflict between water and land.
In China, he is considered the inventor of the drum and the creator of singing.
RAT
Destruction, greed, foresight, fertility. Night robbers of granaries, rats were commonly perceived as pests by agricultural peoples, particularly in the Middle East. They were identified with the afterlife, and in the Christian tradition - with the devil. The elephant-headed Hindu god Ganesha rides on a rat; the assistant to the Japanese god of prosperity Daikoku is also a rat. In the mythology of Southern China, a rat brought rice to a man. The Rat is the first sign of the Chinese Zodiac. In some Renaissance paintings, black and white rats, representing Day and Night, are gnawing on Time.
A LION
Divine, solar energy, royalty, strength, courage, wisdom, justice, protection, protection, but also cruelty, all-consuming ferocity and death. The lion is the image of all the great and terrifying forces of nature, the main figure for personifying the sun itself. Since in reality the lion is a hunter who loves twilight, and even more so the night, its symbolism associated with the sun was based not on its behavior, but on its beauty - a magnificent, picturesquely colored skin, a lush mane - and exceptional physical qualities. He was considered both a destroyer and a savior (comparable in this sense to the dual nature of some gods), capable of representing both evil and the fight against evil.
In Egypt, the punishing goddess Sekhmet, depicted as a lioness, symbolized the scorching heat of the sun; The lion was also a guide to the afterlife, to whom the sun trusted in his underground journey every night.
Carvings or seals of a lion mauling a bull, horse or boar symbolized the unity of opposites: life and death, sun and moon, summer and winter - a theme common in Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
Christ's calmness in the face of death is reflected in a large number of symbolic stories involving the lion, including the legend in which St. Jerome pulls a thorn from the lion's paw.
The lion is essentially a clear and widespread symbol of royal power and sovereignty, military victory, courage, vigilance, fortitude and willpower, depicted in art as a woman engaged in combat with a lion.
The lion was an emblem of royalty in medieval Scotland and England and became the main symbol of the power of the British Empire in the 19th century. Buddha was called “the lion among men,” since the lion in India symbolizes courage and wisdom, religious zeal and protection of order. The lion was one of the reincarnations of Vishnu, who sometimes appeared in the guise of half-lion, half-man and accompanied by the demon-slaying warrior goddess Durda.
In China and Japan, the lion was considered a creature that protects good; Lion mask dancing had the intention of scaring away evil spirits (as did dragon mask dancing). In Asian art, lions are often represented with balls - symbols of the sun, the cosmic egg, or the cosmic void.
LEOPARD
Fury, relentless strength, courage, pride, speed. It is an English military emblem. In Ancient Egypt and the Christian tradition it was associated with evil. In Asia and Africa, leopard skin was the clothing of shamans and sorcerers and symbolized their superiority over the demonic power of this predator. In Ancient Egypt, the leopard was considered one of the forms of the god Set; priests wore leopard skin clothing at funeral ceremonies to demonstrate their ability to protect the dead from his evil influence. In the ancient world, the leopard was the companion of the god Dionysus (in Roman mythology Bacchus) as the creator and destroyer in one person, and in art two leopards were often depicted harnessed to the chariot of Bacchus. The spots on a leopard's skin were often associated with the many eyes of Argus.
The leopard is considered a symbol of courage in European heraldry, as well as in China, where it is combined with lunar symbolism.
BAT
The enemy of light is therefore an animal symbolizing fear and superstition; often associated with death, the night, and in Jewish and Christian traditions with idolatry and Satanism. The bat can also represent madness, as in Goya's engraving "The Dream of Reason." In Central American and Brazilian mythology, the bat is a powerful deity of the underworld, sometimes depicted grinning, devouring light or even the Sun itself. In Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome, the bat was mistakenly attributed to acute vision, it symbolized vigilance and insight. Homer's dead souls had bat wings. In Europe, they were nailed to doors to ward off demons. In a completely opposite form, the symbolism of the bat is presented in China, where "fu" (bat) is a homonym for wishing good luck, and two bats on greeting cards mean wishes for fertility, prosperity, health, longevity and a dignified death.
FOX
An example of cunning is a symbol logically based on her intelligence, but often supplemented, especially in the European tradition, with more shameful qualities - malice, hypocrisy, vice. As a nocturnal predator that is difficult to lure into a trap, the fox has become a Christian analogy for the tricks of the devil. The red fox was a fire demon in Rome. In North America, the fox is a neutral image of the trickster, unlike the coyote.
Scandinavian mythology connects it with the image of the deity Loki.
Erotic associations are found in Chinese folk superstitions, where “fox women” were considered dangerous seductresses, and fox testicles were considered an afro-disiac. In Japan, the fox symbolized deceit and the ability to transform, although the white fox was the companion and messenger of the rice god Inari.
SALMON
Courage, fertility, courage, wisdom, foresight - symbolism common among the peoples of Northern Europe and the American Northwest. Salmon struggling with the current on their way to their spawning grounds has become a totemic symbol of nature's generosity and wisdom. The transformation of salmon (from egg to fish) and its phallic form inspired the Celts to create the myth of Tuan MacCairill, who, in the form of salmon, served as a delicacy, impregnated the Irish queen. Irish hero Finn injured his thumb while cooking Salmon of Wisdom. From then on, as soon as he sucked his finger, he became familiar with secret knowledge and acquired the gift of foresight.
HORSE
Symbol of animal vitality, speed and beauty. With the exception of Africa and the Americas, where horses mysteriously disappeared for many millennia until the Spanish introduced them, the horse was everywhere associated with the advent of dominant civilizations and with superiority. A broken horse is an important symbol of power; hence the popularity of equestrian statues.
Death is usually represented as a black horse, but he also rides a pale horse in the book of Revelation. The white horse is almost always a solar symbol of light, life and spiritual enlightenment. She is the emblem of the Buddha (he is said to have left earthly life on a white horse), the Hindu Kalki (the last incarnation of Vishnu), the merciful Bato Kannon in Japan, and the Prophet in Islam (for whom horses were emblems of happiness and prosperity). Christ is sometimes depicted riding a white horse (Christianity thus associates the horse with victory, ascension, courage and generosity). The white horse, symbolizing the chalk lands of southern England, was depicted on the banners of the Saxons; Perhaps this symbolism was associated with the Celtic horse goddess Epona, who came from Roman mythology and was considered the patroness of horses. Winged horses are also a solar and spiritual symbol. Horses drive the chariot of the sun in ancient, Iranian, Babylonian, Indian and Scandinavian mythologies. They are ridden by many other gods, including Odin, whose eight-legged horse Sleipnir symbolized the eight winds. The clouds were the horses of the Valkyries, Scandinavian warrior maidens, servants of the goddess Freya.
FROG
An unkind symbol associated with the Egyptian frog goddess Heket (helper of women in labor). In other cultures, the frog was also associated with the primitive state of matter, fertility, growth, development, lunar phases, water and rain. Frogs were funny symbols of stupid desires.
The frog is widely found as a symbol of fertility and resurrection and as a harbinger of spring rains and the awakening of nature, especially in Dr. Egypt and Asia.
In Vedic myth, the Great Frog, as a primordial state of homogeneous matter, supports the Earth. In Ancient China, the image of a frog was used to cause rain. Frogs meant good luck in Japan, especially for travelers. Their croaking is a common metaphor for annoying advice.
BEAR
Brutal, primitive force; sign of warriors in Northern Europe and Asia. The bear was one of the incarnations of the god Odin in Scandinavia. The bear is associated with many warlike deities, including the ancient Germanic Thor and the Celtic Artio of Berne. The bear is a symbol of strength among North American Indians. In China, a bear is a sign of male courage, and the appearance of bears in dreams was a sign of the birth of sons.
For the North Japanese Ainu and Algonquin Indians in North America, the bear is a ancestral figure. The bear is also a symbol of the moon and resurrection, perhaps due to its hibernation. Shamans use a bear mask to make contact with forest spirits.
In Western art, the bear represents the sin of gluttony.
MOUSE
Since ancient times it symbolizes timidity. The silent harm of mice has become the reason that in Judaism they are a symbol of hypocrisy, and in Christianity they are a symbol of evil, destructive activity. In popular belief, mice are souls that fly out of the mouths of the dead (red if the deceased were virtuous, black if they were sinful), like the doves that were said to fly out of the mouths of saints when their souls left their dead bodies. In Africa, mice are used for predictions, as they are believed to know the secrets of the afterlife.
RHINOCEROS
In China, an emblem of good luck, strangely associated with learning. Fairy tales claim that its horn helps detect poison.
MONKEY
The monkey is large, tailless - an animal with a very contradictory symbolic meaning; it was revered in Ancient Egypt, Africa, India and China, but the Christian tradition regards it with great suspicion, identifying it with vice, passions, idolatry and diabolical heresies. Apes' abilities to imitate human behavior have been widely used to ridicule vanity and stupidity. In Egyptian iconography, the baboon is a symbol of wisdom. The Indian monkey god Hanuman represents courage, resilience and self-sacrifice.
The monkey is small, with a tail, like the large tailless monkey, and has a higher symbolic status in the East than in the West. Her ability to imitate and the variety of forms of behavior make her symbolism generally contradictory and allow her to personify both the positive and negative aspects of human behavior.
Criminal intent, lust and greed are qualities that are symbolized by monkeys in Christian art; they also often caricature the minor flaws of human nature or are an allegory of imitative art.
SHEEP
Meekness and humility are the Christian symbol of the flock, which is easily mistaken and therefore needs spiritual leadership.
DEER
A universal auspicious symbol associated with the East, sunrise, light, purity, renewal, creation and spirituality. An adult male deer is a solar emblem of abundance; its branched antlers symbolize the Tree of Life, the sun's rays, longevity and rebirth among the American Indians and some other peoples. Deer is also associated with courage and passion, and in China - with wealth and luck, the word "deer" there is a homonym for the word "abundance".
DONKEY
Widely known as a symbol of stupidity, but in fact its symbolism is much broader. As predicted in the Old Testament, the donkey was chosen by Jesus Christ to enter Jerusalem as a sign of his humility. Thus, the donkey became an emblem of humility, patience and poverty in the Christian tradition. In contrast, the donkey plays a sinister role in both Egyptian and Hindu mythology, and is associated with lust and comical stupidity in Greco-Roman mythology. Other associations associated with the donkey include laziness and stubbornness.
OCTOPUS
A symbol of the abyss and the underworld, associated with the spiral, whirlpool, spider and sea serpent. The octopus was depicted on Mycenaean medallions with spirally twisted tentacles and may have served sailors as an amulet against dangerous depths and the evil eye. The negative, frightening symbolism associated with the octopus may also be related to the ink cloud that the frightened octopus releases.
LYNX
Vigilance; symbolism based on the keen vision of this animal. Superstitions attribute to the lynx the ability to see through obstacles and avoid traps. In art, the lynx symbolizes the gift of sight.
PIG
Gluttony, selfishness, lust, stubbornness, ignorance, but also motherhood, fertility, prosperity and luck. The positive attitude towards pigs in most myths contrasts with their largely negative symbolism in the world's religious traditions. In some versions of the ancient Greek myth about the origin of the Olympian gods, the infant Zeus (Jupiter in Roman mythology) was nursed by a pig. Pigs were also considered highly effective sacrifices for gods such as the agricultural goddess Demeter (Ceres), Ares (Mars) and Gaia. The pig is considered a symbol of fertility (and male sexuality) in China.
In Western art, the pig symbolizes gluttony and lust (usually trampled upon by the allegorical figure of Chastity), as well as laziness. A similar motif appears in the Buddhist tradition, where the pig symbolizes ignorance and is one of the three animals (along with the rooster and the snake) that bind a person to the endless circle of existence.
ELEPHANT
Strength, insight, longevity, prosperity, happiness; symbol of royal power in India, China and Africa. The elephant was a majestic mount not only of Indian rulers, but also of the Hindu god of thunder and rain, Indra. Ganesha, the elephant-headed god of happiness, was also considered the patron of wisdom and literature. The elephant symbolized not only the qualities necessary for a good ruler - dignity, intelligence, prudence, but also peace, abundant harvests, fruitful showers, that is, everything good and positive that was in the life of Hindus.
The white elephant had a sacred meaning in Buddhism. Queen Maya learned of the imminent birth of her son, the future Buddha, in a prophetic dream in which a charming little white elephant entered her.
For Buddhists, the elephant is a symbol of spiritual knowledge and stability.
The elephant was an attribute of the ancient Roman god Mercury, as an emblem of wisdom.
DOG
Devotion, protection, vigilance - symbolism, the source of which lies mainly in the Celtic and Christian traditions. In more primitive and ancient ideas, the dog was associated with the underworld - as its guardian and as a guide delivering the souls of the dead there (for example, the mythical ancient Greek Cerberus, the terrifying three-headed dog at the entrance to hell).
However, usually the symbolism associated with dogs and death is more positive. The Aztec dog god led the sun through the darkness of the underworld and was reborn with it every morning. Dogs were often sacrificial animals - in honor of their deceased masters or as intermediaries in communication with the gods, as in the Iroquois sacrifice of the white dog. The souls of the dead were in closer contact with dogs in ancient times in Central Asia and Persia, where the bodies of the dead were fed to dogs. This custom led to the Semitic and Muslim view of the dog as an unclean, vile, greedy animal, used only as a guard (with the exception of hounds, which understandably had a higher status).
Dogs are symbols of mercy in Celtic art, companions of many goddesses - patroness of healing, as well as hunters and warriors. Dogs are a symbol of protection in Japan, as well as in China, although there they may have a reputation as demonic creatures, especially in the cosmic symbolism of eclipses and other frightening natural phenomena; they can be a symbol of both the sun and the wind. An obedient dog is a symbol of loyalty to the law, although Buddha said that those who live like a dog will turn into a dog after death. In Hinduism, dogs are considered companions of the god of death, Yama, which again brings us back to the connection between the dog and the afterlife.
Elsewhere, dogs were often directly associated with gods, especially in Africa. In Melanesia, in North American and Siberian legends, the dog's intelligence made it a symbol of inexhaustible inventions, the creator or thief of fire.
TAURUS (CALF)
Sacrificial purity. For this reason, sometimes the calf symbolizes Jesus Christ (although more often he was depicted by a lamb). Taurus were also symbols of prosperity (the slaughter of a fat calf). The biblical Golden Calf usually serves as an emblem of preference for material values ​​to the detriment of spiritual ones.
TIGER
Strength, ferocity, cruelty, anger, beauty and speed. An animalistic and divine symbol of both aggression and protection, especially in the cultures of Asia and India, where the tiger often replaces the lion as the primary emblem of majesty and savagery. Some gods ride on tigers, demonstrating their power, for example, the Hindu Durga. Surprisingly, the Chinese god of wealth also sits astride a tiger, which in this case symbolizes excitement and risk (in the USA, “tiger” is slang for the lowest poker trick). The tiger is usually associated with military valor, and in India its image is a military emblem.
The protective power of the tiger can be seen in China in symbolic stone images on graves and doors; the Hindu god Shiva and his warlike wife Kali are often represented in tiger skins. In Western fine art, tigers were a great rarity - sometimes replacing leopards harnessed to the chariot of the ancient Greek god of wine, Dionysus (in Roman mythology, Bacchus). In southeast Asia, the tiger is a common tribal figure, and tales of a ferocious people of tiger people are known from India to Siberia.
The Tiger is the third sign of the Chinese horoscope and the personification of Anger in Chinese Buddhism.
SEAL
The ancient Greeks associated it with transformation.
ACNE
Currently a metaphor for resourcefulness. Among the peoples of Oceania, the eel is also considered a deceiver and cunning, but more often acts as a symbol of fertility, taking the place of the snake in the mythology of those peoples who did not know snakes (New Zealand).
CHAMELEON
Nowadays it’s just a metaphor for variability, but in the past this tree lizard, due to its remarkable qualities (it climbs branches perfectly, its eyes rotate independently of each other, it has a long, lightning-fast tongue that catches prey) had sacred significance in many regions of Africa.
In Western art he usually appears as a personification of Air.
TURTLE
Strength, patience, endurance, constancy, slowness, fertility, longevity. The turtle in many cultures, especially in China, is the oldest symbol of cosmic order, surrounded by special respect. The Chinese identified the turtle with the north, water and winter. This animal was also depicted on imperial banners as the Black Warrior. The turtle was believed to protect against fire and war. According to Japanese beliefs, the turtle holds the World Mountain.
The sea turtle is the emblem of Kumpira, the god of sailors. She is also the emblem of Aya, the Sumerian-Semitic Lord of the Abyss. In India, the turtle's inherent symbolism of stability was especially emphasized, which was expressed in the idea that the elephant holds the world, standing on a huge cosmic turtle.
In Africa, turtles are also considered a protective talisman due to the fact that they are very common as pets.
In alchemy, the turtle symbolizes matter at the beginning of the process of transformation.
JACKAL
A foul-smelling animal that feeds on carrion. In India - a symbol of destruction or evil. In Ancient Egypt he was revered as Anubis - the god, patron of the dead and oblivion, who accompanied the souls of the dead to Judgment. Anubis was depicted either as a black jackal or as a man with the head of a jackal.
LAMB (LAMB)
Purity, sacrifice, renewal, redemption, innocence, kindness, meekness, humanity, patience are the symbol of Christ from the earliest times. In early Christian icons, the apostles were depicted as twelve sheep with a lamb among them. The image of the lamb with the book refers to the Christ of the Revelation, who may also be depicted as a lamb with seven horns or seven eyes (symbolizing the seven spirits of God). The Lamb of the Last Judgment in the Apocalypse is capable of anger, which, of course, contradicts all the symbolism of the lamb. In this victorious image, some saw solar symbolism, bringing the lamb closer to its opposite, the lion, which also has a solar coloration in its symbolic series. Be that as it may, the lion is also a symbol of the Messiah. Here one can find semantic connections between the Lamb and Agni, the Vedic god of fire.
The lamb is also an eternal sacrificial and expiatory symbol in the celebration of Islamic Ramadan.
JAGUAR
The main animal in the symbolism of Central and South America, associated with divination, royalty, witchcraft, the powers of the underworld, the Earth and the Moon, and fertility. The mirror-eyed jaguar was the terrifying incarnation of the supreme Aztec god Tonacatecuhtli, whose magic mirror revealed absolutely everything - from the thoughts of people to the secrets of the future. Brazilian mythology made the jaguar a cultural hero who brought people the gift of fire and weapons. For some, the jaguar was a celestial devourer of the sun and moon, for others a predatory hunter of crossroads. Because shamans wore jaguar skins, which symbolized their power in protecting their own tribe or destroying others, the jaguar was a dangerous ghost, perhaps the spirit of a dead or living shaman from a hostile settlement. Essentially, the jaguar is a symbol of unpredictable and capricious power.
LIZARD
The symbolism of the lizard overlaps with that of the similar-looking snake, especially as an emblem of rebirth (derived, of course, from its ability to cast off its tail, after which it grows back).
The lizard was a good sign in Egypt and in general in the ancient world, where it was sometimes associated with wisdom.
It became an attribute of allegorical images of Logic.
The lizard appears in New Zealand Maori mythology as a patron monster.
In the folklore of the Australian aborigines, as well as in the tales of the peoples of Melanesia and Africa, the lizard is one of the popular characters or a generic ancestor.

The subjects of Paleolithic drawings and sculptures clearly demonstrate their direct connection with the basis of the existence of people of the Ice Age: with the hunt for bulls, horses, goats, mammoths and rhinoceros. The Ice Age cave dweller had to deal with such predators as the lion, leopard, wolf, and hyena.

It is not surprising that the image of the beast, hunting and its results are presented in many cases completely clearly, with all the expressiveness of which Paleolithic man was capable. The primitive artist depicted hunting not only out of internal need, but also for a very specific practical purpose.

As ethnographic data testify, the depiction of hunting, killed and wounded animals, or even just animal figures always has the goal of bewitching and bewitching the animal, mastering it, and ensuring the success of the hunt.

This naive belief has a logical basis - a principle that can be expressed by the formula: like causes like. The painted beast is “involved” with the real beast, therefore a wound inflicted on the image of the beast means a wound inflicted on a living beast. The cave paintings show wounded, dying animals, wounds, as well as the weapons used to inflict them.

The famous dying bear from the Three Brothers Cave, engraved on the rock, is also presented in this form. The beast, huge and ponderous, is shown in a pitiful and helpless state, as a target for numerous blows. Dozens of ovals and circles - wounds - are inscribed in the contour of his body. Blood, depicted in whole bunches of strokes, gushes from the open mouth, and life goes with it.

The drawings of wounded animals specifically show the cause of their death. On the body of the Montespan bear, oblique lines are scratched, converging in the form of a triangle. These are undoubtedly darts or arrows with long teeth, like a harpoon. In addition to hunting animals with spears, darts or arrows, Paleolithic paintings should have reflected other methods of hunting, especially mammoth and rhinoceros, using traps and wolf pits, as well as various structures in the form of fences or even nets.

It is very likely that precisely such tectiforms - trapping pits with stakes at the bottom - are depicted on the mammoth figures in the Font de Gaume cave, where they have an appearance reminiscent of the hut shown in section. It has a gable roof. Inside, oblique stripes show beams or rafters. In the middle rises a central pillar, the end of which protrudes outward. In Bernifal Cave, a mammoth is engraved inside a tectiform. He must be caught and trapped.

In the caves of Spain, in Altamira, as well as in Castillo, mysterious signs in the form of “stairs” and “ribbons” are painted on the walls, which can conditionally convey the construction of hunting fences for catching animals. There is one scene in Montespan that shows a horse shaded with vertical lines, as if caught in a trapping fence - a palisade.

Paleolithic cave paintings were intended to magically ensure fishing success. The idea of ​​mastering a beast, of defeating it, of striving to ensure the success of the hunt through witchcraft is the main idea of ​​Paleolithic art. However, it would be wrong to limit magical rituals and related ideas about the role and meaning of cave images only to the magic of killing.

At the other pole of primitive magic were the rituals of the resurrection and reproduction of animals - the magic of fertility. Paleolithic man, like us, thought not only about today, but also about tomorrow, and sought to look into the future. The hunter knew that by mercilessly exterminating animals he was undermining the basis of his own well-being and developed a whole system of magical rituals that were supposed to ensure the resurrection of killed animals and the reproduction of the animal population.

The idea of ​​fertility is expressed in clay images of two bison from the Tuc d'Auduber cave. The animals seem to be running in the same direction, with the one in front pursuing the one in front. The front beast is female. It shows an open vulva. Posterior, with a tense phallus, male. The idea of ​​the reproduction of animals, expressed so persistently, in such a naive form, obviously lay at the basis of all the witchcraft rituals that took place under the arches of this cave.

The idea of ​​reproduction also determined the features of the depiction of a number of animal figures. Their saggy, heavy bellies clearly indicate that the artist pursued a specific goal - to depict a pregnant female.

Rituals of reproduction and resurrection of animals were preserved until recently among some northern peoples. Perhaps their long-standing prototype was reflected in the colorful composition from Nio. On the left there is a figure of a bison in an unusual position. A heavy and massive animal stands on its hind legs. His front legs are bent and lowered down. In Nio, the bison is combined with conventional signs: red spots are neatly written in front of it, from which regular ovals are formed. Somewhat further along, typical “claviforms” are visible, similar to batons or stylized female figures.

The peculiar pose of the bison in Nio and its unusual surrounding with symbolic signs indicate that this entire unique composition has some deep meaning, most likely associated with hunting rituals. Max Raphael wrote that the bison from Nio is shown not alive, but dead, during the ceremony of its “propitiation” and “reconciliation” with the hunters, and the symbols indicate the weapons and victims laid in front of it. By depicting weapons, clubs - claviforms, the clan performing the ritual sought to “shift” the blame onto the weapon, just as the hunters of Siberia did, who told the beast that it was not they who killed it, but a gun, an axe, a knife or a bow.