Κριτική παρουσίασις του έργου του Romulus Vulcănescu, Mitologie Română (=Ρουμανική Μυθολογία), Βουκουρέστι (Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România), 1985, 712 σελίδες
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Abstract
The writer discerns a “mixed Greek influence” in Dacian, Gettic, and Romano-
Dacian mythology. He dismisses the possibility that the Greeks of Pontic Dacia
might have played a part in Romanian mythogenesis and believes that the Koutsovlachs
and the Moglena Vlachs are “branches on the Romanian people”. However,
the latter provide evidence which contradicts what he says. 1) He includes among the
peoples who poured into Dacia during the Indo-European migration the Dorians, the
earliest inhabitants of the Dorian land, who established the Eiacatia and Ergatia
festivals in honour of the pre-Apollonian god Heracles, patron of stockbreeding and
agriculture. 2) He maintains that the gods Fartat and Nefartat were born of the same
womb, the primeval void or Chaos, even though the word fratir means “brother of
the same father”; lacking evidence, he does not realise that the god dressed as a shepherd or farmer is the pre-Apollonian Greek god Melo or Echetlus. 3) He
confuses the Lochian Fates, which entered the country through the Greek colonies,
with the Bears of Artemis, which came via Thrace. 4) He thinks Glyco, the Pellaean
Dragon of Tomis, is the serpent which emerged from the primeval waters. 5) Lacking
evidence, he does not realise that the shepherdess Baba Dochia had the name
Eudocia, which is the key to the time-honoured Boeotian, and indeed Pan-hellenic,
custom whereby the engaged daughter (Kore) receives from her mother-in-law
(Graeca) striped bread, a head-covering, and permission (eudocia) to visit the family
graves. 6) The writer uncritically believes that the paternal voice of General
Comediolus' (579-82) soldiers, which was broken up into dialects when it became
maternal, was the ethnic tongue of the Romanian people. He thus refers to the
Romance dialects spoken south of the Danube as “Romanian”.
Dacian mythology. He dismisses the possibility that the Greeks of Pontic Dacia
might have played a part in Romanian mythogenesis and believes that the Koutsovlachs
and the Moglena Vlachs are “branches on the Romanian people”. However,
the latter provide evidence which contradicts what he says. 1) He includes among the
peoples who poured into Dacia during the Indo-European migration the Dorians, the
earliest inhabitants of the Dorian land, who established the Eiacatia and Ergatia
festivals in honour of the pre-Apollonian god Heracles, patron of stockbreeding and
agriculture. 2) He maintains that the gods Fartat and Nefartat were born of the same
womb, the primeval void or Chaos, even though the word fratir means “brother of
the same father”; lacking evidence, he does not realise that the god dressed as a shepherd or farmer is the pre-Apollonian Greek god Melo or Echetlus. 3) He
confuses the Lochian Fates, which entered the country through the Greek colonies,
with the Bears of Artemis, which came via Thrace. 4) He thinks Glyco, the Pellaean
Dragon of Tomis, is the serpent which emerged from the primeval waters. 5) Lacking
evidence, he does not realise that the shepherdess Baba Dochia had the name
Eudocia, which is the key to the time-honoured Boeotian, and indeed Pan-hellenic,
custom whereby the engaged daughter (Kore) receives from her mother-in-law
(Graeca) striped bread, a head-covering, and permission (eudocia) to visit the family
graves. 6) The writer uncritically believes that the paternal voice of General
Comediolus' (579-82) soldiers, which was broken up into dialects when it became
maternal, was the ethnic tongue of the Romanian people. He thus refers to the
Romance dialects spoken south of the Danube as “Romanian”.
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