Destruction of Leviathan by Gustave Dove, 1865
Chaoskampf (burrowed from German Chaoskampf, or literally "chaos struggle"[1]) is the name of a trope found in world mythology. The motif in its broadest definition covers any myth where a hero or heroic deity representing order slays a dragon or serpent that represents chaos. Myths that follow the trope in its biggest scope usually stem from the hypothesized Proto Indo-European religion.
Overview[]
The term Chaoskampf historically referred to the mythological trope in Near Eastern religions, primally those that are connected to biblical mythology, of a sea dragon or god being slain by a storm god with the event of creation happening afterwards. Later trends in scholarship emphasized on the storm god's opponent being a dragon, resulting in deities such as Tiamat being assumed to be a dragon despite lack of conclusive evidence. The motif of Chaoskampf as thought of by contemporary scholars has to do with Near Eastern ideas. Scholars put emphasis on the act of creation in myths that seem to be a part of the trope, arguing whether the aspect in each myth truly falls under the motif.[2]
A related trope is the "Cattle Raider" myth, where an often serpentine or monstrous entity steals something of value such as cattle from the hero of the story who chases down and slays the thief and retrieving his possessions. The myth can be traced back to ancient writings, with there being a hypothesized reconstruction of the myth in it's original form in the Proto Indo-European mythos where a three-headed snake steals some of the storm god's cattle before then being slain by that god so they can retrieve their cattle. A possible explanation for this trope in Indo-European cultures could be the viewing of the serpentine monster as an original inhabitant of the lands the Indo-Europeans settled and/or conquered.[3]
A different but also similar trope is that of a usually reptilian, aquatic monster blocking access to a water passage from a human society, warranting the humans to go out and kill the monster to recover their supply of water. The myth often accounted for as a representation of this myth is the legend of the storm god Indra slaying and stopping the demon serpent Vitra from blocking access to the local river in the Vedic myths.[4][5]
Examples[]
Mythology[]
- Marduk slaying Tiamat in Babylonian Mythology
- Yahweh slaying the Leviathan in the Hebrew Bible
- Ra battling Apep in Egyptian Mythology
- Zeus slaying Typhon in Greek Mythology
- Thor slaying Jormungandr in Norse Mythology
- Susanoo slaying Yamata-no-Orochi in Japanese Mythology
- Perun slaying Veles in Slavic Mythology
- Archangel Micheal banishing the Red Dragon in the Book of Revelation
- Various Thunderbirds fighting Horned Water Serpents in Native American Mythology
- Heracles slaying the Lernaean Hydra in Greek Mythology
- Saint George slaying the dragon in Christian folklore
- Dobrynya Nikitich slaying Zmey Gorynych in Slavic folklore
Popular Culture[]
- The Dragonborn slaying Aldiun in Elder Scrolls
- Princess Celestia and Luna battling Discord in My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
References[]
- ↑ Wiktionary - Chaoskampf
- ↑ Rossana Rackley (2014) Kingship, Struggle, and Creation: The Story of Chaoskampf (Unpublished Master's Thesis) Birmingham University pp.5, 14
- ↑ Bruce Lincoln (August 1976) The Indo-European Cattle-Raiding Myth History of Religions Vol. 16 No. 1 pp.42-65 https://www.jstor.org/stable/1062296
- ↑ Martian L. West (2007) Indo European Poetry and Myth Oxford University Press pp.255-259
- ↑ Andrew Lang (1913) Myth, Ritual, and Religion Volume I Longmans Green and Co. pp.42-46