Wednesday 1 April 2020

Death of Prince Marko

This is the illustration by Juirij Šubić of the Serbian epic poem "Death of Prince Marko". 



It shows the scene when a monk from Serbian monastery Vilindar (Hilandar) located on Mount Athos in Greece, discovers Marko's body lying under two fir trees next to a well...

In this poem, the most famous Serbian epic hero, "who can not be killed by any hero or beast", is told by a his Fairy God Mother that he will die that day "from the hand of God, the old 'krvnik' (blood letter, slayer, executioner, murderer)"...

At first, Marko doesn't believe his god mother. But then she tells him to go the top of the Urvine mountain, where he will see "two fir trees, so tall they are touching the sky" and a well, standing between them. And if he looks into the well he will see when he will die...

Marko did this, and he saw that he was indeed going to die that day, after "short three hundred years on this earth"... What he did then was very interesting:



Is this a description of an ancient "killing of weapons" burial ritual, practiced by Celts throughout Europe, including Serbia? Is this why Celts killed their weapons and horses? So their enemies wouldn't be able to brag they won them in battle?   

Here is the poem in Serbian.

And here is an english translation from "The ballads of Marko Kraljevic" translated by Low, David Halyburton, 1922.

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