The expanding and self-affirming Universe pushes Chaos to the periphery, drives it out of the world, but does not overcome it. Outside the inhabited and organized closed Universe begins the area of the unknown, unseen, possession of demons, unattached spirits, the dead, the area where the primitive Chaos, which does not leave attempts to absorb the world, is displaced. Most often, the "transcendence" is presented in the form of water, later, with the development and specification of ideas about the Tom light, chaotic waters are narrowed to the boundary river between the two worlds.
The main myth of the second stage of cosmogony is the struggle of the supreme deity or the characters who replace him, with a chthonic monster, often embodied in the image of a snake, usually closely related to water. The role of the serpent is the supreme god, sometimes delegating this function to other characters. The victory over the chaotic beast is considered to be the first act of construction or protection of the inhabited the Universe. The plot of serpentine fighting is often associated with the history of the founding of settlements: on Mount Drahenfalls in Germany lived a dragon who ate young women, and after the victory over the monster, a fortress was built here, the Polish hero Krak founded the city named after him, on the mountain, killing the dragon who lived there, the city of Cork was founded by St. Feinbarr to commemorate the victory over the last of the dragons of Ireland, etc.
The main enemy of the Indian Indra becomes hidden in the waters and "tied" their demon Vritra, "undivided, awake, sleeping, immersed in a deep sleep, spread out"(5) - a more complete description of Chaos is difficult to find! At the same time, it is serpentine: devoid of arms and legs, produces hissing. Indra's first fight with another chthonic opponent - the demon Balu failed, and to take revenge was possible only through the cunning of the god Vishnu. Then the god Rudra and the hero Tritus, who defeated the three-headed serpent Viszvarupa, act as fighters with monsters. The Iranian three-headed dragon Aji-Dahak is defeated by the hero Troetaon.
The Iranian Angra-Mainyu (personification of evil) once broke into the world from the outside and destroyed its perfection. Later, he continued his attacks on the world, along with the daeva demons and other forces of evil and darkness that he had created. The first task of a man in Zoroastrianism is to help Ahura Mazde (personification of Good) in a continuous struggle with the forces of evil.
Hittite God of the Thunderstorm also has to fight with the generation of Chaos - the snake of Illujanka. In the first battle, the Thunderstorm God, like his Indian colleague, is defeated, and deprived of heart and eyes. Later, he was rehabilitated with the help of mortal Hupasiah, who bound the revered Illuyanka and his sons. Note that both battles with the serpent take place on the seashore.
Myths of Greeks tell that Gaia, offended by the gods for the extermination of their children titans, gave birth from Tartar (direct reference to the paternity of Chaos!) hundredth snake Tiffon. Victory in the first fight with Zeus remained behind the snake, which cut out the tendons of the king of the gods and locked the latter in the cave. Hermes and Egyptian stole the Zeus tendons and put them in place. Meanwhile, the moors convinced the snake to taste the poisoned fruits, as a result of which he was exhausted. Zeus defeated him and plunged him into Tartar, from where the dragon continued to threaten Olympus. Gaia then gave birth to a tribe of snake giants. Between them and the gods headed by Zeus, began a fierce struggle. The Olympians managed to win it only with the help of (then still) the mortal Hercules. Later the Thunderbird has transferred mission of protection of Space from breeds of Chaos like Lyrnean Hydra, Gorgon of Medusa, snake Python, etc. to other gods and heroes - Apollo, Heracles, Perseus, etc.
Without fatigue fight with snakes heroes of Russian folklore tales (by the way, as a rule, these heroes are born in various wonderful ways that allows to assume in them divine children). Egoriy Brave kills the Tsarishche Diocletianishcha who "as a snake flies", "squeals like a snake". Smith Kozma Demyan, in whose image the two Christian saints are united (6) defeats the Black Sea snake, which offers the hero to divide the entire land in half. Bogatyar allegedly agrees, connects the snake in a plow and carries out a furrow to the sea, separating the arranged oikumen from the chaotic world of the undead. Then he changes his mind and throws the beast into the water, bringing it back into the elements of Chaos. In another version by the sea, he let him get drunk - the snake "sat down", and crawled out of it small snakes. Sometimes with the passage of time and the change of the religious environment of snakes changes its appearance, however, preserving the features of the reptile: Nightingale the robber in the byline of Ilya Muromets not only "whistles in the nightingale and shouts in the animal way", but also "hissed in the curse of a snake. Smitten by his heroic arrow, which guesses the image of the lightning god-thunderer. Even later, the image of the messenger of another world is transformed into a line ("crossed the line", the border), with which the soldiers of later tales are fighting. Places of the heroes' battles with the snake, when they are indicated, are almost always on the seashore, on the Smorodin river, on the fiery river, on the kaline, iron, silver and gold bridges - i.e. at the water border.
At neighbors and close relatives of the Slavs of Lithuanians loudspeaker Perkunas amazes flying spirit of Aitvaras, having all attributes of a dragon.
In Celtic mythology, the plot of serpent fighting is preserved in the embossing, depicting the struggle of an eagle (the bird of the Thunderbird Taranis) with a snake, as well as in the tops of the columns of Celtic sanctuaries, crowned with a statue of a deity on a horse, affecting a snake-like monster. By the way, in the formations that repeatedly invaded Ireland from behind the sea and finally defeated by the divine tribes of the goddess Dunnu under the leadership of Luga (reduced image of the Thunderer?), also guesses one of the variants of countless generations of Chaos.
The war of the Scandinavian gods - the Ases with ancient chthonic giants - is led by Odin. The surviving Vanes are pushed beyond the borders of the "cosmologized" space (some giants, like the Greek titans, are accepted into this world in a friendly or neutral way). The giants who remain irreconcilable do not leave attempts to subdue the Universe, and only Odin Thor's son restrains their onslaught. His most striking feat is the victory over the monstrous snake of Ermungand, lying on the bottom of the world ocean and wrapped its body around the inhabited world. The snake is badly wounded, but lurks in the depths waiting for the last battle.
In German tradition, Chaos Thor, the fighter of Chaos, was embodied in the image of Sigurd (Siegfried), who defeated the dragon Fafnir, who lived on a faraway, gloomy island. The mortally wounded Fafnir in vain asks Sigurd to close the wound, offering as a reward half the world (cf. the tale of Kozma Demyan). Beowulf defeats the monstrous Grundel, and then amazes his mother, penetrating into her underwater lair.
The victory over the chaotic snake allows us to move on to the arrangement and ordering of the inhabited space. The land allocated from Chaos is still largely blind to the first, inheriting many of its characteristics. It is known that before the transition to the development of a new territory, in various civilizations, rituals were performed, symbolically repeating the original act of creation; the uncultivated area should have been first cosmilogized, and then inhabited. In general terms, this process consisted in drawing borders, naming toponyms, but most importantly - in the arrangement of the sacred center of the world - the "fulcrum" of the universe. M. Eliade even believed that "the discovery or projection of the reference point - the Center - is tantamount to the creation of the world" (7).
Overcoming Vritru, Indra frees the waters bound by the demon and spills them on the ground, digging beds for rivers, directing the elements of chaos in an orderly direction. He is also the organizer of peace in another myth, telling that once the mountains had wings. Flying from place to place, the mountains were covered with stones of the city and in general caused all kinds of harm to people. The latter prayed to Indra, and he knocked down these wings with his arrows.
Similar to Indra's deeds, the work is done by Yegorii the Brave in the Slavs, ordering "the mountains not to get together, not to disperse, but to stand in one place, the forests not to wobble, not to rock, but to stand in one place", ordering the rivers to flow all over the land.
After peace with Fir Bold, the supreme leader (goddess) of the Tribes of the goddess Dunnu (one version is Dagda, the other is his son) divides all the Sidas (sacred hills with the "inhabited" underground part) among the leaders, and then moves to the country of Emaine Ablah - the Other World. Thus, the last generation of gods, overthrowing the power of their predecessors (Fir Bolg) and dealing with chthonic monsters (Thomas), systematizes the territory of Ireland - the inhabited world, distributing it among the gods, embodying the system and order.
Upon completion of the arrangement, the Indian world takes the following form: the center of the universe is Amarawati (Devapura) - the capital of Svarga (the heavenly kingdom of Indra). In the centre of the earth on Mount Meru grows an ashwatha tree with roots in the pristine waters from which the world was created. The universe is surrounded by the world serpent Ahi Budhunya (later on, in Hinduism it is called Shesha). Other world is under the ground. The entrance to it is guarded by Saramei's four-headed dogs - Sarama's children, Indra's dog (in Iran, the dog Sura performs the function of guard). According to another belief, another world is separated by the river Vaitarani or "space waters", the lord of which is considered to be Varuna.
In the center of the world of Iranians also rises the World Mount Hara or Hukarya, on top of which is located the monastery of the gods of Haronman. Two rivers flow down from the mountain, which surround the world. At the foot of the mountain is Lake Vorukasha, where the world tree of chaoma grows at the source of Ardvisura.
The other world of the Hittites is underground, where "the deities of the past, the ancient gods of the Underworld" Istustias and Papaias reign. Heaven is supported by the giant Upellouri. Other data on a structure of Space we do not have other data on a structure of Space. There is only a description of the World Tree: "On the tree of ea hangs sheepskin. In sheep's clothing is placed lamb fat. In it in turn, placed in his turn, the goddess of grain, the Goddess of Fields and wine. In them, in their turn, - the bull and ram. In them - longevity. They have offspring, sons and daughters. In them is the maturity of mortal people, bulls and sheep. They also have courage and power. In them - eternal fire ..." (9) Around a tree there are sacred animals that echoes both Slavic embroideries, and Scandinavian Iggdrazil, and plots of Celtic embossing.
The Greek Oikoumedia was an island washed by the world river Ocean. In the sacred center of the world was the main sanctuary of Greece - Delphi with a sacred omphalus. The Etruscans and Romans can be traced back to every city in the universe. The focus of magic and cosmic forces was the stone Mundus, located in the geometric center of the city, which represented the intersection of the two main streets at right angles. It closed the pit, which had the same name, being the gateway to the realm of the dead. The importance attached to the borders of the city illustrates the story of the murder of a brother by the mythical founder of Rome, who showed disrespect for the furrow, which Romulus outlined the outlines of future city walls.
He held the sky on his shoulders, preventing him from falling to the ground, titan Atlant. Under the ground was Hades, the place of eternal rest of mortal souls, and Tartar, the immortal creatures. The entrance was guarded by the three-headed dog Cerberus. It should be noted that the Etruscan ruler of the underground world Aita (cf. Greek Aid-Gades) was often depicted with a wolf (dog?) scalp on his head. The Styx River served as the border of another world, through which the souls of the deceased Haron crossed. Another, later, tradition places the areas inhabited by the souls of the dead on islands scattered in the western part of the Ocean.
In the centre of the Slavic Universe there is a tree whose top rests on the sky and whose roots reach the hell. In "The Tale of Igor's Campaign" about him it is said: "Boyan the prophet, if he wanted to compose a song to whom, he ran the thought on the tree, a gray wolf on the ground, a blue eagle under the clouds". (10) In our opinion, it is quite probable to assume that the "thought" is a mistake of the belligerent, and should be a "mouse" - i.e. a squirrel. In this case the Boyana tree is surprisingly reminiscent of the Scandinavian Iggdraziel, which is also used by the squirrel. Gogol's "Evenings at the Bidiz Dikanka Farm" contains a story about a tree standing on the edge of the earth, on which God descends to the ground before the Easter holiday. Probably, the Proto-Slavic mythology also knew the analogue of the Greek Atlanta. Such a conclusion can be drawn from the bas-reliefs on the Zbruch idol (Poland), in the lower part of which the same character is depicted, supporting the middle "human" and upper "divine" third of the stele. The four edges reflect the quadruple horizontal division of space (in Russian "all four sides" means "everywhere").
Another world is separated in Slavic folklore from this water border, which follows from fairy tales, "thirty-ninth kingdoms" of which are located beyond the river or sea, and folk apocrypha, in which the souls of the dead are ferried in a boat to that world by Michael the Archangel, Nicholas the Wonderworker, or Elijah the Prophet. The Czechs have a saying "flew over the sea to Veles" in the meaning "went to the other world".
During the mythical period of Ireland's history, Ireland was divided into five kingdoms on the sides of the world, plus the central region, which was "the first among equals", thanks to its sacred central position. Another world was placed underground, in sids, but sometimes it was an island, an archipelago. The underground world was bounded by an icy river that was crossed by a bridge, or by a hellish river flowing into a cave from which ghosts who kidnapped people came out in pagan times (in the name of the Christian who visited it). There are no descriptions of the underworld, but the Gaulish Soucellus, who has a number of features of the Underworld god, is depicted accompanied by a three-headed dog.
In Germanic-Scandinavian mythology the middle world of people Midgard, was surrounded by desert and cold Utgard and Jotunheim, inhabited by giants Jotuns. In the ocean that surrounded space, there lived the snake Yormungand, which we already mentioned. The Scandinavian World of the Dead was located underground, behind the Gyoll River, across which the golden bridge was thrown. Nine worlds of Scandinavian mythology were connected and supported by Iggdrazil ash-tree. On its trunk ran a squirrel, an eagle was sitting on the top of it, deer stood at the roots, Nidhegg snake was dwelling under the roots, trying to destroy the world ash, poisoning its roots with his poison, which prevented the monster eagle Odin - snake-fighting went on every day. Here we see almost an absolute coincidence with the Boyana tree, especially if we take into account that the images of the snake and the wolf in the Indo-European mythological systems are interchangeable - the Serbs, for example, even have the epos "About Vuk (wolf) - the Fire Snake". In this connection A. Potebnya wrote that "...snakes, dice, iron imaginary, dwarf, giant - the forms of one and the same being" (11)
Four dwarfs supported the sky where it was closest to the ground.
Thus, the most important attributes of the new world is its center - a kind of "fulcrum" of the universe and the boundaries for which Chaos is pushed aside. The accent of the center and borders gives the image of a ball. Plato in the dialogue "Timei" asserted: "He (the Organizer of the World - A.I.) ... by means of rotation rounded the space to the state of sphere" (12) Aristotle agreed with this position, criticizing many cosmogonical conceptions of his teacher: "...the form of the Universe is spherical ... because the sphere is the first of the body figures, because only it is limited by one surface ..." (13)
The world has three vertical levels: celestial, earthly and underground, connected vertically by the world tree (mountain) - the central axis of the universe. In the Greeks (in the Platonic myth of Era) it is the spindle of the goddess Ananka (personified inevitability), in the Hittites it is also a spindle not named after the goddess. Its earthly part is oriented on four sides of the world. Thus, the square (and more generally the quadrangle) symbolizes the earthly world, and the circle (projection of the sphere on a plane) - the universe as a whole. In this sense, the description of Atalantis - the ideal Universe of Plato - is indicative: the island in terms of the plan represented a correct quadrangle with a round capital - its sacral center.