Series | Eurasian Studies
Edited book | From the Paleolithic to the Armenian genocide
Chapter | Il canto di Alardy (Alardyjy zaræg)
Il canto di Alardy (Alardyjy zaræg)
Abstract
Song of Alardy (Alardjyj zaræg) is the name given to some ossetic texts in which the chief character is a personification of the smallpox. Smallpox was greatly feared in mountain villages because it caused many deaths. In fact, the Ossetians did not imagine that the diseases spread by contagion, and for this reason the sick person, instead of being isolated, had to take an active part in village and family life. The structure of all the Songs of Alardy is identical and the choise of adjectives testifies that Ossetians really feared Alardy.
Language: it
Copyright © 2015 Paolo Ognibene. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Permalink http://doi.org/10.14277/978-88-6969-025-9/004
