Listen to the soundtrack “Actually no Hero” (Lhotka-Kalinsky, Ciurlionis, Zipoli, Melartin, Nielsen, Grieg) performed by Asya Lazar ARDOVA (piano) on the page ardSOUND of ardisonata.net

Sometimes things seem to be not connected with each other, but they are synchronized in reality. Jung would have called it imprint, gestalt; Husserl once formed his method of phenomenology. However, there do exist logical non-mystical explanations, very simple sometimes. That’s why when any constituent of this system occurs on the surface, the whole construction becomes clear. I propose such an experience with artifacts, trying meanwhile to find the explanations of strange historical and art phenomena. The same I felt when a picture from an old magazine drew my attention.

TABLE WATCH FROM BACCHUS’ CHAMBER (WARSAW) “ZEGAR. A PARIS”

Prologue

If you are innocent indeed, as you insist,

Why then you visit the confession and the priest?

Jan Kochanowski (1530-1584),

Polish poet of the Renaissance

It’s not easy to investigate phenomena, connected with human feelings. The park and palace Łazienki Królewskie in Warsaw and the manor founded by Anna Jagiellon with special Bacchus’ Chamber seemed very cosy, the park with deers and other animals living there peacefully (without fear of being hunted) could arouse only doubtless admiration.

The castle was surrounded by water and looked most magic on its mirror platform. Did not it resemble the legend of master Tvardovsky’s mirror, able to reflect Polish heroes of past age? 

Quite of a sudden Henri the Third imagined the faith awaiting him at the Polish Court. No, he did not want to be a hero; he did not want to be a glorious reflection in the sorcerer’s mirror. So, he made up his mind and ran away as fast as his legs…

Epilogue

She’s from the family of Keistutis. The family of ours can’t bear unequal marriage. You know, we originate from Hediminas…

How would you explain it, professor, - the Count asked quite of a sudden, how would you explain the duality, or shape-shifting of a human nature?

P. Mérimée. Lokis

BACCHUS IS NOT A GOOD ADVISOR

Fabula is how it happened, subject is the way it’s narrated.

Boris Tomashevsky 

Scampering over this situation, I decided to analyze the ancient Greek myth about Theseus and Ariadne.  The story of Theseus, his feats – everything made him be compared with Heraсles. However, that was Theseus exactly to have attracted  Gaius Valerius Catullus, the Roman poet living in the 1st century BC.  His poetry was distinct for special attitude to ordinary feelings, making people also most ordinary with their everyday necessities and inclinations, arousing in accordance with the ordinary nature, inherent to any human conscience. Unlike his predecessors, describing heroic deeds and characters by means of high style, Catullus describes the same myths of heroes and gods, but very close to real life. Catullus is close to our contemporary psychologists. Irina Shtal, researcher of Catullus, found out, that Catullus interprets the myth of Theseus, Ariadne and Bacchus as the story of extinguishing passion. Remember, that according to canonic myth, Theseus left Ariadne because of Bacchus’ request, for the god of wine was crazily loving her. Catullus discovers Theseus to be just a man with his doubts, who does not want problems and is not ready to fight with a supernatural creature Dionyses. Catullus reveals duality of Theseus’ human ordinary nature, which approaches to much more interesting duality of Ariadne as Bacchus’ alter ego. 

Ariadne’s slumber is close to Bacchus’ dope of wine. Let’s mention here, that such re-incarnations may lead us to the Indian and Persian religions. According to legends Bacchus was travelling over India before coming to Greece, and was recognized there. Meanwhile, Catullus neglects any mysterious aspects of Theseus and Ariadne’s story and explains everything as the features of just a human nature, psychology. The young men, they are weak-willed, complaisant, not very clever. Having acquired desired freedom of civic and moral duties, they do not know what to do with this freedom. Epic hero’s character cracks and there comes forward an ordinary male with dualistic nature (either Theseus, or Bacchus) – virtue neighbours with darkened conscience; weakness gives way to unbridled craze. Among theatre masks there appear hetaera Bacchide and old procuress, seeking for wine.

    Bacchus (Dionyses) was most popular among the medieval early Byzantine theologians.  Scientist Sergei Averintsev analyzes the epic poem “Dionysiaca” ( “Deeds of Dionyses” in 48 volumes) by the theologian Nonnus of Panopolis (V century AD), poet of the early Byzantine age. Dionyses’ hypostases draw theologian’s attention. The god of wine Dionyses occurs to be multi-natured, the twin of himself, i. e. the god-similarity, god-phantom, god twin. Everything is reflected in the world mirror, Dionyses is a reflection of unhappy Fawn and of Zeus, he is a turnskin, like Proteus, deceit arousing in the water mirror.

Philosopher Alexander Men’ marked, that as the ancient Greeks repeated the maxima about the human being to be the measure of all things, they were afraid of themselves, their own concealed passions, located far from measure and reason. Many centuries later, during the Renaissance, when Antique classical gods were given special attention, the cult of Bacchus took the shape of witchcraft. Collective unconscious according to Jung…