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The Nart sagas are a series of tales originating from the Caucasus Mountains in Georgia. They form the basic mythology of the tribes in the area; some are simply stories, but some have value as creation myths and ancient theology.
The Ubykh, Abkhaz, Circassians and the Ossetians all have versions of the Nart sagas; the Northwest Caucasian versions are thought to be more archaic than the Ossetic version. The population of the area is now mainly Muslim, and to an extent the teachings of that religion have displaced the traditional Nart saga story-telling in the region.
The Narts themselves are a race of giants. Some of the characters who feature prominently in the sagas are:
- Sosruko (Ubykh and Abkhaz sawsæræqwa), a powerful but devious man who is the smallest of the Narts; as a character, he is sometimes cast in the light of the trickster god, comparable to the Scandinavian Loki.
- Satanaya (Ubykh satanaya, Adyghe seteney) is the mother of the Narts, a fertility figure who is also an authority over her children. She can be compared to the Greek Demeter.
- Tlepsh (Abaza lhapshw), a figure comparable to Hephaestos in Greek mythology, a blacksmith and leader who was close to Satanaya.
Some motifs in the Nart sagas are shared by Greek mythology. The story of Prometheus chained to the mountain in particular is similar to an element in the Nart sagas. These shared motifs are seen by some as indicative of an earlier proximity of the Caucasian peoples to the ancient Greeks.
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