In this paper the history of epics is considered as the history of the formation of epics and of their inner development. The origin of epics is a result of the work of the many generations of tellers and listeners. But formation is connected with concrete periods, when the primary elements – myths, historical plots and memory of real historical events – entered in a new unity and composed some epic creation. A brief characterization of these processes is given in the paper. The author clearly separates the origin of myths (prehistoric times) and the formation of epics. For him myths and epics are principally different genres of folklore. Myths take their place in the epics’ structure, but they change according to the epic whole. The author also explores the indirect facts in the books of the medieval Armenian writers, some historical facts, shedding light on the problem of the formation of “David of Sassun”. In the epic the father of twins – Sanasar and Baghdasar, bears the name Khalif of Bagdad (Baghdadi Khalif). The twins are mythical heroes. But the name of their father is assosiated with the 7-8 centuries. Khalif is the title of Arab rulers,hence it could have arisen only after  the 7th century, when the Arab state arose. And Baghdad was founded in the 8th century. These facts mean that the mythical plot of the twins entered the epic after these centuries. The author also analyze the image of Sanasar and shows, that this mythic hero acts in the epic as the representative of the Middle Ages, as a man, for whom the knightly values were very important.  The author comes to the conclusion that the traditional point of view abоut the period of formation of this Armenian epic (8-12 centuries) is valid up to our days.

UNESCO’s definition of safeguarding emphasizes the importance of measures which foster sustainability for living traditions rather than merely the documentation and public promotion of traditions in their “frozen” (memorized) forms. Unfortunately, the English word safeguarding has no clear equivalent in Russian. The closest Russian translations of the term safeguarding relate to preservation and protection rather than to the broader values of enduring creativity and resilience as expressed in the full texts of the ICH Convention. This translation issue has led to a general misunderstanding of UNESCO’s goals for endangered traditions, affecting Yakutia’s Plan of Action for revitalizing olonkho in such areas as budgeting, strategic planning and effective ways to support tradition bearers.

According to UNESCO documents, an adequate definition of safeguarding will stress continuous re-creation, evolution, and transmission, not simple preservation. Without constant creativity giving life to an artistic genre, the core of its “genetic material” – the related knowledge, skills, and meanings – will wane. As a result, all that remains to be transmitted are the relatively static aspects of the tradition – even possibly limited to “relatives” of the original genre. In the case of olonkho, these related forms might include theatrical presentations, memorized scripts, movies, books, and other “distant relatives” of the solo genre performed by master olonkhosuts.

Emphasizing the importance of the ecological model of “resilience theory” and affirming its potential for informing the revitalization of dying traditions, this presentation proposes a clearer definition of the term safeguarding for Russian audiences, outlining ways in which Yakutia’s Plan of Action might better reflect the intention of UNESCO’s ICH convention. For example, part of UNESCO’s recommendation for safeguarding moribund traditions is the encouragement to create programs and systems to support “Living Human Treasures.” The standards for these master performers demand not only excellent artistry in performance but also the ability and dedication to pass along the cultural heritage to others. This core UNESCO goal of transmission has proven one of the most difficult aspects in olonkho revitalization, and as a primary factor involved in safeguarding, it deserves more attention in the revitalization process. For example, the modest number of officially recognized master olonkhosuts in the first Decade of Olonkho has in the last several years dwindled to zero. Adequately addressing the transmission aspect of Yakutia’s Action Plan will involve identifying new master olonkhosuts and providing ways for them to focus on transmitting the living tradition of olonkho to the next generations.

The article considers one of the issues of the practice of folklore translation – the possibility and necessity of rhythmization in the translation of folk epics. In the works on the theory of translation of folklore, this issue is not studied, since traditionally, when translating folk samples, we focus on the transfer of the meaning, and the form of the text always plays a subordinate role. Without challenging this approach, we propose in the article to expand it somehow, using the flexibility of the Russian language to give even a certain rhythmic uniformity to the text of the translation. An epic text is always a poetic text, and a rough heterogeneity, a disparity in the length and rhythm of the lines of translation makes it difficult to convey even an approximate aesthetic impression from the monument of folk poetry.

The volumes of the series “Epos of the Peoples of the USSR” and “Monuments of Folklore of the Peoples of Siberia and the Far East” serve as a material for the study, and the source of the examples is the translation of the Buryat heroic epic OsoodorMergen, which is being prepared for publication in the volume “Buryat heroic epos. OsoodorMergen. TonohoynHansaTolay” of the series “Monuments of Folklore of the Peoples of Siberia and the Far Eas”. The author of the article is the translation editor of this volume; therefore, the examples are taken from the real practice of translation and editing.

Several techniques for achievingthe rhythmic uniformity of the translated text are described. The rearrangement of words in a line, though very simple, makes it possible to achieve a smooth, rhythmic sounding of the line, exclude the confluence of unstressed syllables and inconvenient combinations of sounds at the junctions of words. Varying the word forms, without changing the meaning of the line, helps to add missing syllables or exclude extra ones. The selection of synonyms for the words in the line allows achieving greater accuracy in the transmission of parallel constructions and organizes a common rhythm in the blocks of lines. The addition of personal pronouns, necessary in the Russian language for any forms of past tense and almost all forms of other tenses, helps to add missing syllables to the line.The method of comparative analysis is used in the work.The undertaken study shows that some (not in all cases) rhythmization of the lines in the translation of the epic is achievable and necessary.

Bashkir folklore is a rich heritage of the people, passed down from generation to generation, as an irreplaceable source of knowledge. The history, beliefs, way of life, rituals, customs and other phenomena from the life of the people were reflected in the works of oral and poetic creativity of the Bashkirs in the artistic form. Folklore serves as an invaluable source of study of many aspects of spiritual culture. At the present time, there is an increasing interest in folk art. Work is actively continuing on their search, collection, and research. Field materials are the basis of any theoretical work, it is an experimental site that gives the scientist not only new material, but also new ideas and impulses. Therefore, for the modern researcher, both in Russia and abroad, fieldwork is an important component of their professional activity, as well as significant activity in the field of ethnic self-awareness. At the present time, it is still quite possible to record rarely performed folk songs, baits, munazhats, takmaks, folk games, rituals; legends continue to exist, while fairy tales and epics are less common.The article focuses on the study of the modern state of the Bashkir folk epic according to the materials of folklore expeditions. The purpose of the article: on the basis of the expedition materials of the 21st century, show the preservation of the epic heritage and the transmission of the oral tradition of the Bashkir people. According to the author, epic creativity is on the verge of extinction, in the memory of the people basically only some information remained, and informants transmit the plot of the work in only a few sentences. And epic works can not be recorded now, even in the places of their supposed creation.Studying modern field materials, the author comes to the conclusion that at the present time informants most often recall, albeit episodically, incomplete, the plot of the epics “Zayatulyak and Khuukhylu”, “Kuzykurkupyach and Mayanyhylu”, “Alpamysh”, “Ural Batyr”. But, the works in modern conditions gradually lost their poetic form and function mainly as prose works.

In this article the author reveals the features of the Kyrgyz epic of Manas heritage and contribution of the Kyrgyz people in the epic treasury of the world culture. In this context it should be noted that in developing their national epic of Manas, supplementing and improving it from age to age, preserving and cherishing it orally, as a living spiritual masterpiece for centuries, the Kyrgyz people have shown a phenomenal poetic talent and deserve deep study, and are worthy of evaluation for their contribution to the epic heritage of civilization in general.In ,addition to the Grand epic of Manas, Kyrgyz people created a whole gallery of other epics, the small Kyrgyz epics, there are about 30, and the epic of Manas has more than 80 variations. Also, the Kyrgyz heritage has over 1,000 various myths, legends, and stories. The author emphasizes that the reason for this phenomenon is that in the 21 century, despite the bygone epic times,the Kyrgyz people remain the ethnic group with the epic mentality. In other words, history, philosophy, thinking, culture, worldview, lifestyle, life, nature and even religious beliefs of the Kyrgyz people to some extent remain the way they were in the era of the creation and development of the epics. All of these epic features of the Kyrgyz people are largely due to important factors such as the epic space, epic time, epic language, and epic storytelling (manaschylyk). The Kyrgyz, not obeying the generally accepted canons of the world civilization, culture and literature, extend the era of the full existence of their national epic, and,alongside it, the epicness of today. Therefore, the epic of Manas is the phenomenon of global civilization not only by its size, content and variability, but also an absolute record for the duration of the process of emergence, formation and development of the epic in time.

Inthe Yakut language, the notion of “ichchi”, in the broad sense of the word, means “essence”, nature, content of things, phenomena of social realm. It is the nner essence, nature, content of anything that defines all its potential connections and relations with all others things. In the Yakut mythology, this irrational, opinionated, active, ideal essence of a thing is the absolute master, ichchiof all its external visible manifestation. Each living thing has ichchi. Since the notion “ichchitekh” in heYakut language means inner emptiness, absence of ichchi. So, the notion of “ichchi” is a figurative designation, expression of abstract notion of “essence”. In the Yakut mythology and heroic epic Olonkho, some “ichchi” were imagined in the form of anthropomorphical, zoomorphical and others beasts. The beasts had the mind and ability to feel emotions and do actions. The beasts in the Yakut mythology and Olonkho form a special class of beasts that we cannot categorically refer to a class of good or evil beasts. This largely anthropomorphical, zoomorphical beasts in the literature are indicated by the notion “spirits” or “ichchi” of things, phenomena, and some places.

It is important to note that there is no complete and common classification of spirits, ichchi in the literature. There is no a special and detailed research on the issue. In the first place, the author based on works of V. P. Troshchansky, V. M. Ionov, V. L. Seroshevsky, E. K. Pekarsky, P. A. Oyunsky, G. U. Ergis, A. I. Gogolev, N. A. Alexeev, etc. It is widely accepted that the ichchislive only in the Middle World, but in many texts they also live in the Underand Upper Worlds. The author provides specific examples in favourof  this thesis.

The work considers some most important ichchisof nature phenomena, things and places of the Middle World. In particular cases, the comparative analysis of the Yakut Olonkho with some ideas of Khakass and Bashkir epic texts is conducted.

Acknowledgements: The research is financially supported by the Russian Foundation for Humanities, project No. 15-04-00496 (а).

The relevance of the work is connected with the need to broaden the horizon of understanding the Gogol’s poem. The aim of the work is to clarify the ideas about the attitude of Gogol to Homer. The work is based on the principles of hermeneutics and historical poetics. When developing the theory of the modern epic in the early 1830s, V. Kuchelbecker could not accept the overturning – with a certain historical continuation – of the archaic epos, observed by him from Byron and Pushkin. However, Gogol, declaring in Selected Places the necessity of following Homer, will not abandon Byron’s and Pushkin’s way. The figure of Odysseus has long been included in the number of possible parallels to Chichikov’s image. Introspection in the Odyssey is less than in Dead Souls, where Chichikov’s inner world is often opened to the reader by the same hero. A. Zaitsev showed that the heroes of the Homeric epic do their actions not so much at the behest of the gods, as by free will. This dilemma – free will or coercion of God – is also relevant for Dead Souls. In the first volume Gogol writes about “born” “passions”, invisibly leading people to the truth. Thus, the leadership of heroes, whatever they were, is recognized by God. However, subsequently, Gogol rejects this idea because it justifies the negative in the person. In connection with the dilemma of free choice or some kind of coercion, there is an association to the bird-troika as a “modification” of Homeric sirens from Odyssey – semi-flitches-half-women, enchanting with their singing of travelers, free to give in to him or not. In Gogol’s work, the later interpretation of the “sweet-haired wise sirens” is manifested, creating “the great harmony of the cosmos with his singing.” The roll-calls between Odyssey and Dead Souls exist at the level of concrete images (the bird-troika as a modification of the Homeric sirens) and poetics in general (a certain genre affinity), and also at the level of the general problems of theology and metaphysics raised by the authors (the question of freedom of will or divine coercion).

This article considers the images of protagonists in the texts of the Olonkho of the northeastern tradition. The image of the main characters was studied comparatively in comparative terms with texts of the epics of the related Turkic peoples of Central Asia and Siberia. The main characters of the epic of the Turkic peoples of Central Asia and Siberia were the image of an ideal person. The warriors-heroes were destined to become defenders of not only the tribes, but also their peoples and homeland. The protagonist of the Yakut Olonkho had a divine origin, ideal external properties, high moral qualities, great strength and growth, possessed dexterity, perseverance and perseverance. He was a defender of the Aiyy tribe. To identify the image of the protagonist in the texts of the Olonkho in the northeastern regional tradition, the author’s names, characteristics and descriptions of Aiyywarriorswere analyzed. The analysis of the names of the main characters of the Olonkho in the northeastern tradition revealed the fact that the names of the main characters of the eight Olonkho texts (57%) of the northeastern tradition do not have any indicators of heroism. The author believes that most of the main characters are not heroes. The main characters of the tradition in subject were the defenders of their families. They are endowed with the following qualities: pride, perseverance and perseverance. In the image of the protagonist you can find the features of a hero – a hunter. The heroes of the studied tradition, unlike the heroes of other traditions, were distinguished for their accuracy and vigilance, the features that the hunters possess. They possessed the power of magical transformations. The magical power and reincarnation of the protagonist is also considered an archaic feature of the epic. The main characters of the studied tradition are not endowed with high moral qualities. They possessed such qualities as quick temper, rudeness, cruelty, ruthlessness, severity. In 13 texts (92.8%) out of 14 there is no complete portrait characteristic of the main character. Partial descriptions of the portrait of the main characters were found only in two texts of the Olonkho. 11 texts lack descriptions of the main characters. The author concludes that in the considered tradition, the portrait characterization of the main characters has not yet been worked out.

In modern globalization processes the sociocultural development of society is based on two fundamental principles, tolerance and dialogicity of polyethnic cultures. Such a conceptual approach makes possible the parity development and coexistence of various theoretical systems, including various ethnoethical paradigms. In general, there is a dialogue of cultures, which serves as the basis for its unity, suggesting a spiritual and moral exchange between ethnic groups and allowing them to reveal their individual and common sides.

The study and investigation of the spiritual heritage of previous generations is a necessary condition for projecting a “new” single and inseparable culture of mankind of the present time. In this article, based on moral and ethical concepts and categories, an attempt was made to analyze individual images, the values inherent in the hero of the Kyrgyz epic. However, in addition to the socio-emotional attributes of a specific hero, there are many other epithets in epics: artistic images, concepts, for example: “bata”, “alkysh” – blessing, benevolent admonishing words. Such definitions in the construction of spheres and aspects of moral values of an ethnos can become a conceptual-categorical apparatus of the method of studying not only epics, but also the entire folklore genre. The urgency of studying the epos “Manas” has always existed, and the identification of ethnoethical concepts in the work is one of the areas of study. The purpose of this study is the moral comprehension of the nature of ethnoethical concepts. To achieve this goal, the following objectives are set:

– to reveal the principles of the development of moral paradigms in works of art;

– to show the originality of moral concepts on the basis of spiritual culture.

The methodological basis of the research is general scientific methods of cognition, as well as a number of private scientific methods: historical-logical, systemic, comparative, as well as the work of famous domestic and foreign researchers devoted to various problems of culture, folklore, ethics and philosophy. These methodological grounds allowed us to concretize the research approach to the problems of studying morality and culture and at the same time interpret them in deep connection with each other.

This work is relevant because it is devoted to the development of the philosophical foundations of the heroic epic Olonkho. Two and a half thousand years ago, the universality of the ancient Greek myth was the one of the main reasons for the emergence of Philosophy. In today’s world, there is no less acute need for universalism, which attracts for its justification science, philosophy, literature, mythology and other spheres of the human spirit.

The purpose of the proposed approach is to make the research process more transparent, for which it is necessary to consider the Olonkho products from the point of view of limiting fundamental dynamic equilibria. This is possible because the Olonkho itself gravitates to the ultimate equilibrium. Traditionally in the heroic epic subjects, stories, style, images of heroes are investigated, however many of these concepts are not clearly defined, overlapping each other. The academic research of the texts is complicated by these reasons.

The methodology based on the ideas of M.M. Bakhtin about a detached view in  the process of studying a text and on the author’s concept of a coordinate system based on three interrelated limiting dynamic equilibria. This corresponds to modern views about architectonics, image, and style. The resultsare presented in the form of specific conclusions at the end of the work.

As a result, architectonics is defined as one of the elements of the fundamental triad “image-architectonics-style”, which are associated with the ultimate equilibria of identification, communication and rhythms of the world harmony and are widespread among natural and cultural objects. This approach is an autopoiesis of architectonics, can form their various structures and systems. The architectonics defined in this manner is capable of incorporating the entire variety of epic formulas, chants, adjectives, epithets, as well as all possible scenarios for the development of the plot, the motives that the process created by Olonkho-tellers provides for us. The proposed idea of the architectonics of the epic is eidos oriented. The study of Olonkho based on the logos is futile, since the schemes of this approach are not capable of conveying the entire diversity and complexity of the Olonkho and the variety of its possible philosophical interpretations.

According to some scholars, one of the first peoples who built the earliest civilizations on Earth was the Aryan people. It was the Aryas that spread the ways of creating blossoming societies to other peoples and countries of Asia and Europe. Then the samples of the Aryan civilization embraced other continents of the world. In world science there is an opinion that Aryas were a parent people, from which other peoples of the Earth came. The ideas of creation, blooming civilized society obsessed the advanced minds of mankind in all epochs, especially since the emergence of the most important political institution the state. Projects were put forward, programs were written, laws that were supposed to elevate a person spiritually, improve his moral qualities. They were devoted to the main question, how to be a man, how to build a society, the state on the basis of perfection. These problems were primarily concerned with national and, later, world religions.

In this context, it should be noted the definition of the Aryan path, called the moderate, middle way between the extreme occurrences of human actions. Its meaning is not to indulge unthinking desires and mortification of the flesh. The middle way is beliefs, aspirations, speeches, behavior, way of life, effort, way of thinking, enjoyment in the right direction. There are also indicated three divine commandments leading to a beautiful, higher world: self-restraint, self-abnegation, conscientiousness. It seems that these properties are decisive at all times in the history of mankind, since if it translated into a more understandable language, this is moral perfection, the spiritual priority, although the role of the material is not ignored.

Real life is much different. The ancient Greek oracles noted that there are many more bad people on Earth than good ones. This also applies to the modern world, where there is not yet at least one society in which the whole population has reached complete perfection, where at least one state has the best properties, where all people would primarily care about moral and spiritual perfection, and not pursue material wealth.