Why did they leave inscriptions about the goat on the walls of St. Sophia Cathedral in Kiev?

The paper studies seven Old Russian graffiti inscriptions made in the altar of the St. George's Chapel of the Kiev St. Sophia Cathedral (No 126, 127, 851, 854, 904, 927 and 1076a). They contain a call «to give my goat» or they report about a «goat». For graffiti № 927 a new version of the reading is given, аccording to which the inscription says about the matchmaking of a goat and a ram with the participation of a demon. For this entire series of graffiti, a comparison with the existing folklore and epigraphic material is presented. A conclusion is drawn about its marital and erotic semantics. A detailed extra-stratigraphic analysis of the inscriptions is presented, the result of which is the conclusion that it is necessary to date the entire graffiti complex by the sum of its features to the end of the 13th – beginning of the 14th centuries.

Keywords

graffiti, Old Rus, epigraphy, folklore

Publication date

13.12.2021

Number of characters

20898

Cite

GOST	Drobysheva M. Why did they leave inscriptions about the "goat" on the walls of St. Sophia Cathedral in Kiev? // Slavianovedenie – 2021. – Issue 6 C. 99-109 [Electronic resource]. URL: https://slav.jes.su/S0869544X0017729-4-1 (circulation date: 27.04.2024). DOI: 10.31857/S0869544X0017728-3
MLA	Drobysheva, Maria "Why did they leave inscriptions about the "goat" on the walls of St. Sophia Cathedral in Kiev?." Slavianovedenie 6 (2021):99-109. DOI: 10.31857/S0869544X0017728-3
APA	Drobysheva M. (2021). Why did they leave inscriptions about the "goat" on the walls of St. Sophia Cathedral in Kiev?. Slavianovedenie (6), pp.99-109 DOI: 10.31857/S0869544X0017728-3

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