Megaliths can be seen on the territory of many countries and continents. This is the name of ancient structures made of huge stones, connected without the use of cement or lime mortar, or huge detached stones. They surprise and inspire respect, magical properties were attributed to them, legends were written about them and tales were told. Let's talk a little about them.
Menhirs, dolmens and cromlechs
Freestanding stones are commonly referred to as menhirs ("long stone"), such as the Ballard stone in County Armagh (Ireland):
And this is Champ Dolent, the tallest vertical menhir in Brittany (9.5 meters):
Anthropomorphic menhirs include the so-called "stone women", many of which have been found in southern Russia, Ukraine, Altai, Tuva, Kazakhstan and Mongolia. This can be seen in the Kamennaya Steppe reserve (Voronezh region):
And on the territory of Mongolia, northern China, Altai Territory, Tuva, Transbaikalia, "deer stones" are found. Most often, they are embossed or applied with ocher drawings of deer, less often - horses, solar signs, or other images. The photo below shows the famous Ivolginsky deer stone, found in the middle of the 19th century, about 22 km from the city of Verkhneudinsk:
Now it stands at the Irkutsk Museum of Local Lore.
Several stones, placed so that they become like a table, are called dolmens (literal translation - "table-stone"). In the photo below we see the largest dolmen in France - Roche aux fées, "fairy stone" or "fairy stone", it is located near the city of Essay:
And groups of stones arranged in a circle are cromlech ("rounded place"). In Britain they are also called "henge" (Henge - "fence"). An example is Stonehenge (literally - "stone fence").
And this is the Easter Aquhorthies stone circle, which can be seen in the northeast of Scotland:
Cromlechs, built on top of hills, are called cores ("heap of stones").
All these terms (menhir, dolmen, cromlech) are of Breton origin. But in Adygea dolmens are called "ispun" or "sirp-un" (houses of dwarfs), in Scandinavia - "rese", in Portugal - "anta".
As we have already said, sometimes natural stones became objects of worship, which attracted attention with an unusual shape or huge size, we will also talk about some of them in this article.
Megaliths of legends and fairy tales
Stones with inscriptions mentioned in Russian epics and fairy tales can also be safely considered megaliths. We see one of them in the famous painting by V. Vasnetsov:
Another type of megaliths - stones, under which the heroes found "swords-kladenets": unique blades that clearly belonged to the warriors of other nations. The "baby" is a sword taken from an ancient burial, that is, these stones are tombstones. "Treasure" in this case means a grave (and several graves - a cemetery). Only a real hero can lift or move such a huge tombstone. The heroes of the Scandinavian sagas were looking for such swords not under stones, but in ancient burial mounds, while they had to fight the spirit of the former owner. Such "black archeology" was not considered a shameful occupation either in Russia or in Scandinavia: if a hero or a Viking was not afraid of meeting with otherworldly forces and turned out to be strong enough to get a sword from the grave, then he is worthy of this weapon. Folk legends call the owners of the sword-kladenets not only Ilya Muromets and Svyatogor, but also Prophetic Oleg.
Another famous "sword-kladenets" was pulled out of the stone by a young man who became King Arthur.
This sword is often confused with "Excalibur" (probably from the Welsh Caledbwlch, where сaled - "battle", bwlch - "destruction"). It was this that Arthur received from the Lady of the Lake, Lady Vivien (after the first one broke during his duel with Pelenor).
And this is what this scene looks like on a miniature from the manuscript "Death of Arthur" (1316, stored in the British National Library):
In the illustration below, the artist “combined” these two swords into one: a sword in a stone, but on a lake:
In fact, Thomas Malory says bluntly:
"In the middle of the lake, Arthur sees, a hand in a sleeve of rich white silk sticks out of the water, and she clutches a good sword in her hand."
Andrzej Sapkowski in his "saga" about the Witcher could not resist a parody, in which Ciri appeared in the role of the Virgin of the Lake, and Sir Galahed, the future guardian of the Grail, in the role of King Arthur. True, he did not receive a sword from this "wrong" Lady of the Lake.
“The sorceress … either crouched down, hiding under the water up to her nose, and held out her outstretched hand with a sword over the water surface.
The knight … came to his senses, dropped the reins and, kneeling down, sank onto the wet sand. Now he finally understood who fate had brought him to.
“Stay healthy,” he muttered, holding out his hands. - This is a great honor for me … Great difference, O Lady of the Lake … I am Galahad, son of Lancelot of the Lake and Elaine, daughter of King Pelles, master of Caer Benin … believe me, I really deserve to receive a sword from your hands …
- I did not get that.
- Sword. I am ready to accept it.
- This is my sword. I won't let anyone touch him.
- But…
- What "but"?
- Lady of the Lake, when … She always emerges from the waters and bestows a sword.
The girl was silent for a little, then said:
- Understand. As the saying goes, every country is a custom. I'm sorry, Galahad, or whatever you are, but you ran into the wrong Lady. I don’t give out anything. I don’t give anything. And I do not allow to take it away from me."
But back to the first sword of King Arthur: according to an older and more substantiated version, this sword simply lay on a stone, crushed by a heavy anvil. That is, Arthur did not pull him out of the stone, but threw the anvil to the ground: it is quite rational and no mysticism. And, by the way, this is already a variant of the "serpentine stone" or "stone of fate." We will talk about such stones in one of the following articles.
Another sword in stone can still be seen in the Cistercian abbey of San Galgano (about 30 km from Siena). The future saint Galgano Guiotti (1148-1181) led a dissolute life in his youth, but one day he heard a voice calling him to repentance. With a sneer, he replied that it would be as easy for him to do as to thrust a sword into a stone, and struck a piece of rock next to him with his blade. To his surprise, the sword easily entered the stone and remained in it forever. At this place, Galgano spent the rest of his life.
A chapel was built here, around which an abbey grew over time. In the 18th century it fell into decay, and in 1786 the bell tower and the roof collapsed. The abbey was never restored, but the chapel was renovated in 1924, now it houses a museum. Historians believe that the monks stuck the sword into an "artificial" stone, the manufacturing technology of which was known to medieval architects: crumbs of granite, dolomite or sandstone were added to the solution. It turned out very similar to real stones.
And this sword can be seen in the rock above the entrance to the Abbey of the Virgin Mary in the French town of Rocamadour (135 km north of Toulouse):
How and when he appeared there is unknown, but the ancient tradition calls him Roland's sword - Durandal. But the Ronseval Gorge is located on the border of Spain and France - far from Rocamadour, and in the "Song of Roland" nothing about the fate of this sword is reported. It is only said that before his death, the hero tried to smash his sword on stones, but could not do it.
And this is a modern monument "The Sword of the Bloods", which can be seen on the "Trail of Miracles" in the gorge in the Kardavagan canyon (North Ossetia):
According to popular legend, a certain hunter was saved by his blood enemy, after which they, as a sign of reconciliation, stuck a sword into a stone.
Megaliths of Broceliande
A special place in Breton folk mythology is occupied by the famous Broceliande Forest, about which V. Hugo wrote in the novel "93":
“The seven so-called“black forests”of Brittany were as follows: the Fougeres forest, which blocked the space between Dol and Avranches. Pronseski, eight miles in circumference. Pemponsky, cut by ravines and streams, almost inaccessible from the side of Benyon, but had a convenient connection with the royalist town of Concornet. Rennes, in which the sounds of the alarm bells of the republican parishes, which were quite numerous in the vicinity of the cities, were heard; in this forest Puise's detachment destroyed Fokard's detachment. The Mashkul forest, in which Sharrett hid like a wild beast. Garnache, belonging to the La Tremoil, Gauvin and Rogan families. And finally Broselian, owned by the fairies.»
Currently, Broceliande is believed to be part of the Pempon Forest. It is in Broceliande that you can see two lakes, one of which is called the "Mirror of the Fairies" (le Miroir aux Fees), and in the second (Comper), according to legends, there was an underwater castle of the fairy Vivienne, the student of Merlin and the teacher of Lancelot.
According to one version, it was Vivien (Nimue, Ninev, Lady and Lady of the Lake) who imprisoned the famous magician Merlin, who was in vain for her, in a rock. This was discussed in the article "Arthur, Merlin and the Fairies of the Breton Cycle."
In the pictures below by Edward Coley Burne-Jones, Merlin is not represented as a deep old man, but as a young man in full bloom:
But such a young dandy appears to be in love with Vivienne Merlin, illustrated by Albert Herter:
But, as they say, "you cannot order your heart." In the painting by Gaston Bussieres, we see the only thing that this magician managed to achieve from the Lady of the Lake:
In Broceliande, the spring of Baranton (la Fontaine de Barenton) is still shown, the water of which supposedly heals madness. It was also called the fountain of youth: it was believed that washing with water from it smoothes wrinkles. It is said that once upon a time there was a golden ladle on the branch of a tree standing next to it: if water was taken into it from a spring and poured onto the surrounding stones, it was as if it was starting to rain.
Guarded by Baranton is the Knight of the Fountainhead.
You can see in Broceliande and "Valley of no return", the way out of which, by the will of the fairy Morgana, could not find the knights who were unfaithful to their ladies.
And there are megaliths here, some of which are shown in these photos:
But these megaliths, called de Monteneuf, were found in the south of the Broselian forest only in 1989:
