The Initiation of a Hero in the Alpamysh and Prince Marko Epics

WOS: 000324659300004The similarities between narratives that belong to societies which have different social and cultural structures have been source of inspiration for many studies. One of this studies is Albert Bates Lord's article named "Central Asiatic and Balkan Epic" in which was entreated the relation between Central Asia Turk and Balkan Slavic epics. In our article, the similarities and differences between two Serbo-Croatian epics titled "Marko in Tatar Dungeon" and "Prince Marko hi Azov Dungeon" formed within Balkan Slavic epic tradition and Uzbek version of the Alpamysh epic were analyzed with reference to the mentioned Lord's article. The analyze was grounded on Joseph Campbell's view that in the base of every "return of a hero" narrative lies a story about initiation which he presented in his work titled "The Hero with a Thousand Faces". The epics in question were evaluated within the scope of "initiation of a hero" structure and "Evolutionary Theory" under these subtitles: "Capturing of a Hero and His Falling into a Dungeon", "Sending a Message to Hero's Family/Relatives and Contacting Enemy's Daughter" and "Rescuing of a Hero". After revealing similarities and differences between heroes of analyzed epics, the reasons for those similarities and differences were discussed