Oponskoye Kingdom
Mythical kingdom in Russian folklore From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In Russian folklore the Oponskoye Kingdom (Russian: Опонское/опоньское царство, romanized: Oponskoye/opon'skoe tsarstvo, supposed to mean Yaponskoye tsarstvo, or "kingdom of Japan"),[1][2] or as some English-language sources have it, Kingdom of Opona, is a mythical kingdom, envisioned by Russian peasants as lying at the edge of the flat earth. Here, they believed, the peasants lived happy lives undisturbed by the state or the gentry,[3] under a "White Tsar" who ruled truly and justly.[4] Similar paradise places also existed in legend, such as the Golden Land[5] the Land of Chud[6] and Belovodye ("Land of White Water").[4][1]
History
The myth of the Utopian kingdom of old Russia is similar to other myths of "earthly paradises",[Notes 1][7] - out of sight but possibly reachable - like Shambhala, El Dorado, etc. - by the right courageous explorer.[4]
Initially some Russians treated the tale of Belovodye as hearsay about a real place.[8] Groups of peasants from various regions of Russia wandered in the far north of Russia trying to find the mythical utopia.[3] There was strain of Old Believers called "Runners" (Russian: Бегуны) or "Wanderers" (Russian: странники), since they spent their lives wandering, and some researchers asserted that they were instrumental in the propagation of the legend. However other researchers have arguments against this hypothesis.[1] About 1900 the tale gradually transformed from a "real thing" into an element of Russian folklore.[9]
See also
- Buyan island
- Hyperborea
- Iriy
- Kitezh city
- Cockaigne
Notes
- The art historian Svetlana Katkova suggested that Russian and Soviet artist Efim Chestnyakov (1874-1961) represented the Oponskoy Kingdom in his painting The City of Universal Welfare
References
Bibliography
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