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Investigation of a very ancient and widespread type of migratory legend which so far has not been taken into account in the systematic catalogues and international subject-indexes elaborated by specialists of folk-literature and mythology. The plot of these tales –the oldest known version of which seems to be Sumerian– usually concerns a dead king (or another charismatic character) who is buried, sometimes with his treasure, under the bed of a river, whose stream has been diverted and then reinstated so as to hide the place from discovery. The author discusses the origins of this oriental taletype and the successive meanings it assumes, especially when borrowed and recycled in indo-european contexts.

 

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Georges Dumézil has suggested that Ulysses’final struggle with the suitors is the equivalent of the destruction of Troy or the battle of Kurukshetra (Mahabharata). One can readily understand that two opposing forces encounter each other, each organised according to the hierarchy of the three Indo-European functions : 1 Odysseus against Antinous / 2 Telemachus against Eurymachus / 3 Eumaeus and Philoitius against Ctessipus, Polybus and Agelaus. Seen from this point of view, I consider the different adventures of Odysseus as stages in his downfall, the last being his experience with Calypso whose name is the symbol of nothingness, before his recovery (symbolised by the gifts of the Phaeacians) which is essential in view of the catastrophic state of the kingdom of Ithaca, weakened by too great a number of suitors. Symbolically, the Telemachia corresponds to the search for and the gradual reappearance of the god Lleu in Wales, otherwise known as Lugh in Ireland. Structurally speaking, the different parts of Ithaca are the same as the Indo-European provinces of Celtic Ireland.