Ornithological Symbolism (Eagle/Vulture) in Vyacheslav Ivanov’s Tragedy “Prometheus”

In the article, the author sets three objectives: 1) to establish why Ivanov prefers the vulture over the eagle while retaining both as Prometheus’ tormentors; 2) to determine the symbolic and mythological semantics of the eagle and the vulture; 3) to describe how Ivanov’s interpretation of ornithological symbolism in the Prometheus myth is connected with the mythological discussions of the beginning of the 20th century. The research material is Ivanov’s tragedy, which is compared with ancient materials that explicate ornithological symbols. Structural-semiotic, comparative, and hermeneutical methods were used in the analysis. The author puts the ornithological images in the context of the general semantic structure of Ivanov’s tragedy. The latter is defined by the mystery-mythological plot (Orphic in its genesis, but subjected to Christianization) about the tearing of Dionysus by the titans, which generates all the plot collisions of the tragedy. The analysis of the image of the vulture has shown that it is associated with Prometheus antinomically and dialectically. First, Prometheus acts as a carrier of the Dionysian creative consciousness, and the vulture as the Titanic ever-hungry will, then the semantics inverts: Prometheus embodies the Titanic unconscious volitional impulse, and the vulture the Dionysian creative mind. The eagle is a mythological personification of Zeus Cronides, the antagonist of Prometheus. The comparison of Ivanov’s ornithological symbolism with the ancient one has shown that it relies more on Lucian than on Aeschylus because he also puts the vulture in connection with the demiurgy and the crucifixion motif. Ivanov inherits the mythological antinomianism of the eagle/vulture. For him, the vulture is initially associated with the category of the bottom, the earth, but then it is associated with the top and is actually identified with the eagle. The eagle in Ivanov, being a zoomorphic personification of Zeus Cronides, is associated with the category of the top, but at the same time it is always mixed with the Titanic, and chthonic, principle. The last part of the research is a comparison of Ivanov’s concept of the eagle/vulture with the mythological discussions of the beginning of the 20th century. Ivanov seems to take part in the dispute that unfolded between Reinach and Fraser. His position on the relationship between the vulture and Prometheus corresponds to Reinach’s mystical-symbolic concept, and not to Fraser’s historical-empirical view.

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