The Monarch of the Glen is an oil painting of a red deer stag completed by English painter Sir Edwin Landseer in 1851. One of the most iconic painting in Scottish cultural history, the stag has its roots in Celtic mythology. The stag symbolized the “otherworldliness” of the realm of the dead, and the untamed freedom and wilderness of nature and the forest. Its antlers resemble tree branches, as if it carries the forest around with it crowned on its head. The stag is fast, powerful, and sexually vigorous representing cosmic life force. Its seasonal shedding and regrowth of its antlers represents the cyclical nature of time and the cosmos.

“It was a stag, a stag of ten,
Bearing its branches sturdily;
He came silently down the glen,
Ever sing hardily, hardily.”

-Sir Walter Scott

🇬🇧 Sergey Pokotilov - «Oath on the sword».

🇩🇪 Sergey Pokotilov - «Eid auf das Schwert».

🇷🇺 Сергей Покотилов - «Клятва на мече».

#TTN_Art

❄️ @thetruenortherner

Scythian God of War

In his writing Herodotus mentioned that Scythians honor one God above all. He called this God Ares which is obviously an example of interpretatio romana. What’s interesting is that this deity wasn’t represented by a statue or a godpole, but rather a sword, a scimitar to be exact. We also have descriptions of a sacrifice rituals Scythians performed for this deity. Herodotus also notes that Scythians offer more to him than they do to the other Gods.

Both beasts and men (every hundredth of captive enemies) were sacrificed to the God with the latter having their throats split, blood collected and poured on the scimitar. After this their right arms and hands were cut off and thrown into the air.

"Полнолуние"

Colored version of one of K. Vasiliev’s works

"Alfadanz"

2021