Ememkut
Itelmen · deity · mythic / first times · Recorded classification
Ememkut (Itelmen Ememqut) is the eldest son of the raven-creator Kutkh and Miti and the most frequent hero of the Itelmen tale corpus recorded by Waldemar Jochelson in 1910-11 and republished in Russian by G. A. Menovshchikov. He is the successful hunter and provider of the raven family, wins supernatural wives, and defeats evil spirits and his scheming younger brother Sisilkhan; in one well-known tale he even contends with his own father ('The struggle of Kutkh with Ememkut'). The figure is shared across the Chukotko-Kamchatkan area, corresponding exactly to Ememqut, son of Big-Raven, among the neighbouring Koryak.
Parentage
- parent: Raven (Kutkh)
- parent: Miti
Domains
- hunting and heroic success
Powers
- to prevail in hunting, wooing and contests with rivals and monsters
Relations
- sibling: SisilkhanSisilkhan is Ememkut's younger brother in the Itelmen tale cycle; the two brothers appear together in numerous recorded tales.G. A. Menovshchikov (comp.), Skazki i mify narodov Chukotki i Kamchatki, ed. E. M. Meletinskii (Moscow: Nauka, 1974), Itelmen section. (secondary)
- rival: SisilkhanThe envious Sisilkhan constantly plots against Ememkut, who invariably prevails; the pair form the classic successful-elder versus scheming-younger opposition of the cycle.E. M. Meletinskii, 'Paleoaziatskikh narodov mifologiia', in Mify narodov mira, vol. 2 (1982). (secondary)
- sibling: SirimSirim is a younger daughter of Kutkh and Miti and thus Ememkut's sister in the tale cycle.G. A. Menovshchikov (comp.), Skazki i mify narodov Chukotki i Kamchatki (Moscow: Nauka, 1974), Itelmen section. (secondary)
Sources
- Ememkut is the eldest son of the raven-creator Kutkh and his wife Miti and the principal hero of the recorded Itelmen Raven-cycle tales.: E. M. Meletinskii, 'Paleoaziatskikh narodov mifologiia' [Mythology of the Palaeo-Asiatic peoples], in Mify narodov mira: Entsiklopediia, ed. S. A. Tokarev, vol. 2 (Moscow: Sovetskaia Entsiklopediia, 1982). (secondary); Kamchadal Texts Collected by W. Jochelson, ed. Dean S. Worth, Janua Linguarum Series Maior 2 ('s-Gravenhage: Mouton, 1961), tales of Ememqut. (secondary); G. A. Menovshchikov (comp.), Skazki i mify narodov Chukotki i Kamchatki [Tales and Myths of the Peoples of Chukotka and Kamchatka], ed. E. M. Meletinskii (Moscow: Nauka, 1974), Itelmen section. (secondary)