İDEA VE GERÇEKLİK DİKOTOMİSİNDE CANAVAR İKONOGRAFİSİNDEN “VAN GÖLÜ CANAVARI”NIN MİTSEL PARADİGMASINA
FROM MONSTER ICONOGRAPHY TO MYTHIC PARADIGM OF “THE MONSTER OF LAKE VAN” IN IDEA AND REALITY DICHOTOMY

Summary/Abstract: The reality that cultures have values intrinsic to the region that they grow in is reflected in their tales, stories, and myths. Legendary discourses that spread abroad have become cults in time and continue to exist. The frightening and scary perception of deep and dark waters has affected people profoundly in a psychological manner, and several mythological creatures that are believed to live under those waters have kept their mystery. The respect for those glamorized and sanctified waters has turned into a social anxiety in a sense. Navigating in those waters has begun with the offering of sacrifices to the pagan gods by people living by the sea. In fact, the skulls of sacrificed animals have been transformed into an apotropaic hypostasis and placed on the foretop. Skull cults have begun to be symbolized with wood carved figures within time. The metamorphosis allowed the birth of ship adornment art and ships to have an aesthetic appearance. From this point of view, it can be stated that art traces back to the history of humanity’s fears. It is apparent that afreets, creatures, and monsters of water, have significantly similar features across different societies. This study deals with the transformation of the monster image into iconography through theological inferences. It aims to explain this through the narratives specific to the Lake Van Monster from the universal mythology of the monster. Lake Van, which is located in the Eastern Anatolia Region of Turkey, is a part of the socio-cultural life of the local community and is believed to be sacred. Contingently, the Monster of Lake Van is a reality that is far from an idea or vice versa. The study is conducted to examine the creatures that are especially believed to live under the water and to evaluate the mythical features of the Monster of Lake Van. The study was conducted within the scope of qualitative research methods.

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