The regular academic seminar of the Department Ashiq Creativity at the Institute of Folklore of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences (ANAS) was held. In addition to the staff of the department, the researchers from the different departments also attended the seminar.

At the seminar, Professor Ramil Aliyev, Doctor of Sciences in Philology, made a presentation entitled “The Mythological Summaries of the Stories of the Book of Dede Gorgud”. In his presentation, he noted that the stories of the Book of Dede Gorgud represent the earliest written texts compiled and composed by Dede Gorgud, emphasizing that they were formed through the deconstruction of much older textual layers. He explained that, in order to reveal the archaic structures preserved beneath these stories, the underlying mythological worldview had been artistically reconstructed and presented in the form of mythological summaries.

Using the part of “Story about Dirse Khan” as an example, Professor Aliyev analyzed the connection between Dirse Khan and the mythological dragon-deity figure, highlighting that the artifacts underlying the archaic layer of the story had been reconstructed in the form of a mythological summary. He also mentioned that the archaic lyrical “garavelli” texts were later reworked by Dede Gorgud into the form of narrative stories (boys), while the proverbs found in the Introduction of the epic were shaped on the basis of the didactic content of those earlier texts.

It was further noted that the pivotal moments in the lives of the epic heroes had been re-presented as mythological summaries, thereby revealing their ancient mythological roots.

The presentation was followed by discussions, during which participants exchanged views on the topic.