| The Cretan version of the Thanatos tou Digene (Death of Digenes), brief, lyrical and dramatic, directly links the technique of the acritic to that of the klepht song. Bold images, derived from semantic shifts in the term “γη” (land) in the opening verses, make Digenes’ death scene equivalent to that of Christ on the Cross. To the older motif of the hero’s agility and speed is added the new, equivalent but incompatible one of his supernatural stature, bringing him close to the heroes of Cretan prose traditions. The image of Charos (Death), who secretly shoots a dart at Digenes, is also rendered as the conclusion of the episode of the fight between Digenes and Charos in other versions. The confused sequence of events is due to the influence of more extensive Cypriot versions, in which the dying Digenes relates his deeds in retrospect. |