Editing Oleg the Wise (section)

=== Death according to legend ===
[[Image:OlegsMound.jpg|thumb|250px|The reputed burial mound for Oleg of Novgorod; [[Volkhov (river)|Volkhov River]] near [[Staraya Ladoga]].]]
In the ''Primary Chronicle'', Oleg is known as the Prophet, an epithet alluding to the sacred meaning of his Norse name ("priest"). According to the legend, romanticised by [[Alexander Pushkin]] in his [[ballad]] "The Song of the Wise Oleg",<ref>Leningrad, Aurora Art Publishers, 1991.</ref> it was prophesied by the pagan priests (''[[volkhv]]s'') that Oleg would take death from his stallion.<ref name="Medievalists.net 2022">{{cite web | title=Prince Oleg and his Fateful Steed: A Story from Medieval Rus' |website=Medievalists.net | date=1 October 2022 | url=https://www.medievalists.net/2022/10/prince-oleg-medieval-rus/ | access-date=7 March 2023 | archive-date=7 March 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230307190846/https://www.medievalists.net/2022/10/prince-oleg-medieval-rus/ | url-status=live }}</ref>

To defy the prophecies, Oleg sent the horse away. Many years later he asked where his horse was, and was told it had died. He asked to see the remains and was taken to the place where the bones lay. When he touched the horse's skull with his boot a snake slithered from the skull and bit him. Oleg died, thus fulfilling the prophecy.<ref name="Medievalists.net 2022"/>

Oleg's death has been interpreted as a distorted variant of the [[threefold death]] theme in [[Indo-European culture|Indo-European]] myth and legend, with prophecy, the snake and the horse representing the [[trifunctional hypothesis|three functions]]: the prophecy is associated with sovereignty, the horse with warriors, and the serpent with reproduction.<ref name="eiec">{{Cite encyclopedia |first=Dean |last=Miller |editor-first1=J. P. |editor-last1=Mallory |editor-first2=Douglas Q. |editor-last2=Adams |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture]] |title=Threefold death |pages=577–578 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=1997}}</ref>

A variant of this story occurs in Scandinavian legend, in the 13th-century saga of [[Örvar-Oddr]].<ref name="Ancient Pages 2023">{{cite web |title=Amazing Adventures Of Örvar-Oddr And Encounter With The Mysterious Ögmundr Flóki |website=Ancient Pages |date=27 February 2023 |url=https://www.ancientpages.com/2023/02/27/orvar-oddrs-saga/ |access-date=7 March 2023 | archive-date=7 March 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230307190853/https://www.ancientpages.com/2023/02/27/orvar-oddrs-saga/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Another variant is found in the tale of [[Isle of Sheppey#Shurland Hall|Sir Robert de Shurland]] on the [[Isle of Sheppey]] in Kent, England.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Oliver D. |last=Harris |title="Grey Dolphin" and the Horse Church, Minster in Sheppey: the construction of a legend |journal=Archaeologia Cantiana |volume=144 |year=2023 |pages=97–123 }}</ref>