ТОПОС ГРАДА У СРПСКИМ ПРЕВОДИМА СТАРОЗАВЕТНИХ АПОКРИФА
THE TOPOS OF THE CITY IN SERBIAN TRANSLATIONS OF OLD TESTAMENT APOCRYPHA

Summary/Abstract: In this paper, we sought to present the image of the city in Serbian translations of Old Testament apocrypha, with its distinctive, multilayered symbolism and its significance for understanding the overall semantic value of the apocryphal narrative. Through an examination of apocryphal descriptions of the city, it has been established that the city functions as a place of ambivalent value: a space that represents a source of beauty and security, but also one that offers opportunities for a sinful way of life. We have also observed that, in the narratives under consideration, the city is often symbolically simplified and powerfully represented through the motif of gates, which primarily serve to mark boundaries–separating worlds, levels of heaven, the righteous and the sinful, angels and demons. The city is depicted both as a place of refuge and as a typified locus of sin, which the righteous are often compelled to abandon in order to escape divine wrath. Following the model of certain biblical narratives, which are examined separately in the paper, we encounter a symbolic inversion in which space outside the city at times provides refuge and salvation from temptation. After a gradual analysis of textual examples, we may assert that the city, as a locality, constitutes one of the fundamental spatial components in relation to which characters are frequently defined. It represents an indispensable topos of Serbian apocryphal literature, characterized by ambivalence, which contributes to the sense of mysticism typical of apocryphal writings.

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