BATTLE AND HUNTING IN GALLUS ANONYMOUS' 'POLISH CHRONICLE'. HUMAN WORLD RELATION TO ANIMAL WORLD

In old anthropological thought, animals were important elements of picturesque descriptions of human attitudes, and thus become one of the most important indicators of assessing a man's identity. In order to visualize the battle, the anonymous author of the 12th century chronicle entitled 'Cronicae et gesta ducum sive principum Polonorum' often links it with hunting for wild animals (the wild pig, the bear) or compares it to other animals' behavior (the lion, the wolf, the pig, the hare, the mouse, the hedgehog, the dragon). Such comparisons can be interpreted in the context of the classical rhetoric theory: 'locus a comparatione, similitudo'. In spite of the twofold restrictions (Anonymous called Gallus and the subject/object of research in the poetics of experience verbalized in 'Polish Chronicle'), it can be argued that the work answers the question of 'Who is the man and what is he like?' in an anthropological way: on the battlefield the man is a perverted animal, and the direct combat helps him to notice the power of his relationship with the world over which he sees himself.