Ursus (fictional person)

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Ursus is the name of a "strong bear" ( Latin ursus = bear) man who appears in Henryk Sienkiewicz 'novel Quo vadis as the protector of the princely daughter Ligia or Lygia (originally called Kallina). She is a member of the Ligier / Lygian tribe in the Danube region, who have to host the Romans after a peace agreement. Under the supervision of a Roman family, she turns into a Christian, but is brought to the court of Emperor Nero - accompanied by her entourage and above all her servant Ursus, who says of himself: “I only know that iron breaks like wood in my hand ... ". Ursus saves her from many dangers: "Then Ursus took his king's child in his arms and carried it out of the ballroom with steady steps."

Created as a barbaric hero in the Roman Empire , an Ursus was established as an independent figure in the wake of the Italian wave of sandal films at the beginning of the 1960s and received his 'own' film series. In contrast to other muscular titular heroes such as Maciste or Hercules , a kind of biography can be traced in Ursus in some films, especially those with the actor Ed Fury : He is the descendant of a fallen kingdom and gained his strength by growing up among lions ( Ursus in the Valley of the Lions ), later becomes a farmer ( La vendetta di Ursus ) and has to save his fiancée from sacrificial death ( Ursus ). He also fights against usurpers in non-localized areas ( Ursus nella terra di fuoco ) or even Asia ( Ursus e la ragazza tartara ). As usual in the genre, he eventually loses his identity and becomes a 'normal' person. Alternatively, after the final salvation, he can also sacrifice himself for his idol.

As a 'classic original', other heroes can also be made into an Ursus .

As the wave subsided, interest in the fictional character also disappeared. Among other things, the Mexican wrestler Jesús Melendez Ortega (1922-1977) wore the name of the barbaric-Roman hero as a ring name and usually called himself with the addition of Mighty Ursus .

Movies

reception

In the inferno of the last days of the war in Berlin in 1945, Ursus becomes a savior and protector from the fantasy world of a fifteen-year-old girl in an unbearable reality:

“In the endurance run I ran back to the bunker. [...] Somewhere I discovered an intact water pump and filled the jug, which was now very difficult to carry. Grenades kept striking all around me, but I wasn't hit by a fragment. I owe it to Ursus, I said to myself. Ursus was a hero from my books. Faithful Ursus, who always protected his mistress. Now he had become my guardian angel. "

- Waltraud Süßmilch : In the bunker . Berlin 2004, p. 178.

“With my 'tick' of looking for people who were worse off than myself, I could endure everything better. Likewise with my fantasies about princes. And I had Ursus, my guardian angel. I told him on the long trek [the people seeking protection from the Anhalter bunker through the just flooded north-south tunnel of the S-Bahn ] about my fears, about what I saw around me. He could listen so well. And he always encouraged me, whispering to me: 'You will lead your mother and your brother safely out of this shaft.' For me, Ursus and the Princes were a kind of therapy that gave me the strength to deal with all these terrible experiences at least in part and not to perish psychologically on them. My mother and Heinz, who could not fall back on such mechanisms, had it much more difficult in the time after the war. "

And again later: “My prince, I just thought, when will my prince finally come? Ursus, can't you send me someone like that to kiss me awake from my nightmare? At that moment Heinz sat down with us on the blanket, but he was my brother, not my prince. At some point there had to be an ideal world again for me. Suddenly we heard a rumble. "

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Henryk Sienkiewicz: Quo vadis , K. Thienemanns Verlag in Stuttgart, undated (probably 1920s), pp. 11, 30 and 49.
  2. ↑ Jesús Melendez Ortega on genickbruch.com , accessed November 28, 2010
  3. ↑ Waltraut Süßmilch: In the bunker . Ullstein Verlag, Berlin 2004, pp. 213 and 263. ISBN 3-548-25870-0 .

Web links