The image of Peter I in a mythological context

Within this study, the authors make an attempt to consider the image of Peter I, one of the most difficult to analyze, through the prism of interpretation and myth formation. The mythological image of Peter the Great has been formed over three centuries, reflecting both the vicissitudes of all historical epochs, including modernity, and various layers of culture and art. For a long time taking into account, that the beginning of the mythologization of the image of Peter I dates back to the era of his reign, society perceived his image in accordance with the requirements of its era, and sought to reflect its own interpretation of his personality and activities. The ways of perceiving the image of Peter I were influenced by socio-philosophical, socio-cultural and political attitudes of society, as well as ideas about the historical personality. The paper suggests that the myth-image moving away from its original true image (the historical personality of Peter I), generates new reflections that may contradict both its prototype and subsequent reflections. The complexity of the mythological image of Peter I is stipulated by the combination of features of historical mythology and reality in it, which, in turn, reflected in oral or written representation, have a close connection with historical and social memory. The authors come to the conclusion that the process of mythologizing Peter the Great, while maintaining a certain objectivity, is also carried out in metaphysical holistic knowledge when justifying the exclusivity of the appearance of such a ruler in Russian history, whose mythological image is used in the formation of a sense of integrity and unity of perception of the myth, based on the feeling and experience of the individual.