In the byliny, the ancient giant Svyatogor befriends Ilya Muromets and passes his superhuman strength to the younger hero before dying sealed in a stone coffin. Svyatogor's death marks the transition from the age of giants to the age of human bogatyrs.
The earth cannot support Svyatogor's colossal weight, confining him to the mountains. Mat Zemlya herself groans under his footsteps, embodying the limit even a giant cannot exceed.
In one bylina, Svyatogor tries to lift Mikula Selyaninovich's plow-bag containing the weight of the earth but sinks into the ground — the giant's strength is nothing against the earth's own weight.
Svyatogor's stone coffin seals him in the underworld, marking his descent into Nav. His death represents the ancient age passing into the realm of the dead as the human era begins.
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