Korun Aramija or Korun Haramija or Korun Kesedà ¾ija is a popular legendary hero of Serbian epic poetry and Bulgarian and Macedonian folklore. He is known as a rival of either Prince Marko or Nenad JugoviÃÂ, other heroes of South Slavic folklore. The epic hero Korun Aramija is based on actual historical person, Theodor Corona Musachi from Muzaka family that was in conflict with Prince Marko over the town of Kastoria.
The Muzaka family was in conflict with Prince Marko before his death in 1396 which is probably why Theodor Corona Musachi is commemorated in Serbian and south Slavic epic poetry as Korun, Marko's enemy. The term Aramija is derived from Turkish word for bandit ().
Songs about Korun and Nenad Jugovià(three different versions) were collected by Vuk Karadà ¾iàand published posthumously in 1899 in chapter titled "The earliest songs about heroes" (). Narratives involving Korun as an adversary of Nenad explore the popular theme of blood vengeance in the Balkans. The story usually opens with Korun massacring whole of Nenad's family, or all of his siblings and almost mortally wounding his parents, out of his sheer vanity over some dubiously grave insult he experienced at the hands of Nenad's loved ones. Nenad survives the massacre for being placed in a convent as a youngest of the children and comes out to seek his revenge on a perpetrator.
In epic poetry from Macedonia Korun Aramija is also described as attacking nuptial, making love to widows etc. and always being killed at the end by Sekula, Kostadin or PopoviàIvan. Song about fight between Prince Marko and Korun Aramija (Marko and the Highland Fighter Korun) was first recorded by Ivan StepanoviàJastrebov in Macedonian region of Debar. This song has similar motif as song about Prince Marko and Musa Kesedà ¾ija because Marko was again fighting against better hero who also is depicted as having more than one heart.
In a song recorded in the region of Prilep, Korun is referred to as hajduk who can not die because of many sins he committed.
Some of the poems about Korun are: