Medeina or Medeinė (from lt, medis – "tree" or ''medė'' – "forest"), often treated as synonymous to Žvorūnė or Žvorūna (derived from ''žvėris'' – "beast"), is one of the main deities in the

Lithuanian mythology Lithuanian mythology ( lt, Lietuvių mitologija) is the mythology of Lithuanian polytheism, the religion of pre-Christian Lithuanians. Like other Indo-Europeans, ancient Lithuanians maintained a polytheistic mythology and religious structure. ...

, and is similar to Latvian

Meža māte In Latvian mythology, the term Māte stands for "mother", sometimes written in English as Mahte. It was an epithet applied to some sixty-seventy goddesses. They were clearly distinct goddesses in most or all cases, so the term definitely referre ...

(Forest Mother). She is a ruler of forests, trees and animals. Her sacred animal is a

hare Hares and jackrabbits are mammals belonging to the genus ''Lepus''. They are herbivores, and live solitarily or in pairs. They nest in slight depressions called forms, and their young are able to fend for themselves shortly after birth. The ge ...

. A Slavic transcription of John Malalas' Chronicle (dated 1261) mentioned Žvorūna and three other gods. The

Hypatian Codex The Hypatian Codex (also known as Hypatian Letopis or Ipatiev Letopis; be, Іпацьеўскі летапіс; russian: Ипатьевская летопись; uk, Іпатіївський літопис) is a ''svod'' (compendium) of three ''l ...

, describing events of 1252, mentioned

pagan Paganism (from classical Latin ''pāgānus'' "rural", "rustic", later "civilian") is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Judaism. ...

gods still worshiped by King

Mindaugas Mindaugas (german: Myndowen, la, Mindowe, orv, Мендог, be, Міндоўг, pl, Mendog, c. 1203–1263) is the first known Grand Duke of Lithuania and the only crowned King of Lithuania. Little is known of his origins, early life, or r ...

. The Codex mentioned Medeina and an unnamed hare goddess. It is unclear whether Medeina is the name of hare goddess mentioned in the Codex or whether the two are independent deities. As part of the official

pantheon Pantheon may refer to: * Pantheon (religion), a set of gods belonging to a particular religion or tradition, and a temple or sacred building Arts and entertainment Comics *Pantheon (Marvel Comics), a fictional organization * ''Pantheon'' (Lone S ...

, Medeina represented military interest of warriors and later was replaced by

Žemyna Žemyna (also Žemynėlė or Žemelė) (from lt, žemė – ''earth'') is the goddess of the earth in Lithuanian religion. She is usually regarded as mother goddess and one of the chief Lithuanian gods similar to Latvian Zemes māte. Žemyna ...

, goddess of earth representing agricultural interest of peasants. In the 15th century,

Jan Długosz Jan Długosz (; 1 December 1415 – 19 May 1480), also known in Latin as Johannes Longinus, was a Polish priest, chronicler, diplomat, soldier, and secretary to Bishop Zbigniew Oleśnicki of Kraków. He is considered Poland's first histor ...

compared Medeina with Roman goddess Diana. She was also mentioned by

Jan Łasicki Jan Łasicki ( la, Johannis Lasitii or Lasicius; 1534–1602) was a Polish historian and theologian. He was well-educated and traveled extensively in Western Europe from 1556 to 1581. Around 1557 he converted to Calvinism, becoming a follower of th ...

Mikalojus Daukša Mikalojus Daukša (other possible spellings include ''Mikalojus Daugsza'', pl, Mikołaj Dauksza and ''Mikolay Dowksza''; after 1527 – February 16, 1613 in Medininkai) was a Lithuanian and Latin religious writer, translator and a Catholic churc ...

, and in the

Bychowiec Chronicle The Bychowiec Chronicle (also spelled ''Bykhovets'', ''Bykovets'' or '' Bychovec'') is an anonymous 16th-century chronicle of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Although one of the least reliable sources of the epoch, it is considered the most extensive ...

. According to research by

Algirdas Julius Greimas Algirdas Julien Greimas (; born ''Algirdas Julius Greimas''; 9 March 1917 – 27 February 1992) was a Lithuanian literary scientist who wrote most of his body of work in French while living in France. Greimas is known among other things for t ...

, Medeina is single, unwilling to get married, though voluptuous and beautiful huntress. She is depicted as a young woman and a she-wolf (

cf. The abbreviation ''cf.'' (short for the la, confer/conferatur, both meaning "compare") is used in writing to refer the reader to other material to make a comparison with the topic being discussed. Style guides recommend that ''cf.'' be used onl ...

''vilkmergė'') with an escort of wolves. According to the author, Medeina can be described as a goddess with both divine and demonic traits. Her duty is not to help the hunters, but to protect the forest.

Vykintas Vaitkevičius Vykintas Vaitkevičius is a Lithuanian archaeologist. Vaitkevičius graduated from the Vilnius University (1996: B.S. history, specialty archaeology; 1998: M.S. history, specialty archaeology; 2000: doctorate in humanities)

identified five Hare Churches (sacred stones, hills, forests) and ten Wolf-footprints (stones with hollows that resemble a footprint) in Eastern Lithuania (former

Duchy of Lithuania The Duchy of Lithuania ( la, Ducatus Lithuaniae; lt, Lietuvos kunigaikštystė) was a state-territorial formation of ethnic Lithuanians that existed from the 13th century to 1413. For most of its existence, it was a constituent part and a nucle ...

) that were related to the cult of Medeina. After

baptism of Lithuania The Christianization of Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos krikštas) occurred in 1387, initiated by King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania Władysław II Jagiełło and his cousin Vytautas the Great. It signified the official a ...

, the cult diminished. Medeina was related and similar to Greek

Artemis In ancient Greek mythology and religion, Artemis (; grc-gre, Ἄρτεμις) is the goddess of the hunt, the wilderness, wild animals, nature, vegetation, childbirth, care of children, and chastity. She was heavily identified wit ...

and Roman Diana and in fact was sometimes called Diana.

References

{{reflist, refs= {{cite web, url=http://ausis.gf.vu.lt/eka/mythology/relmyth.html , title=Lithuanian Religion and Mythology , first=Gintaras , last=Beresnevičius , work=Anthology of Lithuanian Ethnoculture , url-status=dead , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101203101230/http://ausis.gf.vu.lt/eka/mythology/relmyth.html , archive-date=2010-12-03 {{cite book , first=Endre , last=Bojtár , title=Foreword to the Past: A Cultural History of the Baltic People , publisher=CEU Press , year=1999 , page=309 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5aoId7nA4bsC&pg=PA309 , isbn=963-9116-42-4 {{cite book , title=The Living Goddesses , first=Marija , last=Gimbutas , author-link=Marija Gimbutas , author2=Miriam Robbins Dexter , page=210 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Xs26aFrT0YAC&pg=PA210 , publisher=University of California Press , year=2001 , isbn=0-520-22915-0 {{cite journal , url=http://www.istorija.lt/la/vaitkevicius2003en.html , title=New outlook for Žvėrūna-Medeina , first=Vykintas , last=Vaitkevičius , journal=Lietuvos archeologija , issn=0207-8694 , year=2003 , volume=24 , url-status=dead , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110313034322/http://www.istorija.lt/la/vaitkevicius2003en.html , archive-date=2011-03-13 {{cite encyclopedia , editor-first=Jonas , editor-last=Zinkus , display-editors=et al. , encyclopedia=Tarybų Lietuvos enciklopedija , language=lt , title=Medeina , year=1985–1988 , publisher=Vyriausioji enciklopedijų redakcija , volume=III , location=Vilnius , id={{LCC, 86232954 , page=32 Lithuanian goddesses Nature goddesses Animal goddesses Slavic goddesses Hunting goddesses Virgin goddesses