Rugiaevit, Rugievit () or Ruyevit is a god of the Slavic
Rani worshipped on
Rügen
Rügen (; la, Rugia, ) is Germany's largest island. It is located off the Pomeranian coast in the Baltic Sea and belongs to the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
The "gateway" to Rügen island is the Hanseatic city of Stralsund, where ...
, mentioned in only two sources: ''
Gesta Danorum
''Gesta Danorum'' ("Deeds of the Danes") is a patriotic work of Danish history, by the 12th-century author Saxo Grammaticus ("Saxo the Literate", literally "the Grammarian"). It is the most ambitious literary undertaking of medieval Denmark an ...
'' and in ''
Knýtlinga saga
''Knýtlinga saga'' (''The Saga of Cnut's Descendants'') is an Icelandic kings' saga written in the 1250s, which deals with the kings who ruled Denmark since the early 10th century.Ármann Jakobsson, "Royal biography", p. 397-8
There are good rea ...
''. His temple, along with those of Porevit and Porenut, was located in the
gord of
Charenza, probably today's
Garz. The statue of him had seven faces, seven swords at his belt and an eighth one in his hand. Under his lips was a nest of swallows. Mostly associated with the sphere of war, but also sexual.
"Private", from the point of view of rulers, cult of Rugiaevit competed with the "public" and
theocratic
Theocracy is a form of government in which one or more deities are recognized as supreme ruling authorities, giving divine guidance to human intermediaries who manage the government's daily affairs.
Etymology
The word theocracy originates fro ...
cult of
Svetovit
Svetovit, Sventovit, Svantovit is the god of abundance and war, and the chief god of the Slavic tribe of the Rani, and later of all the Polabian Slavs. His organized cult was located on the island of Rügen, at Cape Arkona, where his main temple ...
of
Arkona.
Sources
The first source to mention Rugiaevit is the ''
Gesta Danorum
''Gesta Danorum'' ("Deeds of the Danes") is a patriotic work of Danish history, by the 12th-century author Saxo Grammaticus ("Saxo the Literate", literally "the Grammarian"). It is the most ambitious literary undertaking of medieval Denmark an ...
'' by
Saxo Grammaticus
Saxo Grammaticus (c. 1150 – c. 1220), also known as Saxo cognomine Longus, was a Danish historian, theologian and author. He is thought to have been a clerk or secretary to Absalon, Archbishop of Lund, the main advisor to Valdemar I of Denmark. ...
. Saxo describes when, after
Arkona was captured by the
Danish
Danish may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark
People
* A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark
* Culture of Denmark
* Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...
king
Valdemar I, its inhabitants made an agreement with him, which encourages the inhabitants of
Charenza to make a similar agreement and surrender the city without a fight. Saxo describes how the stronghold had three temples dedicated to Rugiaevit, Porevit and Porenut and the destruction of the idol of Rugiaevit in June 1168:
Then, after overthrowing the idols of Porevit and Porenut, Bishop
Absalon
Absalon (21 March 1201) was a Danish statesman and prelate of the Catholic Church who served as the bishop of Roskilde from 1158 to 1192 and archbishop of Lund from 1178 until his death. He was the foremost politician and church father of Denm ...
ordered all three to be taken outside the town to be burned there so as not to expose the village to fire. Saxo here describes a superstition related to sexual acts, but it is not clear with which god this superstition is associated:
The same information is then given by ''
Knýtlinga saga
''Knýtlinga saga'' (''The Saga of Cnut's Descendants'') is an Icelandic kings' saga written in the 1250s, which deals with the kings who ruled Denmark since the early 10th century.Ármann Jakobsson, "Royal biography", p. 397-8
There are good rea ...
'', which lists Rugiaevit in the distorted form ''Rinvit''.
Interpretations
There are two ways to read this theonym. The name ''Rugiaevit'' is most often translated as "lord, ruler of
Rügen
Rügen (; la, Rugia, ) is Germany's largest island. It is located off the Pomeranian coast in the Baltic Sea and belongs to the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
The "gateway" to Rügen island is the Hanseatic city of Stralsund, where ...
". Often scholars propose to read the name as ''Ruyevit'';
Aleksander Gieysztor
Aleksander Gieysztor (17 July 1916 – 9 February 1999) was a Polish medievalist historian.
Life
Aleksander Gieysztor was born to a Polish family in Moscow, Russia, where his father worked as a railwayman. In 1921, the family relocated to Po ...
suggests combining the first part of this reading with the root ''ru-'' existing in such words as
''řuti'' "to roar", ''ruja'' "roar of deer", "
estrous
The estrous cycle (, originally ) is the set of recurring physiological changes that are induced by reproductive hormones in most mammalian therian females. Estrous cycles start after sexual maturity in females and are interrupted by anestrous p ...
, heat" (as well as "fertility"), which occurs in the
Old Russian
Old East Slavic (traditionally also Old Russian; be, старажытнаруская мова; russian: древнерусский язык; uk, давньоруська мова) was a language used during the 9th–15th centuries by East ...
word ''rujenь'' – a term for one of the autumn months that falls during the time of the estrous cycle (cf.
Czech
Czech may refer to:
* Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe
** Czech language
** Czechs, the people of the area
** Czech culture
** Czech cuisine
* One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus'
Places
* Czech, ...
''říjen'',
Bulgarian
Bulgarian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to the country of Bulgaria
* Bulgarians, a South Slavic ethnic group
* Bulgarian language, a Slavic language
* Bulgarian alphabet
* A citizen of Bulgaria, see Demographics of Bulgaria
* Bul ...
руен (''ruen''),
Serbo-Croatian
Serbo-Croatian () – also called Serbo-Croat (), Serbo-Croat-Bosnian (SCB), Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian (BCS), and Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS) – is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and ...
ру̑јан, ''rujan'').
Lubor Niederle
Lubor Niederle (September 20, 1865 – June 14, 1944) was a Czech archeologist, anthropologist and ethnographer. He is seen as one of the founders of modern archeology in Czech lands.
He was born in Klatovy. He studied at the Charles University ...
, assuming the phonetic similarity of ''Ruyevit'' and ''
Yarovit
Yarovit, Iarovit (or Yerovit, Ierovit) is a Polabian god of war, worshipped in Vologošč (Circipanians) and Hobolin ( Hobolians; modern Havelberg). Sources give only a brief description of his cult, his main temple was located in Vologošč, wh ...
'', concluded that the two gods were identical. The suffix ''-vit'' translates as "lord, ruler"; it is less often compared with the word
''vitędzь'' due to the borrowing of this word from
Germanic languages
The Germanic languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family spoken natively by a population of about 515 million people mainly in Europe, North America, Oceania and Southern Africa. The most widely spoken Germanic language, Engli ...
(cf. ''
viking
Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden),
who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...
'').
The functions of the god remain a matter of debate. Saxo primarily regards Rugiaevit as a war god – the equivalent of the
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury (planet), Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Mars (mythology), Roman god of war. Mars is a terr ...
. According to Saxo, one of the Charenza gods, probably Rugiaevit, was associated with punishing sexual intercourse, perhaps near the temple, with
vaginismus
Vaginismus is a condition in which involuntary muscle spasm interferes with vaginal intercourse or other penetration of the vagina. This often results in pain with attempts at sex. Often, it begins when vaginal intercourse is first attempted.
...
. According to Gieysztor, Ruyevit was an incarnation of
Perun
In Slavic mythology, Perun (Cyrillic: Перýн) is the highest god of the pantheon and the god of sky, thunder, lightning, storms, rain, law, war, fertility and oak trees. His other attributes were fire, mountains, wind, iris, eagle, f ...
, and links warlike qualities, etymology ("heat", 'fertility'), and punishment for sexual intercourse, with the
Vedic
upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''.
The Vedas (, , ) are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the ...
Indra
Indra (; Sanskrit: इन्द्र) is the king of the devas (god-like deities) and Svarga (heaven) in Hindu mythology. He is associated with the sky, lightning, weather, thunder, storms, rains, river flows, and war. volumes/ref> I ...
, who also combines warlike and sexual functions.
The meaning of the seven faces is unclear. Comparative studies suggest that
polycephaly
Polycephaly is the condition of having more than one head. The term is derived from the Greek stems ''poly'' (Greek: "πολύ") meaning "many" and ''kephalē'' (Greek: "κεφαλή") meaning "head". A polycephalic organism may be thought o ...
is associated with cosmological ideas: the duality of nature, the threefold or sevenfold vertical system, or the fourfold horizontal system. Gieysztor noted the similarity to the myth of an eastern
Finnic people
The Finnic or Fennic peoples, sometimes simply called Finns, are the nations who speak languages traditionally classified in the Finnic (now commonly '' Finno-Permic'') language family, and which are thought to have originated in the region of ...
about seven brothers turning into birds, but as he noted, it is unclear how this motif would have made its way to Rügen.
Swallows, which caused the
Danes
Danes ( da, danskere, ) are a North Germanic ethnic group and nationality native to Denmark and a modern nation identified with the country of Denmark. This connection may be ancestral, legal, historical, or cultural.
Danes generally regard t ...
to laugh, are sometimes called "God's birds" and among the
Slavs
Slavs are the largest European ethnolinguistic group. They speak the various Slavic languages, belonging to the larger Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout northern Eurasia, main ...
are considered the harbinger of spring and the personification of souls, and this would tie Ruyevit to spring as well.
According to
Jacek Banaszkiewicz, a
Polish
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* Poles
Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...
professor of medieval history, the
Charenza gods should not be viewed as three different, "random" gods, but as a specific set of deities. He notes that during the Middle Ages, princely and royal authorities chose as their capital cities or towns where the largest cult centers were located, and cites
Kyiv
Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...
or
Uppsala
Uppsala (, or all ending in , ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the county seat of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inha ...
as examples. In the
temple at Uppsala
The Temple at Uppsala was a religious center in the ancient Norse religion once located at what is now Gamla Uppsala (Swedish "Old Uppsala"), Sweden attested in Adam of Bremen's 11th-century work '' Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum'' and ...
, a trinity consisting of
Thor
Thor (; from non, Þórr ) is a prominent god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding æsir, god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred trees and groves in Germanic paganism and mythology, sacred groves ...
,
Odin
Odin (; from non, Óðinn, ) is a widely revered Æsir, god in Germanic paganism. Norse mythology, the source of most surviving information about him, associates him with wisdom, healing, death, royalty, the gallows, knowledge, war, battle, v ...
, and
Freyr
Freyr (Old Norse: 'Lord'), sometimes anglicized as Frey, is a widely attested god in Norse mythology, associated with kingship, fertility, peace, and weather. Freyr, sometimes referred to as Yngvi-Freyr, was especially associated with Sweden an ...
was worshipped. Each of the gods, according to
Georges Dumézil's
trifunctional hypothesis
The trifunctional hypothesis of prehistoric Proto-Indo-European society postulates a tripartite ideology ("''idéologie tripartite''") reflected in the existence of three classes or castes— priests, warriors, and commoners (farmers or trades ...
, was responsible for a particular area, fundamental for the existence of the society: Thor was the most powerful god, sat on the middle throne, was responsible for the weather, and thus for the harvest, and is also the thunderer, Odin was responsible for war, and Freyr for peace, prosperity, and pleasure. Banaszkiewicz notes, however, that there are often shifts in competence between the first two gods. In the case of the Rugian trinity, however, he offers a different interpretation. On the basis of comparative mythology, he considers Rugiaevit to be the chief god of the
Rani, as evidenced by the most magnificent temple in the middle of the castle, a
purple color, statue made of
oak
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...
, who leads the battle and is the ruler of Rügen and the Rugian community. On the other hand, he considers Porevit and Porenut as
divine twins
The Divine Twins are youthful horsemen, either gods or demigods, who serve as rescuers and healers in Proto-Indo-European mythology.
Like other Proto-Indo-European divinities, the Divine Twins are not directly attested by archaeological or writt ...
who complement the chief deity with their universal qualities. This interpretation is supported by the fact that chief deities in other religions are also sometimes worshipped together with divine twins (where the chief god is the father of the twins). A similar view was expressed by Gieysztor, who considered Ruyevit to be a local
hypostasis of
Perun
In Slavic mythology, Perun (Cyrillic: Перýн) is the highest god of the pantheon and the god of sky, thunder, lightning, storms, rain, law, war, fertility and oak trees. His other attributes were fire, mountains, wind, iris, eagle, f ...
.
References
Bibliography
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{{Authority control
Slavic gods
War gods
Fertility gods