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Svetovit, Sventovit, Svantovit is the god of abundance and war, and the chief god of the
Slavic tribe This is a list of Slavic peoples and Slavic tribes reported in Late Antiquity and in the Middle Ages, that is, before the year AD 1500. Ancestors *Proto-Indo-Europeans (Proto-Indo-European speakers) ** Proto-Balto-Slavs (common ancestors of Ba ...
of the
Rani ''Rani'' in Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia, sometimes spelled ''Ranee'', is a Hindu/Sanskrit feminine given name. The term is the female form of the term for princely rulers in South and Southeast Asia and applies equally to the wife of a ...
, and later of all the Polabian Slavs. His organized cult was located on the island of Rügen, at Cape Arkona, where his main temple was also located. According to the descriptions of medieval chroniclers, the statue representing this god had four heads, a horn and a sword, and to the deity himself were dedicated a white horse, a saddle, a bit, a flag, and eagles. Once a year, after the
harvest Harvesting is the process of gathering a ripe crop from the fields. Reaping is the cutting of grain or pulse for harvest, typically using a scythe, sickle, or reaper. On smaller farms with minimal mechanization, harvesting is the most labor-i ...
, a large festival was held in his honor. With the help of a horn and a horse belonging to the god, the priests carried out divinations, and at night the god himself rode a horse to fight his enemies. His name can be translated as "Strong Lord" or "Holy Lord". In the past it was often mistakenly believed that the cult of Svetovit originated from
St. Vitus Vitus (), whose name is sometimes rendered Guy or Guido, was a Christian martyr from Sicily. His surviving hagiography is pure legend. The dates of his actual life are unknown.Basil Watkins, ''The Book of Saints: A Comprehensive Biographical D ...
. Among scholars of Slavic mythology, Svetovit is often regarded as a Polabian
hypostasis Hypostasis, hypostatic, or hypostatization (hypostatisation; from the Ancient Greek , "under state") may refer to: * Hypostasis (philosophy and religion), the essence or underlying reality ** Hypostasis (linguistics), personification of entities ...
of Pan-Slavic god Perun. His cult collapsed in 1168.


Etymology

In Latin records, this theonym is notated as la, Suantouitus, label=none, la, Suantouith, label=none, la, Suantuitho, label=none, la, Szuentevit, label=none, la, Suantevit, label=none, la, Zuantevith, label=none, and others, and in
Old Icelandic Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlement ...
as and . Scholars agree on the reading of the Latin records; the digraphs ⟨an⟩ and ⟨en⟩ indicate a Slavic
nasal vowel A nasal vowel is a vowel that is produced with a lowering of the soft palate (or velum) so that the air flow escapes through the nose and the mouth simultaneously, as in the French vowel or Amoy []. By contrast, oral vowels are produced wit ...
. In the first part of the theonym, there is an Polabian language, Old Polabian continuation of the Proto-Slavic language, Proto-Slavic adjective wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/svętъ, ''*svętъ'' (with a nasal . At the Old Polabian stage, at least in northern dialects, as a result of the transition of into (nasal , ''*svętъ'' passed into Old Polabian dialectal ''*svąt-''. On this basis, the Old Polabian dialectal theonym is reconstructed as ''*Svątevit''. In English publications god's name is being transcribed as ''Svantovit'' (from reconstructed Old Polabian ''*Svątevit''), ''Sventovit'' or ''Svetovit'' (from hypothetical Common Slavic ''*Svętovitъ''). The prevailing view in the literature is that wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/svętъ, ''*svętъ'' in Proto-Slavic language meant "strong, mighty", and only under the influence of Christianity did it acquire the religious meaning of "holy, sacred". Such a view was held by Aleksander Brückner, Stanisław Rospond and many others. Nowadays, however, this view is sometimes criticized and it is suggested that the meaning of "holy, sacred" should be considered original, Proto-Slavic. Against the influence of Christianity on the meaning of the word is contradicted primarily by its etymology: the closest
cognate In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words in different languages that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymology, etymological ancestor in a proto-language, common parent language. Because language c ...
s are
Lithuanian Lithuanian may refer to: * Lithuanians * Lithuanian language * The country of Lithuania * Grand Duchy of Lithuania * Culture of Lithuania * Lithuanian cuisine * Lithuanian Jews as often called "Lithuanians" (''Lita'im'' or ''Litvaks'') by other Jew ...
''šventas'' and Old Prussian ''swints'' "holy, sacred", which, like PS ''*svętъ'', are derived from the Proto-Balto-Slavic ''*śwentas''. Also closely related is the
Avestan Avestan (), or historically Zend, is an umbrella term for two Old Iranian languages: Old Avestan (spoken in the 2nd millennium BCE) and Younger Avestan (spoken in the 1st millennium BCE). They are known only from their conjoined use as the scrip ...
"holy, sacred" and Sanskrit . Also further related are the Proto-Germanic ''*hunsla'' "offering, sacrifice", and possibly Thracian *θιντ and Proto-Celtic ''*penta''. The Slavic word and words related to it ultimately come from the Proto-Indo-European root ''*ḱwen-'' "to celebrate".
Rick Derksen Rick Derksen (born 1964) is a Dutch linguist and Indo-Europeanist at the University of Leiden. He is specialist in Balto-Slavic historical linguistics with an emphasis on accentology and etymology. He's a contributor to Leiden-based Indo-Euro ...
reconstructs PS meaning of ''*svętъ'' as "holy, sacred",
Wiesław Boryś :"Wiesław" is sometimes transliterated as "Wieslaw", in the absence of ''L with stroke.'' Wiesław () is a Polish masculine given name, of Slavonic origin, meaning "great glory" or "all glory". It is the shortened, more common, form of the person ...
as "being the object of religious reverence, worship". In academic literature, the theonym is traditionally divided morphologically as ''Sveto-vit'' – in the second part there is supposed to be a suffix ''-vit'' (hypothetical PS ''*-vitъ'') meaning "lord, ruler, hero". The suffix is supposed to derive from ''*vitędzь'' "warrior, hero" of Germanic etymology. Some researchers, however, have rejected the connection of the suffix with ''*vitędzь'' precisely because of the Germanic origin of the word; some scholars have linked the suffix to the word ''*vitati'' "to invite, to wish health", or the hypothetical verb ''*viti''. Depending on which original meaning of the word ''*svętъ'' a given scholar takes, the theonym is translated, for example, as "Strong hero", "Strong ruler and lord", or "Holy victor", "Holy lord". Some scholars also divide the theonym as ''Svet-ovit'', where the suffix ''-ovit'' means "one who has much (of something)", "characterized by (something)", and the theonym Svetovit is supposed to mean "The one with much that is holy".


Other propositions

Brückner found the interpretation of the name problematic. He eventually suggested a possible connection with the hypothetical Old Polish word ''świętowity'' "holy, sacred", but this interpretation was rejected by
Stanisław Urbańczyk Stanisław Urbańczyk (27 July 1909 – 23 October 2001) was a Polish linguist and academic, a professor at the universities of Toruń, Poznań and Kraków. He was the head of the Institute of the Polish Language at the Polish Academy of Sciences ...
. The source material, however, confirms the existence of this type of words in Slavic languages, cf.
Belarusian Belarusian may refer to: * Something of, or related to Belarus * Belarusians, people from Belarus, or of Belarusian descent * A citizen of Belarus, see Demographics of Belarus * Belarusian language * Belarusian culture * Belarusian cuisine * Byelor ...
dialectal , Russian , Ukrainian "holy, sacred", also probably Old Polish ''*świętowa'' "holy, sacred", all from Slavic ''*svętovy''. If this etymology is correct, the theonym consists of the adjective ''*svętovy'', and the suffix ''*-itъ(jь)''. It has also been proposed that the meaning of the first part of the theonym should be translated, for example, as "world", or "light" (PS ''*světъ''), but this interpretation has been rejected by linguists. A completely incorrect reading is ''Sviatovid'' / ''Svietovid'' (Polish ''Światowid'') "God seeing the
four directions The four cardinal directions, or cardinal points, are the four main compass directions: north, east, south, and west, commonly denoted by their initials N, E, S, and W respectively. Relative to north, the directions east, south, and west are at ...
of the world" invented by 19th century
Polish Romantics Romanticism in Poland, a literary, artistic and intellectual period in the evolution of Polish culture, began around 1820, coinciding with the publication of Adam Mickiewicz's first poems in 1822. It ended with the suppression of the January Upris ...
, where the suffix is supposed to be ''-vid'' "to see" (cf. Polish ''widzieć'' "to see").


Sources

Svetovit is mentioned by three sources: the main information is given by Helmold's '' Chronica Slavorum'' and Saxo Grammaticus' '' Gesta Danorum''; he is also mentioned by '' Knýtlinga saga''.' Saxo writes most extensively about Svetovit, his description of this god is the longest known text on the beliefs of 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 ...
. Excerpt from Saxo's description:
In the city center there was a flat space, where a temple made of wood could be found, which was very elegantly crafted, worthy of veneration not only because of the magnificence of its decorations, but also because of the divinity of the image placed inside. The outside perimeter of the building gleamed with a well-maintained covering, which consisted of shapes of different things painted in a crude, primitive style. Only one entry door could be seen. However, the temple itself was closed off by two enclosures, of whose walls the outside set was covered by a red roof; the interior, on the other hand, which was supported over four pillars, shone with wall hangings instead of walls, and did not share any structure with the exterior except the roof and a few beams.
In the temple, an enormous statue, which exceeded any type of human body in size, left one stunned, with its four heads and equal number of necks, of which two seemed to look at the chest and another two at the back. And of the two located on the front as well as the two on the back, one seemed to be gazing to the right and the other to the left. They had close-shaved beards and very short hair, such that one could think that the maker had imitated the Rani’s style of doing their hair. In its right hand it held a horn decorated with several types of metal, that the priest who was an expert in their rites would fill each year with pure wine, in order to make predictions about the coming year’s harvest through the state of the liquor itself. On the left there was a bow in the arm turned towards the side. There was a sculpted tunic that fell to its feet, which, made of different types of wood, connected to the knees with a junction that was so invisible that the point of union could only be discovered after a very careful examination. The feet were at ground level, with the base hidden below the floor. Not very far away were some bridles and a chair for the statue, and many emblems of the deity. The admiration for these things was further increased by a sword of an astonishing size, whose scabbard and hilt, in addition to excellent embossed decorations, were also covered in splendid silver.
Every year, every man and woman paid a coin as a donation for the worship of this idol. The idol was also given a third of the loot and the results of plundering, as if they had been attained and taken for his protection. This same god had three hundred horses and the same number of men who served as warriors on them, and all of their earnings, obtained through arms or robbery, were given to the custody of the priest, who, using the profits from these things,would create different types of emblems and various adornmentsfor the temple, and store them in tightly closed chests, in which, in addition to abundant money, a large amount of purple cloth had accumulated, eaten by time. There could also be seen an enormous amount of public and private donations, given by the fervent offerings of those who asked the deity for favors.
This deity also had in many other places other temples, which were governed by priests of a lower rank with less power. In addition to this, it had in its possession its own private horse, which was white, and whose mane and tail hair it was considered a bad omen to cut. Only one priest was allowed to feed it and ride it, so that the use of the divine animal was not seen as less valuable by being more frequent. In the opinion of the Rani, it was believed that Svetovit—that was the name of the idol—waged war against the enemies of his cult on this horse. The most important argument supporting this was that, when the horse remained in the stable the entire night, very often he would appear in the morning covered with sweat and mud, as if, returning from exercising, he had traveled long distances.


Svetovit and Saint Vitus

According to some scholars, the theonym ''Svetovit'' allegedly derives from '' Saint Vitus'', because in Slavic languages both names sound very similar. Supporters of this theory cite Helmold, who cites the so-called "Corvey legend" in two versions (in the first version, he calls it an , in the second, he calls it a ) according to which the tribe of the
Rani ''Rani'' in Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia, sometimes spelled ''Ranee'', is a Hindu/Sanskrit feminine given name. The term is the female form of the term for princely rulers in South and Southeast Asia and applies equally to the wife of a ...
living on the island of Rügen was Christianized in the ninth century, and then abandoned Christianity and idolized Saint Vitus:
For an old relation of our ancestors tells that in times of Ludovicus II a group of monks famous for their holiness left Corvey. Hungry for the salvation of the Slavs, they insisted on suffering dangers and death in order to preach the word of God. After passing through many provinces, they arrived at those who were called Rani or Rujani and lived in the middle of the sea. That is the home of error and the seat of idolatry. After faithfully preaching the word of God, they won over the entire island, where they even founded an oratory in honor of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and in memory of Saint Vitus, who is the patron saint of Corvey. Later, the situation having changed with permission from God, the Rani moved away from the faith and, immediately driving out the priests and the Christians, changed religion for superstition. For they worshiped Saint Vitus, who we revere as a martyr and servant of Christ, as a god, setting creatures over the creator. There is no other barbarism under heaven more horrifying to Christians and priests; they only rejoiced in the name o Saint Vitus, to whom they even dedicated a temple and a statue with a very significant cult and they attribute especially to him the primacy of the gods. They ask of him prophetic answers regarding all the provinces of the Slavs, and pay sacrificial tribute annually. Not even the traders who coincidentally arrive at those places can sell or buy anything if they do not first make an offering of some precious object from their wares to the god and only then can they make their goods available to the public at the market. They honor their high priest no less than they would a king. And thus, from the time that they renounced their first faith, this superstition perseveres among the Rani until the present.
Such a view was expressed by Evelino Gasparini, or Henryk Łowmiański, but Łowmiański rejected the authenticity of the legend. Instead, he proposed a hypothesis according to which the cult of St Vitus was supposed to have spread from Prague to Brenna – from there came
Drahomira ''Drahomira'' is an extinct genus of paleozoic monoplacophorans in the family Tryblidiidae. Distribution Czech Republic. Genera Species in the genus ''Drahomira'' include:
, the mother of Wenceslaus I, the founder of St. Vitus' Church in Prague – where it was accepted as a deity by tolerant Slavs, and after the fall of Brenna it was supposed to have reached Rügen. The view of the Christian origin of Svetovit is rejected by most scholars and historians. It is generally believed that this legend was invented in the 12th century to justify political claims to Rügen, already known since the mid-11th century. First of all, it is impossible that there was a Christianization of
Polabia :''"Polabian Slavs" is often used as a general term for the West Slavs of Germany. This article is about the specific tribe called "Polabians".'' The Polabians (german: Polaben; la, Polabi) were a constituent Lechitic tribe of the Obotrites who ...
in the ninth century, let alone of Rügen in the ninth century – the first documents attesting the Christianization of Rügen appear only after the fall of the Slavic Arkona in
1168 Year 1168 ( MCLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Levant * Summer – King Amalric I of Jerusalem, and Byzantine emperor Manuel I (Komnenos), ne ...
, although chroniclers of the time were eager to describe the Christianization of any pagans – the Christianization of Rügen is not mentioned by Widukind of Corvey ('' The Deeds of the Saxons''), nor by Adam of Bremen ('' Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum''). There is also an argument against such borrowing by given names of similar construction, e.g. ''Milovit'', ''Radovit'', ''Siemovit'', etc. It is also unclear why the Slavs would consider an unpopular saint as a chief deity. The cult of St. Vitus itself was transferred to the Polabian region from Prague, not from Corvey. The origin of this legend is unclear. Helmold mentions a Christianizing mission to Rügen, but makes no mention of a tribute, and the monastery makes no mention of a mission, but mentions the right to collect a tribute from Rügen. The first to mention the loss of Corvey's right to Rügen was Abbot (d. 1071), but this is probably a later
interpolation In the mathematical field of numerical analysis, interpolation is a type of estimation, a method of constructing (finding) new data points based on the range of a discrete set of known data points. In engineering and science, one often has a n ...
. The first reliable, albeit indirect, information about the Rügen tribute was given by the ''Annales Corbeienses'', which describe the expedition of Duke Lotar III in 1114 against the Lutici union. The defeated
Circipanians Circipania (german: Circipanien, Zirzipanien) was a medieval territory in what is now northeastern Germany. The name derives from Latin ''circum'' (around) and ''Pane'' (the Peene River). The region was enclosed roughly by the upper Recknitz, Treb ...
tribe admitted that they had once paid tribute in the form of fox skins or coins to St. Vitus in Corvey (where his relics had been located since 836). According to Łowmiański, this confession to paying tribute was a fabrication to appease Lotar's wrath, since there is no evidence whatsoever that the Circipanians paid tribute before that date. According to Roman Zaroff, however, this information is also a forgery; according to Janisław Osięgłowski, the legend originated around 1110-1114 and was started by monks from Corvey who knew the Slavic language and participated in Lotar's war expedition. When they learned about the island and the benefits that could be derived from its possession, the similarity of the words ''Svetovit'' and ''Saint Vitus'' prompted them to create the legend, claims, however, that the legend may have originated even earlier, but it was not practically applied for the first time until 1114. According to , the information about Svetovit, whose cult prevailed among the Pomeranian Slavs after the fall of Rethra, may have reached Corvey through merchants charged with donations to Svetovit, or returning prisoners of war who were kidnapped by . The person who translated the theonym was able to translate the first part of the theonym as corresponding to Latin ''sanctus'', but was unable to translate the second part (''-vit''), which, with the medieval tendency toward etymologization, resulted in a legendary identification.


In Serbia

Some publications claim that Svetovit was also worshipped in Serbia (and Croatia), as evidenced by the holiday of '' Vidovdan'' (literally "St. Vitus Day"). This holiday, which was originally associated with St. Vitus, was forgotten over time and began to regain its popularity in 1818 after the publication of Vuk Karadžić's '' Srpski rječnik'', where Vidovdan is mentioned as the day of the
Battle of Kosovo The Battle of Kosovo ( tr, Kosova Savaşı; sr, Косовска битка) took place on 15 June 1389 between an army led by the Serbian Prince Lazar Hrebeljanović and an invading army of the Ottoman Empire under the command of Sultan ...
. Since the mid-19th century, with the rise of Serbian romanticism, this holiday among all Serbs began to symbolize the nation's heroism in the fight against the Ottoman Empire. In 1864 the holiday returned to the church calendar, but at that time the holiday was mainly treated as a day to commemorate the battle of Kosovo and the death of
Prince Lazar Lazar Hrebeljanović ( sr-cyr, Лазар Хребељановић; ca. 1329 – 15 June 1389) was a medieval List of Serbian monarchs, Serbian ruler who created the largest and most powerful state on the territory of the disintegrated Serbia ...
. For this reason, there were even claims in the scholarly literature that Vidovdan is not related to St. Vitus at all. At the end of the 19th century, in his book Natko Nodilo attributes the cult of Svetovit to all Slavs, whose cult was to be deliberately replaced by a saint with a similar name to facilitate Christianization. Based on this book,
Miodrag Popović Miodrag Popović ( sr-cyr, Миодраг Поповић; 1920-2005) was a Yugoslav and Serbian historian. Works Monographies *''Vuk Stefanović Karadžić 1787-1864'', 1964 *''Istorija srpske književnosti – romantizam I – III'', 196 ...
argues for the pagan origin of the holiday. Popović is later referred to by , according to whom Vidovdan is a festival of the deity ''Vid'', and the Kosovo myth developed alongside the cult of this deity, as well as ethnologists Dušan Bandić and Mila Bosić. Even today, the view of the cult of Svetovit among Serbs and Croats comes up for discussion; his name is often stylized as ''Svetovid'' or ''Vid'' to make the name similar to toponymy and other proper names (e.g. ''
Vidova Gora Vidova gora (780 m.a.s.l., some sources say 778m) is the highest peak on the island of Brač, Croatia, and also the highest peak on all Adriatic The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkans, Balkan P ...
''), which are supposed to be remnants of his cult. However, the theory of the knowledge of the god Svetovit in the South Slavs cannot be accepted – it is widely believed in the scholarly community that the god Svetovit was known only to the Polabian Slavs and did not have a pan-Slavic range, and the Serbo-Croatian toponymy and proper names refer to St. Vitus ().


Cult

Once a year there was a big feast in honor of the god. The day before, the priest would clean the temple, taking care not to let out any breath inside the temple, so as not to defile the presence of the god with human breath. The feast was held after the
harvest Harvesting is the process of gathering a ripe crop from the fields. Reaping is the cutting of grain or pulse for harvest, typically using a scythe, sickle, or reaper. On smaller farms with minimal mechanization, harvesting is the most labor-i ...
. After the crowd gathered in front of the temple, animals were sacrificed and then a feast was held. The next day the crowd gathered in front of the temple and the priest checked the amount of alcohol in the horn situated in the statue of the god – if there was a lack of alcohol poured earlier, it predicted a crop failure and the priest ordered to make provisions, if there was no lack the priest predicted a good harvest for the next year. Then the priest poured out the liquor from the horn under the statue's feet and poured fresh liquor asking for prosperity for himself and the people. The priest would finish the ritual by taking a large gulp from the horn, then refilling it again and placing it in the statue. There is also a well-known ritual connected with a round cake seasoned with honey of a large size, which the priest would put in front of him and ask the people gathered in front of him if they could see him. When the crowd answered that they had seen it, the priest wished them that they would not be able to see him the following year, which amounted to a wish for a larger harvest. The priest admonished the people to offer sacrifices to the god to ensure prosperity. The Slavs voluntarily gave one coin a year to Svetovit. The god was also given ⅓ of the captured armor of enemies. Neighboring kings were also said to have made gifts to the deity, such as a Danish king named , probably
Sweyn III of Denmark Sweyn III GratheFor the significance of the epithet, see Tripartition ( da, Svend III Grathe) ( – 23 October 1157) was the King of Denmark between 1146 and 1157, in shifting alliances with Canute V and his own cousin Valdemar I. In 1157 ...
, who offered him a precious cup. Merchants who came to trade on the island of Rügen were taxed in honour of Svetovit. A white horse was sacrificed to Svetovit. The god himself was supposed to ride this horse at night to fight his enemies, which was proved by the fact that in the morning the horse was drowsy and dirty. The horse could only be ridden by a priest to diminish the value of the horse, and pulling a hair from its mane or tail was considered a sin. The horse was also used for divination: the priests set up three rows of spears with the spearheads downwards, where each row of spears was crossed with each other, if the horse crossed these rows of spears with its right foot first, it meant good luck in a planned battle or attack, if with the left first, the battle was called off. Saxo states that a
flag A flag is a piece of fabric (most often rectangular or quadrilateral) with a distinctive design and colours. It is used as a symbol, a signalling device, or for decoration. The term ''flag'' is also used to refer to the graphic design empl ...
( la, stanitia, cf. csb, stanica "flag, banner, ensign, pennant") and ''eagles'' was also dedicated to the god. Saxo does not describe what exactly the ''eagles'' were, but they were located on two sides of a flag, which was located on the gate tower (towards the east) of the only entrance to the gord on Arkona, however the chronicler describes the flag in more detail: it was supposed to be of large size, and to be of a unique color. The flag was also a kind of emblem of the Rugians, and it was revered as almost divine, being sacred and belonging to a deity. According to the chronicler, the flag gave the people who possessed it the ability to plunder cities, destroy temples or houses without suffering consequences, and to execute judgments. The gate, which had a flag and eagles on it, was probably an altar of sorts. This stall was burned during the siege of Arkona. The cult of Svetovit officially ended in June 1168 after the capture of Arkona by the Danes led by King Valdemar I and Bishop Absalon.
(Valdemar) caused the antique statue of Svetovit, which is venerated throughout the country of the Slavs, to be taken out and ordered that a rope be placed around its neck and it be dragged among the entire army in view of the Slavs and, once it was reduced to kindling, that it be tossed into the fire. And he destroyed the temple with all of its cultural apparatuses and looted the shrine’s rich treasure. And he ordered them to abandon the error into which they had been born and to accept the worship of the true God (…).
The fortress where the temple was located was on the island of Rügen, on the northeastern peninsula of Wittow, at the edge of Cape Arkona. The remains of the temple have not survived to modern times, having been swallowed up by the sea. During recent archaeological investigations (20th and 21st centuries), merchant and military objects were found, confirming the high status of the castle, as well as the remains of human sacrifices.


Comparative mythology and interpretations

The theme of horse riding at night is known throughout the Slavdom, but demons are responsible for it. The ritual of hiding behind a round cake is also a Pan-Slavic, and it is documented in Ukraine, Belarus,
Herzegovina Herzegovina ( or ; sh-Latn-Cyrl, Hercegovina, separator=" / ", Херцеговина, ) is the southern and smaller of two main geographical region of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being Bosnia. It has never had strictly defined geogra ...
, and Bulgaria. Divination by means of a horse was also known to the Germanic peoples (according to Tacitus), the Balts, the
Rus Rus or RUS may refer to: People and places * Rus (surname), a Romanian-language surname * East Slavic historical territories and peoples (). See Names of Rus', Russia and Ruthenia ** Rus' people, the people of Rus' ** Rus' territories *** Kievan ...
and in the Avestrian religion. Not breathing in the temple also appears in Zoroastrianism, where it was done to avoid contaminating the sacred fire. The eagles, if they were on two sides of the flag, have their analogy in Polish
seals Seals may refer to: * Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly: ** Earless seal, or "true seal" ** Fur seal * Seal (emblem), a device to impress an emblem, used as a means of a ...
, where the figure of the prince is placed between two eagles, and the stately birds were often in the prince's helmet, which is associated with the sphere of power. The use of flags in a religious context by the Polabian was written about earlier by Thietmar (the flag of Svarozhits in Rethra and the flag of an unknown goddess of the Lutici). Aleksander Gieysztor made a broad
comparative mythology Comparative mythology is the comparison of myths from different cultures in an attempt to identify shared themes and characteristics.Littleton, p. 32 Comparative mythology has served a variety of academic purposes. For example, scholars have used ...
of Svetovit and other Indo-European deities, which led him to consider Svetovit as the chief and thunder god, the Polabian
hypostasis Hypostasis, hypostatic, or hypostatization (hypostatisation; from the Ancient Greek , "under state") may refer to: * Hypostasis (philosophy and religion), the essence or underlying reality ** Hypostasis (linguistics), personification of entities ...
, the "mask" of Perun. The four heads of Svetovit correspond to the number 4, which is associated with thunder gods: in the Balts Thursday was associated with
Perkun 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, firmam ...
, in the Romans Thursday was called ''Iovis dies'' ("Jupiter's day"), and in the Germanic people ''Donnerstag''/''Thursday'' (" Thor's day"). In the Balts, women were not allowed to do certain jobs on Thursdays, and marriages contracted on this day would be happy. In addition, Perkun ruled the four directions of the world and had four faces. The ritual of sacrificing alcohol to Svetovit is connected with the function of the chief god: the Vedic
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 ...
drank a lot of soma, which gave him strength, Jupiter was sacrificed a grape, and the Germanic
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 ...
drank the best honey. He regards the horn of Svetovit as a symbol of power, compares the ritual of exchanging alcohol to the ritual dedicated to Jupiter in the first century BC described by Marcus Terentius Varro, wine and the very rallying from the drink is supposed to be common to many Indo-Europeans. Round cakes are of Indo-European origin – in Rome round cakes were called ''summanalia'', which gave rise to the nickname ''Jupiter
Summanus Summanus ( lat, Summānus) was the god of nocturnal thunder in ancient Roman religion, as counterposed to Jupiter, the god of diurnal (daylight) thunder. His precise nature was unclear even to Ovid. Pliny thought that he was of Etruscan origin, ...
'', and round cakes were also used in rituals in India. The association of Svetovit with the
harvest Harvesting is the process of gathering a ripe crop from the fields. Reaping is the cutting of grain or pulse for harvest, typically using a scythe, sickle, or reaper. On smaller farms with minimal mechanization, harvesting is the most labor-i ...
is also linked to the festival of Jupiter, '' epulum Iovis'', held on September 13, associated with the end of the harvest. He compares divination predicting success in war by means of a horse and spear to the spears of Mars hidden in his ''sacrarium'' in Regia, the movement of which foretold peace or war. The declaration of war itself, however, belonged to Jupiter – his priest performed the ceremony of declaring war, which ended with the throwing of a spear (''hasta ferrata'') into enemy territory. In addition to Svetovit, the hypostasis of Perun, according to him, is also to be Yarovit and Ruyevit. Svetovit as a hypostasis of Perun was also considered by Vyacheslav Ivanov and Vladimir Toporov. There was a temple of Perun in Peryn. The statue of this god was in the middle of a circle, four
bonfire A bonfire is a large and controlled outdoor fire, used either for informal disposal of burnable waste material or as part of a celebration. Etymology The earliest recorded uses of the word date back to the late 15th century, with the Catho ...
s oriented to the four directions of the world were placed on the edges of the circle, and four additional hearths were placed between them. Each main hearth could serve as an altar dedicated to a different hypostasis of Perun; the eastern hearth had more coal than the others. According to Ivanov and Toporov, this may correspond to the four heads of Svetovit and the four columns in the temple, and the eastern orientation of the temple at Arkona. Svetovit was also recognized by Radoslav Katičić as the Polabian hypostasis of Perun. He rejected the alleged cult of ''Svetovid'', or ''Vid'' in Serbia as unjustified, but regardless of this theory he recognizes that St. Vitus in Serbia replaced the cult of Perun, as indicated by his worship of this saint. On the other hand, considered Svetovit to be the god of vegetation and fertility, who also possessed solar qualities – he was a sun-hero, possessing a white horse. With time he acquired warlike qualities. According to Aleksander Brückner, Svetovit,
Triglav Triglav (; german: Terglau; it, Tricorno), with an elevation of , is the highest mountain in Slovenia and the highest peak of the Julian Alps. The mountain is the pre-eminent symbol of the Slovene nation. It is the centrepiece of Triglav Natio ...
, Svarog and Dazhbog are one and the same deity worshipped under different names;
Stanisław Urbańczyk Stanisław Urbańczyk (27 July 1909 – 23 October 2001) was a Polish linguist and academic, a professor at the universities of Toruń, Poznań and Kraków. He was the head of the Institute of the Polish Language at the Polish Academy of Sciences ...
believed that Svetovit replaced Svarog, Svarozhits or Perun.


''Wolin Svetovit''

Scholars have also linked to Svetovit a figurine, the so-called
Wolin Svetovit Wolin Svetovit is either a 9th- or a 10th-century figurine made from the wood of European yew tree, discovered in 1974, in the island of Wolin, Poland.Aleksander Gieysztor: ''Mitologia Słowian''. Warsaw: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego, 200 ...
, found on the island of Wolin, on which four faces are carved looking in four directions. The figurine is tall and was found in a house, which was located near a building interpreted as a probable temple. It is dated to the second half of the 9th century.


Zbruch idol

Some scholars see an analogy to Svetovit in an idol from Zbruch, the so-called ''Sviatovid''. This statue was found in 1848 from the bottom of the Zbruch River, a tributary of the Dniester. It is a quadrangular limestone pillar, generally dated to the 9th-10th centuries. On the top are four faces facing the four directions of the world. Below, the four sides are covered with reliefs, which are often interpreted as specific deities, which are divided into three levels, which are sometimes interpreted as a cosmological division. However, there are disagreements about the interpretation of the statue, as well as divergent views about its dating, the very belonging to Slavic culture is also subject to criticism.


In archeology


In Altenkirchen

In the ( from Arkona), in the 13th-century wall of the sacristy, there is a granite slab measuring 1.19 × 1.68 m depicting a man with a moustache, wearing a cap and a long robe, holding a large horn. The slab is dated to the 10th-11th centuries, although it was not set into the wall until the 13th century or later; according to David Chytraeus, the stone was already there in 1586 and was called ("Jaromir's stone"). In the 18th century the slab was surrounded by the black painted inscription ("St. Vitus or Svantevit"), nowadays almost completely erased. Chytraeus, following a local legend, believed the slab to be a representation of Svetovit – a belief that persisted in Rügen folk tradition until the 19th century. Some scholars believed that the slab was, for example, a reused tombstone of some Christian, such as
Jaromir Jaromír, Jaromir, Jaroměr is a Slavic male given name. Origin and meaning Jaromír is a West Slavic given name composed of two stems ''jaro'' and ''mír''. The meaning is not definite: *Polish ''jary'' (archaic) = „spry, young, strong“; ''m ...
's brother, Tetzlav. However, this is considered unlikely nowadays: the lack of Christian symbolism, the depreciative position (lying down, head down), and the horn and mustache, which were attributes of the god, indicate that this slab depicts Svetovit. File:Svantevitstein 2.jpg File:Steinrelief Pfarrkirche Altenkirchen.jpg File:Slawischer Grabstein, Rügen.jpg


In Bergen

In the context of Svetovit there is also a similar sized granite slab built into the outer wall of . The slab carves a figure (the so-called ''Monk'') with folded arms on his chest in which he holds a cross. However, the cross is most likely located in place of a horn that had been carved earlier, analogous to the one in the Altenkirchen bas-relief. File:Bildstein Marienkirche Bergen auf Rügen - 2020-06-22 b.jpg File:Bildstein Marienkirche Bergen auf Rügen - 2020-06-22 a.jpg


In Rodnovery

Nowadays there are religious associations referring to the ancient religion of the Slavs. The community that refers to the cult of Svetovit is Native Polish Church. Members of this religious association acknowledge the existence of the supreme god ( henotheism), which is Svetovit. In this context, this community refers to the words of Helmold and Procopius, according to which the Slavs knew the concept of the supreme god.


In art

File:Slavnost svatovitova na rujane.jpg, ''The Celebration of Svantovit'', Alphonse Mucha, 1912 File:Sventovit by Andrey Shishkin.jpg, ''Svetovit'', Andrey Shishkin, 2017 File:Świętowit of Rugia.jpg, ''Świętowit of Rugia'', Marek Hapon, 2016 File:Moderne Svantevit.jpg, Statue of Svetovit on Arkona by Marius Grusas File:Svetovit by Ludwig Albrecht Gebhardi.png, Svetovit in ''Fortsetzung der Algemeinen Welthistorie...'' by Ludwig Albrecht Gebhardieg


References

; Notes ; References


Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ; Dictionaries * * * * * * * *


External links

* commissioned by {{Authority control Abundance gods Fertility gods Oracular gods Slavic gods Supernatural beings identified with Christian saints War gods Horse deities