The Danish chronicler Saxo Grammaticus (1140-1208) wrote a 16-volume chronicle of the Acts of the Danes (Gesta Danorum), which describes the history of Denmark from ancient times to the 12th century, as well as the history of some other northern countries, including the West Slavic ones. In particular, this book describes Arkona (or as the Germans now call it - Jaromarsburg), the capital of the Slavic tribe of the Ruyans (Rans) on the island of Ruyan (now Rügen), whose Slavic population at the time of its conquest in the 12th century, according to Western sources, was at least 70,000 people.

Arkona was a city-temple, the focus of the faith of the Western Slavs. And not only them. The Danish king Svein (960-1014) donated booty to the temple of Arkona. Back in the 11th century, pilgrims from the Christian Czech Republic went to bow to its main shrine, the four-headed idol of Svyatovit. The Temple of Arkona became the main religious center of the Slavic Pomerania in the 9th-12th centuries. He had vast land plots that gave him income; duties were collected in his favor from merchants who traded in Arkona, from industrialists who caught herring off the island of Ruyan. He was brought a third of the spoils of war, all the jewels, gold, silver and pearls obtained in the war. Therefore, chests filled with jewels stood in the temple.

Here is what Sakon Grammatik writes: “The city of Arkona lies on the top of a high cliff; from the north, east and south it is protected by natural protection ... from the west side it is protected by a high embankment of 50 cubits ... In the middle of the city lies an open square on which rises a wooden temple, of excellent work, but venerable not so much for the splendor of architecture, but for the greatness of God, to whom erected here. The entire outer side of the building shone with skillfully made bas-reliefs of various figures, but ugly and crudely painted.

Only one entrance was into the interior of the temple, surrounded by a double fence ... In the temple itself there was a large, exceeding human height, idol (Sventovita) with four heads, on the same number of necks, of which two came out of the chest and two - to the ridge, but so that of both front and both rear heads, one looked to the right, and the other to the left. Hair and beard were cut short, and in this, it seemed, the artist conformed to the habit of ruddy.

In his right hand, the idol held a horn made of various metals, which was usually filled every year with wine from the hands of a priest for divination about the fertility of the next year; the left hand was likened to a bow. The upper one descended to the berets, which were composed of various types of trees and were so skillfully connected to the knees that only upon careful examination could one distinguish the fugues. The legs were level with the ground, their foundation was made under the floor.

In a small distance, the bridle and saddle of the idol with other accessories were visible. The viewer was most struck by a huge sword, a scabbard, the black of which, in addition to beautiful carved forms, was distinguished by silver trim ... In addition, this god also had temples in many other places, ruled by priests of lesser importance. In addition, he had a horse with him, completely white, from which it was considered impiety to pull out the hair from the mane or tail ...

Only the priest had the right to feed and saddle this horse: the divine animal could not be offended by frequent use. The Ruyans believed that Svantevit rides on this horse to fight the enemies of his sanctuary and his land. And the proof of this was allegedly the fact that they often found him in the morning in the stall covered with sweat and mud, as if he had come a long way.

Also from the horse of this prediction were accepted. When a military campaign was going, the servants of the Sventavit temple stuck six spears crosswise into the ground in front of the sanctuary, after which they brought the sacred horse to them. If he stepped through the spears with his right hoof, this was considered a good omen for the outcome of hostilities. If at least once he raised his left hoof first, then the trip to foreign lands was canceled. In the same way, the sea trip was canceled if the white horse of Sventavit did not go on the right foot through the spears, and even decisions on trade transactions depended on the predictions of the oracle ... Sventovit was symbolized by various signs, in particular, carved eagles and banners, the main of which was called Stanitsa ... Power this small piece of canvas was stronger than the power of the prince ... "

Every year, sacrifices were made in the sanctuary city. They took place in late summer, after the harvest. To find out how this important festival for the Western Slavs took place, let us again turn to the testimony of Saxo the Grammar:

“Every year after the harvest, a mixed crowd from all over the island in front of the temple of the god, sacrificing cattle, celebrated a solemn feast, which was called sacred. His priest, who, contrary to paternal custom, was distinguished by a long beard and hair, on the eve of the day when it was necessary to perform the ritual, the small sanctuary - where only he could enter - usually carefully cleaned with a broom, making sure that there was no human breath in the room. Whenever it was necessary to inhale or exhale, he went to the exit, so that the presence of the god would not be defiled by the breath of a mortal.

The next day, when the people stood at the entrance, he, taking a vessel from the statue, carefully observed whether the level of the poured liquid had dropped, and then he expected a crop failure next year. Noticing this, he ordered those present to store up fruits for the future. If he did not foresee any decrease in the usual fertility, he predicted the coming time of abundance of fields. After such a divination, he ordered the harvest of this year either more economically, or more generously spent. Having poured out the old wine at the feet of the idol, like a libation, he poured the empty vessel again: as if drinking for health, he honored the statue, both for himself and for the fatherland, good luck to the townspeople in multiplying victories with solemn words. Having finished this, he brought the horn to his lips, drank extremely quickly, in one gulp, and, filled again with wine, inserted it again into the right hand of the statue.

Having made a cake with honey wine of a round shape, the size of which was almost equal to human height, he proceeded to the sacrifice. Putting him between himself and the people, the priest, according to custom, asked if the rouge could see him. When they answered that they saw, he wished that in a year they would not be able to see. With this kind of prayer, he asked not for his own or the people's fate, but for the growth of the future harvest ...

Every year a coin is due to the idol from each husband and each woman as a fee for veneration. He is also given a third of the booty, since it was acquired with his help. This god also has in his service 300 selected horses and the same number of horsemen, all the booty of which, acquired by war or robbery, is under the supervision of a priest, who, in return for these things, orders to cast various sacred objects and temple decorations, which he keeps in locked rooms, where, in addition to a lot of money, there is also a lot of purple clothes worn out from time to time ... "

Arkona was guarded by specially trained temple warriors, recruited from young men of noble Slavic families, who remained professional warriors for life. There were 300 of them for each temple city, therefore, in battles, 300 knights on horses, the same color as the deity’s horse, marched ahead of the Polabian troops: for example, 300 Svyatovit warriors on white horses, 300 Triglav warriors on black horses. In addition to protecting the sacred cities, their duties also included collecting tribute from the surrounding Baltic tribes and peoples.

In addition to Arkona, there was another one on Ruyan Big City cult purpose. It was called Korenitsa. In the XII century, there was the residence of the ruler of Ruyan. It was a huge fortress city, surrounded by impenetrable bogs and swamps, built up with wooden three-story buildings.

However, it is reliably known that, with the exception of the residence of the ruler, Korenitsa was not a residential city, like Arkona. People came there either for worship, or during the war, using the city as a refuge. Such was the tradition of the Ruyans. We will also find information about the city from Saxo Grammaticus, when he describes the actions of the Danish invaders who stormed Korenitsa in 1168:

“The distinguishing feature of this city were three buildings of outstanding temples, conspicuous by the brilliance of excellent craftsmanship. The dignity of local gods enjoyed almost the same reverence as among the Arkonians - the authority of a public deity ...

Most big temple stood inside the courtyard, but purple curtains served it instead of walls, while the roof rested only on columns. The servants [of the church], having broken the fence of the courtyard, took hold of the inner curtains of the temple. When they were also removed, the statue carved from oak, called Rugevit, became visible in its ugliness from all sides. The swallows, which nested under his mouth, covered his chest with droppings. Worthy god, whose image is so ugly marred by birds! In addition, his head had seven humanoid faces, all of which were covered by a single skull.

The master depicted the same number of swords in scabbards suspended from his side. The eighth, naked [sword], [god] held in his hand; put into a fist, it was nailed very tightly with an iron nail, so that it was impossible to remove it without cutting it, which was shown by its dissection. Its width was greater than human height, and its height was such that [bishop] Absalon, standing on tiptoe, barely reached his chin with an ax ...

This god was revered, just like Mars, leading the forces of war. There was nothing amusing about this statue, which evoked disgust with the rough features of the ugly carving ... Having completed its destruction, the detachment of the [bishop's] companions zealously moved towards the statue of Porevit, which was revered in the nearest temple. He was depicted with five heads, but unarmed. Having cut it down, they entered the temple of Porenut. This statue represented four faces, and the fifth was on the chest and touched his forehead with his left, and his chin with his right hand. With the help of the servants, [the bishop] struck her down with blows of axes…”

Let us say a few words about the "ugliness of the statue." It is clear that Saxo the Grammar was a Christian and therefore everything that was not Christian was ugly for him. However, there were other Christian authors who spoke about the faith of the Slavs with no arrogant disgust, which most of the servants of the “all-good” Jehovah are sick with. Bishop Otgon of Bamberg, who twice visited the country of the Slavic Pomeranians (in 1124 and 1127) with the aim of converting them to Christianity, was amazed at the magnificence of the Slavic churches.

So, he describes a building in the city of Szczetin (Szczecin), which “... being the most important, she was distinguished by decorations and amazing skill; she had sculptural decorations both outside and inside. Images of people, birds and animals were made so naturally that it seemed as if they were living and breathing. And what should be noted as the most rare: the colors of these images, located outside the building, did not darken and were not washed off either by rain or snow - the skill of the artists made them so. Here they bring, according to the old custom of their ancestors, a tenth of the looted wealth determined by law ... Gold and silver vessels and bowls were also stored there ... suitable for drinking, as well as horns that were blown, daggers, knives, various precious utensils, rare and beautiful in appearance ... "

Like the temple in Korenitsa, the temple of Sventovid in Arkona was destroyed and robbed. This happened on June 15, 1169 according to the Christian calendar, when Voldemar I, King of Denmark, captured Arkona. The statue of Sventovid himself, along with other shrines, was stripped, cut and burned with the direct participation of Bishop Abessalon, as Saxo Grammmaticus reported.

By the way, Saxo Grammatik was in the service of the King of Denmark, Valdemar II, whose father, Valdemar I, was the great-grandson of the Grand Duke of Kyiv Vladimir Monomakh, after whom he was named. The mother of the latter was the Kiev princess Ingeborga Mstislavna. Unfortunately, the Slavic blood flowing in the veins of both Valdemars did not prevent them, poisoned by Christianity, from exterminating and conquering the Slavs, destroying their cities and temples. Unfortunately, the Slavic Christian princes Casimir and Boguslav and the obodrite prince Pribyslav also came out against Arkona, on the side of the Danes.

It was not easy to take the city: the height of the walls with the shaft reached 27 meters, and stone-throwing machines could not overcome them. There was hope for a long siege and that the defenders would not have enough drinking water. The besieged, confident in their strength, covered the tower above the gate with banners and eagles. Between them was the "Sanitsa" - the military banner of the Ruyans, which the latter honored as the banner of all gods. On June 12, 1168, during another attack, the tower and gates were set on fire; a small amount of water did not allow the fire to be extinguished. Arkona was doomed... Some residents, seeing their doom, threw themselves into the flames, not wanting to be slaves. The king ordered the chair to be taken out and sat down in it to observe what was happening. The holy city - the last stronghold of the Slavs in the Baltic - fell.

Now nothing prevented the displacement of the Slavs from their ancestral lands and the gradual erasure of the very memory of them. The last woman on Ruyan who spoke Slavonic, more precisely Vendian, died in 1402. Her last name was Gulitsyna.

As the winner and overthrower of pagan idols, the Christian Church used cult objects sacred to the Slavs, immuring them in their buildings. So, in one of the walls of the church of the village of Altenkirchen on the Witt Peninsula, a stone is immured, which the locals call the Stone of Svantevit (Svantevitbild).

On a rectangular stone 1.15 m high, there is an image of a bearded man dressed in long clothes and holding a vessel in the form of a horn. This gave archaeologists reason to see in the image on the stone the idol of Sventavit or his priest, who was the only one who could touch the horn of Sventavit and predict the future from its contents.

In the village of Alt Jabel in Jabelheide there is also a stone known local residents as "Slavic sacrificial bowl". This small bowl-shaped stone is embedded in the wall of the old Michaeliskirche to the right of the entrance. An ancient legend is associated with him, which is told in Alt Yabel to this day:

“Once, when Christians were building the first shrines in the land of Jabelheide, a sacrificial cup came into the Elden monastery. The blood of sacrificed people and animals was collected in this bowl. It was during these years that the first church was built in the heart of Jabelheide, and on the occasion of its consecration in 1256, the entire Slavic population of the area was summoned. In order to prove the power of the Christian religion and overthrow the old gods, the priest, brother Lienhard, split the cup with a heavy hammer right on the altar, in front of those present. In memory of the event, half of the sacrificial cup was immediately immured into the annular wall of the church. By this symbolic action, Brother Lienhard hoped to break the unwillingness of the Slavs to accept Christianity. The other half was sent to the monastery of Eldena in memory of this day and placed on a prayer chair ...

That night the priest could not sleep for a long time because of some rustle. It was midnight on the clock when he heard someone's footsteps and an angry speech. Illuminated by the moon, a man with a beard in an ancient robe entered his chambers. He raised his hand and asked: “Why did you disturb the peace of my tomb and disturb my eternal sleep? You plundered my tomb, took away what was offered to me and ordered it to be transferred to your house. Therefore, from now on, your house has become my home. For I am older than you and owned this land before you. You Saxons came to the land of my fathers as barbarians and robbers... You say that you are a servant? And I am a free person. My name is Boleslav. My emblem is the golden crown of the Slavs on a blue field. All my life, we, the Slavs, have been masters here.

So spoke the spirit of the Slav, and then quietly disappeared. The priest left the parish back to Saxony and took with him a fragment of the sacrificial cup. (From the book by Yu.V. Ivanova-Buchatskaya "Symbols of Northern Germany. Slavic-German synthesis in the interfluve of the Elbe and Oder").

Currently, there is the Museum of Slavic Arkona on the island of Rügen, in which practically nothing remains of its former splendor and power - only the four-faced wooden Sventovid, which was carved by Polish pagans in the 90s of the last century and brought to the island, looks sadly at the empty green spaces...

Elena Lyubimova and Dmitry Bayda

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From the writings of Saxo the Grammar we know how the sacred Vedic Arkona was taken by the Judeo-Christians.

But an amazing thing, there is not a word about the storming of the city-temple itself ... It is written how the Danes of King Voldemar I besieged the city, how the Saxon army of Henry the Lion approached them - and nothing more .... The only thing that slips in the Catholic narrative is this is that the defenders of the fortress could not cope with the fire.
Allegedly, they did not have enough water to put out the burning gates.
And is it near the sea?
After all, it is enough to dig a deep well and imperceptibly connect it to the Baltic, the technique is primitive. Surely there were several similar wells in Arkona. Our ancestors were never fools, but then why did the gates of the fortress burn out? Just because the water didn't help. That's all.

Ancient napalm, the so-called "Greek fire", was used against Arkona. Western chroniclers prefer to keep quiet about this.
Why?
Because the victory over Arkona disgraced the entire Judeo-Christian Europe.

Cape Arkona

But I'll start in order. In July 1268, during the last siege of the fortress, only about 1000 men and the same number of women gathered in it. The rest of the civilian population of the island of Buyana, or Ruyana, after the landing of the Danish and Saxon armies, fled through the forests and swamps. The Slavs understood that the war with the Christian world was lost, and tried with all their might to survive. To do this, it was necessary to wait for the enemy troops to leave the island, and then to accept Christianity ... And gradually become Germanized.
But there were also those who preferred death to serf Judeo-Christian slavery. As I wrote above, there were very few of them, but there were other warriors in Arkon. They are warriors, not fighters. The difference between the two is huge, but more on that below. We are talking about 300 knights from the protection of the temple of Svetovid.

What kind of warriors they were, judge for yourself: having distributed the forces of the Slavs gathered in Arkona to the fortifications of the city, they left the gates of the fortress and lined up in rows, taking the blow of 17 thousand Danes and 8 thousand Saxons. Three hundred Russian knights against 25 thousand well-trained knights and bollards. Bristling with spears and shielding themselves from flying arrows, the warriors of the temple not only successfully repelled the frontal blows of the armored cavalry, but also went forward themselves. Having built a wedge, the Russian knights began to make their way to the tents of King Voldemar I and the Duke of Saxony. They were forced to stop only when they saw that they could be hit by flamethrowers.

Turning around, the temple warriors rushed to destroy the siege equipment. Part of the flamethrower equipment was destroyed by them, but at that moment the Russian knights were hit by fireballs from catapults. The ground caught fire under their feet, and in order to avoid unjustified losses, the defenders of the temple began to make their way to the walls of the fortress. Despite the fact that by this time they were completely surrounded, the knights easily broke through the ring and approached the gate.
In front of them they lined up again, but neither the Danes nor the Saxons dared to attack them again. The first battle with the "pagans" was too expensive for them: almost 3,000 killed and wounded. Moreover, the best Christian knights fell in the battle.
And then, on the orders of Voldemar I, flamethrower catapults and copper pipes ejecting napalm were sent to the warriors of the temple. For this reason, the Slavs had to leave the gates of the fortress. It was thanks to the "Greek fire" that the gates of Arkona flared up, and it was impossible to extinguish them with water, although the defenders had plenty of it, especially the sea. When the gates of the city collapsed, the Judeo-Christians, gathering their strength, again rushed to the assault with an iron battering ram. They intended to break through to the temple of Svetovid as soon as possible. But again, a squad of temple knights stood in their way.

The furious slaughter began again, in which the Rus defeated. Then the "Greek fire" was used again. And so it was repeated several times. Only thanks to napalm, it was possible to bleed the temple contingent of Russian knights. By the end of the day there were only a few hundred left. But this hundred, driving the Slavic suicide bombers who had gathered in the fortress, fought on the streets of Arkona for four days. The city burned, at night people fought in the light of fires, during the day they suffocated in smoke, but the battle did not stop.
During the capture of Arkona, both the Danes and the Saxons lost 2/3 of their army.

The West Slavic Baltic tribes (Wends), settled between the Elbe (Laba), Oder (Odra) and Vistula, reached a high development by the 9th-10th centuries AD, having built on the island of Rane (Rügen) holy city temples to Arkon, who served for all the Baltic Slavs the role of the Slavic Mecca and the Delphic Oracle. The Slavic tribe of the Rans formed a priestly caste in its midst (like the Indian Brahmins or the Babylonian Chaldeans) and not a single serious military-political issue was resolved by other Slavic tribes without advice from the wounds.

Rans (ruans) owned the runic script of the Vendian tradition, the graphics of which differed markedly from the known older and younger runes (probably the term wound itself came from the Slavic wound, that is, cut runes on wooden planks). The construction of the city of temples and the rise of the pagan culture of the Vendian ethnos was a retaliatory measure of the Slavic priestly elite for the ideological rallying of the Baltic Slavs against the intensified expansion of first the Frankish, and then the German and Danish aggressors, who, under the banner of Christianization, carried out a systematic genocide of the Slavic population and its expulsion from the occupied territories. By the XIII-XIV centuries, under the intense onslaught of the Danish and German crusaders, the Slavic principalities of Paradise, Mecklenburg, Brandenburg and others fell, and the Baltic Slavic Vendian ethnos ceased to exist.
Let us cite the information of Western chroniclers (Adam of Bremen, Otto of Bamberg, Titmar of Merseburg) about the paganism of the Baltic Slavs.

Arkona was built on the high rocky coast of the island of Rügen and was impregnable from the Baltic Sea. There were many temples of all tribal Slavic gods in the city. The main god of Arkona was Svyatovit, whose idol was installed in a special temple. The idol was huge, taller than a human, with four heads on four separate necks with cropped hair and shaved beards. Four heads, apparently, symbolized the power of God over the four cardinal points (like the four winds) and the four seasons of time, that is, the cosmic god of space-time (similar to the Roman Janus). In his right hand, the idol held a horn lined with different metals and annually filled with wine, the left hand was curved and rested on the side. The horn symbolized the power of God over productivity and fertility, that is, as the god of life and plant power. Near the idol were a bridle, a saddle and a huge combat sword and shield (symbols of the god of war). In the temple stood the sacred banner of Svyatovit, called the village. This village of the wound was honored as Svyatovit himself and, carrying it in front of him on a campaign or battle, considered himself under the cover of his god (the battle banner can also be attributed as a symbol of the god of war).

The resettlement of the Western Slavs by the end of the 1st millennium AD. A. Belov's map. Above - the plan of the sacred city of Arkona, the reconstruction of the temple of Svyatovit.

After the harvesting of bread, many people flocked to Arkona and brought a lot of wine for sacrifices and a feast. Apparently this happened in September, in Slavic - Ryuen, hence the second name of the island Ruyan. On the eve of the holiday, the priest of Svyatovit, with a broom in his hands, entered the inner sanctuary and, holding his breath so as not to desecrate the deity, swept the floor clean. The broom and the balayage symbolically signify the end of the time cycle, in this case the annual one, because the next day fortune-telling is carried out on the pie, similar to the East Slavic Christmas carol.

This means that the heavenly priests used the September style of reckoning (the year began with the autumn equinox). The next day, in the presence of all the people, the priest took out a horn with wine from the hands of the idol of Svyatovit and, carefully examining it, predicted: to be or not to be harvested for the next year. Having poured out the old wine at the feet of the idol, the priest filled the horn with new wine and drained it with one spirit, asking for all kinds of blessings for himself and the people. Then he again filled the horn with new wine and put it into the hand of the image. After that, they brought to the idol a pie made of sweet dough taller than human height. The priest hid behind the pie and asked the people if they could see it. When they answered that only the cake was visible, the priest asked God that they could make the same cake the next year. In conclusion, in the name of Svyatovit, the priest blessed the people, ordered them to continue to honor the Arkon god, promising an abundance of fruits, victory at sea and on land as a reward. Then everyone drank and ate to satiety, for abstinence was taken as an insult to the deity.

Arkona was also visited for divination. At the temple, the sacred horse Svyatovit was kept, white in color with a long, never trimmed mane and tail.
Only the priest of Svyatovit could feed and mount this horse, on which, according to the belief of the wounds, Svyatovit himself fought against his enemies. By means of this horse, they were guessing before the start of the war. The servants stuck in front of the temple three pairs of spears at a certain distance from each other, a third spear was tied across each pair. The priest, uttering a solemn prayer, led the horse by the bridle from the vestibule of the temple and led it to the crossed spears. If a horse stepped through all the spears first with his right foot, and then with his left, this was considered a happy omen. If the horse stepped first with his left foot, then the campaign was canceled. Three pairs of spears possibly symbolically reflected the will of the gods of heaven, earth and underworld (3 kingdoms according to Russian fairy tales) during divination.

Thus, the main symbol-oracle of the Arkon cult was the battle heroic horse of Svyatovit of white suit - "yar horse", from where the name of the sacred city "Ar-kona", that is, the ardent horse or the city of the Yariy horse, may have come from.

In addition to the functions of an oracle-soothsayer, Svyatovit's horse also served as a biological indicator of the state of the vitality phase on this moment time. If the horse was lathered, with tangled and disheveled hair, then the phase of vitality was considered negative (depressive) and the planned trip was canceled. If the horse was in excellent physical condition (passionate), then the planned campaign was blessed.

Unfortunately, the literary sources do not give an unambiguous answer according to the method of this divination: according to one, the horse is in the temple all night before divination, according to others, the priest (or Svyatovit himself) rides on it all night.

The Arkon temple became the main sanctuary of the Slavic Pomerania, the center of Slavic paganism. According to the general belief of the Baltic Slavs, the Arkon god gave the most famous victories, the most accurate prophecies. Therefore, for sacrifices and for divination, Slavs flocked here from all sides of Pomorie. From everywhere gifts were delivered to him according to vows, not only of individuals, but also of entire tribes. Each tribe sent him an annual tribute for sacrifices. The temple had vast estates that gave it income; duties were collected in its favor from merchants who traded in Arkona, from industrialists who caught herring off the island of Rügen. He was brought a third of the spoils of war, all the jewels, gold, silver and pearls obtained in the war. Therefore, chests filled with jewels stood in the temple. At the temple there was a permanent squad of 300 knights on white war horses, equipped with heavy knightly weapons. This squad participated in campaigns, confiscating a third of the booty in favor of the temple.

The phenomenon of the Arkon temple is reminiscent of the Delphic oracle among the Greeks. The analogy goes further: just as foreigners sent gifts to Delphi and turned for predictions, so the rulers of neighboring peoples sent gifts to the Arkon temple. For example, the Danish king Sven donated a golden bowl to the temple.

The reverence that the tribes of the Baltic Slavs had for the Arkon shrine was involuntarily transferred to the wounds that were so close to this shrine.

Adam of Bremensky wrote that the Baltic Slavs had a law: in common affairs, do not decide anything and do nothing contrary to the opinion of the paradise people, they were so afraid of wounds for their connection with the gods.

Sanctuaries similar to those of Arkon also existed in Shchetin, where the idol of Triglav stood, in Volegoshcha, where the idol of Yarovit stood, and in other cities. The sanctuary of Triglav was located on the highest of the three hills on which the city of Szczetin was located. The walls of the sanctuary inside and outside were covered with colored carvings depicting people and animals. The three-headed statue of the god was covered with gold. The priests claimed that the three heads are a symbol of God's power over the three kingdoms - heaven, earth and hell. In the temple were stored weapons obtained in wars, and a tenth of the booty prescribed by law, taken in battles at sea and on land. Gold and silver bowls were also kept there, which were taken out only in holidays, from which the nobles and noble people drank and guessed, horns, swords, knives and various cult objects gilded and decorated with expensive stones.

There was also a holy horse dedicated to Triglav in Szczetina. Nobody could sit on it. One of the priests took care of him. With the help of this horse, divination was performed before campaigns, for which they stuck spears into the ground and forced the horse to step over them.

The third center of paganism among the Baltic Slavs was the city of Radigoshch in the land of rataries. According to the description of Titmar of Merseburg, the city lay among a large forest on the shores of Lake Dolenskoye. This forest was considered sacred and inviolable. Inside the city, where three gates led, there was only one wooden sanctuary, the walls of which were decorated on the outside with the horns of animals, and on the inside with carvings depicting gods and goddesses. In the sanctuary there were formidable statues of gods, dressed in helmets and armor, and the first place among them was occupied by the idol of Svarozhich, revered by all Slavs.

A prominent sanctuary was also the temple of Ruevit or Yarovit in Volegoshcha (the city of the god Veles) in Pomorie. The meaning of this god is clearly defined by the words that, according to the story of the life of St. Otto Bambergs, uttered on behalf of the god by his priest: serves for the benefit of man - in my power.

Ruevit was depicted with seven faces on one head, seven swords in sheaths were tied to his belt, and he held the eighth in his right hand.
The image, functions and name of Ruevita indicate that he was a calendar god of counting the biorhythms of vitality both by days of the week and by seven-day segments, starting from the day of the autumn equinox (Ryuen). Each day of the week, according to the ideas of the ancients, has its own emotional and physiological coloring and characteristics (its own sword and its own face). The counting of the biorhythms of the vital force begins from the moment of the birth of a person, according to the female account from left to right in seven-day weeks and ends with death - a sword in the right hand and a skull (symbols of death).
In the East Slavic tradition, such functions are performed by Veles, the god of the underground (chthonic) life force.

A shield was dedicated to the Ruevita idol, which no one dared to touch and which was taken out of the temple only during the war, and the people either retreated or fell prostrate to the ground. The removal of the shield from the temple (equivalent to the opening of the temple gates) conditionally meant the opening of the earth and the radiation of grace-filled vitality by it, contributing to victory over enemies (the shield is a conditional symbol of the earth).

The idol of Ruevit, along with the idols of Porevit and Porenut, stood in the princely residence of the wounds of Carentia. According to the life of Saint Otto, the same god, under the name of Yarovit (Herovit), was honored by the Gavolians, celebrating a special holiday in his honor. According to Titmar of Merseburg, the Baltic Slavs had many temples and gods, equal to the number of their parishes.

In 1166, the Danish king Valdemar, with his army and auxiliary detachments of the Bodrite and Pomeranian princes (his vassals), finally conquered the island of Rügen, which was a stronghold of Slavic paganism and sea robberies. All pagan temples and shrines were destroyed.

The West Slavic Arkonian cult of Svyatovit, during the conquest of the East Slavic lands by the Baltic knights, received a new name - the cult of Perun or, in the common people's way, Belobog. The princely retinue as the main bearer of the retinue-princely cult of Perun received the caste name Rus (Rus - fair-haired, light, white - according to the color of the caste god of war Perun-Belobog, who was also the cosmic god of the bright part of the day). The lands controlled by the princely squad, collecting dues or tribute from the population of these lands, received the name Russian land. And the princely combatants were called Rusyns.

For the East Slavic tribes who lived in a tribal system, were engaged in agriculture, cattle breeding, fishing, hunting, obtaining furs and honey, the main peasant caste god was Veles (Chernobog) - the patron of agricultural work, cattle breeding and fertility, and there was a separate caste of sorcerers-priests of Veles.

Belobog (Perun) was familiar to the Eastern Slavs, but compared to Veles, he performed secondary functions as a giver of thunder and rain, which he was prayed for in dry times.

Unlike the Baltic Slavs, who were engaged in sea robbery (Rügen Island) and raids on their neighbors, which is why they received the annalistic name Varangians-Rus, the Eastern Slavs, due to their peasant way of life, needed the god of war less.

During the conquest of the East Slavic lands by the Baltic Slavic princes, the caste-druzhina god of war Perun-Belobog was proclaimed dominant, and the peasant Veles-Chernobog was secondary, which was recorded in the texts of the treaties of the Russian princes with the Greeks: god."

Before, before the organization of the retinue-princely system in the East Slavic lands, both of these gods - Belobog and Chernobog - seemed to be equal as the god of the Day (good) and the god of the Night (evil). Perhaps Cherno, the god Veles, was revered higher in his functions as the god of fertility and vitality in the peasant environment.

We observe the same thing in the Christian era: the peasant Nikola the Pleasant (deputy of Veles) is revered higher than Ilya the Prophet (deputy of Perun the Thunderer).

In connection with the foregoing, we will try to clarify the origin of the term "White Rus'", primarily associated with the emergence of the Polotsk principality and the advance of the Arkonian cult of Svyatovit to its territory. In the Russian chronicle, under the year 980, there is an entry: "Bebo Rogovolod came from the zamorie and to have power in Polotsk. And others with him were Tur, and you were in Turov, nicknamed Turovtsi from worthless."

The conquest of the Slavic lands by the German knights under Henry I and Otto I (919-973) belongs to approximately the same period. The Polabian and Baltic Slavic lands were divided into 18 German margraviates with ecclesiastical subordination to the Bishop of Magdeburg. N.M. Karamzin mentions blood relations between the Pomeranian and Polotsk princes. The very names-nicknames of the Polotsk prince Rogovolod and his daughter Rogneda indicate a possible connection with the Arkon cult of Svyatovit (holding the horn of fertility in his hand).

Thus, it can be assumed that the emergence of the term "White Rus'" is associated with the displacement of the Slavic Pomeranian princes from the Baltic Pomerania by the Germans, who brought the Arkon cult to Polotsk during its conquest in 980.

An important argument in favor of the proposed hypothesis is the discovery of the Zbruch idol of Svyatovit in the territory of the Ternopil region.

The advancement of the Arkon cult to the East Slavic lands can be traced through a number of characters and plots of East Slavic folklore:

A heroic fighting horse of white suit in epics and fairy tales, bringing good luck and victory to its owner and at the same time possessing the properties of an oracle-soothsayer;

Mentioned in fairy tales, the heroic "sword-hoarder";

Magic bridle (Svyatovit's horse), which has the properties of holding evil spirits;

Horseshoe (conditional symbol of Svyatovit's horse), nailed to the door "for good luck" and to scare away evil spirits;

The character of a white horse (sometimes a horse's head on a stick) in the Christmas rite of Kolyada;

Yuletide divination of rural girls about the upcoming marriage by means of a white horse stepping over the shafts;

An image of a carved horse head on the roof of a dwelling, a ridge.

In Russian epics, the allegorical language of symbols shows the transfer of power to the Russian Perun (Ilya Muromets) from the Arkonian Svyatovit (Svyatogor), as well as from the Pomeranian Triglav (three bowls of green wine).

In conclusion, we will draw the main conclusion that the origins of Russian pagan pre-Christian culture date back to the Arkon sanctuary of the island of Rügen, which in all Russian spells is called Buyan Island.

Arkona (Jaromarsburg)

Arkona is a city and religious center of the Baltic Slavic Ruyan tribe. The city of Arkona existed until the 12th century and was located on the cape of the same name on the island of Rügen (Germany).

Geographically, the city of Arkona is located on the cape of the same name (Arkona), on the island of Rügen, in its northern part. This territory from ancient times was controlled by the Slavic tribe Ruyan, who were also called the Polabian Slavs. Archaeological excavations show that there were about 14 settlements in the area of ​​Cape Arkona.

The date of the founding of the city is not known., but from medieval European chronicles (in particular, from the work "Acts of the Danes" by Saxo Grammaticus), we know that the city was destroyed by the Danes in the second half of the 12th century, during the reign of Prince Jaromar I. Following this event, the Ruyan tribe, according to modern historians, adopted Christianity, which is actually unlikely, if only because in other regions the primordial faith of the Slavs was inferior to the new religion with great bloodshed, and "religious wars" in the territory Ancient Rus' continued until the 14th and 15th centuries.

The already mentioned Saxo Grammatik wrote that the Danes destroyed the temple complex of Arkona, which in fact was a cross between a city, a temple and a fortress. The size of Arkona, the city of the Slavs, surpassed all the cities known at that time. In the center was the sanctuary of Sventovit (Svetovit), the ancient Slavic god, the patron of heavenly truth (many tribes, in particular, the Ruyane themselves, revered him as the supreme god). The sanctuary was supposedly about 480 meters long (from north to south) and 270 meters wide (from east to west).

In progress archaeological sites, which were conducted in 1921, 1930, and also in the period from 1969 to 1971, it was found that individual fragments temple complex were built in the 9th century, however, there is no information regarding the dating of most of the surviving structural elements. Judging by the “Acts of the Danes” by Saxo, Grammar Arkona was already considered an ancient city by the 12th century, which suggests that the temple-fortress was built much earlier.

A detailed description of the temple of Svetovit, which was located in the very center of Arkona, can be found in the Acts of the Danes, and within the framework of this material there is no point in retelling this medieval text. Something else is important. This temple was probably the largest religious building in all of Europe, and the palaces of the most powerful emperors could envy its decoration. For more than three and a half centuries, "noble knights", Catholics and faithful, have tried to capture Arkona. Not a single "crusade" ended at the walls of this legendary city. And each time 300 warriors came out to meet the invaders, only 300 warriors on white horses and in bright red cloaks. There is a legend that they could not be slain, for they were protected by Svetovit himself, the great god of eternal truth. Legends also say that "three hundred warriors of Arkona" traveled all over the Slavic lands, protecting the shrines from enemies. And wherever they appeared, foreign forces were washed with blood, and animal fear forever settled in the hearts of the survivors.

But, as mentioned above, Arkona still fell. The Danish king Voldemar I sent 15,000 of his best soldiers to capture the city. 300 knights of Arkona died in that battle, but none of Voldemar's warriors returned home. Moreover, the Danes, having lost the lion's share of their forces, did not dare to move further, deep into the territories controlled by the Ruyan tribe. However, in this case we are talking about a legend. If we turn to the information left to us by medieval European chroniclers, then everything in that distant year, 1168, turned out somewhat differently. Under the command of Voldemar I (counting the allied forces of Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony) there were more than 30,000 people. On May 9, 1168, he landed on the island of Rügen near the city of Arkona. 2500 vigilantes, the regular army of Arkona, came out to meet him. Chroniclers write that almost all Slavic warriors fell in the first battle, but Voldemar also lost more than a third of his personnel in just one day. Only civilians and 200 guards remained in the city, who served directly in the temple of Svetovit. The siege of Arkona lasted until June 12, and after one of the walls of the fortress ( Arkona was almost completely wooden) was set on fire by the invaders, the Danes managed to break into the city. It is believed that the wall was not extinguished in time, because after a month of the siege, water ran out in Arkona.

After the city was taken, Voldemar's troops approached the main temple, the sanctuary of Sventovit, which was defended by the chief priest and 200 knights. Chroniclers write that the battle for the sanctuary lasted more than two weeks. After the capture of Arkona, Voldemar had a little less than 15,000 soldiers left, which was clearly not enough to move further inland. Then the Danish king offered peace to Jaromar I, the prince of Ruyansk.

It is difficult to say what is true in this story and what is pure fiction. To what extent does the legend about the fall of the city of Arkona correspond with historical facts? It's hard to say, especially when you remember that history is always written by the winners. But even if the “winners” honestly told us that less than 3,000 Slavic warriors managed to “halve” the thirty-thousandth army of the Danes, then the beautiful legend about the “three hundred warriors of Arkona” does not look so fabulous, does it?

Unfortunately, we don't know the truth at the moment. It is also unknown where all the wealth of the temple went. Part, of course, was looted, but, for example, the three-meter Sventovit kummir, which, according to legend, represented the highest value of Arkona (Saxon Grammatik writes that it was created from gold, platinum and other noble materials), disappeared without a trace. There is a legend according to which the Danes tried to snatch the blade from the hands of the idol of magnificent work, after which they fell dead. Subsequently, the kummir was simply thrown into the sea, for Voldemar's soldiers decided that "he is cursed." Probably, the blade of Sventovit was made of meteorite steel, this is hinted at by the same Saxon Grammatik.

In fact, what is important is that the memory of Arkon, the city of the Slavs, is alive. The legend of three hundred invincible warriors is also alive. And this means that the ancient culture of our Ancestors is not doomed at all, because we remember. Remember, despite the fact that "history is written by the winners."

Vladimir Titov

ARKONA - THE SACRED CITY OF THE SLAVES

The West Slavic Baltic tribes (Vends), settled between the Elbe (Laba), Oder (Odra) and Vistula, reached a high development by the 9th-10th centuries AD, having built the sacred city of temples Arkona on the island of Rane (Rügen), which performed for all Baltic Slavs the role of Slavic Mecca and the Delphic Oracle. The Slavic tribe of the Rans formed a priestly caste in its midst (like the Indian Brahmins or the Babylonian Chaldeans) and not a single serious military-political issue was resolved by other Slavic tribes without advice from the wounds.

The wounds (ruans) owned the runic script of the Vendian tradition, the graphics of which differed markedly from the known older and younger runes (probably the term itself wounds derived from the Slavic hurt, that is, carve runes on wooden planks). The construction of the city of temples and the rise of the pagan culture of the Vendian ethnos was a retaliatory measure of the Slavic priestly elite for the ideological rallying of the Baltic Slavs against the intensified expansion of first the Frankish, and then the German and Danish aggressors, who, under the banner of Christianization, carried out a systematic genocide of the Slavic population and expulsion of it from the occupied territories. By the XIII-XIV centuries, under the intense onslaught of the Danish and German crusaders, the Slavic principalities of Ranskoe, Mecklenburg, Brandenburg and others fell, and the Baltic Slavic Vendian ethnos ceased to exist.

Let us cite the information of the Western chroniclers (Adam of Bremen, Otto of Bamberg, Titmar of Merseburg) about the paganism of the Baltic Slavs.

Arkona was built on the high rocky coast of the island of Rügen and was impregnable from the Baltic Sea. There were many temples of all tribal Slavic gods in the city. The main god of Arkona was Svyatovit, whose idol was installed in a special temple. The idol was huge, taller than a human, with four heads on four separate necks with cropped hair and shaved beards. Four heads, apparently, symbolized the power of God over the four cardinal points (like the four winds) and the four seasons of time, that is, the cosmic god of space-time (similar to the Roman Janus). In his right hand, the idol held a horn lined with different metals and annually filled with wine, the left hand was curved and rested on the side. The horn symbolized the power of God over productivity and fertility, that is, as the god of life and plant power. Near the idol were a bridle, a saddle and a huge combat sword and shield (symbols of the god of war). In the temple stood the sacred banner of Svyatovit, called village. This village of the wound was honored as Svyatovit himself and, carrying it in front of him on a campaign or battle, considered himself under the cover of his god (the battle banner can also be attributed as a symbol of the god of war).

After the harvesting of bread, many people flocked to Arkona and brought a lot of wine for sacrifices and a feast. Apparently this happened in September, in Slavonic - Ryuen, whence the second name of the island Ruyan. On the eve of the holiday, the priest of Svyatovit with a broom in his hands he entered the inner sanctuary and, holding his breath so as not to desecrate the deity, swept the floor clean. The broom and the balayage symbolically signify the end of the time cycle, in this case the annual one, because the next day fortune-telling is carried out on the pie, similar to the East Slavic Christmas carol. This means that the Rana priests used the September style of reckoning (the year began with the autumnal equinox). The next day, in the presence of all the people, the priest took out a horn with wine from the hands of the idol of Svyatovit and, carefully examining it, predicted: to be or not to be harvested for the next year. Having poured out the old wine at the feet of the idol, the priest filled the horn with new wine and drained it with one spirit, asking for all kinds of blessings for himself and the people. Then he again filled the horn with new wine and put it into the hand of the image. After that, they brought to the idol a pie made of sweet dough taller than human height. The priest hid behind the pie and asked the people if they could see it. When they answered that only the cake was visible, the priest asked God that they could make the same cake the next year. In conclusion, in the name of Svyatovit, the priest blessed the people, ordered them to continue to honor the Arkon god, promising an abundance of fruits, victory at sea and on land as a reward. Then everyone drank and ate to satiety, for abstinence was taken as an insult to the deity.

Arkona was also visited for divination. At the temple, the sacred horse Svyatovit was kept, white in color with a long, never trimmed mane and tail.

Only the priest of Svyatovit could feed and mount this horse, on which, according to the belief of the wounds, Svyatovit himself fought against his enemies. By means of this horse, they were guessing before the start of the war. The servants stuck in front of the temple three pairs of spears at a certain distance from each other, a third spear was tied across each pair. The priest, uttering a solemn prayer, led the horse by the bridle from the vestibule of the temple and led it to the crossed spears. If the horse stepped through all the spears first with the right foot, and then with the left, this was considered a happy omen. If the horse stepped first with his left foot, then the campaign was canceled. Three pairs of spears possibly symbolically reflected the will of the gods of heaven, earth and underworld (3 kingdoms according to Russian fairy tales) during divination.

Thus, the main symbol-oracle of the Arkon cult was the battle heroic horse of Svyatovit of white suit - "yar horse", from where the name of the sacred city "Arkona" may have come, that is ardent horse orthe city of the Furious Horse.

In addition to the functions of an oracle-soothsayer, Svyatovit's horse also served as a biological indicator of the state of the phase of vitality at a given moment in time. If the horse was lathered, with tangled and disheveled hair, then the phase of vitality was considered negative (depressive) and the planned trip was canceled. If the horse was in excellent physical condition (passionate), then the planned campaign was blessed.

Unfortunately, the literary sources do not give an unambiguous answer according to the method of this divination: according to one, the horse is in the temple all night before divination, according to others, the priest (or Svyatovit himself) rides on it all night.

The Arkon temple became the main sanctuary of the Slavic Pomerania, the center of Slavic paganism. According to the general belief of the Baltic Slavs, the Arkon god gave the most famous victories, the most accurate prophecies. Therefore, for sacrifices and for divination, Slavs flocked here from all sides of Pomorie. From everywhere gifts were delivered to him according to vows, not only of individuals, but also of entire tribes. Each tribe sent him an annual tribute for sacrifices. The temple had vast estates that gave it income, in its favor duties were collected from merchants who traded in Arkona, from industrialists who caught herring

off the island of Rügen. He was brought a third of the spoils of war, all the jewels, gold, silver and pearls obtained in the war. Therefore, chests filled with jewels stood in the temple. At the temple there was a permanent squad of 300 knights on white war horses, equipped with heavy knightly weapons. This squad participated in campaigns, confiscating a third of the booty in favor of the temple.

The phenomenon of the Arkon temple is reminiscent of the Delphic oracle among the Greeks. The analogy goes further: just as foreigners sent gifts to Delphi and turned for predictions, so the rulers of neighboring peoples sent gifts to the Arkon temple. For example, the Danish king Sven donated a golden bowl to the temple.

The reverence that the tribes of the Baltic Slavs had for the Arkon shrine was involuntarily transferred to the wounds that were so close to this shrine.

Adam of Bremensky wrote that the Baltic Slavs had a law: in common affairs, do not decide anything and do nothing contrary to the opinion of the Rana people, they were so afraid of wounds for their connection with the gods.

Sanctuaries similar to those of Arkon also existed in Shchetin, where the idol of Triglav stood, in Volegoshcha, where the idol of Yarovit stood, and in other cities. The sanctuary of Triglav was located on the highest of the three hills on which the city of Szczetin was located. The walls of the sanctuary inside and outside were covered with colored carvings depicting people and animals. The three-headed statue of the god was covered with gold. The priests claimed that the three heads are a symbol of God's power over the three kingdoms - heaven, earth and hell. In the temple were stored weapons obtained in wars, and a tenth of the booty prescribed by law, taken in battles at sea and on land. Gold and silver bowls were also kept there, which were taken out only on holidays, from which the nobles and noble people drank and guessed, horns, gilded and decorated with expensive stones, swords, knives and various religious objects.

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