Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Mihai DRAGNEA
PhD Student, University of Bucharest
E-mail: terra_mater_2007@yahoo.com
Abstract. Mtholog ( ), as a field of scientific research, is a set of stories, mthos in
Greek meaning story or legend and logos word. Usually, the myths are works of literature. The term
mythology may include all the myths of religion or culture. Throughout history, these stories have
circulated as works of literature, folk tales (ballads, odes, songs, songs of bravery) or based on historical
sources written at different ruler's courts or monasteries.
In this paper I will present a number of similarities between Greek and Roman deities and the slavic
ones, basing my research as much as possible on the information provided by an etymological analisys, a
description of the deity as well as rituals, offerings, sacrifices and celebrations dedicated to the deities. As
a main source for Slavic deities, I used a compilation of medieval and religious texts written in the Kievan
Rus' by monk Nestor, called the Russian Primary Chronicle or Nestor's Chronicle. This script presents
Russian history and Kievan Rus between 850-1110 years, written in Kiev during Iziaslav Sviatopolk the
second's (Grand Prince of Kiev 1093-1113) reign. The Chronicle is German-Scandinavian inspired, since
the Prince Sviatopolk's (the principality's ruler) policy was pro-Scandinavian. Also, I could list following
volumes: Dictionary of Slavic mythology by Ilie Danilov and Slavic mythology by Sorin Paliga. In
addition to these works, information about Slavic mythology can be found in the following books:
History of religious beliefs and ideas by Mircea Eliade, Slavic mythology by Anca Ionescu Irina,
Dictionary of General Mythology by Victor Kernbach and Teodor Eugen Sorin, Linguistics and
Archaeology of the early Slavs and Another view of the Lower Danube by Sorin Paliga. The remaining
materials are presented in the bibliography. In Greek mythology, Homer and Hesiod are the main
narrative sources. As reference materials I will use the following volume: Sources for Greek Religion de
David G. Rice & John E. Stambaugh and the book Dictionary of Roman-Greek mythology: gods, heroes,
mths b Zoe Petre, Aleandra Liu, Ctlin Pael Cristian Olariu, Florica Mihu-Bohlea, Aleandra
rlea.
Key words: Slavic mythology, Greek mythology, Roman mythology, Paganism, Kievan Rus'
The term refers specifically to the god Perun.
About Zeus we discover that he is given the
royal honor as the one who divides wealth
amog people and the one who watches over
mortals (2). When they pray to God, the Slavs
invoke him by the name of Bog which is not the
same as the Judeo-Christian Jehovah. Under this
term of Bog, the old Slavs made reference to the
god Perun. The term of Zeus, in terms of
etymology, defines and ranks his generation on
the top level of the Greek pantheon. Zeus is
accompanied by the appellative Dyaus pitarZeus pater from Sanskrit translated to heavenly
Father (3). The same situation is met in Roman
mythology, where Jupiter has the appelative
Iovis pater-Deus pater, symbolizing absolute
power over men and gods as heavenly Father
(4). Like Zeus, Jupiter and Perun, he is described
Comparative mythology
At the head of the Slavic pantheon, is
Supreme God, The higher orGod( ,Bog),
the generic name for the supreme deity for slavs
the rich, the powerful. It should be noted
however, that this name is just an epithet that
could be attributed to several gods, depending
on the hierarchy (eg Greater Perun, Svarog the
Greater). This term has Indo-European origins
being also found in the ancient Iranians
language, as the bay, a word which means god
and represents a god who is offering, gracious,
generous and strong. Procopius and Helmold
tells us that the Slavs belief system is
hierarchical, subordinating other gods to the
Supreme God. At Helmold the function of
supreme god of the Baltic slavs tribes is
occupied by Svantevit and for the Eastern Slavs,
Perun. Linguists believe that the word bogat is
derived from this ancient Indo-European root (1).
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Conslusions
I would like to say that in this paper I tried
to show as much as the documents I have
allowed me to present common elements
between the pre-Christian Slaic pantheons
main deities and their correspondents in the
Greco-Roman mythology. You can see the
common elements in the three Indo-European
belief systems: Slavic, Greek and Roman. On a
religious level, we can say that Slavs had a
similar mythological Greek or Roman
polytheism because of the lack of information
the only accurate sources are themedieval
chronicles, which in turn contain data either
reduced or altered because the information is
influenced by the Christian propaganda used by
the authors. One should not confuse some
mythological or religious system, with some
popular traditions, even if these traditions can be
a set of popular beliefs. Restoring a religious
pantheon based on traditions and popular
sources may have a different result from the
same pantheon reconstruction based on
historical sources, whether using chronicles or
any other literary documents. But we admit that
on the popular level, some pagan religious
traditions and customs have survived. At
present, we can not build a Slavic pantheon in
Greek and Roman pantheon model, but rather a
barbaric one, similar to the Scandinavian,
Baltic and Celtic. This is possible due to the
common Indo-European elements that define a
unique character and unity of religions found
among the Aryan peoples. Due to a relatively
lower level of development of the Nordic
Europeans, the Greeks and Romans of the south,
and because of their cruel Christianization
campaigns, data on the mythology of the
Slavic, Scandinavian, Baltic and Celtic, peoples
is reduced. It is important to note that all Nordic
peoples (Germanic, Celtic, Baltic, Prussian,
Slavs and Thracians) had a developmental focus
of popular culture in a, rural, rustic barbaric
style to developing what the Greco-Roman
produced on a literary, architectural, social
development axis where the engine was
represented by the cities. This can be
demonstrated by several theories. One of them is
the fact that the Slavs, like the Nordic peoples,
drank mead an alcoholic drink made from
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Books:
Burket 1985
Dumezil 1997
Eliade 1999
Eliade,
Mircea,
Istoria
credin elor
i
ideilor
religioase [A History of
Beliefs
Ideas],
Evslin,
Hoopes 1966
Gavrilov,
Nagovitsyn
2002
Greimas
1997
Guerber
2008
Ionescu 1978
Ionescu 2000
Kondratieva
2000
Kun 1964
Noiville 2006
References
Nestor
1935
Procopius
1963
Burket,
Walter,
Greek
Religion, Harvard University
Press, 1985.
Paliga 2008
*** Cronica
lui Nestor)
[Nestors Chronicle], Bucureti,
Bucovina Typography, 1935.
Procopius
din
Cesareea,
Rzboiul cu go ii [The War with
the Gots],Bucureti, 1963.
Paliga,
Teodor 2009
26
and
Religious
Bucureti,
Encyclopedic Univers, 1999.
Evslin, Bernard, Hoopes, Ned,
The Greek Gods, Scholastic
Inc., 1966.
Gavrilov, D. A., Nagovitsyn,
A.
E.,
Bogi
slavyan.
Yazychestvo.
Traditsiya,
Moskva, Refl-Buk, 2002.
Greimas, Algirdas Julien
Despre zei i despre oameni
[About Gods and People],
Bucureti, Meridiane, 1997.
Guerber, H. A., Myths of the
Norseman, New Lanark,
Geddes & Grosset, 2008.
Ionescu,
Anca
Irina,
Lingvistic
i
mitologie
[Language and Mythology],
Bucureti,Litera, 1978.
Ionescu,
Anca
Irina,
Mitologia slavilor [Slavic
Mythology], Bucureti, Lider,
2000.
Kondratieva, Tamara, Vechea
Rusie [Old Russia], Bucureti,
Corint, 2000.
Kun, N. A., Legendele i
miturile Greciei antice [The
Legends and Myths of Ancient
Greece], Bucureti, Scientific
Publishing House, 1964.
Noiville, Florence, Mitologia
roman [Roman Mythology],
Bucureti, Meteor Press,
2006.
Paliga,
Sorin,
Mitologia
slavilor [Slavic Mythology],
Bucureti, Meteor Press,
2008.
Paliga, Sorin; Teodor, Eugen
S., Lingvistica i Arheologia
slavilor timpurii. O alt
Rice,
Stambaugh
2009
Rybakov
1981
Frazer 1922
Woodard
2008
Kernbach
1983
Kernbach
1996
Petre,
Li u,
Pavel
2001
Magazines:
Lujn Lujn, Eugenio R., Procopius, De
bello Gothico III 38.17-23: a
2008
description of ritual pagan Slavic
slayings? in Studia Mythologica
Slavica XI 2008, 105-112.
Polirom, 2007.
Kernbach, Victor, Dic ionar de
mitologie general [Dictionary of
General Mythology], Bucureti
Albatros, 1983.
Kernbach, Victor, Mituri
esen iale [Essential Myths],
Bucureti,Encyclopedic
Universe, 1996.
Petre, Zoe, Liu, Aleandra
Pael, Ctlin (eds.), Dic ionar
de
mitologie
greco-roman
[Greco-Roman mythology dictionary], Bucureti,2001.
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