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103-509: At Cape Arkona in recent centuries, sections of the cliff tops have continually collapsed into the sea, which is why the remnants of the Jaromarsburg today mainly comprise the castle ramparts. Based on a loss of 10 to 20 metres per century, it is believed that the current area within the ramparts represents only a third of the original total. As a result, for several years urgent archaeological excavations have taken place that have uncovered

206-408: A flag ( Latin : stanitia , cf. Kashubian : 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

309-628: A stack is left behind on the wave-cut platform. The best-known example in Germany is the Lange Anna on Heligoland , while, in England, a prominent example are Old Harry Rocks in Dorset . Furthermore, on a rocky cliffed coast wave action is not the only driving force for coastline retreat. General weathering of the bedrock is almost equally important. "Living cliffs" are those on a coast that

412-492: 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

515-466: 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

618-405: 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

721-487: A horn that had been carved earlier, analogous to the one in the Altenkirchen bas-relief. 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

824-710: A horse, or hippomancy , was also known to the Germanic peoples (according to Tacitus ), the Balts , the Rus 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 on either side of the flag are analogous to Polish seals , where a representation of a prince is placed between two eagles, and which were often also on

927-464: A legendary identification. 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

1030-467: 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 's brother, Tetzlav . However, this is considered unlikely nowadays: the lack of Christian symbolism, the depreciative position (lying down, head down), and

1133-413: 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

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1236-401: 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 not diminish the value of the horse, and pulling

1339-429: 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

1442-491: 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 ), which are supposed to be remnants of his cult. However,

1545-588: Is about 400 places with name connected to the red color. Therefore, Šubert believes, that the name Jarkun etymologically derivates from *jarъ, *jȃrъ , as well as the words jarý/jarký/jarka (= fresh, fiery, ardent, furious, springtime, strong, springy, young, bright - also directly red ). In other Slavic countries can be found places named e.g. Jarkos (Serbia), Jarkovice (Czech Republic), Jarun lake (Croatia), Jarki, Jarków, Jarkouc, Jarka river and most importantly Jarkuszewo , later known as Arkuszewo (Poland). There are also other names of this kind known from

1648-426: 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 Jaromirstein ("Jaromir's stone"). In the 18th century the slab was surrounded by the black painted inscription Sanctus Vitus oder Svantevit ("St. Vitus or Svantevit"), nowadays almost completely erased. Chytraeus, following

1751-452: Is no clear consensus about the original name's form or meaning. The castle consisted of two successive ramparts that reached a height of 13 metres, plus additional fortifications. The fortifications and the temple were made of wood. Originally, the fortifications extended 300 metres on a north-south axis and 350 metres east-west. According to the Danish historian Saxo Grammaticus, the temple

1854-597: 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,

1957-409: Is not used in the historical documents and was given to the burgwall later. In 1937 and 1938, a theory gained in popularity, that Jaromarsburg is a different spelling of Jomsburg , a lost Viking/Slavic city. It was supported by an information on a map from 17th century, that placed Jomsburg near to the cape Arcona . An archeological research had been done in the sea area but findings could not confirm

2060-441: Is relatively resistant to erosion such as sandstone, limestone or granite, a flat rocky wave-cut platform or abrasion platform is formed in front of the cliff. It represents the foot of the cliff preserved at and below the level of water table. If there is a tectonic uplift of the coast, these abrasion platforms can be raised to form coastal terraces, from which the amount of uplift can be calculated from their elevation relative to

2163-534: Is still active, i.e. that is being eroded and is receding. A "dead cliff", by contrast, is only reached by very high marine waves and is therefore subjected to very little change. A clear indication of a lack of activity at a dead cliff is a covering of vegetation that appears on the cliff as wave action against it subsides. Well-known coasts with living cliffs in Germany are the Red Cliff ( Rote Kliff ) in Kampen on

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2266-416: 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 Saracho  [ de ] (d. 1071), but this is probably a later interpolation . The first reliable, albeit indirect, information about

2369-750: The Proto-Balto-Slavic *śwentas . Also closely related is the Avestan spəṇta "holy, sacred" and Sanskrit śvānta . 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 reconstructs PS meaning of *svętъ as "holy, sacred", Wiesław Boryś as "being

2472-414: 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

2575-696: 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 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

2678-628: The Danish king. After the death of Tetzlav in 1170, Jaromar was Prince of the Rani until 1218. With the fall of the temple, King Valdemar got his hands on a treasure, but in 1171, he had to share this with his ally, Henry the Lion . The extensive estates of the temple were given to the Church. In 1169 Rügen came under the suzerainty of the bishops of Lund , who oversaw the spread of Christianity . Numerous chapels were built on former cult and burial places. In

2781-555: 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 *svętъ in Proto-Slavic language meant "strong, mighty", and only under the influence of Christianity did it acquire

2884-460: 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 , the mother of Wenceslaus I , the founder of St. Vitus' Church in Prague – where it

2987-432: The Rügen region ( Garchen; Gartsin; Jarkowo, Jarcouwe, Jarchowe, Harchowe, Garchowe, Garchow, Garchova; Jarkvitz ). Based on this information, Šubert came to the conclusion that Arkona was originally named Jarkun (or Jarkún, Jarkůn), meaning (fiery) red . Interestingly enough, the name Jaromarsburg (Jaromar) has the same origin from *jarъ (with added german word burg = castle). Another researcher, J. Jacob, believed

3090-613: 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 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

3193-544: 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

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3296-464: 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

3399-616: The adoption of Christianity but reneged on their agreement after the withdrawal of the Danes. In 1157, a storm destroyed a Slavic fleet of 1,500 ships off the Norwegian coast. The Danish king, Waldemar I , made used of this weakness to mount an offensive against Rügen, which was the stronghold of the Rani. After a series of attacks, ambushes and partial victories, he landed at Arkona with his fleet on 19 May 1168, accompanied by his army commander and close friend, Bishop Absalon . On 15 June 1168,

3502-474: The archaeologists to investigate the castle before it disappeared completely in the sea. Carl Schuchardt, an archaeologist from Berlin, undertook in 1921 the first known investigation. An important finding was that the written reports of the Saxos were correct and the space around the temple as a place of worship was empty. The west of the temple showed a smaller, but now leveled Wall, behind the big Wall which showed

3605-474: The area of the former Svetovid sanctuary, the first Christian church was built on Rügen. In the nearby church of Altenkirchen , the building of which had probably already begun by 1185, is the Priest Stone ( Priesterstein ) or Svantevit Stone ( Svantevitstein ) – just above the foundation base – which is laid on its side. There are different interpretations of this stone. It is possible that the stone relief

3708-562: 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

3811-453: 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

3914-462: 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,

4017-430: The cliff-foot form a wave-cut notch by constant abrasion action producing an overhang. This overhang grows in size as the cliff is undercut, until it collapses under its own weight. The loose debris that has broken off is gradually carried away from the area in front of the cliff by the action of the sea. As the coastal cliffs collapse, the shoreline recedes inland. The speed at which this happens depends, in particular, on

4120-549: The day of the Battle of Kosovo . 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 . For this reason, there were even claims in

4223-407: 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

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4326-466: 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

4429-442: The fall of Rethra , may have reached Corvey through merchants charged with donations to Svetovit, or returning prisoners of war who were kidnapped by Slavic pirates  [ pl ] . 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

4532-472: 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

4635-514: 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 , and round cakes were also used in rituals in India . The association of Svetovit with the harvest is also linked to

4738-428: 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 Swen , probably Sweyn III of Denmark , who offered him

4841-555: 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 drank a lot of soma , which gave him strength, Jupiter was sacrificed a grape, and the Germanic Odin drank the best honey mead. He regards the horn of Svetovit as a symbol of power, compares the ritual of exchanging alcohol to the ritual dedicated to Jupiter in

4944-668: 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 . Among scholars of Slavic mythology, Svetovit is often regarded as a Polabian hypostasis of Pan-Slavic god Perun . His cult was destroyed in 1168. In Latin records, this theonym is notated as Suantouitus , Suantouith , Suantuitho , Szuentevit , Suantevit , Zuantevith , and others, and in Old Icelandic as Svanraviz and Svanteviz . Scholars agree on

5047-422: 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 . 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

5150-483: The horn and mustache, which were attributes of the god, indicate that this slab depicts Svetovit. In the context of Svetovit there is also a similar sized granite slab built into the outer wall of St Mary's Church in Bergen auf Rügen  [ Wikidata ] . 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

5253-498: The inner area of the castle. The Rani dominated Rügen for some time and the temple increased in importance as a religious centre for the Slavs in the southern Baltic following the destruction of Rethra in 1068. The temple served as oracle site and received offerings from other peoples, not just the Slavs. But as early as 1136, a Danish army under King Eric the Memorable had captured the temple fortress. The defeated Rani pledged

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5356-412: 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 the church in Altenkirchen (10 kilometres (6.2 mi) 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

5459-648: The island of Sylt or the chalk cliffs on the Jasmund Peninsula. The Königsstuhl on the island of Rügen is a good example of a dead cliff. Others may be found in the regions of the present-day Wadden Sea coast of the North Sea a few kilometres inland. These show the former coastline from which the sea retreated as the level of water in the North Sea fell. Steep sea cliffs can also be caused by catastrophic debris avalanches . These have been common on

5562-412: The island of Wolin , on which four faces are carved looking in four directions. The figurine is 9.3 centimetres (3.7 in) 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. Some scholars see an analogy to Svetovit in an idol from Zbruch , the so-called Sviatovid . This statue was found in 1848 from

5665-444: The land surface dips at a relatively steep angle below the water table, the continuous action of marine waves on the coastline, known as abrasion , may create a steep declivity known as a cliff , the slope angle of which depends on a variety of factors including the jointing, bedding and hardness of the materials making up the cliff as well as the erosional processes themselves. The slope is constantly being eroded. The waves attacking

5768-463: The living area. Whether that was meant for the cult priests and their servants or as a refuge for the surrounding settlements as well as a craft store, could not be determined until today. In 1930, Wilhelm Petzsch investigated the wall and documented the findings. The most important result was that he found the fight film from 1136 (conquest by Danish King Erich II) under the combat and fire layer from 1168 (Danish King Waldemar I.). A deeper burnt layer

5871-496: The name Jaromarsburg interchangeably with Arkona. Originally, during the time of its fame, the temple fort was known in chronicles and other texts as Arkona (Arcun, Arkún, Arcune, Arcon, Archon, Archona, Orcunde,...). The most used term, Arkona, was later given to the whole cape as its name. The name itself in this form is most likely not the name Rani were using because Slavic names do not typically have A as their first letter, while e.g. Latin or German languages (used in most of

5974-530: The name on the description of the temple provided by Saxo Grammaticus . According to that, the temple was using a lot of red paint (typical for Slavic people), mainly on its prominent red roof, and due to its location, it was giving a significant contrast to the white cliffs for people coming from the sea and to the blue water surface for people coming from the land. Many Slavic names use colors of some significant buildings or soil etc., e.g. in Poland and Russia, there

6077-467: The name was Jarkon or Jarkuon , too. However, etymologically, he interpreted the meaning as Jarý koń (prime, lush, strong, the best horse - referring to the sacred horse of Svantovít ). Such origin is, however, probably not right, because many Slavic temples of different gods had a sacred horse without naming their place after it. Šubert believes that it is not a feature specific enough to name this very important temple after it. Dr. Beyersdorf believed

6180-639: 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. Horse riding is present throughout many other Slavic mythologies. Rituals involving round cake are also Pan-Slavic, and documented in Ukraine , Belarus , Herzegovina , and Bulgaria . Divination by means of

6283-410: 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

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6386-545: The original name was Hargan (from harga ), not a Slavic but German name and that before Rani the place belonged to the Holmrug tribe and Rani only kept the name, slightly changed into Arkun . That could possibly happen based on Gothic word arkina , meaning holy, clean . Šubert, however, thinks it's very unlikely for the old and strong Rani tribe to use Germanic words to name their most sacred temple - especially since all other parts of Rügen had clearly Slavic names. There

6489-477: The prince's helmet to show 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 of Svetovit and other Indo-European deities , which led him to consider Svetovit as the chief and thunder god, the Polabian hypostasis ,

6592-534: The reading of the Latin records; the digraphs ⟨an⟩ and ⟨en⟩ indicate a Slavic nasal vowel . In the first part of the theonym, there is an Old Polabian continuation of the Proto-Slavic adjective *svętъ (with a nasal [e]). At the Old Polabian stage, at least in northern dialects, as a result of the transition of [ę] into [ą] (nasal [a] ), *svętъ passed into Old Polabian dialectal *svąt- . On this basis,

6695-434: The red sandstone cliffs on Heligoland . There are, however, differences between the former and the latter regarding some peculiarities of the coast line. In the case of the large and widespread coastal cliffs of Atacama Desert the modern cliffs originated from a process of scarp retreat of a fault scarp , thus at present the cliffs do not follow any geological fault . On a rocky cliffed coast made up of material which

6798-533: 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 cognates are Lithuanian šventas and Old Prussian swints "holy, sacred", which, like PS *svętъ , are derived from

6901-425: 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

7004-471: 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 argues for the pagan origin of the holiday. Popović is later referred to by Mile Nedeljković  [ sr ] , according to whom Vidovdan

7107-425: The sea level, taking into account any eustatic sea level changes . On a cliffed coast made up of material which is only fairly or even hardly resistant to erosion no wave-cut platform but a beach is formed in front of the sea cliff. If waves carve notches at a narrow point on both sides of a promontory on the rocky cliffed coast, a natural arch may be formed. When the arch collapses as the coastline recedes further

7210-474: The similarity of the words Svetovit and Saint Vitus prompted them to create the legend, Jacek Soszyński  [ pl ] claims, however, that the legend may have originated even earlier, but it was not practically applied for the first time until 1114. According to Stanisław Rosik  [ pl ] , the information about Svetovit, whose cult prevailed among the Pomeranian Slavs after

7313-456: The site of the Svetovid temple, which had been thought for a long time had been lost to coastal collapse. It is a rectangular area that was completely free of artifacts, but to find around which, however, articles were discovered that may have been offerings, including parts of broken weapons. This is consistent with the historical account by Saxo Grammaticus , who states that the priests inside

7416-455: The so-called "Corvey legend" in two versions (in the first version, he calls it an "old relation" , in the second, he calls it a "vague account" ) according to which the tribe of the Rani 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

7519-663: The strength of the surf, the height of the cliff, the frequency of storm surges and the hardness of the bedrock . Thus, the Mecklenburg coast in Germany recedes by about 25 centimetres per year, whereas the chalk cliffs of southern England retreat by just half a centimetre each year. A cliffed coast is made of a loose bedrock material, such as at the Red Cliff on the German island of Sylt , but can also occur in hard rock like

7622-680: The submerged flanks of ocean island volcanos such as the Hawaiian Islands and the Cape Verde Islands . Svantovit Svetovit , also known as Sventovit and Svantovit amongst other variants, is the god of abundance and war, and the chief god of the Slavic tribe of the Rani , and later of all the Polabian Slavs . His organized cult was located on the island of Rügen , at Cape Arkona , where his main temple

7725-413: 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 of the world" invented by 19th century Polish Romantics , where

7828-502: The suffix is supposed to be -vid "to see" (cf. Polish widzieć "to see"). Svetovit is mentioned by three sources: the main information is given by Helmold 's Chronica Slavorum and Saxo Grammaticus ’s 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 . Excerpt from Saxo's description: In

7931-432: 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

8034-570: The superiority of God over the pagan gods. The Jaromarsburg at Arkona is the only rampart for which we have detailed contemporaneous accounts. The castle was investigated by archaeologists multiple times due to the erosion constantly occurring around the castle. An information board in the Archaeological exhibition in Schwerin in 1995 showed this very clearly. The castle area has decreased in 1000 years to 1/3 of its original size. This led

8137-542: The temple fortress was taken after four weeks of siege, when the attackers succeeded by day, in starting a fire at an unobserved point, which the defenders of the castle could not put out due to a shortage of water. The temple was then destroyed, the Svetovid statue chopped up and burned. After the fall of the temple the princes of the Rügen Slavs, Tetzlav , who until then was the king of Rani, and his brother, Jaromar, who lived in their capital at Charenza , submitted to

8240-487: 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

8343-401: The temple were located on the sites where today the fishing villages of Vitt and Putgarten now stand. The name of the latter means "at the foot of the castle". From about the 9th century the Rani settled on Rügen; they probably built the sanctuary at this time and then erected the castle and fortifications in several stages. In the 11th century the rampart was raised further using soil from

8446-503: The temple were not even allowed to breathe within its confines, so as not to defile it. The name of Jaromarsburg is derived from the Rani prince, Jaromar I . He became the only Rani prince of Rügen (Ruja, Rujána, Rána) after his brother Tetislav (last mentioned in 1170). He was a vassal of the Danish king, Valdemar I , because Rügen was conquered by Denmark in 1168. Due to that, the all old temples were destroyed and Rani were forced to convert to Christianity. The name Jaromarsburg

8549-502: 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

8652-457: The texts) use A at the beginning a lot (e.g. mare Adriaticum = moře Jaderské ). The end of the word, -ona , is probably also a result of changes the Latin authors did to the original name. Based on his linguistic research of similar changes, author František Adolf Šubert in his work: Rujana , Wittow , Arkona: About the origin of these names assumes that the original form of the name was Jarkun , Jarkuon or Jarkůn . He based etymology of

8755-406: 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". 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

8858-540: 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 ( Serbian : Свети Вид , romanized :  Sveti Vid ). Once a year there was a big feast in honor of

8961-526: The theory. Some findings included stone pillars, walls, slingshot machine stones and a rune stone with the name "Ulf". The theory was, however, known much earlier. Some researchers believed that Jomsburg was a wrong spelling of Jaromarsburg, while others disputed this theory as early as the 18th century or earlier. Mémoires de la Société royale des antiquaires du Nord (1836–1839) mentions Arkona and Jaromars Burg as two different places that are situated close to each other, but with time, some authors started using

9064-472: 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 bonfires oriented to the four directions of

9167-424: 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

9270-531: Was a Christianization of Polabia 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 , 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

9373-460: Was a sun-hero, possessing a white horse. With time he acquired warlike qualities. According to Aleksander Brückner , Svetovit, Triglav , Svarog and Dazhbog are one and the same deity worshipped under different names; Stanisław Urbańczyk believed that Svetovit replaced Svarog, Svarozhits or Perun. Scholars have also linked to Svetovit a figurine, the so-called Wolin Svetovit , found on

9476-466: 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

9579-417: 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 , 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

9682-517: 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, Andrzej Szyjewski  [ pl ] considered Svetovit to be the god of vegetation and fertility, who also possessed solar qualities – he

9785-436: 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

9888-411: Was carved in the pre-Christian era on Rügen, and could have represented the Slavic god, Svantevit, to the priest, because only he had the right to touch the large and ornate drinking horn of Svantevit's. But it could also be the gravestone of Prince Tetzlav, who had been given the peninsula of Wittow , after the Danish conquest of Rügen. Furthermore, it is assumed that the position of the stone represents

9991-480: 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

10094-417: Was rejected by Stanisław Urbańczyk . The source material, however, confirms the existence of this type of words in Slavic languages, cf. Belarusian dialectal svyatovyy , Russian svyatovyy , Ukrainian *svyatovoy "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

10197-437: Was still present, which he dated to 1000. 54°40′35.76″N 13°26′12.97″E  /  54.6766000°N 13.4369361°E  / 54.6766000; 13.4369361 Cliffed coast A cliffed coast , also called an abrasion coast , is a form of coast where the action of marine waves has formed steep cliffs that may or may not be precipitous. It contrasts with a flat or alluvial coast . In coastal areas in which

10300-476: 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,

10403-425: Was surrounded by two enclosures, the outer one covered by a purple roof. Inside was a four-metre-high statue of Svetovid , carved from an oak trunk. Saxo Grammaticus writes: In its right hand the figure held a drinking horn, made of various metals. The priest filled it each year with mead and from that which had been lost over the year prophesied about the coming harvest . It is believed that settlements related to

10506-407: 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. 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

10609-408: 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

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