Perun

This article is about a Slavic god. For historical money, see Perun (money).

Perun
spring, east, fertility, athmosphere, thunderbolt
Symbol	fire, oak, iris, eagle, axe
Consort	Perunika or Mokosh
Christian equivalent	Elijah
Slavic equivalent	Porenut? Kresnik?
v · Slavic mythology, Perun (Cyrillic: Перун) is the highest god of the pantheon and the god of thunder and lightning. His other attributes were the fire, mountains, the oak, iris, eagle, firmament (in Indo-European languages this was joined with the notion of the sky of stone), horses and carts, weapons (the hammer, axe (Axe of Perun) and arrow) and war. He was first associated with weapons made of stone and later with those of metal. Like Germanic Thor,[citation needed] Perun is described as a rugged man with a copper beard. He rides in a chariot pulled by a goat buck and carries a mighty axe, or sometimes a hammer. The axe is hurled at evil people and spirits and will always return to his hand. Gromoviti znaci or thunder marks such as these are ancient symbols of Perun, which are often engraved upon roof beams of village houses, particularly in Eastern Slavic populations, to protect them from lightning bolts. It is conjectured their circular shape symbolises ball lightning. Sources Of all historic records describing Slavic gods, those mentioning Perun are the most numerous. As early as the 6th century, he was mentioned in De Bello Gothico, a historical source written by the Byzantine historian Procopius. A short note describing beliefs of a certain South Slavic tribe states they acknowledge that one god, creator of lightning, is the only lord of all: to him do they sacrifice an ox and all sacrificial animals. While the name of the god is not mentioned here explicitly, the fact that word Perun in a number of Slavic languages today simply means "thunder" or "lightning bolt" is proof enough this was a reference of him. In 980, when prince Vladimir the Great came to throne of Kiev, he erected statues of five pagan gods in front of his palace. Perun was chief among these, represented with a silver head and a golden moustache. Vladimir's uncle Dobrinja also had a shrine of Perun established in his city of Novgorod. After the Christianization of Kievan Rus, this place became a monastery, which, quite remarkably, continued to bear the name of Perun. Perun is not mentioned directly in any of the records of Western Slavic paganism, but a reference to him is perhaps made in a short note in Helmod's Chronica Slavorum, written in latter half of the 12th century, which states (quite similarly to Procopius some six centuries earlier) that Slavic tribes, even though they worship many various gods, all agree there is a supreme god in heaven which rules over all other on earth. This could be a reference to Perun, but since he is not named, nor any of his chief attributes (thunder or lightning) mentioned, we cannot be certain. Moreover, the name of Perun is also commonly found in Southern Slavic toponymy. The Macedonian and Bulgarian people believe that the name of the mountain Pirin, one of the highest mountains of the Balkan Peninsula, was named after Perun. There are also places called: Perun (the famous mountain in Bosnia Herzegovina, Vareš), Perunac, Perunovac, Perunika, Perunička Glava, Peruni Vrh, Perunja Ves, Peruna Dubrava, Perunuša, Perušice, Perudina and Perutovac. These names today mostly represent mountain tops, but in medieval times, large oaks, sacred groves and even entire villages or citadels were named Perun. Also, as mentioned already, in Ukrainian perun and in Polish piorun means "thunderbolt". Among South Slavs, a mountain plant Iris germanica is known in folklore as perunika ("Perun's plant") and sometimes also as bogisha, ("god's plant"), and was believed to grow from ground that had been struck by lightning. Etymology Main article: Perkwunos Perun is strongly correlated with the near-identical Perkūnas/Pērkons from Baltic mythology, suggesting the existence of an ancestral Balto-Slavic deity, which ultimately derives from the Proto-Indo European thunder god whose original name has been reconstructed as Perkwunos. The root *perkwu originally probably meant oak, but in Proto-Slavic this evolved into per- meaning "to strike, to slay". Myth In Slavic mythology, much like in Norse mythology, the world was represented by a sacred tree, usually an oak, whose branches and trunk represented the living world of heavens and mortals, whilst its roots represented the underworld, i.e. the realm of dead. Perun was a ruler of the living world, sky and earth, and was often symbolised by an eagle sitting on the top of the tallest branch of the tree, from which he kept watch over the entire world. Deep down in the roots of the tree was the place of his enemy, symbolised by a serpent or a dragon: this was Veles, watery god of the underworld, who continually provoked Perun by stealing his cattle, children or wife. Perun pursued Veles around the earth, attacking him with his lightning bolts from the sky. Veles fled from him by transforming himself into various animals, or hiding behind trees, houses or people; wherever a lightning bolt struck, it was believed, this was because Veles hid from Perun under or behind that particular place. In the end, Perun managed to kill Veles, or to chase him back down into his watery underworld. The supreme god thus reestablished the order in the world which had been disrupted by his chaotic enemy. He then returned to the top of the World tree and proudly informed his opponent down in the roots:Ну, там твое место, там сабе будь! (Nu, tam tvoje mjesto, tam sabje bud'! "Well, there is your place, stay there!"). This line came from a Belarusian folk tale of great antiquity. To the Slavs, the mythological symbolism of a supreme heavenly god who battles with his underworldly enemy through storms and thunder was extremely significant, and from Perun and Veles, this idea of cosmic battle was passed onto God and the Devil following Christianization. While the exact pantheon characterization differed between the Slavic tribes, Perun is generally believed to have been considered as the supreme god by the majority, or perhaps nearly all Slavs, at least towards the end of Slavic paganism. The earliest supreme god was probably Rod; it is unclear precisely how and why his worship as the head of pantheon evolved into the worship of Perun. Another candidate for supreme deity among at least some Slavs is Svarog. Weapons In the classification scheme of Georges Dumézil, Perun was the god of the second function (physical and military power), a god of war, and as such, he was armed with several fantastic weapons. Perun's lightning bolts were believed to be stones and stone arrows. According to folk beliefs, fulgurites and belemnites and sometimes even remains of prehistoric stone tools found in the ground are remains of these weapons. Various Slavic countries also call these deposits "Perun's stones", "thunderbolt stones", "thunderbolt wedges" and "Perun's arrow"; other unrelated names for these include "devil's finger", "God's finger", and "Mother of God finger", and in Lithuania, "Berkun's finger". These thunderbolt stones were sometimes said to be transferred back to the sky by the wind after being under earth for a period of seven years. The weapons of Perun protected against bad luck, evil magic, disease, and - naturally enough - lightning itself. Perun also had another type of weapon in his arsenal, as destructive as his firestone arrows, but even more unusual: mythical golden apples. While this may not seem to be much of a weapon, in many Slavic folk accounts, the golden apple appears as a talisman of ultimate destruction. An example from a folk song from Montenegro with strong mythical elements relates: ... Te izvadi tri jabuke zlatne I baci ih nebu u visine... ...Tri munje od neba pukoše Jedna gađa dva djevera mlada, Druga gađa pašu na dorinu, Treća gađa svata šest stotina, Ne uteče oka za svjedoka, Ni da kaže, kako pogiboše. "...He grabbed three golden apples And threw them high into the sky... ...Three lightning bolts burst from the sky, One struck at two young grooms, Another struck at pasha on a horse, The third one struck six hundred wedding guests, Not an eyewitness left Not even to say, how they died." It is conjectured that mythical golden apples of Perun were symbols of a rare but notorious form of atmospheric discharge, ball lightning. The same is probably true for the thunder marks of East Slavic folklore, of which two examples are shown above. Characteristics Remains of an ancient shrine to Perun discovered beneath medieval Peryn skete in Novgorod consisted of a wide circular platform centred around a statue, encircled by a trench with eight apses, which contained sacrificial altars and possibly additional statues. The overall plan of the shrine shows clear symbolism of the number nine. This is sometimes interpreted that Perun, in fact, had nine sons (or eight sons, with himself, the father, being the ninth Perun). It should also be noted that in some Slavic folk songs, nine unnamed brothers are mentioned. Similarly to Perkūnas of Baltic mythology, Perun was considered to have multiple aspects. In one Lithuanian song, it is said there are in fact nine versions of Perkūnas. From comparison to the Baltic mythology, and also from additional sources in Slavic folklore, it can also be shown that Perun was married to the Sun. He, however, shared his wife with his enemy Veles, as each night the Sun was thought of as diving behind the horizon and into the underworld, the realm of the dead over which Veles ruled. Like many other Indo-European thunder gods, Perun's vegetative hypostasis was the oak, especially a particularly distinctive or prominent one. In Southern Slavic traditions, marked oaks stood on country borders; communities at these positions were visited during village holidays in the late spring and during the summer. Shrines of Perun were located either on top of mountains or hills, or in sacred groves underneath ancient oaks. These were a general place of worship and holding of sacrifices (with a bull, an ox, a ram, and eggs). In addition to the tree association, Perun had a day association (Thursday) as well as the material association (tin).[1] Post-Christian Perun With the arrival of Christianity, various churches had a difficult time trying to overcome the worship of the old supreme deities of the Slavs. In the East, the Eastern Orthodox Church gradually managed to pass much of Perun's characteristics on to a new Christian saint, Elijah the Thunderer, based upon the Old Testament prophet Elijah, whom the Scriptures state rode a flaming chariot through heaven; this seemed a good enough approximation of the old thunder god with his fiery bolts. In the west, the Roman Catholic Church offered St. Michael the Archangel, who, as a commander of heavenly armies and vanquisher of the Devil, was also a fitting replacement for Perun. It is also possible that on a local level Perun was replaced with St. Vitus, where this saint did not, due to similarities in names, replace another important Slavic god, Svantovit; however, it is also possible that already in pagan times, the worship of Perun was challenged by a growing cult of Svetovid (Svantovit). On some levels of folklore and popular Christianity, some of Perun's characteristics were passed on to the Christian God Himself. See also Montenegrin perun Perperuna Perkūnas Perkwunos nickname of Petar Perunovic Thor Indra Veles Varpulis Saint Elijah the Thunderer Axe of Perun Cultural references Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time character Perrin Aybara is largely based on Perun. In addition to the name similarity Perrin's choice of weapons include the axe, hammer, and bow. Perrin also shares Perun's association to wolves; Perrin can even talk to wolves. In Christianized versions versions of Slavic mythology, Perun's name is usually replaced with St. Elias. In the Wheel of time, Elyas Machera is yet another character that can speak to wolves. Folk Metal band Turisas makes references to Perun in their song "A Portage to the Unknown", as well as describing the general look of one of the ancient symbols of Perun. Ukrainian Black Metal band Nokturnal Mortum tell about Perun in their song "Perun's Celestial Silver", with references to arrows, lightning and the punishment of thieves. Marvel Comics has a character named Perun, a heroic member of the Soviet super-group called 'The People's Protecterate'. In Marvel Comics, in the alternate continuity of Ultimates 2, the terrorist group The Liberators has a member Perun. He is described as a Soviet Thor. Perun appears in the Hellboy limited series Darkness Calls, in which he aids Hellboy before being killed by the Baba Yaga. Perun is a major character in The Iron Druid Chronicles novel, Hammered by Kevin Hearne. The series follows the Tempe, Arizona-based 2,100-year old Irish Druid, Atticus O'Sullivan. This particular book in the series' main plot point is the ingress of several characters - Perun, O'Sullivan, a werewolf, a vampire, Finnish folk legend Väinämöinen, and Taoist fangshi Zhang Guo Lao - into Asgard to kill Norse thunder god Thor, for various reasons. Perun's motive for this endeavor is that he was visited by Thor at the behest of Odin to goad Perun into having his worshippers build statues and monuments to him. While the Eddas preserved Thor and Odin, Perun's monuments crumbled and he is largely forgotten - which he believes Odin planned. Notes ^ "Язычество славян" - Боги славян perun.ca References Perun: The God of Thunder by Mark Yoffe and Joseph Krafczik; Peter Lang Publishing (April 2003) Graves, Robert: New Larousse Encyclopedia Of Mythology (Hardcover), Crescent (December 16, 1987) Ryan, W. F.:The Bathhouse at Midnight: An Historical Survey of Magic and Divination in Russia (Magic in History Series) (Paperback), Pennsylvania State University Press (September 1999) Znayenko, Myroslava T.: The gods of the ancient Slavs: Tatishchev and the beginnings of Slavic mythology (Paperback), Slavica (1980) Yoffe, Mark; Krafczik, Joseph: Perun: The God of Thunder (Studies in the Humanities (New York, N.Y.), V. 43.) (Hardcover), Peter Lang Publishing (April 2003) Wikimedia Foundation. 2010. Игры ⚽ Нужно сделать НИР? Frustum Arrow's impossibility theorem Look at other dictionaries: Perun — Saltar a navegación, búsqueda En la mitología eslava, Perún (Perún o Parom en eslovaco) es el dios supremo del panteón, dios del trueno y del rayo. Sus otros atributos son la montaña, el roble, el águila, el firmamento (en las lenguas… …   Wikipedia Español Perun — ist der oberste Gott der slawischen Mythologie. Er ist der Gott des Gewitters, des Donners und der Blitze. Zu seinen Symbolen zählen die Schwertlilie, die Axt und die Eiche. Sein Name leitet sich aus der Wurzel per (schlagen) und der… …   Deutsch Wikipedia Perun — Pȅrun m <G Pȅruna, V Pȅrune> DEFINICIJA mit. praslavensko božanstvo; gromovnik, nebesnik, obitava na planinskim vrhovima, u krošnji svetog duba (hrasta); bog neba, oluje i pobjede, čuvar i izvršitelj sudbine, sudac dušama; na mjestima gdje… …   Hrvatski jezični portal Perun — (Peron), der Donnergott, der vornehmste polnische u. russische Götze, welcher auch als Herr der ganzen Welt gedacht wurde. Seine Hauptverehrung war in Kiew, wo sein Bild, dessen Rumpf von Holz, der Kopf von Silber, der Bart von Gold, die Füße… …   Pierer's Universal-Lexikon Perún — Perún, einer der obersten Götter bei den alten Slawen, der den Donner regierte und dem litauischen Perkunas (s. d.) entspricht. Sichere Nachrichten über P. sind sehr spärlich. Der russische Großfürst Wladimir errichtete 980 in Kiew dem P. eine… …   Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon Perun — Perun, slaw. Gottheit, s. Perkun …   Kleines Konversations-Lexikon Perun — (Mythologie), siehe Perkunnos …   Damen Conversations Lexikon PERUN — Novogrodiensium idolum, de quo vide supra voce Fulmen. Item Borussorum, vide infra Prussia …   Hofmann J. Lexicon universale perun — pèrūn m DEFINICIJA v. pirun …   Hrvatski jezični portal Perun — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Perun (homonymie). Les Gromoviti znaci (signes du tonnerre) sont les symboles de Perun Perun est, dans la mythologie slave, le dieu de la …   Wikipédia en Français 18+ © Academic, 2000-2024 Contact us: Technical Support, Advertising Dictionaries export, created on PHP, Joomla, Drupal, WordPress, MODx. Mark and share Search through all dictionaries Translate… Search Internet Share the article and excerpts Direct link … Do a right-click on the link above and select “Copy Link”