Perun

Perun depicted by painter Max Presnyakov

**Perun** was the Slavic high-god of lighting, thunder, agriculture, laws, and justice, who was also considered the patron deity of warriors.

## Overview

### Role

Perun was usually seen as the most high god of the Eastern Slavic pantheon, having the title Bog which might translate into "Supreme God" or "The Higher". Sometimes the god Svarog was the seen as the head of the pantheon, while it seems the Baltic Slavs viewed Svetovit as the most high.

### Appearance

Perun was usually described as a imposing, strong and handsome man with a silver hair and a golden moustache. As a god of war he regularly armed, being depicted carrying either an axe or a hammer as a melee weapon, as well as a bow that would shoot lighting. It was also believed that Perun rode across the sky with a heavily chariot.

Perun was worshipped as a god of weather, bringing clouds and rain, which was vital for the fertilisation of the ground and agriculture. His legendary battle with the god Veles would also be connected to his dominion over the weather.

### Family

Perun was sometimes paired with the Mokosh, the goddess of the earth, fertility, fate, harvest, moisture, sexuality, women, children, childbirth, home, and weaving, and was the father of at least ten to nine sons and one daughter.

### Symbols & worship

The sacred tree of Perun was the oak and his sacred animal the ox, which was an important animal, since it could plow the fields. Perun seemed to have been the only god for which these animals were sacrificed to. According to early Christian missionaries, the Perun and the other gods were sometimes appeased with the sacrifice of humans, including the children of the Slavic people themselves.

### Similiarities to other gods

Perun shared similarities (hammer, lighting, rain, agriculture, oak) with the European thunder-gods, such as the Greek Zeus, the Roman Jupiter, the Baltic Perkūnas, the Finnish Ukko and the Germanic Thor, and like many of these gods, he was connected with day that would be nown as Thursday.

## Mythology

### Combat myth with Veles

Perun is often described as an eagle or hawk sitting on the top of the world-tree, who is opposed by a dragon or snake at the roots, who is actually Veles, the trickster-god of the underworld and freshwater. Veles would overreach his natural position and either steal something important to Perun (either his wife, children or cattle) or hold back the underground waters that were vital for the humans in agriculture, which would always lead to a clash between the two deities.

Veles would try to hide from Perun (either under a tree or rock), but the storm god would always find the dragon and fight him. During this battle chaos and drought would enter the world, and the social structure among the humans is broken. Perun would eventually defeat Veles by striking him down with lighting, bringing peace and order back into the world.

## Perun and Christianity

Vladimir the Great (c. 958 – 15 July 1015), Prince of the Kievan Rus, honoured the god Perun in the form of a wooden statue (with the established silver hair and a golden moustache), alongside the gods Khors, Dazhbog, Stribog, Semargl, and Mokosh. These six were held in a sacred sanctuary in the city of Kiev, on the yard behind the prince's palace.

Things changed in 988, when Vladimir the Great converted to Christianity and ordered all pagan idols to be taken down, and either be chopped to pieces or burned away. The statue of Perun was desecrated the most, as it was thrown into a river and was prevented from stranding on the beaches.

Despite being replaced by the Christian god among the Slavic people, many of Perun's attributes were transferred over to the Old Testament Prophet Elijah, since both figures are described riding across the sky in a chariot and connected to natural forces such as fire and lighting. This connection was made also by neighbouring cultures, such as the Baltic Perkūnas and the Finnish Perkele.

## Pop Culture

* Perun appears in Mike Mignola's *Hellboy*-comics, notably in *Hellboy: Darkness Calls*, which tackles Slavic mythology, folklore and fairy tales. He appears in the story alongside Leshy, a fellow god from Slavic mythology.
* Perun was mentioned as a deity in the *The Wicked + The Divine*-comics, in which he cohabitated the world of the 1830's with several other well-known deities, such as Lucifer, Inanna, Minerva, Hestia, Woden, Hades, Thoth, the Morrígan, and Morpheus.
* Perun appears in *Marvel*-comics, in which he was a member of the Soviet Super-Soldiers, a team of superheroes that served the Soviet Union during the Cold War. He could have been seen as a counterpart to Thor, the Norse god who served as a member of the more famous Avengers.
* Perun appears in the 1997 historical fantasy novel *Thessalonica* by Harry Turtledove.
* Within the universe of the SCP-Foundaction, Perun appears as a major figure in the Black Sky Canon, notably in SCP-PL-231.

## References

1. ↑ Dragnea, Mihai. *Slavic and Greek-Roman Mythology, Comparative Mythology*
2. ↑ Dragnea, Mihai. *Slavic and Greek-Roman Mythology, Comparative Mythology*
3. ↑ Dragnea, Mihai. *Slavic and Greek-Roman Mythology, Comparative Mythology*
4. ↑ Kropej, Monika. *The Tenth Child in Folk Tradition*
5. ↑ Dragnea, Mihai. *Slavic and Greek-Roman Mythology, Comparative Mythology*
6. ↑ Dragnea, Mihai. *Slavic and Greek-Roman Mythology, Comparative Mythology*
7. ↑ Jansens, Nicolas. *Perun: Thor in Slavic Guise?*
8. ↑ Borenović, Mirjana. *René Girard’s Scapegoating and Stereotypes of Persecution in the Divine Battle between Veles and Perun*
9. ↑ *Primary Chronicle*
10. ↑ Lurker, Manfred. *The Routledge Dictionary Of Gods Goddesses Devils And Demons*
11. ↑ *Primary Chronicle*
12. ↑ Dragnea, Mihai. *Slavic and Greek-Roman Mythology, Comparative Mythology*
13. ↑ Laurinkienė, Nijolė. *Transformations of the Lithuanian God Perkūnas*
14. ↑ Pulkkinen, Risto and Stina Lindfors. *Suomalaisen kansanuskon sanakirja*