Perkūnas

Perkūnas, picture by PavloMudrak

### Aliases

Pērkons, Perkūns, Perkunos, Parkuns, Pārkiuņs, Percunus, Percunos, Pirchunos, Perkuns, Parcuns, Pargnus

## Family & Relationships

### Counterparts

Perun, Perkele, Thor, Jupiter, Zeus, Baal, Marduk

**Perkūnas** was the the Baltic god of sky, thunder, lightning, storms, rain, fire, war, law, order, fertility, mountains, and oak trees. He was notably worshipped by the ancient Lithuanians, Latvians and Prussians as a principal deity.

## Overview

### Family & relationships

Perkūnas was seen as one of the most high gods among the Baltic people, and was sometimes seen as the son of the god Dievas, the god of creation. His consort was usually either Saulė, the goddess of the sun, or Žemyna, the goddess of the earth.

In the Prussian regions he formed a triad with two other gods; Potrimpo, the god of agriculture and the sea, and Peckols, the god associated with death and the underworld.

### Appearance

He is usually depicted middle-aged man with a black beard and ruddy face, sometimes wearing a burning crown on his head. He travels across the sky in a two-wheeled chariot or pulled by either two goats or horses.

### Role as the sky & weather god

Perkūnas' dwelling place was in the clouds between the heavens and the Earth, giving him rulership over an atmosphere and weather. Due to ruling this middle space, he was revered through high places, such as mountains, hills and oak trees.

Residing in the clouds, he also controlled the weather, notably storms and rain, which made him an important patron deity for agriculture. His thunders were said to be important for initiating spring and the growth plants, both wild and domesticated.

### Warrior god

Perkūnas was also seen as an important figure in combat, being both a patron of soldiers as well as a mighty warrior in his own right. According to folklore, the god could be quick-tempered, but also militant and always armed, with either an armed with an axe, knives and arrows.

The god was in conflict with Velnias, a chthonic god the underworld, and various malevolent spiritual beings, who might trouble the gods or humans. Perkūnas was also known enact justice among humans and punish evil doers and keep order in the cosmos, sometimes being seen as someone in service of Dievas, the high god.

Perkūnas' struggle against Velnias and other evil spirits bears similarity to the rivalry of the Slavic conflict between Perun and Veles, or other combat myths between storm-gods and various chthonic forces of chaos, such as the Canaanite myth of Ba'al and Yam, the Greek myth of Zeus and Typhon, the Babylonian myth of Marduk and Tiamat or the Vedic myth of Indra and Vritra.

## Myths

### Jūratė and Kastytis

Jūratė, a sea goddess, lived in an amber mansion or castle under the surface of the Baltic Sea. One day she noticed a young man named Kastysis over-fishing and she wanted to punish him, but instead fell in love with the humans on the basis of how handsome he was. She took approached him which led to him falling in love with her as well, and the two lovers moved into her amber mansion.

This relationship was discovered by Perkūnas who was angered greatly by the relationship between a mortal and a goddess. He decided to strike Jurate's mansion with a thunder-bolt, which shattered it millions of pieces and killed Kastysis. Jurate herself was chained by the thunder-god to the bottom of the sea, where she started weeping, her tears becoming the pieces of amber that are still discovered at shores of the Baltic Sea to this very day.

## Connections to Biblical and Christian saints

Being a popular figure, Perkūnas was conflated with several human saints when Christianity arrived in the Baltic regions. The most frequent figure was the prophet Elijah (Elija or Elijas in the local languages) from the Old Testament, since according to the Bible, he was taken up to Heaven by Yahweh in a fiery chariot. Another figure associated with the god was the mysterious patriarch Enoch, who was also taken to up to Heaven by Yahweh. The legendary Saint George, who was said to have slain a dragon, was also associated with the god, possibly referencing his battle with Velnias.

Perkūnas was not the only European god of thunder to be associated with the figure of Elijah, as the Slavic god Perun and Finnish god Perkele were also conflated with him, as all four were described as divine figures riding across the sky in fiery chariots.

## Pop Culture

* Perkūnas is mentioned in the Harry Turtledove novels *The Case of the Toxic Spell Dump* and *Gunpowder Empire*.
* In the 2011 action role-playing game *Final Fantasy Type-0* one of the bosses was named Perkunas.
* In the 2011 tactical role-playing game *Valkyria Chronicles II* a rebel airship was named Perkunas.
* A character named Perkunas was also featured in online game Kamihime Project, being described as a *sensitive about her youthful appearance, this Kamihime hates being treated like a child. However, she doesn't seems to realize her own childlike behavior*.
* In the video game 2016 *Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate* one of the weapons was called Perkunas, which is described as *the coveted Ultimate Form of the Lightning Bow*.

## Links

* Perkūnas - Wikipedia
* Perkūnas - Myths and Folklore Wiki
* Perkūnas - Encyclopædia Britannica
* Perkūnas - Kamihime Project

## References

1. ↑ *The Early Baltic Pantheon by Jenny Larsson at SCAS 2018 11 06*
2. ↑ Tumėnas, Vytautas. *The common attributes between the Baltic thunder god Perkūnas and his antique equaivalents Jupiter and Zeus*
3. ↑ Beresnevičius, Gintaras. *Lithunainan Mythology, Chapter IV*
4. ↑ Beresnevičius, Gintaras. *Lithunainan Mythology, Chapter IV*
5. ↑ Beresnevičius, Gintaras. *Lithuanian Religion and Mythology*
6. ↑ Beresnevičius, Gintaras. *Lithuanian Religion and Mythology*
7. ↑ Grinvalds, Emilija Karina. *Latvian Folk Dance: Sustaining Cultural Heritage in the Context of Christianity and Communism*
8. ↑ Beresnevičius, Gintaras. *Lithuanian Religion and Mythology*
9. ↑ Grinvalds, Emilija Karina. *Latvian Folk Dance: Sustaining Cultural Heritage in the Context of Christianity and Communism*
10. ↑ Beresnevičius, Gintaras. *Lithunainan Mythology, Chapter IV*
11. ↑ Laurinkienė, Nijolė. *Transformations of the Lithuanian God Perkūnas*
12. ↑ Pažūsis, Lionginas. *Jūratė and Kastytis*
13. ↑ Pažūsis, Lionginas. *Jūratė and Kastytis*
14. ↑ Laurinkienė, Nijolė. *Transformations of the Lithuanian God Perkūnas*
15. ↑ Pulkkinen, Risto and Stina Lindfors. *Suomalaisen kansanuskon sanakirja*