THE TRIPLE GOD OF OLD EUROPE: TRIGLAV, JARILO, PERUN, VELES, POTRIMPOS,

RHUGEVIT, AND OTHERS (A LOGIC PUZZLE)

by

Patricia Robin Woodruff

A dissertation submitted pertaining to the requirements for the degree of

Philosopher of Metaphysical Theology, PhD.

from University of Metaphysical Sciences

14 April, 2020

The Triple God of Old Europe; Triglav, Jarilo, Perun, Veles, Potrimpos, Rhugevit, and

others (A Logic Puzzle)

Chapter 1: Introduction

Working with the premise that groups of three Slavic gods mentioned in ancient

literature may indeed be the same three-part seasonal deity seen throughout Old

Europe, deduction is used to sort through the regional names. The written records are

fragmentary, however once the attributes are sorted and the titles of the triple god are

laid out step-by-step then details can be crosschecked. This reveals that gods which

were once thought of as part of a Slavic Pantheon are instead di erent masks of the

same Divine that became transformed into separate deities over time. This is

incredibly important in the eld of metaphysics as it brings out our commonalities of

belief.

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Chapter 2: Review of Literature

The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion by S.J.G. Frazer

This is a pivotal book in the study of the beliefs of Old Europe and the Slavic lands

which had been so long neglected by European academia. Sir James George Frazer

has been criticized for being an “arm-chair anthropologist” since he didn’t do much

travel or onsite studies. However, his observations in the Victorian era on the

commonalities of religion set the groundwork for many modern discoveries. This

Cambridge scholar was passionate about anthropology, folklore and comparative

religion and was able to synthesize various beliefs and group them according to

commonalities. The Golden Bough is one of the few sources of collected Slavic beliefs

in English and is considered one of Frazer’s crowning achievements.

Contributions to Comparative Mythology, Studies in Linguistics and Philology,

1972-1982. Vol. VII by Roman Jakobson

Jakobson was a mythologist and comparative linguist born in Russia. He received his

PhD in Prague but due to the upheaval of World War II he eventually ed to the United

States and taught at Harvard University. While he is most renowned for his theory of

phonology that shaped the study of modern linguistics, he is also a great source for the

Pagan gods that he chronicled. The book studies the names of the deities and spiritual

words with an emphasis on the linguistic roots. Jakobson compares the Slavic deities

with their Indo-European equivalents.

The Itinerary of John Leland the Antiquary: In Nine Volumes by John Leland.

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A self-described antiquarian who lived in the 1500’s at the time of Henry XVIII. In the

religious upheaval between the Catholic Church and the formation of the Church of

England, he was an avid bibliophile and tried to save these sources of knowledge as

Catholic libraries were being dispersed. His travel journals, personal library and

manuscript notes were saved in the Oxford Bodleian Library as an important primary

source. His “Itinerary” saved a lot of historical information about early England

including the early Pagan traditions, as well as Roman beliefs.

Bulgarian Folk Customs by Mercia MacDermott

This modern book does a good job of preserving the common folk customs of

Bulgaria. It covers holidays as well as traditions surrounding births, weddings, and

funerals. Its weakness is that these traditions are looked at as they are practiced today

which is slightly distorted by a millennium of Christian and Muslim beliefs. That said,

the underlying indigenous religion shines through and is relatively easy to compare to

traditions preserved in other countries. The author, Mercia MacDermott, was born in

England but spent 27 of her almost 90 years in Bulgaria. Being a multi-lingual historian

and an Oxford scholar she is in an excellent position to record these traditions.

The Natural Genesis by Gerald Massey

Gerald Massey was a poet, Christian Socialist, and self-taught Egyptologist. He also

had an interest in the Spiritualism of the Edwardian Era. Since he didn’t have access to

modern archeological discoveries, Gerald Massey started with the premise that

religions started in Africa and traveled through Egypt. His conclusions are colored by

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this erroneous assumption. Yet he did a fairly good job of trying to get into a Pagan

mind-set. Despite being raised in the very male-centered culture of the 1800’s, he

made the observation that the feminine divine was the rst religious belief. He also

pointed out that sexuality was perfectly natural, however he had a hard time

remembering this, regrettably referring to it as a “phallic cult.” While it is a good

collection of beliefs of di erent cultures, it is not as well synthesized as The Golden

Bough and with less Slavic lore.

“Slavonic Religion.” Religious Systems of the World: A Contribution to the Study of

Comparative Religion by William Richard Mor ll

This Oxford scholar was uent in Polish, Serbian, Bulgarian and Russian as well as his

native English. He taught himself these foreign languages and became the rst

professor of Russian in Oxford (and actually the rst in all of Britain!) His interest in the

Slavic and Russian cultures and his ability to read the language made him the logical

author of the “Slavonic Religion” section of this book from the Victorian era. However,

he was Christian and the beliefs were analyzed as primitive “superstitions” rather than

the indigenous religion that it is. The fact that Mor ll described the beliefs as

“obscure” only a little more than 100 years ago, shows that the topic is still sadly

understudied.

Dzieje Starozytne Narodu Litewskiego (The Ancient History of the Lithuanian People) by

Teodor Narbutt

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While this is written in Polish, this mid-1800’s book is an important resource recording

the indigenous beliefs of the Lithuanians. Narbutt graduated college with a degree in

engineering but in the course of his life he became interested in archeology, organized

excavations in Lithuania and collected historical documents. Narbutt drew his

information from heretofore undiscovered primary sources causing his work to be

criticized for being inaccurate, however, later research has proven many of his sources.

The author was writing in a time of instability where Lithuania was separating from

Poland and yet was divided between Russia, Austria and Prussia. It provoked a

renewed Lithuanian nationalism that may have adversely in uenced his objectivity as a

historian. The book covers various Lithuanian names of deities, as well as holiday

traditions.

Morals and Dogma by Albert Pike

This records some of William Stukeley’s work on the druids from the previous century,

however it is much easier to read than Stukeley’s work from the Colonial Era with all

the long “s’s”. Albert Pike was a fascinating man; a self-taught schoolteacher,

accepted into Harvard but declined, a Confederate senior o cer in the Civil War, a

poet, a newspaper writer who studied law and was admitted to the bar, uent in several

Native American languages, wrote a book on Indo-Aryan Deities and most especially a

Sovereign Grand Commander of the Scottish Rite Freemasons. For 100 years, his

book, Morals and Dogma, was given to all Freemasons upon the completion of their

14th degree. The book discusses comparative religion (but in a mystical and not

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academic manner). It emphasizes that the root of all religion is the same, however, it

has a Masonic and Christian focus.

Slavonic Pagan Sanctuaries (1994). L.P. Słupecki

Dr. Laszek Paweł Słupecki is an esteemed Polish historian working at the University of

Rzeszów and heads the Department of Medieval History and Nordistics there. This is a

well researched book which takes into account modern archaeological discoveries in

its theories and conclusions. It is very thorough on its research of Slavonic Pagan

Sanctuaries and is one of the few English books out there on this neglected topic.

Abury, A Temple of the British Druids, with Some Others Described by William Stukeley

William Stukeley visited Stonehenge in the early 1700’s and is one of the rst

antiquarians to start analyzing it scienti cally. He was able to write about many of

these ancient sites, such as Avebury and Silbury Hill, at a time when the stones were

rapidly being destroyed in the name of industrial progress. Since some of these stones

do not exist anymore, his careful observations and drawings are very important for

history. (Although, again, the long “s” makes for slow reading.) It is a wonderful

window into the English world of 300 years ago. However, the author’s observations

on the druids are colored by being an Anglican clergyman and Freemason.

Studies into the Balts’ Sacred Places by Vykintas Vaitkevičius

This modern study of sacred sites of Lithuania is just beginning to touch on the topic.

Since many of the sites haven’t actually been excavated, it is mainly a compilation of

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historical records and folklore associated with these sacred places. However,

compiling all of this data in one place provides a good starting point for further

investigation. The maps in this book can be particularly useful in locating sites. V.

Vaitkevičius is an archeologist and a deputy chair of the Archaeological Society of

Lithiuania. He is active in getting government support for protecting the archaeological

heritage of his country.

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Chapter 3: Research Methods

Most of the written history of the Slavs began a little over a thousand years ago with

the introduction of Christianity in the area. This means there are few primary written

sources of the native religion and almost none written by Pagan believers themselves.

Since the main writers at the time were clergy in the Orthodox church, their chronicles

of a religion they were trying to eradicate are not an unbiased source. Any pre-

Christian written records were recorded by enemies of the Slavs and may have been

distorted as “war time propaganda.” Other sources of information must be found. By

examining pan-Slavic traditions as well as those of neighboring countries and

combining that with mythology, ethnographic sources, linguistic roots, anthropology,

new archeological discoveries, art history, and ethnobotany, the ancient traditions

begin to reveal themselves. Thus a qualitative, multidisciplinary approach was taken in

gathering and evaluating material as well as a multi-elimination logic process.

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Chapter 4: Findings

In order to get into the mindset of the ancient Slavs and their Proto-Indo-European

predecessors one must remember that in the indigenous earth religions life is cyclical

and not linear. The Russian word for “time” is vremia which came from the word

vertet’sia meaning “to spin.”(Haney 1999) This natural world view perceives the

seasons morphing one into the next around a circle. In the indigenous belief all things

are connected, thus, people’s lives as well as the deities’ power must also follow this

same circular pattern. (Woodru 2019)

In the herding cultures the year was simply divided into two parts; the white half of

summer and the black half of winter. White was considered the color of radiance and

energy, thus powerful magical stones were called “White Stones” even if their actual

color wasn’t white.(Cepitis and Jakubenoka 2011) In the indigenous religion of Old

Europe there was no “good” or “evil” any more than re can be said to be “good” or

“evil.” It all depends on its use as to whether it can be nurturing or destructive. The

idea of equating white and black with “good” and “evil” is a later concept. Instead, in

the indigenous faith white was the color of energy. White was perceived as the

energetic time and black as a fallow, resting time. Alternatively, it was viewed as a

cycle of creation and destruction. As Professor of Anthropology and Folklore,

Francisco Vaz da Silva wrote, “Such primacy of death and darkness over life and light

is, beyond fairy tales, a standard feature of cyclic models regarding conspicuous

natural phenomena. Consider the dark moon, out of which the “new” moon (as

Romance languages call it) reappears periodically; or the black earth taking in the

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dead, as well as seeds, so as to generate new life.” (Vaz da Silva 2007) The deities

were perceived this way as well, such as Bialobog, the White God and Czarnobog, the

Black God, who divided the year between them.

The dividing lines were based on the weather and how the transhumant herding culture

organized their year. Herding cultures, such as those found in Serbia and Croatia, still

see the year as beginning around May 1st and the active half ending around November

1st. At the beginning of May they ritually take their herds up the mountains to the lush

grasses. At the end of October, beginning of November they return to the town for

their end-of-summer reckoning. This is also a time of slaughter in preparation for

winter.

In Celtic Paganism these holidays are remembered as Beltane and Samhain. Samhain

is celebrated for several days into the month of November and is usually translated as

“summer's end.”(Curta 2017) Although the celestial cross-quarter days would be

around May 6th and November 6th, often these Pagan holidays would last a week or

two over that period of time.

This division of the year is preserved in the symbology of Eastern Orthodox icons

where Saint George has his feast day on May 1st and rides a white horse. Saint

George also slays the dragon of winter. The herding year ends with Saint Mercurius

who rides a black horse and has his feast day on November 11th. Saint George and

Saint Mercurius are reputedly cousins and often paired in Coptic Orthodox churches.

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(Chojnacki 1975) The Coptic Orthodox church serves Egypt, Africa and the Middle

East, where transhumance herding cultures play an important role.(Riehl 2006)

In the Middle East they divide the year between Saint George and Saint Mercurius,

while in Serbia it is divided between Saint George and another sainted horseman, Saint

Demetrius. This de nes the time that the sheep are taken to the mountain pastures

and when the herds return to shelter for the winter. Anna Urosevic Applegate, a rst-

generation Serbian-American and a modern Pagan practitioner, is able to recognize the

ancient indigenous practices in the native traditions of her parents. She writes, “The

ancient Serbs, like the ancient Celts, used to recognize two seasons; summer and

winter, which, after Christianization, were marked by the xed dates of the Feasts of

Saint George (May 6) and Saint Demetrius (November 8), respectively.”(Applegate

2014) Terzić, Krivošejev & Bjeljac write about the Balkan customs, “In the customary

practice of this celebration, pre-Christian magical ritual elements and traditions are

dominant. The Balkan Slavs link growth and fertility rites which take place on April

23rd or May 6th with St. George’s Day.”(Terzić, Bjeljac et al. 2015)

When agriculture became more prevalent, it would seem that the year became divided

into three sections; the white springtime, the red summertime and the black wintertime.

In the indigenous religion, they saw all things as connected, so morning, noon and

night were also seen as white, red and black. This also indicated the stages of a

person’s life: white for a pure maiden or youth, red for a man or woman in their fertile

time of life and black for elders. Vaz da Silva writing of the symbolism of the feminine

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 in fairy tales, “In terms of chromatic symbolism, this would mean women bring forth

white from black by means of their sex-speci c fertility, epitomized by red.” (Vaz da

Silva 2007)

The common Proto-Indo-European roots are evident in the Hindu concept of white, red

and black signifying creation, preservation and destruction. Gerald Massey describes

the great mother, “who divides herself into three distinct forms of di erent colours -

black, red, and white - to become Sarasvati, Sacti of Brahma; Lacksmi, Sacti of Vishnu;

Parvati, Sacti of Siva. When she appeared in the presence of the male triad, they

asked, ‘Who art thou, lovely one, and why art thou distinguished by the three colours?’”

(Massey 1883) Jung and Kerényi proposed that a group of three goddesses were

de ned only by their association with a male god as daughter, wife and mother.(Jung

1949) Yet, the Indian gods referred to as the Trimurti are also seen in their triple form

as Vishnu (white) Brahma (red) and Shiva (black).

In Slavic lore, the symbolism of these three colors is preserved in one of the tales of

Baba Yaga. She has three horsemen under her control; the White Rider appears at

dawn and heralds day, the Red Rider appears in the middle of the day and heralds the

sun, and the Black Rider appears at twilight and heralds night. This would also

indicate a shift to a triple god; his springtime form being associated with white, his

summertime form associated with red and his winter form connected to black.

However, this gets overlaid on top of the traditions associated with the year divided in

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half, resulting in some cultures shifting the dates of the gods’ celebrations, and

sometimes being associated with a di erent god.

The symbolism of these Pagan deities was preserved in the symbolism of the Orthodox

church. The springtime duties of Saint George were partially transferred to Saint

Theodore who also rides a white horse and slays the dragon of winter. Saint

Theodore’s feast day is at the beginning of Lent in the spring, when he goes to God to

petition for warmth and light. (MacDermott 1998) The summer role is seen in Saint

Demetrius whose name re ects Demeter the Harvest Goddess. He rides a red horse

but is celebrated at the end of his reign with his feast day on November 8th. The

symbolism of the winter and the black horse is kept with Saint Mercurius or the little

known local saint of the town of Pirot in southeast Serbia, Saint Mrati. As Applegate

points out,

“Saint Mrati was given the very Pagan-sounding title of Gospodar Vukova, which

literally means “Lord of the Wolves.” His powers were activated on Mitrovdan

[November 8th] to last the duration of the winter season, and his holy function,

apparently, was to summon all the wolves in the vicinity and assign unto them

which ones could exact revenge on which people or go out and terrorize

whomever. Saint Mrati would give the wolves their orders, dispatch them, and

then watch to make sure they carried out his orders correctly.”(Applegate 2014)

The three horsemen saints were often linked together in Christian mythology as

recorded in the Gesta Francorum, a Latin chronicle of the First Crusade written around

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1100 CE, “the leaders were St. George, St. Mercurius and St. Demetrius.”(Anonymous

1100-1101) It is even mentioned in a modern blog stating, “The Martyr soldiers are a

special category of saints in the Christian Tradition of the rst centuries. Together with

the more famous St. George, St. Demetrius or St. Theodor Stratilates, Saint Mercurius

is considered as being a model of a Roman soldier who became a soldier of Christ

against the polytheism.[sic]”(Anonymous 2012) All these horsemen saints were

reputed to be combating polytheism even while they quietly carried on the underlying

beliefs of the Pagan religion.

The cyclical viewpoint of the indigenous native religion was distorted in the light of

Christian beliefs. What had been a natural continual cycle of birth, growth, and death

leading to rebirth in the spring then became linear. The Christian viewpoint is that a

soul does not exist until it is incarnated, then it lives for this in nitesimally short period

of time on earth and based on how the person behaves they get sent to Heaven forever

or Hell forever. Thus the concept of a cycle of rebirth was antithetical to the Christian

viewpoint. When the clergy bumped up against the native beliefs describing the

dualistic gods, they became “brothers” or enemies that fought each other for

dominance or the young spring god became the “son” of a “father” god. In the

Christian viewpoint, death was an ending and to be feared. The oldest of the triad who

reigned over winter, was not perceived in his Pagan role as guide of the dead, giving

them rest in the Underworld and then leading them to rebirth; instead he became “evil,”

associated with the nality and fear of death. The Slavic Horned God of Nature and

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 Father of the Animals was transformed into Satan ruling Hell. He is best remembered

in the Slavic lands by his name of Veles.

The Christians turned the Pagan Veles into Satan, because Veles was Lord of the

Underworld. However, Veles’ Underworld was a watery place and temporary, not the

punishing res of Christian Hell for eternity. Satan was a fallen angel in the Bible and

was described as a beautiful and perfect angel of light. He was classi ed as a cherub,

which is not the chubby winged baby that people automatically think of, but instead, a

being with six huge wings and many eyes.

In the King James Bible, God describes Lucifer:

“Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy

covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the

jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship

of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast

created. Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so:

thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the

midst of the stones of re. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou

wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.” (King James Version, Ezekiel 28:

12-18)

In fact, Satan was so beautiful he was accused of vanity, “Thine heart was lifted up

because of thy beauty…” The Bible then goes on to state that Satan was burnt with

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 re and “brought to ashes upon the earth,” but nowhere does it state he had horns. It

was only when Pagan deities began to be put in his place, did he develop horns.

Varner makes the point that there are “no images of Satan as a horned, goat-footed

demon before the sixth century.”(Varner 2007) It is an important point that the common

image of the Devil is now envisioned with horns because he was associated with the

Pagan Horned God (NOT that the Pagan Horned God looked like the devil).

It is now possible to examine various examples of a triple god in the area of Old Europe

keeping these facts in mind. If they are all the same deities known by di erent names,

then their attributes will correlate with a young spring god, a vibrant summer god and

an old god of death, winter and the spirit world.

The Prussian Priest, Simon Grunau, wrote in the 1500’s that three Pagan gods:

Perkūnas, Potrimppo, and Patollo were believed to inhabit the sacred oak grove at

Romove and were depicted on a banner. Grunau’s description reads:

“The banner was a white cloth ve ells long, three ells wide and had wrought in

it three likenesses in the shape of men, blue were their clothes and they showed

only the head and shoulders in shapes thus: one was shaped as a young man

without a beard, crowned with corn ears, and happy looking and a god of grain,

called Potrimppo. The second [Perkūnas depicted] was like an angry man of

middle age, his face was like a re, crowned with ames, his beard was curly

and black; and so both of them still have their own qualities, the merry one, as

he laughs at the angry, and the other is swollen in anger. The third likeness was

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 an old man with a long grey beard, and his hue was quite deathly, he was

crowned with a white cloth, as if it were a turban, and looked from beneath on

the others, and is with the name Patollo.”(Grunau 1876)

Perkūnas has long been acknowledged by researchers as another name for Perun, the

Slavic Thunder God. According to Professor Roman Zaro , Perun’s name derives from

the Indo-European root, perk, perg or per, meaning “to strike” as in the strike of a

lightning bolt.(Zaro 1999) Perun is celebrated at the Summer Solstice, the height of

the summer. So working from the concept that these are the three seasonal aspects of

the god (of which Perun rules over the summer) we see Perun accompanied by the

young, spring god as Potrimppo and the old god of “deathly hue” is Patollo.

The modern author of Slavonic Pagan Sanctuaries, Leszek Paweł Słupecki discusses

the etymology of the name of Porenut, “[It] is best deciphered as Piorunic, which is an

augmented or rather a patronymic form: son of Perun (Jakobson, 1985)” As

“Porenutius” he is referred to as “Perun’s son”(Jakobson 1985) which would make him

the spring version of Perun. This reveals that the spring god is Porenut, Piorunic, or

Porenutius but it is still uncertain if these names match up with Potrimpo or Patollo. So

the list looks like:

SPRING (white) SUMMER (red) WINTER (black)

Potrimppo Perkūnas Patollo

Porenut Perkun

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 Piorunic Perun

Porenutius

In 1851, James Cowles Prichard wrote about these three deities giving them slightly

di erent names and adding more detail:

“The ancient Prussians are said to have worshipped, besides other objects, a

triad, or three principal deities. These were termed Perkunos, Potrimpos, and

Picollos. The rst was the god of the rmament and of thunder, corresponding

with the Thor of the northmen, the Taranis of the Celts, and the Peroun of the

Russians, to which last he was probably related, as the resemblance of name

indicates. Before his sacred oak a perpetual re was kept. The second had the

form of a young man crowned with spikes of corn [grain]: he was the god of

fecundity, the generator or Mahadeva of the Prussians. Young children were

sacri ced to him, and a sacred serpent was kept in honour of him. Pikollos was

the god of death and of all evil: his gure was that of a pale and grey-bearded

old man: his symbol was three skulls, his delight the misfortunes of men.”

(Prichard 1851)

This provides the con rming information that the winter god is Picollos, Pikollos,

matching up with Patollo and he is associated with death. While the spring god is

Potrimpo, Potrimpos, Porenut, Piorunic and Porenutius. The name Piorunic, being a

diminutive form of Piorun, gives another spelling variation to the spring god. Making

the list:

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 SPRING (white) SUMMER (red) WINTER (black)

Potrimppo Perkūnas Patollo

Porenut Perkun Potollo

Piorunic Perun Picollos

Porenutius Peroun Pikollos

Potrimpo Piorun (three skulls)

Potrimpos (grey beard)

(crowned with grain)

(snakes are sacred to him)

Modern historian, Leszek Pawel Słupecki records that after the Christians chopped

down the statue of Rugevit, they then “greedily reached for the statue of Porevit,

worshiped in another temple. It had ve heads and was shown without weapons.

Having pulled it down, they went to the temple of Porenut. This statue, carved with

four faces, had the fth one situated in the chest in such a way that the forehead

touched the left hand and the chin the right one.”(Słupecki 1994) It would seem that all

three were clustered together in the same large courtyard, but Rugevit was the main

temple. So described here is Rugevit, Porevit and Porenut. As previously identi ed,

Porenut is spring and has four faces and the fth one in his chest. But these facts do

not indicate which of the other two is Summer or Winter. The larger temple hints that

Rugevit is synonymous with Perun, since he is usually more highly regarded, but that

isn’t de nitive.

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 Saxo Grammaticus states that at Rugen was the image of “Porenut, the god of the

seasons, with four faces and a fth on his breast, also of Rhugevit, the god of war, with

seven faces, and seven swords suspended at his side, and an eighth in his hand.”

(Maclear 1863) It is known that the Slavs did not war in the winter, so that makes

Rhugevit as Summer, and Porevit as Winter. The name of Rugevit may connect to the

Proto-Indo-European word *reudh- meaning “red” or “ruddy.” Additionally, in Latin the

word rugio means “roar like a lion.” In Lithuanian rukti means “to growl” and in Russian

ryk means “(the lion’s) roar.” Gamkrelidze & Ivanov linguistically connect a similar word

to thunder noting that in the Rigveda the “Thundergod’s thunder is compared to the

‘thunder roar of a lion…’” They also note, “OCS rykati ‘roar’, Russ. rye ‘(lion’s) roar’.

These two share a root *reu- ‘roar’, attested in Skt. ru- ‘roar (of bulls)’, ráva- ‘roaring,

thunder…”(Gamkrelidze and Ivanov 2010) A description of Rugevit from the

Encyclopedia of Ancient Deities describes him with seven faces, however it provides

the additional detail that the head on his chest is that of a bull.(Coulter and Turner

2013) Both the roar of thunder and the color red correlate to Perun’s attributes, as well

as con rming that Perun had the larger temple.

So updating the list:

SPRING (white) SUMMER (red) WINTER (black)

Potrimppo Perkūnas Patollo

Porenut Perkun Potollo

Piorunic Perun Picollos

Porenutius Peroun Pikollos

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 Potrimpo Piorun Porevit

Potrimpos Rugevit (three skulls)

(crowned with grain) Rhugevit (grey beard)

(snakes are sacred to him) (seven faces, bull on chest)

(four faces, a fth on his breast)

We also have a description of a trio of Prussian (pre-Poland) Medieval gods: Perkun,

Patollo and Natrimpe/Potrimpos.(Szczepanski 2015) In 1826 or 1827, a soldier

documented a statue of “Potrimpus” set on a stone pedestal on a hill at Dzierzgoń

(now in Poland) and wrote that it was relocated from another hill near the village of

Pachollen (now Pachoły, Poland).(Szczepanski 2015) It held a horn in front and a

sword at its side. The statue terminated in a sort of sh’s tail [however this may just

have been the shape of the stone], but the locals held the belief that Potrimpus was the

“god of owing water.” The crude carving had a face with inset round eyes set in a

round head with a nose and slightly open mouth, looking as if he will sip from the the

drinking horn in his right hand which is lifted up just under his chin. In his left hand is a

sword. It is 118 cm (about four feet high). Researcher, Seweryn Szczepański records

the description that Count Stanisław Tarnowski, a professor of the History of Polish

Literature at the Jagiellonian University wrote in 1881, “Its identi cation causes great

controversies among theologians of archaeology, but most often doctors tend to the

view that the sh tail relates to a Lithuanian-Prussian water shing deity worshipped

under the beautiful name Potrympos [Potrymposa].”(Szczepański 2015) Pachoły,

Poland is located right beside the river Dzierzgon. To give added weight to the fact

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 that Potrimpos is the god of spring, in Lithuania, the spring feast was called Trimpos or

Jores. (Paplauskas-Ramunas 1952)

In The Religion of Our Forefathers by A. von Ulrich we nd:

“The names of the three idols are given to us as Pehrkun, Potrympos, and

Patollos. The latter is also recorded as Pikullus, Pikellis, and Pripegalis. Pehrkun

is the national god before whom burns the sacred re. The name of Potrympos

has no meaning in any Slavic language, therefore one must suppose that it has

been altered, although it is written similarly by all the chroniclers. He is said to

have been the God of Earth or Water and is represented as a young man with a

wreath of ears of corn: the serpent was sacred to him. The god name Pekullos,

etc., was represented as an old man, and men and animals were sacri ced to

him, but men, apparently, only in quite late times, when the hatred against

Christians and the tyrannical Christian priests had risen to such a height that the

poor people hoped to win the protection of the gods of the old faith by

sacri cing their enemies to them.”(von Ulrich 1907)

Pripegalis as a winter god would seem to connect to an alternative name for Baba

Yaga, which is Pripolnica. Baba Yaga is also connected to the season of winter and

death.(Zochios 2019)

SPRING (white) SUMMER (red) WINTER (black)

Potrimppo Perkūnas Patollo

Porenut Perkun Potollo

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Piorunic Perun Picollos

Porenutius Peroun Pikollos

Potrimpo Piorun Porevit

Potrimpos/Trimpos Rugevit Patollo

Natrimpe Rhugevit Patollos

Potrympos [Potrymposa] Pehrkun Pikullus

(crowned with grain) (seven faces) Pikellis

(snakes are sacred to him) (bull on chest) Pripegalis

(four faces, a fth on his breast) (three skulls)

(connected with water) (grey beard)

Author, Thomas Michell, writes:

“Dusburg, a chronicler of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, relates that

niches in the sacred oak of ancient Romnove contained e gies of Perkun, the

sun-god, with a red face surrounded by rays; of Petrimpa, the god of springs,

sources and fertility, in the form of a beardless youth; and of Pikol, the moon-god

having power over death and misfortune, and therefore represented as a grey-

headed old man of deathly pallor, with a white band round [sic] his head.”

(Thomas 1889)

Ignoring the erroneous interpretations of the “sun-god” and “moon-god” (since these

are both sources of radiance and thus both under the control of this tripartite deity) we

have two more variations of their names: young Petrimpa and old Pikol.

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 While it is di cult to sort out all these similar sounding names, so far, all the imagery

has held together with the symbolism of spring, summer and winter. There is only one

exception and that was with modern scholar David Leeming suggesting that Porevit

[Potollo] represents summer and south.(Leeming 2005) This is because Leeming was

trying to map four di erent deities onto the four-sided statue of the Zubrich idol,

(thought to be a representation of Svantovit with four heads) thinking that it

represented the four seasons of modern times. However, charting out the names as a

triple god provides solid evidence that Leeming just missed putting two variations of

the spring god’s names together. Leeming speculated that the four seasons were

represented by the four male deities: Rujevit, Porevit, Jarovit/Jarillo and Porenutius

(.Leeming 2003). He missed that Jarillo and Porenutius were both spring deities, both

crowned with grain and had the symbolism of snakes and water. Additionally, when

looking carefully at the imagery of the Zubrich idol it reveals two of the four faces are

female, so we may dismiss this theory that it is four male deities. The other deities that

Leeming mentions t into the Triple God as Youth (Spring), Father (Summer) and Elder

(Winter).

Having progressed this far, con rmation came in V. Vaitkevicius’s list of the Baltic gods

where he lists a trio of “Perkunas, Patrimpas and Patulas” and writes that Patulas is the

*Patols of the Prussians” and his name came from *pa meaning “under” and *tula

meaning “earth.” He also equates Patulas to Velinas of the Lithuanians and to

Teliavelis a/k/a Kalevelis; the blacksmithing, magic working, Lord of the Dead.

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 Encyclopedia Britannica states that the Lithuanian Velinas is the same as Patollo,

Pickollos and Veles. Dlugosz connects Kalvelis to “Volcano” which would be the

Roman god, Vulcan. Andaius is connected to water (like Patrimpos), as well as

Dlugosz connecting him to the young healing god Aesculapius.(Vaitkevičius 2004) He

is crowned with grain and connected to water, like “Green George” in the springtime,

as is Jarilo (also called Jarovit).

Further con rmation on the Lord of the Underworld is provided by a folktale that

Theodor Narbutt discovered in the mid-1800’s. In the tale a Queen Krumine (whose

name means “grain”) has her only daughter captured by Pokoie or Pokol, the ruler of

the Waters and the Underworld. In the tale, the queen’s only daughter ran to pluck a

beautiful ower from a stream and was kidnapped by the ruler of the Waters and the

Underworld named Pokoie /Pokol. Queen Krumine searched the world over for her

daughter. While the queen was mourning, she went to Lithuania and taught the skills

of farming and the bene t of various grains and cereals. Finally nding her daughter

and returning with compassion for her people she gives the gifts of security, bounty,

and abundance.(Narbutt 1841) This tale shows remarkable similarities with that of

Persephone, Demeter and Hades.

The Victorian literary scholar, Enid Welsford adds additional information on the Spring

face of this deity:

“In Samland, it seems, large numbers of snakes were reared in an oak-wood in

honour of the gods. Praetorius explains that zaltones were snake-charmers, who

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 had charge of the snakes consecrated to Padrympus. This information, however,

can scarcely be drawn from personal observation, as Praetorius tells us

elsewhere that in his day Padrympus was no longer invoked by name.

Padrympus, or Potrimpus, was one of the deities to whom the famous Romove

sanctuary was consecrated. In his honour a snake was kept in a large jar,

crowned with sheaves of corn [grain], and fed with milk by virgin priestesses.”

(Welsford 1917)

In Lithuania, boulders with shallow bowls carved into them are known as the “bowls of

grass snakes” and are often kept near the home as a sort of family altar. Milk might be

poured into them as an o ering for the snakes. The Lithuanians would also carve other

stones with deeper hollows to collect rain water and this was used as sacred water to

bless oneself with. Kept near the home or barn, they were considered sacred to the

Goddess and God, holding the power to protect their grains, cattle and the happiness

of their home.(Vaitkevi ius 2004)

Nineteenth Century researcher Teodor Narbutt understood Potrimpos to be the same

as Airimpos citing researchers Meleciusz and Waiseliusz calling him Antimp and Łasicki

giving him the name of Andros.(Narbutt 1841) Under the name of Atrymph (described

as youthful), he is credited with being “the giver of the rst human needs.” Narbutt

goes on to describe that Atrimpa’s emblem was a vessel or urn, lled with water and

covered with a sheaf of grain. He goes on to describe a statue of this god that stood in

the temple of Romnowe, on the left hand of Perkun. He took the form of a serpent,

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spirally wound, made of copper but with the head of a middle aged man. Atrimpa is

shown in the form of a young man with a crown of grain on the left hand of Perkun.

In an evocative description of the spring god as “Pergubries” in a dictionary from 1704,

they describe him as taking care of the fruits of the Earth. A feast was made in honor

of him on the 22nd of March (the Spring Equinox).

“[They] met together in a Houfe where they had prepared a Horn or two of Beer:

there the Sacri cer having Sung Hymns in the Praife of that God, and lled a

bowl full of this Liquor, took it in his Teeth, drunk it, and threw the Cup over his

Head, without touching it with his Hands, which he repeated feveral times in

Honour of other Deities whom he invoked by their Names, praying for a good

Harveft and Fruit in abundance: All the Company did the fame, Singing the

Praifes of their God Pergubrios, and fpending the reft of the Day in Feafting and

Mirth.”(Knapton 1704)

Edwardian author X.B. Saintine wrote:

“At this grand meeting there appeared in the rst place a goodly number of

Borussian or Prussian gods, among whom stood rst and foremost Percunos,

the divine leader of the heavenly bodies: Pikollos, whose face was as pale as

Hela’s and whose duty was, like hers, to preside over hell; exacting, however,

from men nothing but prayers accompanied by beating hearts, he cared nothing

whether he was feared or beloved. A third god, Potrympos, had the appearance

of a youth, with smiling lips and with a wreath of wheat ears and owers on his

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 brow; this was the god of War. Of War? And what meant the smile on his lips

and the wheat ears on his brow? They indicated that he was also the god of

public supplies and even of love. It seems that, in ancient Prussia, War was the

purveyor-general and supplied everything.”(Saintine 1875)

SPRING (white) SUMMER (red) WINTER (black)

Potrimppo Perkūnas Patollo

Porenut Perkun Potollo

Piorunic Perun Picollos

Porenutius Peroun Pikollos

Potrimpo Piorun Porevit

Potrimpos/Trimpos Rugevit Patollo

Natrimpe Rhugevit Patollos

Potrympos [Potrymposa] Pehrkun Pikullus

Patrimpas Perkunas Pikellis

Andaius Percunos Velinas

Aesculapius (seven faces) Teliavelis

Jarilo/Jarovit (bull on chest) Kalevelis

Potrympos Pripegalis

(crowned with grain) Patulas

(snakes are sacred to him) Patols

(four faces, a fth on his breast) Veles

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(connected with water) Vulcan

(god of love & war) Pykuolis

Pokol/Pokoie

Hades

Pikollos

(three skulls)

(grey beard)

It should be noted that “Percunos” is described as “the divine leader of the heavenly

bodies.” In the Slavic view, the sun, the moon and the stars were under the direction of

this tripartite deity. Most scholars being classically trained and learning about the

Greek and Roman pantheon rst automatically think of a “Sun God” like Apollo or

“Moon Goddess” like Artemis. This would seem to be a later construct. The ancient

deities stemming from the Neolithic are Radiant Deities with all sources of radiance/

energy under their dominion: sun, moon, stars, lightning, re and life. The deities

themselves are radiant and glowing. These concepts carried over into the Christian

church with the depiction of halos on saints, a thunderbolt-wielding God, and Mary

(Queen of Heaven) depicted with a halo and standing on a crescent moon or

surrounded by stars.

Teodor Narbutt wrote that the Lithuanian high priest, the Krewe-Krewejto, wore a small

statue of “Poklus.” He clari es that the symbol of three skulls consisted of a human, a

cattle and a horse skull. He also states that the nocturnal butter y or moth is the

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 symbol of the winter god since it is believed that the soul rose from the grave on the

wings of the butter y. (Narbutt 1841)

At rst glance, Perun seems, like Zeus, Jupiter & Jehovah, to have been the chief god

of his people: for Procopius tells us that the Slavs, “believe that one god, the maker of

lightning, is alone lord of all things, and they sacri ce to him oxen and every victim.’”

(Frazer 1951) Alternatively, it may be that Procopius, being a patriarchal Roman,

interpreted the Slavic faith as having a “chief god” just like the Romans had their sky

god, Jupiter. Another theory that has been advanced is that “so great was [Perun’s]

cultus among the Slavs, that foreigners, owing to their little acquaintance with them or

ignorance of their language, rushed to the conclusion that he was their only god.”

(Mor ll 1904) Another explanation might be that Perun gets associated with Jehovah

and the thunderbolt-throwing Zeus, thus Perun has been called “Chief of the Gods,” by

those who think in this hierarchical structure. However, this list reveals that Perun is

simply one part of this triune deity. He played an important part at one time because of

his role in war, but he is not the head of a pantheon. Additional con rmation of this

comes in the Pagan epic poem from 1185, “The Lay of Igor’s Campaign.” There are

many mentions of various Slavic gods’ names: Stribog, Veles, Khors, and even the

goddess is referred to in this poem, but there is no mention of the name of Perun.

Mor ll explains this with the concept of the triple god. “He was represented with three

heads, hence called Triglav (tri, three, and glava, head), and several places in the

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Slavonic parts of Europe having a name resembling this were probably called after him.

Thus in southern Austria there is the mountain corruptly named Terglau.”(Mor ll 1904)

Victorian researcher A. Von Ulrich records that the carved pillar of Svantovit was

destroyed and then, “the same fate befell two other images, also of wood, which were

found in two smaller temples, and were called Porevit and Porenutz. They are said to

have been Gods of the Morning and Evening Twilight, the two Aswins, or the Dioscurii.”

After sorting through the names it would seem that the Hindu “Aswins” or Greek

“Dioscurii” refers to the pair of deities: the young spring god, Jarilo (Porenutz) who

represents Morning and the old winter god, Veles (Porevit) who represents the Evening

Twilight. Von Ulrich doesn’t make it clear if Svantovit was considered one of the triad,

yet Svantovit is also worshipped at the Summer Solstice, so this is still something to be

explored.

SPRING (white) SUMMER (red) WINTER (black)

Potrimppo Perkūnas Patollo

Porenut Perkun Potollo

Piorunic Perun Picollos

Porenutius Peroun Pikollos

Potrimpo Piorun Porevit

Potrimpos/Trimpos Rugevit Patollo

Natrimpe Rhugevit Patollos

Potrympos [Potrymposa] Pehrkun Pikullus

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Patrimpas Perkunas Pikellis

Andaius Percunos Velinas

Aesculapius Svantovit? Teliavelis

Jarilo/Jarovit (seven faces) Kalevelis

Potrympos (bull on chest) Pripegalis

Porenutz Patulas

(crowned with grain) Patols

(snakes are sacred to him) Veles

(four faces, a fth on his breast) Vulcan

(connected with water) Pykuolis

(god of love & war) Pokol/Pokoie

(god of morning) Hades

Pikollos

Poklus

(three skulls)

(grey beard)

(god of the evening twilight)

In keeping with both the Black Sea Hypothesis and Gimbutus’ Kurgan Hypothesis, it

will be evident that the same religious beliefs dispersed throughout the lands of Old

Europe. Researcher R. Pettazzoni suggested the same in 1946, stating, “… the various

divinities represented in tricephalous form amongst the peoples of barbarian Europe

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are probably, at bottom, one and the same god…”(Pettazzoni 1946) Rafaele Pettazzoni

was one of the rst scholars to research religion from a historical perspective. The

point has been made with the similarity to the Hindu beliefs, both with the colors and

the concept of a tripartite god. An additional clue from the Celts presents itself in the

form of the Tau cross still used in the Orthodox and Christian churches of today as a

bishop’s crosier.

This would seem to have originated as a sacred symbol of the Celtic Druids and

probably the “Slavic” druidic equivalent in the lands of Old Europe. The Celtic beliefs

are recorded by the 19th century author Albert Pike:

“Divesting a tree of part of its branches, they left it in the shape of a Tau Cross,

preserved it carefully, and consecrated it with solemn ceremonies. On the tree

they cut deeply the word Thau, by which they meant God. On the right arm of

the Cross, they inscribed the word Hesuls, on the left Belen or Belenus, and on

the middle of the trunk Tharamis. This represented the sacred Triad.”(Pike 1871)

In researching this further, it turns out it is speci cally an oak tree.(Stukeley 1740) In

this conjunction of Celtic, Scythian, Assyrian and Slavic beliefs, we can tease out the

radiant god still known in Slovenia as Belin. In Czech, Belin or bílý means “white”, as

does the female Bela.(2013) He is remembered by the Druids as Bel with his holiday at

Beltaine (May 1st) in the spring.

Recorded in the 1500’s, Leland gives additional information on this sacred triad:

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 “We nd that Jupiter was worshipped by them by the name of Tharamis, or as it

is in the Chester Altar, Taranus…Apollo, call’d not only Belatucadrus, but

sometimes Belunus, or Belinus, on whom they rely’d by succor in times of

danger, particularly when wars were carry’d on by them against any enemy…”

(Leland 1744)

Thus, the spring deity of Jarilo is analogous with Apollo, but as Apollo he is de ned by

only one of his traits, the sun. Whereas, Jarilo and his other seasonal components rule

over all forms of energy: the sun, the moon, the stars, lightning, re and life energy.

Researcher Miranda Green also draws the parallel between Taranis and Jupiter.

Taranis being identi ed by his depiction with a wheel. As Green states, “The motif [of

the wheel] itself is, in all probability, a sun-symbol, and as such originates at a much

earlier date in origin that the historical Celtic period.” Green points out the connections

of the wheel to the Slavic swastika. She also comments on statuary of Taranis/Jupiter,

“The monument from Vienna portraying a roughly-executed ithyphallic deity, with a

wheel and probably a bull, recalls the bronze mace from Willingham Fen where the

Wheel-God is associated with head of a bull.”(Green 1979) This matches with the

description of Rugevit having the head of a bull on his chest. The summer deity of

Perun/Taranus sheds its tripartite component and becomes the ruling deity of Jupiter

with his chastising thunderbolts. Additionally, the tau symbol is connected with the

Babylonian Tammuz, the radiant deity of the sun. The tau symbol is a sign of life.

This leaves Hesuls unidenti ed. However, the Roman poet Marcus Lucanus mentions

the gods of the Celts (Gauls) as being “Teutas, Esus and Taranis” but later refers to the

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three deities as Teutates, Hesus and Taranis. Lucan writes, “Savage Teutates, Hesus’

horrid shrines, and Taranis’ altars cruel as were those loved by Diana, goddess of the

north…”(Lucanus abt 61 CE) Mark Dangler of the Ohio State University points out in

ancient sculptures of “Esus” he is depicted “cutting down a willow with his hand-axe,

representing a possible connection with the breaking of barriers and the areas between

the world (the willow tree stands at the place between the worlds of land and water).”

Dangler also conjectures that “Esus was a name for the head god of the Gauls and

perhaps most likely to be compared to Mercury and the northern Germanic Odhin.”

(Dangler 2003)

At the beginning of this paper it was mentioned that Saint Mercurius was designated

the saint of the dark time of the year. Saint Mercurius has an obvious connection to

Mercury. Wednesday was called in Latin Dies Mercurii meaning “The Day of Mercury.”

Whereas the modern word Wednesday is based on the Proto-Germanic *Wodensdag.

Both Mercury and Odin have Wednesday as their sacred day. In Roman inscriptions in

the Germanic areas they used the name of the god Mercurius Rex. The rex would

indicate that he is “king.” Author Rudolf Simek writes, “Mercury (= Wodan/Odin).”

This is quite clearly con rmed here by the epithet rex, because the Roman Mercury did

not have such an exalted position among Roman gods, whilst Wodan/Odin certainly

could have received this title within the world of the Germanic gods.”(Simek 1984)

SPRING (white) SUMMER (red) WINTER (black)

Potrimppo Perkūnas Patollo

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Porenut Perkun Potollo

Piorunic Perun Picollos

Porenutius Peroun Pikollos

Potrimpo Piorun Porevit

Potrimpos/Trimpos Rugevit Patollo

Natrimpe Rhugevit Patollos

Potrympos [Potrymposa] Pehrkun Pikullus

Patrimpas Perkunas Pikellis

Andaius Percunos Velinas

Aesculapius Svantovit? Teliavelis

Jarilo/Jarovit Jupiter Kalevelis

Potrympos Tharamis Pripegalis

Porenutz Taranus/Taranis Patulas

Apollo (seven faces) Patols

Belunus/Belenus (bull on chest) Veles

Teutas/Teutates Vulcan

(crowned with grain) Pykuolis

(snakes are sacred to him) Pokol/Pokoie

(four faces, a fth on his breast) Hades

(connected with water) Pikollos

(god of love & war) Poklus

(god of morning) Mercury

Odin

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 Hesuls (Hesus or Esus)

(three skulls)

(grey beard)

(god of the evening twilight)

(cutting down a tree)

Chapter 5: Discussion

In Narbutt’s account the high priest, the Krewe-Krewejto, “wore a small statue of

“Poklus.”(Narbutt 1841) By the process of elimination, Poklus would seem to be

another title of Veles. The fact that the high priest wears a statue of Veles hints that

Perun was not the “head god” of a Slavic Pantheon as so many have tried to cast him

as. Instead, these three seasonal components are just di erent ways to view the

Divine Male throughout the cycle of the year. Additional con rmation comes from the

connection of Veles to the “head god” of the Norse, Odin, and Esus of the Gauls. This

points to the conclusion that all three masks of this deity are seasonal components of

Triglav.

The perception of these three titles being separate gods must have occurred well

before the Greek beliefs. However, most classically trained scholars start with Greek

and Latin and the concept of a large pantheon of deities. Consequently, they viewed

the various titles of the Slavic God in that light. To compound the error, the Slavic

scholars, eager to claim a classical heritage as important as that of the Greeks and

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Romans created family trees and mythological tales. They made Jarilo the “son” of

Perun who was then captured by Veles until he is freed in the spring. Kresnik is

speculated to be the son of Belin (however, this would make him his own son, since

Belenus is just another variation of the deity in spring). There are toponyms such as

the two mountains in Sorbia: Bileboh and Czorneboh or Bēlbožice and Černikovice in

the Czech Republic(Kulišić 1998) which connect to the names of Bialabog (White God)

and Chornabog (Black God). This dualistic way to perceive the male divine may go

back to the herding culture who divided the year into the bright, white, active

summertime and the black, fallow wintertime. In which case, Belin or Belenus is just a

agricultural version of Bialabog. Upon further investigation, it may be that all the Slavic

male deities can be perceived in their seasonal role as a component of the divine male.

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 Chapter 6: Conclusion

People are distinctly di erent during the evolving stages of their life and may hold

distinctive titles during each stage, yet many of the same abilities are carried on

throughout their life. Of course, through the varied stages of life, abilities and skills

may be lost or acquired as well. If there remained only the tiniest written fragments

about a man’s life, one might conclude that “The Professor” and “Dad” and “Honey”

were three completely di erent men—one portrayed with a tie with a job of teaching—

the other seen as a father- gure—while “Honey” is only petitioned in matters of the

heart.

In this evolution of deities it would appear that the gods of “Old Europe” that were

preserved in what is now Slavic lands spread outward in the mass migration perhaps

caused by the Black Sea ooding and/or the invasion of the Kurgan tribes. This then

led to di erent components of the same deity becoming worshipped under di erent

names and titles. Triglav incorporates all the names listed above. Veles being both

Pluto, Vulcan, Shiva, Kalevelis, Odin, Mercury, and Hesuls. Jarilo being Potrimpus,

Apollo, Belenus, and Aesculapius. Perun depicted as Taranus, Jupiter, Tharamis, and

Thor.

This could be checked in a Logic Grid by those of a more mathematical nature. Topics

to be explored further would be Tammuz and does this Babylonian god t into the triple

god structure? Is Svantovit another title of the summertime deity? (The evidence

points to that, because of Svantovit’s connection with all the symbols of Sveti Vit, a/k/a

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Saint Vitus with his feast day on the Summer Solstice.) Exploring the connection of

Porevit and Porenutz to the two Aswins, or the Dioscurii, would give additional

evidence to a common Old European origin that goes back to the divergence of the

Proto-Indo-European languages.

All these variations point to the concept of the pantheon as being a later construct.

Rather than wishing to emulate the Greek and Roman pantheons and all their

convoluted mythology, the Slavs should be proud of keeping a more authentic version

of the ancient beliefs by not having them written down. (Oral tradition being a time

honored way of keeping the stability of the meaning of beliefs.) Just as the Proto-Indo-

European language spawned many di erent words for the same object, what had once

been the same concept of the Divine developed into separate deities in di erent lands.

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 Appendix:

The ag of Widewuto depicting the Prussian gods: Peckols, Perkūnas, & Potrimppo.

Dated 1584 by Caspar Hennenberger as described by Simon Grunau. Public domain

picture from Wikimedia.

(Detail of Patollus, Perkunas &

Potrympus in their oak tree

shrine at Romove.)

45
fl
“Patollus, Perkunas & Potrympus” dated 1918. From the Mythology of All Races by

Louis Herbert Gray. Public domain picture from Wikimedia.

46
Taranis Jupiter with wheel

and thunderbolt, dated

around 1000 BCE. A Roman

bronze in the Le Chatelet

Gourzon Haute Marne.

(Photo in the Public Domain.)

47


A depiction of Jupiter

Taranis found at Seltz

in 1846. Note that he

is depicted as a

horseman defeating a

chthonic supernatural

being which is half

serpent. This bears a

strong resemblance

to the Column of

Merten which clearly

identi es the

horseman as Jupiter.

This sculpture is in

the Coll. Musée

Historique

Strasbourg. Photo by

Ji-Elle under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

48
fi
Saint George and the Devil in the church of Saint John the Baptist (Jana Chrzciciela) in

Jaworki, Poland. Note the “solar cross” on his shield and the lightning being wielded

as a weapon. Also note the celestial winged helper to Saint George holding a bundle

of lightning bolts just like the statue of Taranis. Photo by author.

49
Cherub in the church of Saint John the Baptist (Jana Chrzciciela) in Jaworki, Poland.

Photo by author.

50
“Tau-cross head with the enthroned Christ, and battles with the dragon. Made in

England, probably Winchester or Canterbury.” Photo by Marie-Lan Nguyen under the

Wikimedia Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Generic license.

51
The Christian Trinity

depicted as a three-

headed God in a French

Book of Hours from 1524.

From “Christian

Iconography: or, the

History of Christian Art in

the Middle Ages by

Adolphe Napoleon

Didron, et al, 1851.

Public domain picture

from Wikipedia. (Didron

and al 1851)

52