Svantevit- Slavic GodDeity"Four-Headed God"

The Idol at Arkona

On the northeastern tip of Rügen, an island in the Baltic, the Rani Slavs built a temple to their supreme god. Inside it stood a wooden idol taller than a man could reach: Svantevit, the four-headed one. Each face looked toward a cardinal direction. In one hand the idol held a drinking horn. The temple walls were hung with purple cloth. Only the high priest could enter, and he held his breath while sweeping the inner sanctum, running outside to exhale so that the god would not be touched by mortal breath. Saxo Grammaticus, writing around 1200, recorded every detail.

The Horn and the Horse

Each year after the harvest, the priest examined the mead in Svantevit's drinking horn. If the level had dropped since the previous year, the coming harvest would be poor. If it remained full, abundance was ahead. The priest refilled the horn and placed it back in the idol's hand.

The temple kept a sacred white horse that only the high priest could ride or groom. Before a military campaign, the horse was led across rows of spears laid on the ground. If it stepped over them with its right foot first, the omens favored war. If with its left, the warriors stayed home. The Rani believed Svantevit rode this horse out at night to fight their enemies, and in the morning the animal would be found in its stall, flecked with sweat and mud.

The Fall

In 1168, King Valdemar I of Denmark and Bishop Absalon of Roskilde landed on Rügen with an army. The Rani could not hold Arkona. The Danes entered the temple. Absalon ordered the idol of Svantevit toppled and dragged outside the walls. They burned it. The white horse was given away. A church was built where the temple had stood.