Arkona is a city and religious center of Ruyan. Meaning of the word arcona

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ARKONA - the northern cape of the island of Rügen. The name is ancient Slavic from the word “urkan”, which meant “at the end”.
Here was one of the last known pagan pantheons of the gods of the Slavs.
In 1168, it was burned by the Danish king Waldemar I along with Bishop Absalon.
ARKONA - THE HOLY CITY OF THE SLAVS

The West Slavic Baltic tribes (Vendas), settled between the Elbe (Laba), Oder (Odra) and the Vistula, reached high development by the 9th-10th centuries AD, having built on the island of Rane (Rügen) holy city temples of Arkon, which served for all the Baltic Slavs as the Slavic Mecca and the Delphic Oracle. The Slavic tribe of the Rans formed a priestly caste in their midst (like the Indian Brahmins or Babylonian Chaldeans) and not a single serious military-political issue was resolved by other Slavic tribes without the advice of the Rans.

The wounds (ruans) owned the runic writing of the Vendian tradition, the graphics of which were noticeably different from the known senior and junior runes (probably the term rani itself came from the Slavic wound, that is, to cut runes on wooden tablets).

B. Olshansky. Temple of Svyatovit in Arkona.

The construction of the city of temples and the rise of the pagan culture of the Vendian ethnic group was a response measure of the Slavic priestly elite for the ideological unity of the Baltic Slavs against the intensified expansion of first the Frankish, and then the German and Danish aggressors, who, under the banner of Christianization, carried out a systematic genocide of the Slavic population and their expulsion from the occupied territories. By the XIII-XIV centuries, under the intense onslaught of Danish and German crusaders, the Slavic principalities of Ran, Mecklenburg, Brandenburg and others fell, and the Baltic Slavic Vendian ethnic group ceased to exist.

Let us present information from Western chroniclers (Adam of Bremen, Otgon of Bamberg, Thietmar of Merseburg) about the paganism of the Baltic Slavs.

Cape Arkon

The cape on which Arkona stood

Arkona was built on the high rocky shore of the island of Rügen and from the side Baltic Sea was unapproachable. The city contained many temples of all tribal Slavic gods.

Alphonse Mucha, Feast of Sventovit.1912

The main god of Arkona was Svyatovit, whose idol was installed in a special temple. The idol was huge, taller than a man, with four heads on four separate necks with cropped hair and shaved beards. The four heads apparently symbolized the god's power over the four cardinal directions (as in the four winds) and the four seasons of time, that is, the cosmic god of space-time (similar to the Roman Janus). In his right hand, the idol held a horn lined with various metals and annually filled with wine; his left hand was bent in an arc and rested on his side. The horn symbolized the god's power over productivity and fertility, that is, as the god of vital and plant power.

Svantevit-statue made by Marius Grusas at the cape Arkona on the island Rügen

Near the idol there were a bridle, a saddle and a huge battle sword and shield (symbols of the god of war).

In the temple stood the sacred banner of Svyatovit, called the village. This village of wounds was revered as Svyatovit himself and, carrying it in front of them on a campaign or battle, they considered themselves under the protection of their god (the battle banner can also be attributed as a symbol of the god of war).

After the grain harvest, many people flocked to Arkona and brought a lot of wine for sacrifices and feasts. Apparently this happened in September, in Slavic - Ruen, hence the second name of the island - Ruyan. Ruyan Island is mentioned in many Russian fairy tales, in which, due to the peculiarities of children's pronunciation, its name turned into “Buyan Island”.

On the eve of the holiday, the priest of Svyatovit, with a broom in his hands, entered the inner sanctuary and, holding his breath so as not to desecrate the deity, swept the floor clean. The broom and sweeping symbolically signify the end of a time cycle, in this case an annual one, for the next day fortune-telling is carried out by pie, similar to the East Slavic Christmas carol. This means that the Ran priests used the September style of calculating time (the year began with the autumn equinox).

The next day, in the presence of all the people, the priest took the horn of wine from the hands of the idol Svyatovit and, having carefully examined it, predicted whether or not there would be a harvest for the next year. Having poured the old wine at the feet of the idol, the priest filled the horn with new wine and drained it with one spirit, asking for all sorts of benefits for himself and the people. Then he again filled the horn with new wine and put it into the hand of the idol. After this, they brought the idol a pie made of sweet dough taller than a man. The priest hid behind the pie and asked the people if he was visible. When they answered that only a pie was visible, the priest asked God that they could make the same pie the next year. In conclusion, in the name of Svyatovit, the priest blessed the people, ordered them to continue to honor the Arkonian god, promising as a reward an abundance of fruits, victory at sea and on land. Then everyone drank and ate to their fullest, for abstinence was taken as an offense to the deity.

Arkona was also visited for fortune telling. The sacred horse Svyatovit was kept at the temple, white in color with a long mane and tail that were never trimmed.

"Svetovid", ill. from “Slavic and Russian Mythology” by A. S. Kaisarov, 1804

Only the priest of Svyatovit could feed and mount this horse, on which, according to the beliefs of the wounds, Svyatovit himself fought against his enemies. They used this horse to tell fortunes before the start of the war. The servants stuck three pairs of spears in front of the temple at a certain distance from each other, and a third spear was tied across each pair. The priest, having said a solemn prayer, led the horse by the bridle from the vestibule of the temple and led it to the crossed spears. If a horse stepped through all the spears first with its right foot and then with its left, this was considered a happy omen. If the horse stepped with its left foot first, then the trip was canceled. Three pairs of copies possibly symbolically reflected the will of the heavenly, earthly and underground gods (the 3 kingdoms according to Russian fairy tales) during fortune telling.

Rugen Island. Priest and sacred horse Svyatovit. Ilya Glazunov. 1986

Thus, the main symbol-oracle of the Arkona cult was the heroic war horse Svyatovit of the white color - “Yar Horse”, which is where the name of the sacred city “Arkona” possibly came from, that is, the Ardent Horse or the city of the Ardent Horse.

In addition to the functions of an oracle-soothsayer, Svyatovit’s horse also served as a biological indicator of the state of the phase vitality on at the moment time. If the horse was lathered, with tangled and disheveled hair, then the phase of vitality was considered negative (depressive) and the planned trip was cancelled. If the horse was in excellent physical condition (passionary), then the planned campaign was blessed.

Unfortunately, literary sources do not give an unambiguous answer to the method of this fortune-telling: according to some, the horse is in the temple all night before fortune-telling, according to others, the priest (or Svyatovit himself) rides on it all night.

The Arkon temple became the main sanctuary of the Slavic Pomerania, the center of Slavic paganism. According to the general belief of the Baltic Slavs, the Arkonian god gave the most famous victories, the most accurate prophecies. Therefore, Slavs from all sides of Pomerania flocked here for sacrifices and fortune telling. From everywhere gifts were delivered to him according to vows, not only from individuals, but also from entire tribes. Each tribe sent him an annual tribute for sacrifices.

The temple had extensive estates that provided it with income; duties were collected in its favor from merchants who traded in Arkona and from industrialists who caught herring off the island of Rügen. A third of the spoils of war were brought to him, all the jewelry, gold, silver and pearls obtained in the war. Therefore, there were chests filled with jewelry in the temple.

At the temple there was a permanent squad of 300 knights on white war horses, equipped with heavy knightly weapons. This squad took part in campaigns, confiscating a third of the spoils for the benefit of the temple.

The phenomenon of the Arkona temple is reminiscent of the Delphic oracle among the Greeks. The analogy goes further: just as foreigners sent gifts to Delphi and turned for predictions, so the rulers of neighboring peoples sent gifts to the Arkonian temple. For example, the Danish king Sven donated a golden cup to the temple.

Józef Ryszkiewicz.Historical painting.1890

The reverence that the tribes of the Baltic Slavs had for the Arkona shrine was involuntarily transferred to the wounds who stood so close to this shrine.

Adam of Bremen wrote that the Baltic Slavs had a law: in common affairs, do not decide anything or undertake anything contrary to the opinion of the Ran people, to such an extent they were afraid of the Rans for their connection with the gods.

Sanctuaries similar to Arkonsky also existed in Shchetin, where the idol of Triglav stood, in Volegoshch, where the idol of Yarovit stood, and in other cities. The sanctuary of Triglav was located on the highest of the three hills on which the city of Shchetin was located. The walls of the sanctuary, inside and out, were covered with colorful carvings depicting people and animals. The three-headed statue of the god was decorated with gold. The priests claimed that the three heads were a symbol of God's power over the three kingdoms - heaven, earth and hell. In the temple were stored weapons obtained in wars, and the tenth of the spoils taken in battles at sea and on land prescribed by law. Gold and silver bowls were also kept there, which were taken out only in holidays, from which nobles and noble people drank and told fortunes, gilded horns, swords, knives and various religious objects decorated with expensive stones.

Bishop Absalon topples the god Svantevit at Arkona

1169 Militant Christians led by Bishop Absalon destroy the statue of the god Svyatovit in Arkon.
After the adoption of Christianity in Rus', it was also customary to destroy all previous monuments.
These destructions continue in present-day Russia.

Slavic mythology.
Gods

ARKONA- the northern cape of the island of Rügen. The name is ancient Slavic from the word “urkan”, which meant “at the end”.
Here was one of the last known pagan pantheons of the gods of the Slavs.

In 1168, it was burned by the Danish king Waldemar I along with Bishop Absalon.
The West Slavic Baltic tribes (Vendas), settled between the Elbe (Laba), Oder (Odra) and the Vistula, reached high development by the 9th-10th centuries AD, having built on the island of Rahne (Rügen) the sacred city of Arkona temples, which served for all the Baltic Slavs the role of the Slavic Mecca and the Delphic Oracle. The Slavic tribe of the Rans formed a priestly caste in their midst (like the Indian Brahmins or Babylonian Chaldeans) and not a single serious military-political issue was resolved by other Slavic tribes without the advice of the Rans.

Wounds (ruans) owned the runic writing of the Vendian tradition, the graphics of which were noticeably different from the known older and younger runes (probably the term wound itself came from the Slavic wound, that is, to cut runes on wooden tablets).

Let us present information from Western chroniclers (Adam of Bremen, Otgon of Bamberg, Thietmar of Merseburg) about the paganism of the Baltic Slavs.

Arkona was built on the high rocky shore of the island of Rügen and was inaccessible from the Baltic Sea. The city contained many temples of all tribal Slavic gods.

Arkona was also visited for fortune telling. The sacred horse Svyatovit was kept at the temple, white in color with a long mane and tail that were never trimmed.

In addition to the functions of an oracle-soothsayer, Svyatovit’s horse also served as a biological indicator of the state of the vital force phase at a given time. If the horse was lathered, with tangled and disheveled hair, then the phase of vitality was considered negative (depressive) and the planned trip was cancelled. If the horse was in excellent physical condition (passionary), then the planned campaign was blessed.

The reverence that the tribes of the Baltic Slavs had for the Arkona shrine was involuntarily transferred to the wounds who stood so close to this shrine.

Sanctuaries similar to Arkonsky also existed in Shchetin, where the idol of Triglav stood, in Volegoshch, where the idol of Yarovit stood, and in other cities. The sanctuary of Triglav was located on the highest of the three hills on which the city of Shchetin was located. The walls of the sanctuary, inside and out, were covered with colorful carvings depicting people and animals. The three-headed statue of the god was decorated with gold. The priests claimed that the three heads were a symbol of God's power over the three kingdoms - heaven, earth and hell. In the temple were stored weapons obtained in wars, and the tenth of the spoils taken in battles at sea and on land prescribed by law. Gold and silver bowls were also kept there, which were taken out only on holidays, from which nobles and noble people drank and told fortunes, gilded horns and decorated with expensive stones, swords, knives and various religious objects.

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Meaning of the word arcona

arcona in the crossword dictionary

Encyclopedic Dictionary, 1998

arcona

ARKONA (Arkona) city and religious center of the Baltic Slavs of the 10th-12th centuries. on o. Rügen (Germany). Destroyed by the Danes in 1169. Remains of the Svyatovit sanctuary, public and residential buildings.

Arkona

(Arkona), city of the Baltic Slavs 10th-12th centuries. on o. Rügen (f. Ruyana) in the southern part of the Baltic Sea, part of the GDR. From the west the city is surrounded by a high rampart. in 10–13 years A. was a religious center that united a number of Slavic tribes. The island was ruled by the high priest of the god Svyatovit. The temple of this god in A. was described by the Danish medieval author Saxo Grammaticus. His data were confirmed in the 1920s. excavations by the German archaeologist K. Schuchhardt and others. Near the temple, a public assembly area was discovered, and in the western part there were dwellings. In 1169, the Danish king Valdemar I destroyed the city and the temple. The statue of Svyatovit was burned, and the temple treasures were taken to Denmark.

Lit.: Schuchhardt S., Arkona Rethra/Vineta, V., 1926; Lyubavsky M.K., History of the Western Slavs, 2nd ed., M., 1918.

Wikipedia

Arkona (group)

Arkona- Russian pagan / folk metal band.

The group combines both screaming with growling and regular female vocals in its compositions. The main poet and composer is Masha "Scream" Arkhipova.

Arkona (cape)

Cape Arkona- a high coast (45 m) of chalk and marl on the Wittow Peninsula in the north of the island of Rügen, the location of the ancient sanctuary of the Polabian Slavs - Ruyan.

Natural monument Cape Arkona next to the fishermen's village, Witt belongs to the municipality of Putgarten and is one of the most popular tourist sites in Rügen (about 800,000 visitors annually).

The cape has two lighthouses, two military bunkers, a Slavic fortress and several tourist buildings. On the western side of the cape there is a ring-shaped shaft in which the temple of the Vendian god Svyatovit was located. The Danish king Valdemar I the Great took this fortified point on June 15, 1168, burned the temple along with the idol and took the temple treasures to Denmark. In 1827 a lighthouse was built over the rampart.

The smaller of the two lighthouses was built in 1826 - 1827 according to Schinkel's design. Commissioned in 1828. Its height is 19.3 m. The height of the fire in it is 60 m above sea level.

Cape Arkona is often incorrectly called the northernmost point of the island of Rügen. Approximately 1 km in a northwest direction there is a place called Gellort, which is the northernmost point.

Built in 1927, the Cap Arcona was named after the cape.

Arkona

Arkona:

Arkona is a city and religious center of Ruyan.
Arkona is a Russian metal band.
Arkona is a cape on the coast of Germany.
Cap Arcona - steamship.
Arkona (1902-1945) - ship of the German fleet.

Examples of the use of the word arcona in literature.

I battened down the hatch, sat down in a chair and thought about the hints for several minutes arcona about my loneliness.

Geoffrey with attention, but at times the meaning of speeches arcona as if it was slipping away from me, replaced by an intuitive feeling of emptiness opening up under my feet.

Buying certain things is the most ordinary thing in the world, but on arcona, when he found out what I wanted, it was worth a look!

He dreams of power and might, and fasting arcona is dear to him as long as it brings him power and authority.

Of course, she was no longer that stubborn, intractable, bitter creature that I bought from arcona Geoffrey.

How I needed something cool right now - sermons arcona Geoffrey or in a bucket cold water!

Almis reluctantly began to pick at the incomprehensible mess in her plate - this is not Arkona, no one knows how to make stew from sysop.

Currently, you are, in a sense, truly the heir to the king Arkona, however, we cannot agree that the author of these lines had you in mind.

Even if your sword is the same blade Arkona, - and we have no evidence of this, although to some extent I can admit it - and you are exactly the person for whom it was intended, there may well be other interpretations of all this.

According to rumors, their leader Arkona beer alcoholism - Ariss knew for sure that he did not enter the arena without a bottle of dark Gorgan.

The Danish chronicler Saxo Grammaticus (1140-1208) wrote the 16-volume chronicle “The Acts of the Danes” (Gesta Danorum), which describes the history of Denmark from ancient times to the 12th century, as well as the history of some other northern countries, including Western -Slavic. In particular, this book describes Arkona (or as the Germans now call it - Jaromarsburg), the capital of the Slavic tribe Ruyan (Rans) on the island of Ruyan (now Rügen), the size of the Slavic population of which at the time of its conquest in the 12th century, according to According to Western sources, it was at least 70,000 people.

Arkona is a temple city, the center of the faith of the Western Slavs. And not only them. The Danish king Svein (960-1014) donated booty to the temple of Arkona. Back in the 11th century, pilgrims from the already two centuries-old Christian Czech Republic came to venerate its main shrine, the four-headed idol of Svyatovit. The Arkona Temple became the main religious center of Slavic Pomerania in the 9th-12th centuries. He had vast lands that gave him income; duties were collected in his favor from merchants who traded in Arkona and from industrialists who caught herring off the island of Ruyan. A third of the spoils of war were brought to him, all the jewelry, gold, silver and pearls obtained in the war. Therefore, there were chests filled with jewelry in the temple.

Here is what Sakon Grammatik writes: "The city of Arkona lies on top high cliff; from the north, east and south it is protected by natural protection... on the western side it is protected by a high embankment of 50 cubits... In the middle of the city lies an open square on which rises a wooden temple, beautifully crafted, but revered not so much for the splendor of its architecture as for the greatness of the god to whom erected here. The entire outer side of the building shone with skillfully made bas-reliefs of various figures, but ugly and crudely painted.

There was only one entrance to the interior of the temple, surrounded by a double fence... In the temple itself there was a large idol, exceeding human height, (Sventovita) with four heads, on the same number of necks, of which two came out of the chest and two to the ridge, but so , that of both front and both rear heads, one looked to the right and the other to the left. The hair and beard were cut short, and in this, it seemed, the artist was in accordance with the custom of the Ruyans.

In his right hand, the idol held a horn made of various metals, which was usually filled with wine every year from the hands of the priest to tell fortunes about the fertility of the next year; the left hand was likened to a bow. The upper one went down to the ankles, which were made of various types of trees and were so skillfully connected to the knees that only upon careful examination could the fugues be distinguished. The legs stood level with the ground, their foundation was made under the floor.

In a short distance the bridle and saddle of the idol with other accessories were visible. What struck the observer most of all was the huge sword, the scabbard, the black of which, in addition to its beautiful carved shapes, was distinguished by silver trim... In addition, this god also had temples in many other places, controlled by priests of lesser importance. In addition, he had with him a horse, completely white, from which it was considered impiety to pull out a hair from its mane or tail...

Only the priest had the right to feed and saddle this horse: the divine animal could not be insulted by frequent use. The Ruyans believed that Svantevit rode out on this horse to battle the enemies of his sanctuary and his land. And proof of this was allegedly the fact that he was often found the next morning in his stall covered with sweat and dirt, as if he had traveled a long way.

Predictions were also taken from the horse. When a military campaign was about to take place, the servants of the Sventavit temple stuck six spears crosswise into the ground in front of the sanctuary, after which they brought the sacred horse to them. If he stepped over the spears with his right hoof, this was considered a good omen for the outcome of military operations. If at least once he raised his left hoof first, then the trip to foreign lands was canceled. In the same way, a sea voyage was canceled if Sventovit’s white horse did not go with the right foot through the spears, and even decisions on trade transactions depended on the predictions of the oracle... Sventovit was symbolized by various signs, in particular, carved eagles and banners, the main one of which was called Stanitsa... Power this small piece of canvas was stronger than the princely power..."

Every year, sacrifices were made in the sanctuary city. They took place in late summer, after the harvest. To find out how this important festival for the Western Slavs took place, let us again turn to the testimony of Saxo Grammar:

“Every year after the harvest, a mixed crowd from all over the island in front of the temple of the god, sacrificing cattle, celebrated a solemn feast, called sacred. Its priest, contrary to paternal custom, was distinguished by a long beard and hair, on the eve of the day when the sacred ceremony was to take place, the small sanctuary - wherever he was allowed to enter - usually carefully cleaned it with a broom, making sure that there was no human breath in the room. Whenever it was necessary to inhale or exhale, he went to the exit, so that the presence of God would not be defiled by the breath of a mortal.

The next day, when the people stood at the entrance, he, taking a vessel from the statue, carefully observed whether the level of the poured liquid had dropped, and then expected a crop failure next year. Noticing this, he ordered those present to store the fruits for the future. If he did not foresee any decrease in normal fertility, he predicted the coming time of abundance of fields. After such a prophecy, he ordered that this year’s harvest be either more thrifty or more generously spent. Having poured the old wine at the feet of the idol, like a libation, he poured the empty vessel again: as if drinking to his health, he revered the statue, both himself and the fatherland, good luck to the townspeople in multiplying victories with solemn words. Having finished this, he brought the horn to his lips, drank it extremely quickly in one gulp and, filled with wine again, inserted it again into the right hand of the statue.

Having made a pie with honey wine of a round shape, the size of which was almost equal to human height, he proceeded to the sacrifice. Having placed him between himself and the people, the priest, according to custom, asked if the Ruyans could see him. When they answered that they saw it, they wished that in a year they would not be able to see it. With this kind of prayer he asked not for his own or the people’s fate, but for an increase in the future harvest...

Every year a coin is due to the idol from each husband and each woman as a fee for veneration. He is also given a third of the spoils of war, since they were acquired with his help. This god also has in his service 300 selected horses and the same number of horsemen, all the booty of which, acquired by war or robbery, is under the supervision of a priest, who, with the proceeds for these things, orders the casting of various sacred objects and temple decorations, which he keeps in locked rooms, where, in addition to a lot of money, there were also collected a lot of purple clothes that had worn out from time to time ... "

Arkona was guarded by specially trained temple warriors, recruited from young men of noble Slavic families, who remained professional warriors throughout their lives. There were 300 of them for each temple city, so in battles ahead of the Polabian troops were 300 knights on horses of the same color as the deity’s horse: for example, 300 Svyatovit warriors on white horses, 300 Triglav warriors on black horses. In addition to protecting the sacred cities, their duties also included collecting tribute from the surrounding Baltic tribes and peoples.

In addition to Arkona, there was another one on Ruyan large city cult purpose. It was called Korenitsa. In the 12th century, the residence of the ruler of Ruyan was located there. It was a huge fortress city, surrounded by impenetrable bogs and swamps, built up with three-story wooden buildings.

However, it is reliably known that with the exception of the residence of the ruler, Korenitsa was not a residential town, like Arkona. People came there either for worship or during times of war, using the city as a refuge. This was the tradition among the Ruyans. We will also find information about the city in Saxo Grammaticus, when he describes the actions of the Danish invaders who stormed Korenica in 1168:

“The distinguishing feature of this city were three buildings of outstanding temples, noticeable by the brilliance of excellent craftsmanship. The dignity of the local gods enjoyed almost the same reverence as among the Arkonians the authority of a public deity...

The largest temple stood inside the courtyard, but instead of walls it had purple curtains, and the roof rested only on columns. The servants [of the church], having broken the fence of the courtyard, took hold of the inner curtains of the temple. When they too were removed, the statue carved from oak, called Rugevit, became visible in its ugliness from all sides. The swallows, which had built nests under his lips, covered his chest with droppings. Worthy god, whose image is so ugly defaced by birds! In addition, his head had seven humanoid faces, all of which were covered by a single skull.

The master depicted the same number of swords in sheaths hanging from his side. The eighth, naked [sword], [god] held in his hand; inserted into the fist, it was nailed very tightly with an iron nail, so that it could not be removed without cutting it, as its dissection showed. Its width was greater than human height, and its height was such that [Bishop] Absalon, standing on his tiptoes, could barely reach his chin with an axe...

This god was revered, just like Mars, at the head of the forces of war. There was nothing funny in this statue, which caused disgust with the rough features of the ugly carving... Having completed its destruction, a detachment of [the bishop’s] companions zealously moved towards the statue of Porevit, which was revered in the nearest temple. He was depicted with five heads, but unarmed. Having cut it down, they entered the temple of Porenut. This statue represented four faces, and had a fifth on his chest and touched his forehead with his left hand and his chin with his right hand. With the help of his servants, [the bishop] struck her down with blows from an axe...”

Let us note a few words about the “ugliness of the statue.” It is clear that Saxo Grammaticus was a Christian and therefore everything that was not Christian was ugly for him. However, there were other Christian authors who spoke of the faith of the Slavs with none of the arrogant disgust that plagues most servants of the “all-good” Jehovah. Bishop Otgon of Bamberg, who twice visited the country of the Slavic Pomeranians (in 1124 and 1127) with the aim of converting them to Christianity, was amazed at the splendor of the Slavic churches.

Thus, he describes a building in the city of Szczecin (Szczecin), which “... being the most important, she stood out for her decorations and amazing skill; it had sculptural decorations both outside and inside. The images of people, birds and animals were done so naturally that they seemed to live and breathe. And what should be noted as the most rare: the colors of these images, located outside the building, did not darken and were not washed away by either rain or snow - the skill of the artists made them that way. Here they bring, according to the long-standing custom of their ancestors, a tenth of the stolen wealth, determined by law... Gold and silver vessels and bowls were also kept there... they also kept huge horns of wild bulls, framed in gold and precious stones, in honor of the gods and for the sake of their decoration. suitable for drinking, as well as horns, which were blown, daggers, knives, various precious utensils, rare and beautiful in appearance ... "

Like the temple in Korenitsa, the temple of Sventovid in Arkona was destroyed and robbed. This happened on June 15, 1169 according to Christian chronology, when Waldemar I, king of Denmark, captured Arkona. The statue of Sventovid himself, along with other shrines, was torn, cut and burned with the direct participation of Bishop Abesalon, as reported by Saxo Grammaticus.

By the way, Saxo Grammaticus was in the service of King Valdemar II of Denmark, whose father, Valdemar I, was the great-grandson of the Grand Duke of Kyiv Vladimir Monomakh, after whom he was named. The mother of the latter was the Kyiv princess Ingeborga Mstislavna. Unfortunately, the Slavic blood flowing in the veins of both Valdemars did not prevent them, poisoned by Christianity, from exterminating and conquering the Slavs, destroying their cities and temples. Unfortunately, the Slavic Christian princes Casimir and Boguslav and the Obodrite prince Pribyslav also came out against Arkona, on the side of the Danes.

It was not easy to take the city: the height of the walls with the rampart reached 27 meters, and stone-throwing machines could not overcome them. There was still hope for a long siege and that the defenders would not have enough drinking water. The besieged, confident in their strength, covered the tower above the gate with banners and eagles. Between them was the “Stanitsa” - the military banner of the Ruyans, which the latter revered as the banner of all gods. On June 12, 1168, during another attack, the tower and gates were set on fire; the small amount of water did not allow the fire to be extinguished. Arkona was doomed... Some residents, seeing their doom, threw themselves into the flames, not wanting to be slaves. The king ordered the chair to be taken out and sat down in it to watch what was happening. The Holy City - the last stronghold of the Slavs in the Baltic - fell.

Now nothing prevented the ousting of the Slavs from their ancestral lands and the gradual erasure of the very memory of them. The last woman on Ruyan who spoke Slavic, or rather Wendish, died in 1402. Her last name was Gulitsyna.

As the conqueror and overthrower of pagan idols, the Christian Church used cult objects sacred to the Slavs, embedding them in its buildings. Thus, a stone is built into one of the walls of the church in the village of Altenkirchen on the Wittow Peninsula, which the locals call the Svantevitbild Stone.

On a rectangular stone 1.15 m high, there is an image of a bearded man, dressed in long clothes and holding a vessel in the form of a horn. This gave archaeologists reason to see in the image on the stone the idol of Sventavit or his priest, who was the only one who could touch the horn of Sventavit and predict the future from its contents.

In the village of Alt Jabel in Jabelheide there is also a stone famous local residents as "Slavic sacrificial cup". This small cup-shaped stone is embedded in the wall of the old Michaeliskirche church to the right of the entrance. There is an ancient legend associated with him, which is still told in Alt Yabel:

“Once upon a time, when Christians were building the first shrines in the land of Jabelheide, a sacrificial bowl fell into the Eldena monastery. The blood of sacrificed people and animals was collected in this cup. It was during these years that the first church was built in the heart of Jabelheide, and on the occasion of its consecration in 1256, the entire Slavic population of the area was convened. In order to prove the power of the Christian religion and overthrow the old gods, the priest, Brother Lienhard, split the cup with a heavy hammer right on the altar, in front of those present. In memory of the event, half of the sacrificial cup was immediately embedded in the ring wall of the church. With this symbolic action, Brother Lienhard hoped to break the reluctance of the Slavs to accept Christianity. The other half was sent to the Eldena monastery in memory of this day and placed on a prayer chair...

That night the priest could not fall asleep for a long time because of some rustling sound. It was midnight when he heard someone's footsteps and angry speech. Illuminated by the moon, a man with a beard in ancient attire entered his chambers. He raised his hand and asked: “Why did you disturb the peace of my tomb and disturb my eternal sleep? You plundered my tomb, took what was donated to me and ordered it to be transferred to your home. Therefore, from now on your house has become my home. For I am older than you and owned this land before you. You Saxons came to the land of my fathers as barbarians and robbers... Are you saying that you are a servant? And I am a free person. My name is Boleslav. My coat of arms is the golden crown of the Slavs on a blue field. All my life, we Slavs have been the masters here.”

So spoke the spirit of the Slav, and then quietly disappeared. The priest left the parish back to Saxony and took with him a fragment of the sacrificial cup. (From the book by Yu.V. Ivanova-Buchatskaya “Symbols of Northern Germany. Slavic-Germanic synthesis between the Elbe and Oder rivers”).

Currently, on the island of Rügen there is the Museum of the Slavic Arkona, in which practically nothing remains of its former splendor and power - only the four-faced wooden Sventovid, which was carved by Polish pagans in the 90s of the last century and brought to the island, sadly looks at the empty green spaces...

Elena Lyubimova and Dmitry Baida

From the writings of Saxo Grammar we know how the sacred Vedic Arkona was taken by the Jewish Christians.

But an amazing thing, not a word about the storming of the city-temple... It is written how the Danes of King Voldemar I besieged the city, how the army of the Saxons of Henry the Lion approached them - and nothing more.... The only thing that slips into the Catholic’s narrative is this is that the defenders of the fortress could not cope with the fire.
Allegedly, they did not have enough water to extinguish the burning gate.
And is it near the sea?
After all, it is enough to dig a deep well and quietly connect it to the Baltic, a primitive technique. There were probably several similar wells in Arkona. Our ancestors were never fools, but then why did the fortress gates burn out? Simply because water didn't help. That's it.

Antique napalm, the so-called “Greek fire,” was used against Arkona. Western chroniclers prefer to remain silent about this.
Why?
Because the victory over Arkona disgraced the entire Judeo-Christian Europe.

Cape Arkona

But I'll start from the beginning. In July 1268, during the last siege of the fortress, only about 1,000 men and the same number of women gathered there. The rest of the civilian population of the island of Buyan, or Ruyan, after the landing of the Danish and Saxon armies, fled into the forests and swamps. The Slavs understood that the war with the Christian world was lost, and tried with all their might to survive. To do this, it was necessary to wait until the enemy troops left the island, and then accept Christianity... And gradually become German.
But there were also those who preferred death to serfdom over Judeo-Christian slavery. As I wrote above, there were very few of them, but there were other warriors in Arkon. They are warriors, not fighters. The difference between the two is huge, but more on that below. We are talking about 300 knights from the guard of the temple of Svetovid.

What kind of warriors these were, judge for yourself: having distributed the forces of the Slavs gathered in Arkona to fortify the city, they left the gates of the fortress and lined up in rows, taking on the blow of 17 thousand Danes and 8 thousand Saxons. Three hundred Russian knights against 25 thousand well-trained knights and bollards. Bristling with spears and covering themselves with shields from flying arrows, the temple warriors not only successfully repelled the frontal attacks of the armored cavalry, but also moved forward themselves. Having formed a wedge, the Russian knights began to make their way to the tents of King Voldemar I and the Duke of Saxony. They were forced to stop only when they saw that they could come under attack from flamethrowers.

Turning around, the temple warriors rushed to destroy the siege equipment. Some of the flamethrower equipment was destroyed by them, but at that moment the Russian knights were hit with fireballs from catapults. The ground caught fire under their feet, and in order to avoid unjustified losses, the defenders of the temple began to make their way to the walls of the fortress. Despite the fact that by this moment they were completely surrounded, the knights easily broke through the ring and approached the gate.
They lined up in front of them again, but neither the Danes nor the Saxons dared to attack them again. The first battle with the “pagans” was too costly for them: almost 3,000 killed and wounded. Moreover, the best Christian knights fell in the battle.
And then, by order of Voldemar I, flamethrower catapults and napalm-emitting copper pipes were aimed at the temple warriors. For this reason, the Slavs had to leave the fortress gates. It was thanks to the “Greek fire” that the gates of Arkona flared up, and they could not be extinguished with water, although the defenders had plenty of it, especially sea water. When the gates of the city collapsed, the Jewish Christians, gathering their strength, again rushed to the assault with an iron ram. They intended to break through to the temple of Svetovid as soon as possible. But again a squad of temple knights stood in their way.

A frantic battle began again, in which the Russians prevailed. Then “Greek fire” was used again. And this happened several times. Only thanks to napalm, it was possible to bleed the temple contingent of Russian knights. By the end of the day there were a little more than a hundred of them left. But this hundred, controlling the Slavic suicide bombers who had gathered in the fortress, fought on the streets of Arkona for four days. The city was burning, at night people fought in the light of the fires, during the day they suffocated in the smoke, but the battle did not stop.
During the capture of Arkona, both the Danes and the Saxons lost 2/3 of their army.