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pantheon, called “the god of gods.” He was the only object of generał, public worship, influencing also the neighbouring tribes. Tacitus (Germania, 39) wrote about a god of similarly high rank, the main deity of Semnons, which was worshiped in a sanctuary common to all tribes of Swebs. Tacitus qualified him as an almighty god to whom everything is subject (Beck, 1970, p. 241-243). The god of the tribe dominating over other tribes becomes superior to other gods, simultaneously the control over a sanctuary of the highest deity helps in acąuiring political leadership. Arcona, similarly to Radogość, was that type of sanctuary.

The interior of the tempie was subject to the strictest taboo, so only the priest could enter it, holding his breath. This detail of ritual has got a par-allelism in Zoroastrianism (Gieysztor, 1984, p. 261). The main annual rite, focusing on the agrarian aspect of the deity, was celebrated after gathering the crops in front of the tempie. The ceremony included offering of cattle, exposition of a ritual cake, divination of futurę harvest from the State of mead in the hom in the statue’s hand, combined with a libation, and finally wishes of prosperity directed to the inhabitants of the island by the priest on behalf of Sventovit. The festival, which can be compared to Thanksgiving, ended in an orgiastic feast.

The military aspect of Sventovit was stressed by his saddle, bit and sword stored in the tempie. Probably it also housed the war emblems of the Rans (some of which, as we know, had the shape of eagles). The most sacred of them was stanitia, the flag of Sventovit’s guard. In a special stable the god’s white horse was kept. The animal was used for divination conceming the prospects of planned military expeditions and piratical raids, which took place at the tempie yard.

Offering people to Sventovit - Helmold stresses that they were Christians - was an annual ritual. The victim was chosen by lot, interestingly enough the same was done in Kiev. An identical ritual was observed in Scandinavia. Divination, both private and public, had a great role in Sventovit’s cult, and attracted to Arcona visitors “with questions to the oracie from all (...) Slavonic countries.” The futurę was told from the level of mead in Sven-tovit’s hom, the behaviour of his horse and from drawing lots. The two latter methods of fortune-telling were used in Radogość and Szczecin as well, and Tacitus (Germania, 10) says they were also known to the Germans (Słupecki, 1991c).

Aleksander Gieysztor (1982, p. 99-105; cf Pettazzoni, 1967, p. 219-220) regards Sventovit as an incamation of Perun, pointing to his sovereign status. The connection between the lord of Arcona and an alcoholic bever-age is significant, as Indo-Europeans devoted alcohol to that type of divin-ities. Mead in Sventovit’s hom (although Saxo Grammaticus writes about winę, mead seems morę probable in that climate) corresponds to the mead of Odin, the soma of Indra, and perhaps even to the nectar of Olympian gods. Poured anew to the hom every year, it was a symbol of power and prosperity, it assured cyclic rebirth and rejuvenation. The ritual cake, of the type of the Slavonic kołacz, is known also from Vedic rites, oblations to Jupiter and Roman rituals of October horse (eguus october) devoted to Mars (Dumezil 1966, p. 219; Gonda 1978, p. 138). It survived in the folk culture of the Eastem and Southern Slavs with relicts of some rites. In Bułgaria, for instance, the orthodox priest, approaching a pile of round loaves of bread prepared for oblation, asked: “Can you see me?” The people assembled around said: “Yes, we can see you!” The answer to that were, as in Arcona, the wish that he would not be seen next year, meaning the hope for even better harvest. Further arguments can be found in the symbolism of colours that appeared in Saxo’s description. Sventovit’s horse was white, the roof of the tempie red, while the curtains around the statuę - purple. According to G. Dumezil (1982, p. 216) the white colour symbolizes the sovereign function, while red the military function. We know that Perun combined both of them. Toponomastics revealed some traces of the cult of this god under his original name in Slavonic territories. The most impressive piece of evidence was discovered near the coast of Rugen in the land of Rans at the continent. Two neighbouring villages near Stralsund are called Prohn and Muuks. The first name was recorded in 1240 simply as Perun, the other in 1310 as Mukus, i.e. Mokoś (Witkowski, 1970, p. 369).

When the Rans were in the prime of their power (from the mid 1 lth c. to 1160), Sventovit’s tempie in Arcona gained or strengthened its super--tribal significance as the last important pagan sanctuary after the decline of Radogość in 1068. According to Helmold, Rugen was in fact ruled by the priest of Sventovit, who attained precedence over the prince in political matters. Through the oracie the priests decided about war and peace and they administered Sventovit’s treasury stored in the tempie, which was also the State treasury. It collected the poll-tax, one third of spoils, tributes from dependent Slavonic tribes, ransoms from the Danes harassed by piratical raids (on tributes from Danish islands cf. Koczy, 1934, p. 213) and some kind of duty from merchants. Enforced gifts were supplemented with gratu-ities from those who asked the oracie for advice and political presents, like for instance a valuable cup offered by Danish king Sweyn Grathe, who wanted to gain the support of the Rans in the civil war in Denmark (Osięglowski, 1967, p. 275-276; Koczy, 1934, p. 201). There were also ex-penses, as the conservation and decoration of the tempie was financed from gifts. Ransoms paid to enemies were drawn from the treasury as well, e.g. we know that an invasion of Abodrites was prevented thanks to a great sum taken from it. This fact shows the importance of the treasure as the public treasury and proves that it was administered by Sventovit’s priest, who negotiated the ransom. The Arcona tempie had also its own land. The priest controlled the mounted guard of the god amounting to 300 warriors, who, contrary to others, were obliged to deposit all their spoils to the treasury. This unit, which went to battle under its own flag, had the privilege to do

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