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as Pomeranian in the lives of St Otto does not necessarily prove that the word khram, attested in Ruthenia, was unknown to Western Slavs, who did not leave any writings in their own language. Its existence in the vocabulary of the Czechs, Poles and Lusatians suggests that it may have been an all-Slavonic term.

Until now most historians have claimed that old Indo-Europeans did not erect temples. J. Gonda (1978, p. 141) stresses their absence in the Vedic cult. This thesis deserves closer examination and should be perhaps ques-tioned, as ethnological studies describe various sacred buildings, such as cult huts or houses of tribal gatherings, discovered among peoples whose culture is by no means superior to that of primitive Indo-Europeans (e.g. Hauser--Schaublin 1989). For the purposes of this work, however, it will suffice to present shortly the temples of the Slavs’ closest neighbours, the Germans and the Balts.

The temples of Germanie peoples were first mentioned in ancient times. Tacitus in Germania (9; 40) generally States that the Germans did not erect temples or statues, but when describing the details of their religion he contradicts himself, as he mentions a tempie of goddess Nerthus and a sanc-tuary of Tamphana (Tacitus, Annales, I, 51; cf. de Vries 1956-1957, vol. 1, p. 375). Later, medieval references begin from the letter of pope Gregory the Great (Gregorius Mellito Abbati in Franciis, MGH Epistolae, vol. 2, 1855, p. 330-331), which is a kind of instruction conceming the tactic of christian-izing the Anglo-Saxons in which the Pope commands that pagan temples should not be destroyed but converted into churches. Anglosaxon temples are also mentioned by Beda Venerabilis (Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglo-rum, I, 30; II, 15; II, 30, PLat., vol. 95, 1861). The Francs also had temples, which is proved by the information that one of them was destroyed by order of queen Radegund. Jonas of Bobbio described a tempie of the Lombards, which was constructed of timber and surrounded with trees (Strzelczyk 1987, p. 114; de Vries 1956-1957, vol. 1, p. 376). These mentions, though scarce, ailow to conclude that Germanie temples were usually built of wood.

There is much morę information about Scandinavian temples (Olsen, 1966; 1970; Haraldsson, 1992). Shrines of gods are mentioned many times in the Poetic Edda. The songs present Asgard, the seat of the gods from the linę of As, as a wonderful meadow called Itha Plain, surrounded with an embankment by the Giant hired to do this job. The gods themselves erected their temples there:

The Ases met in Itha Plain

they timbered high shrines and cult halls (hęrg oc hoj)

(Vęlospa, stanza 7)

Thus, the building of temples originated in the example of gods them-selves. Their seats, created at the dawn of history, are described in Edda as banquet halls adorned with silver and gold, from where the Ases rule

the world sipping mead from pure gold cups. The most famous one was Walhalla, the seat of Odin, the most powerful of gods. It is described in Grimnismid. Among the gods’ seats:

Gladsheimr is the fifth where spacious Walhalla shines of gold and Hropt [i.e. Odin] daily chooses those who are to die of sword.

Those who hasten to Odin Will recognize it at once:

Spearshafls make the walls, shields cover the roof,

Cuirasses lie on the benches.

Those who hasten to Odin Will recognize it at once:

A wolf hangs to the west of the gate,

An eagle Jeans over him.

(Grimnismal, stanza 8-10)

Let us omit the descriptions of the seats of other gods: guardian of temples Heimdall, who merrily drinks mead, Freya, hosting the warriors who after their death were not accepted by Odin, the manor of Forsete, called Glitner, with silver roof and gold columns, or the spiry tempie

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