image013

It was respected for the magnificence of service but also for the divinity of the statuę it housed. Its outre surface was remarkable for fine carvings which showed images of various things with simple art. There was only one entrance. The tempie itself was included in a double row of fences, of which the outer, composed of walls, was covered with a red roof, while the inner, supported with four poles instead of walls, shone with red curtains and was connected with the outer one by several transverse beams. In the tempie there was a huge statuę, larger than the size of human body. It astounded the viewers because of four necks and four heads, two of which seemed to stare to the front and two to the back. The heads, both those situated at the front and at the back, seemed to look - one to the right and the other to the left. Their beards and hair were cut, it was visible that the artist had meant to depict the modę in which the Rans cared for their heads. In his right hand he held a hom madę of various metals, which was annually filled with winę by a priest experienced in sacrifices, who could conclude about the harvest for the next year from the State of the liquid. The left hand, propped on his side, formed an arch. The robę reached the calves in the point where they were joined with the knees. Thanks to the use of various kinds of wood the junction was hardly visible and only with much effort could it be spotted. The feet touched the floor and their foundations were hidden in the ground. Nearby the god’s saddle, bridle and other attributes could be seen. The admiration for them increased in view of a sword of a decent size, whose sheath and hilt attracted attention with the glint of silver and magnificent carved decorations”.

The main ritual was solemnly celebrated once in a year, after harvest. Ali inhabitants of the island gathered in front of the tempie then. On the eve of the celebration the priest (who, contrary to the common fashion, had long hair and beard), “meticulously cleaned the chapel, to which only he himself had access, with a brush. He was careful not to breathe inside the tempie. When he had to breathe in or out, he went to the door, apparently not to defile the divine presence with the breath of a mortal. On the next day, when the people camped in the open air in front of the door, the priest took the vessel out of the god’s hand and carefully examined whether the level of liąuid had not decreased, which would be a sign of bad harvest for the following year. If he concluded that the usual level had not decreased, he prophesied abundant harvest. Following the annual divination he advised the people to save or to use freely their stock of food. Then he poured the old winę in libation at the feet of the statuę, filled the vessel with fresh liąuid, worshiped the statuę as if toasting to it, asked in solemn words for prosperity for himself and the fatherland, for new riches and victories for the citizens. Having finished, he hastily gulped all the winę, refilled the vessel and put it back in the statue’s right hand. Another offering was a round honey-flavoured cake, whose height nearly eąualled the height of a human. The priest placed it between himself and the people and asked them if they could see him. If they said that they did, he wished them that they would not be able to see him the following year. In that way he asked not for the misfortune for himself and his people, but for ample harvest in the futurę. Then, on behalf of the deity he saluted the people and reminded them to keep worshiping the majesty of the god with ob-lations. And he promised them victory at the land and sea as a reward for the worship. Having finished [the ritual] in this way, they spent the rest of the day on luxurious banquets, used the sacrificed food for feasts and gluttony and satisfied their greed with the animals offered to the god. Beeing inabstemiousness in that feast was considered pious, while the reverse was an impious deed.”

Each inhabitant annually presented one coin to the god. The treasury of the tempie collected one third of war spoils. The troop of 300 mounted warriors, which was the guard of the god, handed all their spoils to the priest. “From the spoils [the priest] madę various badges and decorations of the tempie, he put them in locked cases, in which along with large amounts of money there was much purple textile, sometimes decaying of age. There were many public and private gifts there, collected thanks to the vows of those who had asked for favours.” According to Saxo Grammaticus, the tempie of Sventovit, supported fmancially by all - supposedly pagan - Slavs, received gifts also from Christian kings. Saxo quoted the example of the Danish king Sweyn, who wanted to propitiate Sventovit with a cup.

The tempie had an oracie (Matusiak, 1911; Słupecki, 1991c). The medium of the god was a white horse, which could be ridden only by the priest. “At this horse, as was commonly believed in Rugen, Sventovit, as they called the deity, fought against the enemies of his divinity.” The proof of that was the fact that the mount was found mudded in the momings, although it spent the nights in the stable. When the Rans intended to initiate war, Sventovit’s horse was used for divination. “In front of the tempie servants placed three rows of spears crossed two in each row, with the blades thrust in the ground. The rows were at an equal distance from each other. When they wanted to undertake an expedition, the priest after solemn prayers led the horse adorned with thongs out of the yard (of the tempie) and madę him step over the spears.” If the horse stepped the right leg over the rows of spears before the left one, the divination was considered favour-able to the war, if he even once stepped the left leg before the right, the plan was abandoned. The same procedurę was observed before sea expeditions and other enterprises. Another method of divination was drawing lots (Saxo Grammaticus, XIV, p. 822-827).

The above description, although it is the longest text concerning pagan Slavonic religion, does not contain everything that the Danish chronicler - or his informant, who was probably biśhop Absalon himself, which makes the information morę reliable (Schróder, 1967) - knew about Arcona. The attack at Arcona was a conscious strategie decision: “Besieging the town the

29