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The deities worshiped on the Kiev Mountain do not include Veles. This god, listed along with Perun as a guarantor of Ruthenian loyalty in the treaties with Byzantium in 907 and 971, does not appear in the description of the oath from 944, the oniy act that undoubtedly took place in Kiev. Nonę of the idols set on the Kiev Mountain in 980 represents Veles, either. Ali of them belong to Perun’s realm of atmospheric deities: Khors was a lunar (Słupecki 1987, p. 126-128), while Dażbog a solar deity, Stribog was the god of wind, and Simargl - a flying demon (Gieysztor, 1982, p. 137, 140, 142). Mokoś may have been the goddess of rain. As V.V. Ivanov and V.N. Toporov proved (1988, p. 450-453), the Kiev Mountain was not a proper place for Vełes. This god, the mythical opponent of the Thunderer, sometimes assuming the shape of a dragon, should be connected with the lower sphere, not with the hill towering over the town. This was the case indeed, Kiev had its statuę of Veles. The legend of St Vladimir’s baptism, independent of Primary Chronicie, describes the act of pulling down and drowning the statues of Veles and Perun: “[Vladimir] ordered to throw the idol of Veles, called the god of cattle, to the river Pochayna” (Mansikka, 1922, p. 53-54; Golubinsky, 1901, p. 231), which allows to locate the sanc-tuary in Padol, the łowest part of Kiev, through which the river flowed (Rybakov, 1987, p. 421). Thus, the sanctuary of Perun on the Kiev Mountain had a counterpart devoted to his co-sovereign and opponent, Veles, situated in Padol.

The most important of the deities worshiped in Kiev is Perun, both in his ruling and military aspect. The former role surfaces when Perun is treated as a guarantor of an oath, a guardian of order (Gieysztor, 1982, p. 113-114). Swearing to maintain peace with Byzantium, Igor and his warriors put their swords, shields and golden bracelets in front of Perun’s effigy (Rożniecki, 1901, p. 493). Veles accompanied Perun in this function, although his statuę was placed in another sanctuary. As a war god, Perun demanded human sacrifices and we should not doubt that they were real, in spite of a demonie flavour of the relation from Primary Chronicie. Comparative mythology provides us with sufficient evidence of the probability of practicing human sacrifices in any traditional Indo-European society, even much morę ad-vanced that Ruthenia in the times of Vladimir; we can take as an example a public human sacrifice decreed by Julius Caesar in 47 BC, and celebrated, which is worth stressing, by a priest of Mars (Gieysztor, 1982, 114-121). We should pay attention to the analogies in the offering rite. The first human sacrifice confirmed by sources took place in Romę in 228 BC, when the town was threatened by Galls’ attack. According to Plutarch (Marcellus, 3), two persons of Greek origin and two of Gallic origin (Jaczynowska, 1987, p. 54) were buried alive on Forum Boarium then. In Kiev also a pair of people (a youth and a maiden) was supposed to be sacrificed. By a strange coincidence the lots point to a person of alien religion (a Christian) and origin (from Byzantium). The fact that he is a Yarangian, seemingly not a foreigner in Kiev, may point to the possibility that the Scandinavians were perceived as morę and morę alien, which is well motivated by the proceeding Slavization of the dynasty and the court. Other types of offerings, except of ritual carousals and feasts, escape anaiysis.

Using intensive comparative methods we could also try to reconstruct the divination practices applied in Kiev. Quite possibly, there was an oracie practicing horse-divination and lot-casting there. Relating the martyrdom of Varangian Christians, Primary Chronicie mentions lots used in religious rituals, which was common among Polabian Slavs. They used to choose the person who was supposed to be sacrificed by lot, and the same method was applied in Kiev in the same context. Such practices are confirmed by an independent, Greek source; Constantine Porphyrogenitus (ch. 9) mentions that Varangians determined the way of making the thanksgiving offering of cocks by lots.

Some important information may be inferred from chronicles texts about half-legendary prince Oleg. In Ruthenian tradition he had a special feature, and a tracę of such an opinion is recorded in Primary Chronicie (year 907): “Oleg was called a prophetic {veshchiy) man, because the people were pa-gans and unenlightened” (PSRL, vol. 1, 1926, p. 32). The same chronicie described his death in the following way: “One autumn [the chronicie dates the events to 912] Oleg, who peacefully rułed in Kiev, remembered his horse, which he had ordered to feed but had never mounted. It was because he once asked diviners and magicians [volkhvy and kudesnikl\ what would be the reason of his death. And a certain magician told him: ‘Prince! The horse that you like and ride will cause your death’. Oleg gave it some thought and said: ‘Nevermore shall I mount it or look at it, then’. And he ordered to feed it but not to bring it close to him, and he lived for several years without a glimpse of it, until he set out against the Greeks. And when he came back to Kiev and four years passed, in the flfth year he remembered his horse, which was destined to cause his death according to the magicians. And he called his Master of the Horse, asking: ‘Where is my horse, which I ordered to feed and look after?’ And he said: ‘It died.’ So Oleg laughed and humiliated the magician, saying: ‘Fortune-tellers don’t prophesy the truth, these are alł lies: the horse died and I’m alive.’ (...) And he went to the place where its naked bones and skuli were lying, he dismounted his horse and laughed, saying: “Is this the skuli that was supposed to cause my death?’ And he stamped his foot over the skuli, and a viper crept out of the skuli and bit his foot. Because of this he got ill and died. And all the people cried bitterly, and they carried him and buried on a mountain called Shchekovitsa” (PSRL, vol. 1, 1926, p. 32). Another version of this legend is recorded in Ustyuzhskaya letopis (Ustyuzhsky letopisny svod 1950, p. 22—23). The difference concems the fate of the horse: having heard the ominous divination, Oleg “ordered his servants to take it [the horse] far in the fields and cut off its head, and throw its body to the animals of the earth and birds

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