image070

of the sky.” This chronicie, similarly to the First Novgorod Chronicie, places 01eg’s grave in Ladoga. Moreover, First Novgorod Chronicie (1950, p. 109) says that the Ruthenians knew many versions of this story, in some of them Oleg died somewhere overseas.

The legend about 01eg’s death is one of many versions of the quest motive, known from Byzantium to England, but the Ruthenian variant bears the closest resemblance to the story of Orvar-Odd’s death, told in Orvar-Odd Saga (ch. 2-3, 46), which suggests a common, Varangian source of the two tales (Stander-Petersen, 1934, p. 41, 176-209; Hannika, 1960; Rybakov, 1987, p. 360). The version from Printary Chronicie, however, con-tains some original elements absent in other variants. As soon as Orvar-Odd was told by a prophetess that he would die because of a snake which would come out of the skuli of his favourite horse, he and his brothers killed the animal and buried the corpse deep in the ground. This resembles the story from Ustyuzhskaya letopis. According to Primary Chronicie, Oleg acted differently, he “ordered to feed [the horse], but was not going to mount it.” A prohibition of mounting a sacred horse is known from relations concem-ing Sventovit’s horse, which could be ridden only by a priest. Triglav’s horse in Szczecin did no work whatsoever, bishop Burhard’s return from Radogosć on the sacred horse was clearly a triumphant violation of the taboo. In Ruthenian tales, 01eg’s horse lived like its kin from the baltic region for some time. What was its function, then? The answer may be sought in Ruthenian folk rituals in which during divinations Ruthenian girls throw sticks to the ground and “lead a horse over them; if it touches them with a hoof - it is a bad omen, if it passes without a touch - the divination is favourable.” This custom was known in the flrst half of the 19thc. in Ruthenia, Poland and Lithuania (Moszyński, 1968, vol. 2/1, p. 411-412). It resembles the oracie in Szczecin, where the horse’s passing over spears without touching them was considered a good omen (Słupecki, 1991c).

Oleg was called a prophetic (veskchiy) prince - an epithet that “stuck” to the character - which means that he was attributed some special wisdom refused to others, especialiy prophetic and magie powers. In Igor Tale the same epithet “veshchiy” is given to Boyan, “Veles’s grandson,” a legendary Ruthenian bard. If we disregard the circumstances of 01eg’s death, drawn from the quest motive, the remaining materiał from Primary Chronicie is the infonnation about his mvolvemeat in prophetic and divination practices, the story about the horse that is kept at the prince’s court and fed but not ridden, and the flrst mention about diviners and magicians in this chronicie. The diviner belongs to the legend’s structure: someone has to foretell the prince^ death in order to start the plot. For such a role one prophet or prophetess would be enough (like in Orvar-Odd Saga), while in Primary Chronicie and Ustyuzhskaya letopis magicians appear as a group. It is sur-prising that Oleg, who has the prophetic power himself, asks for their advice. It is possible that the motive of quest was added to the story of

Oleg because of his epithet and that the skeleton of the legend was supple-mented with local realities, which embraced the sacred horse and the group of diviners, rather supporting than opposing the prophetic prince Oleg. In Ustyuzhskaya letopis Oleg even calls them “our diviners.”

Who was Oleg, then? According to Primary Chronicie (year 879 and 912), he should not be ruling in Kiev as the supreme prince, as Rurik’s rightful heir was his son Igor. But Rurik died “having entrusted the rule and his son, who was still very young, to Oleg, who belonged to his family” (PSRL, vol. 1,1926, p. 22). Apparently, Oleg govemed for thirty three years (PSRL, vol. 1, 1926, p. 39). Only after his death did Igor Rurikovich ascend the throne. With some help of imagination we could find in 01eg’s rule some elements of theocracy, and interpret his role as a regent priest enjoying a special power. Such a supposition might be supported by Ibn Rosteh’s (12, 269-272) description of Varangians-Ruthenians. He wrote: “There are ’healers’ among them, who have such authority over their king as if they were lords [of the Ruthenians] themselves. [These people] order them [some-times] to sacrifice to the Creator whatever they demand: men, women or horses. If the ‘healers’ order something, the only possibility is to follow their orders. Then [such a] healer takes a human or an animal from them, puts a ropę around the victim’s neck and hangs him on a beam, until he dies. Then he says: this is the offering to the god.” Other sources conceming the role of priests in Kiev are rather scarce. The story of the martyrdom of two Varangians does not mention them at all, while those who instigate lot--casting in order to chose the victim are called “the elder and boyars.” Primary Chronicie does not mention the fate of magicians after Vladimir’s baptism, either. Only in the 1060s does it record a case of a magician who appeared in Kiev and foretold the following events: “Five gods appeared to me and they said: ’tell the people that in the fifth summer the Dnepr will flow backwards and the land will move to another place.’ ” Some people listened to him but the faithful mocked at him and he disappeared (Ipatey-skaya letopis, year 1071, PSRL, vol. 2, 1908, p. 164; cf. PSRL, vol. 1, 1926, p. 174; Łowmiański, 1979, p. 118; Rybakov, 1987, p. 416). In connection with the above discussion we should point to the rich vocabulary referring to pagan priests in Ruthenian. Apart from the word volkhv (Jakobson, 1985, p. 45-46), there are also kudesnik (Primary Chronicie, year 912), zhrets (Urbańczyk, 1948), charodey and others (Rybakov, 1987, p. 294-304).

To sum up, the picture of Kiev sanctuaries emerging from written sources is quite impressive. The shrine on the Kiev Mountain had a statuę of Perun, notable for its silver head and gold moustache, surrounded with lesser idols. It probably resembled the sanctuary described by Ibn Fadlan. Another, separate shrine, situated in the lower part of the town, Padol, was devoted to Veles. At the prince’s manor there was probably a cult hall and an altar connected with it. The rituais practiced there: well-documented human sacrifices and the alleged oracie point to a special cult role of Kiev,

143