Mythology · extra
Slavic mythology
One more mythology beyond the atlas's first list, because some of its creatures are too famous to leave out. The ancient Slavs, who lived on the great plains and in the forests of Eastern Europe, left few written texts: we know their gods from a few medieval chronicles, and their creatures from the fairy tales collected in the nineteenth century. There is the thunder god Perun, the household spirit Domovoi and the witch Baba Yaga.
Who they were, where, and how we know
The Slavs lived in eastern Europe, between the Baltic, the Carpathians and the Black Sea. They became Christian between the 9th and 10th centuries (Kievan Rus' in 988), and with conversion the old cults were replaced. Very little from that time has survived.
Ancient sources are few: a few chronicles, such as the «Primary Chronicle» (about 1113), which remembers the idols of Perun and other gods, and a few foreign witnesses. The rest is folklore: tales and beliefs collected by scholars in the 19th century, for example by Alexander Afanasyev in Russia. Much of what is said about the «ancient Slavic gods» is reconstruction, and scholars debate it.
The surest god is Perun, lord of thunder and lightning. Then Veles, linked to cattle and the underworld, and a world of spirits such as the domovoi, who protects the house, and the witch Baba Yaga, who lives in a hut on chicken legs.
The cards
Who comes from whom
Tap a name: its parents and children light up. Names with a medallion open their card (with a finger: tap them twice).
Places of the myths
- Kyiv
- where the Primary Chronicle records the statue of Perun.
- The forest
- where Baba Yaga lives, in her hut on chicken legs.
Main sources
- The Primary Chronicle (12th century)
- Aleksandr Afanas'ev, Russian Fairy Tales (1855–1863)
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Who's behind this
Ciro Simone Irmici
I build websites, apps and games. I built the Atlas with artificial intelligence and I check every card and every source myself. I am not a scholar of mythology: I tell these legends with respect and always say where they come from. If you know a legend from your town, write to me.
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