Veles (god)

thumb|upright|Modern symbol of Veles, used by [[Slavic Native Faith|Rodnovers]]

thumb|upright|The modern statue of Veles on Velíz mountain, [[Czech Republic]]

Veles, also known as Volos, is a chthonic god of the underworld, described in contemporary sources as a cattle god (skotij bogъ), but according to various hypotheses, he had a much broader sphere of influence. His function as protector of cattle may be connected to both wealth and rule of the underworld, which was imagined as a pasture where human souls grazed. Through comparative methods, he can be interpreted as a deity of magic, knowledge, divination, and poetry. As the guardian of the boundary between the world of the living and the dead, he was also a god of the wilderness, hunting and animals. He was also a guarantor of oaths, punishing their violation by "turning them yellow", most likely a metaphor for a form of jaundice.

His mythological nature and powers are similar, though not entirely identical, to those of Varuna, Velnias, Odin (marginally), Hermes, Afsati and Hades. Reconstructionists speculate that he may directly continue aspects of the Proto-Indo-European pantheon with the original deity Welnos.

Veles is sometimes incorrectly identified with a dragon or a serpent. This hypothesis, based on the reconstruction by Ivanov and Toporov and published in 1974, was already criticized eight years later by A. Giezstor, Toporov later revisited this issue and recognized the association of Veles with Varuṇa instead of the demon Vṛtra, contrary to his earlier position. "The very name Varuṇa has been compared by scholars with the Hittite sea deity Aruna, with the ancient Greek sky god Ouranos, and finally with the Slavic Volos (Veles) and the Lithuanian Velnias, among others. Therefore, despite a number of remaining uncertainties, the Indo-European parallels of this name are beyond doubt."

Sources

Veles is one of few Slavic gods for which evidence of offerings can be found in all Slavic nations.

Part of the oldest chronicle of Kievan Rus the Primary Chronicle (<abbr>lit.</abbr> 'Tale of Bygone Years') are three treaties between Byzantium and Rus’. They date from 907 (with Oleg), 945 (with Igor), and 971 (with Sviatoslav). Only the last one does not raise significant doubts about its authenticity: The fact that both are guarantors of this treaty could further support the argument for a possible close similarity between this pair in the sense of Mitra – Varuna, as bright – dark upholders of law. After all, Perun displays sun-like characteristics in folk religion and symbolism, which could align him more closely with Mithra. This is not unusual, as the Celtic thunder god Taranis exhibits comparable traits. assumption seems more natural: that the author of obyčnoje ŽV had access to a source that has not survived. Therefore, the information about Volos from ŽV can be considered relevant, albeit with a certain degree of caution.

Veles is also mentioned in the heroic epic The Tale of Igor’s Campaign from the late 12th century in connection with the bard Bojan as his grandfather:<blockquote>"Oh Bojan, singer of long-past times,

[...] Grandson of Veles, you could adorn Igor’s deeds with richer tones:

[...]Grandson of Veles, you would sing perhaps: [...]" and a mountain Velež near Mostar, Herzegovina. Other examples are Veles in Western Serbia, Velesnica on the Danube and Velestovo in Montenegro and also the township of Velestino (Βελεστίνο, today Φέρες), apparently bearing testimony to a Slavic layer in the settlement of Thessaly. Another debatable if not improbable example is the town of Volosko in Croatia, situated on the seashore under the peak of Mount Učka, nicknamed Perun.

Etymology

thumb|"Weles" in wolf form, from The Mythology of All Races (1918).

Presumably it is not possible to conclusively determine a definite etymology for the name of the god Veles, though there are several Proto-Indo-European roots that are all closely related to the nature of Veles and his domains. Further complicating matters is the presence of Lithuanian vėlės, which Fraenkel claims is unrelated to the Slavic term. Moreover, it remains to be determined what the original shape of the lemma was in early Slavic, which obfuscates its history and linguistic relationships.

The identification of Veles and Volos as one and the same was considered entirely unproblematic by Roman Jakobson. He argued that the name Veles can be divided into two parts: the first is based on the Indo-European (IE) root *ṷel- (*wel-), the second on the IE root *esu- (from PIE *h₂nsú-, "ruler > god"; cf. Vedic asura-, Avestan Ahura-, Old Norse áss). According to Jakobson, the variant name Volos can be derived by assuming that the second root appeared in the zero grade and that a regular sound change from -el- to -olo- subsequently occurred. The connection of the second part of the name with the PIE root from which asura developed is particularly interesting because it is an epithet of the god Varuṇa, who can be linked with Veles on more than just an etymological level. raise a question, whether PIE roots with several distinct meanings represent unrelated homonyms, or whether these meanings were once connected within a unified semantic field that has since become obscure. The question would be whether to associate Veles with all meanings of the root *ṷel- (*wel-), or to select only one. According to Gajdošíková Šebetovská úval (valley); Latin volvo ("to turn/rotate"), valles ("valley"); Greek ἕλιξ ("spiral/winding").

*ṷélsu- (*wélsu-) "meadow, pasture" > Greek Elysion (Elysium), a region of the underworld.

The meaning of the root ṷel- as “to see” is reflected, for example, in the prophetess Veleda mentioned by Tacitus,

The Proto-Indo-European root *welg- also means 'humid, wet'. Nothing is more connected with Veles than humidity and wetness. His domain is down, 'у воду пот корч пот колоду' ("in the water, below the tree stump and the log"). However, this etymology can be discounted, as there is no velar in Veles.

There is also the Indo-European word *woltus meaning 'meadow' which is derived from the same root. Accordingly, Veles is the shepherd of the dead who was imagined to browse the deceased on green lush meadows in the underworld. An ancient Russian word, Vlasezhelische, could refer to the place where Veles dwells, "the underground kingdom or an entrance to it".

The name is also related to Slavic terminology for oxen, for which the South Slavs, Russians, and Poles use "вол/vol/wół". Volos can also be a derivation from the same root by Eastern Slavic phonetic laws, now considered the most probable explanation for this phonetic form. nor was the “day of the dead” on which it took place. Further, if we continue looking for *wel- in the names of this “day of the dead” festival, we find one in one of the Ukrainian names for the holiday: Велик День (Velik Den’). and Igor M. Diakonoff. Although we can trace certain traces of an ambivalent, tense relationship between both of these deities, they in no way lead us to the conclusion that Veles was that demonic opponent of the storm god in the cosmological battle.

This Belarusian folklore text tells the story of a dialogue between God and the "Unclean One". The opponent is pursued by thunder and lightning and tries to hide beneath various living and non-living objects, his final refuge is only water:

"God argued with the Unclean One:<blockquote>– I will kill you!

– How will you kill me? I will hide.

– Where?

– Under a human!

– I will kill the human, forgive his sins – and kill you.

– I will hide under a horse.

– Then I will kill the horse, compensate the man on the spot – and kill you.

– But I will hide under a cow.

– I will kill the cow as well, compensate the master on the spot – and kill you.

– I will hide under a house.

– I will burn the house, compensate the man on the spot – and kill you.

– But I will hide under a tree; there you will not kill me.

– I will smash the tree and kill you.

– But I will hide under a stone.

– I will break the stone and kill you.

– Then I will hide in the water, under a trunk, under a log.

– There is your place; stay there.

Thus, wherever thunder strikes, there God strikes the Unclean One."</blockquote>This plot motif appears in various versions: the hero may be God, Perun (Pjarun), Thunder, the Prophet Elijah; the opponent may be the devil, a demon, a dragon, Zmey, Zmiuljan-tsar, Zmey Gorynych, and so on.

According to this folk legend Ivanov and Toporov reconstructed the general narrative scheme of the myth about the struggle between the thunder-wielding god and his opponent:

The storm god is located at the top of the world tree, in the sky, from where he looks out to the four cardinal directions;
His opponent, a zmej (dragon/serpent), is located at the roots of the world tree;
The zmej steals cattle (horned livestock) or people and hides them in a rock; the storm god smashes the rock and frees the cattle (or people);
The zmej, while fleeing from the storm god, hides behind various living beings (a human, a horse, a cow...) or behind a tree or a stone;
The storm god, on horseback or in a chariot, with his club kills/smashes his opponent’s hiding places;
After the defeat of the zmej, water (rain) appears; the zmej then hides in the underground waters. (alternation of human and non-human in nature), otherwise this possibility was thought through the most especially by A. Gieysztor, who sees in Perun a Mitra-like figure.
Or Perun – Veles as the type Indra – Varuna, or Þór – Óðinn, which would represent a typical and insurmountable tension between a strong thunderer of the II. function (who moreover takes over competencies in the sphere of fertility, which fits both Perun and Þór) and a sovereign magical god of the I. function. Another modality, or rather a variant of this type of relationship would most likely be the type Indra – Vrtra (i.e., varunoid, serpent connected with Varuna, but not directly Varuna himself).

Téra firmly rejects this hypothesis. He views labeling Veles as the opponent of the thunder-wielding god is somewhat categorical. "We have not a single piece of evidence that Veles fought Perun, and we know nothing about Veles’s draconic or serpentine nature."

The pair Vrtra–Varuna can, according to Eliade, be compared based on several shared features: etymology, association with waters (Vrtra "binds" the waters, seizing control over them and Varuna rules over the cosmic ocean), both are sorcerers, and both are primarily magical “binders”—divine terrifying forces, who bind and immobilize their opponents or the cosmic waters, returning them to an initial chaotic undifferentiation and immobility. Opposite these magical gods who spread passivity stands Indra, who frees the victims from the bonds of Vrtra and Varuna. To this extent, the two—magical god and demon—are similar. As mentioned already, in many Eastern Slavic folk tales, he was replaced by St. Nicholas, probably because the popular stories of the saint describe him as a giver of wealth and a sort of trickster.

Similarly, in a western Slavic context, Veles' attributes were split between the devil and the saints. The former is evidenced by Old Czech references to Veles as a demon: A similar phrase is included in the czech translation of Book of Sirach from 1561: "Ženě své zlé toho by přál, aby divokou husí byla a někam k Velesu za moře zaletěla a věčně se domů nevrátila." ("He would wish for his bad wife, that she would be a wild goose and fly somewhere to veles over the see, and never returned home"). This has variously been interpreted as either referring to Veles as residing across the sea, or as a generic phrase where Veles is once again identified with the devil.

Much less emphasis is put on the syncretism with Saint Nicholas, but it does appear regionally. In western Bohemia, there are multiple beliefs around this saint; according to local mythology, the Church of Saint Nicholas under Krudum used to have a magical baptism bowl, and several legends exist of people's food (primarily cheese) being changed to gold in the vicinity of the church. It was also believed to hold a mass for the spirits of the dead once per year

Place names

Veles Bastion on Brabant Island, Antarctica is named after the deity.
Velež Mountain in Herzegovina
Veles, North Macedonia, a town in North Macedonia
Velestovo, Montenegro, a village in Montenegro
Velestovo, Ohrid, a village in North Macedonia
Volosko, a village in Croatia
Veles (planet), an exoplanet orbiting HD 75898
Velíz, a mountain in central Bohemia

Sources

Etymology

Place names

See also

Notes

References

Further reading

External links