Zbruch Idol
{{Short description|Ninth-century statue discovered in the 19th century in present-day Ukraine}}
The Zbruch Idol, Sviatovid (Worldseer, {{langx|pl|Światowid ze Zbrucza}}; {{langx|uk|Збручанський ідол}}) is a 9th-century limestone sculpture idol,{{cite journal | author =Roman Kozłowski | year =1964 | title =Badania technologiczne posągu Światowida z Muzeum Archeologicznego w Krakowie | journal =Materiały Archeologiczne | volume =V | pages =61–67 |language=pl}} and one of the few monuments of pre-Christian Slavic beliefs{{citation needed|date=September 2020}} (according to another interpretation, it was created by the Kipchaks/Cumans). The pillar was commonly incorrectly associated with the Slavic deity Svetovit, although current opinions on the exact meaning of all the bas-reliefs and their symbols differ. It is thought that the three tiers of bas-relief represent the three levels of the world, from the bottom underworld, to the middle mortal world and the uppermost, largest, world of heavenly gods.
File:PosagZeZbrucza.jpgIt is suggested that the sculpture was disposed of or was buried in a pit some time after the baptism of Kievan Rus', and acceptance of Christianity in Poland in 966, like various buried idols in Kyiv and Novgorod. In the 19th century, when the Zbruch River (a left tributary of the Dniester) changed its bed, the area where the pillar was buried became submerged.{{cite web | author=Marta Zaitz | title=Światowid - kamienny posąg z IX wieku | publisher=Archaeological Museum of Kraków | year=2005 | work=Museum's Website | url=http://www.ma.krakow.pl/pradzieje/swiatowid | access-date=2007-01-24 |language=pl}} It was discovered during a drought near the village of Lychkivtsi, just north of Husiatyn, in 1848. The statue is now on display in the Archaeological Museum of Kraków in Poland, with exact copies located in a number of museums.
Description
The Zbruch Idol is a four-sided pillar of grey limestone, {{convert|2.67|m|ft|abbr=on}} in height, and has three tiers of reliefs engraved upon each of the four sides. The lower tier is {{convert|67|cm|in|0|abbr=on}}; the middle tier is {{convert|40|cm|in|0|abbr=on}}; and the top tier is {{convert|167|cm|in|0|abbr=on}}. It is possible that during the 1848 excavation of the monument its lower layer was broken off and lost. The reliefs are in rather poor condition, though some traces of original polychrome were found in the 1960s. The reliefs depict the following characters:
- Three sides of the lowest tier show a kneeling, bearded entity who appears to support the upper tier on his hands; the fourth side is blank.
- The middle tier shows a smaller entity with extended arms on all four sides. Only one of four sides has an entity with a tiny "child" figure.
- The four sides of the uppermost tier have the largest figures of the idol, with four faces united beneath a tall rounded hat. Each of the sides has a distinct attribute: a ring or a bracelet; a drinking horn, or horn of plenty; a sword and a horse; and an eroded solar symbol.
Discovery
The statue was discovered in August 1848 in the village of Lychkivtsi ({{langx|pl|Liczkowce}}) in Galicia (then in the Austrian Empire,{{cite book |last1=Kuropatnicki |first1=Ewaryst Andrzej|title=Geografia albo dokładne opisanie Królestw Galicyi i Londomeryi w roku 1786 |date=1858 |publisher=Drukarnia Zakładu Narodowego im. Ossolińskich |page=100 |url=http://rcin.org.pl/Content/34790/WA51_22605_PANII1606-r1858_Galicya-i-Lodomerya.pdf |language=pl}} now in Ukraine), during a drought that made the bottom of the river visible. The owner of the village, Konstanty Zaborowski, brother of the late poet, Tymon, donated it to Polish Count Mieczysław Ludwik Potocki, who in 1850 reported it to the Kraków Scientific Society.Bogumiła Sawa-Sroczyńska. Mieczysław Ludwik Potocki – konserwator zabytków Galicji i historyk Zamościa. „Ochrona Zabytków”. 34/3–4 (134–135) pp. 161–166, 1981. Potocki put forth a conjecture that the statue might represent Svetovid. Potocki donated it to the Jagiellonian University under the condition that it would be noted that the statue of Svetovid comes from him. Initially kept in the library of the Jagiellonian University, in 1858 it was moved to the temporary exhibition of antiquities in the Lubomirski family palace and then to the headquarters of the Kraków Scientific Society. However only in 1950 it was placed on permanent exhibition. Since 1968 it has been kept in the Kraków Archaeological Museum.
Identification controversy
Ever since the discovery of the monument there has been debate about what exactly the idol represents.{{cite book | author =various authors |author2=Janusz Kotlarczyk | title =Wierzenia przedchrześcijańskie na ziemiach polskich (Pre-Christian Beliefs in Polish lands) | year =1993 | editor =Marian Kwapiński, Henryk Paner | pages =56–64 | chapter =W poszukiwaniu genezy wielotwarzowych wyobrażeń Światowida, Świętowita, Rujewita i innych | location =Gdańsk |language=pl}}{{cite book | author =Włodzimierz Szafrański | title =Prahistoria religii na ziemiach polskich (Pre-history of Religion on Polish Lands) | year =1987 | editor =Polish Academy of Sciences | editor-link =Polish Academy of Sciences | pages =356–357, 417–418 | publisher =Ossolineum | location =Wrocław | isbn =978-83-04-02624-7 |language=pl}}
Andrei Sergeevich Famintsyn in his 1884 work "Ancient Slav Deities"{{cite book | author =Andrei Famintsyn | title =Божества древних славян (Ancient Slav Deities) | year =1884 | publisher =Aleteya | location =Sankt-Peterburg | oclc=28657234 |language=ru}} argued against Lelewel's theory, and instead claimed that the Zbruch pillar is a representation of a single deity and that all four sides of each tier represented one entity. As was first suggested by Count Potocki, he identified the deity as a representation of the Slavic four-headed god Swiatowid, until then primarily associated with the island of Rügen, but now understood to be pan-Slavic. The reasoning was that historical sources mentioned the deity of Rügen as being kept in a wooden temple together with a sacred sword, a drinking horn and a horse. Famintsyn was also the first to recognize the three-tiered structure as being related to the three levels of the world, linking it to the Slavic deity Triglav.
The identification of the deity with Swiatowid was also supported by Gabriel Leńczyk, who was also the first to identify the eroded solar symbol on the side, previously believed to be without attributes.{{cite journal | author =Gabriel Leńczyk | year =1964 | title =Światowid zbruczański (Swiatowit of the Zbrucz river) | journal =Materiały Archeologiczne |language=pl}} Another theory was presented by Henryk Łowmiański, who in his 1979 monograph on the religion of Slavs{{cite book | author =Henryk Łowmiański | title =Religia Słowian i jej upadek (The Religion of Slavs and its Fall) | year =1979 | editor =Adam Mickiewicz University | editor-link =Adam Mickiewicz University | publisher =Państwowe Wydawnictwa Naukowe PWN | location =Warsaw | isbn =978-83-01-00033-2 |language=pl}} suggested that the idol was altogether non-Slavic, as it was made of stone, and not of wood, which was the basic construction material of the Slavs, but the legends of Swiatowid exist among all Slavic cultures nonetheless.
Boris Rybakov in his 1987 work Paganism of Ancient Rus {{cite book |author=Boris Rybakov |script-title=ru:Язычество Древней Руси |trans-title=Paganism of Ancient Rus |year=1987 |chapter=Святилища, идолы и игрища |chapter-url=http://historic.ru/books/item/f00/s00/z0000030/st003.shtml |publisher=Nauka |location=Moscow |url=http://historic.ru/books/item/f00/s00/z0000030/ |language=ru}} argued that four sides of the top tier represent four different Slavic gods, two female and two male, with their corresponding middle-tier entities always of the opposite gender{{Verify source|date=February 2019}}. In Rybakov's hypothesis, the male deity with the horse and sword is the Lightning god Perun, the female with the horn of plenty is Mokosh, the female with the ring is Lada, and the male deity with the solar symbol, above the empty underworld, is Dažbog, (the God of sunlight for whom the sun was not an object but an attribute, thus the symbol's position on his clothing rather than in his hand {{Verify source|date=February 2019}}). Further, Rybakov suggests the underworld deity as Veles.
Rybakov also claimed the side with the female figure holding a horn as the front of the idol, based on the bottom-tier figure, which is shown with legs as if seen from head-on, the two adjoining sides showing the legs from the side, and the fourth side left blank. Finally, Rybakov believes that the idol's overall phallic shape is meant to unite all of the smaller figures as a single overarching all seeing larger deity, Rod.
According to Aleksey Komar and Natalia Khamaiko (2011), the sculpture is a fake produced by Tymon Zaborowski, whose estate was located near the place where the statue was found.{{cite book |last1=Kalik |first1=Judith |last2=Uchitel |first2=Alexander |title=Slavic Gods and Heroes |date=2018 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781138493193|page=56}}
Popular culture
File:Światowid Monument in Kraków, October 2020 (1).jpg
A reproduction of the idol figures in the 2022 film The Northman.
{{ill|Światowid by Wawel|lt=A copy of the sculpture|pl|Światowid pod Wawelem w Krakowie}} was installed by Wawel Castle in Kraków. It is a stone carving created during 1963–1968.Anna Olszewska, Scott Simpson, [https://repozytorium.uafm.edu.pl/server/api/core/bitstreams/681f4094-56cd-49f5-820d-4d66c67b0dd5/content "Czy istnieją pogańskie piksele? Współczesna ikona Światowida"], Państwo i Społeczeństwo IX: 2009 nr 4, pp. 115-124[https://isap.info.pl/2021/12/06/skwer-swiatowida-pod-wawelem-petycja-rodzimowiercow/ Skwer Światowida pod Wawelem? Petycja Rodzimowierców], December 6, 2021 A number of other replicas are installed in other countries as well.
References
{{commons category|Zbruch Idol}}
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Bibliography
- {{in lang|de}} Weigel. Bildwerke aus altslawischer Zeit. Archiw fur Anthropologie, 1882, Bd. XXI
- Комар А., Хамайко Н. [https://archive.today/20121209053408/http://www.box.com/s/27286a61e3c053e4b662 Збручский идол: памятник эпохи романтизма?] // Ruthenica. Київ, 2011. Том X. C. 166–217. {{in lang|ru}}
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Category:9th-century artifacts
Category:Archaeological discoveries in Ukraine
Category:1848 archaeological discoveries
Category:9th century in religion
Category:9th-century sculptures
Category:History of Ternopil Oblast