Based on previously obtained data on the Sindo-Aryan substrate of the Russian language and the life of the Sindo-Aryan tribes on the Russian plain from the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC. in the article the symbolism of the Zbruch idol is deciphered, the Sindo-Aryan etymology of the word "idol" and the theonym "Svyatovit" is reconstructed, a significant amount of new historical information is revealed. From the analysis, it follows that the symbolism of the Zbruch idol is quite consistent with the DNA genealogy data on the evolution and migrations of the R1a haplogroup population and on the dominance of the R1a haplogroup in the Eastern Slavs. Moreover, the symbolism of the idol clearly shows that at the turn of the 1st and 2nd millennia A. D. the Slavs realized and positioned themselves as full-fledged heirs of the ancient Sindo-Aryan family.
The Zbruch idol is perhaps the most famous historical artifact of the general Slavic culture. The significance of this monument is determined by the unique preservation of its rich symbolism, as well as by a number of historical circumstances that make it possible to think that the information that the monument carries is related to all Slavic, and perhaps not only Slavic, peoples. The almost three-meter stone idol, now exhibited in the Krakow Archaeological Museum, was pulled out in 1848 from the Zbruch River, a northern tributary of the Dniester, flowing between the hills, which have long been called Medobory. Today it is the Ternopil region of Ukraine, and at the end of the 1st millennium, the tribes of Volynians, Buzhanians and Croats were neighboring here (Sedov 1982: 123-129). Then this land was consistently located within the borders of Kievan Rus, the Galicia-Volyn principality and the Commonwealth. After the partition of Poland at the end of the 18th century, the border between the Russian and Austro-Hungarian empires passed along the Zbruch River, and as a result of the expansion of the USSR in 1939 and the victory of the Soviet Union in the Second World War, Ternopil region ended up within the Soviet Ukraine.
Once the idol stood on Mount Bogit, the highest in Medobory. In 1984, Soviet archaeologists I. P. Rusanova and B. A. Timoshchuk found here traces of a Slavic sanctuary, which seems to have been the center of a vast cult complex (the sanctuary towns of Bogit, Zvenigorod and Govda). I would like to emphasize that in Medobory archaeologists have found monuments dating back to the Trypillian culture, and directly at the Bogit settlement - ceramics of the Scythian time (Rusanova, Timoshchuk 2007: 64, 66-67). In the context of new knowledge, which will be discussed below, these findings appear as clear evidence of cultural continuity. The Bogit settlement includes a fenced-in trek for 500-600 people and a temple enclosed by an inner rampart, the plan of which is very interesting: eight rounded recesses, like petals, outline the middle paved circle, inside which an idol stood (see.fig. 1). Note that such a plan clearly resembles the temple of Perun in the Peryn tract near Novgorod (Sedov 1953).
Figure: 1. General plan of the sanctuary of Bogit. Temple. The foundation of the Zbruch idol.
The size of the Bogit settlement and its location in the historical intertribal borderland suggest that the sanctuary with an idol on the main mountain Medoborov was once a common cult center of several Slavic tribes.
The Zbruch idol itself is a square column with four heads, which are crowned with a common cap. The appearance of this idol immediately resembles the famous four-headed idol of Svyatovit, who stood in the main temple of the Slavic city of Arkona on the island of Rugen. According to the description of the 12th century Danish chronicler Saxon Grammaticus, the Arkonian Svyatovit held a horn, was equipped with a sword, and his sacred white horse was kept at the temple (Myths of the peoples of the world: II, 420-421). Images of these attributes can be seen on the Zbruch idol. In addition, Svyatovit's symbolic color was red: his temple was crowned with a red roof, and there was a purple curtain in the temple. The Zbruch idol was also painted red earlier - traces of the former painting have been preserved on the statue.
So, by the sum of the listed features, the Zbruch idol can be identified with Svyatovit. A. N. Afanasyev, a connoisseur and collector of Slavic folklore, confidently spoke about the "Svyatovitov idol" discovered on Zbruch (Afanasyev 1865: 134). The recognition of the ancient Scythian-Slavic settlement on Mount Bogit, as well as the temple on the island of Rügen, as the sanctuary of Svyatovit, exacerbates the intrigue.
It turns out that Svyatovit was by no means local, exclusively Ruyan, and not even regional, Balto-Slavic (Helmold, I-52), but a much more general deity, whose cult was widespread, at least from the Baltic to Transnistria. Therefore, having deciphered the symbolism of the well-preserved Zbruch idol, we can understand the meaning of almost the main cult for all Slavs, and, perhaps, the very essence of the Slavic cultural tradition.
Promotional video:
Figure: 2. Zbruch idol. Krakow Museum.
Figure: 3. Drawing images on the Zbruch idol.
Let's consider the initial data (see Fig. 2). The statue with a total height of 2 m 67 cm is divided into three tiers: 160 cm - upper, 40 cm - middle, 67 cm - lower. On the upper tier, four figures are depicted in height in long-length clothes with a belt, their heads are covered with one conical cap. All four figures have the same set of hands: the forearms of the right and left hands are parallel to each other, the right is directed diagonally upwards, the left is directed diagonally downwards. One of the upper figures has a ring in the right hand, the other has a horn. The third figure has a sword and a horse under the belt. The fourth is devoid of any additional attributes.
The middle tier depicts four figures in long-length clothing without a belt. The arms of all four are spread out to the sides downward, the hands are open. At the head of one of these figures, there is a small figure in the same pose. On the lower tier, on three sides, there are depictions of male mustachioed figures, kneeling and holding the upper tiers on their raised hands. Two figures are depicted from the side, but deployed with their chest and facing the viewer, and the middle figure is depicted in front. The knees of the side figures are in contact with the knees of the middle. The fourth side is empty. However, looking closer, one can discern the outlines of a small segmented circle approximately at the level of the head of the other figures of this tier, but not in the center, but with a shift to the right (see Fig. 3). What can all this mean? Consider and evaluate the available versions.
First, we will list what is obvious to almost everyone and does not cause any special doubts. The four faces of the idol look in different directions and, most likely, each side of the statue symbolizes the corresponding side of the world. The three embossed tiers of the sculpture clearly mean the three worlds of the universe: the underground world, the valley world and the upper world. The statue as a whole has a phallic appearance, completed and emphasized by the cone of the cap. The red color, in which the statue was previously painted, can also be considered a sign of the phallus. Academician B. A. Rybakov rightly associated the phallic appearance of the Zbruch idol with the common Slavic cult of the Family (Rybakov 1987). At the same time, he agreed with A. F. Hilferding that the names Svarog, Svyatovit and Rod do not necessarily mean different gods, for these names are epithets that define one or another side of the supreme deity (Hilferding 1874: 153). That is why Rybakov, in his book on the paganism of Ancient Russia, called the corresponding chapter "Zbruch idol - Rod-Svyatovid".
However, this is where relative clarity ends, and wandering in the dark begins. Rybakov, following the Polish archaeologist G. Lenczyk, saw in the upper figures of the monument a) a woman with a horn, b) a woman with a ring, c) a man with a horse and a sword, d) a man with a solar sign (Lenczyk 1964). The reliefs of the middle tier were determined accordingly: a) a woman with a child; b) woman; c) man; d) man. In the goddess with a horn (presumably, abundance) Rybakov recognized Makosh, "Mother of the harvest", and in the goddess with a ring - Lada, the goddess of spring, spring plowing and sowing, the patroness of marriage and love. A man with a horse and a sword is, of course, Perun, whose cult was widespread in the princely squads. The man to the left of Perun was identified as Khors-Dazhbog, that is, the deity of sunlight, which, according to Rybakov, is indicated by the solar sign on the "clothes of the deity."The historian called the relief of the middle tier a human round dance, and in the image of the "Atlantean" on the lower tier he saw the god Veles.
In my opinion, the above constructions lack any convincing empirical and conceptual basis. It is impossible to understand how respected historians discerned the sex differences in the figures in the top row, dividing them into men and women (and then did the same with the figures in the middle row). As for the horns and rings in the hands, they can in no way compensate for the absence of visible sexual characteristics in imaginary women, since neither the horn nor the ring are exclusively female attributes. Perhaps the femininity of the two upper figures is no longer visible to the eye, but their feminine essence is comprehensible speculatively? Also unlikely. The fact is that in Indo-European mythology there was a stable opposition of two principles: earthly, lower, left, feminine and heavenly, upper, right, masculine. To this, by the way,also indicates the location of the hands of all four figures of the upper tier of the monument: the right hand is above and points up, the left hand is below and points down, that is, to the middle tier, symbolizing the earthly world. It follows that all four figures on the upper tier of the Zbruch idol are male images, and the four figures in the middle tier are female images.
As you can see, Academician Rybakov made mistakes with Makosh and Lada. With Khors-Dazhbog and Veles, it seems, things are no better. If the supposed Khors-Dazhbog is indicated with a solar sign, then why is this sign located not in the upper, but in the lower tier of the monument? And if the circle with six rays inside, visible on the lower tier, is a solar sign, then why did the heavenly body end up in the underworld, moreover, in the rear of the "Atlantean" -Veles? And why should Veles be seen in the underground Atlanta? If this is Veles, then why, unlike other gods, is he brought to his knees? And if it is Veles who is in that primordial, causal place from which everything grew, then why were his descendants, Russian warriors, called in the Word about the regiment “even God's grandchildren”, and not Veles?
These questions show that for all the popularity of the Zbruch idol, which has become a tourist brand and a kind of emblem of Slavic mythology, the symbolism and meaning of this monument remain unclear. And the quasi-scientific information with which the "world wide web" is crammed today is information noise, the content of which resembles the old saying: "there is an elder in the garden, and there is an uncle in Kiev."
Recently, in the Bulletin of the Academy of DNA Genealogy, an interesting article by Valery Yurkovets "Zbruch idol as a model of the Slavic universe" was published. The author puts forward the postulate that Slavic paganism was a "theology of nature", and interprets the symbolism of the Zbruch idol as follows: the lower tier is a generalized image of the First Ancestor of the Slavic clan; middle tier - generalized Motherland; the upper tier - male figures symbolizing the four cardinal directions and four seasons at the same time.
The eight oval depressions with traces of sacrificial fires discovered around the idol at the Bogit settlement, as well as at Peryn near Novgorod, are logically connected by V. Yurkovets with the culminating points of the annual astronomical cycle. We are talking about the days of the winter and summer solstice, the spring and autumn equinox, as well as four intermediate points in the middle of the time intervals between the indicated days, these intermediate points indicate the boundaries of the seasons. According to the author, the eight traditional holidays of the Slavs correspond to the eight milestones of the annual astronomical cycle: Kolyada, Maslenitsa, Yarilo, Radunitsa, Ivan Kupala, Ilyin's Day (Perun), Nativity of the Virgin (Khors) and Dedy.
Based on the well-known associations of the cardinal points with the seasons, and the seasons with the human life cycle, V. Yurkovets builds the following scheme. North - winter - the time of infancy. East - spring - "boy's time". South - summer - "time for husbands." West - autumn - “the time of grandfathers”. Using this scheme as a framework for understanding the symbolism of the Zbruch idol, the author comes to the following conclusions. The side of the monument, which depicts a man with a horn (presumably a symbol of male power), and underneath a woman “with a child,” symbolizes the time of husbands, summer and should look south.
When moving "salting", clockwise, a man with a horn on the monument is preceded by a man with a sword and a horse, which symbolizes the time of the boys, spring and, therefore, this side of the statue looked to the east. After a man with a horn, a man with a circle follows clockwise, which should symbolize the eternity that a person gains in his descendants - that is, this is the time of grandfathers, autumn, the western side of the statue. And a man looks to the north without additional identification marks, only below him (and under the woman depicted on the middle tier) is a solar sign visible. This means that the sun died in order to be born again on December 22 in the form of a baby Kolyada.
In the article by V. Yurkovets, the proposal to consider the images of the First Ancestor and the Motherland-Mother seems to me especially valuable. As for the orientation of the Zbruch idol to the cardinal points and relative to the eight calendar fires, here, in my opinion, the wrong answer is given with the correct formulation of the question. I will formulate my doubts and disagreements.
I'll start at the end of the structure. Even in December, the sun has nothing to do underground. The idea that a heavenly body is hiding under the ground, as far as I know, is absent in Indo-European, including Slavic, mythology. Any evidence of the existence of such superstition among the Slavs in the cited article is not given (by the way, such a view contradicts natural science knowledge, the correspondence of which to the Slavic "theology of nature" the author of the article constantly emphasizes, except for this case). The general opinion that the circle with rays inward visible on the empty side of the lower tier of the sculpture is a solar sign seems to me unfounded.
Now let's take a closer look at the alleged Kolyada. But first, let us note that, unlike God's son in Christian theology of Christmas, Kolyada in Slavic mythology and ritual does not appear as a baby - be it a small sun or a small person. Turning to the Zbruch idol, one can be convinced of the absence of distinctive age signs in the four male images of the top row. So the discretion of a baby, boyfriend, husband and grandfather in them is nothing more than a play of the mind, carried away by a well-known scheme. Rejection of this idle association, I emphasize, does not mean rejection of the basic assumption that the four male images are somehow connected with the cardinal points and seasons.
Let's go further. The interpretation of a sword with a horse as symbols of “the time of boys” (why not husbands?), And a circle-ring as a symbol of “the time of grandfathers” (and why not newlyweds?) Looks rather arbitrary than convincing. And the general confidence that a small figure at the head of one of the women on the middle tier of the statue represents a child seems to me in vain.
And finally, about the main thing, that is, about the meaning of the entire monument. Did the wise wise men work on a nearly three-meter stone idol and set up a large sanctuary just to inform their relatives about the cardinal points, the seasons, or the four seasons of human age? I believe that the meaning of the monument is not so trivial. The cardinal points and periods of the annual cycle, reflected in the symbolism of the Zbruch idol, represent only the first semantic horizon - spatial and temporal coordinates, in which information is more meaningful and relevant for the Slavs. We have to disclose this information.
The fundamental discoveries, the results of which are presented in the works of A. A. Klyosov on DNA genealogy and in my historical study of the ancient Russian archaism (Afanasyev 2017), allow to decode the symbolism of the Zbruch idol. Professor Klyosov determined the time and route of migrations of the haplogroup R1a - the human race that was the native speaker of the Indo-Aryan language, or, more simply, the Aryan clan. In particular, it was found that the Aryans in the VII-IV millennia BC. settled and lived in Europe, at the beginning of the III millennium BC. survived mass destruction and extinction, but survived, settling in the Russian Plain. From here, the tribes of the Aryan clan migrated to the Middle East, to South Siberia and Central Asia, and from there to India and Iran. At the same time, genetically and culturally related to the Indian continued to live on the Russian Plain,to the Iranian and Middle Eastern Aryans, the population, whose direct descendants are modern Russians, and to a certain extent also a number of Turkic, Finno-Ugric and Caucasian peoples of Russia. At the end of the 2nd millennium BC. the gradual resettlement of the Aryan tribes and the spread of Indo-European languages in Western Europe began.
DNA genealogy data, which allows tracing kinship along the male line, show that the male population of Slavic countries has a haplogroup R1a to a significant, albeit not the same, degree. The maximum concentration of this haplogroup is observed among the Eastern Slavs. Among the Balkan Slavs, the R1a haplogroup is connected to the ancient European haplogroup I2a, which revived about two thousand years ago. The Baltic Slavs inherit partly from their ancestors with the Old Resident haplogroup R1a, and partly from their ancestors with the haplogroup N1c1, which appeared here later, having migrated from the Urals. As the European peoples move westward, starting with the Western Slavs, the share of the haplogroup R1b is growing (Klyosov 2015). Thus, the Slavs in the mass are descendants of the ancient Aryan family,whose historical path in an extremely general plan can be represented as a path from West to East, and then from East to West.
As shown in my book Arias on the Russian Plain. Russian Syndica in the III-I millennia BC”, the population of the Russian Plain for three millennia spoke the Sindo-Aryan language. The language of our ancestors can be reconstructed using the related Sanskrit - a written form of the language of the Aryan tribes that came in the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. to India. This discovery allowed me to achieve the following results: 1) understand Russian toponymy and define the historical space of the Russian world; 2) to reconstruct the archaic Sindo-Aryan substrate of Indo-European mythology, which is the most important source for the history of Russian Sindica; 3) determine the main milestones and periods of ancient Russian history, including the history of Old Scythia.
Now, on the basis of the new knowledge already received, it is possible and necessary to reveal the intention of the authors of the famous Slavic idol from Mount Bogit over the Zbruch River and the information encoded in its symbolism.
It makes sense to start with this simple question. Consider first the cultural function of the idol, and then the etymology of the word "idol" itself. The idol is the essence of a deified object of worship, which is the decisive instance in the performance of a magical rite by idolaters. That is, the main function of the idol is to help those people who worship him. Such help is most often required by people when solving three fundamental issues of their social life: a) ensuring environmental, natural and economic conditions of life (sending rain, sun, harvest, offspring); b) ensuring health and biological, population reproduction; c) the establishment of society and social creations, within the framework of which collective human life activity takes place.
Very often the pagan gods, represented by idols, are deified ancestors who act as patrons of different human groups: families, communities, clans and tribes. We had the opportunity to once again see this in the process of reconstruction of the archaic Sindo-Aryan substrate of Indo-European mythology. Ancestor deification is a universal and very early form of religion. The cult of ancestors, over time appearing in an increasingly abstracted form of pagan gods, is a fundamental cultural institution necessary for the reproduction of society. Information about ancestors, stored and transmitted by the priests, served as an ideological basis, and cult rituals served as a psychosomatic communicative practice of collective unity.
Even at the first glance at the Zbruch idol, one can see its resemblance to totem poles standing in various places on Earth and telling the story of the ancestors of the respective tribes and peoples. The Zbruch idol was created in a relatively late era, when totemism is a thing of the past, therefore the ancestors of the Slavs are presented on this monument in a completely human and recognizable form. Taking into account the foregoing, the following working hypothesis can be formulated: the Zbruch idol is dedicated to the Slavic family and, probably, contains information about the origin and ancient history of this genus.
Each human race had a specific ancestor. According to the objective data of DNA genealogy, the common ancestor of all modern Russians and other Slavs with the haplogroup R1a lived at the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC. Information about the common ancestor-ancestor is contained in the Y-chromosome of the DNA of a huge number of men in Russia and Slavic countries. In this case, it is logical to assume that some information about the ancestor should be preserved in the culture: in early Indo-European mythology and, of course, in Russian folk tradition.
As shown earlier, in a study on the Russian syndicate, the Vedic myth of Prajapati and the Hellenic myth of Prometheus preserved the memory of the common ancestor of the genus R1a, which revived on the Russian Plain after the demographic crisis (“bottleneck” by A. A. Klyosov's definition) in the beginning of the III millennium BC The name Prajapati means "Lord of the offspring." The name Prometheus also has a Sindo-Aryan etymology, which is easily reconstructed using Sanskrit: pramati– 'protector, patron' prama - 'base, foundation', as well as 'true knowledge' pramatar - 'model, ideal, authority' and, finally, pramata - 'great-grandfather'.
With a high probability, at the base of the Zbruch idol, representing as a whole the Clan of the Slavs, we see the ancestor-ancestor, the common patron of the Slavic clan. The three-sided image in the lower tier of the monument, which begins with itself and supports the entire idol, that is, the entire Rod, can rightfully be called Prajapati and Prometheus, that is, Great-grandfather. The image of Grandfather in Russian folklore is a topic for another conversation. And now let's pay attention once again to the phallic appearance of the entire monument.
The Zbruch idol is entirely a phallus, that is, the idol is the essence of Rod and at the same time Ud. Awareness of the identity of the images of Rod and Ud helps to better understand the symbolism of the Zbruch idol. First of all, from the side of it, which Academician Rybakov gently and not quite accurately called "front". In fact, the face of the ancestor can be seen on the monument from three sides, and the grown Slavic clan looks from above with four faces at once in all directions of the world. Therefore, the side on which the Great-grandfather is depicted in front, and where that which he supports with his hands, most obviously, should be called the front side. Note that in the Slavic countries, you can find many old and recent artifacts that, in one way or another, depict the Grandfather and the phallus. We can confidently assert that in all these cases we are talking about the cult of the clan and the ancestor.
Now let's look at the etymology of the word "idol". Note, by the way, the complete coincidence of the form of this word, not only in Russian and other Slavic, but also in German (Idol) languages. It is believed, however, that this Old Slavonic word came to us from the Greek language, although the Greek word eidōlon (είδωλο), meaning "image, image", is much less similar to Russian. When Vladimir the Great baptized Russia, idols stood in all Russian cities and villages, keeping the ancestral memory and faith. Could it be that those ideological pillars of the ancient tribal system, which from time immemorial were called in Russian "idols" and "idols", were determined by the Russians through a borrowed Greek concept?
I undertake to assert that the Russian word idol, as well as the related words idea and ideal, come from the ancient Sindo-Aryan language, which was spoken by our ancestors who inhabited the Russian Plain from the first half of the 3rd millennium BC. - we have every right to call this language Old Russian. Earlier, in the cited study, we already touched upon the etymology of the word idea when we considered the name of Mount Ida in Troas and the name of the nymph Idea from the legendary genealogy of the Trojans. The allegedly Greek "Ida" and "Idea" turned out to have Indo-Aryan etymology. In Sanskrit, ude means to rise, to ascend, and udaya is the name of the mythical mountain, from behind which the sun and moon rise.
Thus, through ude - 'to ascend, ascend' - we discover a quite obvious relationship between the Russian idol and the Russian oud, as well as a much less obvious and even paradoxical at first glance relationship between the same oud and the idea! The fact is that in the words of Sindo-Aryan origin, ud, idol and idea, the first (and in the word ud is the only) part of the word means uplift, uplift. At the same time, the words idea and idol clearly have different outcomes, that is, something different rises in these two cases. I will assume that the word idol comes from the Sindo-Aryan addition, similar to the Sanskrit ude + ul. The ancient Sindo-Aryan root ul is recorded in the Sanskrit word ulka: 'blaze of fire' 'smut' 'meteor'. The same ancient root is found in such Russian words as Altai, altyn, alatyr-stone and altar, as well as in the name of the mother of Hercules - Alkmen. In all these cases, we are talking about the Fire of the ancient hearth, its light and reflections.
So, the idol, once painted red, depicts not only the ancestral phallus reared and crowned with a red cap, but also the fire of the family hearth ascending upward. The word idol literally means "exalted, exalted fire." So the hat with a fringe on the four heads of the Zbruch idol symbolizes not only the head part of the collective phallus, but also the flaming hearth of the common Great-Grandfather, raised and carried by all the tribal livestock.
With the reading of the word idol, the word ideal also becomes clearer. In essence, they are the same thing. I believe that the word ideal comes from the word idol: as the “idol” with the affirmation of Christianity and then the Enlightenment acquired negative connotations, the “ideal” retained the sublime meaning and the image of fire raised over human heads. In both cases, the essence is the same - the difference is only in our attitude.
So, the Zbruch idol is an ideogram, a sculpted image of the very idea that underlies the myth of Prometheus. Moreover, let me emphasize, we are not talking about an abstract fire, but about a very concrete hearth that five thousand years ago was lit by the man who laid the foundation for our family. The Indian Aryans preserved the memory of this man in the myth of Prajapati, who created fire and made the first sacrifice. The Hellenes retold the ancient myth about a titan named Prometheus (which means this Sindo-Aryan name, the Hellenes no longer remember), who stole the divine fire and endowed them with the human race - we now know exactly what kind of family they are talking about. As we can see, the Slavs did not suffer from unconsciousness: Rod and the Great-grandfather who conceived him were their idols.
Let's try to move on. If the three-sided image of Great-grandfather has a front side, then the opposite side is the back. And what should be depicted on the back of the human image? I think that this should not have been depicted - and not only for ethical reasons, but also because of the general logic of the monument. The almost empty side of the lower tier of the Zbruch idol, I believe, was like this from the beginning - there was never a human image on it.
And there was on this side what we can see today: a small circle with six rays inside. Consequently, this very circle in empty space constituted the message of the monument in its indicated part. The meaning of such a laconic and mysterious symbol is completely incomprehensible for modern people, especially for scientists, which is not at all surprising given their attitude to mythology. I believe that even earlier this message was not understood by everyone, but it was transmitted by the Magi - the keepers and bearers of sacred knowledge, which was the knowledge of the origin of the clan.
And since we are talking about such important information, it is logical to look for them in the Vedas. According to Vedic myths, Prajapati emerged from a golden embryo. In subsequent Hindu mythology, that embryo appeared as the golden egg of the universe, which, before being broken up by Brahma, was immersed in the universal waters. The image of a floating golden egg clearly echoes the information of the Hellenic myths about the floating island of Asteria (Skt. Astara - “bed-cover”), on which the radiant Apollo Helios was born. Some Hellenes called the wife of Helios the mother of Prometheus, Oceanida Klymene, whom others called the wife of the titan Iapetus (Skt. Jana-pati - 'king').
The mythological confusion, as shown in the study on the Russian syndicate, reflects a very distant but real history. Oceanida Klymene (Skt. Kalya + mena means "initial woman", and the Sindo-Aryan root in the Russian words "Oka" and "Ocean-sea" means "native") - a woman from some local clan who became the wife of the last king- a high priest in a seedy Aryan family and the mother of Prometheus-Great-grandfather, from whom the Sindo-Aryan revival began on the Russian Plain.
The “golden embryo” from which the “Lord of the offspring” emerged became the basis of the title of the ancient Aryan kings: Hiranya-retas - “possessing a golden embryo”, and a couple of millennia later this title became the name of the almighty god Kronos. And the same "golden embryo" underlies the sacred toponym of Scythia - "Gerry", as well as the eponym of the Scythian royal family - Ἡρακλῆς, that is, Heraclich (hirana + kulya + ic): "belonging to the golden family."
So, a circle with rays inside on one of the lower sections of the Zbruch idol is not a solar sign, but a symbol of a royal embryo, a golden testicle, from which the Sindo-Aryan clan hatched anew. Now let's pay attention to the location of this symbol in the corresponding section. The radiant circle is located at the level of the head of the Great-grandfather depicted on three sides, but not quite where the head should be, but to the right. Since this section assumes a view of Great-Grandfather from the back, then to the right is not only for us, but also for him. And as we know, the right side is male. That is, the sign of the golden embryo is on the male side and is somehow connected with the head of the grandfather's images.
To understand this symbolism, let us turn to the data of archeology in connection with the data of DNA genealogy. Professor Klyosov discovered the following pattern: in ancient burials, all skeletons belonging to the haplogroup R1a lie with tucked legs, facing south, moreover, men - on the right side with their head to the west, and women - on their left side with their head to the east (Klyosov 2016: 131). With what this is connected, we do not yet know, but this is how the dead people of the Sindo-Aryan family lie in the ground.
Let's go back to the Zbruch idol - its lower tier symbolizes just the underworld. Moreover, as archaeologists believe, the idol was dug into the ground, therefore, the images of the lower tier, partially or even completely, could be hidden under the ground. On three sides of the statue, the ancestor of the Slavs is depicted with tucked legs, which in an upright position looks like kneeling. It remains to unfold these images facing south - this is how they look at us from the layout of the statue in Fig. 3 - and lay them on their right side. The ancestor images will face west.
Thus, the sign of the golden embryo symbolizes the royal origin of the ancestor of the Slavs, the royal succession of the new-old family. At the same time, it seems that the sign indicates the geographic west, as the country of ancestors. The indicated symbolism of the Slavic idol is fully consistent with the DNA genealogy data regarding the European localization of the genus R1a in the VII-IV millennia BC, its subsequent disappearance in Western Europe and revival on the Russian Plain.
Since the west turned out to be in the rear of the ancestor depicted on the three lower sections of the sculpture, the whole image of the Great-grandfather appears to be directed to the east. On the side pictures, the knees of the Great-grandfather point to the east. And the front, eastern, as we now understand, the side of the image is the most frank in the sense of the phallic appearance of the entire idol. Such a composition accurately reflects the vector of the early historical evolution of the Sindo-Aryan clan as a whole: salvation and resettlement in the vastness of the Russian Plain, followed by expansion to the Urals and the Aral Sea region, Central Asia, and Southern Siberia.
On the east side, above the Great-grandfather, there is an image of a woman with an additional small figure next to it. It is generally accepted that this is a mother and a child. But usually the child is depicted at the feet of the mother or on her arms. Here we see the image at the level and in the size of the head. At the same time, the small figure is a reduced copy of four female images of the middle tier of the statue and is located on the left, that is, on the female side. I will assume that this is the image of a distant foremother.
There is no doubt that the female images on the middle tier of the idol, looking in all directions, symbolize the life-giving, native land of the Sindo-Aryan family, fertilized by the generic seed. Then a small figure at a woman's head, looking to the east, can symbolize a distant ancestral home. And again, this image is consistent with the data of DNA genealogy, according to which the genus R1a arose about 20 thousand years ago in southern Siberia.
Having oriented the Zbruch idol along the west-east axis, we get the following disposition of the upper male images: a man with a ring looks to the south; a man with a horn looks east; a man with a sword and a horse looks north; a man without attributes looks to the west. Let's consider the presented symbolism.
The ring is a solar symbol. In early Indo-European mythology, the sun is a divine substance. According to the Vedas, Prajapati, who appeared as a golden embryo, supported the earth and sky, strengthened the sun. The ring, which with its shape and radiance represents the sun, acts as a magical attribute of the power of the king-priest. As shown in the study on the Russian Syndic, the sacred and political centers of the Sindo-Aryan tribes no later than the middle of the 3rd millennium BC. located in natural island citadels in the Dnieper-Bug estuary and in the north of the Taman Peninsula. The memory of those ancient sanctuaries has been preserved in ancient Indian (Varuna's palace) and Hellenic (Nemean grove and garden of the Hesperides) myths. Memories of these wonderful places in Russian folklore is a topic for a separate conversation. Like Dnepro-Bugsky,so the Bosporus Cimmeria were located near the sea, along the southern edge of the ancient Russian okoyom.
To clarify the symbolism of the horn in the hands of the husband looking to the east, one should take into account the etymology of the Russian word "horn". This etymology is Sindo-Aryan, as evidenced by the Sanskrit word roha - 'ascent, ascent'. Thus, the horn in the hands of the Aryan husband, looking to the east, simultaneously continues the theme of the phallus and symbolizes the Aryan expansionism that carried the Sindo-Aryan tribes far to the East. As shown in the study on the Russian Syndic, the theme of the great ascent to the shining peaks of the East and the disastrous alienation from the mother-homeland was reflected in the Russian epic epic, in particular in the controversial image of the giant Svyatogor.
The sword and horse depicted under the northern husband's belt are clearly a Borean symbol. Boreas in the Hellenic interpretation is the strongest north wind. As shown in the study on the Russian Syndic, this eponym has a Sindo-Aryan etymology and acted, among other things, as the self-name of the royal Aryan family. Fierce Boreans on flying chariots fell from the north on the ancient coastal Cimmerians, the civilizations of the South and East. The genus of Heraclich-Gorynychs, who founded Old Scythia upon their return from the east, also had a Borean origin. With the beginning of the era of the great migration of peoples, the Boreans of the Hellenic archaic seemed to have returned to Europe. Sarmatians, Goths, Huns, Slavs and Normans have a lot in common - much more than is commonly thought.
The male image without attributes on the western side of the statue closes the grandiose circle, described in time and space by the history of the Sindo-Aryan family, whose descendants returned to the country where the ancestors of their legendary Great-grandfather once lived. Let's pay attention once again to the arrangement of the hands in the upper male images: the right diagonal is up, the left diagonal is down. Moving in the direction of the left hand, we descend to the ground and even deeper, to the Great-grandfather and the embryo of the family. Following the direction of the right hand, we will complete the circle of ancestral history.
The arms that twine around the idol are like a vine, the mustache-shoots of which climb the statue. In this regard, one should recall the self-determination of the third royal family of Scythia - "paralata". As shown in a study on the Russian Syndic, the Sindo-Aryan word para-lata means nothing more than "escape", that is, it is a metaphorical definition of a young tribe, striving forward and upward. On the Zbruch idol, we see a clear expression of the traditional Sindo-Aryan metaphor. Among other things, it follows that the husband depicted on the western side of the old Slavic idol is the youngest in the ancient family. Therefore, he is without attributes: he has yet to acquire them.
Now let's return to the interesting hypothesis of V. Yurkovets regarding the Slavic holidays, with the onset of which the Magi lit eight altar bonfires in turn around the Zbruch idol. The hypothesis seems to me correct, but I see confirmation of its fidelity on the Zbruch statue not where V. Yurkovets points. Before that we made a circle counterclockwise, now we will move "salting".
Yarilo is a holiday of spring fertility - on the idol he is personified by a man looking to the east, a man with a horn. Thus, the theme of ascent, ascent is revealed in the symbolism of the monument in several important aspects at once: the rise of the generic phallus, the revival and expansion of the Aryan family, the ascent of the spring sun. Ivana Kupala, the holiday of the summer solstice, on the idol is personified by a husband with a ring looking south. From the descriptions of Slavic rituals, it is known that it was customary to lift Ivan Kupala on a pole, set fire to and launch a circle of fire from a hill, weave and throw wreaths in the water. These solar symbols can also be seen on the Zbruch idol - in the hand of a husband with a “ring”. Autumn holidays - the Russian Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos in October and the half-forgotten November Grandfathers. On the idol, the west side corresponds to them,in the dungeon of which the sign of the golden germ is depicted. Let me remind you that the radiant Apollo Helios was born on the floating island of Asteria, whose Sindo-Aryan name means "cover." Let me also remind you of the main lesson of Russian fairy tales and Russian history: "Thank you grandfather for the Victory!" The holiday of the winter solstice is known by most Slavic peoples as Kolyada. It turns out that on the idol he is personified by an equestrian and armed husband. It should be noted that from the descriptions of the pagan rites of the Slavs it is difficult to understand who or what Kolyada is. The way to the answer, oddly enough, can be found in the Gospel legend about the Magi, who learned about the birth of the New Tsar from the star and went to worship him."thank the granfather for the victory!" The holiday of the winter solstice is known by most Slavic peoples as Kolyada. It turns out that on the idol he is personified by an equestrian and armed husband. It should be noted that from the descriptions of the pagan rites of the Slavs it is difficult to understand who or what Kolyada is. The way to the answer, oddly enough, can be found in the Gospel legend about the Magi, who learned about the birth of the New Tsar from the star and went to worship him."thank the granfather for the victory!" The holiday of the winter solstice is known by most Slavic peoples as Kolyada. It turns out that on the idol he is personified by an equestrian and armed husband. It should be noted that from the descriptions of the pagan rites of the Slavs it is difficult to understand who or what Kolyada is. The way to the answer, oddly enough, can be found in the Gospel legend about the Magi, who learned about the birth of the New Tsar from the star and went to worship him.who learned about the birth of the New King by the star and went to worship him.who learned about the birth of the New King by the star and went to worship him.
I will formulate a working hypothesis. In the Russian name Kolyada, over time, two concepts that grew out of similar, but different Sindo-Aryan roots merged and merged. In this case, the outcome of the word is quite clear: in Russian, as in Sanskrit, -da means “giver, supply”. The first root from which the name "Kolyada" grew is "kolo", the Sindo-Aryan etymology of which requires special consideration, while its solar and fateful, judicial symbolism is well known: brace, wheel of fate, ring. The indicated symbolism is fully consistent with the moment of the winter solstice and reveals the meaning of Christmas divination. The second root is much less obvious, but it is he who allows you to understand the historical background and confused pagan rituals of the ancient Russian holiday. This Sindo-Aryan root can be reconstructed using the Sanskrit words kula and kaulya, meaning "noble family." We are talking about the appearance and ascent at the end of the III millennium BC. a new royal family of Boreans, whose patron god is known in early Indo-European mythology under the names of Rudra, Mitra, Indra, Uranus and, of course, Perun. This plot is examined in detail in a study on the Russian syndicate.
As you can see, the symbolism of the Zbruch idol corresponds to traditional Slavic holidays and helps to reveal their meaning more fully. And here's another interesting thing: the dispute about "salting", that is, about the direction in which the procession of the cross around the temple should be conducted, arose in the Russian Orthodox Church under Ivan the Terrible, if not earlier. Different opinions prevailed at different times. Opponents put forward alternative arguments, but they both appealed to antiquity and custom. Now we see that both sides had the right to do so. For the national tradition and the sacred symbolism of the ancient Slavic idols underlying it involves a circular tour of the sanctuary both in one direction and in the other.
The disclosure of the symbolism of the Zbruch idol should be completed by understanding the name of the deity that he represents - Rod-Svyatovit. We were convinced that the idol is a real storehouse of genealogical knowledge for all Slavic and not only Slavic peoples. Now let's think about why next to the deified Genus there is an epithet or a middle name: "Svyatovit". What does it mean?
The first part of the name of the deity "Svyatovit" ("Svyatovid", "Sventovit") most likely means "light" - this opinion prevails in literature, and it seems to me correct. But the second part of the word is completely incomprehensible. It turns out that the name of the ancient Slavic deity does not have a clear Slavic etymology - isn't it strange? And the point is precisely in the antiquity of the Slavic deity - his Old Testament name also has a Sindo-Aryan etymology.
The first part of the name "Svyatovit", like the Russian words "light" and "holy", goes back to the very roots from which the Sanskrit words svar - "sunlight" and savitar - "sun" come from. Savitar is the proper name of the solar deity known from the Rig Veda. We note further that in the Rig Veda the names of Savitar and Prajapati are called one divine being (Myths of the peoples of the world: II, 329). Which looks quite logical considering the following characteristics of Prajapati: he strengthened the sun, and his hands - the cardinal points. So, we see that in Indo-European mythology the deified ancestor was likened to the Sun, and the Clan, multiplying and spreading to the sides and countries, appears to be the bearer of sunlight.
Let us also note that in Russian, "light" means not only the radiation of stars and fire, which allows people to see, but also the foreseeable, inhabited world. Just as the sun illuminates the world with its light, the human race (in the pagan understanding, this is a specific genus), having come into the world, fills it with itself and humanizes it. As the Genus multiplies and disperses, the peoples emanating from the Genus move the "end of the world" further and further, mastering more and more new spaces - turning these spaces into "parts of the world."
The outcome of the name “Svyatovit” can be understood with the help of the Sanskrit word vitata - “widespread, wide, covered”. Thus, the four-faced idol looking in all directions of the world is the Rod that covered and fertilized the lands in the south, east, north, west. However, this is only the first semantic horizon. In order to comprehend the full depth of the meaning of the name of the deity Svyatovit, one should pay attention to two more Sanskrit words. We are talking about two homonyms: vitti - 'memory' and vitti - 'getting something'. Now the meaning of the Slavic idol is becoming clear. The idol Rod-Svyatovit is both a monument, a storehouse of ancestral memory, and a sign of the power of the luminous Rod over the known and visible world.
As the analysis shows, the Slavic idols of the Roda-Svyatovit on Zbruch and Rügen transmit information about the great history of the Sindo-Aryan family, which covers the time from the III millennium BC. to the 1st millennium AD and the space from the Carpathians and the Baltic to Central Asia and Siberia. The Slavs in the early Middle Ages, as we see, perceived themselves as descendants and heirs of one of the most ancient clans of Eurasia. The idols of Roda-Svyatovit, just, acted as repeaters of the corresponding geopolitical program, the manifesto of Slavic hegemonism, very relevant for its time - the era of the great migration of the Sarmatians, Goths, Huns, Slavs.
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Author: Mikhail Nikolaevich Afanasyev