Sventovit: The Four-Headed God of Arkona

Sventovit, also written Svantevit, was the chief god of the Rani, a Slavic people of the Baltic island of Rügen. His temple at Arkona, on the island's northern cliffs, was one of the last great pagan sanctuaries in Europe until its destruction in 1168. Unusually for a Slavic deity, he is described in detail by a medieval writer.

Saxo's description

The Danish historian Saxo Grammaticus, writing around 1200, describes the Arkona temple in Book 14 of his Gesta Danorum. Its huge wooden statue of Sventovit had four heads, or four necks, facing different directions, and held a horn that the priest filled with wine each year. The level of the wine was read to foretell the next year's harvest.

The sacred white horse

Sventovit also had a sacred white horse, which only his priest was allowed to ride and which the god himself was believed to ride at night. Before a war, the horse was led over rows of spears laid on the ground; the foot with which it stepped over them was read as an omen of success or failure.

The fall of Arkona

In 1168 King Valdemar I of Denmark and Bishop Absalon captured Arkona, destroyed the statue and brought the Rani into the Christian fold. Saxo's account of that conquest is our main source for the god.

Sventovit in jewellery

A Sventovit design references the four-faced god of Arkona and one of the best-documented Slavic cults. See the AURYN Sventovit design on its product page, or read about Khors and Belobog.