Names of Zeus: Perun

Born from the heavenly forge of Svarog, Perun is the chief God of the Slavs. He was regarded as a thunderer God and a God that oversaw all oaths in battle, referenced in the chronicles of Russia as being the most important God in the pantheon. In Kievan Rus and many other ancient Slavic entities, he was given pride of place.

Procopius of Caesarea, a historian of Christian Rome writing about the Ostrogoths and Slavs, references Perun the most:

One of the biggest problems with analysis of the God named Perun is that many modern sources about him are neo-pagan forgeries from the past two centuries that also intermix symbolism of other thunder Gods such as Indra or Zeus into the forgery itself. Due to the thoroughness of Christianization, the majority of sources about Perun are from purely Christian perspectives on ‘demonic idols’ and pieced together pieces of folklore.

While the Temple of Zeus does not disapprove of Neo-Pagan movements such as Rodenovery which express a desire to move towards the God of Gods even in co-opting symbolism that likely belonged to this God, we must stick to what the classical sources and evidence suggest. Thus any page about Perun one encounters on the internet should be given rigid awareness on this issue.

COSMOLOGICAL ROLE

In the Tale of Bygone Years, a chronicle of post-Christian history of the Rus, Perun is referenced as a taker of oaths. Anyone who defied his oath not to commit war suffered grisly punishments. Similarly to the role of Jupiter, this also may show his relation to the concept of xenia among the Slavs.

SKY GOD OF RULERS

It was believed Perun carried the power to fertilize the fields through lightning. Due to this terrifying power, he served as one of the patron images of the Rurik dynasty. Many years after Christianization, some of the sources bitterly lament that peasants would return to worship of Perun.

According to the Tale of Bygone Years, the Rus' swore by Perun in treaties with the Greeks. They stated that those who broke the oaths were to be cursed, and would have to pay with death by their own weapons and slavery in the afterlife. Later, the chronicle relates that Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich established a temple of Perun in Novgorod and Kiev, putting Perun at the head of other Gods.

The First Novgorod Chronicle represents the Archbishop Joachim of Korson throwing the idol into the river.

Another revealing text, much like the Welsh texts, concerns a primary translation of the Alexander Cycle from the 9th or 10th century, where Alexander is called a child of Perun (Zeus) by the translator:

A fragment of the work The Word of a Certain Lover of Christ and Zealot For the True Faith from the Paievsky Collection laments the endurance of belief in ‘demons,’ also noting the connection of fire-worship to these, similarly to the Celts and Zoroastrians:

Just as Elijah the Thesbite, having slaughtered the priests and false prophets of the idols, numbering up to three hundred <…>, so he (the lover of Christ) cannot tolerate Christians who live with a dual faith, who believe in Perun, and in Khors, and in Sim, and in Regla, and in Mokosh, and in the Vil, of whom there are thirty-nine sisters, as the ignorant say, and consider them Goddesses, and therefore they bring them sacrifices, slaughter chickens for them; and they pray to fire, calling it Svarozhic... it is not proper for Christians to play demonic games with idol sacrifices at feasts and weddings, when they pray to the fire under the barn, Mokosh, Sim, Regl, Perun, Rod, Rozhanitsy and all those like them.

Another work, Walking of the Most Holy Theotokos Through Torment, based off of a more limited Greek work, references Perun:

A certain 15th century Codex has a question and answer format of ‘How many heavens exist?,’ answered by ‘… there are many Peruns.’ This is also known via Lithuanian equivalent in reference to Perkunas.

PERUN MOUNTAINS

The mountains of Perun have been located in Montenegro, Croatia, Russia and many other areas. This is suggestive of a mountain cult.

SYMBOLISM OF PERUN

Perun was described as silver-headed, with a golden beard.

These ‘thunder mark’ symbols are often associated with Perun in all his facets. In resemblance of petaled rosettes or swastikas, they were carved on homes, weapons, and jewelry for protection against evil and to invoke Perun's power against thunder. In many regions, the symbols were added to beams to prevent lightning strikes.

Shrines have been discovered by archeologists associated with Perun, having the symbolism of the number nine in their layout and other facets. It is assumed that the God was associated with this number of completion.

The name "Perun" is closely related to the Baltic god Perkūnas and the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European deity *Perkʷunos, suggesting a shared origin among these cultures. The root *perkwu initially denoted "oak," a tree sacred to thunder gods, but in Slavic languages, it evolved to mean "to strike" or "to kill," reflecting Perun's association with thunderbolts.

Perun was worshipped by the Varangian Norse warriors hired by Oleg and Igor during the campaigns against Byzantium. In the 971 AD treaty, Varangians swear by their oath not only with Perun, but also with the Slavic deity Veles. Perun was thus interchangeable with Thor to a large extent.

A major element of the Perun cult was absorbed into the Hebrew prophet Elijah or Ilya’s cult in Russia who was considered to rule over matters of lightning.

OAK TREE

Perun has a strong association with the oak tree, a connection evident in Slavic traditions. In a forged charter supposedly from 1302, Perun’s oak is mentioned as a boundary marker for estates donated by Prince Lev Danilovich to the Bishop of Przemysl.

Throughout Slavic lands, the oak was the most revered tree, widely attributed with cultic significance. In South Slavic folklore, oak groves were places of worship. This reinforces the idea that the connection between Perun and the oak was not coincidental.

Western Slavs were also known to venerate sacred oaks. Helmold recorded that they had fenced-off oak groves dedicated to a god of justice, Prova, a name some believe to be a distorted form of Perun. The "Slavic Chronicle" describes how Bishop Gerald, upon arriving in Oldenburg, ordered the destruction of sacred groves and forbade the Slavs from swearing by trees, springs, and stones, instead requiring them to bring criminals before a priest.

The link between Perun and oaths is well-documented, further solidifying his association with the oak in Slavic tradition.