Who were the Seven Deities of Kievan Rus?

Misogyny in the ancient world

Often considered the framework of the Western world and widely celebrated for its cultural and philosophical attainment, Ancient Greek civilisation is by far one of the most accomplished in history. The ancient Greeks influence government through democracy, they influence the architecture of many of our buildings and wrote the epics that we know and study. However, deeply embedded within the rich culture of Greek literature and society are the underpinnings of misogyny and the mechanisms that have silenced women.

Homer’s odyssey is one of the world’s oldest surviving texts and provides monumental insight into antiquity. Yet within book one of Homer’s epic poem, as Mary Beard once said, is the first recorded example of a man telling a woman to ‘shut up’. Penelope, wife of Odysseus, who’s loyalty remains constant throughout the poem, comes down from her quarters into the communal place of the palace, to find a bard performing songs to her suitors about the Achaean’s return home from Troy. She requests politely, having been understandably upset by the distressing content of the song, that the bard choose something less sorrowful to perform. Telemachus, her son, then rebukes her behaviour, telling her to return to her quarters and attend to her ‘own’ work regarding the loom and spindle. He proceeds to interject that making decisions must be men’s concern. Of course, Penelope submissively obeys her son, having listened to his ‘sensible’ words. Right where written ancient literature begins, we are shown that women’s voices are not to be heard, and when they are they should be silenced by a man.

Telemachus’ reprimand was only one case, with many to follow within antiquity, where a man has attempted to reject and exclude a women’s contribution to the public sphere. In 391 BC the playwright Aristophanes wrote an entire comedy Assemblywoman based on the unimaginable and clearly hysterical impossibility where the women of Athens assume control of the government. Much of Aristophanic comedy, including Women at Thesmophoria and Lysistrata, derives from mocking women. However, despite what may look like blatant misogyny there is a scholarly debate regarding Aristophanes attitude towards women. Some academics view him as an abhorrent misogynist who mocked women for fun within his plays, whereas others regarded him as a sort of proto feminist. A few of his plays, specifically the ones I previously mentioned, are sometimes called ‘feminist fantasies’. Within these plays, Women are put in charge and manage to solve big problems facing contemporary Athens. For instance, in Lysistrata they can bring peace between Athens and Sparta. There is certainly some interesting nuance to be considered – does Aristophanes find the idea of women having power amusing or is he critiquing the attitudes of his fellow Athenians? Perhaps it is dependent on how seriously we take these plays. However, it was not only playwrights who publicly ridiculed women. Aristotle, a fair contender for the smartest man who ever lived once said “women are unfinished men”, the man who created the first system of widely circulated logical reasoning, who pioneered zoology and botany and contributed so much to a spectrum of fields, believed women to be objects of passivity.

Gods and Goddesses were believed to control every aspect of life. The Greek goddesses were symbols of strength, yet despite their conceived immortality and perceived influence, were often bound by their male counterparts and prohibited from having their own power. It largely goes unrecognised that the Greek goddesses 25

shared in the oppression of the ancient women who so dedicatedly believed in them. For instance, Hera, goddess of marriage and of the life of women, ironically lived within a forced marriage. Despite rejecting Zeus’ relentless overtures, her lack of interest was dismissed due to his rank which surpassed all other Gods. To the Greeks, Hera was supposedly a divine image of the ideal marriage yet she herself was continually flouted by her husband. Hera was also completely dependent on Zeus, if they were to divorce, she would lose everything. Greek mythology dictates that Hera was solely dependent on his power for her own. Mythology illustrates that the Goddesses were barred in every sense by a male counterpart and had no hope in changing this. In many cases, the Greek Goddesses were not able to represent their powers. Aphrodite Goddess of love had a loveless marriage, disallowed to love the man she wanted. Hera, goddess of marriage was barred to a serial adulterer and Athena, goddess of wisdom deferred to Zeus. In some ancient literature Athena is portrayed as particularly terrifying because she is a female goddess who acts like a man, this is illustrated within Lucian’s Dialogues of the Gods. Even the most superior ‘women’ in ancient times each remained inferior to a man.

To conclude, it is indisputable that there is a large amount of misogyny within ancient texts and there was certainly a sizeable amount in society. However, we must consider the attitudes of the time and the very different world that they lived in. Some would argue that perhaps it is not particularly surprising that sexism reached such unequalled heights, it could be argued that these men only indulged such misogynistic overtones as a means of reinforcing the patriarchal society they lived in. Why would one not encourage a society that guarantees your own prosperity? These examples only further remind us that the gender roles assigned since the age of the Odyssey must be rewritten.

- Tabitha H (L6)

26

Who were the Seven Deities of Kievan Rus?

Early Slavs were pagans and had a vast number of deities. Most of the information we know today comes from the records made by Christian monks, as well as from Russian folklore. However there is still a lot that we do not know about early Slavic paganism. Early slavs practiced in open nature. This incorporated trees, rivers, stones, and every other aspect the natural world around them. Forests also acted as border between this world and the next. This is indicated in many folktales in which a hero must cross the forest to complete their mission.

These religious practices lasted for around six centuries until the arrival of Christianity throughout the 9th to 12th centuries. There were three separate groups - the east, west, and south Slavs. Though the mythology and deities differed, all were based upon the fundamental beliefs of the Proto-Slavs. In fact, similarities of eastern Slavic rituals can be seen in some practices in Iran.

Vladimir dedicated his temple to 7 gods and goddesses. In 978 he constructed the idols to popular and important deities on hills around the capital. These were Perun, Veles (sometimes named Volos), Xors (Hors), Dazhbog, Stribog, Simargl, and Mokosh.

Rod was known as a protector of families. He was a also a god of fate. He was once believed to be the supreme god. He is usually mentioned alongside the Rozhanitsy, invisible spirits of destiny. Ones first haircut was dedicated to him in a ceremony in which he and the Rozhanitsy were given the hair. His cult seems to have lost its significance through time and in the ninth or tenth century he was replaced by Perun and Svetevid. This explains the absence of a statue dedicated to him.

Perun (перун)

Perun is the most well-documented god in comparison to the all the others. Perun is known to be the god of lightning and thunder. He is known to be connected and sometimes represented by oak trees. Hi is also a god of war. He shares many traits with that of the Norse and Germanic Thor and Odin combined. Perun is considered a ‘dry’ god and is associated with fire, unlike Veles who is ‘wet’ and is connected to water. It was believed an oak tree the represented the world the top branches were the heavens the trunk and lower branches were the realms of humankind and the roots were the underworld Perun lived in the highest branches so that he could see all that happened in the world Perun was worshiped with shrines on hills and in oak trees to this day.

Perun still means ‘thunder’ and ‘lightning’ in several Slavic languages. In the Storm Myth, Veles appears as a snake and challenged Perun by stealing his cattle. Perun and Veles then fought in a huge battle in which Perun used lightning to defeat Veles. Veles then fled and shapeshifted into animals, trees, and even people to hide. Once Perun had found and then killed Veles, everything that had been stolen was freed from his body, falling from the sky as rain. This myth helped to explain the change of seasons. the dry periods were when Veles was stealing, storms were seen as the divine battles when Perun fought Veles to take back what he stole, and the rain was when Perun had defeated him and the stolen cattle was returned to Perun. The myth would repeat each year and Veles would be reborn as a snake. Although in this myth he takes on the role as the antagonist, Veles was not seen as an evil god. The conflict between Perun and Veles does not represent the opposing sides of good and evil, but more so the natural opposition of the two elements: Earth and water being Veles, and Perun being fire.