Slavic gods - paganism of the Ancient world.

Information on the deities of the ancient peoples who inhabited our planet are scarce. Restore them have to survive the myths, legends, fragmentary retelling and information excavations of cultural sites. From these grains of information it became known that the ancient people sought to "humanize" some of the life situations and components of the surrounding world. So the concept of human aggression was identified - war. And then the Gods of War appeared. Such gods are most popular and revered by militant tribes. As a mythological plot, war is often associated with the creation of the cosmos and the protection of existence. The myths about war between different groups of gods are widespread, where clashes between them moved to the ground and became earthly wars between people. In the bogus gods often interfere in the lives of people: patronizing or punishing. The Gods of War had every ancient pagan culture.

Ancient Roman historian Guy Cornelius Tacitus in the treatise "On the origin of the Germans and the location of Germany" (98 AD) describes the amazing militancy of the representatives of this people, their attraction to constant battles and bloodshed. Like other Roman authors, Tacitus believes that many German gods are the identification of the Roman. So the furious god of war Mars is equivalent to the German god Tivaz, who is also called Tyur. It is difficult to say when the Germans began to read Tivaz and other deities of war. It is also unknown when he was replaced by Vodan as the supreme god of war, whom Roman writers compared to Mercury. Together with Tiviaz and Vodan, the Germans also worshiped the third god of war - Donar (Torah or Tunaru). In the late pagan period, most Germans considered him to be the most powerful and noble god.

Although, as historians note, "the Slavs have never been a militant people, adventurers, like Germans ...", they also had their gods of war. Today, the most famous Slavic gods, like Perun and Semargle. Despite their deep antiquity, and therefore, well-known, they were little revered because of the warlike appearance. Perun appeared as an armed ax, a warrior rushing on a golden chariot drawn by white and black stallions. Semargla was seen as a wolf with wings and falconry, and sometimes with a falcon's head. Soldiers-Slavs often identified themselves with wolves.

Slavic gods of war, in other matters, like all pagan gods "demanded" sacrifices, this rite took on a large scale. As it became known from the evidence of ethnographic and archaeological excavations, the gods were brought as victims of wolves and dogs, the supreme ritual offering was considered to be a human sacrifice. Those were the prisoners.

With the introduction of Christianity, the Slavic gods officially ceased to exist. Their characters began to be seen as negative, except for those who were identified with Christian saints. In order to strengthen the spiritual unity of the people and to soften the transition from paganism to Christianity, Prince Vladimir did not conduct a cruel persecution of admirers of the old faith. Over time, this led to the fact that the Slavic gods became personified in Christian characters. So Perun was compared to Saint Ilya.

It has been more than a thousand years since the adoption of Christianity, but the Russian pagan gods are still not forgotten. In the folk art, in the paintings, wood carvings, patterns of embroideries, their schematic images and symbols are preserved. Moreover, today many believe that Russian paganism can be reborn, as something primordial, not borrowed from other nations and not subject to globalization.