Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book presents an introductory survey of Slavic culture and its position among neighboring ethnic groups. It analyzes the earliest evidences on Slavic pagan religion, found in sources from the sixth to tenth centuries. The Church Slavonic medieval literature is entirely Christian, and the existing Serbian and Russian oral epic poetry glorifies the exploits of Christian heroes fighting "infidels". The book analyzes the foundation legends of various Slavic tribes recorded in Czech, Polish, and East Slavic medieval chronicles. It considers the Slavic gods mentioned in sources from the eleventh to thirteenth centuries. The anti-pagan Slavic compositions are often based on Byzantine prototypes, and names of Slavic gods appear there merely as translations of the names of Greek and even Egyptian gods.