ABSTRACT
The most reliable information about Slavic gods to be found in Helmold of Bosnau's Chronica Slavorum concerns his homeland, Slavic Wagria—modern-day Holstein. Helmold mentions two- and three-headed cultic statues. Polish fifteenth-century chronicler Jan Dlugosz mentions Pogoda—"weather"—among his "Polish gods”, and it is possible that Helmold's Podaga is misspelling of this Slavic word, but Dlugosz's "pantheon" is probably his own artificial construction, and this evidence is hardly reliable. Different gods were worshipped in two towns of the Wagri: Prove at their capital, Starigrad, and Podaga at Plune near Bosau, where Helmold served as a priest. The two cults differed in form; sacred oak grove was dedicated to Prove, whereas Podaga's effigy was venerated inside his temple. The difference reflects the ancient Slavic open-air cults of sacred groves and springs, on the one hand, and the newly constructed temples introduced most probably under Christian influence, on the other.
