Page:The Mythology of All Races Vol 3 (Celtic and Slavic).djvu/344

222 with his own eyes, transmitted important evidence of their religion in his Chronica Slavorum;3 and in like manner the Danish historian Saxo Grammaticus, writing in the same century, spoke of the idolatry of the Elbe Slavs,4 his statements being confirmed by the Danish Knytlingasaga5 Further detailed accounts of Slavic paganism may be found in the lives of St. Otto, a bishop of Bamberg, who was renowned as a missionary among the Pomeranian Slavs.6

The most important evidence for Russian religion is contained in the Chronicle of Nestor (1100);7 further fragments of pagan customs are preserved in the old Russian epic Slovo o pluku Igorevĕ ("Song of Igor's Band"), which dates from the twelfth century;8 and to these two main sources for a knowledge of the pagan period in Russia may be added some old religious writings directed against the heathenism which still lingered among the folk.

Mention of the religions of the eastern and southern Slavs is made in the works of the Greek historian Procopius of Caesarea (sixth century)9 and of the Arabian travellers al-Mas'ūdī and Ibrahim ibn Vasifshah11 (tenth and twelfth centuries respectively), while allusions to ancient Slavic pagan rites and idolatry are found in the mediaeval encyclopaedias which were translated from Greek and Byzantine originals.

The main source for the religion of the Czechs is the Chronicle of Cosmas (ob. 1125),12 supplemented by the Homiliary of the Bishop of Prague (twelfth century.)13 The chronicler Dtugosz (fifteenth century) records fairly detailed accounts of the old Polish religion, although they are not very reliable;14 and allusions of a more specific character occur in some fragments of old Polish literature, particularly in Polish-Latin homilies. 15

These poor and scanty accounts of the mythology of the ancient Slavs are supplemented by old traditions which still live among the people, these legends being very rich and containing ample survivals of the past, since even after their conversion to Christianity the common folk clung to their