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Veles (god)

Veles ( Cyrillic: Велес; ; Czech, Slovak: Veles; Old Russian and Old Church Slavonic: Велесъ), also known as Volos (listed as a Christian saint in Old Russian texts), is a major Slavic god of earth, waters, forests and the underworld. His attributes are wet, wooly, hairy (bearded), dark and he is associated with cattle, the harvest, wealth, music, magic and trickery. Believed to be related to the Indo-European deity of Mitra, as well as Norse deity of Loki. According to reconstruction by some researchers he is the opponent of the Supreme thunder-god Perun, and the battle between two of them constitutes one of the most important myths of Slavic mythology which in similar form is also encountered in the Vedas. As such he probably has been imagined as a dragon, which in the belief of the pagan Slavs is a chimeric being, a serpent with a bear's head and drooping hairy ears. His tree is the willow, like god Perun's tree is the oak. No direct accounts survive, but reconstructions speculate that he may directly continue aspects of the Proto-Indo-European pantheon.

Veles

Veles may refer to:

  • Veles (god), Slavic deity
  • Veles Municipality, in the Republic of Macedonia
  • Veles (city), in the Republic of Macedonia, seat of the municipality
  • Veles, singular of velites, a class of infantry in the early Roman Republic
  • Veles, a genus of birds, only containing the brown nightjar