The Zbruch Idol is a 9th century batwan and one of the few surviving monuments depicting pre-Christian Slavic beliefs. Found at the bottom of dried riverbed in Poland during a drought, it is thought the batwan was buried in the ground sometime around 966, when Kievan Rus was baptised and Christianity was formally adopted in the country.
The idol is carved from grey limestone, and measures 2.6 meters tall. It has four sides, and each side is divided into 3 separate tiers. It is thought that there may have been a fourth tier, and that a lower layer of the monument was broken off at some point and lost.
After centuries in a riverbed, it’s no surprise that the relief carvings are in poor condition, and this is likely part of the reason why there has been so much controversy about what—or who—the batwan is depicting. Current thought describes the batwan as a depiction of 4 different Slavic gods, two female and two male: Perun, the God of Lightning; Mokosh, the Goddess of women’s destiny; Lada, the Goddess of youth and love; and Dazbog, one of the major Gods in Slavic mythology who was likely the Sun God. In addition it’s thought the phallic shape of the idol is meant to signify unity amongst these four gods, and combine them into the supreme divine being in Slavic mythology: Rod. (And no, that’s not a typo.)
