According to Slavic mythology, how many heads did the god Porevit have?

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According to Slavic mythology, the god Porevit had five heads.

Porevit is a poorly documented deity associated with the Slavic religious center of Charenza on the island of Rügen. Medieval accounts do not preserve a full mythology about him; instead, they mainly describe his idol and temple. Saxo Grammaticus wrote that the statue had five heads and no weapons or other decorations on its sides.

Porevit was one of three deities whose temples stood at Charenza, alongside Rugiaevit and Porenut. Danish forces destroyed the sanctuary during the Christianization campaigns of the 12th century. A related account in the Knýtlinga saga records the name in the distorted form Puruvit and repeats the five-headed description.

The number is easy to confuse with the neighboring statues: Rugiaevit was represented with multiple heads, while Porenut had four faces on his head and a fifth face attached to his chest. Porevit's exact function remains uncertain, although some scholars connect his name with strength or force.

Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Sept. 2026

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