The Zbrucz “Światowid” a Thracian cult monument (a classical example of functioning of scientific myths)

Abstract

The article analyzes the interpretation of the so-called “Svetovid of Zbruch,” which is important for research on early Slavic religion and the history of archaeology. The aim of the study is to challenge its identification as a Slavic monument and to propose a reinterpretation of it as a Dacian monument. The author applies iconographic analysis and comparison with other archaeological finds. The most important results indicate that the monument differs fundamentally from the statue of Svetovid described by Saxo Grammaticus, and that its structure reflects a tripartite model of the world. The author interprets the depicted figures as elements of the Dacian pantheon and points to analogies with the Chernyakhov culture. The complexity of the representation suggests a developed religious system absent from early Slavic culture. The Zbruch idol is therefore not a Slavic Svetovid, but a monument of Dacian culture, and its previous interpretation constitutes an example of an entrenched scholarly myth.