CHAPTER III
SVAROŽIČ AND SVAROG
SOVAROŽIČ was worshipped by the Russians as the god of fire;22 and his name, being a patronymic, means "Son of Svarog."23 This latter deity, however, is actually mentioned only in an old Russian chronicle24 which identifies him with the Greek Hephaistos25 and speaks of him as the founder of legal marriage. According to this text, Svarog made it a law for every man to have only one wife, and for every woman to have only one husband; and he ordained that whosoever trespassed against this command should be cast into a fiery furnace—a tradition which seems to imply the importance of the fire (fireside, hearth) for settled family life.
That Svaražic, worshipped by the Elbe Slavs,26 had the same signification as the Russian Svarozic may be considered very probable, though the identity is not yet fully established.27
