Amateur Anthropology: Reconstruction of Ancient Slavic Pantheon

I reviewed magisterial work of late Academician Rybakov "Paganism of the Ancient Slavs." Rybakov did not have access to the newest scientific methods. DNA analysis of remains was in its infancy; carbon dating of the organic materials existed but required samples too large to be safely removed from archaeological findings and his participation in antisemitic campaigns made him persona non grata for Moscow-Tartu structuralists.

Given these limitations it is remarkable how accurate his analyses were in light of the modern science based on DNA markers and structural toponymics. Yet, both the scholars of Slavic (e.g. Ivanov and Toporov) and Scandinavian paganism mentioned highly disordered character of the pagan pantheons--different deities with similar cults, deities with fluid or un-attributable functions, etc. My amateur reconstruction is based on the following hypothesis (or unintelligent guess, in view of some), namely, that the ancient Slavic, and probably, Scandinavian cultures had two rather harmoniously co-existing pantheons, one--of the peasants and other--of the warrior class.  In particular case of the ancient Eastern Slavs, the warrior pantheon may have had experienced influence of their Scandinavian warrior elite. Pantheons of the higher (heavenly, warrior) class and the lower (earthen, peasant) classes could have been connected by trickster figures.

Both pantheons were structured along four-fold division of natural world. For the peasants, axes were pertaining to time--winter, spring, summer and autumn. For the warriors, directions were aligned with the geographical directions--North, East, South and West. Solar movements from the East to West during the day and the annual solar movements through zodiac organized this picture. Both populations lived sufficiently far in the European North, so that the difference between seasons, difference in winter and summer days and geographical directions was perceptible even for their relative lack of interest in astronomical observations.

      Remarkably, peasant pantheon contained female deities (Мокошь, Рожаницы). Very preliminary scheme above also explains duality of Hors and Dazhd'bog, as well as frequent association of Dazhd'bog, a solar deity with "son of Svarog" because in the annual (peasant) cycle, summer follows winter.

[1] One of the features of any amateur research in humanities is its tendency to explain everything from a single hypothesis. So the following observations should be taken with a grain of salt. Seafaring warrior civilization on the Island of Rugen had Svetovid, the war god of the North as its primary deity. On the contrary, settled peasant culture of Zbruch worshiped quadripartite idol with two male and two female deities.