Abstract

For the first time in the historical research in the Baltic, the author has created a set of images with the sacred trees of the Prussians and their northeastern neighbours, the Curonians. The sacralization of the oak and the perception of its connection with the god of thunder and lightning, characteristic of most Indo-European peoples at an early stage of the formation of their cultures, were pictorially fixed among the Prussians in the 5th century C.E. In subsequent eras, various forms of the depiction of the sacred tree indicated that it occupied an important place in the Prussian cult. This conclusion is confirmed by the written reports about the sanctuary of Romow, principal for many Baltic tribes and located in the Prussian land of Nadruvia. In the center of this sanctuary grew an evergreen sacred oak tree, while its crown concealed the images and symbols of the Prussian gods. Even after centuries of the Teutonic Order’s rule, Prussia retained the rudiments of the cult of the tree, which was the place of sacrifice for the Prussian peasants in the middle of the 17th century. Archaeological data from the Viking Age directly testify to the close ties of the Prussians and the Curonians, primarily in material culture. Whereas with the Prussians, images of the sacralized tree were already known in the Attila era, the Curonians saw them appear only in the post-Viking time. As a result, it can be assumed that the aforesaid pictorial tradition (or even the entire cult of the sacred tree) came to the area of the Curonians from their southwestern neighbours. To this very day, the old wooden buildings of Zelenogradsk (Cranz), a town located at the base of the Curonian Spit, have preserved decorative details of the pediments, showing stylized representations of a sacred tree with three branches/sprouts or a tree with a cross-shaped crown, guarded by two dragons. Considering the fact that the part of Sambia where the aforesaid city is now located, in the Viking era and thereafter received groups of the Curonians, which is evidenced in the archaeological material, it is possible to assume with a great degree of caution that the decor of the local residents’ houses showcase some Curonian visual motifs dating back to tradition of the sacred tree.