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The text resembles Cyrillic letters, according to experts.

Is The Book of Veles a great Slavic text or a charlatan’s forgery?

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The Book of Veles is so controversial it is banned in Russia. Its supporters say it lays out cultural, religious and historical facts about Slavs from the 7 th century BC until the 9 th century AD, etched out on wooden planks. However, its critics say the purported medieval Slavic text is so fraught with quackery and charlatanism that the reputation of scientists who’ve studied it have been ruined.

Arthurovich Isenbeck is said to have discovered The Book of Veles in a run-down castle in the Ukraine around the beginning of the 20 th century. Isenbeck left Russia and settled in Brussels after traveling around for a number of years, taking the mysterious inscriptions with him.

The first person to closely examine the wooden planks was Yuriy Mirolubov, a Russian scientist. He took them from Isenbeck and spent more than 15 years translating and decoding the texts carved into them. Mirolyubov concluded the planks on which The Book of Veles were written contained the oldest Slavic alphabet, similar to Cyrillic. These are the only known examples of proto-Slavic, says the website Meet the Slavs, which has an article titled “Is The Book of Veles a Forgery?”

The book is made of 42 birchwood planks of 38 cm (15 inches) by 22 cm (8.7 inches).  The letters inscribed on them are of different sizes and shapes, so it’s possible that different scribes wrote them at different times. Some planks have symbols of bull heads, animals and the sun, possibly representing the months. The people who made the book scrubbed the boards before carving the letters, then painted them with a dark stain that faded with time.

A plank of  The Book of Veles

A plank of  The Book of Veles  (Image from Slavorum.org)

The book begins with the words “This book of Veles we consecrate to our god who is our refuge and strength,” says the blog The Book of Veles (translation).  Veles, also known as Volos, was a god of the Slavic people who controlled agriculture, cattle and upon whose help the success of the people depended. The Book of Veles blog says the first plank continues:

In those days was the man so gentle and brave they called him the father of Russians.
And that man had wife and two daughters. He had cattle and cows and many sheep and he dwelled in the steppe so no where could he find husbands for his daughters and he prayed gods so his line does not perish like that. And Dajbog granted his request and gave him what he was praying for. So were married those who live among us. 
And we are obliged to believe because it clearly is god Veles that brings forth the offspring. We owe to our gods and so we give them praise: 
Let our leader be blessed now and for the eternity.
Said magicians (shamans) and went away. 

The modern statue of Veles on Velíz mountain, Czech Republic

The modern statue of Veles on Velíz mountain, Czech Republic (Wikipedia)

The site Slavorum: Exploring Slavic World, gives a brief synopsis of the books contents. It starts out in the 10 th century BC, when pre-Slavic tribes lived in the “land of seven rivers beyond the sea,” possibly southeastern Kazakhstan. The Slavs migrated to Syria and then into the Carpathian Mountains in the fifth century BC in what are now southern Poland, the Czech Republic and the Ukraine. There they were briefly enslaved by King Nabsur. They settled there, and several centuries passed relatively peacefully. Beginning in the fourth century AD the Slavs fought wars with the Goths, Huns, Romans and Greek. The book has several references to Ermanaric, a king who ruled a vast kingdom and against whom the Slavs apparently fought, emerging victorious in the end. The book briefly describes the fifth through ninth centuries and ends with Slavic people in disarray and ruled by the Normans.

The site Slavorum says banning the book as irrational and based in politics. “We do not have to see the book as a historical fact-book; it could be seen as a fantasy entertainment book like any other so reason behind its ban has no justifiable cause,” the article states. “Many conclude that the book inspired Pan-Slavism among its readers.”

The site Meet the Slavs concludes its article by saying most experts in Slavic languages believe the book is a 20 th century forgery.  “This theory is based on fact that texts are written in invented form of different modern Slavic languages without any grammar rules,” the article states. “But in spite of those claims and fact that book is rejected [by] scientists, some Slavic neopagans use the Book of Veles in their rituals.”

If it is a forgery, there is some irony in the fifth plank of the book, which states, “Our conscience commands we don’t hide our words and we tell only the truth about our kin.”

Featured image: The text resembles Cyrillic letters, according to experts. (Image from Slavorum.org)

By Mark Miller

 

Comments

Looks a lot like Scandinavian rune staves. Granted they are not the Elder Futhark, but many resemble "letters" from the Elder, Frisian, and futharks as well as some different altogether. But the Runes as a written language changed with the dialect spoken. I can see Othila, Hagal, from the Elder and Ear from the Frisian, and Algiz and Raidho that can be found in the Younger as well as all three.

They seem to be carved "hanging" from the line rather than between two lines as generally seen in the Scandinavian style.

Ingvar nord's picture

The Veles book is Mirolyubov's fake. Even neo-pagans now see no credibility in it. Here are some reasons to point out:
 The first original does not have it.
Second, the wise men of the Slavs, like the Druids in the Celts, were not allowed to write according to the laws of the gods. Everything was transmitted orally from generation to generation. It's harder than writing, but for priests it's just right. For the priest is a person who does not go easy. Initiates in the priest neophytes must go through a difficult path.
According to the third prince, Cyrus from Veles book did not live in the 7th century BC, as VK writes. He lived in the 5th-6th centuries BC when King Arthur. There is a theory that I am developing right now, although it is not mine, that Prince Kyi, who founded the city of Kiev, is none other than the Knight of King Arthur and his sensual, Kay or Kai. And this contradicts the Veles book, because there are more proofs of the theory of Cyrus under the King Arthur than Cyrus the son of Aria, who comes out somewhere in Asia.

KV

"In those days was the man so gentle and brave they called him the father of Russians.

As Veles priests tell Veles is the father of Aryan people. Slavic people are the sons of Род and Russian Slavs in particular come as offspring of Даждьбог. Russian genealogy I believe is in "Слово о Полку Игореве"

It's hard to tell if it's forgery or not for those not connected. What's impotant is Veles is the Great ruler of Навь. Навь is the blue world of dead where energies of Yin meets Правь that are higher energies of Yang. Veles is in charge of Earth starting from 2012 for the next 13 centuries on Svarga 26000 year cycle. His mission is to clean up. World would change like never before. Armageddon is basially his over clean up in case the world is too resistant to Veles ways.Veles will come to power in Russia. That all you need to know about this Great God.

Mark Miller's picture

Mark

Mark Miller has a Bachelor of Arts in journalism and is a former newspaper and magazine writer and copy editor who's long been interested in anthropology, mythology and ancient history. His hobbies are writing and drawing.

 
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