Khors

            Khors was a deity close to Dazhbog. Khors included in the pagan pantheon established by Vladimir. It is possible to suppose that this deity is connected with the sun, as well as Dazhbog, Kupala, Yarila. This is a very ancient deity who didn’t have human appearance and it was represented with simply golden disk.

            The fact that Khors in chronicles of the end of the XI century was mentioned on the second place after Perun tells us about the importance of this deity.deity.

            Khors is a deity of the Sun, but not of sunlight and heat, it represented a certain inseparable addition to the image of Dazhbog as the Sun-tsar, the presenter of earthly blessings.

The analysis of known data about Khors shows, that in most works Khors is close to Perun, the heavenly god, known as the god of thunder and lightning, and also to Dazhbog, and it allows us to interpret its belonging to the solar deities.

Semargl (or Simargl), a winged dog, the keeper of the crops, the god of roots, seeds, sprouts was the companion of gods of the sun and fertility. His feral appearance tells us about his antiquity. The idea of Semargl as the defender of crops as a wonderful dog is easily explained: real dogs used to preserve fields from wild roes and goats.

Khors and Semargl are the deities of a Scythian origin, their cult has come from the eastern nomads, therefore both of these gods were revered only in Southern Russia that bordered with the Steppe.