Case file · Sacred site
Thietmar records the pagan cult on Ślęża
Bishop Thietmar of Merseburg wrote around 1017 that the Silesians revered the mountain Ślęża 'because of its size and the accursed pagan rites performed there'.
1017 CE · 50.87, 16.71 · status: account
The account
Ślęża rises alone from the Silesian plain south of Wrocław. Stone ramparts on the summit, Iron Age sculptures of a bear and a 'woman with a fish', and incised crosses link it to a pre-Christian cult, and the mountain gave its name to the Ślężanie tribe and possibly to Silesia itself.
The sceptical view
Thietmar gives no details of the rites, and the date of the stone circuits is debated.