God
Supreme god, heavenly authority, fate
well attested
Numadievis
Who is Nunadievis?
Nunadievis, sometimes written Numadievis, is an old Lithuanian god mentioned in the Galician-Volhynian Chronicle among the gods secretly worshipped by King Mindaugas. In the first chronicle note he is called Mindaugas' first god.
This first position in the divine list led researchers to regard Nunadievis as one of the highest Lithuanian gods. His functions are not clearly defined in the source, however, so they must be reconstructed cautiously.
Nunadievis' functions: scholarly interpretations
Researchers have explained Nunadievis in different ways. Aleksander Brückner, together with Andajas, considered him a god of success and fate; Antoni Mierzyński interpreted him as a household god, deriving the name from namas, house, and dievas, god; Vladimir Toporov saw him as a Lithuanian sky god.
According to Georges Dumézil's threefold classification of Indo-European divine functions, Nunadievis may have held the highest, juridical function. Some researchers think this may explain why he is listed first among the gods worshipped by Mindaugas.
Nunadievis, Andajas, and Dievas
The image of Nunadievis is closely connected with Andajas. According to Norbertas Vėlius, the 1261 insertion in the Slavic translation of John Malalas' Chronicle names Andajas where Nunadievis appears elsewhere. Vėlius thought the two names reflect a duality of ruler-gods: Nunadievis is the supreme god, while Andajas performs a magical function.
Gintaras Beresnevičius argued that Nunadievis, or Andajas, should be considered the supreme god, and that both names are euphemisms for one Sky God. In folklore he corresponds to Dievas, Dievas senelis. The Jupiter mentioned by Jan Długosz roughly corresponds to the chronicle's Nunadievis.
Why did gods have several names?
The double naming of Nunadievis and Andajas reveals a wider feature of Lithuanian mythology: the same deity could be called by several names. This is explained in several ways: gods may have had multiple names, local dialect forms may have been used, or a taboo may have discouraged speaking their true names.
The search for the supreme god in Lithuanian mythology is therefore less a search for one name than a reconstruction of an image. Nunadievis, Andajas, and the folklore Dievas may be different forms of the same sky god.
Nunadievis today
Nunadievis is important as a window into the earliest attested layer of Lithuanian religion, the thirteenth-century religion of rulers recorded in chronicles. He reminds us that some of the most important gods are known only from brief, difficult references.
The name should be read cautiously but with interest: it shows how researchers try to reconstruct the image of the supreme god from a single chronicle line by comparing it with Andajas, Dievas, and Indo-European divine functions.
