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Svarog, in Slavic religion, a deity likely associated with the sky and fire. He is considered the father of the sun god Dazhbog and of the fire god Svarozhich and the instigator of monogamous marriage.

The primary written source for Svarog is the Primary Chronicle (Old Slavic: Povest vremennykh let, “Tale of Bygone Years”), in an entry recorded in the year 1114 that contains material attributed to the 6th-century Byzantine chronicler John Malalas’s Chronographia. The reliability of the Primary Chronicle is questioned by scholars because of its bias against local non-Christian traditions, but it remains a key reference for information about Slavic religion.

The Primary Chronicle draws on a particular Greco-Egyptian tradition of divine kingship in which Hephaestus, the Greek god of fire and blacksmithing, is presented as the father of Helios, the sun god. This father-son pair is not found in typical Greek mythology but is recorded in Malalas’s Chronographia. Following that tradition, the Primary Chronicle identifies Hephaestus with Svarog and Helios with Dazhbog. The text also describes how Svarog institutes the law of monogamy and prohibits adultery, the punishment for which is said to be death by fire.

Other sources on Slavic religion suggest that Svarog was a deity without a body, the father of the gods, a blacksmith deity, and a deity of the heavens and atmosphere. He is identified as the father of the fire god Svarozhich, but in some interpretations they are the same deity. Svarog supposedly receded from his role as the head god, leaving his sons in charge.