Old-Russian Stribog and his Ancient Greek Brother Astray

The essay analyses the name of a pagan God of the Ancient Rus Stribog, who was mentioned in ‘The Russian Primary Chronicle’ and ‘The Tale of the Igor’s Campaign’ and its connection with the ancient Greek mythology. The article suggests that an old-Russian god Stribog is similar to the ancient Greek god Astray, the father of the famous gods of winds, Boreas – the god of cold northern wind, Zephyr – the god of warm western wind, Anemoi – the god of hot southern wind and Eurus – the god of unstable eastern or south-eastern wind, who are often associated with the winds they symbolize in Russian poetry. The similarity of Stribog and Astray lays not only in their origins, but in the common root str-. The article concludes that because god Astray is not only the farther of the gods of the winds, but also the father of Venus and other stars, it is arguable that Stribog is both the grandfather of the winds and the Slavic god of the night sky.