View source for Peckols

{{Short description|Prussian mythological gods}}
{{one source|date=November 2016}}
{{Baltic religion}}
[[File:Prussian gods (Peckols, Perkunas, Potrimpo).jpg|thumb|The trinity of [[Perkūnas]], [[Potrimpo]], and Peckols was introduced and popularized by [[Simon Grunau]]]]
'''Peckols''' and '''Patollo''' (known under a multitude of different names) were gods in the pagan [[Prussian mythology]] who were worshiped by the [[Old Prussians]]. Most researchers believe that, despite varying names, Peckols and Patollo were probably the same god in charge of the underworld and the dead. It is usually described as an angry, evil spirit similar to the [[Lithuanian mythology|Lithuanian]] [[Velnias]].<ref name=balsys/>
''Patollu'' was first mentioned in 1418, by [[Bishop of Warmia]] in a letter to the Pope.<ref name=balsys/> Chronicler [[Simon Grunau]] (1529) provided more vivid but dubious details about ''Patollo''. According to Grunau, ''Patollo'' was one of the three gods portrayed on the flag and coat of arms of King [[Widewuto]] and worshiped in the temple of [[Romuva (temple)|Rickoyoto]]. He was portrayed as an old man with a white beard and a white headdress similar to a turban. He was a frightening and ruthless god of the dead who would haunt and taunt the living if they disobeyed their pagan priests or buried the dead without proper sacrifices to the gods. Many other [[Early Modern|early modern]] writers, including [[Alexander Guagnini]] and [[Lucas David]], followed Grunau in their descriptions of ''Patollo''.<ref name=balsys/>
The ''[[Sudovian Book]]'' (1520s), mentioned two beings – ''Peckols'', the god of hell and darkness, and ''Pockols'', the airborne spirit or devil.<ref name=balsys/> The same pair is also found in the church decrees of 1530 (''Constitutiones Synodales''). There, ''Pecols'' was identified with the [[Roman mythology|Roman god]] of the underworld, [[Pluto (mythology)|Pluto]] and ''Pocols'' with the [[Greek mythology|Greek]] deities of anger, the [[Erinyes|Furies]]. [[Jan Sandecki Malecki]] followed the Sudovian Book and wrote about ''Pocclum'' and ''Poccollum''. [[Jonas Bretkūnas]], [[Caspar Hennenberger]], and later authors attempted to reconcile the accounts provided by Grunau and the Sudovian Book. In the 17th century [[Christoph Hartknoch]] and [[Matthäus Prätorius]] testified that people still believed in ''Picolli'' and ''Pykullis''.<ref name=balsys/>
==References==
{{reflist|refs=
<ref name=balsys>{{cite book| title=Lietuvių ir prūsų dievai, deivės, dvasios: nuo apeigos iki prietaro |first=Rimantas |last=Balsys | publisher=[[Klaipėdos universitetas]] |year=2010 |isbn=978-9955-18-462-1 |pages=223–231|language=lt}}</ref>
}}
[[Category:Death gods]]
[[Category:Prussian gods]]
[[Category:Lithuanian gods]]
[[Category:Baltic gods]]
[[Category:Underworld gods]]