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Rugiwit

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Ruggles, William, Ll.d.

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in Wendish mythology, was a war god of the ancient Rugians, and presumably the same as Karewit, since the latter is represented in a similar character (at Karenz, on the island of Rugen). Frequent colossal statues of stone or wood were erected to him in the different towns, in which he appeared as a being having seven faces on a single head, and as bearing a naked sword in his hand, while seven other swords were suspended from his person. The swallow appears to have been sacred to him, since that bird was allowed to build its nests in the eyes, mouths, and other lines of the different faces, and also in the folds of the scarlet cloth in which the god was usually enveloped for the purpose of preventing access to his person. At Rhetra an image of this god was found which was almost naked and had six heads, four male and two female, besides the head of a lion on the breast. It has been supposed that a twofold deity, representing both Rugiwit and Karewit, is set forth in this image; but the two are but a single god of war.