Skip to content
Veles, a MythSource painting
Slavic

Veles

Lord of Cattle · Lord of Wealth · Lord of the Underworld

01Identity

Veles in Slavic tradition

Veles governs cattle, wealth, poetry, magic, and the underworld in Slavic tradition. He is a chthonic deity associated with the serpent, bear, wolf, and herds, unlike Perun, the atmospheric thunder god above. Some reconstructions present them as opponents struggling over cattle, while others describe them as complementary antipodes.

Top questions

The quick answers

  • Who is Veles?

    Veles is a Slavic deity associated with wealth and commerce; poetry and music; magic and divination; and the dead and the underworld.
    Source

    Source

    • The Oxford Companion to World Mythology
    • Greek Mythology and Poetics
    • A History of Magic, Witchcraft and the Occult

  • What is Veles the god of?

    Veles is associated with wealth and commerce; poetry and music; magic and divination; and the dead and the underworld.
    Source

    Source

    • The Oxford Companion to World Mythology
    • Greek Mythology and Poetics
    • A History of Magic, Witchcraft and the Occult
02The names

The names Veles answers to

The God of Wealth

A title linking Veles with wealth, prosperity, and property

SourceThe Oxford Companion to World Mythology

The God of the Underworld

A title reflecting Veles's chthonic and mortuary associations

SourceThe Oxford Companion to World Mythology

03The myths

The myths of Veles

3 myths, with sources recorded for each.

Veles Returns from the Underworld

Veles rose from the underworld as spring began. He came from the dark realm below and returned to the living earth. Moisture followed his emergence and reached the land after the dormant season. Fertility returned with it. The fields received what they needed for growth, and nature began its renewal. His movement carried the season from the world below into the world of the living.

Veles belonged to the earth and to the underworld. He stood below the sky and opposed the power of Perun, the thunder god above. In the wider struggle, Perun pursued the dark and earthly force through trees, stones, and waters. He struck, burned, or split his opponent, and heavenly water appeared after his victory. The serpent or Volos then hid in earthly waters. This conflict connected the powers below with rain, moisture, and the fertility of the land.

Veles’s return restored the conditions for growth. Moisture reached the fields, fertility came back to the earth, and the living world responded with spring renewal. The event formed part of the seasonal movement between Veles and Perun. After nature had been restored, the conflict began again as the opposing powers returned to their struggle. The cycle continued through Veles’s emergence, the return of moisture and fertility, and the renewed contest between the force below and the thunder god above.

Veles Returns from the Underworld, a MythSource painting of the scene

1 source· checked 2026-08-19

  1. 1The Oxford Companion to World MythologyT1

Veles Steals Perun’s Cattle

Veles seized Perun’s cattle in the underworld. He appeared there as a serpent or dragon, below the world tree or beneath a stone. The cattle belonged to Perun, whose home stood above, in the sky, at the top of the world tree, or on a hill. Their seizure set Veles against Perun and began the struggle between them.

In one telling, Veles guarded the cattle below the world tree. In another, he held them beneath a stone. He remained in the lower realm while Perun pursued him from above. The cattle became the object of their dispute, and Perun sought to take back control of them.

Perun struck at Veles with the force of the thunderer. He hit the tree or the stone where the serpent hid. He burned Veles or split him apart. Veles fled from the blows and hid in the earthly waters. The conflict followed the path between the upper and lower realms, with Perun above and Veles beneath the earth.

Perun’s victory brought heavenly water. Rain appeared after the thunder god defeated the serpent and drove him into the waters. The cattle remained at the centre of the struggle, as the property that Veles had seized from Perun and the cause of their conflict.

Veles Steals Perun’s Cattle, a MythSource painting of the scene

1 source· checked 2026-08-19

  1. 1The Oxford Companion to World MythologyT1

Veles Flees Perun’s Lightning

Veles broke away from the underworld as Perun pursued him and sent thunderbolts after him. Veles did not keep one shape during the flight. He changed himself into an animal and hid in a place where Perun might not see him. Perun followed the trail and struck the hiding place with a thunderbolt. The blow answered Veles's first transformation, but it did not end the escape.

Veles changed again. He took the form of a plant and concealed himself among plants. Perun continued the pursuit and directed lightning against the place where Veles hid. Veles then abandoned that form as well. At another point in the flight, he became a stone. He used the stone's fixed shape and concealment to avoid Perun's sight. Perun remained after him and attacked the place where he had hidden.

Veles also assumed human form. This gave him another appearance in which to escape notice, but Perun continued to search for him. The pursuit moved from one hiding place to the next. Veles changed his shape whenever Perun approached, while Perun answered every change with another thunderbolt or a strike of lightning.

The flight continued as an exchange between concealment and pursuit. Veles took the forms of an animal, a plant, a stone, and a human, but the exact animal, plant, and human appearances remained unspecified. Perun struck each place where Veles hid, yet none of the attacks ended the flight. Veles kept fleeing, and Perun kept striking the places where he concealed himself.

Veles Flees Perun’s Lightning, a MythSource painting of the scene

1 source· checked 2026-08-19

  1. 1Greek Mythology and PoeticsT1