Romowa

Romowa, in Prussian mythology, is the sacred place of the ancient Prussians. A civil war had divided the native Prussians and the immigrant Skandians. Waidewut and Grive, the first king and the first chief priest, had restored peace, and Grive afterwards assembled the people on a beautiful plain on which stood a massive oak with widely spreading branches. Before this tree he had placed three images, which he called Potrimpos, Perkunos, and Pikullos, and declared them to be the supreme gods. Punishments were threatened and rewards promised in their names. Three niches were cut in the oak tree which had been selected to become the home of the idols, and they were placed there with great solemnity. A pyre was then erected before the tree, from the top of which Grive exhorted the people, and on which sacrifices, including several unmanageable persons, were afterwards burned. A fearful thunderstorm, which the priest declared to be the voice of God, made the people tremble, and caused them to regard Grive with a dread that put them in mortal terror for centuries afterwards when they were obliged to approach him. The place in which this occurred was called Romowa. The priests continued to dwell and offer sacrifices there until the increased population and extension of its territories caused the establishing of other sacred oaks. Christianity ultimately came in and extirpated them all, so that the location of the original Romowa is no longer known.