Velnias
Velnias, in Baltic religion, the god of the Lithuanian vėles or Latvian velis (“zombie”), the “phantom of the dead.” He is a one-eyed, prophetic trickster capable of raising whirlwinds and leading the host of the dead through the skies. Velnias is akin in type to the Germanic Wodan or the Scandinavian Odin and is identical with the god Patollo, or Pickollos, of early Old Prussian and Lithuanian sources.
Citation Information
Article Title:
Velnias
Website Name:
Encyclopaedia Britannica
Publisher:
Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
Date Published:
20 October 2009
Access Date:
March 13, 2025