The Image of Souls Climbing a Mountain in the Bychowiec Chronicle: An Echo of Pagan Customs in Renaissance Literature?

Historiography has thus far focused primarily on the pagan rituals and burial customs of Lithuanians (Balts). However, the image of souls climbing a mountain, depicted in the Bychowiec Chronicle (likely from the first half of the sixteenth century), has not received specific attention. Traditionally, this image has been presented in the historiography as a pagan rite, associated with pre-Christian burial customs of the Balts. To determine whether this image genuinely is of pagan origin, it is necessary to begin the research with the earliest written sources describing funeral customs of the Balts from the tenth to fifteenth centuries. This article examines how the burial customs of Lithuanians and other Balts, as recorded in medieval sources, correlate with the information provided by the Bychowiec Chronicle. It becomes clear that the motif of souls climbing a mountain does not appear in any earlier written sources. This absence suggests that the image in the Bychowiec Chronicle may have originated from other influences, either from ancient Indo-European traditions or from the Christian Scripture, with the latter being the more likely source.