Simonas Stanevičius

Simonas Tadas Stanevičius (; 26 October 1799 – 10 March 1848) was a Lithuanian writer and an activist of the "Samogitian Revival", an early stage of the Lithuanian National Revival.

Biography Born to a family of petty nobles, as a son of Stanisław Staniewicz and Barbara Rymkiewicz. Stanevičius studied at the Jesuit gymnasium in Kražiai from 1817 to 1821. For a year he worked in Kražiai as a private teacher, before enrolling into the Art and Literature Department of Vilnius University. Stanevičius then moved to Raseiniai and lived in the Plater estate, managing their private library. During the Uprising of 1831, Stanevičius traveled to Königsberg where he met with Ludwig Rhesa and collected materials for future publications.

Works In 1829, inspired by Johann Gottfried Herder, Four years later he published an addendum (Pažymės žemaitiškos gaidos) with melodies for these songs.

He is best remembered for the publication of Šešios pasakos (Six Fables), a book of six fables and ode Žemaičių šlovė (The Samogitians' Glory) written by Stanevičius himself. Two fables borrowed plots from Aesop and the other four mixed the author's own ideas with Samogitian folklore. The most important fables are Aitvarai (a type of household spirit in Lithuanian mythology) and Arklys ir meška (The Horse and the Bear – symbols of the Aukštaitians and Samogitians respectively) as they depict the worldview, values, and culture of everyday Samogitian peasants. It was partially published only in 1893 and fully in 1967, but is significant as the first critical history of Lithuania and first scholarly analysis of the Lithuanian mythology. In contrast to Dionizas Poška or Simonas Daukantas, who searched for glorious and idealized history, Stanevičius carefully studied, validated, and cited his sources, remaining truthful to the facts, and was not afraid to reject romantic legends. He heavily criticized Teodor Narbutt and Maciej Stryjkowski as inaccurate. Stanevičius debunked many of the romantic legends, especially in the area of Lithuanian mythology, including the romantic notion of the ancient Romuva temple and connections drawn between Roman gods and Lithuanian gods.