Chapter 2. ANCIENT RUSSIA
§ 1. East Slavic tribes of the VIII-IX centuries.
Tribal unions. By the time the name "Rus" began to be applied to the Eastern Slavs, that is, by the 8th century, their life had undergone significant changes.
The Tale of Bygone Years notes that on the eve of the unification of most of the East Slavic tribes under the rule of Kyiv, there were at least 15 large tribal unions here. In the Middle Dnieper region lived a powerful union of tribes, united by the name of the glade. The center of the Polyansky lands has long been the city of Kyiv. To the north of the glades lived Novgorod Slovenes, grouped around the cities of Novgorod, Ladoga. To the northwest were the Drevlyans, that is, the inhabitants of the forests, whose main city was Iskorosten. Further, in the forest zone, on the territory of modern Belarus, a tribal union of Dryagovichi, i.e. swamp inhabitants, was formed (from the word "dryagva" - swamp, bog). In the northeast, in the forest thickets between the Oka, Klyazma and Volga rivers, lived the Vyatichi, in whose lands Rostov and Suzdal were the main cities. Between the Vyatichi and the glades, in the upper reaches of the Volga, the Dnieper and the Western Dvina, the Krivichi lived, who later penetrated into the lands of the Slovenes and Vyatichi. Smolensk became their main city. In the basin of the Western Dvina, the Polotsk people lived, who received their name from the Polota river, which flows into the Western Dvina, Polotsk later became the main city of the Polotsk. The tribes that settled along the rivers Desna, Seim, Sula and lived east of the meadows were called northerners or inhabitants of the northern lands; their main city eventually became Chernihiv. Radimichi lived along the rivers Sozh and Seim. To the west of the glades, in the basin of the Bug River, Volynians and Buzhans settled; between the Dniester and the Danube lived the streets and Tivertsy, whose lands bordered on Bulgaria.
The annals also mention the tribes of Croats and Dulebs, who lived in the Danube and Carpathian regions.
All ancient descriptions of the settlement of the East Slavic tribes say that they did not live in isolation from their foreign-speaking neighbors.
Strong East Slavic unions of tribes subordinated the surrounding small peoples to their influence, taxed them with tribute. There were clashes between them, but relations were mostly peaceful and good neighborly. Against an external enemy, the Slavs and their neighbors often acted as a united front.
By the end of the VIII - the beginning of the IX century. the Polan core of the Eastern Slavs is freed from the power of the Khazars.
Economy, social relations of the Eastern Slavs. What was it in the VIII-IX centuries. life of East Slavic tribal unions? It is definitely impossible to talk about them. The chronicler Nestor knew about this in the 12th century. He wrote that the most developed and civilized among all were the meadows, whose customs, family traditions were at a very high level. “And the Drevlyans,” he remarked, “live in an animal way,” these are forest dwellers; Radimichi, Vyatichi and northerners who lived in the forests also left not far from them.
Of course, the Kyiv chronicler especially singled out the glades. But there is some truth in his observations. The Middle Dnieper was the most developed region among other East Slavic lands. It was here, on the free black earth, in a relatively favorable climate, on the trade "Dnieper" road, that the majority of the population was concentrated first of all. It was here that the ancient traditions of arable farming, combined with cattle breeding, horse breeding and gardening, were preserved and developed, iron-making, pottery production was improved, and other crafts were born.
In the lands of the Novgorod Slovenes, with an abundance of rivers, lakes, a well-branched water transport system, oriented, on the one hand, to the Baltic, and on the other, to the Dnieper and Volga "roads", navigation, trade, various crafts that produce products for exchange. The Novgorod-Ilmensky region was rich in forests, fur trade flourished there; Fishing has been an important branch of the economy since ancient times. In the forest thickets, along the banks of the rivers, on the forest edges, where the Drevlyans, Vyatichi, Dryagovichi lived, the rhythm of economic life was slow, here people especially hard mastered nature, winning every inch of land from it for arable land, meadows.
The lands of the Eastern Slavs were very different in terms of development, although people slowly but surely mastered the whole range of basic economic activities and production skills. But the speed of their implementation depended on natural conditions, on the number of population, the availability of resources, say, iron ore.
Therefore, when we talk about the main features of the economy of the East Slavic tribal unions, we mean, first of all, the level of development of the Middle Dnieper, which in those days became the economic leader among the East Slavic lands.
Especially intensively continued to improve agriculture - the main type of economy of the early medieval world. Improved tools. A widespread type of agricultural machinery has become a "rall with a skid", with an iron plowshare or a plow. Millstones were replaced by ancient grain grinders, and iron sickles were used for harvesting. Stone and bronze tools are a thing of the past. Agronomic observations have reached a high level. The Eastern Slavs knew perfectly well the most convenient time for this or that field work and made this knowledge an achievement of all local farmers.
And most importantly, in the lands of the Eastern Slavs in these relatively “calm centuries”, when the devastating invasions of nomads did not really disturb the inhabitants of the Dnieper region, arable land expanded every year. The steppe and forest-steppe lands convenient for agriculture, lying near the dwellings, were widely developed. With iron axes, the Slavs cut centuries-old trees, burned small shoots, uprooted stumps in those places where the forest dominated.
Two-field and three-field crop rotations became common in the Slavic lands of the 7th-8th centuries, replacing slash-and-burn agriculture, in which the land was cleared from under the forest, used to exhaustion, and then abandoned. Manure soil became widely practiced. This made the yields higher, ensuring the life of people more durable. The Dnieper Slavs were engaged not only in agriculture. Near their villages there were beautiful water meadows where cattle and sheep grazed. Local residents raised pigs and chickens. Oxen and horses became the draft force in the economy. Horse breeding has become one of the important economic activities. And nearby were rivers, lakes, rich in fish. Fishing was an important subsidiary trade for the Slavs.
Arable plots were interspersed with forests, which became denser and more severe to the north, rarer and more cheerful on the border with the steppe. Each Slav was not only a diligent and stubborn farmer, but also an experienced hunter.
From spring to late autumn, the Eastern Slavs, like their neighbors the Balts and Finno-Ugric peoples, were engaged in beekeeping (from the word "bort" - a forest beehive). It gave enterprising fishermen a lot of honey, wax, which was also highly valued in the exchange.
The constantly improving economy of the Eastern Slavs eventually led to the fact that a separate family, a separate house, ceased to need the help of the clan, relatives. The unified tribal economy began to gradually disintegrate, huge houses accommodating up to a hundred people began to give way to small family dwellings. Common tribal property, common arable land, lands began to break up into separate plots belonging to families. The tribal community is soldered both by kinship, and by common labor, hunting. Joint work on clearing the forest, hunting for large animals with primitive stone tools and weapons required great collective efforts. A plow with an iron plowshare, an iron axe, a shovel, a hoe, a bow and arrows, iron-tipped darts, double-edged steel swords significantly expanded and strengthened the power of an individual, an individual family over nature and contributed to the withering away of the tribal community. Now it has become neighborly, where each family had the right to its share of communal property. Thus, the right of private ownership, private property was born, an opportunity appeared for individual strong families to develop large plots of land, to obtain more products in the course of fishing activities, to create certain surpluses, accumulations.
Under these conditions, the power and economic capabilities of tribal leaders, elders, tribal nobility, and warriors surrounding the leaders sharply increased. This is how property inequality originated in the Slavic environment, and especially clearly in the regions of the Middle Dnieper.
Crafts. Trade. The path "from the Varangians to the Greeks". In many ways, these processes were helped by the development of not only agriculture and cattle breeding, but also crafts, the growth of cities, trade relations, because here conditions were also created for the additional accumulation of social wealth, which most often fell into the hands of the wealthy, deepening the property difference between the rich and the poor.
The Middle Dnieper region became a place where crafts in the VIII - early IX centuries. reached great perfection. So, near one of the villages, during archaeological excavations, 25 forge furnaces were found, in which iron was smelted and up to 20 types of tools were made from it.
Every year the products of artisans became more diverse. Gradually, their labor became more and more separated from that of the countryside. Artisans could now support themselves and their families with this work. They began to settle where it was more convenient and easier for them to sell their products or exchange them for food. Such places, of course, were settlements located on trade routes, places where tribal leaders lived, elders, where religious shrines were located, where many people came to worship. This is how the Eastern Slavic cities were born, which became the center of tribal authorities, and the center of crafts and trade, and the place of religious worship, and the place of defense from the enemy.
Cities were born as settlements that simultaneously performed all these tasks - political, economic, religious and military. Only in this case they had prospects for further development and could turn into really large population centers.
It was in the VIII-IX centuries. the famous route “from the Varangians to the Greeks” was born, which not only contributed to the trade contacts of the Slavs with the outside world, but also linked together the East Slavic lands themselves. On this path, large Slavic urban centers arose - Kyiv, Smolensk, Lyubech, Novgorod, which later played such an important role in the history of Russia.
But besides this, the main trade route for the Eastern Slavs, there were others. First of all, this is the eastern trade route, the axis of which was the Volga and Don rivers.
To the north of the Volga-Don route, roads ran from the state of the Bulgarians, located on the Middle Volga, through the Voronezh forests, to Kyiv and up the Volga, through Northern Russia, to the Baltic regions. From the Oka-Volga interfluve to the south, to the Don and the Sea of \u200b\u200bAzov, the Muravskaya road, named so later, led. Finally, there were both western and southwestern trade routes that provided the Eastern Slavs with a direct outlet to the heart of Europe.
All these paths covered the lands of the Eastern Slavs with a kind of network, crossed with each other and, in essence, firmly tied the Eastern Slavic lands to the states of Western Europe, the Balkans, the Northern Black Sea region, the Volga region, the Caucasus, the Caspian Sea, Western and Central Asia.
The Eastern Slavs turned out to be at the average level in terms of the pace of economic, social, political, cultural development. They lagged behind the Western countries - France, England. The Byzantine Empire and the Arab Caliphate, with their developed statehood, the highest culture, and writing, were at an unattainable height for them, but the Eastern Slavs were on a par with the Czechs, Poles, Scandinavians, significantly ahead of the Hungarians, who were still at the nomadic level, not to mention the nomadic Turks, Finno-Ugric forest inhabitants or Lithuanians living an isolated and closed life.
Religion of the Eastern Slavs. The religion of the Eastern Slavs was also complex, diverse, with elaborate customs. Like other ancient peoples, in particular the ancient Greeks, the Slavs populated the world with a variety of gods and goddesses. Among them were major and minor, powerful, all-powerful and weak, playful, evil and kind.
At the head of the Slavic deities was the great Svarog - the god of the universe, reminiscent of the ancient Greek Zeus.
His sons - Svarozhichi - the sun and fire - were carriers of light and heat. The sun god Dazhbog was highly revered by the Slavs. This cult was associated with agriculture and was therefore especially popular. The god Veles was revered by the Slavs as the patron saint of domestic animals, it was a kind of "cattle god". Stribog, according to their concepts, commanded the winds, like the ancient Greek Aeolus.
As the Slavs merged with some Iranian and Finno-Ugric tribes, their gods also migrated to the Slavic pantheon.
So, in the VIII-IX centuries. the Slavs revered the sun god Horus, who obviously came from the Iranian tribes. From there, the god Simargl appeared, who was depicted as a dog and was considered the god of the soil, the roots of plants. In the Iranian world, it was the master of the underworld, the deity of fertility.
The only major female deity among the Slavs was Mokosh, who personified the birth of all life, was the patroness of the female part of the economy.
Over time, as the Slavs of princes, governors, retinues, began to advance in the public life of the Slavs, the beginning of great military campaigns, in which the young prowess of the nascent state played, the god of lightning and thunder, Perun, who then becomes the main heavenly deity, comes to the fore more and more among the Slavs. , merges with Svarog, Rod as more ancient gods. This does not happen by chance: Perun was a god whose cult was born in a princely, retinue environment.
Perun - lightning, the highest deity - was invincible. By the 9th century he became the main god of the Eastern Slavs.
But pagan ideas were not limited to the main gods. The world was also inhabited by other supernatural beings. Many of them were associated with the idea of the existence of an afterlife kingdom. It was from there that evil spirits - ghouls - came to people. And the good spirits that protect a person were the coastlines. The Slavs sought to protect themselves from evil spirits with conspiracies, amulets, the so-called "amulets". The goblin lived in the forest, mermaids lived by the water. The Slavs believed that these were the souls of the dead, coming out in the spring to enjoy nature.
The Slavs believed that each house is under the auspices of the brownie, which they identified with the spirit of their ancestor, the ancestor, or shchur, chura. When a person believed that he was threatened by evil spirits, he called on his patron - the brownie, chur - to protect him and said: "Chur me, chur me!"
Already on the eve of the new year (the year for the ancient Slavs began, as now, on January 1), and then the sun turned to spring, the Kolyada holiday began. First, the lights went out in the houses, and then people produced a new fire by friction, lit candles, hearths, glorified the beginning of a new life of the sun, wondered about their fate, made sacrifices.
Another holiday coinciding with natural phenomena was celebrated in March. It was the spring equinox. The Slavs praised the sun, celebrated the rebirth of nature, the onset of spring. They burned effigies of winter, cold, death; Maslenitsa began with its pancakes, reminiscent of the solar circle, festivities, sleigh rides, and various funs took place.
On May 1–2, the Slavs cleaned the young birch with ribbons, decorated their houses with branches with freshly blossomed leaves, again praised the sun god, and celebrated the appearance of the first spring shoots.
Another national holiday fell on June 23 and was called the Kupala holiday. This day was the summer solstice. The harvest was ripening, and people prayed that the gods would send them rain. On the eve of this day, according to the ideas of the Slavs, mermaids came ashore from the water - the "mermaid week" began. Girls these days led round dances, threw wreaths into the rivers. The most beautiful ones were wrapped around with green branches and watered, as if inviting the long-awaited rain to the earth.
At night, bonfires flared up, through which young men and girls jumped, which meant a ritual of purification, which, as it were, was helped by the sacred fire.
On Kupala nights, the so-called abductions of girls were performed, when young people conspired and the groom took the bride away from the hearth.
Births, weddings, and funerals were arranged with complex religious rites. So, the custom of the Eastern Slavs is known to bury with the ashes of a person (the Slavs burned their dead at the stake, placing them in wooden boats; this meant that a person was sailing into the underworld) one of his wives, over whom a ritual murder was committed; the remains of a war horse, weapons, jewelry were placed in the grave of a warrior. Life continued, according to the ideas of the Slavs, beyond the grave. Then a high mound was poured over the grave, and a pagan trizna was performed: relatives and comrades-in-arms commemorated the deceased.
§ 2. The emergence of the state among the Eastern Slavs
The first mention of Russia. The first state in the lands of the Eastern Slavs was called "Rus". By the name of its capital - the city of Kyiv - scientists subsequently began to call it Kievan Rus, although it itself never called itself that. Just "Rus" or "Russian land". Where did this name come from?
The first mention of the name "Rus" dates back to the same time as the information about the Ants, Slavs, Wends, that is, to the 5th-7th centuries. Describing the tribes that lived between the Dnieper and the Dniester, the Greeks call them Antes, Scythians, Sarmatians, Gothic historians - Rosoman (blond, bright people), and Arabs - Rus. But it is clear that they were talking about the same people.
Years pass, the name "Rus" is increasingly becoming collective for all the tribes that lived in the vast expanses between the Baltic and the Black Sea, the Oka-Volga interfluve and the Polish borderlands. In the ninth century the name "Rus" is mentioned in the works of Byzantine, Western and Eastern authors several times.
860 dated the message of Byzantine sources about the attack of Russia on Constantinople. All data speak for the fact that this Rus was located in the Middle Dnieper.
From the same time, information comes about the use of the name "Rus" in the north, on the coast of the Baltic Sea. They are contained in the "Tale of Bygone Years" and are associated with the appearance of the legendary and hitherto unsolved Varangians.
The chronicle under 862 reports the calling of the tribes of the Novgorod Slovenes, Krivichi and Chud, who lived in the northeastern corner of the East Slavic lands, the Varangians. The chronicler reports on the decision of the inhabitants of those places: “Let's look for a prince who would own us and judge by law. And they went across the sea to the Varangians, to Russia. Further, the author writes that “those Varangians were called Rus”, just as the Swedes, Normans, Angles, Gotlanders, etc. had their ethnic names. Thus, the chronicler indicated the ethnicity of the Varangians, whom he calls “Rus”. “Our land is great and plentiful, and attire (i.e. management - note auth.) it doesn't. Come reign and rule over us."
The chronicle repeatedly returns to explaining who the Varangians are. The Varangians are aliens, “finders”, and the indigenous population are Slovenes, Krivichi, Finno-Ugric tribes. The Varangians, according to the chronicler, "sit" in the east of the Western peoples along the southern coast of the Varangian (Baltic) Sea.
Thus, the Varangians, Slovenes and other peoples who lived here came to the Slavs and began to be called Rus. “But the Slovenian language and Russian are one,” writes an ancient author. In the future, the clearing, who lived to the south, also began to be called Rus.
Thus, the name "Rus" appeared in the East Slavic lands in the south, gradually replacing the local tribal names. It also appeared in the north, brought here by the Vikings.
It must be remembered that the Slavic tribes took possession in the 1st millennium AD. e. vast expanses of Eastern Europe between the Carpathians and the southern coast of the Baltic Sea. Among them, the names Russ, Rusyns were very common. Until now, in the Balkans, in Germany, their descendants live under their own name "Rusyns", that is, fair-haired people, in contrast to the blonds - Germans and Scandinavians and the dark-haired inhabitants of southern Europe. Part of these "Rusyns" moved from the Carpathian region and from the banks of the Danube to the Dnieper region, as reported by the chronicle. Here they met with the inhabitants of these lands, also of Slavic origin. Other Russes, Rusyns made contacts with the Eastern Slavs in the northeastern region of Europe. The chronicle accurately indicates the "address" of these Varangian Rus - the southern shores of the Baltic.
The Varangians fought with the Eastern Slavs in the area of Lake Ilmen, took tribute from them, then concluded some kind of "row" or agreement with them, and at the time of their inter-tribal strife they came here as peacekeepers from outside, neutral rulers. This practice of inviting a prince or king to rule from close, often kindred lands was quite common in Europe. This tradition was preserved in Novgorod and later. Sovereigns from other Russian principalities were invited there to reign.
Based on the message of the chronicle about the Varangians, some scientists, both foreign and Russian, in the XVIII-XX centuries. created and defended the so-called Norman theory of the origin of the Russian state. Its essence lies in the fact that the state was brought to Russia from outside by invited princes, that it was created by the Normans, Scandinavians, bearers of Western culture - this is how these historians understood the Varangians. The Eastern Slavs themselves allegedly could not create a state system, which spoke of their backwardness, historical doom, etc. This theory was often used in the West during periods of confrontation between our Motherland and its Western opponents.
Now historians have convincingly proved the development of statehood in Russia long before the "calling of the Varangians." However, until now, the echo of these disputes is the discussion about who the Varangians are. The Normanists continue to insist that the Varangians were Scandinavians, based on evidence of Russia's extensive ties with Scandinavia, on the mention of names that they interpret as Scandinavian, in the Russian ruling elite.
However, this version completely contradicts the data of the chronicle, which places the Varangians on the southern shores of the Baltic Sea and clearly separates them in the 9th century. from Scandinavians. Against this is the emergence of contacts between the Eastern Slavs and the Varangians as a state association at a time when Scandinavia, lagging behind Russia in socio-economic and political development, did not know in the 9th century. no princely or royal power, no state formations. The Slavs of the southern Baltic had both. Of course, the debate about who the Varangians were will continue.
"Military Democracy". In the VIII - the first half of the IX century. the Eastern Slavs began to develop a social structure, which historians call "military democracy". This is no longer a primitive stand with its equality of tribal members, tribal assemblies, leaders chosen by the people, people's tribal militias, but also not a state with its strong central authority, uniting the entire territory of the country and subjugating subjects, who themselves differ sharply in political role in society, according to its material, legal status.
Those who led the tribe, and later the unions of the tribes, who organized raids on near and distant neighbors, collected more and more wealth. The leaders, who were previously chosen due to their wisdom, justice, are now turning into tribal princes, in whose hands all the management of a tribe or an alliance of tribes is concentrated. They rise above society and thanks to their wealth, the support of military detachments, consisting of associates. Next to the prince, the voivode, who is the leader of the tribal army, stands out among the Eastern Slavs. An increasingly significant role is played by the squad, which is separated from the tribal militia, becoming a group of warriors personally devoted to the prince. These are the so-called "children". These people are no longer associated with agriculture, cattle breeding, or trade. Their profession is war. And since the power of tribal alliances is constantly growing, war becomes a permanent occupation for these people. Their prey, for which one has to pay with injury or even life, far exceeds the results of the labor of a farmer, cattle breeder, hunter. The squad becomes a special privileged part in society. The tribal nobility also separates over time - the heads of clans, strong patriarchal families. Stands out and know, whose main quality is military prowess, courage. Therefore, the democracy of the period of formation of the state acquires a military character.
The military spirit permeates the entire structure of life in this transitional society. Brute force, the sword underlie the rise of some and the beginning of the humiliation of others. But the traditions of the old system still exist. There is a tribal assembly - veche. Princes and governors are still elected by the people, but the desire to make power hereditary is already visible. The elections themselves eventually turn into a well-organized spectacle, staged by the princes, governors, and representatives of the nobility themselves. In their hands is the whole organization of management, military force, experience.
The people themselves cease to be united. The main part of the tribe were "people" - "people". This definition means in the singular "free man". The Eastern Slavs used the name "smerd" in the same sense. But among the “people”, “smerds”, “howl” began to stand out, who had the right and duty to participate in the army and in the national assembly - “veche”. Veche for many years remained the supreme body of tribal self-government and the court. The degree of wealth was not yet the main sign of inequality, it was determined by other circumstances - by those who played the main role in the economy, who was the strongest, most dexterous, and experienced. In a society where heavy manual labor prevailed, such people were men, the heads of large patriarchal families, the so-called "husbands", among the "people" they stood at the highest social level. Women, children, and other members of the family ("servants") were subordinate to "husbands". Already at that time, a layer of people who were in the service appeared in the family - “servants”. At the lower levels of society, there were “orphans”, “serfs” who did not have family ties, as well as the very poor part of the neighboring community, who were called “wretched”, “meager”, “poor” people. At the very bottom of the social ladder were "slaves" engaged in forced labor. Among them, as a rule, were prisoners - foreigners. But, as Byzantine authors noted, the Slavs, after a certain period of time, released them into the wild, and they remained to live as part of the tribe.
Thus, the structure of tribal life in the period of "military democracy" was complex and branched. It clearly marked social differences.
Two Russian state centers: Kyiv and Novgorod. By the end of the VIII - the beginning of the IX century. economic and social processes in the East Slavic lands led to the unification of various tribal unions into strong intertribal groupings.
The centers of such attraction and unification were the Middle Dnieper region, headed by Kyiv, and the northwestern region, where settlements were grouped around Lake Ilmen, along the upper reaches of the Dnieper, along the banks of the Volkhov, i.e., near the key points of the route "from the Varangians to the Greeks." At first, it was said that these two centers began to stand out more and more among other large tribal unions of the Eastern Slavs.
The glades showed signs of statehood earlier than other tribal unions. This was based on the most rapid economic, political and social development of the region. Polyana tribal leaders, and later Kyiv princes, held the keys to the entire Dnieper highway, and Kyiv was not only a center of crafts, trade, to which the entire agricultural district was drawn, but also a well-fortified point.
Military campaigns to the south and east. The attacks of the Russian army on the Crimean possessions of Byzantium date back to this time. Russ moved on high-speed boats, which could go both on oars and under sails. Thus, they covered huge distances along the rivers, the Black, Azov, Caspian Seas. Vessels were dragged from one reservoir to another by dragging, for which special skating rinks were used.
From the sea, the Rus fought the southern coast of Crimea from Chersonesos to Kerch, stormed the city of Surozh (present-day Sudak) and plundered it.
By the beginning of the IX century. The Polyana lands had already freed themselves from the power of the Khazars and stopped paying tribute to them, but other Russian lands still paid tribute to the Khazaria.
A few years later, the warlike Rus again undertook a campaign to the Black Sea shores. This time, the rich Byzantine port of Amastris, the then “Baghdad” of Asia Minor, became the target of the attack. The Russian army took possession of the city, but then made peace with the local inhabitants and went home.
Both of these campaigns showed that a new powerful power was being born in the Middle Dnieper region, which immediately determined its main military-strategic interests, closely related to trade interests, the protection and reconquest of new trade routes: the Northern Black Sea, Azov, Crimea, Danube.
In 860, Constantinople unexpectedly underwent a fierce attack by the Russian army.
The Rus took the Greeks by surprise. Their intelligence reported that at that time the Byzantine army, led by the emperor, and the fleet had left to fight the Arabs. But the Russians did not have enough strength to take the city - their attempts to climb the walls were repulsed. A siege began, which lasted exactly a week. Then peace negotiations began. The Greeks made concessions: they paid a huge indemnity to the attackers, promised annual cash payments, and gave the Russians the opportunity to freely trade in the Byzantine markets. Peace was concluded between Russia and Byzantium, the countdown of their diplomatic relations began. The Russian prince and the Byzantine emperor at a personal meeting sealed the conditions of this peace. And a few years later, according to the same agreement, Byzantine priests baptized the leader of the Rus and his squad. At the same time, in 864, the Prince of Bulgaria Boris, who was also baptized by Byzantine priests, converted to Christianity.
Shortly thereafter, the Russian army appeared on the shores of the southern Caspian. This was the first campaign known to us to the east along the beaten track that later became: the Dnieper - the Black and Azov Seas - the Volga - the Caspian Sea.
Events in the Novgorod lands. Rurik. At that time, in the northwestern lands of the Eastern Slavs, in the region of Lake Ilmen, along the Volkhov and in the upper reaches of the Dnieper, events were brewing that were also destined to become one of the most remarkable in Russian history. A powerful union of Slavic and Finno-Ugric tribes was formed here, the unifiers of which were the Priilmensky Slovenes. This unification was facilitated by the struggle that began here between the Slovenes, Krivichi, Mary, Chud and the Varangians, who managed to establish control over the local population for some time. And just as the meadows in the south threw off the power of the Khazars, in the north the union of local tribes threw off the Varangian rulers.
The Varangians were expelled, but "family upon clan arose," as the chronicle tells. The issue was resolved in the same way as it was often resolved in other European countries: in order to establish peace, tranquility, stabilize governance, and introduce a fair trial, the quarreling tribes invited an outside prince.
The choice fell on the Varangian princes. Chronicle sources under 862 report that after turning to the Varangians, three brothers arrived from there to the Slavic and Finno-Ugric lands: Rurik, Sineus and Truvor. The first sat down to reign among the Ilmen Slovenes, first on Ladoga, and then in Novgorod, where he "cut down" the fortress; the second - in the lands of the village, on Beloozero, and the third - in the possessions of the Krivichi, in the city of Izborsk.
According to some chronicles, the Novgorodian Slovenes began a struggle against Rurik, which probably flared up after he exceeded his authority as an "arbiter", "a hired sword" and took full power into his own hands. But Rurik crushed the uprising and established himself in Novgorod. After the death of the brothers, he united under his command the entire north and north-west of the East Slavic and Finno-Ugric lands.
Thus, in the East Slavic lands by the 60s. 9th century in essence, two strong state centers were formed, each of which covered vast territories: the middle Dnieper, Polyansky, headed by Kyiv, and the northwestern, headed by Novgorod. Both of them stood on the famous trade route, controlled strategically important points, both developed from the very beginning as multi-ethnic state formations.
The rivalry for the leadership of all the Slavic lands between Novgorod and Kyiv began almost immediately after the creation of these two state centers. Information has been preserved that part of the Slavic elite, dissatisfied with Rurik, fled to Kyiv. At the same time, Kyiv launched an offensive to the north and tried to win back the lands of the Krivichi with Polotsk from Novgorod. Rurik also waged war for Polotsk. A historic confrontation between the two emerging Russian state centers was brewing.
§ 3. The first Russian princes
Struggle between Novgorod and Kyiv. Prince Oleg. Rurik died in 879, leaving an infant son, Igor. All affairs in Novgorod were taken over either by the voivode or by Oleg, a relative of Rurik. It was he who undertook a campaign against Kyiv, carefully preparing it. He gathered a large army, which included representatives of all peoples subject to Novgorod. There were Ilmenian Slovenes, Krivichi, Chud, Merya, all. The striking force of Oleg's troops was the Varangian squad.
Oleg captured the main city of the Krivichi Smolensk, then Lyubech. Having sailed to the Kyiv mountains and not expecting to take a strong fortress by storm, Oleg went to a military trick. Having hidden the soldiers in the boats, he sent the news to Askold and Dir, who reigned in Kyiv, that a merchant caravan had sailed from the north, and he asked the princes to go ashore. Unsuspecting Kyiv rulers came to the meeting. Oleg's soldiers jumped out of the ambush and surrounded the people of Kiev. Oleg picked up little Igor and told the Kyiv rulers that they did not belong to the princely family, but he himself "is the prince's family", and Igor is the son of Prince Rurik. Askold and Dir were killed, and Oleg established himself in Kyiv. Entering the city, he declared: "Let Kyiv be the mother of Russian cities."
So the Novgorod north defeated the Kyiv south. But it was only a purely military victory. Both economically, politically, and culturally, the Middle Dnieper region has far outstripped other Eastern Slavic lands. At the end of the ninth century it was the historical center of the Russian lands, and Oleg, having made Kyiv his residence, only confirmed this position. A single Old Russian state arose with its center in Kyiv. It happened in 882.
During this war, Prince Oleg showed himself to be a decisive and treacherous military leader, an outstanding organizer. Having seized the throne of Kyiv and spent about 30 years here (Oleg died in 912), he pushed Igor into the shadows.
Oleg did not complete his military successes on this. Having settled in Kyiv, he imposed a tribute on the territories subject to him - he “set a tribute” to the Novgorod Slovenes, Krivichi, other tribes and peoples. Oleg concluded an agreement with the Varangians and undertook to pay them annually 300 silver hryvnias so that there was peace on the northwestern borders of Russia. He undertook campaigns against the Drevlyans, northerners, Radimichi and imposed tribute on them. But here he ran into Khazaria, which considered the northerners and Radimichi their tributaries. Military success again accompanied Oleg. From now on, these East Slavic tribes ceased their dependence on the Khazar Khaganate and became part of Russia. The Vyatichi remained tributaries of the Khazars.
At the turn of the IX-X centuries. Oleg suffered a sensitive defeat from the Hungarians. At this time, their horde moved along the Black Sea to the west. On the way, the Hungarians attacked the Russian lands. Oleg was defeated and locked himself in Kyiv. The Hungarians undertook a siege of the city, but to no avail, and then a peace treaty was concluded between the opponents. Since then, the Hungarian-Russian alliance began to operate, which lasted for about two centuries.
Having united the East Slavic lands, having defended them from the onslaught of foreigners, Oleg gave the princely power unprecedented authority and international prestige. He now assumes the title of prince of all princes, or grand duke. The rest of the rulers of individual Russian principalities become his tributaries, vassals, although they still retain the rights to rule in their principalities.
Russia arose as a united East Slavic state. In terms of its scale, it was not inferior to the empire of Charlemagne or the territory of the Byzantine Empire. However, many of its areas were sparsely populated and poorly suited for life. The difference in the level of development of various parts of the state was also too great. Appearing immediately as a multi-ethnic entity, this state was therefore not distinguished by the strength that characterized states where the population was mainly mono-ethnic.
Foreign policy of Russia in the first half of the X century. Already the first battles with the Khazars and the campaign against the streets and the Tivertsy showed the foreign policy interests of the young state. Russia sought, firstly, to unite all the Eastern Slavic tribes; secondly, to ensure the security of trade routes for the Russian merchants both to the East and to the Balkan Peninsula; thirdly, to seize the territories important in the military-strategic sense - the mouth of the Dnieper, the mouth of the Danube, the Kerch Strait.
In 907, a huge Russian army, led by Oleg, moved by land and sea to Constantinople. The Greeks closed the harbor with a chain, throwing it from one bank to another, and locked themselves behind the mighty walls of Constantinople. Then the Russians "fought" the whole district, captured huge booty, prisoners, robbed and burned churches. And then Oleg ordered his soldiers to put the boats on wheels and move them around the obstacles set above the water. With a fair wind, the Rus unfolded their sails, and the boats went to the walls of the city. The Greeks were horrified at the sight of this unusual sight and asked for peace.
According to the peace treaty, the Byzantines undertook to pay Russia a monetary indemnity, and then pay tribute every year, provide Russian ambassadors and merchants coming to Byzantium, as well as representatives of other states, with a certain food allowance. Oleg achieved for Russian merchants the right to free trade in the Byzantine markets. The Russians even got the right to bathe in Constantinople baths as much as they want.
The agreement was sealed during Oleg's personal meeting with Emperor Leo VI. As a sign of the end of hostilities and the conclusion of peace, the Russian Grand Duke hung his shield on the gates of the city. This was the custom of many peoples of Eastern Europe.
In 911, Oleg confirmed his peace treaty with Byzantium. During lengthy embassy negotiations, the first detailed written treaty between Byzantium and Russia was concluded in the history of Eastern Europe. This agreement opens with a meaningful phrase: “We are from the Russian family ... sent from Oleg, the Grand Duke of Russia, and from all who are under his hand - bright and great princes, and his great boyars ...”
The treaty confirmed "peace and love" between the two states. In 13 articles of the agreement, the parties agreed on all economic, political, and legal issues of interest to them, and determined the responsibility of their subjects in case they commit any crimes in a foreign land. One of the articles dealt with the conclusion between Russia and Byzantium of a military alliance. From now on, Russian detachments regularly appear as part of the Byzantine army during its campaigns against enemies.
Russo-Byzantine War 941–944 The work of Prince Oleg was continued by Prince Igor, who ascended the throne at an early age.
After the death of the mighty warrior Oleg, the state he created began to disintegrate: the Drevlyans rebelled, the Pechenegs approached the borders of Russia. But Igor and the Russian elite managed to prevent the collapse. The Drevlyans were again conquered and subjected to heavy tribute. Igor made peace with the Pechenegs. At the same time, Russian settlers, supported by military force, began to advance to the mouth of the Dnieper, appeared on the Taman Peninsula, near the Kerch Strait, where a Russian colony was founded. Russian possessions came close to the Khazar borders, to the Byzantine colonies in the Crimea and the Black Sea region.
This caused outrage in Byzantium. In addition, the local merchants demanded that the emperor cancel the benefits for Russian merchants. The aggravation of relations between the two countries led to a new bloody war, which lasted from 941 to 944.
In the summer of 941, a huge Russian army moved by sea and land to Constantinople. The Russ destroyed the suburbs and headed for the capital, but on the outskirts of it they were met by an enemy fleet armed with "Greek fire". Under the walls of Constantinople all day and evening there was a battle. The Greeks sent a burning mixture through special copper pipes to Russian ships. This "terrible miracle", as the chronicle says, struck the Russian soldiers. Flames darted across the water, Russian boats burned in impenetrable darkness. The defeat was complete. But a significant part of the army survived. Russ continued the campaign, moving along the coast of Asia Minor. Many cities, monasteries were captured, a fair number of Greeks were taken prisoner.
However, Byzantium managed to mobilize forces here as well. There were fierce battles on land and at sea. In a land battle, the Greeks managed to surround the Rus and, despite fierce resistance, defeated them. The already battered Russian fleet was defeated. This war continued for several months, and only in the fall did the Russian army return to their homeland.
In 944, Igor gathered a new army and again set out on a campaign. At the same time, the allies of Russia, the Hungarians, raided Byzantine territory and approached the walls of Constantinople. The Greeks did not tempt fate and sent an embassy to meet Igor with a request for peace. A new peace treaty was concluded in 944. Peaceful relations were restored between the countries. Byzantium undertook to continue to pay Russia an annual monetary tribute and provide military indemnity. Many articles of the old treaty of 911 were confirmed. But new ones appeared, corresponding to relations between Russia and Byzantium already in the middle of the 10th century, equally beneficial to both countries. The right of duty-free Russian trade in Byzantium was abolished.
The Byzantines recognized the possession of Rus by a number of new territories at the mouth of the Dnieper, on the Taman Peninsula. The Russian-Byzantine military alliance was also improved: this time it turned out to be directed against Khazaria, which was beneficial for Russia, which was striving to free its routes to the East from the Khazar blockade. Russian military detachments, as before, were to come to the aid of Byzantium.
Polyudie. Death of Igor During the reign of Igor, the state of Russia expanded even more. It included a tribe of streets, with whom Prince Oleg waged an unsuccessful war. Now, like other principalities, they have pledged to pay tribute to Kyiv.
How was the tribute collected from the princedoms subject to the great Kievan prince?
In late autumn, the prince, together with his retinue, traveled around his possessions in order to collect the due tribute from them. This detour was called polyud. In the same way, at first, princes and kings collected tribute in some neighboring countries, where the level of state development was still low, for example, in Sweden. The name "polyudye" comes from the words "to walk among people."
What was the tribute? Of course, in the first place were furs, honey, wax, linen. Ever since the time of Oleg, the main measure of tribute from subject tribes was marten, ermine, and squirrel furs. Moreover, they were taken "from the smoke", that is, from each residential building. In addition, the tribute included food, even clothing. In short, they took everything that could be taken, trying on this or that locality, the type of economy.
Was the tribute fixed? Judging by the fact that the feeding of the prince and his escort was part of the polyudya, requests were often determined by needs, and they, as a rule, could not be counted. That is why during the Polyudia there were frequent violence against the inhabitants, their actions against the princely people. An example of this is the tragic death of Prince Igor.
During the collection of tribute in 945, Igor's soldiers worked violence against the Drevlyans. Having collected tribute, Igor sent the main part of the squad and the convoy back home, and he himself, left with the “small” squad, decided to wander around the Drevlyansk lands in search of prey. The Drevlyans, led by their prince Mal, rebelled and killed Igor's squad. The prince himself was captured and executed by a cruel death: he was tied to two bent trees, and then they were released.
Duchess Olga. Igor's wife remained in Kyiv with her young son Svyatoslav. The newly formed state was on the verge of collapse. However, the people of Kiev not only recognized Olga's rights to the throne in connection with the infancy of the heir, but also unconditionally supported her.
By this time, Princess Olga was in the prime of her physical and spiritual strength. According to one legend, she came from a simple Varangian family and lived near Pskov. Igor saw Olga during his stay in the Pskov land and was captivated by her beauty. At that time, there was no strict hierarchy in the selection of a wife for an heir. Olga became Igor's wife.
From the first steps of her reign, Olga showed herself as a resolute, powerful, far-sighted and stern ruler. She took revenge on the Drevlyans. During the negotiations, the Drevlyansky ambassadors in Kyiv were brutally killed, and then Olga, supported by the governors of Igor Sveneld and Asmud, organized a military campaign in the Drevlyansk lands.
Chapter I Ancient Russia (VI - XIII centuries) 1.1. Eastern Slavs in Antiquity Genesis and Settlement Of all the abundance of scientific concepts about the origin of the Eastern Slavs, it should be recognized that the leading version is that the Slavic ethnos developed by the 6th century. n. e. on the Danube Plain as a result
From the book Book 1. New Chronology of Russia [Russian Chronicles. "Mongol-Tatar" conquest. Kulikovo battle. Ivan the Terrible. Razin. Pugachev. Defeat of Tobolsk and authorChapter 4 Ancient Russia through the eyes of its contemporaries 1. Abul-Feda stated: “Ruses are a people of Turkish nationality” “Ruses,” Abul-Feda said, “are a people of Turkish nationality, which borders on the Guzes from the east (Guz = Kaz = Cossack - Auth. ), a people of the same origin ...
From the book New Chronology and the Concept of the Ancient History of Russia, England and Rome author Nosovsky Gleb VladimirovichChapter 4. Ancient Russia through the eyes of its contemporaries Abul-Feda: “Ruses are a people of Turkish nationality” “Ruses,” said Abdul-Feda, “are a people of Turkish nationality, which borders on the east with the Guzes, a people of the same origin” (, p. 392 ).The fact that Russians are people
From the book World History: in 6 volumes. Volume 2: Medieval Civilizations of the West and East author Team of authorsANCIENT RUSSIA Gnezdovo. 125 years of monument research / Ed. ed. V.V. Murasheva (Proceedings of the State Historical Museum, No. 124). M., 2001. Gorsky A.A. Ancient Russian squad. M., 1989. Gorsky A.A. Rus. From the Slavic Settlement to the Muscovite State. M., 2004. Old Russian principalities of the X-XIII centuries. M., 1975. Zaitsev A.K.
From the book Scaliger's Matrix author Lopatin Vyacheslav AlekseevichANCIENT RUSSIA Recently, one of the Ukrainian historians stated that several thousand years ago, some ukry lived on the territory of present-day Ukraine, from which the Ukrainian people allegedly originated along with its name. Well, it’s necessary, to what insanity you can reach
From the book Forgotten Belarus author Deruzhinsky Vadim VladimirovichChapter 4
From the book History of Russia [for students of technical universities] author Shubin Alexander VladlenovichChapter 1 ANCIENT RUSSIA (IX-XII CENTURIES) § 1. ETHNOGENESIS OF THE EASTERN SLAVES The ancestral home of the Slavs. The ancestors of the Slavs - tribes who spoke Balto-Slavic dialects - approximately in the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. e. separated from native speakers of Germanic languages and settled in Eastern Europe. Around 500
From the book Beginning of Russia author Shambarov Valery Evgenievich2. How Ancient Russia perished The Greeks had a hard time, but in our country things were even worse. Only in the annals and epics did the memory of the era of Vladimir the Baptist and Yaroslav the Wise still live, when Russia freely stretched from the Baltic to the Black Sea, and even from
From the book History of Russia from ancient times to the present day author Sakharov Andrey NikolaevichChapter 2. ANCIENT RUSSIA § 1. East Slavic tribes of the VIII-IX centuries. Unions of tribes. By the time the name "Rus" began to be applied to the Eastern Slavs, that is, by the 8th century, their life had undergone significant changes. The Tale of Bygone Years notes that on the eve
Russian history ... From the point of view of the generally accepted interpretation, it is very simple: it began with the baptism of Russia in 988 by Byzantine priests. Writing was given to the Russian people by the Greeks: Cyril and Methodius, and the first documentary source indicating that the Russian state really existed was a word about Igor's regiment, written already in the 12th century.
The history of Russia traditionally tries not to look further. Indeed, why look, if, according to several generations of historians, there was almost nothing there. Well, some tribes roamed, well, they prayed to some wooden dolls ... naturally they couldn’t read and write. In general - darkness and complete backwardness, it is better not to remember, so as not to be dishonored. But is it really so, was pre-Christian Russia so far behind?
Not wanting to question everything that is written in history textbooks, let's still listen to the opinion of the other side, which would be unfair to ignore, you see, because several generations of scientists say in the same way: the history of ancient Russia is much older, and the facts confirming it are truly sensational.
Planets, star camps, zodiac runes ... which didn’t even invent bast shoes then? A whimsical fantasy of ancient authors, a modern interpretation of what the dark scribe monk could not even think of? - No, says a number of researchers who believe that we are far from the first on Earth. It is unlikely that the ancients had the task of writing fantasy novels. They either wrote what they themselves saw, or copied from ancient texts what seems to us today - “a banal fairy tale ...”
Sensational finds by archaeologists in Veliky Novgorod;
- The history of Russia is thousands of years older;
- Who did the peoples of Europe call the "northern gods"?
- What do the pre-Christian books of the Slavs say?
- Drawings of the chariots of the ancient gods;
- BC in Russia everyone knew how to write;
- What did they think about Russia in Europe a thousand years ago?
- Irish sagas talk about Russians;
- Unknown letters have a Russian trace;
- Worldwide pursuit of ancient artifacts;
- What kind of strange object fell from the sky near Murmansk?
- Mystery of underground labyrinths;
Why did the Germans go to the North Pole?
What was the earth like before the great flood?
in the 5th century split into 3 branches
western southern
Eastern
Russian ancestors,
Belarusian and
Ukrainian peoples
Proto-Slavs lived in the territory of Central and Eastern Europe, stretching from the Elbe and Oder rivers in the west to the upper reaches of the Dniester and the middle reaches of the Dnieper in the east. Slavs in ancient written sources (eg Greek) are referred to as Wends, Sklavins and Antes.
The great migration of peoples set in motion, including the Slavic tribes. In the 5th century - the division of the Slavs into 3 branches.
In the 4th-6th centuries, according to various sources, the lands to the east of the Carpathians were inhabited by the descendants of the eastern Venets - Antes.
Our immediate ancestors, the Eastern Slavs, leave for the East European Plain and settle, as Nestor writes in the 12th century. in "The Tale of Bygone Years" along the Dnieper. History knows about 15 East Slavic tribes, more precisely, tribal unions that existed around the 9th-11th centuries, and by the 11th-13th centuries formed the Old Russian people.
Tribes of the North: Ilmen Slovenes, Krivichi, Polochans
Tribes of the Northeast: Radimichi, Vyatichi, northerners
Duleb group: Volhynians, Drevlyans, glades, Dregovichi
Tribes of the South-East: Buzhans, Don Slavs
Tribes of the South: White Croats, Ulichi, Tivertsy
Periodization of the ancient history of Russia
IX-XI centuries - Kievan Rus
XII - XIII centuries. - fragmentation of Russia (Vladimir Rus)
XIV - XV centuries. - Muscovite Russia
Gardarika- "country of cities", the so-called lands of the Eastern Slavs in Greek, Arabic and Scandinavian sources
Local reigns (Gostomysl in Novgorod, Kiy in Kyiv, Mal among the Drevlyans, Khodot and his son among the Vyatichi) are the embryonic form of the statehood of Ancient Russia.
Eastern chroniclers singled out 3 centers of the emergence of statehood in the Slavic lands: Kuyaba (in the south, around Kyiv), Slavia (in the Ilmenye), Artania (in the east, around ancient Ryazan)
Rurik (862-879)
862 - the calling of the Varangians (Rurik with his tribe Rus) The calling of the Varangians in the painting by Vasnetsov
Rurik founded a dynasty of Russian princes and ruled in Novgorod.
"Norman theory" is a theory about the creation of a state by the Slavs from the outside (Varangians-Scandinavians).
The first anti-Normanist Mikhail Lomonosov (the origin of the Varangians from the West Slavic lands)
Anti-Normanists (the formation of the state is a stage in the internal development of society).
Oleg(Prophetic) (879-912)
882 - the formation of Kievan Rus (unification of the two political centers of Novgorod and Kyiv into a single ancient Russian state by Prince Oleg)
907 and 911 - Oleg's campaigns against Byzantium (the goal is the signing of profitable trade agreements)
Fight against the Khazars
polyudie- collection of tribute by the prince from subject East Slavic tribes
Polyudye trade route "from the Varangians to the Greeks" ( Baltica-Volkhov-Lovat-Western Dvina-Dnepr) Constantinople
Varangians. Nicholas Roerich, 1899
Igor(Old) (912-945)
The unsuccessful campaign of Prince Igor against Byzantium in 941
Greek fire- a combustible mixture ejected from copper pipes under pressure onto an enemy ship, not extinguished by water.
A second campaign in 943 ended with a peace treaty in 944.
In 945 he was killed during the uprising of the Drevlyans
Olga(organizer of the Russian land) (945-969)
1) Cunning (cruelly avenged the Drevlyans for her husband)
2) "The organizer of the Russian land" - streamlined the collection of tribute (polyudye taxes) (introduced lessons- the exact amount of tribute,
churchyards- collection points)
3) Carried out a volost reform (divided the state into volosts), (introduced uniform rules for the court of princely governors)
4) Established diplomatic relations with Byzantium
5) First converted to Christianity (Elena)
Svyatoslav(warrior prince) (962-972)
He spent his whole life on campaigns (expanded the borders of the state, ensured the safety of trade routes for Russian merchants)
1. Subdued the Vyatichi
2. Defeated the Bulgars and the Khazars by opening a bargain. the way along the Volga to the eastern countries
("Coming at you")
3. Campaigns against the Bulgarians on the Danube (an attempt to move the capital to the city of Pereyaslavets)
But he often left the state without protection, for example, the siege of Kyiv by the Pechenegs (968), undertaken while the Kyiv prince Svyatoslav was on the Danube.
(According to the chronicle, while Prince Svyatoslav Igorevich was campaigning against the Bulgarian kingdom, the Pechenegs invaded Russia and besieged its capital, Kyiv. The besieged suffered from thirst and hunger. People from the other side of the Dnieper, led by the governor Pretich, gathered on the left bank of the Dnieper.
Driven to the extreme, Svyatoslav's mother, Princess Olga (who was in the city with all of Svyatoslav's sons) decided to tell Pretich that she would surrender the city in the morning if Pretich did not lift the siege, and began to look for ways to contact him. Finally, a young Kyivian who spoke fluent Pecheneg volunteered to get out of the city and get to Pretich. Pretending to be a Pecheneg looking for his horse, he ran through their camp. When he rushed to the Dnieper and swam to the other side, the Pechenegs understood his deceit and began to shoot at him with bows, but did not hit.
When the young man reached Pretich and informed him of the desperate situation of the people of Kiev, the governor decided to suddenly cross the river and take out Svyatoslav's family, and if not, Svyatoslav will destroy us. Early in the morning, Pretich and his squad boarded their ships and landed on the right bank of the Dnieper, blowing their trumpets. Thinking that Svyatoslav's army had returned, the Pechenegs lifted the siege. Olga and her grandchildren left the city to the river.
The leader of the Pechenegs returned to negotiate with Pretich and asked him if he was Svyatoslav. Pretich confirmed that he was only a governor, and his detachment was the vanguard of Svyatoslav's approaching army. As a sign of peaceful intentions, the ruler of the Pechenegs shook hands with Pretich and exchanged his own horse, sword and arrows for Pretich's armor.
Meanwhile, the Pechenegs continued the siege, so that it was impossible to water the horse on Lybid. The Kievans sent a messenger to Svyatoslav with the news that his family was almost captured by the Pechenegs, and the danger to Kyiv still remains. Svyatoslav quickly returned home to Kyiv and drove the Pechenegs into the field. A year later, Olga died, and Svyatoslav made Pereyaslavets on the Danube his residence)
But after a difficult campaign against Byzantium in 972, the pleasing army of Svyatoslav with heavy military booty was met on the Dnieper rapids by the waiting hordes of Pechenegs. The Rus were surrounded and completely destroyed. They all perished, including Prince Svyatoslav. From his skull, Khan Kurya ordered to make a drinking cup, encasing it in gold.
Vladimir(Red Sun, Saint) (980-1015)
Civil strife (Vladimir - the son of a slave, Yaropolk wins)
1. We love the people (the image of the prince is displayed in epics):
A) the creation of a system of fortresses in the south for defense against the Pechenegs;
B) recruited people from the people into the squad;
C) arranged feasts for all Kyivans.
2. Strengthens the state and princely power:
A) conducts a pagan reform (Perun is the main god)
Purpose: an attempt to unite the tribes into a single people through religion
B) 988 - baptism of Russia byzantine style
C) the acquisition of an important military and political ally in the person of Byzantium
D) development of culture:
1) Slavic writing (Cyril and Methodius);
2) books, schools, churches, icon painting;
The Church of the Tithes is the first stone church in Kyiv (1/10 of the prince's income for construction);
3) the establishment of the Russian metropolis
Baptism of Vladimir. Fresco by V. M. Vasnetsov.
Prince Vladimir went down in history as the Baptist of Russia. The prince's decision to be baptized was not spontaneous. According to the Chronicle of Bygone Years, a few years before the campaign against Korsun (Chersonese), Vladimir thought about choosing a faith. The heart of the prince was inclined to Orthodoxy. And he established himself in this decision after his ambassadors went "for reconnaissance" to Constantinople. Returning, they said: “When we came to the Greeks, we were led to where they serve their God, and we did not know whether we were in heaven or on earth: we cannot forget this beauty, for every person, having tasted sweet, turns away from the bitter, so we "are not imams here to be," we do not want to remain in the old pagan faith. Then they remembered: “If the Greek law was not good, then your grandmother Olga, the wisest of all people, would not have accepted it.”
Monument "Millennium of Russia"- a monument erected in Veliky Novgorod in 1862 in honor of the millennial anniversary of the legendary calling of the Varangians to Russia. The authors of the monument project are sculptors Mikhail Mikeshin, Ivan Shreder and architect Viktor Hartman. The monument is located in the Novgorod citadel, opposite St. Sophia Cathedral
The prince ruled the Russian state for 37 years, 28 of them being a Christian. It is worth noting that Prince Vladimir accepted Orthodoxy from Byzantium not as a vassal, but as an equal. “Historians are still building different versions of why the prince went to the siege of Chersonese,” says S. Belyaev. One of the versions says: having decided to accept Orthodoxy, Vladimir did not want to appear before the Greeks as a petitioner. Significantly: Vladimir did not go to Constantinople, the capital of Byzantium, to be baptized. It was to him, in the conquered Chersonese, that they came, and even brought Princess Anna. At the same time, the very decision of Vladimir to become Orthodox was dictated by the need of the soul, as evidenced by the dramatic changes that occurred with the prince.
Looking closely at the Baptist of Russia, it becomes clear that he was also an outstanding state strategist. And in the first place he put the national interests of Russia, which under his leadership united, straightened its shoulders and subsequently became a great empire.
On the Day of National Unity, November 4, 2016, the grand opening of the monument to the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir, which was designed by People's Artist of Russia Salavat Shcherbakov, took place on Borovitskaya Square. The monument was created on the initiative of the Russian Military Historical Society and the Government of Moscow. the opening ceremony of the monument to Prince Vladimir. The ceremony was attended by President Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill, Minister of Culture Vladimir Medinsky and Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin.
The President emphasized that Prince Vladimir went down in history forever as a collector and defender of Russian lands, as a far-sighted politician who laid the foundations of a strong, unified, centralized state.
After the President's speech, Patriarch Kirill consecrated the monument to the holy Prince Equal-to-the-Apostles.
Yaroslav the Wise(1019-1054)
Vladimir has 12 feuding sons (the eldest Svyatopolk killed his brothers Boris and Gleb, who became the first saints in Russia, and Svyatopolk was christened the Accursed also because he brought foreigners to Russia who ruined and killed)
Yaroslav, who ruled Novgorod, supported by the Novgorodians in the fight against his brother, seizes the throne (from 1019 to 1036 he rules jointly with his brother Mstislav). A calm wise rule begins - the heyday of the Old Russian state.
1. Strengthened power (the highest power belonged to the great Kyiv prince, who issued laws, was the supreme judge, led the army, determined foreign policy). Power was inherited by the eldest in the family (sons-deputies in the volosts, moved in the event of the death of their elder brother to a larger volost).
2. He laid the foundation for the creation of a unified code of laws "Russian Truth" (1016). (In Pravda Yaroslav, for example, blood feud is limited and replaced by a fine-vira)
3. Measures to strengthen the independence of the Russian Church (since 1051, not Greeks, but Russians began to be appointed metropolitans, and without the knowledge of Constantinople. Hilarion was the first Russian metropolitan).
4. Developed culture (built churches, cathedrals (St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv, Novgorod), monasteries (Kiev-Pechersky - the monk Nestor in the 12th century wrote the first Russian chronicle "The Tale of Bygone Years"), where the scripture was distributed annals(description of historical events by years-years), schools, libraries, which contributed to the development of literacy)
5. Conducted a wise foreign policy:
· strengthened the southern borders of Russia (built defensive lines from fortress cities on the southeastern borders);
· defeated the Pechenegs under the walls of Kyiv in 1036, where he built the St. Sophia Cathedral;
expanded the northwestern borders of the state (in 1030 he built the city of Yuryev on the western coast of Lake Peipus, which he captured from the Poles and Lithuanians)
All land acquisitions were secured by peace treaties and dynastic marriages
It was under Yaroslav the Wise that the process of state formation among the Eastern Slavs ended, and the Old Russian nationality was taking shape.
The social structure of society in the Old Russian state
In the XI century. Kievan Rus is an early feudal state (along with the appearance of the upper stratum and, conversely, dependent, the bulk of the population are still free community members who paid taxes to the state. And the formation of feudal land ownership was very slow).
The land belonged to the state, so the community (the land was jointly owned, divided among all the families that were part of the community) paid a tax for the use of state land.
The first feudal lords who seized land as their property were the princes. They granted lands to the church and boyars for their service ( votchina - hereditary land holding) who also became feudal lords.
I. Upper layer:
II. Free landowners united in communities
(the largest part of the population of the Old Russian state)
III. Dependent population:
Smerd- a member of a rural community, but a peasant directly dependent on the prince in the Old Russian state in the period of the XI-XIV centuries.
Ryadovich- concluded an agreement ("row") on work for the feudal lord on certain conditions.
Purchase- ruined community members who fell into debt dependence for non-payment of loans (“kupy”). If he returned the debt, he became free.
serf a slave who worked on the land of a feudal lord. (prisoners of war became slaves, purchases that did not fulfill their obligations and ryadovichi, children of slaves, from great need a person sold himself into slaves).
Culture of Ancient Russia
culture- a set of material and spiritual values created by society.
East Slavs
1) Beliefs - paganism, from the word "language" - a tribe, a people.
Gods - Perun, Dazhdbog, Stribog, Svarog, Yarilo, Lada, Makosh, etc.
The place of worship of idols is a temple where sacrifices were made.
Magi ("magician, magician, fortuneteller") - ancient Russian pagan priests who performed worship, sacrifices and supposedly knew how to conjure the elements and predict the future.
Vasnetsov "Meeting of Prince Oleg with a magician"
2) ancient legends, epics - poetic tales about the past, where the exploits of Russian heroes were glorified (Mikula Selyaninovich, Ilya Muromets, Stavr Godinovich, etc.). The main motive is the defense of the Russian land from the enemy.
Victor Vasnetsov "Bogatyrs"
3) the art of blacksmiths, wood and bone carvers.
The Christianization of Russia had a huge impact.
1) The spread of writing and literacy in Russia (the 60s of the 9th century - Cyril and Methodius - lived in Thessaloniki (Greece), the compilers of the Slavic alphabet - Glagolitic, translated the Gospel into Slavic, preached in Slavic. Cyrillic, subsequently created by them students, in a modified form is the basis of the modern Russian alphabet).
2) Distribution of chronicles (1113 - "The Tale of Bygone Years")
At the church of St. Sofia Yaroslav created the first library in Russia.
Yaroslav created a powerful center for book writing and translated literature in Kyiv.
There are monasteries - Kiev-Pechersk Lavra (founders Anthony and Theodosius).
XI - n. 12th century - Annalistic centers are being formed in Kyiv and Novgorod.
3) The origin of Russian literature:
A) 1049 - "Sermon on Law and Grace" by Hilarion (solemn address, message and teaching, sermon on the moral assessment of the ruler);
B) lives - a literary description of the life of people canonized as saints (Nestor wrote the life of Boris and Gleb)
Passion-bearers Boris and Gleb. Icon, early 14th century. Moscow
C) 1056 - "Ostromir Gospel" - the oldest of the handwritten books.
Books were written in monasteries, which were centers of culture (they wrote on parchment - thin tanned calfskin).
Ordinary people, exchanging information, used birch bark.
The art of book miniature developed (handwritten illustrations)
4) Architecture (the construction of temples was based on the Byzantine cross-domed system).
Wooden (terema, city walls, huts)
Feature: multi-tiered, turrets, outbuildings, carving)
· The first stone church in Kyiv was called Desyatinnaya (989), as the prince gave a tenth of his income for its construction. The church had 25 domes.
· 1037 - Construction of the Cathedral of St. Sophia in Kyiv.
Model-reconstruction of the original appearance of the cathedral
Modern view of St. Sophia Cathedral
Many domes are a characteristic feature of Russian architecture (1 dome in the center, 12).
For facing temples, plinth is used - a wide and flat brick
Yaroslav's stone tomb is located in Sofia.
In the altar there is an image of the Mother of God. Image type - Oranta - with hands raised up. The people of Kiev called her the "Indestructible Wall" and considered her to be their protector.
There are frescoes depicting the family of Yaroslav the Wise.
Interior decoration of temples: frescoes, icons, mosaics
The icons were painted by the monk Alimpiy from the Caves.
Under Yaroslav, Kyiv is being built. It is called "an ornament of the East and a rival of Constantinople." The Golden Gate is the main entrance to the city.
1113-1125 - reign of Vladimir Monomakh (grandson of Yaroslav and the Byzantine emperor Constantine Monomakh). At the age of 60 he ascended the throne of Kyiv.
1) Campaigns against the Polovtsy (1111 - a crushing blow to the Polovtsy
gone to the steppes, relative calm
2) Fought against strife (the initiator of the Lyubech Congress (1097) - “let everyone keep his patrimony.” Although this only consolidated fragmentation in Russia (legislatively)
3) He fought for the unity of Russia (subdued the Russian princes, punished for strife), but after the death of Vladimir and his son Mstislav, who continued his father's policy, civil strife resumed
4) An educated person and a gifted writer, he left a covenant to his sons to live in peace, to faithfully serve the Fatherland (1117 - “Instruction for Children” - a valuable historical source and a vivid literary monument).
5) Created a set of laws "Charter of Vladimir Vsevolodovich", in which he eased the position of debtors, forbidding them to turn into slaves.
6) Founded on the river. Klyazma city named after him.
7) New literary genres are being formed - parables, teachings, walking.
8) Under Vladimir, they began to mint gold and silver coins, then they replaced them with silver bars - hryvnias.
9) A high level of craft development - casting, chasing, ceramics, embroidery, enamel
art craft
A) blacksmithing (weapons, armor);
B) jewelry craft (grain, filigree, enamel)
Filigree - an image made of thin gold wire;
Grain - the balls are soldered onto a filigree;
Cloisonne enamel - metal gaps are filled with enamel.
The spiritual world of a medieval person combines the sublime (address to God) and the earthly ("laughter culture"). The carriers of the "laughter culture" of the Middle Ages in Russia were buffoons and harpists - itinerant actors who were persecuted by the church, but loved at the courts of princes and in villages.
I understand that such an article can break the fan, so I will try to avoid sharp corners. I write more for my own pleasure, most of the facts will be from the category taught in school, but nevertheless I will gladly accept criticism and corrections, if there are facts. So:
Ancient Russia.
It is assumed that Russia appeared as a result of the merger of a number of East Slavic, Finno-Ugric and Baltic tribes. The first mentions of us are found in the 830s. First, in the region of 813g. (very controversial dating) some Rosas successfully ran into the city of Amastrida (modern Amasra, Turkey) in Byzantine Palfagonia. Secondly, the ambassadors of the "Kagan Rosov" as part of the Byzantine embassy came to the last emperor of the Frankish state, Louis I the Pious (a good question, however, who they really were). Thirdly, the same Dews ran into Constantinople in 860, without much success (there is an assumption that the famous Askold and Dir commanded the parade).
The history of serious Russian statehood begins, according to the most official version, in 862, when a certain Rurik appears on the scene.
Rurik.
In fact, we have a rather poor idea of who he was and whether he was at all. The official version is based on the "Tale of Bygone Years" by Nestor, who, in turn, used the sources available to him. There is a theory (quite similar to the truth) that Rurik was known as Rorik of Jutland, from the Skjoldung dynasty (a descendant of Skjold, King of the Danes, mentioned already in Beowulf). I repeat that the theory is not the only one.
Where did this character come from in Russia (specifically, in Novgorod), is also an interesting question, I personally am closest to the theory that he was originally a hired military administrator, moreover, in Ladoga, and he brought the idea of \u200b\u200ba hereditary transfer of power with him from Scandinavia, where it just came into fashion. And he came to power completely by himself by seizing it during a conflict with another military leader of the same kind.
However, in the PVL it is written that the Varangians were still called upon by three tribes of Slavs, unable to resolve the disputed issues themselves. Where did it come from?
Option one- from the source that Nestor read (well, you yourself understand, it would be enough for those who wanted to do fascinating editing from among the Rurikovichs at their leisure. Princess Olga could also do this, in the midst of a conflict with the Drevlyans, who for some reason still did not understand what to break the prince in half and offer a replacement, as always in their memory and done in such cases - a bad idea).
Option two- Nestor could have been asked to write this by Vladimir Monomakh, who was just called by the people of Kiev, and who really did not want to prove the legitimacy of his reign to everyone who was older than him in the family. In any case, somewhere from Rurik, the well-known idea of a Slavic state appears. "Somewhere" because it was not Rurik who took real steps in building such a state, but his successor, Oleg.
Oleg.
Called "prophetic", Oleg took over the reins of Novgorod Rus in 879. Probably (according to PVL), he was a relative of Rurik (possibly brother-in-law). Some identify Oleg with Odd Orvar (Arrow), the hero of several Scandinavian sagas.
All the same PVL claims that Oleg was the guardian of the real heir, the son of Rurik Igor, something like a regent. In general, in a good way, the power of the Rurikovichs for a very long time was transferred to the "eldest in the family", so that Oleg could be a full-fledged ruler not only in practice, but also formally.
Actually, what Oleg did during his reign - he made Russia. In 882 he gathered an army and in turn subjugated Smolensk, Lyubech and Kyiv. According to the history of the capture of Kyiv, we, as a rule, remember Askold and Dir (I won’t speak for Dir, but the name “Askold” seems to me very Scandinavian. I won’t lie). PVL believes that they were Varangians, but had nothing to do with Rurik (I believe, because I heard somewhere that not only did they have - Rurik sent them along the Dnieper with the task "capture everything that is badly worth "). The annals also describe how Oleg defeated his compatriots - he hid military paraphernalia from the boats, so that they looked like trade ones, and somehow lured both governors there (according to the official version from the Nikon Chronicle, he let them know that he was there . but he said he was sick, and on the ships he showed them the young Igor and killed them. But, perhaps, they simply inspected the incoming merchants, not suspecting that an ambush was waiting for them on board).
Having seized power in Kyiv, Oleg appreciated the convenience of its location in relation to the eastern and southern (as far as I understand) lands compared to Novgorod and Ladoga, and said that his capital would be here. He spent the next 25 years "swearing in" the surrounding Slavic tribes, repelling some of them (Northerners and Radimichi) from the Khazars.
In 907 Oleg undertakes a military campaign in Byzantium. When 200 (according to PVL) boats with 40 soldiers on board each appeared in sight of Constantinople, Emperor Leo IV the Philosopher ordered to block the harbor of the city with stretched chains - perhaps in the expectation that the savages would be satisfied with the robbery of the suburbs and go home. "Savage" Oleg showed ingenuity and put the ships on wheels. The infantry, under the cover of sailing tanks, caused confusion in the walls of the city, and Leo IV hastily paid off. According to the legend, along the way, an attempt was made to slip wine and hemlock into the prince during the negotiations, but Oleg somehow felt the moment and pretended to be a teetotaler (for which, in fact, he was called "Prophetic" upon his return). The ransom was a lot of money, tribute and an agreement under which our merchants were exempt from taxes and had the right to live in Constantinople for up to a year at the expense of the crown. In 911, however, the agreement was renegotiated without exempting merchants from duties.
Some historians, not finding a description of the campaign in Byzantine sources, consider it a legend, but recognize the existence of the treaty of 911 (perhaps there was a campaign, otherwise why would the Eastern Romans bend like that, but without the episode with "tanks" and Constantinople).
Oleg leaves the stage in connection with his death in 912. Why and where exactly is a very good question, the legend tells about the skull of a horse and a poisonous snake (interestingly, the same happened with the legendary Odd Orvar). The circular buckets, foaming, hissed, Oleg left, but Russia remained.
Generally speaking, this article should be brief, so I will try to summarize my thoughts further.
Igor (r. 912-945). The son of Rurik, took over the reign of Kyiv after Oleg (Igor was governor in Kyiv during the war with Byzantium in 907). He conquered the Drevlyans, tried to fight with Byzantium (however, the memory of Oleg was enough, the war did not work out), concluded an agreement with her in 943 or 944 similar to the one Oleg concluded (but less profitable), and in 945 unsuccessfully went for the second time to take tribute all from the same Drevlyans (it is believed that Igor perfectly understood how all this could end, but he could not cope with his own squad, which at that time was not particularly surprising). Husband of Princess Olga, father of the future Prince Svyatoslav.
Olga (r. 945-964)- Igor's widow. She burned the Drevlyansky Iskorosten, thereby demonstrating the sacralization of the figure of the prince (the Drevlyans offered her to marry their own prince Mal, and 50 years before that this could seriously work). She carried out the first positive tax reform in the history of Russia, setting specific deadlines for collecting tribute (lessons) and creating fortified yards for receiving it and standing collectors (graveyards). She laid the foundation for stone construction in Russia.
Interestingly, from the point of view of our chronicles, Olga never officially ruled, since the death of Igor, his son, Svyatoslav, ruled.
The Byzantines were not allowed such subtleties, and in their sources Olga is mentioned as the archontissa (ruler) of Russia.
Svyatoslav (964 - 972) Igorevich. Generally speaking, 964 is rather the year of the beginning of his independent reign, since formally he was considered the prince of Kyiv from 945. But in practice, until 969, his mother, Princess Olga, ruled for him, until the prince got out of the saddle. From PVL "When Svyatoslav grew up and matured, he began to gather many brave warriors, and he was fast, like a pardus, and fought a lot. On campaigns, he did not carry carts or boilers with him, did not cook meat, but, thinly slicing horse meat, or beast, or beef, and roasted on coals, so he ate, he did not have a tent, but slept, spreading a sweatshirt with a saddle in his head, - all the rest of his soldiers were the same. .. I'm going to you!" In fact, he destroyed the Khazar Khaganate (to the joy of Byzantium), imposed a tribute to the Vyatichi (to his own joy), conquered the First Bulgarian Kingdom on the Danube, built Pereyaslavets on the Danube (where he wanted to move the capital), frightened the Pechenegs and, on the basis of the Bulgarians, quarreled with Byzantium, the Bulgarians fought against she is on the side of Russia - the vicissitudes of wars are vicissitudes). In the spring of 970, he put up a free army of 30,000 of his own, Bulgarians, Pechenegs and Hungarians against Byzantium, but lost (possibly) the battle of Arcadiopol, and, taking a retreat, left the territory of Byzantium. In 971, the Byzantines already besieged Dorostol, where Svyatoslav organized his headquarters, and after a three-month siege and another battle, they convinced Svyatoslav to take another retreat and go home. Svyatoslav did not get back home - first he got stuck in the winter at the mouth of the Dnieper, and then ran into the Pecheneg prince Kurya, in a battle with whom he died. Byzantium received Bulgaria as a province and minus one dangerous rival, so it seems to me that Kurya was stuck on the doorsteps all winter for a reason. However, there is no evidence for this.
By the way. Svyatoslav was never baptized, despite repeated proposals and the possible breakdown of the engagement with the Byzantine princess - he himself explained this by the fact that the squad would not specifically understand such a maneuver, which he could not allow.
The first prince who gave reigns to more than one son. Perhaps this led to the first strife in Russia, when, after the death of their father, the sons fought for the throne of Kyiv.
Yaropolk (972-978) and Oleg (prince of the Drevlyans 970-977) Svyatoslavichi- two of the three sons of Svyatoslav. Legitimate sons, unlike Vladimir, the son of Svyatoslav and the housekeeper Malusha (although it’s still a good question how such a trifle played a role in Russia in the middle of the 10th century. There is also an opinion that Malusha is the daughter of the same Drevlyansky prince Mal, who executed Igor) .
Yaropolk had diplomatic relations with the Holy Roman Empire of the German nation. In 977, during the strife, opposing the brothers, he attacked Oleg's possessions in the land of the Drevlyans. Oleg died during the retreat (according to the chronicle - Yaropolk lamented). In fact, after the death of Oleg and the flight of Vladimir, he became the sole ruler of Russia somewhere "over the sea". In 980 Vladimir returned with a squad of Varangians, began to take the city, Yaropolk left Kyiv with a better fortified Roden, Vladimir laid siege to it, famine began in the city and Yaropolk was forced to negotiate. In place, instead of or in addition to Vladimir, there were two Varangians who did their job.
9 792
The chronicle of the ancient Slavic state was almost forgotten thanks to the German professors who wrote Russian history and aimed to rejuvenate the history of Russia, to show that the Slavic peoples were allegedly pristine, not tainted by the deeds of the Russians, Antes, barbarians, vandals and Scythians, whom the whole world remembered very well . The goal is to tear Russia away from the Scythian past. On the basis of the works of German professors, a national historical school arose. All history textbooks teach us that before the baptism in Russia lived wild tribes - pagans.
This is a big lie, because history has been repeatedly rewritten to please the existing ruling system - starting with the first Romanovs, i.e. history is interpreted as beneficial to the ruling class at the moment. Among the Slavs, their past is called Heritage or Chronicle, and not History (the word “Summer” preceded the concept of “year” introduced by Peter the Great in 7208 from S.M.Z.Kh., when instead of the Slavic chronology they introduced 1700 from supposedly Christmas). S.M.Z.H. - this is the Creation / signing / of the World with the Arims / Chinese / in the summer, called the Star Temple - after the end of the Great World War (something like May 9, 1945, but more significant for the Slavs).
Therefore, is it worth trusting textbooks, which even in our memory have been copied more than once? And is it worth trusting textbooks that contradict many facts that say that before baptism - in Russia there was a huge state with many cities and villages (Country of cities), a developed economy and crafts, with its own original Culture (Culture = Culture = Cult of Ra = Cult of Light). Our ancestors who lived in those days possessed vital Wisdom and a worldview that helped them always act according to their Conscience and live in harmony with the world around them. This attitude to the World is now called the Old Faith ("old" - means "pre-Christian", and earlier it was simply called - Faith - Knowledge of Ra - Knowledge of Light - Knowledge of the Shining Truth of the Most High). Faith is primary, and Religion (for example, Christian) is secondary. The word "Religion" comes from "Re" - repetition, "League" - connection, association. Faith is always one (there is either a connection with God, or it is not), and there are many religions - as many as the people of the Gods have or how many ways intermediaries (popes, patriarchs, priests, rabbis, mullahs, etc.) come up with to establish with them connection.
Since the connection with God, established through third parties - intermediaries, for example - priests, is artificial, then, in order not to lose the flock, each religion claims to be "Truth in the first instance." Because of this, many bloody religious wars have been and are being waged.
Mikhailo Vasilyevich Lomonosov fought against the German professorship alone, arguing that the history of the Slavs is rooted in antiquity.
The ancient Slavic state RUSKOLAN occupied the lands from the Danube and the Carpathians to the Crimea, the North Caucasus and the Volga, and the subject lands seized the steppes of the Volga and South Urals.
The Scandinavian name of Russia sounds like Gardarika - the country of cities. Arab historians also write about the same, numbering hundreds of Russian cities. At the same time, he claims that there are only five cities in Byzantium, while the rest are “fortified fortresses”. In ancient documents, the state of the Slavs is referred to, among other things, as Scythia and Ruskolan. In his works, Academician B.A. Rybakov, the author of the books “Paganism of the Ancient Slavs” 1981, “Paganism of Ancient Russia” 1987, and many others, writes that the state of Ruskolan was the bearer of the Chernyakhov archaeological culture and experienced a period of prosperity in the Troyan Ages (I-IV centuries AD). ). To show what level of scientists were engaged in the study of ancient Slavic history, we will cite who Academician B.A. Rybakov.
Boris Alexandrovich Rybakov headed the Institute of Archeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences for 40 years; M. V. Lomonosov, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Honorary Doctor of Krakow Jagiellonian University.
The word "Ruskolan" has the syllable "lan", present in the words "hand", "valley" and meaning: space, territory, place, region. Subsequently, the syllable "lan" was transformed into the European land - country. Sergey Lesnoy in his book “Where are you from, Rus?” says the following: “With regard to the word “Ruskolun”, it should be noted that there is also a variant “Ruskolun”. If the latter option is more correct, then you can understand the word differently: “Russian doe”. Lan - field. The whole expression: "Russian field". In addition, Lesnoy makes an assumption that there was a word "cleaver", which probably meant some kind of space. It also occurs in other contexts. Also, historians and linguists believe that the name of the state "Ruskolan" could come from two words "Rus" and "Alan" after the name of the Rus and Alans, who lived in a single state.
Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov was of the same opinion, who wrote:
“The Alans and Roxolans are of the same tribe from many places of ancient historians and geographers, and the difference lies in the fact that the Alans are the common name of the whole people, and the Roksolani is a saying composed from their place of residence, which is not without reason produced from the river Ra, as among ancient writers reputed to be the Volga (Volga)."
The ancient historian and scientist Pliny - Alans and Roxolans together has. The Roksolanes of the ancient scientist and geographer Ptolemy are called alanorsi by portable addition. The names of Aorsi and Roksane or Rossane in Strabo - “the exact unity of the Russians and Alans is confirmed, to which the reliability is multiplied, that they were wallpaper of the Slavic generation, then that the Sarmatians were of the same tribe from ancient writers and therefore they are of the same root with the Varangians-Rosses.”
We also note that Lomonosov also refers the Varangians to the Russians, which once again shows the fraud of the German professors, who deliberately called the Varangians a foreign, and not a Slavic people. This juggling and the born legend about calling a foreign tribe to reign in Russia had political overtones so that once again the “enlightened” West could point out to the “wild” Slavs their denseness, and that it was thanks to the Europeans that the Slavic state was created. Modern historians, in addition to adherents of the Norman theory, also agree that the Varangians are precisely a Slavic tribe.
Lomonosov writes:
"According to Gelmold's testimony, the Alans were mixed with the Kurlandians, who were of the same tribe as the Varangians-Russians."
Lomonosov writes - the Varangians-Russians, and not the Varangians-Scandinavians, or the Varangians-Goths. In all documents of the pre-Christian period, the Varangians were classified as Slavs.
Further, Lomonosov writes:
“The Rugen Slavs were abbreviated as wounds, that is, from the Ra (Volga) River, and Rossans. This, by their resettlement to the Varangian shores, as follows, will be more detailed. Weissel from Bohemia suggests that Amakosovia, Alans, Vendi came from the east to Prussia.
Lomonosov writes about Rugen Slavs. It is known that on the island of Rügen in the city of Arkona there was the last Slavic pagan temple, destroyed in 1168. Now there is a Slavic museum.
Lomonosov writes that it was from the east that the Slavic tribes came to Prussia and the island of Rügen and adds:
“Such a resettlement of the Volga Alans, that is, the Russians or Ross, to the Baltic Sea took place, as can be seen from the above authors’ testimonies, not once and not in a short time, which, according to the traces that have remained to this day, it is clear that the names of cities and rivers are honored must"
But back to the Slavic state.
The capital of Ruskolani, the city of Kiyar, was located in the Caucasus, in the Elbrus region near the modern villages of Upper Chegem and Bezengi. Sometimes it was also called Kiyar Antsky, after the name of the Slavic tribe Antes. The results of the expeditions to the site of the ancient Slavic city will be written at the end. Descriptions of this Slavic city can be found in ancient documents.
"Avesta" in one of the places tells about the main city of the Scythians in the Caucasus near one of the highest mountains in the world. And As you know, Elbrus is the highest mountain not only in the Caucasus, but also in Europe in general. "Rig Veda" tells about the main city of the Rus all on the same Elbrus.
Kiyar is mentioned in the Book of Veles. Judging by the text, Kiyar, or the city of Kiy the Old, was founded 1300 years before the fall of Ruskolani (368 AD), i.e. in the ninth century BC.
The ancient Greek geographer Strabo, who lived in the 1st century. BC. - beginning of the 1st c. AD writes about the temple of the Sun and the sanctuary of the Golden Fleece in the sacred city of the Ross, in the Elbrus region, on the top of Mount Tuzuluk.
On the mountain, our contemporaries discovered the foundation of an ancient structure. Its height is about 40 meters, and the diameter of the base is 150 meters: the ratio is the same as that of the Egyptian pyramids and other religious buildings of antiquity. There are many obvious and not at all random patterns in the parameters of the mountain and the temple. The observatory-temple was created according to a "typical" project and, like other cyclopean structures - Stonehenge and Arkaim - was intended for astrological observations.
In the legends of many peoples there is evidence of the construction on the sacred mountain Alatyr (modern name - Elbrus) of this majestic structure, revered by all ancient peoples. There are mentions of him in the national epic of the Greeks, Arabs, and European peoples. According to Zoroastrian legends, this temple was captured by Rus (Rustam) in Usen (Kavi Useinas) in the second millennium BC. Archaeologists officially note at this time the emergence of the Koban culture in the Caucasus and the appearance of the Scythian-Sarmatian tribes.
Mentions the temple of the Sun and the geographer Strabo, placing in it the sanctuary of the golden fleece and the oracle of Eeta. There are detailed descriptions of this temple and evidence that astronomical observations were made there.
The Temple of the Sun was a true paleoastronomical observatory of antiquity. The priests, who possessed certain knowledge, created such observatory temples and studied stellar science. There, not only dates for agriculture were calculated, but, most importantly, the most important milestones in world and spiritual history were determined.
The Arab historian Al Masudi described the temple of the Sun on Elbrus as follows: “In the Slavic regions there were buildings revered by them. Between others they had a building on a mountain, about which philosophers wrote that it was one of the highest mountains in the world. There is a story about this building: about the quality of its construction, about the arrangement of its heterogeneous stones and their different colors, about the holes made in its upper part, about what was built in these holes to watch the sunrise, about the precious stones placed there and signs marked in it, which indicate future events and warn against incidents before their implementation, about the sounds heard in its upper part and about what comprehends them when they hear these sounds.
In addition to the above documents, information about the main ancient Slavic city, the temple of the Sun and the Slavic state as a whole is in the Elder Edda, in Persian, Scandinavian and ancient German sources, in the Book of Veles. According to the legends, near the city of Kiyar (Kyiv) was the sacred mountain Alatyr - archaeologists believe that it was Elbrus. Next to it was the Iriysky, or the Garden of Eden, and the Smorodina River, which separated the earthly world and the afterlife, and connected Yav and Nav (that Light) Kalinov Bridge.
This is how they talk about two wars between the Goths (an ancient Germanic tribe) and the Slavs, the invasion of the Goths into the ancient Slavic state, the Gothic historian of the 4th century Jordan in his book “The History of the Goths” and “The Book of Veles”. In the middle of the 4th century, the Goth king Germanareh led his people to conquer the world. This was a great commander. According to Jordanes, he was compared with Alexander the Great. The same was written about Germanarekh and Lomonosov:
"Ermanarik, the king of the Ostrogoths, for his courage in conquering many northern peoples was compared by some with Alensander the Great."
Judging by the testimonies of Jordan, the Elder Edda and the Book of Veles, Germanareh, after long wars, captured almost all of Eastern Europe. He fought along the Volga to the Caspian, then fought on the Terek River, crossed the Caucasus, then went along the Black Sea coast and reached Azov.
According to the “Book of Veles”, Germanareh first made peace with the Slavs (“drank wine for friendship”), and only then “went with a sword against us”.
The peace treaty between the Slavs and the Goths was sealed by the dynastic marriage of the sister of the Slavic prince-king Bus - Swans and Germanarekh. This was a payment for peace, for Germanarekh was then many years old (he died at 110 years old, but the marriage was concluded shortly before that). According to Edda, the son of Germanareh Randver wooed Swan-Sva, and he took her to his father. And then Jarl Bikki, adviser to Germanarekh, told them that it would be better if the Swan went to Randver, since both of them are young, and Germanarekh is an old man. These words pleased Swans-Sva and Randver, and Jordan adds that Swans-Sva fled from Germanarekh. And then Germanarekh executed his son and Swan. And this murder was the cause of the Slavic-Gothic war. Having treacherously violated the "peace treaty", Germanarekh defeated the Slavs in the first battles. But then, when Germanarekh moved into the heart of Ruskolani, the Ants stepped in to Germanarekh. Germanareh was defeated. According to Jordan, he was struck with a sword in the side by the Rossomons (Ruskolans) - Sar (king) and Ammius (brother). The Slavic prince Bus and his brother Zlatogor inflicted a mortal wound on Germanarekh, and he soon died. Here is how Jordan, the Book of Veles, and later Lomonosov wrote about it.
“The Book of Veles”: “And Ruskolan was defeated by the Goths of Germanarekh. And he took a wife from our generation and killed her. And then our leaders flowed against him and Germanarekh was defeated.
Jordan. “History is ready”: “The wrong clan of the Rosomones (Ruskolan) ... took advantage of the following opportunity ... After all, after the king, driven by rage, ordered a certain woman named Sunhilda (Swan) from the named clan for insidious leaving her husband to break, tying to ferocious horses and prompting the horses to run in different directions, her brothers Sar (King Bus) and Ammii (Gold), avenging the death of their sister, struck Germanarekh in the side with a sword.
M. Lomonosov: “Sonilda, a noble Roxolan woman, Yermanarik ordered to be torn apart by horses for her husband's escape. Her brothers Sar and Ammius, avenging the death of their sister, Ermanarik was pierced in the side; died of a wound a hundred and ten years"
A few years later, a descendant of Germanarekh, Amal Vinitary, invaded the lands of the Slavic tribe of Ants. In the first battle, he was defeated, but then "began to act more decisively", and the Goths, led by Amal Vinitar, defeated the Slavs. The Slavic prince Busa and 70 other princes were crucified by the Goths. This happened on the night of March 20-21, 368 AD. On the same night that Bus was crucified, there was a total lunar eclipse. Also, the earth was shaken by a monstrous earthquake (the entire Black Sea coast was shaking, destruction was in Constantinople and Nicaea (ancient historians testify to this. Later, the Slavs gathered their strength and defeated the Goths. But the former powerful Slavic state was no longer restored.
“The Book of Veles”: “And then Russia was again defeated. And Busa and seventy other princes were crucified on crosses. And there was great turmoil in Russia from Amala Vend. And then Sloven gathered Russia and led it. And at that time the Goths were defeated. And we didn't let the Sting go anywhere. And everything got better. And our grandfather Dazhbog rejoiced, and welcomed the soldiers - many of our fathers who won victories. And there were no troubles and worries of many, and so the land of the Gothic became ours. And so it will be until the end"
Jordan. "History is ready": Amal Vinitary ... moved the army into the borders of the Ants. And when he came to them, he was defeated in the first skirmish, then he behaved more bravely and crucified their king, named Boz, with his sons and 70 noble people, so that the corpses of the hanged would double the fear of the conquered.
The Bulgarian chronicle “Baradj Tarihy”: “Once in the land of the Anchians, the Galidjians (Galicians) attacked Bus and killed him along with all 70 princes.”
The Slavic prince Busa and 70 princes were crucified by the Goths in the eastern Carpathians at the sources of Seret and Prut, on the current border of Wallachia and Transylvania. In those days, these lands belonged to Ruskolani, or Scythia. Much later, under the famous Vlad Dracul, it was at the place of the crucifixion of Bus that mass executions and crucifixions were held. They removed the bodies of Bus and other princes from the crosses on Friday and took them to the Elbrus region, to the Etoka (a tributary of the Podkumka). According to Caucasian legend, the body of Bus and other princes was brought by eight pairs of oxen. Busa's wife ordered a mound to be built over their grave on the banks of the Etoko River (a tributary of the Podkumka River) and, in order to perpetuate the memory of Busa, ordered the Altud River to be renamed Baksan (Busa River).
Caucasian legend says:
“Baksan (Bus) was killed by the Goth king with all his brothers and eighty noble Narts. Hearing this, the people gave way to despair: the men beat their breasts, and the women tore their hair on their heads, saying: “Dauov’s eight sons are killed, killed!”
Those who carefully read "The Tale of Igor's Campaign" remember that it mentions the "gone Time of Busovo" long ago.
The year 368, the year of the crucifixion of Prince Bus, has an astrological meaning. According to Slavic astrology, this is a milestone. On the night of March 20-21, 368 moves, the Aries era ended and the Pisces era began.
It was after the story of the crucifixion of Prince Bus, which became known in the ancient world, that the plot with the crucifixion of Christ appeared (was stolen) in Christianity.
The canonical gospels nowhere say that Christ was crucified on the cross. Instead of the word "cross" (kryst), the word "stavros" (stavros) is used there, which means a pillar, and it does not talk about crucifixion, but about pillaring. Therefore, there are no early Christian images of the crucifixion.
The Christian Acts 10:39 says that Christ was "hanged on a tree." The plot with the crucifixion first appeared only after 400!!! years after the execution of Christ, translated from Greek. The question is why, if Christ was crucified, and not hanged, Christians for four hundred years wrote in holy books that Christ was amused? Somehow illogical! It was the Slavic-Scythian tradition that influenced the distortion of the original texts during translation, and then the iconography (for there are no early Christian images of crucifixes).
The meaning of the original Greek text was well known in Greece itself (Byzantium), but after the corresponding reforms in the modern Greek language, in contrast to the previous custom, the word "stavros" took on the meaning of "pillar" in addition to the meaning of "cross".
In addition to the direct source of the execution - the canonical Gospels, others are also known. In the closest to the Christian, in the Jewish tradition, the tradition of the hanging of Jesus is also affirmed. There is a Jewish “Tale of the Hanged Man” written in the first centuries of our era, which describes in detail the execution of Jesus precisely by hanging. And in the Talmud there are two stories about the execution of Christ. According to the first, Jesus was stoned, and not in Jerusalem, but in Lud. According to the second story, because Jesus was of a royal family, the execution by stones was also replaced by hanging. And this was the official version of Christians for 400 years!!!
Even throughout the Muslim world, it is generally accepted that Christ was not crucified, but hanged. The Koran, based on early Christian traditions, curses Christians who claim that Jesus was not hanged, but crucified, and who claim that Jesus was Allah (God) himself, and not a prophet and the Messiah, and also denies the crucifixion itself. Therefore, Muslims, respecting Jesus, do not reject either the Ascension or the Transfiguration of Jesus Christ, but reject the symbol of the cross, as they rely on early Christian texts that talk about hanging, not crucifixion.
Moreover, the natural phenomena described in the Bible simply could not take place in Jerusalem on the day of the crucifixion of Christ.
In the Gospel of Mark and in the Gospel of Matthew it is said that Christ endured passionate agony on the spring full moon from Good Thursday to Good Friday, and that there was an eclipse from the sixth to the ninth hour. The event, which they call an "eclipse," occurred at a time when, for objective astronomical reasons, it simply could not occur. Christ was executed during the Jewish Passover, and it always falls on a full moon.
First, there are no solar eclipses on a full moon. During a full moon, the Moon and Sun are on opposite sides of the Earth, so there is no way the Moon can cover the Earth's sunlight.
Secondly, solar eclipses, unlike lunar eclipses, do not last three hours, as it is written in the Bible. Maybe the Judeo-Christians had in mind a lunar eclipse, but the whole world did not understand them? ...
But solar and lunar eclipses are very easy to calculate. Any astronomer will say that there were no lunar eclipses in the year of the execution of Christ and even in the years close to this event.
The nearest eclipse accurately indicates only one date - on the night of March 20-21, 368 AD. This is an absolutely accurate astronomical calculation. Namely, on this night from Thursday to Friday, March 20/21, 368, Prince Bus and 70 other princes were crucified by the Goths. On the night of March 20-21, a total lunar eclipse occurred, which lasted from midnight to three hours on March 21, 368. This date was calculated by astronomers, including the director of the Pulkovo Observatory, N. Morozov.
Why did Christians write from the 33rd move that Christ was hanged, and after the 368th move they rewrote the “holy” scripture and began to claim that Christ was crucified? Obviously, the plot with the crucifixion seemed to them more interesting and they once again engaged in religious plagiarism - i.e. simply by stealing… That's where the information appeared in the Bible that Christ was crucified, that he endured torment from Thursday to Friday, that there was an eclipse. Having stolen the plot with the crucifixion, the Judeo-Christians decided to supply the Bible with the details of the execution of the Slavic prince, not thinking that people in the future would pay attention to the natural phenomena described, which could not have been in the year of the execution of Christ in the place where he was executed.
And this is far from the only example of the theft of materials by the Judeo-Christians. Speaking of the Slavs, the myth of the father of Aria, who received a covenant from Dazhbog on Mount Alatyr (Elbrus), is recalled, and in the Bible, Arius and Alatyr miraculously turned into Moses and Sinai ...
Or the Judeo-Christian rite of baptism. The Christian rite of baptism is one third of the Slavic pagan rite, which included: naming, fiery baptism and water bathing. In Judeo-Christianity, only the water bath remained.
We can recall examples from other traditions. Mitra - born on December 25th!!! 600 years before the birth of Jesus!!! December 25 - the day after 600 years, Jesus was born. Mitra was born a virgin in a barn, a star rose, the magi came!!! Everything is one to one, as with Christ, only 600 years earlier. The cult of Mithras included: baptism with water, holy water, faith in immortality, faith in Mithra as a savior god, the concepts of Paradise and Hell. Mitra died and resurrected in order to become an intermediary between God the Father and man! Plagiarism (theft) of Christians is 100%.
More examples. Immaculately conceived: Gautama Buddha - India 600 BC; Indra - Tibet 700 BC; Dionysus - Greece; Quirinus is a Roman; Adonis - Babylon all in the period from 400-200 years BC; Krishna - India 1200 B.C.; Zarathustra - 1500 BC In a word, whoever read the originals knows where the Judeo-Christians took materials for their writing.
So modern neo-Christians, who are trying in vain to find some kind of mythical Russian roots in the native Jew Yeshua - Jesus and his mother, need to stop doing stupid things and start worshiping Bus, nicknamed the Cross, i.e. Busu Cross or what would be completely clear to them - Busu Christ. After all, this is the real Hero from whom the Judeo-Christians wrote off their New Testament, and the one invented by them - the Judeo-Christian Jesus Christ - turns out to be some kind of charlatan and rogue, to say the least ... After all, the New Testament is just a romantic comedy in the spirit of Jewish fiction, allegedly written by the so-called. "Apostle" Paul (in the world - Saul), and even then, it turns out - it was not written by him himself, but by unknown /!? / disciples of the disciples. Well, they had fun though ...
But back to the Slavic chronicle. The discovery of an ancient Slavic city in the Caucasus no longer looks so surprising. In recent decades, several ancient Slavic cities have been discovered on the territory of Russia and Ukraine.
The most famous today is the famous Arkaim, whose age is more than 5000 thousand years.
In 1987, in the South Urals in the Chelyabinsk region, during the construction of a hydroelectric power station, a fortified settlement of the early city type, dating back to the Bronze Age, was discovered. to the time of the ancient Aryans. Arkaim is older than the famous Troy by five hundred to six hundred years even older than the Egyptian pyramids.
The discovered settlement is a city-observatory. In the course of its study, it was established that the monument was a city fortified by two circles of walls, ramparts and ditches inscribed in each other. The dwellings in it had a trapezoidal shape, tightly adjoined each other and arranged in a circle in such a way that the wide end wall of each dwelling was part of the defensive wall. Every home has a bronze casting oven! But in Greece, according to traditional academic knowledge, bronze came only in the second millennium BC. Later, the settlement turned out to be an integral part of the most ancient Aryan civilization - the "Country of Cities" of the Southern Trans-Urals. Scientists have discovered a whole complex of monuments belonging to this amazing culture.
Despite their small size, fortified centers can be called proto-cities. The use of the term “city” to the fortified settlements of the Arkaim-Sintashta type is, of course, conditional. However, they cannot be called simply settlements, since the Arkaim “cities” are distinguished by powerful defensive structures, monumental architecture, and complex communication systems. The entire territory of the fortified center is extremely saturated with planning details, it is very compact and carefully thought out. From the point of view of the organization of space in front of us is not even a city, but a kind of super-city.
The fortified centers of the Southern Urals are five or six centuries older than Homer's Troy. They are contemporaries of the first dynasty of Babylon, the pharaohs of the Middle Kingdom of Egypt and the Cretan-Mycenaean culture of the Mediterranean. The time of their existence corresponds to the last centuries of the famous civilization of India - Mahenjo-Daro and Harappa.
In Ukraine, in Trypillya, the remains of the city were discovered, the age of which is the same as that of Arkaim, more than five thousand years. It is five hundred years older than the civilization of Mesopotamia - the Sumerian!
At the end of the 90s, not far from Rostov-on-Don, in the town of Tanais, settlement cities were found, the age of which even scientists find it difficult to name ... The age varies from ten to thirty thousand years. The traveler of the last century, Thor Heyerdahl, believed that from there, from Tanais, the entire pantheon of the Scandinavian Gods, led by Odin, came to Scandinavia.
Slabs with inscriptions in Sanskrit, which are 20,000 years old, have been found on the Kola Peninsula. And only Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, as well as the Baltic languages coincide with Sanskrit. Draw your own conclusions.
The results of the expedition to the site of the capital of the ancient Slavic city of Kiyara in the Elbrus region.
Five expeditions were carried out: in 1851,1881,1914, 2001 and 2002.
In 2001, the expedition was led by A. Alekseev, and in 2002 the expedition was carried out under the patronage of the Shtenberg State Astronomical Institute (GAISh), which was supervised by the director of the institute, Anatoly Mikhailovich Cherepashchuk.
Based on the data obtained as a result of topographic, geodetic studies of the area, fixing astronomical events, the participants of the expedition made preliminary conclusions that are fully consistent with the results of the expedition of 2001, following the results of which, in March 2002, a report was made at a meeting of the Astronomical Society at the State Astronomical Institute in the presence of members of the Institute of Archeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, members of the International Astronomical Society and the State Historical Museum.
A report was also made at a conference on the problems of early civilizations in St. Petersburg.
What exactly did the researchers find?
Near Mount Karakaya, in the Rocky Range at an altitude of 3,646 meters above sea level between the villages of Upper Chegem and Bezengi on the eastern side of Elbrus, traces of the capital of Ruskolani, the city of Kiyar, were found, which existed long before the birth of Christ, which is mentioned in many legends and epics of different peoples of the world, as well as the oldest astronomical observatory - the Temple of the Sun, described by the ancient historian Al Masudi in his books as the Temple of the Sun.
The location of the found city exactly matches the indications from ancient sources, and later the Turkish traveler of the 17th century, Evliya Celebi, confirmed the location of the city.
On Mount Karakaya, the remains of an ancient temple, caves and graves were found. An incredible number of settlements, ruins of temples have been discovered, and a lot of them have been preserved quite well. Menhirs were found in a valley near the foot of Mount Karakaya, on the Bechesyn plateau - high man-made stones similar to wooden pagan idols.
On one of the stone pillars, the face of a knight is carved, looking straight to the east. And behind the menhir is a bell-shaped hill. This is Tuzuluk ("Treasury of the Sun"). At its top, the ruins of the ancient sanctuary of the Sun are really visible. At the top of the hill is a tour that marks the highest point. Then three large rocks that have undergone manual processing. Once a gap was cut in them, directed from north to south. Stones were also found laid out like sectors in the zodiac calendar. Each sector is exactly 30 degrees.
Each part of the temple complex was intended for calendar and astrological calculations. In this it is similar to the South Ural city-temple Arkaim, which has the same zodiac structure, the same division into 12 sectors. It is also similar to Stonehenge in the UK. It is close to Stonehenge, firstly, by the fact that the axis of the temple is also oriented from north to south, and secondly, one of the most important distinguishing features of Stonehenge is the presence of the so-called “Heel Stone” at a distance from the sanctuary. But after all, at the sanctuary of the Sun on Tuzuluk, a landmark-menhir was installed.
There is evidence that at the turn of our era the temple was plundered by the Bosporus king Farnak. The temple was finally destroyed in IV AD. Goths and Huns. Even the dimensions of the temple are known; 60 cubits (about 20 meters) in length, 20 (6-8 meters) in width and 15 (up to 10 meters) in height, as well as the number of windows and doors - 12 according to the number of signs of the Zodiac.
As a result of the work of the first expedition, there is every reason to believe that the stones on the top of Mount Tuzluk served as the foundation of the Temple of the Sun. Mount Tuzluk is a regular grassy cone about 40 meters high. The slopes rise to the top at an angle of 45 degrees, which actually corresponds to the latitude of the place, and, therefore, looking along it, you can see the North Star. The axis of the foundation of the temple is 30 degrees with the direction to the Eastern peak of Elbrus. The same 30 degrees is the distance between the axis of the temple and the direction to the menhir, and the direction to the menhir and the Shaukam pass. Considering that 30 degrees - 1/12 of a circle - corresponds to a calendar month, this is no coincidence. The azimuths of sunrise and sunset on the days of the summer and winter solstices differ by only 1.5 degrees from the directions to the peaks of Kanjal, the “gate” of two hills in the depths of pastures, Mount Dzhaurgen and Mount Tashly-Syrt. There is an assumption that the menhir served as a heel stone in the temple of the Sun, by analogy with Stonehenge, and helped predict solar and lunar eclipses. Thus, Mount Tuzluk is tied to four natural landmarks by the Sun and is tied to the Eastern peak of Elbrus. The height of the mountain is only about 40 meters, the diameter of the base is about 150 meters. These are dimensions comparable to those of the Egyptian pyramids and other places of worship.
In addition, two square tower-like tours were found on the Kayaesik pass. One of them lies strictly on the axis of the temple. Here, on the pass, there are the foundations of structures, ramparts.
In addition, in the central part of the Caucasus, at the northern foot of Elbrus, in the late 70s and early 80s of the XX century, an ancient center of metallurgical production, the remains of smelting furnaces, settlements, burial grounds were discovered.
Summing up the results of the work of the expeditions of the 1980s and 2001, which discovered the concentration of traces of ancient metallurgy, deposits of coal, silver, iron, as well as astronomical, cult and other archaeological objects within a radius of several kilometers, we can confidently assume the discovery of one of the most ancient cultural and administrative centers of the Slavs in the Elbrus region.
During the expeditions of 1851 and 1914, the archaeologist P.G. Akritas examined the ruins of the Scythian Temple of the Sun on the eastern slopes of Beshtau. The results of further archaeological excavations of this shrine were published in 1914 in the Notes of the Rostov-on-Don Historical Society. There was described a huge stone "in the form of a Scythian cap", installed on three abutments, as well as a domed grotto.
And the beginning of major excavations in Pyatigorye (Kavminvody) was laid by the famous pre-revolutionary archaeologist D.Ya. Samokvasov, who described 44 mounds in the vicinity of Pyatigorsk in 1881. Later, after the revolution, only some mounds were examined; only initial exploration work was carried out on the settlements by archaeologists E.I. Krupnov, V.A. Kuznetsov, G.E. Runich, E.P. Alekseeva, S.Ya. Baychorov, Kh.Kh. Bidzhiev and others.