Cities of the Eastern Slavs in the 9th century. Origin and settlement of the Eastern Slavs

EAST SLAVS. FORMATION OF THE OLD RUSSIAN STATE

The first evidence of the Slavs. The Slavs, according to most historians, separated from the Indo-European community in the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. The ancestral home of the early Slavs (Proto-Slavs), according to archaeological data, was the territory to the east of the Germans - from the river. Oder in the west to the Carpathian Mountains in the east. A number of researchers believe that the Proto-Slavic language began to take shape later, in the middle of the 1st millennium BC.

In the era of the Great Migration of Nations (III-VI centuries AD), which coincided with the crisis of the slave-owning civilization, the Slavs mastered the territory of Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe. They lived in the forest and forest-steppe zone, where, as a result of the spread of iron tools, it became possible to conduct a settled agricultural economy. Having settled in the Balkans, the Slavs played a significant role in the destruction of the Danube border of Byzantium.

The first information about the political history of the Slavs dates back to the 4th century. AD From the Baltic coast, the Germanic tribes of the Goths made their way to the Northern Black Sea region. The Gothic leader Germanaric was defeated by the Slavs. His successor Vinitar deceived 70 Slavic elders headed by God (Bus) and crucified them. Eight centuries later, the unknown author of "The Tale of Igor's Campaign" mentioned "the time of Busovo".

A special place in the life of the Slavic world was occupied by relations with the nomadic peoples of the steppe. Along this steppe ocean, stretching from the Black Sea to Central Asia, wave after wave of nomadic tribes invaded Eastern Europe. At the end of the IV century. the Gothic tribal union was broken by the Turkic-speaking tribes of the Huns, who came from Central Asia. In 375, the hordes of the Huns occupied the territory between the Volga and the Danube with their nomads, and then moved further into Europe to the borders of France. In their advance to the west, the Huns carried away part of the Slavs. After the death of the leader of the Huns, Atilla (453), the Hunnic state disintegrated, and they were thrown back to the east.

In the VI century. the Turkic-speaking Avars (the Russian chronicle called them obrams) created their own state in the southern Russian steppes, uniting the tribes that roamed there. The Avar Khaganate was defeated by Byzantium in 625. "Proud in mind" and in body the great Avars-obras disappeared without a trace. "Keep dead like an obre" - these words, with the light hand of the Russian chronicler, became an aphorism.

The largest political formations of the VII-VIII centuries. in the southern Russian steppes there was the Bulgarian kingdom and the Khazar Khaganate, and in the Altai region - the Turkic Khaganate. The states of the nomads were unstable conglomerates of the steppes, who hunted for military booty. As a result of the collapse of the Bulgarian kingdom, part of the Bulgarians, led by Khan Asparuh, migrated to the Danube, where they were assimilated by the southern Slavs who lived there, who took the name of Asparuh's warriors, i.e. Bulgarians. Another part of the Bulgarian-Turks with Khan Batbai came to the middle reaches of the Volga, where a new power arose - Volga Bulgaria (Bulgaria). Its neighbor, who occupied from the middle of the 7th century. the territory of the Lower Volga region, the steppes of the North Caucasus, the Black Sea region and partly the Crimea, was the Khazar Khaganate, which levied tribute from the Dnieper Slavs until the end of the 9th century.

Eastern Slavs in the VI-IX centuries. In the VI century. Slavs repeatedly made military campaigns against the largest state of that time - Byzantium. From that time, a number of works by Byzantine authors have come down to us, containing original military instructions on the fight against the Slavs. So, for example, the Byzantine Procopius from Caesarea wrote in his book "War with the Goths": "These tribes, Slavs and Antes, are not ruled by one person, but since ancient times live in democracy (democracy), and therefore they consider happiness and unhappiness in life to be a matter of common ... They believe that only God, the creator of lightning, is the lord over all, and bulls are sacrificed to him and other sacred rites are performed ... Both of them have the same language ... And once even the name of Slavs and Antes were one and the same.

Byzantine authors compared the way of life of the Slavs with the life of their country, emphasizing the backwardness of the Slavs. Campaigns against Byzantium could only be undertaken by large tribal unions of the Slavs. These campaigns contributed to the enrichment of the tribal elite of the Slavs, which accelerated the collapse of the primitive communal system.

The formation of large tribal associations of the Slavs is indicated by the legend contained in the Russian chronicle, which tells about the reign of Kyi with the brothers Shchek, Khoriv and sister Lybid in the Middle Dnieper. The city founded by the brothers was allegedly named after the elder brother Kyi. The chronicler noted that other tribes had the same reigns. Historians believe that these events took place at the end of the 5th-6th centuries. AD The chronicle tells that one of the Polyansky princes Kiy, together with his brothers Shchek and Khoriv and sister Lybid, founded the city and named it Kiev in honor of their elder brother. Then Kiy "went to the Tsar-city", tge. to Constantinople, was received there by the emperor with great honor, and returning back, settled with his retinue on the Danube, founded a “town” there, but subsequently entered into a fight with the locals and returned to the Dnieper banks, where he died. This legend finds a well-known confirmation in the data of archeology, which indicate that at the end of the 5th - 6th centuries. on the Kiev mountains there already existed a fortified urban-type settlement, which was the center of the Polyan union of tribes.

The territory of the Eastern Slavs (VI-IX centuries). The Eastern Slavs occupied the territory from the Carpathian Mountains in the west to the Middle Oka and the upper reaches of the Don in the east, from the Neva and Lake Ladoga in the north to the Middle Dnieper in the south. The Slavs, who developed the East European Plain, came into contact with a few Finno-Ugric and Baltic tribes. There was a process of assimilation (mixing) of peoples. In the VI-IX centuries. the Slavs united in communities that no longer had only a tribal, but also a territorial and political character. Tribal unions are a stage on the way to the formation of the statehood of the Eastern Slavs.

In the chronicle story about the settlement of Slavic tribes, a dozen and a half associations of Eastern Slavs are named. The term "tribes" in relation to these associations has been proposed by historians. It would be more correct to call these associations tribal unions. These unions included 120-150 separate tribes, whose names have already been lost. Each individual tribe, in turn, consisted of a large number of clans and occupied a significant territory (40-60 km across).

The story of the chronicle about the settlement of the Slavs was brilliantly confirmed by archaeological excavations in the 19th century. Archaeologists noted the coincidence of the excavation data (burial rites, female adornments - temporal rings, etc.), characteristic of each tribal union, with an annalistic indication of the place of its settlement.

The glades lived in the forest-steppe along the middle reaches of the Dnieper. To the north of them, between the mouths of the Desna and Ros rivers, lived northerners (Chernigov). To the west of the glades on the right bank of the Dnieper, the Drevlyans "sedesh in the forests". To the north of the Drevlyans, between the rivers Pripyat and the Western Dvina, the Dregovichi settled (from the word "dryagva" - a swamp), which along the Western Dvina neighbored the Polochans (from the Polota River, a tributary of the Western Dvina). To the south of the Bug River, there were Buzhans and Volynians, according to some historians, the descendants of the Dulebs. The interfluve of the Prut and the Dnieper was inhabited by streets. Tivertsy lived between the Dnieper and the Southern Bug. The Vyatichi were located along the Oka and Moscow rivers; to the west of them lived the Krivichi; along the river Sozh and its tributaries - radimichi. The northern part of the western slopes of the Carpathians was occupied by white Croats. Ilmen Slovenes lived around Lake Ilmen.

The chroniclers noted the uneven development of individual tribal associations of the Eastern Slavs. At the center of their story is the land of the meadows. The land of the meadows, as the chroniclers pointed out, was also called "Rus". Historians believe that this was the name of one of the tribes that lived along the Ros River and gave the name to the tribal union, the history of which was inherited by the meadows. This is just one of the possible explanations for the term "Rus". The question of the origin of this name is not fully understood.

Economy of the Slavs. The main occupation of the Eastern Slavs was agriculture. This is confirmed by archaeological excavations that have found seeds of cereals (rye, wheat, barley, millet) and garden crops (turnips, cabbage, beets, carrots, radishes, garlic, etc.). Man in those days identified life with arable land and bread, hence the name of grain crops - "zhito", which has survived to this day. The agricultural traditions of this region are evidenced by the borrowing by the Slavs of the Roman grain norm - the quadrantal (26.26 l), which was called the quadrant in Russia and existed in our system of weights and measures until 1924.

The main agricultural systems of the Eastern Slavs are closely connected with natural and climatic conditions. In the north, in the area of taiga forests (the remnant of which is Belovezhskaya Pushcha), the dominant system of agriculture was slash-and-burn. Trees were cut down the first year. In the second year, dried trees were burned and, using the ashes as fertilizer, they sowed grain. For two or three years, the plot gave a high harvest for that time, then the land was depleted and it was necessary to move to a new plot. The main tools of labor were an ax, a hoe, a plow, a knotted harrow and a spade, which loosened the soil. Harvested with sickles. They threshed with chains. The grain was ground with stone grinders and hand millstones.

In the southern regions, fallow was the leading system of agriculture. There were many fertile lands and plots of land were sown for two or three or more years. With the depletion of the soil, they moved (shifted) to new areas. The main tools used here were a plow, a ralo, a wooden plow with an iron plowshare, i.e. tools adapted for horizontal plowing.

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, first of all, that the largest number of the population was concentrated. 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 handicraft specialties were born.

In the lands of the Novgorod Slovenes, where there was 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 goods developed rapidly. 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 their level 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. It was here, due to natural conditions, favorable means of communication, relative proximity to world cultural centers, that all the main types of economy characteristic of the East Slavic lands as a whole developed faster than in other places.

Agriculture continued to improve especially intensively - this was the main type of economy in 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 of that time knew perfectly well the most convenient time for this or that field work and made this knowledge an achievement for all the 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, which was characterized by clearing the land from under the forest, using it to exhaustion, and then abandoning it. Manure soil became widely practiced. And this made the harvests higher, the provision of people's lives 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 a river, lakes rich in fish. Fishing was an important subsidiary trade for the Slavs. They especially appreciated the rich fishing in the Dnieper estuaries, where, thanks to the mild Black Sea climate, it was possible to fish for almost half a year.

The arable areas were interspersed with forests, which became thicker 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. There was hunting for moose, deer, chamois, forest and lake birds - swans, geese, ducks. Already at this time, such a type of hunting as the extraction of a fur-bearing animal was formed. The forests, especially the northern ones, abounded with bears, wolves, foxes, martens, beavers, sables, and squirrels. Valuable furs (skora) were exchanged, sold to nearby countries, including Byzantium; they were a measure of taxation of tribute to the Slavic, Baltic and Finno-Ugric tribes, at first, before the introduction of metallic money, they were their equivalent. It is no coincidence that later one of the types of metal coins in Russia was called kuns, that is, martens.

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. And from honey they made intoxicating drinks, used in the manufacture of food as a sweet seasoning.

Cattle breeding was closely related to agriculture. The Slavs bred pigs, cows, and small cattle. Oxen was used as working livestock in the south, and horses were used in the forest belt. Other occupations of the Slavs include fishing, hunting, beekeeping (gathering honey from wild bees), which had a large share in the northern regions.

Industrial crops (flax, hemp) were also grown.

The path "from the Varangians to the Greeks". The great waterway "from the Varangians to the Greeks" was a kind of "pillar road" connecting Northern and Southern Europe. It arose at the end of the ninth century. From the Baltic (Varangian) Sea along the river. Neva caravans of merchants fell into Lake Ladoga (Nevo), from there along the river. Volkhov to Lake Ilmen and further along the river. Fishing up to the headwaters of the Dnieper. From Lovat to the Dnieper in the region of Smolensk and on the Dnieper rapids they crossed by "drag routes". The western coast of the Black Sea reached Constantinople (Tsargrad). The most developed lands of the Slavic world - Novgorod and Kyiv controlled the northern and southern sections of the Great Trade Route. This circumstance gave rise to a number of historians following V.O. Klyuchevsky argue that the trade in fur, wax and honey was the main occupation of the Eastern Slavs, since the path "from the Varangians to the Greeks" was "the main core of the economic, political, and then the cultural life of the Eastern Slavs."

Community. The low level of productive forces in the management of the economy required huge labor costs. Labor-intensive work that had to be carried out within strictly defined deadlines could only be performed by a large team; it was also his task to oversee the correct distribution and use of land. Therefore, a large role in the life of the ancient Russian village was acquired by the community - peace, rope (from the word "rope", which was used to measure the land during divisions).

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 increasingly 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.

As a result of the transfer by the princes of the right to own land to the feudal lords, part of the communities fell under their authority. (A feud is a hereditary possession granted by a senior prince to his vassal, who is obliged to carry out court, military service for this. A feudal lord is the owner of a feud, a landowner who exploits peasants dependent on him.) Another way of subordinating neighboring communities to feudal lords was their capture by combatants and princes. But most often, the old tribal nobility, subjugating the community members, turned into boyars-patrimonials.

Communities that did not fall under the rule of the feudal lords were obliged to pay taxes to the state, which in relation to these communities acted both as the supreme authority and as a feudal lord.

Peasant farms and farms of feudal lords had a natural character. Both those and others sought to provide for themselves at the expense of internal resources and had not yet worked for the market. However, the feudal economy could not live completely without a market. With the appearance of surpluses, it became possible to exchange agricultural products for handicraft goods; cities began to take shape as centers of crafts, trade and exchange, and at the same time as strongholds of the power of the feudal lords and defense against external enemies.

City. The city, as a rule, was built on a hill, at the confluence of two rivers, as this provided a reliable defense against enemy attacks. The central part of the city, protected by a rampart, around which a fortress wall was erected, was called the kremlin, krom or citadel. There were palaces of princes, courtyards of the largest feudal lords, temples, and later monasteries. From two sides the Kremlin was protected by a natural water barrier. From the side of the base of the Kremlin triangle, they dug a moat filled with water. Bargaining was located behind the moat under the protection of the fortress walls. The settlements of artisans adjoined the Kremlin. The handicraft part of the city was called posad, and its individual districts, inhabited, as a rule, by artisans of a certain specialty, were called settlements.

In most cases, cities were built on trade routes, such as the route "from the Varangians to the Greeks" or the Volga trade route, which connected Russia with the countries of the East. Communication with Western Europe was also maintained by land roads.

The exact dates of the founding of ancient cities are unknown, but many of them existed long before the first mention in the annals. For example, Kyiv (the legendary chronicle evidence of its founding dates back to the end of the 5th-6th centuries), Novgorod, Chernigov, Pereyaslavl South, Smolensk, Suzdal, Murom, etc. According to historians, in the 9th century. in Russia there were at least 24 large cities that had fortifications.

Social system. At the head of the East Slavic tribal unions were princes from the tribal nobility and the former tribal elite - "deliberate people", "best men". The most important issues of life were decided at public meetings - veche gatherings.

There was a militia ("regiment", "thousand", divided into "hundreds"). At the head of them were the thousand, sotsky. The squad was a special military organization. According to archaeological data and Byzantine sources, East Slavic squads appeared already in the 6th-7th centuries. The druzhina was divided into the eldest, from which ambassadors and princely administrators came out, who had their own land, and the youngest, who lived with the prince and served his court and household. The warriors, on behalf of the prince, collected tribute from the conquered tribes. Such campaigns for the collection of tribute were called "polyudye". The collection of tribute usually took place in November-April and continued until the spring opening of the rivers, when the princes returned to Kyiv. The unit of tribute was the smoke (peasant yard) or the land area cultivated by the peasant yard (ralo, plow).

Slavic paganism. The religion of the Eastern Slavs was also complex, diverse with elaborate customs. Its origins go back to ancient Indo-European beliefs and even further back to Paleolithic times. It was there, in the depths of antiquity, that man's ideas of supernatural forces that control his fate, about his attitude to nature and her attitude to man, about his place in the world around him, were born. The religion that existed among different peoples before they adopted Christianity or Islam is called paganism.

Like other ancient peoples, like the ancient Greeks in particular, 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, stood 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 Dazhdbog was highly revered by the Slavs. No wonder the author of "The Tale of Igor's Campaign" called the Slavs "God's grandchildren". The Slavs prayed to Rod and women in childbirth - to the god and goddesses of fertility. This cult was associated with the agricultural occupations of the population and was, therefore, especially popular. The god Veles was revered by the Slavs as the patron of cattle breeding, 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 clearly came from the world of 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 Makosh, who personified the birth of all living things, was the patroness of the female part of the economy.

Over time, as the Slavs of princes, governors, retinues came to the fore 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. If the sun rose and set, the wind blew and then subsided, the fertility of the soil, which was rapidly manifested in spring and summer, was lost in autumn and disappeared in winter, then lightning never lost its power in the eyes of the Slavs. She was not subject to other elements, was not born by some other beginning. 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 name "mermaid" comes from the word "fair-haired", which means "bright", "clean" in the Old Slavic language. The habitation of mermaids was associated with the proximity of water bodies - rivers, lakes, which were considered the way to the underworld. Along this waterway, the mermaids came out onto the land and lived on the ground.

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!"

The whole life of a Slav was connected with the world of supernatural beings, behind which stood the forces of nature. It was a fantastic and poetic world. He entered the everyday life of every Slavic family.

Already on the eve of the new year (and the year of 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 major 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 an effigy 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 blossoming leaves, again praised the sun god, and celebrated the appearance of the first spring shoots.

The new 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, the mermaids came ashore from the water - the "mermaid week" began. Girls these days led round dances, threw wreaths into the rivers. The most beautiful girls were wrapped around with green branches and poured with water, as if calling the long-awaited rain to the earth.

At night, Kupala bonfires flared up, through which young men and girls jumped, which meant a purification ritual, which, as it were, was helped by the sacred fire.

On Kupala nights, the so-called "abductions of girls" took place, 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 funeral custom of the Eastern Slavs is known to bury together with the ashes of a person (the Slavs burned their dead at the stake, placing them first in wooden boats; this meant that a person floats 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. During the sad feast, military competitions were also held in his honor. These rites, of course, concerned only the tribal leaders.

Formation of the Old Russian state. Norman theory. The tribal reigns of the Slavs had signs of the emerging statehood. Tribal principalities often united into large superunions, which revealed features of early statehood.

One of these associations was the union of tribes headed by Kiy (known since the end of the 5th century). At the end of the VI-VII centuries. there was, according to Byzantine and Arabic sources, the "Power of Volhynia", which was an ally of Byzantium. The Novgorod chronicle tells about the elder Gostomysl, who headed the ninth century. Slavic unification around Novgorod. Eastern sources suggest the existence on the eve of the formation of the Old Russian state of three large associations of Slavic tribes: Kuyaba, Slavia and Artania. Kuyaba (or Kuyava) apparently was located around Kyiv. Slavia occupied the territory in the area of Lake Ilmen, its center was Novgorod. The location of Artania is determined differently by different researchers (Ryazan, Chernihiv). The famous historian B.A. Rybakov claims that at the beginning of the 9th century. On the basis of the Polyansky Union of Tribes, a large political association "Rus" was formed, which included some of the northerners.

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 Acts, Scythians, Sarmatians, Gothic historians - Rosomani (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 writings of the Polish borderlands. In the ninth century the name "Rus" is mentioned several times in the works of Byzantine, Western and Eastern authors.

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 region.

From the same time, information comes about 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 Novgorod Slovenes, Krivichi and Chud, who lived in the northeastern corner of the East Slavic lands of 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 we 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, but there is no dress (i.e., management) in it. Come reign and rule over us."

The chronicle repeatedly returns to the definition of 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 the same," 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. Some of these "Rusyns" moved from the Carpathian region and from the banks of the Danube to the Dnieper region, as the chronicle also reports. Here they met with the inhabitants of these regions, 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 intertribal strife came here as peacekeepers from outside, as neutral rulers. Such a practice of inviting a prince or king to rule from close, often related lands was very common in Europe. This tradition was preserved in Novgorod and later. Sovereigns from other Russian principalities were invited there to reign.

Of course, in the story of the chronicle there is a lot of legendary, mythical, such as, for example, a very common parable about the three brothers, but there is also a lot of real, historical in it, talking about the ancient and very controversial relations of the Slavs with their neighbors.

The legendary chronicle story about the calling of the Varangians served as the basis for the emergence of the so-called Norman theory of the emergence of the Old Russian state. It was first formulated by the German scientists G.-F. Miller and G.-Z. Bayer, invited to work in Russia in the 18th century. An ardent opponent of this theory was M.V. Lomonosov.

The very fact of the stay of the Varangian squads, by which, as a rule, they understand the Scandinavians, in the service of the Slavic princes, their participation in the life of Russia is beyond doubt, as well as the constant mutual ties between the Scandinavians and Russia. However, there are no traces of any noticeable influence of the Varangians on the economic and socio-political institutions of the Slavs, as well as on their language and culture. In the Scandinavian sagas, Russia is a country of untold riches, and serving the Russian princes is a sure way to gain fame and power. Archaeologists note that the number of Varangians in Russia was small. No data were found on the colonization of Russia by the Vikings. The version about the foreign origin of this or that dynasty is typical of antiquity and the Middle Ages. Suffice it to recall the stories about the calling of the Anglo-Saxons by the Britons and the creation of the English state, about the founding of Rome by the brothers Romulus and Remus, and so on.

In the modern era, the scientific inconsistency of the Norman theory, which explains the emergence of the Old Russian state as a result of a foreign initiative, has been fully proven. However, its political meaning is dangerous even today. The "Normanists" proceed from the premise of the supposedly primordial backwardness of the Russian people, who, in their opinion, are incapable of independent historical creativity. It is possible, they believe, only under foreign leadership and according to foreign models.

Historians have convincing evidence that there is every reason to assert that the Eastern Slavs had stable traditions of statehood long before the calling of the Varangians. State institutions arise as a result of the development of society. The actions of individual major personalities, conquests or other external circumstances determine the concrete manifestations of this process. Consequently, the fact of calling the Varangians, if it really took place, speaks not so much about the emergence of Russian statehood, but about the origin of the princely dynasty. If Rurik was a real historical figure, then his vocation to Russia should be seen as a response to the real need for princely power in the Russian society of that time. In historical literature, the question of Rurik's place in our history remains controversial. Some historians share the opinion that the Russian dynasty of Scandinavian origin, as well as the very name "Rus" ("Russians" the Finns called the inhabitants of Northern Sweden). Their opponents are of the opinion that the legend about the calling of the Varangians is the fruit of tendentious writing, a later insertion caused by political reasons. There is also a point of view that the Varangians-Rus and Rurik were Slavs who originated either from the southern coast of the Baltic (Rügen Island) or from the region of the Neman River. It should be noted that the term "Rus" is repeatedly found in relation to various associations both in the north and in the south of the East Slavic world.

The formation of the state of Rus (the Old Russian state or, as it is called after the capital, Kievan Rus) is the natural completion of a long process of decomposition of the primitive communal system among a dozen and a half Slavic tribal unions who lived on the way "from the Varangians to the Greeks." The established state was at the very beginning of its journey: primitive communal traditions retained their place in all spheres of life of the Eastern Slavic society for a long time.

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 its 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 knew both. Of course, the debate about who the Varangians were will continue.

What you need to know about these topics:

Archaeological, linguistic and written evidence about the Slavs.

Tribal unions of the Eastern Slavs in the VI-IX centuries. Territory. Lessons. "The Way from the Varangians to the Greeks". Social system. Paganism. Prince and squad. Campaigns to Byzantium.

Internal and external factors that prepared the emergence of statehood among the Eastern Slavs.

Socio-economic development. Formation of feudal relations.

Early feudal monarchy of the Rurikids. "Norman theory", its political meaning. Management organization. Domestic and foreign policy of the first Kiev princes (Oleg, Igor, Olga, Svyatoslav).

The heyday of the Kievan state under Vladimir I and Yaroslav the Wise. Completion of the unification of the Eastern Slavs around Kyiv. Border defense.

Legends about the spread of Christianity in Russia. Adoption of Christianity as the state religion. The Russian Church and its role in the life of the Kiev state. Christianity and paganism.

"Russian Truth". The establishment of feudal relations. organization of the ruling class. Princely and boyar estates. Feudal-dependent population, its categories. Serfdom. Peasant communities. City.

The struggle between the sons and descendants of Yaroslav the Wise for the grand ducal power. fragmentation tendencies. Lyubech Congress of Princes.

Kievan Rus in the system of international relations in the 11th - early 12th centuries. Polovtsian danger. Princely feuds. Vladimir Monomakh. The final collapse of the Kievan state at the beginning of the XII century.

Culture of Kievan Rus. Cultural heritage of the Eastern Slavs. Folklore. Epics. The origin of Slavic writing. Cyril and Methodius. Beginning of chronicle. "The Tale of Bygone Years". Literature. Education in Kievan Rus. Birch letters. Architecture. Painting (frescoes, mosaics, iconography).

Economic and political reasons for the feudal fragmentation of Russia.

feudal landownership. Urban development. Princely power and boyars. The political system in various Russian lands and principalities.

The largest political formations on the territory of Russia. Rostov-(Vladimir)-Suzdal, Galicia-Volyn principality, Novgorod boyar republic. Socio-economic and internal political development of principalities and lands on the eve of the Mongol invasion.

International position of Russian lands. Political and cultural ties between Russian lands. Feudal strife. Fighting external danger.

The rise of culture in the Russian lands in the XII-XIII centuries. The idea of the unity of the Russian land in the works of culture. "The Tale of Igor's Campaign".

Formation of the early feudal Mongolian state. Genghis Khan and the unification of the Mongol tribes. The conquest by the Mongols of the lands of neighboring peoples, northeastern China, Korea, Central Asia. Invasion of Transcaucasia and South Russian steppes. Battle on the Kalka River.

Campaigns of Batu.

Invasion of North-Eastern Russia. The defeat of southern and southwestern Russia. Campaigns of Batu in Central Europe. Russia's struggle for independence and its historical significance.

Aggression of the German feudal lords in the Baltic. Livonian order. The defeat of the Swedish troops on the Neva and the German knights in the Battle of the Ice. Alexander Nevskiy.

Formation of the Golden Horde. Socio-economic and political system. Control system for conquered lands. The struggle of the Russian people against the Golden Horde. The consequences of the Mongol-Tatar invasion and the Golden Horde yoke for the further development of our country.

The inhibitory effect of the Mongol-Tatar conquest on the development of Russian culture. Destruction and destruction of cultural property. Weakening of traditional ties with Byzantium and other Christian countries. Decline of crafts and arts. Oral folk art as a reflection of the struggle against the invaders.

Sakharov A.N., Buganov V.I. History of Russia from ancient times to the end of the 17th century.

In historical science, it is generally accepted that the history of any nation begins with the formation of a state. More than 100 peoples and nationalities live in the Russian Federation. But the main state-forming people of our country is the Russian people (out of 149 million - 120 million are Russians).

The Russian people - one of the largest peoples in the world - for many centuries played a leading role in the political, economic, cultural development of the country. The first state of Russians, as well as Ukrainians and Belarusians, was formed in the 9th century around Kyiv by their common ancestors - the Eastern Slavs.

The first written evidence of the Slavs.

By the middle of the II millennium BC. Slavs stand out from the Indo-European community. By the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. the Slavs became so significant in terms of numbers, influence in the world around them that Greek, Roman, Arabic, Byzantine authors began to report on them (the Roman writer Pliny the Elder), the historian Tacitus - I century AD, the geographer Ptolemy Claudius - II century .n.e. ancient authors call the Slavs "antes", "sklavins", "veneds" and speak of them as "countless tribes").

In the era of the great migration of the peoples of the Slavs, other peoples began to crowd on the Danube. The Slavs began to split up.

Part of the Slavs remained in Europe. Later they will receive the name of the southern Slavs (later Bulgarians, Serbs, Croats, Slovenes, Bosnians, Montenegrins will come from them).

Another part of the Slavs moved to the north - the Western Slavs (Czechs, Poles, Slovaks). Western and southern Slavs were conquered by other peoples.

And the third part of the Slavs, according to scientists, did not want to submit to anyone and moved to the northeast, to the East European Plain. Later they will receive the name of the Eastern Slavs (Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians).

It should be noted that most of the tribes sought to Central Europe, to the ruins of the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire soon fell under the blows of the alien barbarians (476 AD). On this territory, the barbarians will create their own statehood, having absorbed the cultural heritage of ancient Roman culture. The Eastern Slavs, on the other hand, went to the northeast, into the dense forest jungle, where there was no cultural heritage. The Eastern Slavs left in two streams. One part of the Slavs went to Lake Ilmen. Later, the ancient Russian city of Novgorod will rise there. The other part - to the middle and lower reaches of the Dnieper - there will be another ancient city of Kyiv.

In the VI - VIII centuries. Eastern Slavs mostly settled in the East European Plain.

Neighbors of the Eastern Slavs. And other peoples already lived on the East European (Russian) Plain. On the Baltic coast and in the north lived the Baltic (Lithuanians, Latvians) and Finno-Finnish (Finns, Estonians, Ugrians (Hungarians), Komi, Khanty, Mansi, etc.) tribes. The colonization of these places was peaceful, the Slavs got along with the local population.

The situation was different in the east and southeast. There, the Steppe adjoined the Russian Plain. The neighbors of the Eastern Slavs were the steppe nomads - the Turks (the Altai family of peoples, the Turkic group). In those days, peoples leading a different way of life - sedentary and nomadic - were constantly at enmity with each other. The nomads lived by raiding the settled population. And for almost 1000 years, one of the main phenomena in the life of the Eastern Slavs will be the struggle against the nomadic peoples of the Steppe.

The Turks on the eastern and southeastern borders of the settlement of the Eastern Slavs created their own state formations.

In the middle of the VI century. in the lower reaches of the Volga there was a state of the Turks - the Avar Khaganate. In 625, the Avar Khaganate was defeated by Byzantium and ceased to exist.

In the VII - VIII centuries. here appears the state of other Turks - the Bulgar (Bulgarian) kingdom. Then the Bulgar kingdom broke up. Part of the Bulgars went to the middle reaches of the Volga and formed the Volga Bulgaria. Another part of the Bulgars migrated to the Danube, where the Danube Bulgaria was formed (later the newcomer Turks were assimilated by the southern Slavs. A new ethnic group arose, but it took the name of the newcomers - "Bulgarians").

The steppes of southern Russia after the departure of the Bulgars were occupied by new Turks - the Pechenegs.

On the lower Volga and in the steppes between the Caspian and Azov seas, semi-nomadic Turks created the Khazar Khaganate. The Khazars established their dominance over the East Slavic tribes, many of whom paid tribute to them until the 9th century.

In the south, the Byzantine Empire (395 - 1453) with its capital in the city of Constantinople (in Russia it was called Tsargrad) was a neighbor of the Eastern Slavs.

Territory of the Eastern Slavs. In the VI - VIII centuries. The Slavs were not yet one people.

They were divided into tribal unions, which included 120 - 150 separate tribes. By the ninth century There were about 15 tribal unions. Tribal unions were called either by the area in which they lived, or by the name of the leaders. Information about the resettlement of the Eastern Slavs is contained in the chronicle "The Tale of Bygone Years", created by the monk of the Kiev-Pechersk monastery Nestor in the second decade of the 12th century. (The chronicler Nestor is called "the father of Russian history"). According to the chronicle "The Tale of Bygone Years", the Eastern Slavs settled: the meadow - along the banks of the Dnieper, not far from the mouth of the Desna; northerners - in the basin of the Desna and Seim rivers; radimichi - on the upper tributaries of the Dnieper; Drevlyans - along Pripyat; Dregovichi - between Pripyat and the Western Dvina; polochane - along Polota; Ilmen Slovenes - along the rivers Volkhov, Shchelon, Lovat, Msta; Krivichi - in the upper reaches of the Dnieper, Western Dvina and Volga; Vyatichi - in the upper reaches of the Oka; buzhane - along the Western Bug; Tivertsy and streets - from the Dnieper to the Danube; white Croats - the northern part of the western slopes of the Carpathians.

The path "from the Varangians to the Greeks". The Eastern Slavs did not have a sea coast. Rivers became the main trade routes for the Slavs. They "huddled" to the banks of the rivers, especially the greatest river of Russian antiquity - the Dnieper. In the ninth century a great trade route arose - "from the Varangians to the Greeks". It connected Novgorod and Kyiv, Northern and Southern Europe. From the Baltic Sea along the Neva River, the caravans of merchants got to Lake Ladoga, from there along the Volkhov River and further along the Lovat River to the upper reaches of the Dnieper. From Lovat to the Dnieper in the region of Smolensk and on the Dnieper rapids they crossed by "drag routes". Further, the western coast of the Black Sea reached the capital of Byzantium, Constantinople (the Eastern Slavs called it Constantinople). This path became the core, the main trade road, the "red street" of the Eastern Slavs. The whole life of the East Slavic society was concentrated around this trade route.

Occupations of the Eastern Slavs. The main occupation of the Eastern Slavs was agriculture. They cultivated wheat, rye, barley, millet, planted turnips, millet, cabbage, beets, carrots, radishes, garlic and other crops. They were engaged in cattle breeding (bred pigs, cows, horses, small cattle), fishing, beekeeping (gathering honey from wild bees). A significant part of the territory of the Eastern Slavs lay in the zone of a harsh climate, and farming required the exertion of all physical strength. Labor-intensive work had to be completed within a strictly defined time frame. This was only possible for a large team. Therefore, from the very beginning of the appearance of the Slavs on the East European Plain, the collective - the community and the role of leader - began to play the most important role in their life.

Cities. Among the Eastern Slavs in the V - VI centuries. cities arose, which was associated with the long-standing development of trade. The most ancient Russian cities are Kyiv, Novgorod, Smolensk, Suzdal, Murom, Pereyaslavl South. In the ninth century the Eastern Slavs had at least 24 major cities. Cities usually arose at the confluence of rivers, on a high hill. The central part of the city was called the Kremlin, Detinets and was usually surrounded by a rampart. The Kremlin housed the dwellings of princes, the nobility, temples, monasteries. A moat filled with water was erected behind the fortress wall. Bargaining was located behind the moat. A settlement adjoined the Kremlin, where artisans settled. Separate areas of the settlement, inhabited by artisans of the same specialty, were called settlements.

Public relations. Eastern Slavs lived in clans. Each clan had its own foreman - the prince. The prince relied on the tribal elite - "the best husbands." The princes formed a special military organization - a squad, which included warriors and advisers to the prince. The squad was divided into senior and junior. The first included the most noble warriors (advisors). The younger squad lived with the prince and served his court and household. Vigilantes from the conquered tribes collected tribute (taxes). Campaigns for the collection of tribute were called "polyuds". From time immemorial, the Eastern Slavs had a custom - to solve all the most important issues in the life of the family at a secular gathering - a veche.

Beliefs of the Eastern Slavs. The ancient Slavs were pagans. They worshiped the forces of nature and the spirits of their ancestors. In the pantheon of Slavic gods, a special place was occupied by: the god of the sun - Yarilo; Perun is the god of war and lightning, Svarog is the god of fire, Veles is the patron of cattle. The princes themselves acted as high priests, but the Slavs also had special priests - sorcerers and magicians.

Bibliography:
The Tale of Bygone Years. - M.; L.; 1990.
Rybakov B.A. The first centuries of Russian history. - M., 1964.

The first evidence of the Slavs. The Slavs, according to most historians, separated from the Indo-European community in the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. e. The ancestral home of the early Slavs (Proto-Slavs), according to archaeological data, was the territory to the east of the Germans - from the Oder River in the west to the Carpathian Mountains in the east. A number of researchers believe that the Proto-Slavic language began to take shape later, in the middle of the 1st millennium BC. e.

The first written evidence about the Slavs dates back to the beginning of the 1st millennium AD. e. Greek, Roman, Arabic, Byzantine sources report about the Slavs. Ancient authors mention the Slavs under the name of the Wends (Roman writer Pliny the Elder, historian Tacitus, 1st century AD; geographer Ptolemy Claudius, 2nd century AD).

In the era of the Great Migration of Nations (III-VI centuries AD), which coincided with the crisis of the slave-owning civilization, the Slavs mastered the territory of Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe. They lived in the forest and forest-steppe zones, where, as a result of the spread of iron tools, it became possible to conduct a settled agricultural economy. Having settled in the Balkans, the Slavs played a significant role in the destruction of the Danube border of Byzantium.

The first information about the political history of the Slavs dates back to the 4th century. n. e. From the Baltic coast, the Germanic tribes of the Goths made their way to the Northern Black Sea region. The Gothic leader Germanaric was defeated by the Slavs. His successor Vinitar deceived 70 Slavic elders headed by God (Bus) and crucified them. Eight centuries later, the author of The Tale of Igor's Campaign, unknown to us, mentioned the "time of Busovo".

In the VI century. the Turkic-speaking Avars (the Russian chronicle called them obrams) created their own state in the southern Russian steppes, uniting the tribes that roamed there. The Avar Khaganate was defeated by Byzantium in 625. “Proud in mind” and in body, the great Avars-Obras disappeared without a trace. “They died like obras” - these words, with the light hand of the Russian chronicler, became an aphorism.

The largest political formations of the VII-VIII centuries. in the southern Russian steppes there was the Bulgarian kingdom and the Khazar Khaganate, and in the Altai region - the Turkic Khaganate. The states of the nomads were unstable conglomerates of the steppes, who hunted for military booty. As a result of the collapse of the Bulgarian kingdom, part of the Bulgarians, led by Khan Asparuh, migrated to the Danube, where they were assimilated by the southern Slavs who lived there, who took the name of Asparuh's warriors, that is, Bulgarians. Another part of the Bulgarian-Turks with Khan Batbai came to the middle reaches of the Volga, where a new power arose - Volga Bulgaria (Bulgaria). Its neighbor, who occupied from the middle of the 7th century. the territory of the Lower Volga region, the steppes of the North Caucasus, the Black Sea region and partly the Crimea, was the Khazar Khaganate, which levied tribute from the Dnieper Slavs until the end of the 9th century.

In the VI century. Slavs repeatedly made military campaigns against the largest state of that time - Byzantium. From that time, a number of works by Byzantine authors have come down to us, containing original military instructions on the fight against the Slavs. So, for example, the Byzantine Procopius from Caesarea wrote in his book “The War with the Goths”: “These tribes, Slavs and Antes, are not ruled by one person, but since ancient times they live in democracy (democracy), and therefore they consider happiness and unhappiness in life to be a matter of common ... They believe that only God, the creator of lightning, is the lord over all, and bulls are sacrificed to him and other sacred rites are performed ... Both of them have the same language ... And once even the name of the Slavs and Antes was the same Same".

The territory of the Eastern Slavs (VI-IX centuries).

The Eastern Slavs occupied the territory from the Carpathian Mountains in the west to the Middle Oka and the upper reaches of the Don in the east, from the Neva and Lake Ladoga in the north. To the Middle Dnieper in the south. The Slavs, who developed the East European Plain, came into contact with a few Finno-Ugric and Baltic tribes. There was a process of assimilation (mixing) of peoples. In the VI-IX centuries. the Slavs united in communities that no longer had only a tribal, but also a territorial and political character. Tribal unions are a stage on the way to the formation of the statehood of the Eastern Slavs.

Glade lived in the forest-steppe along the middle reaches of the Dnieper (Kyiv). To the north of them, between the mouths of the Desna and Ros rivers, lived northerners (Chernigov). To the west of the glades, on the right bank of the Dnieper, the Drevlyans “sedesh in the forests”. To the north of the Drevlyans, between the rivers Pripyat and the Western Dvina, the Dregovichi (from the word "dryagva" - a swamp) settled, who along the Western Dvina were adjacent to the Polochans (from the Polota River, a tributary of the Western Dvina). To the south of the Bug River, there were Buzhans and Volynians, according to some historians, the descendants of the Dulebs. The interfluve of the Prut and the Dnieper was inhabited, convict. Tivertsy lived between the Dnieper and the Southern Bug. Vyatichi were located along the rivers Oka and Moscow; to the west of them lived the Krivichi; along the Sozh River and its tributaries - Radimichi. The northern part of the western slopes of the Carpathians was occupied by white Croats. Ilmen Slovenes (Novgorod) lived around Lake Ilmen.

The chroniclers noted the uneven development of individual tribal associations of the Eastern Slavs. At the center of their story is the land of the meadows. The land of the glades, as the chroniclers pointed out, was also called "Rus". Historians believe that this was the name of one of the tribes that lived along the Ros River and gave the name to the tribal union, the history of which was inherited by the meadows. This is just one of the possible explanations for the term "Rus". The question of the origin of this name is not fully understood.

The neighbors of the Eastern Slavs in the north-west were the Baltic Letto-Lithuanian (Zhmud, Lithuania, Prussians, Latgalians, Semigallians, Curonians) and Finno-Ugric (Chud-Ests, Livs) tribes. The Finno-Ugric peoples coexisted with the Eastern Slavs both from the north and the northeast (Vod, Izhora, Karelians, Sami, all, Perm). In the upper reaches of the Vychegda, Pechora and Kama lived Yugras, Merya, Cheremis-Mars, Murom, Meshchera, Mordvins, Burtases. In the east, from the confluence of the Belaya River into the Kama to the Middle Volga, the Volga-Kama Bulgaria was located, its population was the Turks. The Bashkirs were their neighbors. South Russian steppes in the VIII-IX centuries. occupied by the Magyars (Hungarians) - Finno-Ugric pastoralists, who, after their resettlement in the region of Lake Balaton, were replaced in the 9th century. Pechenegs. The Khazar Khaganate dominated the Lower Volga and the steppe spaces between the Caspian and Azov Seas. The Black Sea region was dominated by Danubian Bulgaria and the Byzantine Empire.

The path "from the Varangians to the Greeks"

The great waterway "from the Varangians to the Greeks" was a kind of "pillar road" that connected Northern and Southern Europe. It arose at the end of the ninth century. From the Baltic (Varangian) Sea along the Neva River, the caravans of merchants got to Lake Ladoga (Nevo), from there along the Volkhov River - to Lake Ilmen and further along the Lovat River to the upper reaches of the Dnieper. From Lovat to the Dnieper in the Smolensk region and on the Dnieper rapids they crossed by "drag routes". The western coast of the Black Sea reached Constantinople (Tsargrad). The most developed lands of the Slavic world - Novgorod and Kyiv - controlled the northern and southern sections of the Great Trade Route. This circumstance gave rise to a number of historians, following V. O. Klyuchevsky, to assert that the trade in fur, wax and honey was the main occupation of the Eastern Slavs, since the path "from the Varangians to the Greeks" was "the main core of economic, political, and then cultural life Eastern Slavs.

Economy of the Slavs. The main occupation of the Eastern Slavs was agriculture. This is confirmed by archaeological excavations that have found seeds of cereals (rye, wheat, barley, millet) and garden crops (turnips, cabbage, beets, carrots, radishes, garlic, etc.). A person in those days identified life with arable land and bread, hence the name of grain crops "zhito", which has survived to this day. The agricultural traditions of this region are evidenced by the borrowing by the Slavs of the Roman bread norm - the quadrantal (26.26 l), which was called the quadrant in Russia and existed in our system of weights and measures until 1924.

The main agricultural systems of the Eastern Slavs are closely connected with natural and climatic conditions. In the north, in the area of taiga forests (the remnant of which is Belovezhskaya Pushcha), the dominant system of agriculture was slash-and-burn. Trees were cut down the first year. In the second year, dried trees were burned and, using the ashes as fertilizer, they sowed grain. For two or three years, the plot gave a high harvest for that time, then the land was depleted, and it was necessary to move to a new plot. The main tools there were an ax, as well as a hoe, a plow, a knotted harrow and a spade, with which they loosened the soil. Harvested with sickles. They threshed with chains. The grain was ground with stone grinders and hand millstones.

In the southern regions, fallow was the leading system of agriculture. There were many fertile lands, and plots of land were sown for two or three or more years. With the depletion of the soil, they moved (shifted) to new areas. The main tools used here were a plow, a ralo, a wooden plow with an iron plowshare, that is, tools adapted for horizontal plowing.

Community

The low level of productive forces in the management of the economy required huge labor costs. Labor-intensive work that had to be carried out within strictly defined deadlines could only be performed by a large team; it was also his task to oversee the correct distribution and use of land. Therefore, a large role in the life of the ancient Russian village was acquired by the community - peace, rope (from the word "rope", which was used to measure the land during divisions).

By the time the state was formed among the Eastern Slavs, the tribal community was replaced by a territorial, or neighboring, community. The community members were now united, first of all, not by kinship, but by a common territory and economic life. Each such community owned a certain territory on which several families lived. There were two forms of ownership in the community - personal and public. The house, household land, livestock, inventory were the personal property of each community member. In common use were arable land, meadows, forests, reservoirs, fishing grounds. Arable land and mowing were to be divided between families.

Communal traditions and practices determined the way and characteristic features of the life of the Russian peasantry for many, many centuries.

City

The city, as a rule, was built on a hill, at the confluence of two rivers, as this provided a reliable defense against enemy attacks. The central part of the city, protected by a rampart, around which a fortress wall was erected, was called the kremlin, krom or citadel. There were palaces of princes, courtyards of the largest feudal lords, temples, and later monasteries. From two sides the Kremlin was protected by a natural water barrier. From the side of the base of the Kremlin triangle, they dug a moat filled with water. Bargaining was located behind the moat under the protection of the fortress walls. The settlements of artisans adjoined the Kremlin. The handicraft part of the city was called a settlement, and its individual districts, inhabited, as a rule, by artisans of a certain specialty, were called settlements.

In most cases, cities were built on trade routes, such as the route "from the Varangians to the Greeks", or the Volga trade route, which connected Russia with the countries of the East. Communication with Western Europe was also maintained by land roads.

The exact dates of the founding of ancient cities are unknown, but many of them existed by the time of the first mention in the annals, for example Kyiv (the legendary annalistic evidence of its foundation dates back to the end of the 5th-6th centuries), Novgorod, Chernigov, Pereslavl South, Smolensk, Suzdal, Murom and others. According to historians, in the IX century. in Russia there were at least 24 large cities that had fortifications.

social order

At the head of the East Slavic tribal unions were princes from the tribal nobility and the former tribal elite - “deliberate people”, “best men”. The most important issues of life were decided at public meetings - veche gatherings.

There was a militia ("regiment", "thousand", divided into "hundreds"). At the head of them were the thousand, sotsky. The squad was a special military organization. According to archaeological data and Byzantine sources, East Slavic squads appeared already in the 6th-7th centuries. The druzhina was divided into the eldest, from which ambassadors and princely administrators came out, who had their own land, and the youngest, who lived with the prince and served his court and household. The warriors, on behalf of the prince, collected tribute from the conquered tribes. Such trips to collect tribute were called polyuds. The collection of tribute usually took place in November-April and continued until the spring opening of the rivers, when the princes returned to Kyiv. The unit of tribute was the smoke (peasant yard) or the land area cultivated by the peasant yard (ralo, plow).

Slavic paganism

The ancient Slavs were pagans. At an early stage of their development, they believed in evil and good spirits. A pantheon of Slavic gods developed, each of which personified various forces of nature or reflected the social and social relations of that time. The most important gods of the Slavs were Perun - the god of thunder, lightning, war; Svarog - the god of fire; Veles - the patron saint of cattle breeding; Mokosh - the goddess who protected the female part of the economy; Simargl is the god of the underworld. The god of the sun was especially revered, which was called differently among different tribes: Dazhdbog, Yarilo, Horos, which indicates the absence of stable Slavic intertribal unity.

Formation of the Old Russian state

The tribal reigns of the Slavs had signs of the emerging statehood. Tribal principalities often united into large superunions, which revealed features of early statehood.

One of these associations was the union of tribes headed by Kiy (known since the end of the 5th century). At the end of the VI-VII century. there was, according to Byzantine and Arabic sources, the "Power of Volhynia", which was an ally of Byzantium. The Novgorod chronicle tells about the elder Gostomysl, who headed the ninth century. Slavic unification around Novgorod. Eastern sources suggest the existence on the eve of the formation of the Old Russian state of three large associations of Slavic tribes: Kuyaba, Slavia and Artania. Kuyaba (or Kuyava), apparently, was located around Kyiv. Slavia occupied the territory in the area of Lake Ilmen, its center was Novgorod. The location of Artania is determined differently by different researchers (Ryazan, Chernihiv). The famous historian B. A. Rybakov claims that at the beginning of the 9th century. on the basis of the Polyansky Union of Tribes, a large political association "Rus" was formed, which also included part of the northerners.

Thus, the widespread use of agriculture with the use of iron tools, the collapse of the tribal community and its transformation into a neighboring one, the growth in the number of cities, the emergence of a squad are evidence of the emerging statehood.

The Slavs mastered the East European Plain, interacting with the local Baltic and Finno-Ugric populations. The military campaigns of the Antes, Sclavens, Russ against more developed countries, primarily against Byzantium, brought significant military booty to the combatants and princes. All this contributed to the stratification of East Slavic society. Thus, as a result of economic and socio-political development, statehood began to take shape among the East Slavic tribes,

Norman theory

The Russian chronicler of the beginning of the 12th century, trying to explain the origin of the Old Russian state, in accordance with the medieval tradition, included in the chronicle the legend of the calling of three Varangians as princes - the brothers Rurik, Sineus and Truvor. Many historians believe that the Varangians were Norman (Scandinavian) warriors who were hired and took an oath of allegiance to the ruler. A number of historians, on the contrary, consider the Varangians a Russian tribe that lived on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea and on the island of Rügen.

According to this legend, on the eve of the formation of Kievan Rus, the northern tribes of the Slavs and their neighbors (Ilmen Slovenes, Chud, all) paid tribute to the Varangians, and the southern tribes (Polyans and their neighbors) were dependent on the Khazars. In 859, the Novgorodians "expelled the Varangians across the sea", which led to civil strife. Under these conditions, the Novgorodians who had gathered for a council sent for the Varangian princes: “Our land is great and plentiful, but there is no order (order - Auth.) in it. Yes, go to reign and rule over us. Power over Novgorod and the surrounding Slavic lands passed into the hands of the Varangian princes, the eldest of whom Rurik laid, as the chronicler believed, the beginning of a princely dynasty. After the death of Rurik, another Varangian prince, Oleg (there is evidence that he was a relative of Rurik), who ruled in Novgorod, united Novgorod and Kyiv in 882. So, according to the chronicler, the state of Rus (also called Kievan Rus by historians).

The legendary chronicle story about the calling of the Varangians served as the basis for the emergence of the so-called Norman theory of the emergence of the Old Russian state. It was first formulated by the German scientists G.-F. Miller and G.-Z. Bayer, invited to work in Russia in the 18th century. M. V. Lomonosov acted as an ardent opponent of this theory.

Historians have convincing evidence that there is every reason to assert that the Eastern Slavs had stable traditions of statehood long before the calling of the Varangians. State institutions arise as a result of the development of society. The actions of individual major personalities, conquests or other external circumstances determine the concrete manifestations of this process. Consequently, the fact of calling the Varangians, if it really took place, speaks not so much about the emergence of Russian statehood, but about the origin of the princely dynasty. If Rurik was a real historical figure, then his vocation to Russia should be seen as a response to the real need for princely power in the Russian society of that time. In historical literature, the question of Rurik's place in our history remains controversial. Some historians share the opinion that the Russian dynasty of Scandinavian origin, like the very name "Rus" ("Russians" the Finns called the inhabitants of Northern Sweden). Their opponents are of the opinion that the legend about the calling of the Varangians is the fruit of tendentious writing, a later insertion caused by political reasons. There is also a point of view that the Varangians-Rus and Rurik were Slavs who originated either from the southern coast of the Baltic (Rügen Island) or from the region of the Neman River. It should be noted that the term "Rus" is repeatedly found in relation to various associations, both in the north and in the south of the East Slavic world.

M. 1956: New Acropolis, 2010. M. Book one. History of the ancient Slavs. Part IV. East Slavs.
Chapter XVII. Eastern Slavs and the ethnic composition of the ancient population of Eastern Europe.

Territory of the Eastern Slavs. First neighbors: Thracians and Iranians.

About how differentiation occurred in the Slavic ancestral home, dividing the Slavs, formerly almost united linguistically, into three large groups - western, southern and eastern. Of the Western Slavs, only the Poles firmly settled in the ancient Slavic ancestral home, then the remnants of the southern Croats and Serbs, and in the east - part of the Eastern Slavs, who differed linguistically from other Slavs in a number of phonetic, grammatical and lexical features.

The most characteristic among them is the transition of the Proto-Slavic tj and dj into the sound "h" and "g", the emergence of full-voiced groups wow, olo, ere, ele from Proto-Slavic or, ol, er, el. For example, such a group as tort, which in the South Slavic languages is represented by trat, in Czech trat, in Polish trot, in Russian corresponds to the group torot; the group tert corresponds equally to teret, and the change of old vowels ь and ъ (ery) in —her about . We can supplement these three facts with many others, less important and less obvious.

Ancestral home of the Eastern Slavs was the eastern part Proto-Slavic cradle: the entire Pripyat basin (Polesie) , then the territory on the lower river Berezina, on the Desna and Teterev, Kiev region, and all present Volhynia, where there were the most favorable conditions for existence. From the beginning of our era, the homeland of the Eastern Slavs was quite extensive, since in the 6th and 7th centuries we already see a large number of Slavs in the north, on Lake Ilmen, and in the east, on the Don, near the Sea of \u200b\u200bAzov, "'Άμετρα εθνη", - says Procopius about them (IV.4). “Natio populosa per immensa spatia consedit,” Jordanes notes at the same time (Get., V.34), when he writes about the conquests of Germanaric until 375. The fact that the ancestral home of the Russian Slavs was ever in the Carpathians is out of the question. I. Nadezhdin once tried to prove this, and later, with even greater diligence, Professor Ivan Filevich, but to no avail2.

Initially, there were no Slavs in the Carpathians at all, but in the Slavic ancestral home, in the closest proximity to the Carpathian Mountains, were the ancestors of the South Slavic Croats, Serbs and Bulgarians . East Slavs came to the Carpathians later, after leaving Bulgarians , namely, in the 10th century . I also exclude the possibility of the arrival of the Eastern Slavs to their homeland, to the Dnieper, only in the 3rd century AD, after the departure of the Goths, as A. Shakhmatov tried to prove, or in the 5th-6th centuries, as I.L. . Peach3. Such a movement, of which there is not the slightest mention in history, is completely excluded for that era.

Couldn't have been more comfortable places for a cradleEastern Slavs than on the Middle Dnieper . This is perhaps the most convenient place on the entire Russian Plain . There are no continental mountains here, but here stretch endless forests and a dense network of navigable rivers. This water network connects like outlying areas the vast East European Plain, as well as the seas surrounding it: the Baltic, Black and Caspian. Even now, after the destruction of many forests and the reclamation work carried out, there is enough water everywhere, and a thousand years ago it was much more. Everywhere during the spring flood directly, and at other times portage 4 boats passed from one river to another , from one large water basin to another, and in this way from one sea to another. Such there were many waterways going in all directions and connected by portages in ancient Russia. But the most famous of them was the Dnieper route connecting the Black Sea and Tsargrad with the Baltic Sea and Scandinavia, i.e three ancient cultural worlds: the East Slavic world, Greek and Scandinavian-Germanic.

Entering the mouth of the Dnieper, boats with goods or people were sent along this path up to the rapids between Aleksandrovsk (Zaporozhye) and Yekaterinoslav (Dnepropetrovsk). Then the boats swam across the rapids or were dragged around the shore, after which a free path opened up before them up to Smolensk. Before reaching Smolensk, they turned along the small tributaries of Usvyat and Kasple to the Dvina and then dragged to Lovat, along which they freely went to Lake Ilmen and further along the Volkhov River, past Veliky Novgorod, to Ladoga, and then along the Neva to the Gulf of Finland.

Pripyat river basin and Pinsk woodland

Along with this direct route, boats could sometimes be guided by other routes; yes, in the west they could turn to the Pripyat and, along its tributaries, go to the Neman or to the Western Dvina, and along it to the Gulf of Riga or in the east go to the Desna and the Seim and further to the Don 5.

From the Desna it was possible along the rivers Bolva, Snezhet, Zhizdra, Ugra,Oka to reach the Volga , which was the largest cultural artery; finally, along the latter, there were other routes that connected the Dnieper at Smolensk with the north (portage) and Volga tributaries Vazuza, Osma, Ugra and Oka 6.

Obviously meaning East Slavic homeland on the middle Dnieper, located on the great cultural, trade and colonization routes, on the most important junction of intersecting trade roads. If a strong people lived in such a place, who could preserve and use the advantages provided to them by the land, then great prospects opened up before the Slavic people in the future both from a cultural point of view, and especially from a colonial and political point of view. Eastern branch of the Slavs, who lived long time ago on the middle Dnieper was so strong that she could start further expansion from ancient times without weakening the native land which she did.

However, the successful development of the Eastern Slavs was determined not only exclusively favorable location, on which they developed, but also because in the neighborhood with them on a very large territory there was no people who would have any noticeable resistance to their spread or he could subdue them firmly and for a long time. Thus, the relative passivity and the weakness of the neighbors was the second condition , which contributed to the development of the Eastern Slavs.

Only in the west were strong and unyielding neighbors. These were Poles, who not only resisted, but also successfully, though already later, in the 16th century, Lithuanian and Russian lands were polonized. Russian border in the West almost did not change and is currently almost in the same place where it was 1000 years ago, near the Western Bug and San 7.

In other places the neighbors of the Eastern Slavs retreated before their onslaught, therefore, we need to get to know them and, in particular, to establish their original places of settlement. We are talking about the Thracians and Iranians.

Thracian Slavs north of the Danube, in the basin of the Carpathian Mountains

Thracians , like the Iranians, supported close relations with the Proto-Slavs , as evidenced by belonging languages to satem language group, distinct from the Centum group of languages. In addition, other data show that the ancestral home of the Thracians was originally located much north of their historical habitats and placed north of the Danube in the basin of the Carpathian mountains , and further in the mountains, where the toponymy of the main mountain ranges is clearly not Slavic (Carpathians, Beskydy, Tatra, Matra, Fatra, Magura) and where even in Roman times, there were tribes known under the collective name of the Dacians . It is probably these the Thracian Dacians were the original neighbors of the Slavs, as evidenced by the presence in their languages of a certain number of conspicuous phonetic and lexical similarities 8. As an example, I will only point out the suffix common to both language areas - one hundred in river names.

Everything indicates that the southern neighbors of the Slavic ancestral home were originally the Thracians, who lived in the Carpathians and on their northern slopes. Only later, between the 5th and 3rd centuries BC. e. some Gallic tribes appeared from the west, and with them Scythian-Gothic the tribes who were the first to announce the movement of the Germanic wave, if only they (the Scythian-Gothic tribes) were really Germanic tribes. The last to penetrate into the Carpathians were separate Slavic tribes, the presence of which is indicated here, apparently, already by the map of Ptolemy (Sulans, Cares, Pengits), as well as the name of the Carpathians "Οόενεδικά όρη".

The Thracians were neighbors of the Slavs to the east between the Carpathians and the Dnieper

In addition to the Carpathians, the Thracians were also neighbors of the Slavs in areas extending further east between the Carpathians and the Dnieper. I believe that the tribes related to the Scythians - Κιμμέριοι) , who lived in this territory before the arrival of the Scythians and were driven out by them partly to the Crimea (Taury?), and partly to the Carpathian Mountains, where Herodotus at one time knew the Thracian tribe of Agathyrs (in present-day Transylvania), are Thracians, since simultaneously with the invasion of the Scythians at the end of the 8th and beginning of the 7th century BC. in Asia Minor, a people appears, called in Assyrian sources (gimirra), and in Greek also by another name - "TriROS" — « Τρήρες ”, hence the name of the famous Thracian tribe9. It is very likely that Himyrras in Asia Minor represented a part of the pushed aside Scythians to Asia Minor.

Iranians. Other neighbors of the Eastern Slavs there were Iranians in the south of the ancient Russian ancestral home. The fact that it was the Iranian element that has long maintained ties with the Proto-Slavs is evidenced by the mentioned linguistic coincidences. in the satem language group 10. However historical evidence to support this, until the 8th century BC. not available. To this and the following period, we can, on the basis of historical sources, attribute the appearance of the Iranians in the southern Russian steppes, who dominated here until the arrival of the Huns. These were the Scythians, and after them the Sarmatians.

The first Iranian wave that rushed to these lands in the VIII-VII centuries BC. uh ., and probably even earlier, there were Scythians ; detailed description of them settlements and Scythians in the 5th century BC. e. left us in the fourth book of his (lived in 484-425 BC) , which visited north coast (Black Sea). According to the idea, it occupied a space limited by , in the east - , behind which the Sarmatians lived even further to the east, and in the north - a line stretching from the origins Dniester (Danastris; river Tiras) and Bug through the Dnieper rapids to Tanais (Don) (Herod. IV. 100, 101).

Pechenegs- a new wave of Turkic-Tatar tribes20 started its movement from the territory between Volga and Yaik where they previously lived, already at the beginning of the 9th century, but the first raids on Slavic Russia were made only in the X century, which is confirmed by the Kiev Chronicle, where under the year 915 we read: “ The Pechenesi came first to the Russian land, and made peace with Igor, and came to the Danube. The Pechenegs completely undermined the influence and strength of the Khazar state, and from the second half of the 10th century we already read about their incessant wars with the Russian princes. The ties between the two peoples were so close that Pechenegs, according to Arabic reports, learned to speak Slavonic 21. The struggle with the Pechenegs ended only after they were pushed back from the Russian steppes by new enemies - related to the Pechenegs tribes of Torks, or Uzes, and then Polovtsy, or Cumans . For the first time torkov Pliny and Pomponius Mela are mentioned, then in the VI century John of Ephesus, not far from Persia22, but in In 985, Prince Vladimir of Kyiv, in alliance with the Torques, was already undertaking a campaign against the Bulgarians. Thus, torquay were already on the Volga and came to Europe at the beginning of the 11th century, crowded by the Polovtsy and, in turn, displacing the Pechenegs. The Pechenegs, who suffered a serious defeat near Kiev in 1036, came to the Danube, and soon, in the middle of the XI century, and to Bulgaria, where they were followed in 1064 by a huge mass torkov . Other part torkov under the name of black hoods remained with the Polovtsians in the Russian steppes .

The later raids of the Polovtsians and Tatars go far beyond the scope of our presentation. But even from what has been said, it is clear with what difficulty the Slavs moved south. P the movement of the Slavs and their advanced colonies were constantly attacked by more and more waves of Turkic-Tatar tribes, of which the last Tatars - were a dam that stopped the advance of the Slavs for a long period. True, even under these conditions, and even even before the X century, the Slavs were moving forward, however, as a result of the devastating Pecheneg and Polovtsian invasion Slavs in the 11th and 12th centuries fully were forced out of the area between the Dnieper and the Danube and pushed back across the river Suda, Ros and into the Carpathian mountains.

Finns.

On the north and east of the Slavs inhabited by Finnish tribes. Where their ancestral home was, we do not know, but the latest theories establishing a close connection between and primates, give reason to look for it close to the European homeland of the Indo-Europeans, that is, on the eastern outskirts of Europe, in the Urals and beyond the Urals. It has been established that the Finns have lived for a long time on the Kama, Oka and Volga, where about at the beginning of our erapart of the Finnish tribes separated and went to the Baltic Sea, taking the coast Gulf of Bothnia and Riga (later Yams, Ests and Livs) . How far have you come Volga Finns to Central Russia and where exactly they first met the Slavs is unknown. This is a question that still cannot be answered precisely, since we do not have data from preliminary works, both archaeological (the study of Finnish graves) and philological - the collection and study of ancient Finnish toponymy in Central Russia. Nevertheless, it can be said that the Yaroslavl, Kostroma, Moscow, Vladimir, Ryazan and Tambov provinces were originally inhabited by Finnish tribes and that the Finns lived earlier even in the Voronezh province, but we do not yet know how far they moved west. AT Oryol province , according to A.A. Spitsyn, there are no traces of Finnish culture anymore 23. In the Kaluga, Moscow, Tver and Tula provinces, the Finns encountered Lithuanians. True, Shakhmatov assumed that in the time of Herodotus, the Finns occupied the basin of the Pripyat River, that they even penetrated from there and in the upper reaches of the Vistula (neuri) , however, the linguistic evidence he provided for this controversial as well as earlier linguistic and archaeological theories. The latter have never been so justified as to refute the thesis about the Slavic ancestral home between the Vistula and the Dnieper. If we accepted the point of view of Shakhmatov, then in Eastern Europe there would be no place at all for the cradle of the great Slavic people, since where Shakhmatov places it, between the lower Neman and the Dvina , it could not be both for linguistic reasons (toponymy is not Slavic), and according to archaeological data24.

Therefore, I cannot but insist that there were no Finns in Volhynia and Polissya , and if the point of view of some philologists is correct, which is that there is no connection at all between the ancient Slavic and ancient Finnish languages, then the Finns during the period of Proto-Slavic unity were separated from the Slavs in the north, a strip of Lithuanian tribes (from the Baltic through Smolensk to Kaluga) , and in the east, either a strip of uninhabited lands, which Herodotus already mentions, or most likely a wedge of Iranian, possibly Turko-Tatar, tribes. The connections of the Finns with the Slavs were established only after the eastern Slavs already at the beginning of our era advanced in the north beyond the upper reaches of the Dnieper, and in the east beyond the Desna and Don, when the Finns began to move north to the Baltic Sea. But even in this case, the Finns did not influence the entire Russian land, since in the Russian language as a whole, with the exception of the northern and eastern outskirts of Russia, the influence of the Finnish language does not affect. However, these are all linguistic problems; we must leave judgment about them and their resolution to specialists - philologists.

It is possible to speak more definitely about the appearance of the Finns in history only from the 1st century AD. e. Although we have a number of references and ethnic names that testify to the presence of Finnish tribes in the Don and Volga regions five or six centuries before this time, however, some of them cannot be said with certainty whether they are Finnish. Boudiny – a large tribe that lived between the Desna and the Don are rather Slavs. Finns, apparently, are also melanchlens, androphagi and Herodotus's iirki (Herod., IV.22, 23). Gives the name first Fenni Tacitus (Germ., 46), followed by Ptolemy (III.5, 8, φίννοι). Otherwise, Ptolemy's map contains the same data that Herodotus has. Among the peoples he listed there are undoubtedly Finnish. This is also evidenced by the name Volga - "Ra" ('Ry) (cf. Mordovian rhau - water)25 - but which of them were Finnish, we cannot say.

In the 4th century A.D. e. Jordan in the news of the peoples whom he conquered before his death, along with and Lithuanians (aestii) gives a number of names, mostly distorted and inexplicable, among which, however, there are several clear names of later Finnish tribes.26 Thus, under the name Vasinabroncas should be understood all, and probably also Permian; under the names Merens, Mordens - Merya and Mordovians. This to some extent includes the name of the Gothic name - Thiudos , since from it there was a Slavic (Russian) collective name for the Finns - Chud 21.

Key Messages about the neighborhood of the Finns with the Slavs relating to the IX-X centuries, are available only in the Kiev Chronicle. The Slavs by that time advanced to Lake Ilmen, Neva, Ladoga, Vladimir, Suzdal, Ryazan and the lower Don and everywhere they came into contact with the Finnish tribes. Chronicler knows three groups of Finnish tribes: 1) near the Baltic Sea, 2) near the Volga and then 3) in the north, “behind the portages”, in the Oka forests (Zavolochskaya Chud). Separately, in the annals, tribes near the Baltic Sea are named: actually Chud and Liv in the south of the Gulf of Finland (neighboring water is not mentioned in the Kiev Chronicle), then eat or yam in today's Finland; further "behind the drags" at Belo-ozero was all, somewhere near the Dvina in the Biarmia of Scandinavian sources - Perm, and even further to the northeast - Yugra, Ugra, Pechora and Samoyed.

In the 13th century Karelians are mentioned to the north of them. To the eastern Volga group belonged cheremis, who lived earlier to the west than now, mainly in the Kostroma province; Mordva - in the Oka river basin (now further east); in the north their neighbors were Muroma tribes on the Klyazma River, measuring on the Rostov and Kleshchinsky lakes between the Volga and Klyazma and to the south of the Mordovians, the Meshchers, who later ceased to exist28.

We can establish that wherever the Slavs in their advance come into contact with these tribes, Finns always retreated and were generally very passive. Although the struggle was carried out, the Finnish element behaved passively and constantly ceded his land to the Slavs. Already Tacitus mentions the lack of weapons among the Finns, and the designation of Jordan "Finni Mitissimi" (Get., III.23) is also not unreasonable. Another reason for the weakness of the Finnish tribes was, obviously, sparse population , the complete absence of any strong concentration of the population around certain centers, and this was precisely the superiority of the Slavs, who had strong starting positions in the rear of their advance, organized Varangian-Russians.

Only one Finnish tribe has achieved major success, subjugating a large number of Slavs, and this is probably because before that it was under strong influence. Turko-Tatar culture. These were Magyars - people akin to the Ostyaks and Voguls from the Ob, gone south around the 5th-6th centuries. At the beginning of the 9th century, they appeared near the Don in the neighborhood of the Khazars, in the area called swan . From there about 860 of the year Magyars moved to southern Moldova (to the area called Atelkuza), and then, after several invasions to the Balkans and Pannonia, around 896, permanently settled on the Hungarian lowlands , where Magyars penetrated through the eastern or northern Carpathian passes. Further history Magyar associated exclusively with the Western and Southern Slavs.

Lithuanians.

Lithuanians from ancient times lived at the Baltic Sea. This is indicated by linguistic data on the relationship Lithuanian to the languages of other Indo-European peoples , then the topographic nomenclature, as well as all historical data. Long-term close ties between Lithuanians and Slavs can be considered a scientifically established fact, and existence of Balto-Slavic unity in a period when the rest of the Indo-European peoples had already divided into separate branches, can also be considered indisputable, despite the doubts expressed by A. Meie29. But even if there was no absolute unity, it was still only with the Slavs that they had such close relations that led to the formation two dialect areas united Balto-Slavic region and the peoples of both regions understood each other well. It is difficult to say when the final division took place here. True, on the basis of the fact that the word churn (churn), which is absent in the Lithuanian language, or on the basis that the Finnish name for honey (Fin. hunaja) was transferred to the Lithuanian language (cf. Lithuanian vârias vargien, Latvian varč - honey), while the Slavic language has its own word "honey", it was concluded that during the arrival of the Scythians in southern Russia and even earlier, at the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. e., in the Bronze Age, both peoples - Slavs and Lithuanians already lived separately 30. However, such evidence for determining the date of separation of these peoples is completely unconvincing at the present time, except for the fact that at the beginning of our era this division had already taken place here. One can only say that both the Slavic tribes and the Lithuanians represented independent associations at that time.

It is also impossible to give an exact answer to the question of where the border between the two peoples originally passed. The current territory of Lithuania and Latvia is separated from the Germans, Russians and Finns by a line stretching from the sea, starting from the mouth of the Memel through Goldap, Suwalki, Grodno, Druskeniki on the Neman, Vilnius, Dvinsk (Daugavpils), Lyutsin (Ludza) to Lake Pskov and further through Valk (Vulka) back to the sea to the Gulf of Riga31. This territory, in comparison with the territory occupied by the Germans or Slavs who are in the neighborhood of Lithuania and Latvia, is insignificant. The population is also small: according to statistics for In 1905, there were a little more than 3 million Lithuanians and Latvians in Russia. But initially the Lithuanians were not so few in number. The territory occupied by them once stretched in the west as far as the Vistula. (Lithuanian Prussians) , and in the north before the arrival of the Finns - to the very Gulf of Finland; the border separating them from the Proto-Slavs and Proto-Finns also ran much further from the sea than now.

In 1897, Professor Kochubinsky, on the basis of an analysis of the topographic nomenclature of present-day Belarus, tried to determine territory of prehistoric Lithuania 32. Many shortcomings were noted in his work, and indeed, Kochubinsky's knowledge of the Old Lithuanian language was insufficient to solve such a difficult problem. It should also be noted that the latest linguists were looking for the Celtic nomenclature in the Neman and Dvina basins, and that A.A. Chess considered even such names as Neman, Viliya, which were previously considered Lithuanian, as Celtic33.

However, despite this, it can be said with certainty that the territory of present-day Belarus was originally largely inhabited by Lithuanians, that the ancient Lithuanians penetrated as far as the Lomzha Polissya, to the northern part of the Pripyat river basin and to a part of the Berezina river basin, and that on the Dvina they went so far to the east34 that somewhere in the territory of the former Moscow province they encountered the Volga Finns, which is also confirmed by numerous examples similarities in the Lithuanian language and the language of the Volga Finns. Even the well-known Lyadinsky burial ground near Tambov was declared by archaeologists to be a monument of Lithuanian culture, which, however, is highly doubtful. But, on the other hand, there is no doubt that in the XII century on the river Protva people lived in the Moscow province of Lithuanian origin - golyad, - apparently, representing the remains of the original Lithuanian inhabitants of this region, and also that as early as the 13th century, Lithuanian settlements were located at the sources of the Dvina, the Volga, on the Vazuz and in parts of the Tver and Moscow provinces35. The appearance of the golyad here is explained by the fact that a wide wedge of Slavic colonization, moving forward with great effort, cut through the area occupied by the Lithuanians and separated them from the Volga Finns.

For the first time in history, Lithuanians appear under the name of "ostii" (Ώστιαΐοι) in Pytheas36, if, of course, we assume that the aestii of the Tacitus "Germany" are Lithuanians and that later their name was transferred to the Finns who came to the Gulf of Finland. This explanation, although accepted, is by no means obligatory.

Ptolemy in his map of Sarmatia (III.5, 9, 10) gives a large number of tribal names off the coast of the Baltic Sea, and some of them are undoubtedly Lithuanian. However, we cannot say which of these names are indisputably Lithuanian, with the exception of two - Galindai — Γαλίνδαι and Soudinoi - Σουδινοί. Galindai identical with Russian golyad and with the name of the region Galindia, which is known to later historical sources in East Prussia , in area Mazurov . Soudinoi - Σουδινοί identical with the name of the region Sudavia located next to Galindia towards Suwalki. Finally, and Borovsky — Βοροΰσκοι , erroneously placed by Ptolemy far deep into Sarmatia, are Lithuanian tribe Boruski (Prussia - Borussia) . However, the name Oueltai - 'Ουέλται not identical, as Mullenhof believed, with the name Lithuania, but is slavic name velety 38.

After Ptolemy, a long period of time passed when there was no news about Lithuania. Only Russian chronicles, primarily the oldest Kievan, give us a description of Lithuania as it was known. Russians in the 10th and 11th centuries . During that period the Prussians lived off the coast of the Varangian Sea, occupying the area stretching east from the lower Vistula and Drwence. Further to the east are the Lithuanians proper, north of them and west of Polotsk zimegola , then on the right bank of the Dvina River letgola ; south of the Gulf of Riga, by the sea, lived Kors tribe , finally, somewhere else, in a place not exactly established, a tribe called narova, noroma (neroma) 39. I have already mentioned above about the golyad tribe, localized on the Protva River, separated from the rest of the Lithuanians.

In the later period, there was a further movement of the tribes and a change in their names. The Prussians began to disappear from the 13th century, especially after they were finally enslaved in 1283. The Prussian language eked out a miserable existence in the 16th century, and already in 1684, according to Hartknoch, there was not a single village where Prussian was understood. Lithuania was divided into two parts: Upper Lithuania (in the region of the Neman and Viliya), called Aukshtota, and Lower (west of Nevyazh) Samogitia, in Polish - Zhmud. Galindia and Sudavia in East Prussia have already been mentioned above.

The last significant tribe in the 13th century wereYotvingians (in Polish Jadzwing). This tribe is known, however, and the Kiev Chronicle on Vladimir's campaign against them in 983 , however, where this tribe lived, only the later chronicles of the 13th century say, placing it beyond the Narew and Beaver rivers , in lake areas Prussia where they had come shortly before from their original settlements farther to the east. Thus, Yotvingians lived in Polissya, and current Russian and Polish Poleshans (Pollexiani in the Polish chronicle) - descendants of the Yatvingians. Drogichin on the Bug, however, was not their district, as previously thought. There is no historical evidence in favor of this, and the old archaeological finds in the vicinity of Drogichin, as far as I know, are Slavic.

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1. See A. Meillet, Le monde Slave, 1917, III–IV, 403.

2.I. Filevitch, History of ancient Russia, I, p. 33, Warsaw, 1896; N. Nadezhdin, Experience of historical geography, 1837.

3. A. Shakhmatov, Bulletin de l'Acad. imp. des sc. de St. Petersbourg, 1911, 723; I. L. Pic, Staroźitnosti, II, 219, 275.

4. A drag was a low and narrow isthmus between two rivers, through which it was easy to drag a boat with goods from one river to another. In a figurative sense, the portage was also called the area where there were such portages, in particular the area at the sources of the Dnieper, Dvina and Volga. Hence, in ancient Russia, the lands beyond this region were called Zavolochye.

5. Don was connected with the Volga by a well-known portage between Tsaritsyn and Kalach.

6. See more about this in N.P. Barsova, Essays on Russian Historical Geography, Warsaw, 2nd ed., 1885.

7. See Slov. star.", III, 231.

8. On the basis of this kinship and ancient neighborhood, well-known theories about the Slavic origin of the Dacians, which, of course, are erroneous if we consider the Dacians as proper Slavs.

9. See Slov. star.", I, 217.

10. You should pay attention to at least the words god, vatra, plow, chicken, seker, ax etc.

11. J. Peisker, based on a number of hypothetical Turkic-Tatar words adopted by the Slavs even before our era, speaks of cruel slavery, from which the Slavs have long suffered, being under the Turkic-Tatar yoke. The perpetrators of this slavery, in his opinion, were from the VIII century BC. e. Scythians.

12. See Slov. star.”, I, 512. Of the Russian historians, one can name, for example, D. Ilovaisky, V. Florinsky, D. Samokvasov.

14. lord., Get., 119, 120.

15. Theories about the alleged Slavicity of the Huns in historiography, in fact, have already been forgotten. This theory was put forward in 1829 by Yu. Venelin in the essay “Ancient and Present Bulgarians” (Moscow), and after him a number of Russian and Bulgarian historians, including at the end of the 19th century V. Florinsky, I. Zabelin and Dm. Ilovaisky. The merit of refuting this theory (at the same time as the Huns, the Slavs themselves were also considered the Bulgarians and Roxolans) belongs to M. Drinov, V. Miller and especially V. Vasilevsky (see his work “On the Imaginary Slavicity of the Huns, Bulgarians and Roxolans”, ZHMNP, 1882–1883 ).

16. Theoph. (ed. Boor), 356, 358; Nicephoros (ed. Boor), 33. In addition to these oldest sources on the history of Bulgaria, of contemporary works, see first of all Zlatarsky, History on Bulgarskata Derzhava, I, Sofia, 1918, 21 151.

17. In In 922, these Bulgarians converted to Islam and maintained close cultural and especially economic relations with the Eastern Slavs. State of the Volga Bulgarians was a granary for Slavic Russia in times of crop failures and famine. As a result of these connections, there was also a significant mixing of the Bulgarians with the Slavic element, so Ibn Fadlan and some others erroneously declared Volga BulgariansSlavs . Arab writers in contrast to the Volga Bulgarians designate Western Bulgarians with the name Burdzhan (Burdżan) .

18. See Slov. star.", II, 201-202.

19. Meanwhile, during the 9th century, Ugrians - tribes of Finnish origin who left the Don around 825 and about 860 ended up on the lower Danube, finally occupying Hungary at the end of the 9th century (896). See further on p. 185. Between 851-868, on the way from Cherson to the land of the Khazars, the Slavic Apostle Constantine met them.

20. "The Tale of Bygone Years", ed. Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1950, vol. I, p. 31.

21. Ibrahim ibn Yakub, op. cit., 58.

23. Notes of the Russian Archaeological Society, vol. XI, new series, St. Petersburg, 1899, p. 188. According to archeology, we can now trace the traces of Finnish culture all the way to Tambov, Ryazan, Moscow and the sources of the Volga.

24. See above, p. 30-32, and what I wrote about this in the article "New theories about the ancestral home of the Slavs" (SSN, 1915, XXI, 1). However, in recent works, Shakhmatov himself admitted the insufficiency of his proofs (Revue des Etudes slaves, I, 1921, 190).

25 See R. Meckelein. Finn. ugr. Elemente im Russischen. - Berlin, 1914. - 1.12, 16.

26. At this point Jordanes writes (Get., 116, 117): "Habebat si quidem quos domuerat Golthescytha, Thiudos, Inaunxis, Vasinabroncas, Merens, Mordens, Imniscaris, Rogas, Tadzans, Athaul, Navego, Bubegenas, Goldas." Among the literature that has paid attention to the interpretation of this passage in Jordanes, I will point out the main works: Miilenhoff, Deutsche Altertum skunde, II, 74; th. Grienberger (Zeitschrift f. d. Alt., 1895, 154) and I. Mik kola (Finn. ugr. Forschungen, XV, 56 et seq.).

27. See Miklosich, Etymologisches Worterbuch, 357. This expression in the mouths of the Slavs originally meant a stranger ; Czech cuzi , Russian stranger , Church Slavonic alien are the same word. Russians still call some Finnish Chud tribes .

28. Meshchera is usually identified with the Burtases eastern sources. In the topographic nomenclature of the Oka basin, for example, in the vicinity of Ryazan, many traces of their names are still preserved.

29. Meillet, Les dialects indoeuropeens, Paris, 1908, 48 si.

30. Hehn, Kulturpflanzen und Haustiere (VI vyd., 324); Krek, Einleitung in die slavish Literaturgeschichte, Graz, 1887, 216.

31. F. Tetzner (Globus, 1897, LXXI, 381); J. Rozwadowski. Materialy i prace korn. jęz. - 1901.1; A. Bielenstein. Atlas der ethnol. Geography des heute und prach. Lettenlandes. – Petersburg, 1892; L. Niederle. Slovansky svgt. - Praha, 1909. - 15.

32. A. Kochubinsky, Territories of prehistoric Lithuania, ZhMNP, 1897, I, 60.

33. See above, p. 30. A. Pogodin derives the name "Neman" from the Finnish language.

34. See E.F. Karsky. Belarusians. I. - Warsaw, 1903. - 45, 63.

35.Golyad mentioned in the oldest Russian chronicles (Lavrentievskaya, Ipatievskaya) under 1058 and 1146. See also A.I. Sobolevsky, Izv. imp. Acad., 1911, 1051. Part of the golyad, of course, already later under the pressure of the Slavs moved west to Prussia (Galindia) .

36. Steph. byz. s. v. Ώστιωνες.

37. At that time, the Germans had a crossing of the name aesti with German ost (Alfred); Ostland - people in the east, region in the east. 38. See p. 151.

39. PVL, USSR Academy of Sciences, I, 13, 210.

40. N.P. Barsov. Essays on Russian historical geography. - Warsaw, 1885.-40, 234.

The first evidence of the Slavs.

The Slavs, according to most historians, separated from the Indo-European community in the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. The ancestral home of the early Slavs (Proto-Slavs), according to archaeological data, was the territory to the east of the Germans - from the Oder River in the west to the Carpathian Mountains in the east. A number of researchers believe that the Proto-Slavic language began to take shape later, in the middle of the 1st millennium BC.

The first information about the political history of the Slavs dates back to the 4th century. ad. From the Baltic coast, the Germanic tribes of the Goths made their way to the Northern Black Sea region. The Gothic leader Germanaric was defeated by the Slavs. His successor Vinitar deceived 70 Slavic elders headed by God (Bus) and crucified them. Eight centuries later, an unknown author " Words about Igor's regiment” mentioned “Busovo time”.

In the VI century. the Turkic-speaking Avars (the Russian chronicle called them obrams) created their own state in the southern Russian steppes, uniting the tribes that roamed there. The Avar Khaganate was defeated by Byzantium in 625. “Proud in mind” and in body, the great Avars-obras disappeared without a trace. “Keep dead like an obre” - these words, with the light hand of the Russian chronicler, became an aphorism.

The largest political formations of the VII-VIII centuries. in the southern Russian steppes were Bulgarian kingdom and Khazar Khaganate, and in the Altai region - the Turkic Khaganate. The states of the nomads were unstable conglomerates of the steppes, who hunted for military booty. As a result of the collapse of the Bulgarian kingdom, part of the Bulgarians, led by Khan Asparuh, migrated to the Danube, where they were assimilated by the southern Slavs who lived there, who took the name of Asparuh's warriors, i.e. Bulgarians. Another part of the Bulgarian-Turks with Khan Batbai came to the middle reaches of the Volga, where a new power arose - Volga Bulgaria (Bulgaria). Its neighbor, who occupied from the middle of the 7th century. the territory of the Lower Volga region, the steppes of the North Caucasus, the Black Sea region and partly the Crimea, was the Khazar Khaganate, which levied tribute from the Dnieper Slavs until the end of the 9th century.

Eastern Slavs in the 6th century. repeatedly made military campaigns against the largest state of that time - Byzantium. From that time, a number of works by Byzantine authors have come down to us, containing original military instructions on the fight against the Slavs. For example, the Byzantine Procopius from Caesarea in the book “War with the Goths” wrote: “These tribes, Slavs and Antes, are not ruled by one person, but since ancient times they live in democracy (democracy), and therefore they consider happiness and misfortune in life to be a common thing ... They consider that only God, the creator of lightning, is the lord over all, and bulls are sacrificed to him and other sacred rites are performed ... Both of them have the same language ... And once even the name of the Slavs and Antes was the same Same".

For the formation of large tribal associations of the Slavs indicates the legend contained in the Russian chronicle, which tells about the reign of Kyi with the brothers Shchek, Khoriv and sister Lybid in the Middle Dnieper. The city founded by the brothers was allegedly named after the elder brother Kyi. The chronicler noted that other tribes had the same reigns. Historians believe that these events took place at the end of the 5th-6th centuries. AD The chronicle tells that one of the Polyansky princes Kiy, together with his brothers Shchek and Khoriv and sister Lybid, founded the city and named it Kiev in honor of their elder brother.

Then Kiy went to the Tsar-city, i.e. to Constantinople, was received there by the emperor with great honor, and returning back, he settled with his retinue on the Danube, founded a "town" there, but subsequently entered into a fight with the locals and returned to the Dnieper banks, where he died. This legend finds a well-known confirmation in the data of archeology, which indicate that at the end of the 5th - 6th centuries. on the Kiev mountains there already existed a fortified urban-type settlement, which was the center of the Polyan union of tribes.

Origin of the Eastern Slavs.

Europe and part of Asia have long been inhabited by tribes of Indo-Europeans who spoke the same language and had many common features in appearance. These tribes were in constant motion, moving and developing new territories. Gradually, separate groups of Indo-European tribes began to separate from each other. Once a common language broke up into a number of separate languages.

Approximately 2 thousand years BC, the Balto-Slavic tribes emerged from the Indo-European tribes. They settled part of the territory of Central and Eastern Europe. In the 5th century BC, these tribes were divided into Balts and Slavs. The Slavs mastered the territory from the middle reaches of the Dnieper to the Oder River.

In the 5th century, Slavic tribes rushed to the east and south in powerful streams. They reached the upper reaches of the Volga and the White Lake, the shores of the Adriatic, penetrated the Peloponnese. During this movement, the Slavs were divided into three branches - eastern, western and southern. The Eastern Slavs settled in the 6th-8th centuries the vast territory of Eastern Europe, from Lake Ilmen to the Black Sea steppes and from the Eastern Carpathians to the Volga, that is, most of the East European Plain.

Economy of the Eastern Slavs.

The main occupation of the Eastern Slavs was agriculture. The main part of the territory inhabited by them was covered with dense forests. Therefore, before plowing the land, it was necessary to cut down the trees. The stumps left on the field were burned, fertilizing the soil with ash. The land was cultivated for two or three years, and when it ceased to produce a good harvest, a new plot was abandoned and burned. This system of farming is called slash-and-burn. More favorable conditions for agriculture were in the steppe and forest-steppe zone of the Dnieper region, rich in fertile lands.

At first, the Slavs lived in dugouts, then they began to build houses - hearths were built in these wooden dwellings in the middle, the smoke escaped through a hole in the roof or wall. Each house necessarily had outbuildings, they were made of wattle, adobe or similar materials and were placed in the yard either freely, scattered, or along the perimeter of a quadrangular yard, forming an open space inside.

There were few households in Slavic settlements: from two to five. They were surrounded by earthen ramparts for protection from enemies.

As mentioned earlier, the main occupation of the Slavs, of course, was agriculture. Archaeological finds suggest that they grew rye, wheat, barley, millet, turnips, cabbage, beets, etc. From industrial crops, the Slavs bred flax and hemp.

Another important activity Slavic tribes were cattle breeding. The cattle breeding of the Eastern Slavs was organically connected with agriculture. Cattle breeding provided meat and milk; livestock was used as a tax on arable land (in the non-chernozem zone - horses, in the black earth zone - oxen); without manure, it was impossible to conduct field farming in the non-chernozem zone; both wool and leather were obtained from livestock. East Slavic peoples bred large and small cattle, horses, pigs, poultry. Ducks and geese were bred less, but chickens were almost certainly kept in every household.

Fishing and hunting were of no small importance, especially since there were many fur-bearing animals in dense forests, the fur of which was used to make clothes, and was also sold.

The Slavs used bows, spears, swords, clubs (sticks with heavy knobs and spikes) as weapons. Fired from hard bows, hardened arrows could overtake the enemy even at a great distance. For protection, the Slavs used helmets and strong "shirts" made of small metal rings - chain mail.

An important role in the life of the Eastern Slavs was also played by beekeeping - the collection of honey from wild bees.

But besides agriculture The Slavs were also engaged in metal processing (blacksmithing), the production of ceramic products. Jewelry, stone-cutting, carpentry crafts were also not alien to them. The settlements located in the most successful (from the point of view of the possibility of trade) places turned into cities. Also became cities and princely fortresses. The most ancient cities of Russia were: Novgorod, Chernigov, Suzdal, Murom, Smolensk, Pereslavl, Ladoga, Rostov, Beloozero, Pskov, Lyubech, Turov. According to scientists, by the beginning of the IX century. On the territory of Russia there were about 30 cities.

The city usually arose on a hill or at the confluence of two rivers, which was associated with trade. And trade relations between the Slavic and neighboring tribes were quite well-established. Cattle were driven from the south to the north. The Carpathians supplied everyone with salt. Bread went to the north and northwest from the Dnieper and Suzdal lands. They traded in furs, linen, cattle and honey, wax and slaves.

There were two main trade routes that passed through Russia: along the Neva, Lake Ladoga, Volkhov, Lovat and Dnieper, the great water route "from the Varangians to the Greeks" passed, connecting the Baltic Sea with the Black Sea; and through the Carpathians, trade routes led to Prague, to German cities, to Bulgaria, to the countries of the Muslim world.

Life and customs of the Eastern Slavs.

The Slavs were distinguished by high stature, strong physique, possessed extraordinary physical strength and unusual endurance. They had blond hair, a ruddy face, and gray eyes.

The settlements of the Eastern Slavs were located mainly along the banks of rivers and lakes. The inhabitants of these settlements lived in families, in semi-dugout houses, with an area of 10 - 20 sq.m. The walls of houses, benches, tables, household utensils were made of wood. Several exits were arranged in the houses, and valuables were hidden in the ground, because enemies could attack at any moment.

Eastern Slavs were good-natured and hospitable. Each wanderer was considered an honored guest. The owner did everything possible to please him, put the best food and drinks on the table. The Slavs were also known as brave warriors. Cowardice was considered their greatest shame. Slavic warriors swam well and could stay under water for a long time. They breathed through hollowed-out reeds, the top of which came out to the surface of the water.

The weapons of the Slavs were spears, bows, arrows smeared with poison, round wooden shields. Swords and other iron weapons were rare.

The Slavs respectfully treated their parents. Between the villages, they arranged games - religious holidays, on which the inhabitants of neighboring villages kidnapped (kidnapped) their wives by agreement with them. At that time, the Slavs had polygamy, there were not enough brides. To appease the clan from which the bride was kidnapped, her relatives were given a wreath (ransom). Over time, the kidnapping of the bride was replaced by the rite of walking the son-in-law after the bride, when the bride was redeemed from her relatives by mutual agreement. This rite was replaced by another - bringing the bride to the groom. The relatives of the bride and groom became brothers-in-law, that is, their own people for each other.

The woman was in a subordinate position. After the death of a husband, one of his wives was to be buried with him. The deceased was burned at the stake. The burial was accompanied by a feast - a feast and military games.

It is known that the Eastern Slavs still had a blood feud: the relatives of the murdered man took revenge on the killer with death.

The spiritual world of the Eastern Slavs.

Like all peoples who were at the stage of decomposition of the primitive communal system, the Slavs were pagans. They worshiped the phenomena of nature, deifying them. So, the god of the sky was Svarog, the god of the sun - Dazhdbog (other names: Dazhbog, Yarilo, Khoros), the god of thunder and lightning - Perun, the god of the wind - Stribog, the patron of cattle - Velos (Volos). Dazhdbog and the deity of fire were considered the sons of Svarog and were called Svarozhichs. Goddess Mokosh - Mother-Cheese earth, goddess of fertility. In the 6th century, according to the testimony of the Byzantine historian Procopius of Caesarea, the Slavs recognized one god, Perun, the god of thunder, lightning, war, as the ruler of the Universe.

At that time there were no public services, there were no temples, no priests. Usually, images of the gods in the form of stone or wooden figures (idols) were placed in certain open places - temples, sacrifices were made to the gods - trebs.

The cult of ancestors was greatly developed. He is associated with the guardian of the clan, family, the ancestor of life - the Family and its Women in Childbirth, i.e. grandparents. The ancestor was also called "chur", in Church Slavonic - "shur".

The expression “Chur me” that has survived to this day means “grandfather keep me”. Sometimes this guardian of the clan appears under the name of a brownie, the guardian of not the whole clan, but of a separate courtyard, house. All nature seemed to the Slavs animated and inhabited by many spirits, goblin lived in the forests, water mermaids lived in the rivers.

The Slavs had their own pagan holidays associated with the seasons, with agricultural work. At the end of December - mummers went from house to house with songs and jokes, glorified the owners, who were supposed to give mummers gifts. The big holiday was the farewell to winter and the meeting of spring - Maslenitsa. On the night of June 24 (according to the old style), the feast of Ivan Kupala was celebrated - rituals with fire and water, fortune telling, round dances, and songs were sung. In autumn, after the completion of field work, the harvest festival was celebrated: a huge honey loaf was baked.

Farming communities.

Initially, the Eastern Slavs lived "each in their own way and in their own places", i.e. united on the basis of consanguinity. At the head of the clan was an elder who had great power. As the Slavs settled over vast areas, tribal ties began to disintegrate. The consanguineous was replaced by the neighboring (territorial) community - the verv. Vervi members jointly owned hayfields and forest land, and the fields were divided among separate family farms. All the householders of the district converged on a general council - a veche. They chose elders to conduct common affairs. During the attacks of foreign tribes, the Slavs gathered the people's militia, which was built according to the decimal system (tens, groans, thousands).

Separate communities united into tribes. Tribes, in turn, constituted tribal unions. On the territory of the East European Plain lived 12 (according to some sources - 15) East Slavic tribal unions. The most numerous were the meadows that lived along the banks of the Dnieper, and the Ilmen Slavs, who lived on the shores of Lake Ilmen and the Volkhov River.

Religion of the Eastern Slavs.

The Eastern Slavs had a patriarchal-tribal system for a very long time, so they also retained a family-tribal cult for a long time in the form of veneration of ancestors associated with a funeral cult. Beliefs regarding the relationship of the dead to the living were very firmly held. All the dead were sharply divided into two categories: "clean" dead - those who died of natural causes ("parents"); and on the "unclean" - those who died a violent or premature death (they also included children who died unbaptized) and sorcerers. The first ones were usually revered, and the second ones (“dead people” - many superstitions associated with the dead come from here) were afraid and tried to neutralize:

The veneration of "parents" is a family, and earlier (ancestral) cult of ancestors. Many calendar holidays are associated with it - Shrovetide, hence the parental Saturday), Radunitsa, Trinity and others. From here, perhaps, the image of Chur (Shchur) appeared, exclamations such as “Chur me”, “Chur is mine”, could mean a spell calling Chur for help. From the cult of ancestors comes the belief in the brownie (domovik, domozhil, owner, etc.).

- "Unclean Dead". In many ways, these were people who were feared during their lifetime, and did not cease to be feared even after their death. An interesting rite of "neutralization" of such a dead man during a drought, which was often attributed to them. They dug up the grave of a dead man and threw him into a swamp (sometimes they filled it with water), perhaps this is where the name “Naviy” (dead, deceased) comes from, as well as “navka” - a mermaid.

Formation of political associations

In ancient times, the Slavs did not have the opportunity to pursue an independent foreign policy, acting in the international arena under their own name. If they had large political associations, they remained unknown to the written civilizations of that era. Archaeological research does not confirm the existence of significant proto-urban centers on the lands of the Eastern Slavs until the 6th century, which could indicate the strengthening of the power of local princes among the settled population. The East Slavic tribes in their habitat in the south came into contact and were partially involved in the area of distribution of the archaeological Chernyakhov culture, which modern archaeologists tend to associate with the settlement of the Goths in the northern Black Sea region.

Vague information about the wars in the 4th century between the Slavs and the Goths has been preserved. The great migration of peoples from the 2nd half of the 4th century led to global migrations of ethnic groups. The Slavic tribes in the south, previously subordinate to the Goths, submitted to the Huns and, probably under their protectorate, began to expand their area of \u200b\u200bdwelling to the borders of the Byzantine Empire in the south and the German lands in the west, displacing the Goths to the Crimea and Byzantium.

At the beginning of the 6th century, the Slavs become to make regular raids on Byzantium, as a result of which Byzantine and Roman authors started talking about them ( Procopius of Caesarea, Jordan). In this era, they already had large inter-tribal unions, which were formed mainly on a territorial basis and were something more than an ordinary tribal community. The Antes and Carpathian Slavs for the first time had fortified settlements and other signs of political control over the territory. It is known that the Avars, who first conquered the Black Sea (Ants) and West Slavic tribes, for a long time could not destroy a certain alliance of the “Sklavins” with a center in Transcarpathia, and their leaders not only behaved proudly and independently, but even executed the ambassador of the Avar Khagan Bayan for insolence . The leader of the Ants, Mezamir, was also killed during an embassy to the Avars for his insolence in front of the kagan.

The grounds for Slavic pride were, obviously, not only complete control over their own and adjacent Slavic territories, but also their regular, devastating and mostly unpunished raids on the Transdanubian provinces of the Byzantine Empire, as a result of which the Carpathian Croats and other tribes, apparently, part of the union of the Antes, partially or completely moved beyond the Danube, separating into a branch of the southern Slavs. The Dulebs also expanded their territories to the west to the present-day Czech Republic and east to the Dnieper. In the end, the Avars subjugated both the Antes and the Dulebs, after which they forced them to fight with Byzantium in their own interests. Their tribal unions broke up, the Ants were no longer mentioned from the 7th century, and, according to the assumption of some modern historians, several other Slavic unions separated from the Dulebs, including the meadow.

Later, part of the East Slavic tribes (Polyans, northerners, Radimichi and Vyatichi) paid tribute to the Khazars. In 737, the Arab commander Marwan ibn Mohammed, during a victorious war with Khazaria reached a certain “Slavic river” (obviously, the Don) and captured 20,000 families of local residents, among whom were Slavs. The captives were taken to Kakheti, where they revolted and were killed.

The Tale of Bygone Years lists twelve East Slavic tribal unions that by the 9th century existed in the vast territory between the Baltic and Black Seas. Among these tribal unions are Polans, Drevlyans, Dregovichi, Radimichi, Vyatichi, Krivichi, Slovenes, Dulebs (later known as Volhynians and Buzhans), White Croats, Northerners, Ulichs, Tivertsy.

In the 8th century with the beginning of the Viking Age Vikings began to penetrate into Eastern Europe. By the middle of the IX century. they imposed tribute not only on the Baltic states, which were the first to undergo regular invasions, but also on many territories between the Baltic and Black Seas. In 862, according to the chronicle chronology of the PVL, the leader of Russia Rurik was called to reign at the same time by the Chud (the Finno-Ugric peoples who inhabited Estonia and Finland), the whole and both Slavic tribes that lived next to them: the Pskov Krivichi and Slovenes.

Rurik settled among the Slavic villages in the fortress, near which Veliky Novgorod later arose. His legendary brothers received reigns in the tribal center of the village of Beloozero and the center of the Krivichi Izborsk. By the end of his life, Rurik expanded the possessions of his kind to Polotsk, Murom and Rostov, and his successor Oleg captured Smolensk and Kyiv by 882. The titular ethnos of the new state was not any of the Slavic or Finno-Ugric peoples, but Rus, a Varangian tribe, whose ethnicity is disputed.

Russia stood out as a separate ethnic group even under the closest successors of Rurik, princes Oleg and Igor, and gradually dissolved into the Slavic people under Svyatoslav and Vladimir the Holy, leaving its name to the Eastern Slavs, by whom they now differed from the western and southern (for more details, see the article Rus). At the same time, Svyatoslav and Vladimir completed the unification of the Eastern Slavs in their state, adding to it the lands of the Drevlyans, Vyatichi, Radimichi, Turov and the region of Cherven Rus.

Eastern Slavs and their immediate neighbors

The advance of the Slavs across the vast expanses of Eastern Europe and their development were in the nature of peaceful colonization.

Colonization - settlement, development of empty or sparsely populated lands.

The settlers lived next to the local tribes. The Slavs borrowed the names of many rivers, lakes, and villages from the Finno-Ugric tribes. Following the Finns, they began to believe in evil spirits, wizards. The Slavs also adopted from the forest inhabitants the belief in the Magi, sorcerers. Living together with the Finno-Ugric peoples also led to a change in the external appearance of the Slavs. Among them, people with flatter and rounder faces, high cheekbones, and wide noses began to be more common.

The descendants of the Iranian-speaking Scythian-Sarmatian population also had a great influence on the Slavs. Many Iranian words have firmly entered the Old Slavonic language and have been preserved in modern Russian (god, boyar, hut, dog, ax, and others). Some Slavic pagan deities - Horos, Stribog - bore Iranian names, and Perun was of Baltic origin.

However, the Slavs did not have friendly relations with all neighbors. Slavic legends tell about the attack of the Turkic-speaking nomads-Avars on the Slavic tribe of Dulebs, who lived in the Carpathian region. Having killed almost all the men, the Avars harnessed the Duleb women to the cart instead of the horses. In the 8th century, the East Slavic tribes of the Polyans, Severyans, Vyatichi and Radimichi, who lived close to the steppes, conquered the Khazars, forcing them to pay tribute - "for ermine and squirrel from smoke", that is, from each house.

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