ORIGINS OF SLAVIC CULTURE.
A comparison of languages, ancient beliefs and customs of European and some Asian peoples showed that the Slavs belong to big family tribes that originate from one forefather-people - the Aryans, who in ancient times lived in Asia, on the Iranian upland. The Aryan tribe, multiplying, gradually separated from itself parts, which little by little, moving from their homeland to the south and west, scattered over different countries and formed into separate tribes (in Europe - Greek-Italians, Celts, Germans, Lithuanians, Slavs, in Asia - Iranians and Indians). In the same way, it is proved that the Slavs, who came to Europe in prehistoric times, did not resemble its most ancient wild inhabitants, they already honored family ties and duties, could tame animals, were engaged in cattle breeding, had information about agriculture, knew how to weave, weave, sew, they were familiar with gold, silver, copper, so they had long since left the primitive state of savages. Insert card #1
Where the Slavs settled in Europe after leaving Asia is unknown. Probably, more than once they had to change their place during popular movements. According to ancient legends of the Slavs, it can be concluded that their oldest place in Europe was the countries along the lower and middle reaches of the Danube and the lands north of it to the Carpathian Mountains. It was free to live on the Danube: the air here is warm, the lands are fertile, and the vegetation is rich. The Slavs would not leave here of their own free will, but they began to push them from the south, as the legend says, other peoples (Volokhi), the Slavic tribe had to split up and move to other lands. Only one part of them remained on the Danube; Serbs and Bulgarians originate from these Slavs. the other part of them went further north; Czechs, Moravians, Slovaks and Poles descended from them, and those Slavs who settled along the Elbe River and along the Baltic Sea, little by little got lost among the strong German tribes, merged with them into one people - Germanized. The third part of the Slavs went to the northeast along the Dnieper and its tributaries. These Eastern Slavs are our ancestors: it is from them that the Russian people originate.
There were plenty of places along the Dnieper, there was nothing to crowd - freely disperse even in all directions! Settlers make their way along the river: they will like some place on the shore - they will stop, live for a few times. It is good to live, you can get food and it is not very dangerous - they will arrange unpretentious dwellings and live for themselves, but it’s bad - they will go further to look for new places. Insert card #2
The settlements of the Eastern Slavs spread widely along the Dnieper valley, along its tributaries and further to the north and east, and they broke up into several parts or small tribes.
1. Ilmen Slovenes, the center of which was Novgorod the Great, which stood on the banks of the Volkhov River, which flowed from Lake Ilmen and on whose lands there were many other cities, which is why the neighboring Scandinavians called the possessions of the Slovenes "gardarika", that is, "land of cities". These were: Ladoga and Beloozero, Staraya Russa and Pskov. The Ilmen Slovenes got their name from the name of Lake Ilmen, which is in their possession and was also called the Slovenian Sea. For residents remote from real seas, the lake, 45 miles long and about 35 wide, seemed huge, and therefore bore its second name - the sea.
2. Krivichi, living in the interfluve of the Dnieper, Volga and Western Dvina, around Smolensk and Izborsk, Yaroslavl and Rostov the Great, Suzdal and Murom. Their name came from the name of the founder of the tribe, Prince Kriv, who apparently received the nickname Krivoy, from a natural deficiency. Subsequently, the people called Krivich a person who is insincere, deceitful, capable of prevaricating, from whom you will not expect the truth, but you will encounter falsehood. Moscow subsequently arose on the lands of the Krivichi, but you will read about this later.
3. Polochane settled on the Polot River, at its confluence with Western Dvina. At the confluence of these two rivers and stood main city tribe - Polotsk, or Polotsk, whose name is also produced by the hydronym: "a river along the border with the Latvian tribes" - armor, years. Dregovichi, Radimichi, Vyatichi and northerners lived to the south and southeast of the Polochans.
4. Dregovichi lived on the banks of the river Accept, getting their name from the words "dregva" and "dryagovina", meaning "swamp". Here were the cities of Turov and Pinsk.
5. Radimichi, living in the interfluve of the Dnieper and Sozha, were called by the name of their first prince Radim, or Radimir.
6. Vyatichi were the easternmost ancient Russian tribe, having received their name, like the Radimichi, on behalf of their progenitor, Prince Vyatko, which was an abbreviated name Vyacheslav. Old Ryazan was located in the land of the Vyatichi.
7. northerners occupied the rivers of the Desna, the Seimas and the Courts and in ancient times were the northernmost East Slavic tribe. When the Slavs settled as far as Novgorod the Great and Beloozero, they retained their former name, although its original meaning was lost. In their lands there were cities: Novgorod Seversky, Listven and Chernigov.
8. Glade , who inhabited the lands around Kyiv, Vyshgorod, Rodny, Pereyaslavl, were called so from the word "field". The cultivation of the fields became their main occupation, which led to the development of agriculture, cattle breeding and animal husbandry. The glades went down in history as a tribe, to a greater extent than others, contributing to the development of ancient Russian statehood. The neighbors of the glades in the south were Rus, Tivertsy and Ulichi, in the north - the Drevlyans and in the west - the Croats, Volynians and Buzhans.
9. Rus - the name of one, far from the largest East Slavic tribe, which, because of its name, became the most famous both in the history of mankind and in historical science, because in disputes over its origin, scientists and publicists broke many copies and spilled rivers of ink. Many prominent scholars - lexicographers, etymologists and historians - derive this name from the name of the Normans, almost universally accepted in the 9th-10th centuries, - the Rus. The Normans, known to the Eastern Slavs as the Varangians, conquered Kyiv and its surrounding lands around 882. During their conquests, which took place for 300 years - from the 8th to the 11th century - and covered all of Europe - from England to Sicily and from Lisbon to Kiev - they sometimes left their name behind the conquered lands. For example, the territory conquered by the Normans in the north of the Frankish kingdom was called Normandy. Opponents of this point of view believe that the name of the tribe comes from the hydronym - the river Ros, from which later the whole country began to be called Russia. And in the XI-XII centuries, Rus began to be called the lands of Rus, glades, northerners and Radimichi, some territories inhabited by streets and Vyatichi. Supporters of this point of view consider Rus' no longer as a tribal or ethnic union, but as a political state formation.
10. Tivertsy occupied spaces along the banks of the Dniester, from its middle course to the mouth of the Danube and the shores of the Black Sea. The most probable seems to be their origin, their names from the river Tivr, as the ancient Greeks called the Dniester. Their center was the city of Cherven on west bank Dniester. The Tivertsy bordered on the nomadic tribes of the Pechenegs and Polovtsians and, under their blows, retreated to the north, mixing with the Croats and Volynians.
11. Uchi were the southern neighbors of the Tivertsy, occupying lands in the Lower Dnieper, on the banks of the Bug and the Black Sea coast. Their main city was Peresechen. Together with the Tivertsy, they retreated to the north, where they mixed with the Croats and Volynians.
12. Drevlyans lived along the Teterev, Uzh, Uborot and Sviga rivers, in Polissya and on the right bank of the Dnieper. Their main city was Iskorosten on the Uzh River, and besides, there were other cities - Ovruch, Gorodsk, several others, whose names we do not know, but their traces remained in the form of settlements. The Drevlyans were the most hostile East Slavic tribe in relation to the Polans and their allies, who formed the Old Russian state with its center in Kyiv. They were decisive enemies of the first Kiev princes, even killed one of them - Igor Svyatoslavovich, for which the prince of the Drevlyans Mal, in turn, was killed by Igor's widow, Princess Olga. The Drevlyans lived in dense forests, getting their name from the word "tree" - a tree.
13. Croatians who lived around the city of Przemysl on the river. San, called themselves white Croats, in contrast to the tribe of the same name with them, who lived in the Balkans. The name of the tribe is derived from the ancient Iranian word "shepherd, guardian of cattle", which may indicate its main occupation - cattle breeding.
14. Volynians represented a tribal association formed on the territory where the Duleb tribe previously lived. Volynians settled on both banks of the Western Bug and in the upper reaches of the Pripyat. Their main city was Cherven, and after Volyn was conquered by the Kievan princes, a new city, Vladimir-Volynsky, was established on the Luga River in 988, which gave its name to the Vladimir-Volyn principality that formed around it.
15. To a tribal association that arose in the habitat Dulebov , included, in addition to the Volynians, the Buzhans, who were located on the banks of the Southern Bug. There is an opinion that the Volhynians and Buzhans were one tribe, and their independent names came about only due to different habitats. According to written foreign sources, Buzhans occupied 230 "cities" - most likely, these were fortified settlements, and Volynians - 70. Be that as it may, these figures indicate that Volyn and the Bug region were rather densely populated.
From the fragmentary news of Byzantine, German, Arab writers (from the 7th to the 10th centuries BC) and our chronicle, one can get some information about the life of our ancestors before the beginning of the state.
Scattered over a vast expanse, not only did all these tribes of the Eastern Slavs not merge into one people, but each tribe, in turn, was divided into separate communities, and each village lived apart. Until the 9th century there was no such force, that one power that would unite them into one people. In every single family, the father was the ruler; several families descended from one family constituted a genus. If the grandfather, from whom these families originated, was alive, then he was also the head of the whole family; all relatives had to obey their ancestor, like the children of their father. The grandfather died, then his brother or eldest son became the head of the clan. When, over time, the genus grew, many already forgot that they originated from one family, did not remember the blood relationship between them, then the genus broke up into several separate genera. They sometimes even fought among themselves, but one language and the same rights distinguished them from foreign peoples and reminded them that they were of the same tribe.
Having settled in the fields, in the forests, in the steppes, the Eastern Slavs could not, of course, lead the same way of life everywhere. The tribes hunted with what they could, depending on the place: where by hunting and hunting, where by fishing, and where there were good meadows, there by cattle breeding, - but since ancient times, the Slavs have loved arable farming most of all. Not only in the south, where the rich soil gave a rich harvest, but also in the north, among dense forests, on poor land, wherever possible, the Slav chose a clearing for his arable land, furrowed the forest clay soil with his plowshare, and although the northern soil, but here, too, our people have long honored the earth, their “mother-feed face,” as he calls her.
The Slavs liked to settle along the banks of rivers and lakes, in high places, so that housing would not be flooded during spring floods. Bad weather and cold already in ancient times forced our ancestors to think about how best to arrange their dwellings: they began to coat their huts woven from branches with clay (still this is done in other places in the south of mud huts, or huts), where it was plenty of forest, learned to make walls from densely stacked logs and build their own huts. For example, in the south, in the Kyiv land and around it, the main type of dwelling was a semi-dugout. (Figure)
They didn’t know how to make stoves and chimneys at all in antiquity, but they arranged hearths in the middle of the dwelling, where they lit a fire, and the smoke went into a hole in the roof or in the wall (still in the northern villages we still meet chicken huts without chimneys and without well-arranged ovens). Benches, tables and household utensils were made in ancient times, as now, from wood.
Bad weather and frost forced our ancestors, who came down from the south, to think about warm clothes. Where there is a need, there is help: the forests were full of fur-bearing animals; it was only necessary to contrive, but it was possible to get fur coats. A fast arrow will overtake both a hare and a bird in the sky. The forest hero-bear is strong, and a person can cope with him when he has a horn or a spear in his hands and a heavy ax or an ax in reserve. From time immemorial, our ancestors were able to catch animals both alive with traps and traps.
The Slavs made fur coats and hats from the skins of fur-bearing animals; first they put on shoes in bast shoes, and then they learned to make leather boots. In the summer, men wore only shirts and trousers, and in battle, in the hot season, they threw off their shirts, fought the floor instead of shirts, sometimes they threw pieces of coarse fabric like a raincoat over their shoulders. Women wore long shirts and the same raincoats as men, and they loved to dress up very much, they have long been in great fashion among the Slavs various decorations: hoops (bracelets), necklaces, rings, earrings, beads.
Our ancestors, slender, fair-haired, ruddy, according to foreigners, were distinguished by a powerful physique, tall stature, great strength and extraordinary endurance, it would not be possible for them to settle down in the harsh northern countries, if they were not strong and steadfast in battle, they would not have defended them their lands from those steppe predators who now and then flew on their fast horses to the settlements of the Slavs, robbed them, captured people into slavery. The Slavs who lived near the steppes had to endure especially much from the steppes, and the northern Slavs were haunted by the sea daring, the Varangians, who scoured the seas and rivers on light boats. If the Slavs lived in large dense settlements, they could, of course, give the enemy a strong rebuff and punish a daring predator, but unfortunately they scattered over a vast expanse of small, rare settlements, moreover, they did not get along with each other - and a hundred or two steppe or sea robbers, raiding suddenly, could do them a lot of evil, not
giving them even time to gather their strength. That is why the Eastern Slavs had to endure many troubles from enemies, although they have long been famous for their strength and courage in battle.
“The Slavs,” says one Slavic writer, “are such a powerful and terrible people that if they weren’t divided into many generations and clans, not a single people in the world would measure their strength with them.”
The Slavs sometimes arranged dwellings for themselves with many exits, so that it would be easier to leave in case of a sudden attack; they usually buried their belongings and supplies in the ground, and they themselves left and hid in the forests. They learned how to hide well in the tall grass of the steppes, they knew how to set up ambushes in the forest; often they themselves attacked the enemy unexpectedly and out of the blue and gained the upper hand even over a strong enemy; they knew how to deftly lure a non-friend into the wilderness with a feigned flight, and there, hiding themselves behind the trees, hit the enemies with arrows, the ends of which were sometimes smeared with poison.
The Slavs were especially clever at swimming and diving, they could even hide at the bottom of the river for several hours; they took one end of a hollowed-out reed (reed) into their mouths, and put the other out of the water and thus could breathe, lying on the bottom of the river; reeds grew along their banks, and therefore it was difficult for the enemies to notice the cunning of the Slavs. In addition to spears and arrows, they used even larger wooden shields in war; at first they did not have shells and armor.
The Slavs were constantly in danger from an accidental attack; they began to build fortified places on the high banks of rivers or lakes, to fence the city; fence a small space with a fence of thick logs, pour an earthen rampart - and the fortress (city) is ready. They hear the enemy - and the inhabitants of the surrounding villages rush to carry their belongings to the city. If the enemy is not particularly strong, they will try to fight him in open battle; otherwise, they tried to hide in the city and defend themselves from behind the fence.
Previously, each clan, even each family, tried to live apart, but here, on the contrary, the danger forced them to draw closer.
At first, each clan had its foreman (the Eastern Slavs sometimes called him the prince), but here, when several clans lived together, it was necessary, in order to do something together, foremen of the clans to gather for a meeting, for a secular gathering, as they say now in our village. In ancient times, such secular gatherings were called veche. At first, only the foremen of the clans, and then other adults, probably went to the veche. The community was ruled not by one person, but by the world, as our people say.
The customs of the Slavs thirteen centuries ago were still very rude. They even encountered polygamy: who was richer, he could have two, three wives and more. Among the rude Drevlyans, who had hostility between clans longer, men by force took their wives from other clans, kidnapped them, “kidnapped”. At the meadows, men took wives with the consent of their parents, paid for the girls veno (payment for the bride),
The fate of a woman was harsh: she became the unrequited slave of her husband; the most difficult household tasks lay on her hands. But no matter how hard the lot of women was, they were still attached to their husbands; there is news that some, after the death of their husbands, were even voluntarily burned at the stake along with the deceased.
Over time, the population crowds more and more around the cities, certain species enter into unions, and the rights gradually begin to soften.
. “To live in the world is to live in the world,” says the proverb. They begin to engage in more peaceful trades, enter into peaceful relations with neighboring tribes, introduce barter: they exchange animal skins, furs, which were obtained in abundance in the northern forests, for weapons, various metal things and fabrics that foreigners bring. Furs to our ancestors a thousand years ago, by the way, replaced money. Foreigners who came to the Slavs greatly praise their good nature, respect for their parents, and especially cordiality and hospitality: they received every guest kindly, tried to treat them with what they could; it was not even considered a vice if a poor owner stole something from a rich neighbor to treat a guest. Although the customs of the Slavs were harsh, the cruelty that manifested itself in the heat of battle or immediately after it was not their constant property: they treated the prisoners friendly, set a term for their slavery, released them for ransom to their homeland, and if the liberated did not want to return, they could live among the Slavs in freedom.
Our ancestors also loved to have fun: they knew how to sing songs, play and dance; they had long since had both a harp, and a whistle, and a pipe. The dances were, it's true, just as dashing as they are now in use among our people (like a trepak or a Cossack).
Until the end of the tenth century, our ancestors were pagans: they idolized different forces and natural phenomena. People in ancient times, like children, did not yet understand at all what was going on around them in nature; everywhere they saw mighty creatures, good and evil. They considered the Sun to be a beneficent being. Our ancestors thought that the Sun, like a living being, is constantly fighting against cold and darkness.
Black clouds seemed to primitive people scary monsters, dragons, huge birds - the enemies of the Sun. Thunderclaps, fiery arrows pierce the cloud: now there is a terrible celestial struggle, then the thunder god smashes the monster-cloud with his lightning-arrows. Rain is pouring from the cloud: this is the living water that the monster was hiding, but the thunder god forced him to spill it on the ground. The earth greedily drinks the living water and enters into even greater strength.
But these gods are not always beneficent to man: sometimes the Sun burns the earth so much that the soil cracks from the heat, grass burns out in the fields, bread in the fields; sometimes the wind blows with such fury that it uproots centuries-old trees from the ground, sweeps away the miserable huts of people ...
In fear, an unfortunate person falls to the ground, begs the formidable gods for mercy, he is ready to sacrifice everything to them, to show them his complete humility.
Imagination primitive people filled nature with many imaginary creatures and created gods personified in our folk tales. The sun was represented in the form of a firebird, a golden-maned horse, etc., Frost - in the form of Koshchei the Immortal, Blizzard - Baba Yaga, etc.
The Slavs also believed in omens - they thought that the gods, with various signs, give people the opportunity to know the future. From here begins the custom of guessing. Those people who knew how to explain signs and fortune-telling were called sorcerers, sorcerers, sorcerers, healers, etc. According to the beliefs of the Slavs, they could even avert misfortune or invite it with their spells and sorcery.
The origins of the Slavs. Where to look for them? When did the Slavs first appear as a separate ethnic group? These questions were asked by many researchers of the Slavs: historians, linguists, ethnographers, archaeologists ... But even now, far from all the secrets of history have been solved.
To get closer to their resolution, you need to take into account the data of all sources that report on the Slavs.
Sources for studying the ethnogenesis of the Slavs:
(legends and traditions of the Slavic peoples; references to the Slavs in non-Slavic written sources; language data)
The problem of the origin and ancient history of the Slavs is one of the most difficult problems of modern Slavic studies. The efforts of archaeologists, linguists, anthropologists, ethnographers, historians are aimed at its solution. Only their joint research can lead to a solution to this problem.
Sources of information about the Slavic ancestral home. Speaking about the ethnogenesis of the Slavs, we must rely on several sources.
They should include
1) Legends and traditions of the people themselves, early medieval chronicles and chronicles (epics, fairy tales, The Tale of Bygone Years, etc.).
Slavic writers of the Middle Ages in their views on the origin of the Slavs proceeded from biblical legend about the Tower of Babel and the settlement of peoples in different parts of the world. The most ancient and detailed presentation of medieval ideas about the origin of the Slavs is in the Russian chronicle "The Tale of Bygone Years".
The chronicler knew from the legends that had come down to him that the name Rus itself was of Varangian (Scandinavian) origin, and the “original” Rus was called together with the Varangian princes (Rurik, Sineus, Truvor) to Novgorod. But the language spoken by the Russian people contemporary to the chronicler was Slavic: “and the Slovene language and the Russians are the same, from the Varangians they called Rus, and the first was Slovenia” (PVL). In ancient times, the chronicler says, "they sat down in Slovenia along the Dunaev, where there is now an Ugric land and called their names, where they sit on which place." The chronicler also knows the reason for the resettlement of the Slavs from their Danubian ancestral home: the pressure of the Romans (Volokhovs): “SidAhe botu (on the Danube, in the modern chronicler Hungary and Bulgaria) less than Slovenia, and Volokhov came to the land of Slovenia.”
Many tribes of the Danubian Slavs moved to the west and northeast. Part settled along the Dnieper and Dvina and even further north, near Lake Ilmen, and made up a special eastern branch Slavs.
N.M. Karamzin, referring to The Tale of Bygone Years, writes in the History of the Russian State:
“Many Slavs, of the same tribe with the Poles, who lived on the banks of the Vistula, settled on the Dnieper in the Kyiv province and were called glades from their clean fields. This name disappeared in ancient Russia, but became the common name of the Poles, the founders of the Polish state. From the same tribe of Slavs were two brothers, Radim and Vyatko, the heads of the Radimichi and Vyatichi: the first chose a dwelling on the banks of the Sozh, in the Mogilev province, and the second on the Oka, in Kaluga, Tula or Oryol. The Drevlyans, so named from their forest land, lived in the Volyn province; dulebs and buzhans along the Bug River, which flows into the Vistula; Lutichi and Tivertsy along the Dniester to the sea and the Danube, already having cities in their land; white Croats in the vicinity of the mountains of the Carpathian northerners, neighbors of the meadows, on the banks of the Desna, Seven and Sula, in the Chernigov and Poltava provinces; in Minsk and Vitebsk, between Pripyat and the Western Dvina, Dregovichi; in Vitebsk, Pskov, Tver and Smolensk, in the upper reaches of the Dvina, Dnieper and Volga, Krivichi; and on the Dvina, where the Polota River flows into it, Polotsk people of the same tribe; on the shores of Lake Ilmena are the so-called Slavs, who founded Novgorod after the birth of Christ.
In addition to the tribes listed by Nestor, and after him by Karamzin, the Balkan Peninsula was inhabited by Slavic tribes Draguvites, Sagudats, Verzits, Severovs, etc.
In addition to the Slavic peoples, according to Nestor, many non-Slavic tribes also lived in Russia at that time: Merya - around Rostov and on Lake Kleshchina or Pereyaslavsky; muroma - on the Oka (at the place where it flows into the Volga); Cheremis, Meshchera, Mordovians - southeast of Mary; liv - in Livonia, Chud - in Estonia and east to Lake Ladoga (cf. "alien"); narova - where Narva is; pit or em - in Finland, all - on Beloozero; Perm - in the province of Perm; Yugra, or the current Berezovsky Ostyaks, on the Ob and Sosva; Pechora - on the Pechora River.
Approximately the same was drawn origin Western Slavs Czech and Polish chroniclers.
2) Evidence neighboring nations who had writing.
In the IV century. BC. Herodotus in the book "History of the Greco-Persian Wars" described Scythia. He places it on the Crimean peninsula and in the lower reaches of the Dnieper. He divides the Scythians into several genera: the royal Scythians and the Scythians - plowmen who lived in the northern Black Sea region. The last mention is very strange, because it is known that the Scythians were engaged in cattle breeding, and not agriculture. It is believed that these were peoples subordinate to the Scythians, most likely the Slavs. In addition, in his book he mentions the Aenetes and writes that the Aenetes live on the Adriatic coast and that they are Illyrian tribes. In later sources, the Wends are constantly distinguished from the Illyrians.
The oldest historical information about the Slavs, or Wends, dates back to the 1st-2nd centuries AD. e. Since the middle of the 6th century, the name Sklabenoi, Sclaveni has repeatedly been found in the texts of Procopius, Jordan, and others. The first mention of the Slavs (sakaliba) by Arab authors (Abu Malik, al-Akhtal) dates back to the second half of the 7th century.
Roman and Alexandrian writers (Pliny "Natural History", Tacitus "Germany", Ptolemy "Guide to Geography") are called the most significant and numerous people between the southern coast of the Baltic Sea and the Carpathians of the Wends. Around 150 BC the Celts came to this territory, but the Wends retained the characteristics of their people. Polybius writes: "They do not differ much from the Celts in customs and decorations, but they use a different language." Pliny (c. 77 A.D.) mentions that the Sarmatians and Wends live “as far as the Vistula”, and Ptolemy (d. c. 178 A.D.) confidently says that “the greatest peoples inhabit Sarmatia”, including “ Wends throughout the Venedian Gulf "(Baltic Sea coast) -" the place of residence of the Polabian and Pomeranian Slavic tribes, who could come here from the Venedian-Illyrian center - perhaps the northern half of the Amber Route. Tacitus at the very end of the 1st century noted that between the Sarmatians and the Germans there is a band of special nationalities that are not easily classifiable. He writes that these peoples speak the "Pannonian" language, that the Sarmatians imposed taxes on them, as people of "alien origin", their social system combines opposite features. On the one hand, they "roam like robbers throughout the mountainous and wooded country that separates the Pevins from the Finns." On the other hand, they still “have permanent dwellings, wear shields, walk quickly; all this is contrary to the Sarmatians, who live in wagons and ride horses.” Thus, the lines of Tacitus throw a bright light on the meeting in the upper reaches of the Oder and the Vistula of three nationalities: Germans, Wends and Sarmatians. Until now, on the territory of modern Germany, between Dresden and Berlin, Slavic peoples live, speaking Lower Lusatian and Upper Lusatian. The Germans call them Wends, and they call themselves Serbs. About the identity of the Wends with the Slavs in these places around 600 AD. says the chronicler Fredegar, combining all three names into one: “Surbs, a tribe of Slavs; Slavs, nicknamed Vinada. The Gothic historian Jordanes in the 6th century elevates the contemporary Slavs, Sclavinians and Antes, as well as the Veneti, to the same root and thus gives a “ready-made” theory of Slavic ethnogenesis.
Under the name of the Slavs in Greek sources, the Slavs became known in the 6th century AD. in the Danube, on the border of the Byzantine Empire. The self-name sklavin - Slav - Slovak is a variant of the word "man". Byzantine authors applied this name to the southern Slavs. Self-name not only singles out the people, but also opposes it to other peoples. Traditionally, philologists (V.V. Ivanov, V.N. Toporov) single out the opposition: “Slovenes - Germans”, i.e. "who own articulate speech, language, word - mute."
3. Archaeological data are confirmed by language data.
Toponymy has a special place here, and first of all, these are oikonyms (names of settlements) and hydronyms (names of water bodies). As early as the first centuries of our era, geographical names of a Slavic nature became known: Lake Pelso (Slav. *pleso, to splash) now Lake Balaton in modern Hungary, Berzovia - a Roman settlement on the Brzva River in Banat, the Cherna area on the Cherna River - the northern tributary of the Danube and other. However, in different eras in the same territory, the population was not constant: some peoples replaced others, and names could change with them.
In addition, various kinds of borrowings indicate the interaction of Slavic and non-Slavic tribes. So, studies show that until the III century BC. Proto-Germanic tribes lived between the Oder and Vistula rivers and coexisted with Slavic tribes. From this era, such Germanisms as flattery, kusiti (try, tempt), hudog (artist), alien (teuty - Teutons; the self-name of the Germanic tribes), buy, bread (sour bread) have survived from this era in the Slavic languages. In the 7th - 3rd centuries BC. in the south, the Slavs coexisted with the Celts (the territory of modern Czech Republic). Initially, it was assumed that Celtic words were such words as black (the name of a part of the furnace), fierce, braga, servant. Later studies showed that of all these words, only the lexeme servant is Celtic, the rest are common Slavic (cheren, fierce) or Turkic (braga) names.
An etymological study of the names of the landscape, plants, wild and domestic animals, birds, and fish can also say a lot about the territory that the Slavs inhabited in antiquity. Studies show that in all Slavic languages, common Slavic lexemes associated with the forest and forest-steppe zones prevail and are: lake, swamp, pond, forest, forest, oak forest ... birch, aspen, oak, ash, walnut ... bear, fox, wolf , lynx, deer ... goose, swan, duck, raven, catfish, perch, tench, ide, pike, etc. The lexemes associated with the designation of the sea, mountains, steppe, used in modern Slavic languages, are mainly borrowings.
So, for example, the lexeme beech is a borrowing from the 3rd century BC. from the German language. The territory of distribution of this plant today is very extensive - from the Neman River to the city of Odessa. However, as studies of botanists show, two thousand years ago, the eastern border of the distribution of this plant was different: it passed along the Elbe River. It follows from this that the Slavic tribes are unlikely to have crossed this river.
For millennia, the vast territory of the ancient Russian state was a zone of meeting and interaction of various civilizations. In the south, along the northern shores of the Black Sea, lived the main neighbors of the East Slavic tribes - the Greeks. In the north, the Varangians: a whole conglomeration of peoples, to which the future Danes, Swedes, Norwegians, and "English" belonged. Further in the southeast, Rus' came into contact with the Khazars, among whom were Christians, Jews, and Muslims. Rus' had the closest contacts in vast territories with the Finno-Ugric tribes (Lithuania, Zhmud, Prussians, Yatvingians, etc.). Peaceful relations developed with Merya, All, Emyu, Izhora, Mordovians, Cheremis.
All this shows that the environment of Ancient Rus' was multinational, and also emphasizes the multinational nature of the ancient Russian state. However, the culture of the Slavs became the main component of culture.
origins Slavic culture date back to ancient times. In the culture of the Eastern Slavs - glades, northerners, Slovenes, Radimichi, Vyatichi, Krivichi, etc. - an important role was played by pagan religion, the cult of nature and the cult of ancestors. In the monuments that have come down to us, traces of worship of the sky (Svarog), the sun (Dazhbog, Khors, Veles), thunder and lightning (Perun), air elements (Stribog), fire and other natural phenomena are visible. Svarog was considered a god-father, his sons were Dazhbog and Svarozhich - the god of earthly fire. It can be assumed that the Eastern Slavs had an idea of the hierarchy of the gods. In ancient Russian chronicles, Perun is named the main deity. The Slavs swore by his name, as well as by the name of Veles, or "cattle god", the patron of domestic herds and wealth. Images of the gods - idols were installed in open places, near which rituals were performed and sacrifices were made. The most bloody, requiring human sacrifices, was the cult of Perun.
A significant place in the culture of the Eastern Slavs was occupied by pagan ideas about nature, the animation of the forces of nature. Thus, we can say that their worldview was anthropomorphic, in many ways close to the worldview of the ancient Hellenes. We agree with L. N. Gumilyov, who believed that it was wrong to call faith in the spirits of the dead (ghouls) and the spirits of nature (forest, water, brownies) a religion. “It is, rather, “natural science”, which corresponded to the level of knowledge of that time. Taken together, superstitions were some kind of worldview, but they cannot be considered a real religious cult, just as it is impossible to identify a brownie with God the Creator.
The cult of ancestors among the Slavs was expressed in the veneration of the Family. He was seen as the ancestor of life and the guardian of relatives and family, women in labor were associated with him - female deities, patrons of the family, hearth and everything related to birth. The ancestor was called "chur" (shur) - hence the "ancestor" (distant ancestor, ancestor). This cult lasted longer than the worship of natural forces, which was more closely associated with social changes in society. B. A. Rybakov believes that in ancient times, the Slavs made offerings only to evil and good spirits - ghouls and coasts. Later, Rod and women in childbirth took the place of the spirits. With the advent of the state, Perun came to the fore, and with the adoption of Christianity, pagan rites generally become secret; Rod and his retinue were revered for the longest time.
The cult rituals of the Slavs were also associated with ideas about life and death, with holidays, with various events. Songs, including ritual ones, were widespread. Ancient divination, spells, incantations, proverbs, sayings, riddles, fairy tales lived among the people, many of which were preserved in the people's memory until the 19th-20th centuries.
In Russian folklore, there is the idea of the unity of space and man. “Myths and legends about the existence of a stellar, celestial book exist in many ancient cultures. In Russian folklore, this is the legend of the Pigeon Book. On the very first pages of it we read about the universal man, whose body is woven from the stars, the moon, the sun, whose breath is the wind. These ideas go back to ancient times.
Of particular interest in ancient Russian folklore are epics - epic songs. The researchers concluded that by the time Kievan Rus can be safely attributed to the heroes - “Dobrynya and the Serpent”, “Alyosha and Tugarin”, about the trading man - “Ivan the Gostinny Son”, “Mikhail Potyk”, etc. Epics can be assessed as a kind of folk historical journalism, since epic the plots reflect what worried the people of Ancient Russia: first of all, the struggle against external danger (Pechenegs, Polovtsians, Tatars).
But no matter how rich and diverse was oral folk art, the true flowering of culture as a whole is associated with the perception of Slavic writing by Russia. There are many facts testifying to the existence of an alphabet among the Slavs, which became widespread in the second half of the 9th century. Its creators were the preachers of Christianity Cyril and Methodius, invited in 863 to the Great Moravian Principality. Of the two alphabets - Glagolitic and Cyrillic - Cyrillic became the official alphabet in Rus'.
Contribution Byzantine culture in the formation of the writing of the Slavic peoples consisted not only in the activities of Cyril and Methodius in the design of the Slavic alphabet and the translation of Christian liturgical books into Slavic, but also in the direct connection of Greek and Slavic writing. Now Rus', like other Slavic peoples - in Great Moravia, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria and later in Serbia - received the basis for creating the richest written culture in native language. Western European countries, like Muslim East, were deprived of this great stimulus for the broad development of culture for a long time.
Of great importance for assessing the spread of literacy in Rus' were the birch bark letters discovered for the first time in 1951 in Novgorod. Now several hundred of them have already been found, and not only in Novgorod, but also in Pskov, Staraya Russa, Smolensk, Polotsk, Vitebsk, Moscow, although in incomparably smaller numbers. The oldest birch-bark writings date back to the 10th-11th centuries.
The most important event in the culture of Rus', which largely determined its further development, was baptism, with which the ancient Russian culture acquired fundamentally new features and characteristics. Just as the Christianization of Rus' significantly accelerated the formation of a single Old Russian people from the East Slavic tribes with their various cults, Christianity also contributed to the consolidation of Old Russian consciousness, both ethnic and state.
The baptism of Rus' introduced it not only into the family of Christian Slavic states, but also into the system of Christian countries of Europe as a whole with their cultural achievements. Russian culture has been enriched by those who have deep historical roots achievements of the countries of the Middle East and the cultural treasures of Byzantium. Vladimir Svyatoslavich, who baptized Rus' in 988, saw his state, as the Tale of Bygone Years reports, "as if he saw the Christian country."
Christianity spread in Rus' long before Vladimir was baptized. It is known that the grandmother of the prince, Princess Olga, was the first to be baptized in Constantinople. According to S. M. Solovyov, under Prince Igor, no attention was paid to Christians, under Olga they were mocked, but clearly not persecuted. Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich at baptism had such a strong argument as power, which he used. The Christianization of Rus' is not a one-time act. As the chronicler points out, baptism took place under Vladimir, and under his son Yaroslav, proper instruction in the faith. For a long time in Rus', dual faith was preserved. First of all, Christianity was accepted by urban culture.
Thanks to the creative perception in Rus' of the Byzantine civilization, very soon the Byzantine samples were actively processed, deeply rethought in accordance with the social conditions of life and the spiritual demands of the ancient Russian society. Moreover, often Byzantine influence, when it became an obstacle to the further progressive development of original Russian culture, ran into serious resistance.
Byzantium, as it were, created for itself a rival in the person of Rus', not only in politics but also in the field of culture. Attempts by Byzantium to spiritually subdue Rus' led to the growth of national self-awareness in Russian society. This was most vividly expressed in the famous "Sermon on Law and Grace" by Hilarion (the first Russian metropolitan); in the creation, contrary to the Patriarchate of Constantinople, of the pantheon of Russian saints (the canonization of Boris and Gleb, the sons of Prince Vladimir, who were treacherously killed by their brother Svyatopolk the Accursed); in luxurious princely urban construction in Kyiv and other cities. Under Prince Yaroslav the Wise (c. 978-1054) in Kyiv, as if arguing with the famous buildings of Constantinople, the Golden Gates, the magnificent St. Sophia Cathedral (1036-1054) were erected.
By the time of the adoption of Christianity, Kievan Rus was already a powerful state, with a large number cities, developed crafts and trade. Foreign merchants and diplomats called it the "country of cities", and chronicles mentioned for the XI-XII centuries. more than 220 urban centers, among which the largest were Kiev, Chernigov, Pereslavl, Vladimir-Volynsky, Galich, Turov, Smolensk, Polotsk, Novgorod, Suzdal, Vladimir-Suzdalsky, Ryazan and many others.
The capital city of Kyiv - one of the oldest and most beautiful cities in Europe - occupied an outstanding place among other urban centers of Ancient Rus', and throughout Eastern Europe. He justified the annalistic name "mother of Russian cities." It was the economic and political center of the ancient Russian state. The German chronicler Adam of Bremen (XI century) called it "the pearl of the East" and "the second Constantinople". The exceptionally favorable geographical and military-strategic position of Kyiv, located on the high Dnieper steeps, provided it with dominance on the waterways connecting the north and south, opened access to the Black and Seas of Azov and such rich countries as Byzantium, Danubian Bulgaria and Khazaria.
On different stages development of ancient Russian culture, the degree of influence of Byzantine culture either increased or declined. The time of the most active contacts between Rus' and Byzantium in the sphere artistic creativity was end X-XII centuries Kyiv was at that time the center of cultural contacts between Rus' and Byzantium. Kyiv princes(Vladimir, Yaroslav the Wise and others) began to invite Greek masters from Byzantium: jewelers, architects, painters, stone carvers, mosaicists. With their help, the construction of temples and palaces began in Kyiv.
Byzantine influence was most clearly manifested in the architecture of Ancient Rus'. At the end of X-XI centuries. Byzantine stone architecture was adopted with its complex type cross-domed church, a perfect system of ceilings, the highest building technology for that time. In contrast to the Romanesque architecture of Western Europe, where at that time only in certain regions there was a slow and difficult process of transition from wooden structures to stone vaults. Kievan Rus very early received from Byzantium almost in finished form a sophisticated system of vaulted and domed ceilings, buildings of fine, refined spatial configuration and great height.
The first stone church in Rus' was built in Kyiv in 989-996, that is, immediately after the adoption of Christianity by Russia, the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin (Church of the Tithes). According to the chronicle, the temple was built by Greek craftsmen. In 1031-1036. the Greeks erected the Cathedral of the Transfiguration of the Savior in Chernihiv - the most Byzantine, according to experts, the temple of Ancient Rus'.
The pinnacle of South Russian architecture in the 11th century. was the Hagia Sophia in Kyiv. It was called upon to revive the traditions of the main shrine in Kyiv Orthodox world- Sophia of Constantinople. Just as the St. Sophia Cathedral in Constantinople symbolized the victory of Christianity and the power of the Byzantine emperors, so St. Sophia of Kiev affirmed the triumph of Orthodoxy in Ancient Rus' and the power of the great princely power. But the artistic embodiment of this concept was different. Created by Greek and Russian craftsmen, St. Sophia of Kiev, which is a huge five-aisled church with spacious choirs, covering the side aisles, has no direct analogies among the monuments of church architecture of Byzantium. While maintaining the Byzantine foundation of the cross-domed church, St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv marked the gradual departure of ancient Russian architecture from Byzantine models.
The stepped composition of the outer volume, the abundance of domes, massive supporting pillars, making the inner space more cramped, gave the main temple of Kievan Rus a special originality. Sophia of Kiev combined monumental power and festive solemnity with colorful elegance, in harmony with the mild South Russian nature.
The architecture of Novgorod departs from the Byzantine models even further, which is especially noticeable when comparing the architecture of the churches of St. Sophia. Sophia of Novgorod (1045-1050) is close in concept and architectural plan to Sophia of Kyiv, but it has completely new artistic solutions, not known to South Russian and Byzantine architecture.
Byzantine traditions were quite firmly preserved in ancient Russian architecture in the 11th - first half of the 12th centuries. But from the second half of the XII century. there was a clear weakening of Byzantine influence, in ancient Russian architecture tower-shaped temples appeared, which were not characteristic of Byzantine architecture. Old Russian architecture did not know in its development such sharp leaps as the transition from Romanesque style to gothic or from gothic to renaissance in Western Europe. The process of folding national features in ancient Russian architecture was slower and smoother, and found its final completion later, in the architecture of Muscovite Rus'.
The studies of B. A. Rybakov showed that the architects of Ancient Rus' had high mathematical and technical knowledge. Each building was the embodiment of a strict mathematical system and complex engineering calculations.
In ancient Russian painting, Byzantine influence was more lasting and stable. Byzantium not only introduced Russian artists to the technique of mosaics, frescoes, and tempera painting, but also gave them an iconographic canon, the immutability of which was strictly guarded by the Orthodox Church. Artels of artists, which included Russian and Greek masters, usually worked according to Byzantine models, the so-called originals.
In Rus' in the XI-XII centuries. There were two traditions in decorating temples with paintings. One, more strict and solemn, goes back to the monumental painting of Byzantium. Another, more free and decorative, has already developed on Russian soil. The classical monument that embodied the first tradition was St. Sophia of Kiev, where the Byzantine iconographic canon is fully preserved. The mosaics and frescoes of this temple were created for a long time (1037-1067) jointly by Greek and Russian masters. The decoration of this huge temple is striking in its diversity and monumentality.
Unfortunately, we have too little information about the system of education in Rus' to make a holistic judgment on this issue. To nourish the newly converted Christians, there were not enough clergy who arrived from Byzantium, Bulgaria, so it was necessary to increase the number of our own, Russian priests, and this required the spread of book teaching. And the princely court needed literate people to conduct public affairs; the need for them was also felt in trade and even in everyday life. However, it is known that shortly after his baptism, Vladimir Svyatoslavich organized a school for young men in Kyiv. Under Prince Yaroslav, the same thing was done in Novgorod as under Vladimir - in Kyiv: the prince ordered the children (300 people) to be taken from the elders and priests and taught them books.
The literature of Kievan Rus is striking in the richness of both translated and original works. Of particular importance was Byzantine literature, still retaining, albeit modified, ancient traditions. Ancient Rus' received at its disposal translations of many biblical books that formed the basis of wisdom in the Middle Ages, the writings of the Orthodox Church Fathers - Basil the Great, John Chrysostom, Gregory the Theologian, John of Damascus. From them, Russian scribes learned the foundations of ancient philosophy in conjunction with biblical ideas. Questions about two principles in a person - spiritual and bodily, about causality in the world and in human life - were resolved on the basis of the providence of the biblical concept: the will of God was put in the first place, but necessity, fate, happiness, and chance were also recognized.
Original Russian literature and culture as a whole is already beginning of XII V. made great strides. First of all, let's pay attention to the chronicles, this is a completely original phenomenon of ancient Russian culture, to their special, inimitable contribution to world culture. The structure of the annals was determined by the presentation of events by years - "summers". They give detailed narratives about events and people, assessments of their actions, which are very far from the naive ideas about the impartiality of the chroniclers. Chronicles are filled with texts of documents, obituaries of historical figures, their testaments to children; echoes of oral folk art are alive in them, folk tales and legends. These are vaults that have incorporated works not only of other genres, but also of other, earlier chronicles. Chronicles are not only cultural monuments and keepers historical memory, but also an active force in the social and state life of medieval Rus'.
At the beginning of chronicle writing in Rus', apparently, stands the so-called Ancient Chronicle Code of the end of the 10th or the very beginning of the 11th century. In 1113, the chronicler Nestor creates The Tale of Bygone Years. Along with the all-Russian chronicle in the XI century. appears local. The Novgorod chronicles are especially vivid, the compilers of which were primarily interested in local events: the struggle against external enemies, natural disasters, crop failures, city fires, and the construction of temples. The interests of the chroniclers of the Vladimir-Suzdal land were wider than those of Novgorod, but even here we will find vivid sketches of life.
The literature of Ancient Rus' was not limited only to church subjects. The epic poem "The Tale of Igor's Campaign" became the pinnacle of ancient Russian literature. The unsuccessful campaign of the Novgorod-Seversky prince Igor Svyatoslavich against the Polovtsy in 1185 was not exceptional in its own way. historical significance. But the ingenious author of the Lay was able to see in this event and in its consequences what worried Russian society: the need to fight the Polovtsy with common, and not scattered efforts. The author of the Lay, who wrote seven decades after Nestor, also had a broad political and geographical outlook, profound knowledge historical past of Rus'. He contrasted the power and unity of Rus' in the past with the time of princely strife, bleeding the country.
Sunny source of Slavic culture
Nikolai Sergeev
According to modern research, evidence of historical sources and ethnographic data, the Slavs were worshipers of the Sun and Fire, which was directly reflected both in such a phenomenon as the Slavic pattern (ornamentation), and in the name itself - the Slavs, and the origins of this custom lie in the ancient Indo-European ( Aryan) community, which is fully confirmed by modern scientific research.
Considering the question of the origins of Slavic culture, it is impossible not to touch upon the already world-famous Arkaim located in the Southern Urals. This fortified settlement was opened in 1987 and immediately became the center of attention not only of the domestic, but also of the world scientific community. And this is not surprising. After all, the open “country of cities” (and subsequently almost two dozen such fortresses were found) was nothing more than one of the centers of the Aryan (Indo-European) civilization.
Expansion of the Aryans from 4000 to 1000 BC, according to the Lev Gumilyov Center.
And this was precisely a civilization, which, in particular, is evidenced by the careful thoughtfulness of the planning of the discovered ancient South Ural cities, which flourished about 3.8 - 4 thousand years ago. Arkaim (named after the mountain dominating the area) had the shape of a circle with a diameter of about 160 meters.
The settlement was surrounded by a two-meter bypass moat with water. The outer wall was quite massive. With a height of five and a half meters, it had a five-meter width (lined with stone). The city consisted of two circular walls, one surrounded by the other. The inner wall, with a thickness of three meters, had a height of seven meters. Rooms shaped like a circular sector are attached to both annular walls. Figuratively speaking, the city was a fortress, consisting of two "apartment" buildings. In total, from 2 to 3 thousand people lived in Arkaim.
At the same time, the city had pottery and metallurgical production (bronze casting). Between the walls there was a five-meter-wide circular street paved with logs, under which a two-meter ditch was dug along the entire length of the street, connected to a bypass ditch. Thus, the fortress had a storm sewer. During rain, water seeped through the log pavement, fell into the ditch and from there into the bypass ditch. Each room adjoined at one end to the outer or inner fortress wall and overlooked the ring street or the central square.
Fortress Arkaim according to modern researchers.
Interesting interior design. In the vestibule (hallway) a water drain was equipped, which went into a ditch under the main street. Each room had a well, a furnace, and a small domed vault.
In the center of the city there was a rectangular square measuring 25 x 27 meters , on which there are traces of fires arranged in a certain order. Apparently, it was used, including for carrying out certain ritual actions. It can be assumed that the appearance of Arkaim, especially for those times, was very impressive: a round city, with prominent gate towers and burning lights.
Made in Arkaim archaeological finds allow you to determine the occupation and lifestyle of the inhabitants of this city. As a result of the excavations, human remains, the remains of domestic animals, including horses, remains of horse harness, saddlers' tools, potters' tools and pottery were found. At the same time, there is a pattern (ornament) on clay ceramics, which was later characteristic of Slavic culture. Also found were molds for casting metal products, anvils and weapons for warfare: arrowheads (stone), bows, battle axes, spears, clubs, daggers. During the excavations of burial grounds, archaeologists found prints of spoked wheels, and in one of the burials (Crooked Lake) of the South Ural "country of cities" a war chariot dated to the 21st century BC was discovered. These finds showed that it was in the Southern Urals that the wheel was invented in the form in which we know it today.
Aryan war chariot.
Who were the people of the Ural "country of cities" and what was the society in which they lived. Russian anthropologists A.I. Nechvolod (Ufa) and A.A. Khokhlov (Samara), working according to the method of the famous scientist M.M. Gerasimov, carried out a scientific reconstruction of the appearance of the inhabitants of Arkaim and the “country of cities” as a whole. They were fair-haired and light-eyed representatives of the white (Caucasoid) race, tall (170-180 cm) and strong build. If they got into our time, they could easily get lost among us, since the Arkaimians had an appearance that is inherent, including modern, Eastern Slavs.
Images of the inhabitants of Arkaim. Reconstruction.
However, we are related to the Aryans not only appearance but also the language. The remarkable Russian linguist, Doctor of Philology Tatyana Yakovlevna Elizarenkova (1929-2007) conducted a comparative analysis of the Russian language, including its dialects, and Sanskrit, the language of the high culture of ancient India, which arose on the basis of the language of the Aryans, who came from the north to the Hindustan peninsula. Moreover, the Aryans began their long journey to India from the territory of modern Russia, including the Southern Urals. According to T.Ya. Elizarenkova, Russia's largest specialist in Vedic (ancient Indian) culture, Vedic Sanskrit and Russian are very close to each other and have a common ancestor. To see this, let's compare, it would seem, languages so far from each other. The first word is Russian, the second is its Sanskrit counterpart:
uncle - dada, mother - matri, wonder - wonder, deva - devi, light - shveta, snow - snow. The Russian meaning of the word gat is a road laid through a swamp. In Sanskrit, gati means passage, way, road. The Sanskrit word to fight - to go, to run - corresponds to the Russian analogue - to drape; in Sanskrit radalnya - tears, crying, in Russian - sobs.
Sometimes, without realizing it, we use a tautology, using words with the same meaning twice. We speak Russian tryn-grass, and in Sanskrit trin means grass. We pronounce dense forest, and 'drema' means forest in Sanskrit. In the Vologda and Arkhangelsk dialects, many pure Sanskrit words have been preserved. So the northern Russian bat means - maybe: "I, bat, will come to you tomorrow." In Sanskrit, baht - truly, maybe. Severusskoe bush - mold, soot, dirt. In Sanskrit, busa means garbage, sewage. Russian kulnut - fall into the water, in Sanskrit kula - channel, stream. And there are many such examples.
A well-thought-out ring system of defensive structures provided reliable defense of the fortress along the entire contour, but at the same time, no evidence was found that Arkaim and similar Aryan fortresses were attacked by enemies. Rather, on the contrary, the South Ural Aryans themselves raided for prey and waged offensive wars.
The Arkaim society was of a military nature, it was a community of equal people-warriors. There was no social stratification. At the same time, both men and women (loggers-archers) took part in the hostilities, which was directly reflected in Russian epics in the images of the remote warriors-loggers Nastasya Mikulishna (“The Marriage of Dobrynya”), Vasilisa Mikulishna (“Stavr Godinovich”) and Nastasya Korolevichny ("Danube Ivanovich and the princess").
The military society also had corresponding religious and ideological ideas. Conducted archaeological research gives full foundation to believe that ritual actions were performed in Arkaim for the glory of Fire and the Sun, which were the basis of the worldview of the original Aryans. This was not only reflected in the pantheon of Aryan deities, but also left a deep mark on Slavic and specifically Russian (East Slavic) folk culture.
So, the ancient Aryan name for the sun is Svar (Svar), Svara (Svara), the supreme god of the Slavs is Svarog. The Aryan God of Fire is Agni. Among the Slavs, the god of fire is Fire Svarozhich or Semargl (from "smag" - heat, ardor, fire). The very name Fire Svarozhich contains a direct indication that earthly fire is a product of solar fire.
In the center of the Aryan universe and worship was the great god of the Indo-Europeans Rudra, who, according to the description given in encyclopedic dictionary Brockhaus and Efron, was associated with fire and the sun. It is interesting that in Russian one of the meanings of the word "ore" is hot red, i.e. fiery.
At the same time, Rudra, albeit in a modified form, is also present in Slavic mythology. Here is what an outstanding Russian scientist, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Indologist and ethnographer Natalya Romanovna Guseva (1914-2010) writes about this: “The ancient Slavs highly honored a god named Rod. He was a strong and angry lord of the sky, shed rain on the earth, impregnating all living beings. Such words as “ore” (blood), “ore”, “red” - red, red: brown and a number of others are also associated with his name. But here in the Vedas a certain god named Rudra is sung. Let's think, are the names of Rod and Rudra only consonant? No, they are brought together by other features. Rudra is also the god of the sky and thunder. He is powerful and angry. He is a warrior god with red-brown skin, and in Sanskrit the words "rudh", "rudhira" mean "to be red, bloody", which directly coincides with the above Slavic words comparable to Rod. Apparently, the god Rod-Rudra was coincidentally close in terms of commonality or close rapprochement between the tribes of Slavs and Aryans. It should be added to the above that such words as “motherland”, “people”, “relatives” are based on the root “genus”, i.e. Again same Fire and Sun.
In Slavic mythology, Rod acts as the All-God, the creator of everything that exists and is present in everything, its fiery essence is Perun. Here is what an outstanding Russian researcher says about Perun folk culture Alexander Nikolaevich Afanasiev: “Perun is a formidable Slavic deity, the son of the great god of Heaven - Svarog. As the creator of the heavenly flame, born in thunders, Perun is also recognized as the god of earthly fire, brought by him from heaven as a gift to mortals. The word "perun" dates back to the ancient era of the Aryans, the ancestors of the Slavs. At the heart of this word is the name in Sanskrit of a lightning cloud. Lightning is still called thunderbolt in some places.
The original meaning of the root "yar / er" ("ger / her") is "fire". At least, this was the case in the days of the Aryan (Indo-European) community. The legitimacy of this conclusion is evidenced, in particular, by the fact that in a number of Indo-European languages words meaning fire contain the root “yar / er” (English: fire -fire, etc.) And the ancient Greek “fir / per” - fire (hence pyrotechnics) allows us to understand the original meaning of the name of the Russian God Perun - the lord of Fire and the essence of Fire itself .
According to the views of the Aryans, who are the origins of the mythological ideas of all Indo-European peoples, the finest matter - Fire - is at the heart of everything that exists. Moreover, the natural fire known to every person is a special case of the universal Flame (“ethereal fire”), which, filling (piercing) matter, spiritualizes it and makes it alive, thus Perun is the All-fire that brings life.
The connection between the Universal Fire (the sun is its condensation) and man is carried out by the fiery (solar) Spirit-Falcon - Rarog, the spirit of Svarog, one of the gods of fire and light. Represented in the form of a swift fiery falcon , whose cult was widespread in the Slavic lands (cf. Czech raroh, Polish rarog - falcon). In Rus', the hunting falcon was called rerik and was a revered symbol of courage and invincibility. The name of Rurik, the ancestor of the Russian princely and royal dynasty, is derived from this common Slavic basis, which is confirmed, in particular, by the symbolism of ancient Russian coins, on which the personal signs of the first Ruriks are engraved, resembling the figure of a falcon falling on its victim.
Rurik sign.
According to the ideas of the Slavs, the place of accumulation of solar (fiery) power in a person is his soul. Man is made up of three parts: flesh, soul, spirit. The soul-spirit has a directly fiery nature, that is, the fabric of the soul is akin to a flame. Hence the expressions - a fiery soul, a fiery gaze, etc. Thus, the Heavenly Fire, the Earthly Fire and the Soul have one fiery nature. Therefore, fire was used in ceremonies both to address the heavenly world and to acquire (from pulling together) a spiritual fortress, and through it, bodily power. The acquisition of strength through fire was called “out of the fire and into the frying pan.”
Such a worldview was reflected in the self-name of the Slavs, whose name is directly connected with the sun. In ancient times they were known under the name of Venedi or Vienna. Until now, the Finns and Estonians still call Russians (vene and venaja), and the Germans - Slavs (Lusatian Serbs), who still live in Germany. The very word "vend" is rooted in the days of the Aryan (Indo-European) community and, according to the famous Soviet Slavic scholar, academician Nikolai Sevastyanovich Derzhavin, means "people, people" (compare the English "men" people). The modern word “Slavs” or, as they used to say in the old days, “Slovene” (word-vene) consists of two parts: “ven-e” - the people and “slo” (from the elephant - the sun), so its meaning can be defined as “ people of the sun. This interpretation is supported by many historical sources. So, in the great monument of ancient Russian literature, “The Tale of Igor's Campaign,” it is directly stated that the Russians (i.e., Russian Slavs) are Dazhdbog's grandchildren, but Dazhdbog is the Slavic deity of sunlight. His name is heard in the shortest prayer that has survived to this day: “Give, God!”. And it is no coincidence that the old slavic pattern, which is imprinted on the state flag of the Republic of Belarus, is called the "Rising Sun".
Rising sun pattern.
And what does the name Rus and Russ mean? The roots and meaning of these words also lie in Aryan antiquity, in the language of the Aryans "Rus" means bright. Hence fair-haired, that is, blond hair, and Rus' is a bright country.
So, the available archaeological, ethnographic, linguistic, mythological, cultural and genetic data allow us to make an unambiguous conclusion that between the Aryans of the South Ural "country of cities" and the Russian (Eastern) Slavs, not only a certain connection can be traced, but that the former are the immediate ancestors (albeit very distant in time) Slavs, whose sunny worldview underlies the folk Slavic culture.
Location: hall of current periodicals RSL
Time spending: May 15 - June 15, 2013
IN Slavic states(in Russia since 1991) is widely celebrated on May 24 - the Day of Slavic Literature and Culture. This is a special day. In Russia, it is timed to coincide with church celebrations - the day of remembrance of the holy brothers Cyril and Methodius, enlighteners and teachers of the Slavs. Thanks to the special alphabet compiled by Cyril for the Slavic language, as well as the translations of Cyril and Methodius from Greek into Slavic texts Holy Scripture and liturgical texts, the pagan Slavs got the opportunity to establish themselves in the Christian faith.
By this date, in the hall of current periodicals of the RSL, an analytical exhibition "The Spiritual Origins of Slavic Cultures" has been prepared, which will be replenished with newly arrived issues of magazines on this topic. In No. 3 of the journal “History in Details” for 2012, in the article “1150 years of the spiritual meeting of Byzantium and Rus'”, Doctor of Philology V.P. Kazarin suggests A New Look on the origins of Slavic writing and the history of the creation of modern Slavic writing.
In No. 1 of the Moscow State University Bulletin, the Philology series for 2011, O. O. Leshkova talks about how the Day of Slavic Literature and Culture was celebrated at the Faculty of Philology of Moscow State University by student groups from Serbia, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia. In the same issue journal, 5th year students of the Faculty of Philology of Moscow State University named after M. V. Lomonosov Aristova A. and Yushkina A. talk about the international youth conference "The history of the culture of the Slavs in the assessments of youth". with Slavic themes.
« Slavic languages and Culture in the Modern World” was the title of the II International Symposium, held at Moscow State University. M. V. Lomonosov March 21-24, 2012. This symposium is the subject of an article by O. E. Frolova, published in No. 5 of the Russian Speech magazine in 2012. The symposium was attended by 285 scientists from 31 countries. 415 reports were published in the collection "Proceedings and Materials".
M. M. Frolova writes about the conference “Russia and the Slavs”, held at the Institute of Slavic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences and dedicated to the 110th anniversary of the birth of the outstanding Slavic scholar S. A. Nikitin, in No. 5 of the Slavonic Studies journal for 2012. The article tells about the most interesting reports made at the conference. In No. 1 of the journal "Humanitarian and socio-economic sciences" for 2012, D. B. Kazantseva and A. V. Belov in the article "Russian philosophy of the nineteenth - twentieth centuries. On the Basic Values of Slavic Culture” consider the views of Russian philosophers on the spiritual world of the individual.
In No. 4 of the Journal "Russian Language at School" for 2011, N. I. Gorpinko and E. Yu. Polovnikova offer a scenario: "A holiday dedicated to the Day of Slavic Writing." The authors in an entertaining way expand the linguistic horizons of students, awakening interest in the history of the Russian language.
S. V. Rybakov, Doctor of Historical Sciences, in the article “The Spiritual Light of Hilarion of Kyiv’s “Word”” analyzes the merits of Metropolitan Hilarion’s outstanding work “The Word of Law and Grace”. Illarion put into practice the principles of Cyril and Methodius Orthodoxy, aimed at developing book culture and introducing the widest masses of people to it. “Cyril and Methodius not only created Slavic alphabet, but for the first time they systematized philosophical categories in the Slavic language, ensuring the spiritual take-off of Slavic culture. The brothers-enlighteners believed that the one who is more enlightened is closer to God, ”the author writes in his article in the journal“ History in Details ”, in No. 6 for 2011.
Issue 5/6 of the Moscow Diocesan Gazette for 2012 describes how the Day of Slavic Literature and Culture was celebrated in Moscow. The message of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Kirill to the participants of the holiday is given. It tells about the solemn service in honor of the holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Cyril and Methodius, about the numerous guests who took part in the Divine Liturgy in the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin, as well as about the procession and cultural events in honor of the holiday. The same events are reflected in No. 6 of the Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate for 2012.
V. M. Kirillin in the article “Equal to the Apostles” in No. 5 of the Russian House magazine for 2012 writes about Equal-to-the-Apostles Cyril and Methodius as the creators of "the foundation on which the beautiful building of the current Slavic culture has been built, which has taken its place of honor in the world culture of mankind." Issue 2 of the World of the Russian Word magazine for 2012 tells about international scientific and practical symposiums dedicated to the Day of Slavic Literature and Culture and held in various cities of Russia. In No. 1 of the Living Antiquity magazine for 2012, candidates of philological sciences V. E. Dobrovolskaya and A. B. Ippolitova talk about the conference modern world". The conference was held from 24 to 26 May 2011 at the State Republican Center of Russian Folklore. Scientists from Russia and the CIS countries took part in it.
“To establish all the Slovenian languages in Orthodoxy and unanimity” is the title of A. Khludentsov’s article in No. 4 of the journal “Toward Unity!” for 2012, published by the International Public Foundation for the Unity of Orthodox Peoples. The author tells about the tradition of celebrating the Days of Slavic Literature and Culture, about the celebration of these days in the cities of Russia.
