3. EASTERN SLAVS IN THE VI-IX CENTURIES Features of the development of Slavic society in the VI-IX centuries. In the history of Europe, the second half of the 1st millennium AD. e. was a period of great historical changes. The movements of the tribes and their struggle with the Roman Empire within its western borders ended.

In historical science, it is generally accepted that the history of any nation begins with the formation of a state. IN Russian Federation More than 100 peoples and nationalities live here. But the main state-forming people of our country are 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 countries. 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 about the Slavs.

By the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. Slavs stand out from the Indo-European community. By the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. the Slavs became so significant in numbers and influence in the world around them that Greek, Roman, Arab, and Byzantine authors began to report on them (Roman writer Pliny the Elder), historian Tacitus - 1st century AD, geographer Ptolemy Claudius - 2nd century .BC ancient authors call the Slavs “Ants”, “Sclavins”, “Vends” and speak of them as “countless tribes”).

During the era of the great migration of peoples, the Slavs on the Danube began to be crowded out by other peoples. The Slavs began to split up.

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

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 Eastern Slavs (Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians).

It should be noted that most tribes strove to Central Europe, to the ruins of the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire soon fell (476 AD) under the attacks of alien barbarians. On this territory, the barbarians will create their own statehood, absorbing the cultural heritage of ancient Roman culture. The Eastern Slavs went to the northeast, into the deep forest wilds, 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 stand 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 mainly settled across the East European Plain.

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

In the east and southeast the situation was different. There the Steppe adjoined the Russian Plain. The neighbors of the Eastern Slavs were the steppe nomads - the Turks (Altai family of peoples, Turkic group). In those days, peoples leading different lifestyles - 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 would be the struggle with 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 6th century. in the lower reaches of the Volga there was a state of the Turks - the Avar Kaganate. In 625, the Avar Khaganate was defeated by Byzantium and ceased to exist.

In the 7th - 8th centuries. here the state of other Turks appears - the Bulgar (Bulgarian) kingdom. Then the Bulgarian kingdom collapsed. Part of the Bulgars went to the middle reaches of the Volga and formed Volga Bulgaria. Another part of the Bulgars migrated to the Danube, where 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 - “Bulgars”).

After the departure of the Bulgars, the steppes of southern Rus' 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 them tribute until the 9th century.

In the south the neighbor of the Eastern Slavs was Byzantine Empire(395 - 1453) with its capital in Constantinople (in Rus' it was called Constantinople).

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 9th century there were about 15 tribal unions. Tribal unions were named either by the area in which they lived, or by the name of the leaders. Information about the settlement 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 glades - 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 Western Dvina; Polotsk residents - along Polota; Ilmen Slovenes - along the Volkhov, Shchelon, Lovat, Msta rivers; Krivichi - in the upper reaches of the Dnieper, Western Dvina and Volga; Vyatichi - in the upper reaches of the Oka; Buzhans - along the Western Bug; Tivertsy and Ulich - 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 rivers, especially the most great river Russian antiquity - Dnieper. In the 9th 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, caravans of merchants reached 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 area of ​​Smolensk and on the Dnieper rapids they crossed by "portage routes". Further, along the western shore of the Black Sea they 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 entire life of 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 (they raised pigs, cows, horses, small cattle), fishing, and beekeeping (collecting honey from wild bees). A significant part of the territory of the Eastern Slavs lay in a zone of harsh climate, and occupation agriculture required everyone's efforts physical strength. Labor-intensive work had to be completed within a strictly defined time frame. Only a large team could do this. Therefore, from the very beginning of the appearance of the Slavs on the East European Plain vital role the collective began to play in their lives - the community and the role of the leader.

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 9th century The Eastern Slavs had at least 24 large 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, nobility, temples, and monasteries. Behind the fortress wall, a ditch filled with water was built. Behind the moat there was a market. Adjacent to the Kremlin was a settlement where artisans settled. Individual districts of the settlement, inhabited by artisans of the same specialty, were called settlements.

Public relations. The Eastern Slavs lived in clans. Each clan had its own elder - the prince. The prince relied on the clan 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 notable warriors (advisers). The younger squad lived with the prince and served his court and household. The warriors from the conquered tribes collected tribute (taxes). Trips to collect tribute were called "polyudye". Since time immemorial, the Eastern Slavs had a custom of resolving all the most important issues in the life of the clan at a worldly 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 sun god - Yarilo; Perun is the god of war and lightning, Svarog is the god of fire, Veles is the patron of livestock. The princes themselves acted as high priests, but the Slavs also had special priests - sorcerers and magicians.

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

Attention! There are many controversial issues in this topic. In revealing them, we should talk about the hypotheses existing in science.

Origin and settlement of the Eastern Slavs

The difficulty of studying the origin of the Eastern Slavs and their settlement on the territory of Rus' is closely related to the problem of the lack of reliable information, since more or less accurate sources date back to the 5th-6th centuries. AD

There are two most common points of view on the origin of the Slavs:

1. Slavs - indigenous people Eastern Europe. They come from the creators of the Zarubinets and Chernyakhov archaeological cultures who lived here in the early Iron Age.
2. oldest the ancestral home of the Slavs is Central Europe , and more specifically, the region of the upper Vistula, Oder, Elbe and Danube. From this territory they settled throughout Europe. This view is now more common in science.

Thus, scientists believe that the ancestors of the Slavs (proto-Slavs) separated from Indo-European group by the middle of the 1st millennium BC. and lived in Central and Eastern Europe.

Perhaps Herodotus speaks about the ancestors of the Slavs when he describes the tribes of the middle Dnieper region.

Data on the East Slavic tribes is available in the “Tale of Bygone Years” by the monk Nestor ( beginning of XII c.), who writes about the ancestral home of the Slavs in the Danube basin. He explained the arrival of the Slavs to the Dnieper from the Danube by an attack on them by warlike neighbors - the “Volokhs”, who drove the Slavs out of their ancestral home.

The name "Slavs" appeared in sources only in the 6th century. AD At this time, the Slavic ethnic group was actively involved in the process of the Great Migration of Peoples - a large migration movement that swept the European continent in the middle of the 1st millennium AD. and almost completely redrew its ethnic and political map.

Settlement of the Eastern Slavs

In the VI century. From a single Slavic community, the East Slavic branch (the future Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian peoples) stands out. The chronicle has preserved the legend about the reign of the brothers Kiya, Shchek, Khoriv and their sister Lybid in the Middle Dnieper region and about the founding of Kyiv.

The chronicler noted the uneven development of individual East Slavic associations. He calls the glades the most developed and cultural.

The land of glades was called " Rus"One of the explanations for the origin of the term "Rus", put forward by scientists, is associated with the name of the Ros River, a tributary of the Dnieper, which gave the name to the tribe on whose territory the glades lived.

Information about the location of Slavic tribal unions is confirmed by archaeological materials (for example, data on various forms of women's jewelry obtained as a result of archaeological excavations coincides with the instructions in the chronicle about the location of Slavic tribal unions).

Economy of the Eastern Slavs

The main occupation of the Eastern Slavs was agriculture.

Crops grown:

• grains (rye, barley, millet);
• garden crops (turnips, cabbage, carrots, beets, radishes);
• technical (flax, hemp).

The southern lands of the Slavs overtook the northern ones in their development, which was explained by climatic conditions and soil fertility.

Farming systems of Slavic tribes:

1. 1. Fallow is the leading farming system in the southern regions. Plots of land were sown for several years, and after the soil became scarce, people moved to new plots. The main tools were the ralo, and later a wooden plow with an iron ploughshare. Of course, plow farming was more effective, as it produced higher and more stable yields.
   2. Slash and burn- used in the north, in the dense taiga region. In the first year, the trees in the selected area were cut down, as a result of which they dried out. The next year, the felled trees and stumps were burned, and grain was sown in the ashes. Subsequently, the area fertilized with ash gave high yield, then the land was depleted, and a new area had to be developed. The main tools of labor in the forest belt were an axe, a hoe, a spade and a harrow-harrow. They harvested the crops using sickles, and ground the grain with stone grinders and millstones.

It is necessary to understand that cattle breeding was closely connected with agriculture, however animal husbandry was of secondary importance for the Slavs. The Slavs raised pigs, cows, sheep, and goats. Horses were also used as labor.

Hunting, fishing and beekeeping played an important role in the economy of the Eastern Slavs. Honey, wax, and furs were the main items of foreign trade.

Cities of the Eastern Slavs

Around VII-VIII centuries. craft is separated from agriculture, specialists (blacksmiths, foundries, potters) are singled out. Craftsmen usually concentrated in tribal centers - cities, as well as in settlements - graveyards, which from military fortifications gradually turned into centers of craft and trade - cities, which gradually became the residences of the bearers of power.

Cities, as a rule, arose near the confluence of rivers, since such a location provided more reliable protection. The center of the city, surrounded by a rampart and a fortress wall, was called the Kremlin. The Kremlin was surrounded on all sides by water, which provided reliable protection from attackers. Settlements of artisans - settlements - were adjacent to the Kremlin. This part of the city was called posad.

The most ancient cities were also located on the main trade routes. One of these trade routes was the route from the “Varangians to the Greeks,” which was finally formed by the 9th century. Through the Neva or the Western Dvina and the Volkhov with its tributaries, ships reached the Dnieper, along which they reached the Black Sea, and therefore to Byzantium. Another trade route was the Volga route, which connected Rus' with the countries of the East.

Social structure of the Eastern Slavs

In the VII-IX centuries. The Eastern Slavs experienced the disintegration of the tribal system. The community changed from tribal to neighboring. Community members lived in separate houses- half-dugouts designed for one family. already existed, but livestock remained in common ownership, and there was no property inequality within communities yet.

The clan community was also destroyed during the development of new lands and the inclusion of slaves in the community. The collapse of primitive communal relations was facilitated by the military campaigns of the Slavs. Tribal nobility stood out - princes and elders. They surrounded themselves with squads, that is, an armed force that did not depend on the will of the people's assembly and was capable of forcing ordinary community members to obey. Thus, Slavic society was already approaching the emergence of statehood.

More details

Each tribe had its own prince (from the common Slavic “knez” - “leader”). One of these tribal leaders of the VI (VII) century. there was Kiy, who reigned in the Polyan tribe. The Russian chronicle “The Tale of Bygone Years” calls him the founder of Kyiv. Some historians even believe that Kiy became the founder of the oldest tribal princely dynasty, but this opinion is not shared by other authors. Many researchers consider Kiya a legendary figure.

Any military campaigns of the Slavs contributed to the collapse of primitive communal relations; the campaigns against Byzantium deserve special mention. Participants in these campaigns received most of the military spoils. The share of military leaders - princes and tribal nobility - was especially significant. Gradually, a special organization of warriors took shape around the prince - a squad, the members of which differed from their fellow tribesmen. The squad was divided into the senior squad, from which came the princely rulers, and the younger squad, who lived with the prince and served his court and household. In addition to the professional squad, there was also a tribal militia (regiment, one thousand).

The large role of the neighboring community in the life of the Slavic tribes is, first of all, explained by the collective performance of labor-intensive work that is beyond the strength of one person. People from the clan community were no longer doomed to death, since they could develop new lands and become members of the territorial community. The main issues in the life of the community were resolved at public meetings - veche gatherings.

Any community had at its disposal certain territories where families lived.

Types of community holdings:

1. public (arable land, meadows, forests, fishing grounds, reservoirs);
2. personal (house, garden land, livestock, equipment).

Culture of the Eastern Slavs

Very few examples of the art of the ancient Slavs have survived to this day: silver figurines of horses with golden manes and hooves, images of men in Slavic clothing with embroidery on their shirts. Products from the southern Russian regions are characterized by complex compositions of human figures, animals, birds and snakes.

Deifying various forces of nature, the Eastern Slavs were pagans. At an early stage of their development, they believed in good and evil spirits.

The main deities of the Eastern Slavs (options available):

• • deity of the Universe - Rod;
  • the deity of the sun and fertility - Give God;
  • god of livestock and wealth - Veles;
  • god of fire - Svarog;
  • god of thunder and war - Perun;
  • goddess of fate and crafts - Mokosh.

Sacred groves and springs served as places of worship. In addition, each tribe had common sanctuaries, where all members of the tribe gathered for especially solemn holidays and to resolve important matters.

The cult of ancestors occupied an important place in the religion of the ancient Slavs. The custom of burning the dead was widespread. Faith in afterlife manifested itself in the fact that people were placed in the funeral pyre along with the dead various kinds things. When burying the prince, a horse and one of his wives or a slave were burned along with him. In honor of the deceased, a feast was held - a funeral feast and military competitions.

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

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

About how differentiation occurred in the Slavic ancestral home, dividing the Slavs, previously linguistically almost united, into three large groups– western, southern and eastern. In the ancient Slavic ancestral home of the Western Slavs, only the Poles firmly settled, 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 in the sound “ch” and “zh”, emergence of full-voice groups wow, olo, ere, ele from Proto-Slavic or, ol, er, el. For example, a group such as tort, which in South Slavic languages ​​is represented by trat, in Czech trat, in Polish trot, in Russian corresponds to the group torot; the tert group also corresponds to teret, and the change in the old vowels b and b (ers) in —her about . We can supplement these three facts with many others, less important and less obvious1.

The ancestral home of the Eastern Slavs there was an 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 of present-day Volyn, where 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 Sea of ​​Azov, «’Άμετρα εθνη», - Procopius says about them (IV.4). “Natio populosa per immensa spatia consedit,” Jordanes simultaneously notes (Get., V.34), when he writes about the conquests of Germanarich until 375. There can be no question that the ancestral home of the Russian Slavs was ever in the Carpathians. This was once tried to be proven by I. Nadezhdin, and later with even greater diligence by Professor Ivan Filevich, but to no avail2.

Initially there were no Slavs in the Carpathians at all, but in the Slavic ancestral homeland, in the closest proximity to the Carpathian Mountains, were the ancestors of the South Slavic Croats, Serbs and Bulgarians . Eastern Slavs came to the Carpathians later, after leaving Bulgarians , namely, in the 10th century . I also exclude the possibility of the Eastern Slavs coming to their homeland, 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 believed based on archaeological data . Peach3. Such a movement, of which there is not the slightest mention in history, is completely excluded for that era.

Couldn't be more convenient places for a cradleEastern Slavs than on the Middle Dnieper . This is probably the most convenient place throughout the Russian Plain . There are no continental mountains here, but there are endless forests and a dense network of navigable rivers. This water network connects like remote areas the vast East European Plain, and the seas surrounding it: the Baltic, Black and Caspian. Even now, after the destruction of many forests and reclamation work, there is enough water everywhere, but a thousand years ago there was much more. Everywhere during the spring flood itself, and at other times dragged 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 in all directions and connected by portages in ancient Rus'. But the most famous of them was the Dnieper route, connecting the Black Sea and Constantinople with the Baltic Sea and Scandinavia, that is three ancient cultural worlds: the East Slavic world, Greek and Scandinavian-Germanic.

Having entered the mouth of the Dnieper, boats with goods or people were sent along this path up to the rapids between Aleksandrovsk (Zaporozhye) and Ekaterinoslav (Dnepropetrovsk). Then the boats swam across the rapids or were dragged around the shore, after which a clear path opened up before them all the way to Smolensk. Before reaching Smolensk, they turned along the small tributaries of the Usvyat and Kasple to the Dvina and then were dragged along the 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 Polesie

Along with this direct route, boats could sometimes be directed in other ways; 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 Seim and further to the Don 5.

From the Desna it was possible along the rivers Bolva, Snezhet, Zhizdra, Ugra,Oke to reach the Volga , which was the largest cultural artery; Finally, other routes followed the latter, connecting the Dnieper near Smolensk with the north (volok) and Volga tributaries Vazuza, Osmaya, Ugra and Oka 6.

Obvious meaning East Slavic homeland on the middle Dnieper, located on the great cultural, trade and colonization routes, at the most important junction of the intersecting trade roads. If in such a place lived a strong people who could preserve and use the advantages provided to them by the land, then great prospects opened up for the Slavic people in the future both from a cultural point of view and especially from a colonization and political point of view. The eastern branch of the Slavs, who lived for a long time on the middle Dnieper , was so strong that she could begin 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 of the area, on which they developed, but also because in their neighborhood over a very large area there were no people who would offer any noticeable resistance to their spread or he could conquer them firmly and for a long time. Thus, relative passivity and the weakness of neighbors was the second condition , which contributed to the development of the Eastern Slavs.

Only in the west there were strong and unyielding neighbors. These were Poles, who not only resisted, but also successfully, albeit later, in the 16th century, the Lithuanian and Russian lands were polonized. Russian border in the west almost hasn't changed 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, 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 , just like the Iranians, they supported close relations with the Proto-Slavs , as evidenced by belonging languages ​​to the Satem group of languages, different from the Centum group of languages. Along with this, other data indicate that the ancestral home of the Thracians was originally located significantly to the north of their historical habitats and fit north of the Danube, in the basin of the Carpathian Mountains , and further in the mountains themselves, 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 lived tribes known under the collective name of Dacians . Probably these are the ones the Thracian Dacians were the original neighbors of the Slavs, as evidenced by the presence in their languages ​​of a certain amount of conspicuous phonetic and lexical similarities 8. As an example, I will only point out the suffix common to both language areas - hundred in the names of rivers.

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 Scytho-Gothic tribes who were the first to announce the movement of the Germanic wave, if only they (the Scythian-Gothic tribes) were indeed Germanic tribes. The last to penetrate the Carpathians were individual Slavic tribes, whose presence here is apparently indicated by Ptolemy’s map (Sulany, Care, 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 neighbors of the Slavs in areas extending further to the 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 forced out by them partly to the Crimea (Taurs?), and partly to the Carpathian Mountains, where Herodotus at one time knew the Thracian tribe of Agathyrsians (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 there appears a people called in Assyrian sources (gimirra), and in Greek also by another name - "TriROS" — « Τρήρες ", therefore, the name of a famous Thracian tribe9. It is very likely that Himirra in Asia Minor represented part of the pushed back Scythians to Asia Minor.

Iranians. Other neighbors of the Eastern Slavs in the south of the ancient Russian ancestral home there were Iranians. 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 confirming this, until the 8th century BC. not available. Based on historical sources, we can attribute to this and the period that followed it the appearance of 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 to pour into these lands in the 8th–7th 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 his fourth book (lived 484–425 BC) , which visited north shore (Black Sea). According to the idea, it occupied a space limited to , in the east – , beyond which the Sarmatians lived even further to the east, and in the north - a line stretching from the origins Dniester (Danastris; Tiras river) and Bug through the Dnieper rapids to Tanais (Don) (Herod., IV. 100, 101).

Pechenegs- a new wave of Turkic-Tatar tribes20 began 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 Rus' were made only in the 10th century, which is confirmed by the Kyiv Chronicle, where under the year 915 we read: “ The first Pechenesi came to the Russian land, and made peace with Igor, and came to the Danube.” The Pechenegs completely undermined the influence and power of the Khazar state, and from the second half of the 10th century we already read about their constant wars with the Russian princes. The ties between both peoples were so close that the Pechenegs, according to Arabic reports, learned to speak Slavic 21. The fight with the Pechenegs ended only after they were pushed out of the Russian steppes by new enemies - tribes related to the Pechenegs, the Torks, or Uzes, and then the Cumans, or Cumans . For the first time torques Pliny and Pomponius Mela are mentioned, then in the 6th century John of Ephesus, not far from Persia22, but in 985 Kyiv prince Vladimir is already undertaking a campaign against the Bulgarians in alliance with the Torques. Thus, Torques were already on the Volga and came to Europe at the beginning of the 11th century, pressed by the Polovtsians 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 11th century, and to Bulgaria, where a huge mass followed them in 1064 torques . Another part torques under the name of Black Klobuks, she 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 ones are Tatars - were a dam that stopped the advance of the Slavs for a long period. True, even in these conditions and even even before the 10th century the Slavs were moving forward, however, as a result of disastrous Pecheneg and Polovtsian invasion of the Slavs in the 11th and 12th centuries fully were driven out of the area between the Dnieper and the Danube and pushed beyond the Suda River, Ros and into the Carpathian Mountains.

Finns.

On Finnish tribes lived north and east of the Slavs. We don’t know where their ancestral home was, but the latest theories establishing a close connection between and the Proto-Finns, give reasons 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 since ancient times on the Kama, Oka and Volga, where approximately at the beginning of our erapart of the Finnish tribes separated and went to the Baltic Sea, occupying the shores Gulf of Bothnia and Gulf of Riga (later Yam, Estonia and Liv) . How far have we come? Volga Finns to Central Rus' and where exactly they first met the Slavs is unknown. This is a question that still cannot be answered accurately, since we do not have data from preliminary work, both archaeological (study of Finnish graves) and philological - collection and study of ancient Finnish toponymy 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 previously lived even in the Voronezh province, but we do not yet know how far they moved to the west. IN Oryol province , according to A.A. Spitsyna, there are no traces of Finnish culture anymore 23. In the Kaluga, Moscow, Tver and Tula provinces, the Finns clashed with the Lithuanians. True, Shakhmatov assumed that in the time of Herodotus, the Finns occupied the Pripyat River basin, that they even penetrated from there and in the upper reaches of the Vistula (neuras) , however, the linguistic evidence he provided for this controversial as well as previous linguistic and archaeological theories. The latter have never been sufficiently substantiated to refute the thesis about the Slavic ancestral home between the Vistula and the Dnieper. If we accepted Shakhmatov’s point of view, then in Eastern Europe there would be no place left at all for the cradle of the great Slavic people, since where Shakhmatov places it, between the lower Neman and Dvina , it could not be both for linguistic reasons (toponymy is not Slavic) and according to archaeological data24.

Therefore I cannot help but insist that there were no Finns in Volyn and Polesie , 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 by a strip of Lithuanian tribes (from the Baltic through Smolensk to Kaluga) , and in the east either a strip of uninhabited lands, which were already mentioned by Herodotus, or most likely a wedge of Iranian, possibly Turkic-Tatar, tribes. Finnish connections with the Slavs were established only after already at the beginning of our era, the Eastern Slavs 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 the Russian language as a whole, with the exception of the northern and eastern outskirts of Russia, is not influenced by the Finnish language. However, these are all linguistic problems; We must leave judgment about them and their resolution to specialists - philologists.

We can 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 indicating the presence of Finnish tribes in the Don and Volga regions five or six centuries before this time, it is impossible to say with certainty about some of them whether they are Finnish. Budins – the numerous tribe that lived between the Desna and Don are most likely Slavs. Finns, apparently, are also melanchlenes, androphages and Herodotus (Herod., IV.22, 23). Name comes first Fenni Tacitus (Germ., 46), followed by Ptolemy (III.5, 8, φίννοι). Otherwise, Ptolemy's map contains the same data as Herodotus. Among the peoples he listed, there are undoubtedly Finnish ones. This is also evidenced by the name Volga – “Ra” (’Ry) (cf. Mordovian rhau - water)25 - but we cannot say which of them were Finnish.

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

Important messages about the neighborhood of Finns and Slavs , dating back to the 9th–10th centuries, are available only in the Kyiv Chronicle. The Slavs by that time had advanced to Lake Ilmen, Neva, Ladoga, Vladimir, Suzdal, Ryazan and the lower Don and everywhere they came into contact with Finnish tribes. The chronicler knows three groups of Finnish tribes: 1) near the Baltic Sea, 2) near the Volga and then 3) in the north, “beyond the portages,” in the Oka forests (Zavolochskaya Chud). Separately, the chronicle names tribes near the Baltic Sea: actually Chud and Liv in the south of the Gulf of Finland (the neighboring water is not mentioned in the Kyiv Chronicle), then eat or yam in present-day Finland; further “behind the portages” near Belozero was the entire somewhere near the Dvina in Biarmia of Scandinavian sources - Perm, and even further to the northeast - Yugra, Ugra, Pechora and Samoyad.

In the 13th century to the north of the Emi, Karelians are mentioned. They belonged to the eastern Volga group cheremisy, previously lived further west than now, mainly in the Kostroma province; Mordovians - in the Oka River basin (now further east); in the north their neighbors were Murom tribes on the Klyazma River, Merya on the Rostov and Kleshchinskoye lakes between the Volga and Klyazma and to the south of the Mordovians the Meshchera, which later ceased to exist28.

We can establish that wherever the Slavs in their advance came into contact with these tribes, the 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, sparsely populated , 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 achieved major successes, subjugating a large number of Slavs, and then probably because it was previously subjected to strong influence Turkic-Tatar culture. These were Magyars - people related to the Ostyaks and Voguls from the Ob, who went south approximately in the 5th–6th centuries. At the beginning of the 9th century they appeared near the Don in the neighborhood of the Khazars, in an area called Swan . From there about 860 year Magyars moved to southern Moldova (to an area called Athelkuza) and then, after several invasions to the Balkans and Pannonia, around 896, settled for a long time in the Hungarian lowland , Where Magyars penetrated through the eastern or northern Carpathian passes. Further history Magyar is already associated exclusively with the Western and Southern Slavs.

Lithuanians.

Lithuanians have lived since ancient times by the Baltic Sea. This is indicated by linguistic data on the relationship Lithuanian language to the languages ​​of other Indo-European peoples , then topographical 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 during the period when the remaining Indo-European peoples had already divided into separate branches, can also be considered indisputable, despite the doubts expressed by A. Meillet29. But even if there was no absolute unity, it was only with the Slavs that they had such close relationships that led to the formation two dialect areas unified 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, based on the fact that in Slavic language the word came from the Iranian language churn (chicken), which is absent in the Lithuanian language, or on the basis that the Finnish name for honey (Finnish hunaja) passed into 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 Rus' 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 the division 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 occurred here. We 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 lay. The present 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), Lucin (Ludza) to Lake Pskov and further through Valk (Vulka) back to the sea to the Gulf of Riga31. This territory is insignificant in comparison with the territory occupied by the Germans or Slavs neighboring Lithuania and Latvia. The population is also small: according to statistical data for In 1905, there were slightly more than 3 million Lithuanians and Latvians in Russia. But initially the Lithuanians were not so few in number. The territory they occupied once extended in the west all the way to the Vistula (Lithuanian Prussians) , and in the north before the arrival of the Finns - all the way to the Gulf of Finland; the border separating them from the Proto-Slavs and Proto-Finns also ran much further from the sea than it does now.

In 1897, Professor Kochubinsky, based on 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 newest linguists were looking for Celtic nomenclature in the Neman and Dvina basin and that A.A. Shakhmatov even considered such names as Neman, Viliya, which were previously considered Lithuanian, as Celtic33.

However, despite this, it can be said with confidence that the territory of present-day Belarus was originally largely inhabited by Lithuanians, that the ancient Lithuanians penetrated to the Lomzha Polesie, to the northern part of the Pripyat River basin and to part of the Berezina River basin, and that on the Dvina they went so far 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 famous Lyadinsky burial ground near Tambov was declared by archaeologists a monument of Lithuanian culture, which, however, is very doubtful. But, on the other hand, there is no doubt that in the 12th century on the Protva River people lived in the Moscow province of Lithuanian origin - loach, - apparently representing the remnants of the original Lithuanian inhabitants of this area, and also that back in the 13th century, Lithuanian settlements were located at the sources of the Dvina, Volga, on Vazuza and in parts of the Tver and Moscow provinces35. The appearance of loach 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.

In history, Lithuanians first appear under the name “Ostiev” (Ώστιαΐοι) in Pytheas36, if, of course, we assume that the Aestii of 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 not at all necessary37.

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

After Ptolemy, a long period of time passed when there was no news of Lithuania. Only Russian chronicles, primarily the ancient Kiev one, 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 an area stretching east from the lower Vistula and Drvenets. Further to the east are the Lithuanians themselves, to the north of them and to the west of Polotsk zimegola , then on the right bank of the Dvina River letgoal ; south of the Gulf of Riga, by the sea, lived Korsi tribe , finally, somewhere else, in a place not exactly identified, 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 a later period, there was a further movement of tribes and a change in their names. The Prussians began to disappear from the 13th century, especially after they were finally enslaved in 1283. Even in the 16th century, the Prussian language eked out a miserable existence, 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 Neman and Vilia), called Aukshtot, and Nizhnyaya (west of Nevyazha) Samogitia, in Polish – zhmud. Galindia and Sudavia in East Prussia have already been mentioned above.

The last significant tribe in the 13th century wereYatvingians (in Polish Jadzwing). This tribe is known, however, in the Kyiv Chronicle from Vladimir’s campaign against them in 983 , however, where this tribe lived, only the later chronicles of the 13th century say, placing it for the Narev and Bobru rivers , to lake areas Prussia , where they had arrived shortly before from their original settlements further to the east40. Thus, Yatvingians lived in Polesie, 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 was previously believed. There is no historical evidence in favor of this, and old archaeological finds in the vicinity of Drogichin, as far as I know, are Slavic in nature.

————————————————- ***

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

2.I. Filevich, History of Ancient Rus', I, p. 33, Warsaw, 1896; N. Nadezhdin, Experience in Historical Geography, 1837.

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

4. A portage 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, a portage 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 Rus', the lands beyond this region were called Zavolochye.

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

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

7. See “Slov. star.”, III, 231.

8. On the basis of this relationship and ancient neighborhood, famous theories about the Slavic origin of the Dacians, which, of course, are erroneous if we consider the Dacians to be Slavs themselves.

9. See “Slov. star.”, I, 217.

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

11. J. Peisker, based on a number of supposed Turkic-Tatar words adopted by the Slavs even before our era, speaks of the cruel slavery from which the Slavs have long suffered while under the Turkic-Tatar yoke. The culprits of this slavery, in his opinion, were starting from the 8th century BC. e. Scythians.

12. See “Slov. star.”, I, 512. Among Russian historians we can name, for example, D. Ilovaisky, V. Florinsky, D. Samokvasov.

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

15. Theories about the supposed Slavic status of the Huns in historiography, in fact, have already been forgotten. This theory was put forward in 1829 by Yu. Venelin in his essay “Ancient and Modern Bulgarians” (Moscow), and after him by 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 Bulgarians and Roxolans themselves were also considered Slavs) belongs to M. Drinov, V. Miller and especially V. Vasilievsky (see his work “On the imaginary Slavism 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, from modern works see first of all Zlatarsky, History in Bulgarian State, I, Sofia, 1918, 21 151.

17. B 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 Rus' in times of crop failure and famine. As a result of these connections, there was also a significant mixing of the Bulgarians with the Slavic element, therefore Ibn Fadlan and some others erroneously declared Volga BulgariansSlavs . Arab writers, unlike the Volga Bulgarians designate Western Bulgarians by the name Burdzan .

18. See “Slov. star.”, II, 201–202.

19. Meanwhile, during the 9th century, they also passed through Southern Rus' Ugrians - tribes of Finnish origin who left the Don around 825 and around 860 they found themselves 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 Kherson 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 Yaqub, op. op., 58.

23. Notes of the Russian Archaeological Society, vol. XI, new series, St. Petersburg, 1899, p. 188. According to archaeological data, we can currently trace 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 his latest works, Shakhmatov himself admitted the inadequacy of his evidence (Revue des Etudes slaves, I, 1921, 190).

25. See R. Meckelein. Finn. ugr. Elemente im Russischen. – Berlin, 1914. – 1.12.16.

26. In this place 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 Jordan, 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 mouth of the Slavs originally meant 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 slavische Literaturgeschichte, Graz, 1887, 216.

31. F. Tetzner (Globus, 1897, LXXI, 381); J. Rozwadowski. Materiały i prace korn. jęz. – 1901.1; A. Bielenstein. Atlas der ethnol. Geographie des heute und prach. Lettenlandes. – Petersburg, 1892; L. Niederle. Slovansky svgt. – Prague, 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 lobster, of course, later under pressure from the Slavs moved west to Prussia (Galindia) .

36. Steph. byz. s. v. Ώστιωνες.

37. During that period, the Germans began to cross the name aestiev with Germanic 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.

Good afternoon, dear friends of the muse Clio. Who is this? This is one of the patroness of the arts and sciences among the ancient Greeks - the Muse of History! And with you is Evgeniy Sergeevich Kotsar, the best teacher in Russia, Unified State Exam expert. Today we will begin a preparation course for the Unified State Exam in history with the best teacher in Russia. The topic and question of the lesson is how did the state of the Eastern Slavs arise?

The history of Russia begins with history. Who is this? This is a whole group of related tribal unions that broke away from the Slavic ethnic layer. TO VIII-IX centuries, with which our conversation will begin, they controlled vast areas of the East European (Russian) Plain, from the Baltic to the Black Seas, from the Carpathian Mountains to the upper Volga region.

The main source for us on the history of Ancient Rus' will be weather historical records that told the events that happened “from summer to summer,” an analogue of European chronicles.

“Where did the Russian land come from?” Nestor, PVL.

This is how the first Russian chronicle begins. Or more precisely - (PVL). This is the main source for early history Slavs, written OK. 1116 monk of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra (monastery) Nestor.

We started talking about historical map. Let's immediately agree that as soon as we talk about geographical objects, wars, economic development and trade, we start working with a map. It is to work, and not to look at it. Independently put the events and facts we are talking about on the map. You will not forget the map that you drew with your own hands. And this will be very useful to you when working and for better visual fixation of the material.

Trends in the development of Russian history

So, we have characterized the Eastern Slavs and their neighbors. What important conclusions can we draw? The open nature of the plain where the Eastern Slavs settled dictated two development trends:

1. Constant military threat. Through the huge steppe gates from Ural mountains to the Caspian Sea, nomads constantly invaded the southern steppes. There was a process from Asia to Europe, and Rus' was constantly in the thick of these events.
2. Neighborhood with multilingual tribes could also develop in the spirit of economic interaction, ethnic and linguistic assimilation. There was a lot of land, weak tribes simply retreated. Another feature of the history of the Slavs is the expansion of their habitat to the east and north, towards the Volga and the Arctic Ocean.

What is the result?

How did the Slavs have a state? Historical dispute

We see that among both the Slovenians and the Polans, Nestor names the names of the rulers - This, at least as well as the creation - the consolidation of tribes under common rule, speaks of the beginnings of statehood among the Slavs of the 9th century. We have come to the first key date in Russian history.

862 – the beginning of Russian history.

Slovenia was called to reign in Novgorod by Rurik (with Sineus and Truvor).

This fact became the basis for writing (based on the Scandinavian sagas), the authors were German historians of the 18th century Bayern, Miller, Schletser. In turn, Russian history is largely based on this theory. All the classics of the Russian state school of history of the 19th century were Normanists - those people who wrote the history of Russia that we study in school.

What are the main provisions of the Norman theory?

• Rurik - Scandinavian (Viking,
• The Novgorod Slovenes had no power
• Rurik founded the state of the Slavs
• The Slavs were not able to organize a state due to backwardness
• Country name Rus - from russy, rossy(ethnonym of the Vikings of Scandinavia)