Message on the topic: “Pages of the history of Russia. The life of the ancient Slavs"

The prebaptismal period in the history of Russia was a big headache for Soviet historians and ideologists, it was easier to forget about it and not mention it. The problem was that in the late 20s and early 30s of the twentieth century, Soviet scientists in the humanities were able to more or less substantiate the natural “evolutionary” nature of the newly minted communist ideology of the “brilliant” Marx and Lenin, and divided the whole history into five well-known periods :

- from the primitive communal formation to the most progressive and evolutionary - communist.

But the period of Russian history before the adoption of Christianity did not fit into any “standard” template - it did not look like a primitive communal system, nor a slaveholding, nor a feudal one. But rather it looked like a socialist.

And this was the whole comedy of the situation, and a great desire not to pay scientific attention to this period. This was also the reason for the dissatisfaction of Froyanov and other Soviet scientists when they tried to understand this period of history.

In the period before the baptism of Russia, the Rus undoubtedly had their own state, and at the same time there was no class society, in particular feudal. And the inconvenience was that the “classical” Soviet ideology claimed that the feudal class creates the state as an instrument of its political domination and suppression of the peasants. And then there was the confusion...

Furthermore, judging by the military victories of the Rus over their neighbors, and that itself "queen of the world" Byzantium paid tribute to them, then it turned out that the “original” way of society and the state of our ancestors was more effective, harmonious and advantageous in comparison with other ways and structures of that period among other peoples.

“And here it should be noted that the archaeological sites of the Eastern Slavs recreate society without any clear traces of property stratification. The outstanding researcher of East Slavic antiquities I.I. Lyapushkin emphasized that among the dwellings known to us

“... in the most diverse regions of the forest-steppe belt, it is not possible to indicate those that, in their architectural appearance and in the content of the household and household equipment found in them, would be distinguished by wealth.

The internal structure of the dwellings and the inventory found in them do not yet allow dismembering the inhabitants of these latter only by occupation - into landowners and artisans.

Another well-known specialist in Slavic-Russian archeology V.V. Sedov writes:

“It is impossible to identify the emergence of economic inequality on the materials of the settlements studied by archaeologists. It seems that there are no distinct traces of the property differentiation of the Slavic society in the grave monuments of the 6th-8th centuries.

All this requires a different understanding of the archaeological material”- notes I.Ya. Froyanov in his study.

That is, in this ancient Russian society, the meaning of life was not the accumulation of wealth and passing it on to children, it was not some kind of worldview or moral value, and this was clearly not welcomed and contemptuously condemned.

What was valuable? This can be seen from what the Russians swore, for they swore the most valuable - for example, in an agreement with the Greeks of 907, the Russians swore not by gold, not by their mother and not by children, but by “their weapons, and Perun, their God, and Volos, the cattle god ". Svyatoslav also swore Perun and Volos in the 971 treaty with Byzantium.

That is, they considered their connection with God, with the Gods, their veneration and their honor and freedom to be the most valuable. In one of the agreements with the Byzantine emperor there is such a fragment of the oath of Svetoslav in case of violation of the oath: “let us be golden, like this gold” (gold plate-stand of the Byzantine scribe - R.K.). Which once again shows the despicable attitude of the Rus to the golden calf.

Both now and then, the Slavs, the Rus, stood out and stand out in their overwhelming majority for their benevolence, sincerity, tolerance for other views, what foreigners call “tolerance”.

A vivid example of this is even before the baptism of Russia, at the beginning of the 10th century in Russia, when in the Christian world it was out of the question for pagan temples, sanctuaries or idols (idols) to stand on “Christian territory” (with glorious Christian love for all , patience and mercy), - in Kyiv, half a century before the adoption of Christianity, the Cathedral Church was built and a Christian community existed around it.

It is only now that the enemy ideologists and their journalists falsely screamed about the non-existent xenophobia of the Russians, and with all binoculars and microscopes they are trying to see this xenophobia of them, and even more - to provoke.

The researcher of the history of Russians, the German scientist B. Schubart wrote with admiration:

“A Russian person possesses Christian virtues as permanent national properties. Russians were Christians even before conversion to Christianity” (B.Shubart “Europe and the Soul of the East”).

The Russians did not have slavery in the usual sense, although there were slaves from captives as a result of battles, who, of course, had a different status. I.Ya. Froyanov wrote a book on this topic “Slavery and tributary among the Eastern Slavs” (St. Petersburg, 1996), and in his last book he wrote:

“Eastern Slavic society was aware of slavery. Customary law forbade the slaves of their fellow tribesmen. Therefore, captured foreigners became slaves. They were called servants. For the Russian Slavs, servants are primarily an object of trade ...

The position of slaves was not harsh, as, say, in the ancient world. Chelyadin was a member of the related team as a junior member. Slavery was limited to a certain period, after which the slave, acquiring freedom, could return to his land or stay with his former owners, but already in the position of free.

In science, this style of relationship between slave owners and slaves has been called patriarchal slavery.”

Patriarchal is paternal. You will not find such an attitude towards slaves not among the wise Greek slave owners, not among medieval Christian slave traders, nor among Christian slave owners in the south of the New World - in America.

Russians lived in tribal and inter-tribal settlements, engaged in hunting, fishing, trade, agriculture, cattle breeding and handicrafts. The Arab traveler Ibn Fadlan in 928 described that the Russians built large houses in which 30-50 people lived.

Another Arab traveler Ibn-Ruste at the turn of the 9th-10th centuries described Russian baths in severe frosts as a curiosity:

“When the stones of the highest degree are heated, water is poured over them, from which steam spreads, heating the dwelling to the point that they take off their clothes.”

Our ancestors were very clean. Especially in comparison with Europe, in which, even during the Renaissance, at the courts of Paris, London, Madrid and other capitals, ladies used not only perfumes to neutralize the unpleasant “spirit”, but also special caps for catching lice on their heads, and the problem of expelling feces even at the beginning of the 19th century, the French Parliament considered from the windows to the streets of the city.

The pre-Christian ancient Russian society was communal, veche, where the prince was accountable to the people's assembly - the veche, which could approve the transfer of the prince's power by inheritance, or could re-elect the prince for himself.

“An old Russian prince is not an emperor or even a monarch, for over him stood a veche, or a people’s assembly, to which he was accountable”- I.Ya. Froyanov noted.

The Russian prince of this period and his squad did not demonstrate feudal "hegemonic" signs. Without taking into account the opinions of the most authoritative members of society: heads of clans, wise “dids” and respected military leaders, no decision was made. A good example of this was the famous Prince Svetoslav. A.S. Ivanchenko in his study notes:

“...Let's turn to the original text of Leo the Deacon... This meeting took place on the banks of the Danube on July 23, 971, after the day before Tzimiskes asked for peace from Svetoslav and invited him to his headquarters for negotiations, but he refused to go there... Tzimiskes, having tamed his pride, to go to Svetoslav himself.

However, thinking in a Roman way, the emperor of Byzantium wished, if military force failed, then at least with the splendor of his vestments and the richness of the outfits of the retinue accompanying him ... Leo Deacon:

“The sovereign, covered with ceremonial, golden forging, armor, rode on horseback to the banks of the Istra; he was followed by numerous horsemen glittering with gold. Soon Svyatoslav also appeared, having crossed the river in a Scythian boat (this once again confirms that the Greeks called the Russes the Scythians).

He sat on the oars and rowed, like everyone else, without standing out among the others. His appearance was as follows: medium height, not very large and not very small, with thick eyebrows, blue eyes, a straight nose, a shaved head and thick long hair hanging from his upper lip. His head was completely bare, and only a tuft of hair hung from one side of it ... His clothes were white, which did not differ from the clothes of others except for noticeable cleanliness. Sitting in a boat on the bench of rowers, he talked a little with the sovereign about the conditions of peace and left ... The sovereign gladly accepted the conditions of the Rus ... ".

If Svyatoslav Igorevich had the same intentions regarding Byzantium as against the Great Khazaria, he would have destroyed this arrogant empire without much effort even during his first campaign on the Danube: four days of travel remained for him to Constantinople, when the sinkel Theophilus, the closest adviser to the Byzantine patriarch, fell kneel before him, asking for peace on any terms. And indeed Tsargrad paid a huge tribute to Russia.

I emphasize an important evidence - the prince of the Rus Svetoslav, equal in status to the Byzantine emperor, was dressed like all his warriors and rowed with oars along with everyone ... That is, in Russia during this period, the communal, veche (cathedral) system was based on equality, justice and accounting interests of all its members.

Taking into account the fact that in the modern language of smart people “society” is a society, and “socialism” is a system that takes into account the interests of the whole society or its majority, we see an example of socialism in pre-Christian Russia, moreover, as a very effective way of organizing society and the principles of regulation the life of society.

History with an invitation to reign Rurik around 859-862. also shows the structure of Russian society of that period. Let's get acquainted with this story and at the same time find out who Rurik was by nationality.

Since ancient times, the Rus had two centers of development: the southern one, on the southern trade routes on the Dnieper River, the city of Kyiv and the northern one, on the northern trade routes on the Volkhov River, the city of Novgorod.

It is not known for certain when Kyiv was built, as well as much in the pre-Christian history of Russia, for numerous written documents, annals, including those on which the famous Christian chronicler Nestor worked, were destroyed by Christians for ideological reasons after the baptism of Russia. But it is known that Kyiv was built by the Slavs, headed by a prince named Kyi and his brothers Shchek and Khoriv. They also had a sister with a beautiful name - Lybid.

The then world suddenly learned and started talking about the Kyiv princes, when on June 18, 860, the Kyiv prince Askold and his governor Dir approached the Russian army to the capital of Byzantium, Tsargrad (Constantinople) from the sea on 200 large boats and presented an ultimatum, after which they attacked the capital of the world for a week.

In the end, the Byzantine emperor could not stand it and offered a huge indemnity, with which the Rus sailed home. It is clear that only the empire could resist the main empire of the world, and it was a great developed Slavic empire in the form of a union of Slavic tribes, and not dense barbarian Slavs, who were benefited by their arrival by civilized Christians, as the authors of books write about it even in 2006-7.

In the same period, in the north of Russia in the 860s, another strong prince appeared - Rurik. Nestor wrote that "prince Rurik and his brothers arrived - with their families ... those Varangians were called Rus."

“... Russian Stargorod was located in the area of the present-day West German lands of Oldenburg and Macklenburg and the adjoining Baltic island of Rügen. It was there that Western Russia or Ruthenia was located. - V.N. Emelyanov explained in his book. - As for the Varangians, this is not an ethnonym, usually mistakenly associated with the Normans, but the name of the profession of warriors.

Mercenary warriors, united under the common name of the Varangians, were representatives of different clans of the Western Baltic region. The Western Russians also had their Varangians. It was from among them that the native grandson of the Novgorod prince Rostomysl, Rurik, the son of his middle daughter Umila, was called ...

He came to Northern Russia with the capital in Novgorod, since the male line of Rostomysl died out during his lifetime.

Novgorod at the time of the arrival of Rurik and his brothers Saneus and Truvor was ancient Kyiv - the capital of South Russia - for centuries.

“Novugorodians: you are the people of Novgorodians - from the Varangian family ...” - wrote the famous Nestor, as we see, meaning by the Varangians all the northern Slavs. It was from there that Rurik began to rule, from Ladograd located north of Ladograd (modern Staraya Ladoga), which is recorded in the annals:

“And the oldest Rurik in Ladoza.”

According to academician V. Chudinov, the lands of today's northern Germany, on which the Slavs used to live, were called White Russia and Ruthenia, and, accordingly, the Slavs were called Russ, Rutens, Rugs. Their descendants are the Slavs-Poles, who have long lived on the Oder and the shores of the Baltic.

“... A lie aimed at castrating our history is the so-called Norman theory, according to which Rurik and his brothers have been stubbornly listed as Scandinavians for centuries, and not Western Russians ...- V.N. Emelyanov was indignant in his book. - But there is a book by the Frenchman Carmier "Letters about the North", published by him in 1840 in Paris, and then in 1841 in Brussels.

This French researcher, who, fortunately, had nothing to do with the dispute between anti-Normanists and Normanists, during his visit to Macklenburg, i.e. just in the area from which Rurik was called, he wrote down among the legends, customs and rituals of the local population also the legend of the calling to Russia of the three sons of the prince of the Slavic-obodriches Godlav. Thus, as early as 1840, among the German population of Macklenburg, there was a legend about a vocation…”.

The researcher of the history of ancient Russia, Nikolai Levashov, in his book “Russia in Crooked Mirrors” (2007) writes:

“But, the most interesting thing is that even a fake they could not do without serious contradictions and gaps. According to the “official” version, the Slavic-Russian state of Kievan Rus arose in the 9th-10th centuries and arose immediately in a finished form, with a code of laws, with a rather complex state hierarchy, a system of beliefs and myths. The explanation for this in the “official” version is very simple: the “wild” Slavs-Rus invited Rurik the Varangian, allegedly a Swede, to their prince, forgetting that in Sweden itself at that time there was simply no organized state, but only squads of jarls who were engaged in armed robbery of their neighbors ...

In addition, Rurik had nothing to do with the Swedes (who, moreover, were called Vikings, not Varangians), but was a prince from the Wends and belonged to the Varangian caste of professional Warriors who studied the art of combat from childhood. Rurik was invited to reign according to the traditions existing among the Slavs at that time to choose the most worthy Slavic prince as their ruler at the Veche.

An interesting discussion unfolded in the Itogi magazine, No. 38, September 2007. between the masters of modern Russian historical science professors A. Kirpichnikov and V. Yanin on the occasion of the 1250th anniversary of Staraya Ladoga - the capital of Upper or Northern Russia. Valentin Yanin:

“It has long been inappropriate to talk about the fact that the calling of the Varangians is an anti-patriotic myth ... At the same time, one must understand that before the arrival of Rurik, we already had some statehood (the same elder Gostomysl was before Rurik), thanks to which the Varangian, in fact, was invited rule over local elites.

Novgorod land was the residence of three tribes: Krivichi, Slovenes and Finno-Ugric peoples. At first, it was owned by the Varangians, who wanted to be paid “one squirrel from each husband.”

Perhaps it was precisely because of these exorbitant appetites that they were soon driven out, and the tribes began to lead, so to speak, a sovereign lifestyle that did not lead to good.

When a showdown began between the tribes, it was decided to send ambassadors to (neutral) Rurik, to those Varangians who called themselves Rus. They lived in the southern Baltic, northern Poland and northern Germany. Our ancestors called the prince from where many of them themselves were from. It can be said that they turned to distant relatives for help ...

If we proceed from the real state of affairs, then before Rurik there were already elements of statehood among the mentioned tribes. Look: the local elite ordered Rurik that he did not have the right to collect tribute from the population, only high-ranking Novgorodians themselves could do this, and he should only be given a gift for performing their duties, again I will translate into modern language, a hired manager. The entire budget was also controlled by the Novgorodians themselves ...

By the end of the 11th century, they generally created their own vertical of power - posadnichestvo, which then became the main body of the veche republic. By the way, I think it is no coincidence that Oleg, who became the prince of Novgorod after Rurik, did not want to linger here and went to Kyiv, where he already began to reign supreme.

Rurik died in 879, and his only heir Igor was still very young, so Russia was headed by his relative Oleg. In 882, Oleg decided to seize power in all of Russia, which meant the unification of the Northern and Southern parts of Russia under his rule, and moved on a military campaign to the south.

And taking Smolensk by storm, Oleg moved to Kyiv. Oleg came up with a cunning and insidious plan - he, with wars under the guise of a large trade caravan, sailed along the Dnieper to Kyiv. And when Askold and Dir came ashore to meet the merchants, Oleg jumped out of the boats with armed wars and, having made a claim to Askold that he was not from a princely dynasty, killed both. In such an insidious and bloody way, Oleg seized power in Kyiv and thus united both parts of Russia.

Thanks to Rurik and his followers, Kyiv became the center of Russia, which included numerous Slavic tribes.

“The end of the 9th and 10th centuries are characterized by the subordination of the Drevlyans, Severians, Radimichi, Vyatichi, Ulich and other tribal unions to Kyiv. As a result, under the hegemony of the Polyana capital, a grandiose “union of unions”, or a super-union, was formed, covering almost all of Europe territorially.

The Kievan nobility, the glades as a whole used this new political organization as a means to receive tributes…” – noted I.Ya.Froyanov.

The Ugric-Hungarians, neighboring with Russia, once again moved through the Slavic lands towards the former Roman Empire and on the way tried to capture Kyiv, but it did not work out and, concluding in 898. an allied treaty with the people of Kiev, moved in search of military adventures to the west and reached the Danube, where they founded Hungary, which has survived to this day.

And Oleg, having repelled the attack of the Ugrians-Khuns, decided to repeat Askold's famous campaign against the Byzantine Empire and began to prepare. And in 907, the famous second campaign of the Rus, led by Oleg, against Byzantium took place.

The huge Russian army moved again on boats and land to Tsargrad - Constantinople. This time, the Byzantines, taught by previous bitter experience, decided to be smarter - and managed to pull over the entrance to the bay near the capital with a huge thick chain in order to prevent the entry of the Russian fleet. And they interfered.

The Russians looked at this, landed on land, put the rooks on wheels (skating rinks) and, under their cover from arrows and under sails, went on the attack. Shocked by the unusual sight and frightened, the Byzantine emperor and his entourage asked for peace and offered to ransom.

Perhaps, since then, a popular expression has gone about achieving the goal by any means: “not by washing, but by skating.”

Having loaded a huge indemnity on boats and carts, the Rus demanded and bargained for themselves unimpeded access of Russian merchants to the Byzantine markets and the rarest exclusive: the duty-free right of Russian merchants to trade throughout the territory of the Byzantine Empire.

In 911, both parties confirmed this agreement and prolonged it in writing. And the next year (912) Oleg handed over the rule of prosperous Russia to Igor, who married a Pskov woman Olga, who once transported him by boat across the river near Pskov.

Igor kept Russia intact and was able to repel the dangerous raid of the Pechenegs. And judging by the fact that Igor in 941 moved the third military campaign against Byzantium, one can guess that Byzantium ceased to comply with the agreement with Oleg.

This time, the Byzantines prepared thoroughly, they did not hang chains, but thought of throwing vessels with burning oil (“Greek fire”) from throwing guns at the Russian boats. The Russians did not expect this, they were confused, and, having lost many ships, they landed on land and staged a fierce battle. Constantinople was not taken, they suffered serious damage, and then within six months the evil ones returned home with various adventures.

And then they began to prepare more thoroughly for a new campaign. And in 944, for the fourth time, they moved to Byzantium. This time, the Byzantine emperor, anticipating trouble, halfway asked for peace on favorable terms for the Rus; they agreed and loaded with Byzantine gold and fabrics returned to Kyiv.

In 945, during the collection of tribute by Igor, some kind of conflict occurred among the Drevlyans. The Slavs-Drevlyans, led by Prince Mal, decided that Igor and his retinue went too far in demands and created injustice, and the Drevlyans killed Igor and killed his combatants. The widowed Olga sent a large army to the Drevlyans and took fierce revenge. Princess Olga began to rule Russia.

From the second half of the 20th century, researchers began to receive new written sources - birch bark letters. The first birch bark letters were found in 1951 during archaeological excavations in Novgorod. About 1000 letters have already been discovered. The total volume of the birch bark dictionary is more than 3200 words. The geography of the finds covers 11 cities: Novgorod, Staraya Russa, Torzhok, Pskov, Smolensk, Vitebsk, Mstislavl, Tver, Moscow, Staraya Ryazan, Zvenigorod Galitsky.

The earliest charters date back to the 11th century (1020), when the area in question had not yet been Christianized. Thirty charters found in Novgorod and one in Staraya Russa belong to this period. Until the 12th century, neither Novgorod nor Staraya Russa had yet been baptized, so the names of people found in letters of the 11th century are pagan, that is, real Russians. By the beginning of the 11th century, the population of Novgorod corresponded not only with addressees located inside the city, but also with those who were far beyond its borders - in villages, in other cities. Even villagers from the most remote villages wrote household assignments and simple letters on birch bark.

That is why, the outstanding linguist and researcher of the Novgorod letters of the Academy A.A. Zaliznyak claims that “This ancient writing system was very common. This writing was distributed throughout Russia. The reading of birch-bark letters refuted the existing opinion that in Ancient Russia only noble people and the clergy were literate. Among the authors and addressees of letters there are many representatives of the lower strata of the population, in the texts found there is evidence of the practice of teaching writing - the alphabet, copybooks, numerical tables, “pen tests”.

Six-year-old children wrote - “there is one letter, where, it seems, a certain year is indicated. Written by a six year old boy. Almost all Russian women wrote - “now we know for sure that a significant part of women could both read and write. 12th century letters in general, in a variety of respects, they reflect a freer society, with a greater development, in particular, of female participation, than a society closer to our time. This fact follows from the birch bark letters quite clearly. Literacy in Russia is eloquently evidenced by the fact that “the picture of Novgorod of the 14th century. and Florence in the 14th century, according to the degree of female literacy - in favor of Novgorod.

Experts know that Cyril and Methodius invented the Glagolitic alphabet for Bulgarians and spent the rest of their lives in Bulgaria. The letter, called "Cyrillic", although it has a similar name, has nothing to do with Cyril. The name "Cyrillic" comes from the designation of the letter - the Russian "doodle", or, for example, the French "ecrire". And the tablet found during the excavations of Novgorod, on which they wrote in antiquity, is called “kera” (sera).

In the "Tale of Bygone Years", a monument from the beginning of the 12th century, there is no information about the baptism of Novgorod. Consequently, the Novgorodians and the inhabitants of the surrounding villages wrote 100 years before the baptism of this city, and the Novgorodians did not get writing from Christians. Writing in Russia existed long before Christianity. The proportion of non-church texts at the very beginning of the 11th century is 95 percent of all found letters.

Nevertheless, for a long time, for academic falsifiers of history, the version that the Russian people learned to read and write from alien priests was the fundamental version. At the aliens! Remember, we have already discussed this topic: When our ancestors carved runes on stone, the Slavs were already writing letters to each other.

But in his unique scientific work “The Craft of Ancient Russia”, published back in 1948, archaeologist academician B.A. Rybakov published the following data: “There is an ingrained opinion that the church was a monopoly in the creation and distribution of books; This opinion was strongly supported by the clergy themselves. It is only true here that monasteries and episcopal or metropolitan courts were the organizers and censors of book copying, often acting as intermediaries between the customer and the scribe, but the performers were often not monks, but people who had nothing to do with the church.

We have made a count of scribes depending on their position. For the pre-Mongol era, the result was as follows: half of the book scribes turned out to be laymen; for the 14th - 15th centuries. the calculations gave the following results: metropolitans - 1; deacons - 8; monks - 28; clerks - 19; priests - 10; "God's servants" -35; popovichi-4; parobkov-5. Priests cannot be considered in the category of churchmen, since literacy, which is almost mandatory for them (“the priest’s son cannot read and write - an outcast”), did not predetermine their spiritual career. Under vague names like “God's servant”, “sinner”, “God's dull servant”, “sinful and daring for evil, but lazy for good”, etc., without indicating belonging to the church, we should understand secular artisans. Sometimes there are more specific indications: “Wrote Eustathius, a worldly person, and his nickname is Shepel”, “Ovsei raspop”, “Thomas the scribe”. In such cases, we no longer have any doubts about the “worldly” nature of the scribes.

In total, according to our calculation, 63 laymen and 47 churchmen, i.e. 57% of artisan scribes did not belong to church organizations. The main forms in the era under study were the same as in the pre-Mongolian: work to order and work for the market; between them there were various intermediate stages that characterized the degree of development of a particular craft. Work to order is typical for some types of patrimonial craft and for industries associated with expensive raw materials, such as jewelry or bell casting.

The academician cited these figures for the 14th - 15th centuries, when, according to the narrations of the church, she served, almost as a helmsman for the multimillion-strong Russian people. It would be interesting to look at a busy, single metropolitan who, together with an absolutely insignificant handful of literate deacons and monks, served the postal needs of the many millions of Russian people from several tens of thousands of Russian villages. In addition, this Metropolitan and Co. must have possessed many truly miraculous qualities: the lightning speed of writing and moving in space and time, the ability to simultaneously be in thousands of places at once, and so on.

But not a joke, but a real conclusion from the data given by B.A. Rybakov, it follows that the church has never been a place in Russia from which knowledge and enlightenment flowed. Therefore, we repeat, another academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences A.A. Zaliznyak states that “the picture of Novgorod of the 14th century. and Florence in the 14th century. in terms of female literacy - in favor of Novgorod. But the church by the 18th century led the Russian people into the bosom of illiterate darkness.

Let us consider the other side of the life of ancient Russian society before the arrival of Christians on our lands. She touches the clothes. Historians are accustomed to us to draw Russian people dressed exclusively in simple white shirts, sometimes, however, allowing themselves to say that these shirts were decorated with embroideries. Russians are presented as such beggars, hardly able to dress at all. This is another lie spread by historians about the life of our people.

To begin with, we recall that the first clothing in the world was created more than 40 thousand years ago in Russia, in Kostenki. And, for example, at the Sungir site in Vladimir, already 30 thousand years ago, people wore a leather jacket made of suede trimmed with fur, a hat with earflaps, leather pants, leather boots. Everything was decorated with various objects and several rows of beads. The ability to make clothes in Russia, of course, was preserved and developed to a high level. And one of the important clothing materials for the ancient Rus was silk.

Archaeological finds of silk on the territory of Ancient Russia of the 9th - 12th centuries were found in more than two hundred points. The maximum concentration of finds - Moscow, Vladimir, Ivanovo and Yaroslavl regions. Just in those in which at that time there was a rise in population. But these territories were not part of Kievan Rus, on the territory of which, on the contrary, finds of silk fabrics are very few. As you move away from Moscow - Vladimir - Yaroslavl, the density of silk finds in general is rapidly falling, and already in the European part they are rare.

At the end of the 1st millennium AD. Vyatichi and Krivichi lived in the Moscow region, as evidenced by groups of mounds (near the Yauza station, in Tsaritsyn, Chertanov, Konkovo, Derealevo, Zyuzin, Cheryomushki, Matveevsky, Fili, Tushino, etc.). The Vyatichi also constituted the original nucleus of the population of Moscow.

According to various sources, Prince Vladimir baptized Russia, or rather, began the baptism of Russia in 986 or 987. But Christians and Christian churches were in Russia, specifically in Kyiv, long before 986. And it was not even about the tolerance of the pagan Slavs to other religions, and in one important principle - in the principle of freedom and sovereignty, the decision of each Slav, for whom there were no masters , he was a king for himself and had the right to any decision that did not contradict the customs of the community, therefore no one had the right to criticize, reproach or condemn him if the decision or act of the Slav did not harm the community and its members. Well, then the history of Baptized Russia has already begun ...

sources

Based on the research of our modern scientist from St. Petersburg Igor Yakovlevich Froyanov, who still in the USSR in 1974 published a monograph entitled “Kievan Rus. Essays on socio-economic history”, then many scientific articles were published and many books were published, and in 2007 his book “The Mystery of the Baptism of Russia” was published.

A.A. Tyunyaev, Academician of the AFS and RANS

We know from history books that the Slavs are one of the largest ethnic communities in the Old World. However, it is not entirely clear who they were or where they came from. Let's try to study this meager information bit by bit, and also dwell on more reliable facts about the life, way of life, culture and beliefs of these tribes.

Who are they?

Let's try to find out who the Slavs are, where they came from to Europe and why they left their homeland. There are several versions on this issue. Some historians believe that they did not come from anywhere, but lived here from the moment the world was created. Other scholars consider them to be descendants of the Scythians or Sarmatians, others refer to other peoples that came out of the depths of Asia, including the Aryans. But it is unrealistic to draw exact conclusions, each hypothesis has its drawbacks and white spots.

It is generally accepted to consider the Slavs an Indo-European people who ended up in the Old World during the Great Migration. He lost contact with his relatives due to the long distance and went his own way of development. But the theory has many adherents that this ethnic community came from Asia after the Flood, assimilating with the locals along the way and founding centers of civilizations - the Etruscans, Greeks and Romans, and then settled the Balkans, the banks of the Vistula, the Dniester and the Dnieper. believes that the Slavs came to Russia after

The name of the ethnic group causes no less controversy. Some researchers are convinced that the Slavs mean “literate people who speak the word”, others translate the name as “glorious” or look for its origins in the name of the Dnieper - Slavutych.

The main occupations of our ancestors

So, we found out that the Slavs are nomadic tribes that have settled. They were united by a common language, beliefs and traditions. And what were the occupations of the Slavs? There are no options, of course, this is agriculture. In the forested areas, the site had to be prepared first by cutting down the trees and uprooting the stumps. In the forest-steppe regions, grass was first burned out, and then the earth was fertilized with ashes, loosened and planted seeds. Of the tools used plow, plow, harrow. From agricultural crops, they grew millet, rye, wheat, barley, peas, hemp, and flax.

The remaining occupations of the Slavs were aimed at the production of tools for agriculture (blacksmithing), as well as for household needs (pottery). Animal husbandry was highly developed: our ancestors bred sheep, horses, goats, pigs. In addition, they used the gifts of the forest: they collected mushrooms, berries, honey from forest bees, hunted wild birds and animals. This is what they traded with their neighbors, and marten skins are considered to be the first money.

culture

The quiet life of the Slavs favored the development of culture. Agriculture remained the main occupation of the community, but decorative and applied crafts (weaving, jewelry, wood, bone and metal carving, cooperage, leatherwork) also developed. They also had the beginnings of writing.

Our ancestors lived in communities, they made important decisions at a general meeting. The community owned meadows, arable land, and pastures. But each person could have their own property and livestock. At the head of the tribal union was the prince, who relied on the boyars-patrimonials. These were respected people who were elected during the national assembly, then they turned into local nobility.

In everyday life, the Slavs were unpretentious, easily endured the vagaries of the weather, hunger. But they remained proud, freedom-loving, brave and loyal to their community, their family. The guest was always greeted with bread and salt, offering the best that was available in the house.

Restless neighbors

The Slavs settled between Europe and Asia, in lands with a unique supply of resources and fertile soil. They occupied a vast territory almost painlessly, since there was enough space for everyone. But the riches of the land attracted robbers. The restless neighbors of the Slavs - nomadic Avars, Khazars, Pechenegs and Polovtsy - constantly raided the villages. Our ancestors had to unite against them and beat the uninvited guests together. This taught them military science, constant readiness for danger, frequent changes of habitat, and endurance. But the Slavs themselves were non-belligerent, friendly, they respected the rights of others, they never had slaves.

Instead of a conclusion

Before Prince Vladimir baptized Russia, the Slavs were pagans. They worshiped the forces of nature, built temples and created idols, made sacrifices (not human) to them. The cult of ancestors, including the dead, was especially developed. Christianity allowed the ancient Russian state to become closer to Europe, but at the same time it stole a lot. Objects of material, spiritual and cultural value were destroyed, what distinguished the Slavs from other peoples was lost. A certain symbiosis appeared, which, although it had elements of the previous culture, was formed under the influence of Byzantium. But that, as they say, is another story...

Original place of settlement Slavs usually consider the Carpathian region, from where they spread to the north, south and northeast and divided into 3 groups: eastern or Russian, western (Czecho-Moravs, Poles and Polabian Slavs) and southern (Bulgarians and Serbs).

During the 7th - 9th centuries, the Slavs formed separate states - Czech, Moravian, Polish, Bulgarian, Russian and somewhat later Serbian. The stories of Western European, Byzantine and Arab writers who knew the Slavs, chronicle news, as well as oral traditions and songs preserved from the times of paganism, give us an idea about the life and religion of Russian pagan Slavs. Slavs lived tribal way of life. They were divided into several small tribes, living separately from one another.

These tribes were as follows: the Ilmen Slavs - on the shores of Ilmen Lake, the Krivichi - along the upper reaches of the Western Dvina, the Volga and the Dnieper, the Dregovichi - between the Pripyat and the Western Dvina, the Radimichi - on the banks of the Sozha, the Vyatichi - on the Oka, the northerners - on the Desna and the Seimas, the Drevlyans - on the Pripyat, the glade - along the middle course of the Dnieper, the Buzhans - along the Bug, the Tivertsy and Ulichi - along the Dniester and Prut, the White Croats - in present-day eastern Galicia.

Each of these small tribes consisted of separate clans that lived separately and owned a special part of the land, which was possible given the sparsely populated and vast lands occupied by the Slavs. Each genus was ruled by an ancestor (elder, prince) and jointly owned all ancestral real estate until, over time, a separate family property was formed. For cases related to the whole tribe, all its clans converged on a general meeting - veche, and the right to vote belonged only to the ancestors. The mutual strife of the clans was also manifested at the meetings.

The Slavs lived settledly, engaged in agriculture, cattle breeding, hunting, fishing and beekeeping; They also traded with neighbors. Their dwellings were simple wooden huts built in safe places - in forests, near rivers, swamps and lakes. They also had cities that consisted of the same huts and were surrounded by a rampart or a fence, where their veche meetings took place and where they defended themselves in the event of an attack by enemies.

The Slavs were distinguished by their tall stature, ruddy face, blond hair and gray eyes; These people were strong, strong, hardy. They ate animals, fish and birds, millet, buckwheat, milk; honey served as a favorite drink; clothing consisted of a linen dress and animal skin; weapons were spears, arrows, darts, swords and shields. Peace-loving in relation to neighboring peoples, they often argued among themselves. In wartime, the Slavs knew how to defend themselves bravely and used various military tricks. Of their pagan customs, the customs of bloody revenge and hospitality are remarkable; valuing freedom above all else, after a certain period of time they set free their captive slaves.

Their family life was based on the obedience of the younger members of the clan to the ancestor, the children to the father; upon the death of the father, power over young children passed to the mother. Their marriage customs were threefold: the bride was kidnapped (kidnapped) or bought, marriage was concluded and by mutual agreement; there were cases of polygamy. Although the Slavic woman was in complete obedience to her husband and did heavy domestic work, she was very attached to her husband and, according to some reports, after his death, she voluntarily went to be burned along with his corpse.

Not understanding the forces and phenomena of nature, but realizing their strong influence on the success of agriculture, the Slavs worshiped them as good and evil gods (see the articles Russian paganism and Slavic mythology). So they idolized the sun under the name of Dazhdbog or Khors, thunder and lightning under the name of Perun, who was considered at the same time the god of war and enjoyed special reverence for Volos or Veles, who, being at first a solar god, later became the patron of agriculture, the protector of trade, the guardian of the flocks, the inspirer of singers and harpists, and the wind under the name of Stribog. In addition to the main gods, the Slavs had many minor ones: goblin, mermaids, water and brownies (the souls of dead ancestors). They honored their gods with holidays that consisted of animal and even human sacrifices, prayers, divination, and ending with a feast and games. The main holidays were in honor of the sun god: Kolyada or the birth of the sun around our Christmas, Krasnaya Gorka on Thomas's week, Semik on Thursday on the 7th week after Easter, and Kupala on the night of June 23-24.

Mermaids emerge from the water before Trinity. Painting by K. Makovsky on the theme of Russian pagan subjects. 1879

The Russian pagan religion has not reached such a development as that of other peoples (for example, the Greeks); it consisted in the direct worship of the forces and phenomena of nature, but the Russian Slavs did not have the personification of these forces and phenomena, their representation in certain images. The Russian Slavs also did not have public service to the gods, temples and priests; each ancestor was at the same time a priest, and family members prayed at home mainly to the patron of the family - the brownie. Although they stood out from among the people Magi and sorcerers, who mainly knew pagan prayers and conspiracies, were engaged in divination and enjoyed respect for that, but they did not matter to the priests. Believing in the afterlife, the Slavs represented it as a continuation of the earthly; the dead were burned or buried in graves and a feast was performed on them, i.e. feast in conjunction with different games. Folk poetry remains a monument to this pagan life of the Slavs - conspiracies, slander, signs, proverbs, riddles, songs, fairy tales, epics, which have been passed from mouth to mouth since ancient times and are still preserved among the people.

How did the ancient Slavs live?

A long time ago, on the lands of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus lived tribes who called themselves Slavs. The Slavs considered themselves: glades, drevlyans, northerners, Krivichi, Vyatichi, etc. And one of the tribes that lived along the shores of Lake Ilmen and the Volkhov River called itself simply Slavs. They are our ancestors. The Slavs lived in families, i.e. were related to each other. The chief among the relatives was called the prince. All controversial issues and disagreements between the clans were resolved at a general meeting, which was called "veche".

To protect their own kind of raids by militant tribes, the Slavs, as a rule, settled in places surrounded by steep slopes or ravines, along rivers. The ancient Slavs surrounded their settlements with a palisade. The logs that were used to build the palisade were carefully hewn and burned on fire. When they were dug deep into the ground, the logs fit snugly against each other in such a way that there was not the slightest gap between them. Such a fence stood for a long time and was extremely strong. Therefore, such settlements were called "cities", from the word "to fence" i.e. fence off the settlements. The main occupation of the ancient Slavs was agriculture, beekeeping, fishing, fur trade and hunting.

The ancient beliefs of the Slavs are also interesting. The Slavs believed that God is one, but manifests himself in many faces. The three main essences of God, the three forces on which the universe rests, were called Yav, Nav and Rule. Rule is a stellar law, the same for the entire universe. This is the highest law of the Existence of the World and development. Yav is subordinated to the Law of Rule, i.e. the world revealed by the Almighty, born of Rod. And the world of Navi is a spiritual, posthumous, world of ancestors and gods. The Slavs themselves called themselves "Orthodox", i.e. glorifying the Right. On their temples (places of religious worship), they sang glory to the gods, i.e. sang hymns in praise of the gods. Even a round dance was a religious sacrament at that time. He personified the Great Colo - the Wheel of Genesis, which must necessarily revolve relentlessly. Until now, in the Russian language there is an expression "to live in truth", i.e. to live according to the laws of the Rule.

The cuisine of the ancient Slavs did not differ in variety. Basically, they prepared jelly, kvass, cabbage soup, porridge. Even the saying “shchi, yes porridge is our food” has come down to our times. At that time, our ancestors did not know potatoes, so the main ingredients of cabbage soup were cabbage and turnips. Pies were baked mainly on holidays, as were pancakes. The word "pancake" came from the more ancient word "mlyn", i.e. from milled grain. At that time, pancakes were mainly baked from buckwheat flour, and instead of yeast, hops were added to the dough. Pancakes made in this way were loose, porous. They absorbed butter and sour cream well. Therefore, they were served on the table together. As a rule, the first pancake was given to the birds, because. the ancient Slavs believed that the souls of ancestors sometimes flew to their descendants in the form of birds. The first baked pancake was a memorial one. Baking pancakes for a wake is still considered a Russian tradition.

After the adoption of Christianity in Russia, many thousand-year-old traditions were forgotten, but many are still alive. They remained in the form of proverbs and sayings, ancient holidays and fairy tales. Maybe that's why the Russian people still bake pancakes and tell fortunes at Christmas time. We still celebrate Maslenitsa and bake pancakes rather than fasting and celebrating Christmas. We still have Father Frost living in Veliky Ustyug, and Snegurochka, his granddaughter, amuses children at the New Year's holiday. In remote villages, some grandmothers, washing their great-grandchildren in the morning, still say: “Water, water, wash your granddaughter's face. So that the cheeks turn red, so that the eyes burn, so that the mouth laughs, so that the teeth bite. How we want our children to know about the cultural traditions of our ancestors.

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Pages of the history of Russia. Life of the ancient Slavs.

1. Our ancestors
2. The appearance of the Slavs

4. Dwellings of the Slavs
5. Beliefs of the Slavs
6. Spirits, deities of nature
7. The beginning of the resettlement of the Slavs

1. Our ancestors

In the middle of the first millennium AD, in the vastness of Eastern Europe there were dense forests, marshy swamps, full-flowing rivers and small streams. This territory was inhabited by Eastern Slavs, from whom Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians descended. The Slavs lived in tribes. Tribe consisted of several genera. Genus are several families living together. Our ancestors, the Eastern Slavs, lived along the banks of the rivers Oka, Volga, Don, Dnieper, Western Dvina.

The names of the Slavic tribes: glades, Dregovichi, Slovenes, Drevlyans, northerners, Rodimichi, Volhynians, Vyatichi, Ulichi, Krivichi, etc..

2. The appearance of the Slavs

The Slavs were strong, tall, hardy people.

Clothing of the Slavs —men consisted of a long shirt woven from linen and adorned with embroidery, trousers, a belt and leather shoes. Leather footwear was like a boot with soft leather soles, or just a piece of leather wrapped around the foot and reinforced with a rope. Of course, in the summer they did without shoes at all. Women's clothing included a long linen dress, also adorned with embroideries. Ornaments made of metals, glass, amber and semi-precious stones were worn only on solemn occasions during holidays and wedding ceremonies.

3. Occupation of the Slavs, tools and household items

The ancient Slavs were engaged hunting, fishing, beekeeping (collecting honey from wild bees), cattle breeding, agriculture, construction, pottery, gathering.

The men hunted on bears, wild boars, roe deer. In those days there was a lot of game in the forests. Blacksmiths forged weapons and necessary tools.

The female half cooked, wove, spun, sewed, and gardened. There were skillful healers who prepared medicinal potions from herbs.

Slavs were engaged in agriculture together. To plow the land, the Slavs had to cut down the forest. Trees were burned and ash fertilized the earth. The land was plowed with a plow, loosened with a hoe, then sown. A man with a sieve walked and scattered seeds across a plowed field. They did not sow in the wind. To cover the seeds with earth, the field treated with a harrow - dry wool . The plot was sown for 2-3 years, while the land was fertile and gave a good harvest. Then they moved on to new areas.

All knowledge, skills and experiences were passed down from generation to generation - from father to son, from mother to daughter.

4. Dwellings of the Slavs

The time was restless, the inhabitants of neighboring villages often fought among themselves, so the Slavs usually settled in places surrounded by steep slopes, deep ravines or water. They erected earth ramparts around the settlements, dug ditches, and erected a palisade. And it was convenient to build houses on such land.

The Slavs built chopped huts or settled in semi-dugouts, which half went into the ground. Livestock were kept in pens and barns.

The situation in the huts was the simplest: wooden benches, tables, a stove made of stones or clay .. There were no pipes in the huts. Burnt in black. Smoke escaped through small windows and doors.

From the dishes were clay pots and pans.

5. Beliefs of the Slavs

The Slavs believed that gods controlled all natural phenomena:

One of the main gods was Perun - god of thunder and lightning . It was a formidable god, he was also considered the god of war. Wooden idols made of mighty oak were erected in his honor. There were idols in the open air, and next to them was a stone on which sacrifices were made to this god. And this place was called the temple of Perun.
Yarilo - the deity of awakening nature, the patron of the plant world. Yarilo - identified with the sun
Svarog - sky god
Dazhdbog - the son of Svarog. God of the harvest, keeper of the keys of the earth.
Veles - the patron god of animals, especially domestic ones.
Stribog - the god of the wind.
Makosha - Mother of a good harvest, goddess of the harvest, giver of blessings.

In order for the gods to be kinder to people, the Slavs held holidays in their honor. Many of them have survived to this day:

The main god - the Sun - was dedicated Maslenitsa .
The biggest holiday is Ivanov's day, or Ivan Kupala , took place on the night of June 23-24.
July 20, at Perun's day , guys and girls did not lead cheerful round dances, did not sing songs - they prayed for the mercy of a formidable deity.

6. Spirits, deities of nature

The Slavs inhabited their native, familiar world with the most fantastic creatures. They believed that the house was guarded by a brownie. , water and mermaids live in rivers and lakes, and wood goblins are found in the forest. There were other spirits of nature - good and evil. The Slavs turned to the souls of their ancestors for protection from evil forces, for advice, asking them for help and a good harvest.

7. The beginning of the resettlement of the Slavs

Over time, the Eastern Slavs began to settle in new territories. The resettlement was peaceful. The Slavs did not impose their customs on their neighbors - the Finno-Ugric tribes. They fought together against common enemies.

By the 8th century, the tribes of the Eastern Slavs united in tribal unions. Each union was headed by a prince.