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The modern population of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus belongs to a large group of East Slavic peoples who have a common origin, cultural, religious and everyday traditions. Issues of social structure, culture and life of the East Slavic tribes are quite studied. But historians cannot give an unambiguous answer to the question of when they appeared and what the territory of their settlement was.

Tracing the history of the Slavic peoples is quite difficult, since reliable written sources date back to the 5th–6th centuries AD. e. To comprehensively study this issue, scientists resort to the results of research in the fields of archaeology, linguistics, and ethnography. Based on them, we can briefly talk about the origin of the Slavs. The most important idea about the appearance of the Slavs is obtained by comparing all types of data.

Based on data obtained by linguists, speakers of East Slavic languages ​​belong to the large community of Indo-European peoples. The time when the Slavic tribes separated from the Indo-European peoples is the 2nd millennium BC. e. At that time The Indo-Europeans divided into three large branches:

1. Proto-Germanic peoples occupying the territories of Western and Southern Europe. These included the Celts, Germans, and Romans.
2. Balto-Slavic peoples who occupied vast lands of Central Europe between the Elbe, Vistula, Dnieper and Danube rivers.
3. Iranian and Indian peoples settled in the Asian expanses.

In the middle of the 1st millennium BC. e. There was a division of the Balto-Slavic peoples into two independent branches: the Balts and the Slavs. By the 6th century AD in Central and Eastern Europe There were about 150 Proto-Slavic tribes, united in three groups:

• Wends inhabited the lands in the Vistula River basin;
• sklavins settled in the area between the Dniester, Danube and Vistula rivers;
• antes settled the lands between the Dniester and Dnieper rivers.

At the beginning of the 1st millennium AD, the ancient Byzantine historian wrote that these groups had a common language, religious and legal norms, cultural and everyday traditions. Modern historians believe that it is quite easy to name the ancestors of the modern peoples of Eastern Europe, since they were representatives of all three Proto-Slavic groups.

In the 6th–7th centuries. n. uh. the single pre-Slavic nation breaks up into several branches; this process was influenced by the events of the Great Migration of Peoples. The migration of Slavic tribes took place in three directions:

• southern direction (Balkan Peninsula);
• northwestern (downstream of the Vistula and Oder rivers);
• northeastern (to the north and east of the East European Plain).

As a result of these migration processes, modern groups of Slavic peoples were formed: Western Slavs (Poles, Slovaks, Czechs); South Slavs (Montenegrins, Serbs, Bulgarians, Bosnians, Croats, Slovenes); Eastern Slavs (Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians).

Settlement of the people

As a result of migration in a northeastern direction, the Eastern Slavs in ancient times populated the vast territory of the East European Plain. In the VIII-IX centuries. About 150 Slavic tribes moved to this territory, reaching Lake Ladoga in the north, the upper reaches of the Volga and Oka in the east, and the Black Sea steppes in the south.

By the 9th century. n. uh. In Eastern Europe, 14 large tribal unions were formed that united smaller tribes. The table and map in the history atlas for the 10th grade will help you remember the names and geographical locations of tribal unions.

Each tribal union had its own language, cultural and everyday traditions, and farming methods. The fragmentation of the East Slavic tribes was facilitated by differences in the natural and climatic conditions of the lands they occupied. Their list, going from north to south, is as follows:

The settlement of our ancestors was mostly peaceful. Coming to new territories, the Slavs either assimilated small local tribes, or peacefully coexisted and exchanged cultural and everyday traditions with the indigenous population. Such relations were maintained with our western neighbors:

• Baltic tribes: Estonians, Lithuanians, Lithuanians, Latgalians, Yatvingians;
• West Slavic tribes: Poles, Slovaks, Czechs.

In the northeast of the East Slavic tribes lived the indigenous Finno-Ugric population: Karelians, Ves, Chud, Merya, Muroma, Meshchera.

Quite tense relations developed between the East Slavic tribal unions and their eastern and southern neighbors, the Turkic-speaking tribes.

In the east, in the upper reaches of the Volga, there was Volga Bulgaria state, formed by part of a large tribe of Bulgarians. Part of this people migrated to the Balkan Peninsula, mixed with the local Slavic population and formed the Bulgarian kingdom.

On the lower Volga there was a powerful state of the Khazar Khaganate, whose tributaries for quite a long time were some Slavic tribes: the Polyans, Vyatichi, Radimichi and Northerners. They had to send tribute to the Kaganate in the form of fur-bearing animal skins.

Oral sources mentioned raids on the Slavic tribe Buzhan Avars- a nomadic Turkic-speaking people who managed to create a state union, the Avar Kaganate, which lasted until the end of the 8th century.

The tribes living in the forest-steppe zone were periodically subjected to raids by nomadic peoples moving from east to west along the Black Sea steppes. These include: Ugrians (Hungarians), Pechenegs, Polovtsians.

Strengthening the position of East Slavic tribal unions led to the formation of large associations with signs of statehood. Arabic sources dating back to the 10th century mention three super-unions of the Eastern Slavs: Slavia with its center in Novgorod; Kuyabiya, the center of which was Kyiv. The location of the third super-union - the country of Artania - is not known for certain. Some researchers place it in the Rostov region. Also called lands in the Chernigov and Ryazan region.

According to the main written source on ancient Russian history - the Tale of Bygone Years - the state of the Eastern Slavs originated in the north in the lands of the Ilmen Slovenes in the mid-9th century. This event is associated with the calling of the Varangian Rurik to reign in Novgorod, who by the end of his reign subjugated most of the northeastern Slavic tribes and neighboring Finno-Ugric peoples. His successor, Prince Oleg, continued to expand the influence of the Varangian princely dynasty to the south, conquering Kyiv in 882. This date is considered the time of formation of the ancient Russian state - Kievan Rus.

The settlement of the Slavs in Eastern Europe occurred in two directions: to the north into an area of ​​dense forests, lakes and swamps; and east into the forest-steppe, where forests alternated with large open spaces of black soil. This difference in natural conditions left its mark on the life, economic activities and morals of the Slavs.

Economic activity

The main activity of the Slavic population of Eastern Europe was agriculture. In the north, due to natural conditions, the slash-and-burn type of land cultivation began to predominate. It was as follows: in the first year, farmers uprooted a forest area, burned the remaining stumps and roots, fertilizing the soil with ash, and the next year planted the area with agricultural crops. Such a plot was depleted in 2-3 years, and the peasants moved to new land.

In the south, the ancient Slavs were engaged in shifting agriculture, which consisted of burning grass in a certain area and then using it for 4-5 years. After this, the plot was left for 20-25 to restore its fertility.

An equally important occupation of the ancient population of Eastern Europe in ancient times was cattle breeding. Its specifics varied depending on the geographic location of the tribe. In the north, the population preferred raising cattle (oxen, cows), which were used as draft animals for agricultural work. East Slavic cattle breeders in the southern lands preferred breeding horses, among which were draft breeds and riding varieties.

In addition to cattle, they raised pigs, goats, and poultry.

In the north of the ancient Slavic ecumene Beekeeping (collecting honey from wild bees), fishing and hunting were also common. It should be noted that honey and fur-bearing animal skins were the main goods in trade with neighbors and foreign merchants.

Crafts developed quite actively: blacksmithing, pottery, jewelry, leather. The East Slavic tribes and their neighbors conducted active trade with each other.

Social structure

Quite difficult living conditions and the need to work in a team contributed to preservation of the communal system in East Slavic society. Initially, it was of a tribal nature, but with the development of farming methods and tools, tribal relations were transformed into neighborly ones. The neighboring community existed on the territory of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus until the beginning of the 20th century.

With the development of social relations, polygamous relationships are being replaced by monogamous families, which have become an integral part of the neighboring community and the basis of the social structure of the East Slavic ethnic group.

Features of life

lived in semi-dugout type dwellings with a two or three pitched roof. Inside there was one room with a stove without a chimney (the smoke came out through the door and a hole in the roof of the building). Several courtyards were united into a village, which was located in the bends of the rivers, surrounded by an earthen rampart and surrounded by a palisade. This protected the inhabitants of the settlement from animals and enemies.

Household utensils were made of wood or clay. Iron was rarely used. Tools and weapons were mainly made from it.

Clothes were made from linen and cotton fabrics, which were spun by women in each family. Things were decorated with embroidery, by which one could determine in which territory its owner lived.

Religion and Beliefs

Our ancestors practiced paganism until the 10th century. They deified nature and believed in spirits and supernatural forces. Each tribe had its own pantheon of gods and a patron god. We can distinguish a number of gods common to all East Slavic tribes: Perun - the god of thunder and lightning; Genus - fertility; Yarilo (Dazhbog, Hore) - the sun; Makosh - household; Veles - cattle breeding and wealth; Svarog - god of the sky; Simargl - the underworld. There was no main god in the Slavic pantheon. Only with the strengthening of princely power does the cult of Perun rise and strengthen, who becomes the god of war and the patron of warriors.

Most often, gods were depicted in the form of stone or wooden idols installed in special places - temples. They were the venue for religious ceremonies, often accompanied by sacrifices. Human sacrifice has been common for quite a long time. Priests played an important role in the pagan cult.

By the 10th century, our ancestors settled in Eastern Europe. Their hard work, perseverance, and peacefulness allowed them to actively develop and contributed to the emergence of the ancient Slavic state - Kievan Rus.

The history of the emergence of such a great and powerful people as the Slavs has interested many generations and continues to lose interest even in our time. The origin of the Eastern Slavs has interested many historians, and there is still debate about this. In ancient times, the Slavs were admired by such great minds and scribes as Bishop Otto of Bamber, Byzantine Emperor Mauritius the Strategist, Procopius of Pisaria, Jordan and many others. Read more about who the Slavs are, where they came from and how they formed the first community in our article.

Eastern Slavs in ancient times

A definite theory about where the ancestral home of the ancient Slavs was located has not yet been derived. Historians and archaeologists have been arguing for several decades now, and one of the most important is Byzantine sources, which claim that the Eastern Slavs in antiquity are closer to the 6th century BC. occupied a vast territory of Central and Eastern Europe, and were also divided into three groups:

1. Wends (lived near the Vistula basin);
2. Sklavins (lived between the upper reaches of the Vistula, the Danube and the Dniester);
3. Antes (lived between the Dnieper and Dniester).

According to historians, these three groups of Slavs subsequently formed the following branches of the Slavs:

• Southern Slavs (Sklavins);
• Western Slavs (Vends);
• Eastern Slavs (Antes).

Historical sources of the 6th century claim that there was no fragmentation between the Slavs at that time, since the tribal unions of the Eastern Slavs had a similar language, customs, and laws. They also had a similar lifestyle, morals and love of freedom. The Slavs generally distinguished themselves with a very great will and love for freedom, and only a prisoner of war acted as a slave, and this was not lifelong slavery, but only for a certain period of time. Later, the prisoner could be ransomed, or he would be released and offered to become part of the community. For a long time, the ancient Slavs lived in democracy (democracy). In terms of their temperament, they were distinguished by their strong character, endurance, courage, unity, they were hospitable to strangers, and they differed from the rest in pagan polytheism and special thoughtful rituals.

Tribes of the Eastern Slavs

The earliest tribes of the Eastern Slavs that chroniclers wrote about were the Polyans and the Drevlyans. They mainly settled in forests and fields. The Drevlyans often lived by raiding their neighbors, which often caused the glades to suffer. It was these two tribes that founded Kyiv. The Drevlyans were located on the territory of modern Ukraine in Polesie (Zhitomir region and the western part of the Kyiv region). The glades inhabited the lands near the middle reaches of the Dnieper and on its right side.

After the Dregovichi came the Krivichi and Polochans. They inhabited the modern territory of the Pskov, Mogilev, Tver, Vitebsk and Smolensk regions of the Russian Federation, as well as the eastern part of Latvia.

After them there were the Novgorod Slavs. Only the indigenous inhabitants of Novgorod and those who lived in neighboring lands called themselves this way. Also, chroniclers wrote that the Novgorod Slavs were the Ilmen Slavs, who came from the Krivichi tribes.

The northerners were also evictions of the Krivichi, and inhabited the modern territory of the Chernigov, Sumy, Kursk and Belgorod regions.



The Radimichi and Vyatichi were deportees of the Poles, and were called so after the names of their ancestors. The Radimichi inhabited the interfluve of the upper part of the Dnieper, as well as the Desna. Their settlements were also located along the entire course of the Sozh and all its tributaries. The Vyatichi inhabited the upper and middle Oka and the Moscow River.

Dulebs and Buzhans are names of the same tribe. They were located on the Western Bug, and since it was written about them in the chronicles that this tribe was located at the same time in one place, they were later called Volynians. Duleb can also be considered as a branch of the Croatian tribe, which settled to this day on the banks of Volhynia and the Bug.

The last tribes that inhabited the South were the Ulichi and Tivertsi. The streets were located along the lower reaches of the Southern Bug, the Dnieper and the Black Sea coast. The Tivertsy were located between the Prut and Dnieper rivers, as well as the Danube and the Budzhak coast of the Black Sea (the modern territory of Moldova and Ukraine). These same tribes resisted the Russian princes for hundreds of years, and they were as known to Jornados and Procopius as the Antes.

Neighbors of the Eastern Slavs

At the turn of the 2nd-1st millennium BC. The neighbors of the ancient Slavs were the Cimmerians, who inhabited the Northern Black Sea region. But already in the VIII-VII centuries. BC. they were driven out of the lands by the warlike tribe of the Scythians, who years later founded their own state on this place, which will be known to everyone as the Scythian kingdom. They were subject to many Scythian tribes who settled in the lower reaches of the Don and Dnieper, as well as in the Black Sea steppes from the Danube to the Crimea and the Don.

In the 3rd century BC. From the east, because of the Don, Sarmatian tribes began to move to the Northern Black Sea region. Most of the Scythian tribes assimilated with the Sarmatians, and the remaining part retained their former name and moved to Crimea, where the Scythian kingdom continued to exist.

During the era of the Great Migration of Peoples, East German tribes, the Goths, moved to the Black Sea region. They significantly influenced the economy and culture of the Northern Black Sea region, the current territory of Ukraine and Russia. After the Goths came the Huns, who destroyed and plundered everything in their path. It was because of their frequent attacks that the great-grandfathers of the Eastern Slavs were forced to move closer to the north in the forest-steppe zone.

The last ones who had a significant influence on the resettlement and formation of the Slavic tribes were the Turks. In the middle of the 6th century, proto-Turkic tribes came from the east and formed the Turkic Khaganate on a vast territory stretching from Mongolia to the Volga.

Thus, with the arrival of more and more new neighbors, the Eastern Slavs settled closer to the current territory of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia, where the forest-steppe zone and swamps mainly prevailed, near which communities were built and which protected the clans from the raids of warlike tribes.

In the VI-IX centuries, the territory of settlement of the Eastern Slavs extended from east to west, starting from the upper reaches of the Don and Middle Oka and to the Carpathians, and from south to north from the Middle Dnieper to the Neva.

Eastern Slavs in the pre-state period



In the pre-state period, the Eastern Slavs mainly formed small communities and clans. At the head of the clan was the “ancestor” - the elder of the community, who made the final decision for his tribe. Tribes often moved from place to place, since the main occupation of the ancient Slavs was agriculture, and they needed new land to plow. They plowed the soil either in the field, or cut down the forest, burned the fallen trees and then sowed everything with seeds. The land was cultivated in winter so that by spring it would be rested and full of strength (ash and manure fertilized the land well for sowing, helping it achieve greater yields).

Another reason for the constant movements of the Slavic tribes was attacks from neighbors. In the pre-state period, the Eastern Slavs often suffered from raids by the Scythians and Huns, which is why, as we wrote above, they had to populate lands closer to the north in forested areas.

The main religion of the Eastern Slavs is pagan. All their gods were prototypes of natural phenomena (the most important god Perun is the god of the Sun). An interesting fact is that the pagan religion of the ancient Slavs originates from the religion of the ancient Indonesians. Throughout the resettlement, it often underwent changes, as many rituals and images were borrowed from neighboring tribes. Not all images in the ancient Slavic religion were considered gods, since God in their concept is the giver of inheritance, wealth. As in ancient culture, the gods were divided into heavenly, underground and earthly.

Formation of the state among the Eastern Slavs

The formation of the state among the Eastern Slavs occurred at the turn of the 9th-10th centuries, as clans became more open and the tribes more friendly. After their unification into a single territory, a competent and strong leader was required - a prince. While throughout Northern, Eastern and Central Europe, tribes united into the Czech, Great Moravian and Old Polish states, the Eastern Slavs invited an overseas prince named Rurik to rule their people, after which Rus' was formed. The center of Rus' was Novgorod, but when Rurik died, and his legal heir, Igor, was still small, Prince Oleg took power into his own hands and, having killed Askold and Dir, annexed Kyiv. This is how Kievan Rus was formed.



To summarize, we can say that our ancestors experienced a lot of troubles, but having withstood all the trials, they founded one of the strongest states, which lives and prospers to this day. The Eastern Slavs are one of the strongest ethnic groups that eventually united and founded Kievan Rus. Their princes conquered more and more territories every year, uniting them into one single great state, which was feared by kingdoms that had existed much longer with more developed economies and politics.

There are several versions of the origin of the Slavs. During this time, a huge number of tribes from central and eastern Europe headed west. Various hypotheses suggest that the Slavs descended from the Antes, Wends and Sklavens in the 5th-6th centuries. Over time, this large mass divided into three groups: western, southern and eastern. Representatives of the latter settled in the territory of modern Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.

Northern tribal unions

In the very north of this ecumene lived the Slovenians. The definition of “Ilmen” has also been established in historiography, based on the name of the lake around which they settled. Later, the large city of Novgorod will appear here, becoming, along with Kiev, one of the two political centers of Rus'. This tribal union of the Eastern Slavs was one of the most developed thanks to trade with neighboring peoples and countries on the shores of the Baltic Sea. Their frequent conflicts with the Varangians (Vikings) are known, which is why Prince Rurik was invited to reign.

To the south, another tribal union of Eastern Slavs settled - the Krivichi. They settled in the upper reaches of several large rivers: the Dnieper and the Volga. Their main cities were Smolensk and Izborsk. Polotsk residents lived in Polotsk and Vitebsk.

Central tribal unions

The Vyatichi lived on the largest tributary of the Volga - the Oka. It was the easternmost tribal union of the Eastern Slavs. Archaeological monuments of the Romeno-Borshchev culture remained from the Vyatichi. They were mainly engaged in agriculture and trade with the Volga Bulgars.

To the west of the Vyatichi and south of the Krivichi lived the Radimichi. They owned land between the Desna and Dnieper rivers in modern Belarus. There are almost no written sources left from this tribe - only mentions of more developed neighbors.

The Dregovichi lived even further west than the Radimichi. To the north of them began the possessions of the wild people of Lithuania, with whom the Slavs had constant conflicts. But even this relationship had a great influence on the Dregovichi, who adopted many Baltic habits. Even their language changed and borrowed new words from their northern neighbors.

Western tribal alliances

In the far west lived Volhynians and White Croats. The Byzantine Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus even mentioned them (in his book “On the Administration of the Empire”). He believed that it was this tribal union of the Eastern Slavs that was the ancestor of the Balkan Croats who lived on the borders of his state.

The Volynians are also known as the Buzhans, who got their name from the river. They were mentioned in the Tale of Bygone Years.

Southern tribal alliances

The Black Sea steppes became home to the Streets and Tiverts. These tribal unions ended up on the southern borders. They lived in the steppe and constantly fought with local nomads of Turkic origin - the Pechenegs and Cumans. The Slavs failed to win in this confrontation, and in the second half of the 10th century they finally left the Black Sea region, settling in the lands of the Volynians and mixing with them.

Northerners lived in the southeast of the Slavic ecumene. They differed from the rest of their fellow tribesmen by their narrow face shape. They were greatly influenced by their steppe nomadic neighbors, with whom the northerners mutually assimilated. Until 882, these tribes were tributaries of the Khazars, until Oleg annexed them to his power.

Drevlyans

The Drevlyans settled in the forests between the Dnieper and Pripyat. Their capital was Iskorosten (now a settlement remains from it). The Drevlyans had a developed system of relationships within the tribe. In essence, this was an early form of a state with its own prince.

For some time, the Drevlyans argued with their Polyan neighbors for supremacy in the region, and the latter even paid them tribute. However, after Oleg united Novgorod and Kyiv, he subjugated Iskorosten. His successor, Prince Igor, died at the hands of the Drevlyans after demanding excess tribute from them. His wife Olga brutally took revenge on the rebels by setting fire to Iskorosten, which was never restored.

The names of tribal unions of the Eastern Slavs often have analogues in different sources. For example, the Drevlyans are also described as a Duleb tribal union, or Dulebs. What remained of them was the Zimnov settlement, which was destroyed by aggressive Avars in the 7th century.

Glade

The middle reaches of the Dnieper were chosen by glades. It was the strongest and most influential tribal union. Excellent natural conditions and fertile soil allowed them not only to feed themselves, but also to successfully trade with their neighbors - to equip flotillas, etc. It was through their territory that the path “From the Varangians to the Greeks” passed, which gave them great profits.

The center of the clearings became Kyiv, located on the high bank of the Dnieper. Its walls served as reliable protection from enemies. Who were the neighbors of the tribal unions of the Eastern Slavs in these parts? Khazars, Pechenegs and other nomads who wanted to impose tribute on the settled people. In 882, Novgorod captured Kyiv and created a unified East Slavic state, moving its capital here.

East Slavs

“In the same way, these Slavs came and sat along the Dnieper and were called Polyans, and others - Drevlyans, because they sat in the forests, and others sat between Pripyat and Dvina and were called Dregovichs, others sat along the Dvina and were called Polochans, after a river flowing into Dvina, called Polota, from which the Polotsk people took their name. The same Slavs who settled near Lake Ilmen were called by their own name - Slavs, and built a city and called it Novgorod. And others sat along the Desna, and the Seim, and the Sula, and called themselves northerners. And so the Slavic people dispersed, and after his name the letter was called Slavic,” reports “The Tale of Bygone Years.”

Map of Rus' X - XII centuries.

So, the Slavs were: the Polyans, the Drevlyans, the Dregovichs, the Polochans, the Novgorod Slovenes, the Northerners.

Other Russian chronicles list other Slavic tribes in Eastern Europe: Radimichi, Vyatichi, Rus.

About the Polyans, Drevlyans, Northerners, Vyatichi and other Slavs of Eastern Europe

On the given map, the following tribes are indicated on the site of Moscow land: Krivichi, Merya, Muroma and Golyad. To the south are the Vyatichi and Mordovians.

Golyad - Galinds, a Baltic-speaking tribe who became famous in the 14th–15th centuries. Krivichi are Slavicized or already Slavified Balts-Krievs. Merya is a Finnish-speaking tribe close to Karelians and Estonians. Muroma is a Finno-Ugric tribe that, like the Meshchera, spoke a language close to Hungarian. To the south of them, the Mordovians are a Finnish-speaking tribe close to the Meri. Vyatichi, glorified jars, mixed with minnows and Mordovians. It was these tribes that were “originally Russian” and lived in the very center of the future Russian state.

Were there Russians in Rus'?

V. A. Chudinov, in his review of my book about Kievan Rus, wrote with indignation: “The sum of partial errors reached a critical mass and exploded with the anecdotal conclusion that there were no Russians in Rus'.”

In this chapter we will try to figure out whether there have always been Russians in Rus'.

L.V. Alekseev in the book “Polotsk Land” (1966) wrote: “Modern data from archeology and toponymy show that in the Early Iron Age, Eastern Europe was inhabited by three large groups of tribes. The first, Iranian-speaking group occupied the Crimean Peninsula, Kuban, Lower Don, Lower Dnieper and reached in the north to the watershed of the Seim, Desna and Oka... The second, Finnish-speaking group covered the entire upper Volga region, the basin of the Middle and Lower Oka, in the west it reached Lake Ezel and left the so-called Dyakov culture. The third, Baltic-speaking, covered the entire upper Dnieper region, including Kyiv, the right bank of the Seim, the upper Oka and went west to the Baltic states.”

“How do the Slavs simultaneously appear on a vast territory and, moreover, without any signs of mass migration of a new people to these territories?” This is how M.I. Artamonov poses the question.

Academician V.V. Sedov will help us answer it.

“The vast expanses of the Northern Black Sea lands in the La Tène period were inhabited by the Scythians and the Sarmatians advancing from the east. The more northern regions of the East European Plain belonged to various tribes of the Baltic language group. In the last third of the 3rd century. BC e. in the area where the Baltic and Scythian areas came into contact, there was an invasion of tribes of the Pomeranian culture and the culture of under-klesh burials.

There was a synthesis of local Scythian and Milograd elements with components arriving from the west.

The Pripyat region, which includes the middle reaches of Pripyat with the lower reaches of the Goryn, before the settlement of the Pomeranian tribes, was very weakly populated by bearers of the Milograd culture. An analysis of early burials from the Zarubintsy burial grounds of this territory (Velemichi, Voronino, Otverzhichi, etc.) shows that the formation of the culture in question here was largely the result of the settlement of the newcomer population from the territory of the Pomor culture and the culture of under-klesh burials. In burials dating back to the finds of dismembered Middle La Tène brooches from the turn of the 3rd and 2nd centuries. BC e., clear traces of Povislensk cultures are revealed. It is not possible to determine the ethnic group of the carriers of the Zarubintsy culture of the Pripyat region based on archeology.

It can be assumed that the local Scythian population became part of the carriers of the Zarubintsy culture of the Middle Dnieper region. Here there was a synthesis of local culture with the foreign one, which resulted in a change in rituals and the emergence of previously unknown elements of material culture. The migration of a new population to the Middle Dnieper region came from the west, from the indigenous territory of the distribution of Pomeranian-Kleshevo antiquities in the last decades of the 3rd century. BC e.

The impetus for the migration of part of the population from the Vistula region to the Dnieper region was the expansion of the Celts. Their appearance in the lands north of the Carpathians and the subsequent invasion into the area of ​​the culture of under-klesh burials led to the movement of more or less large groups of the population of Povislenye in an eastern direction. In parallel, separate, small groups of Celts spread in the lands of the Dniester-Dnieper interfluve. Here, not only individual finds of Celtic bronze jewelry were discovered, which could be interpreted as the result of cultural contacts, but also complexes that directly indicate the penetration of individual groups of the Celtic population far to the east.

There are some differences in the funeral rituals, in particular in the Middle Dnieper region there are burials according to the inhumation rite that are alien to the Zarubintsy culture, in which one should see the substrate heritage of the Scythian ritual.

The origins of the Kievan culture are in the Baltic lands of the Upper Dnieper, and the ethnicity of its bearers in this regard should be defined as Baltic.

At the beginning of the Middle Ages, the tribes of the Kyiv culture, on the one hand, took a direct part in the formation of the Kolochin antiquities of the Upper Dnieper region, which are defined as pre-Slavic, Baltic, and on the other hand, they became one of the components in the formation of the Penkovo ​​culture. The latter cannot in any way be the basis for the assumption of the Slavic origin of the tribes in question, since it is well known that the medieval Slavic world included many foreign ethnic entities.

In the left-bank part of the forest and forest-steppe Dnieper region, as well as in the Verkhneoksky basin, that is, throughout the entire territory of settlement of post-Zarubinets tribes (areas of the Pochep, Moshin and Kyiv cultures), among the dominant water names of the common Baltic and Eastern Baltic appearance there are hydronyms of Western Baltic types. The presence in this territory of a thick layer of Western Baltic (Prussian-Yat-Vyazhian-Galindian) origin, notes V.N. Toporov, is beyond doubt. Its appearance here can only be explained by the infiltration of the Zarubintsy population into the Eastern Baltic environment, whose distant ancestors came from the outskirts of the Western Baltic area.

The bearers of the Kyiv culture can presumably be identified with the Holtescythians of Jordan. They were related to the golyad of the Verkhneoksky region and retained its name in their ethnonym, but lived in the lands of Scythia (hence the ethnonym). It is possible that the carriers of Kievan antiquities and Iranian-speaking descendants of the Scythians may have participated in the ethnogenesis. In any case, the Scythian ethnic component in the population of the Middle Dnieper region of the Zarubintsy culture seems undoubted.”

So, the Western Baltic, Germanic and Celtic settlers who came to the territory of Ukraine and Belarus mixed with the local Eastern Baltic and Iranian-speaking population and served as the basis of the Ukrainian and Belarusian nation. Moreover, the Belarusians in their ethnogenesis have more Baltic roots, while the Ukrainians, along with the Balts, include Iranians, Turks, and Circassians.

Ukrainians, Belarusians and Russians belong to the group of Eastern Slavs. They will be discussed further.

Settlement of the Slavs in the northern lands of the East European Plain

The first four centuries AD in Central Europe were very favorable climatically for life and the development of agricultural activity, which was the basis of the economy of both the Baltic and Germanic populations of provincial Roman cultures. Thanks to the flourishing of handicraft production, agricultural tools and construction are being actively improved, and a whole range of new products are entering everyday life. The development of economic life led to significant demographic shifts. There is an increase in the number of settlements and a noticeable increase in the population.

At the end of the 4th century. A sharp cooling begins in Europe; the 5th century was especially cold. This was the period of maximum cooling not only for the 1st millennium AD. e., at this time the lowest temperatures occurred in the last 2000 years. Soil moisture increases sharply, which is associated with both increased precipitation and transgression of the Baltic Sea. The levels of rivers and lakes are rising, groundwater is rising, and swamps are expanding greatly. It is obvious that many settlements of the Roman era were flooded or flooded, and significant areas of arable land were unsuitable for agricultural activities. River floodplains, which previously produced abundant harvests, are covered with water or alluvial sediments and are excluded from economic land use.

It is known that unusually strong floods in Jutland and the adjacent lands of Germany forced the Teutons to move entirely to other territories. The migration of the Saxons also dates back to this time.

Judging by archaeological evidence, the Middle Povislenie, characterized by the most low-lying terrain, was completely abandoned by the inhabitants.

It was at this time that these settlers appeared on the lands of the Krivichi.

In the 5th century The Wends, fleeing the floods, came to the Pskov land. Along the way, they were joined by part of the Yatvingians. Having mixed with the local population, they gave rise to a new tribe - the Krivichi. Izborsk became the main city of the Krivichi.

It was located in one of the regions where long mounds were concentrated, and in the 8th–9th centuries, as its excavations showed, it was the tribal center of one of the Krivichi groups.

From the end of the 7th - beginning of the 8th centuries. In the eastern part of the range of the Pskov long mounds, the hill culture spreads. The construction of long barrows stops here, the population of the Pskov long barrow culture merges with the Ilmen Slovenes. At the same time, part of the population of the culture in question moved to more southern lands - to the Polotsk Podvinia and the Smolensk Dnieper region, where a special culture of the Smolensk-Polotsk long mounds was formed.

The direct development of the Pskov long barrow culture continued only in the Pskov land. Here, the rampart-shaped mounds are replaced by round mounds with one or two burials according to the rite of cremation. The evolutionary connection between these mounds is quite obvious; they are of the same type in all their features, including the details of the funeral rite. The bottom ash-coal layer, characteristic of long barrows of the Pskov type - traces of the cult cleansing by fire of the place chosen for the burial mound - is also common for round barrows with both remains of cremation and corpses of the 11th–12th centuries. The last mounds already characterize the Pskov Krivichi. They are poor in clothing equipment; the Pskov Krivichi did not have ethnographic features in women's clothing. Signet-shaped temple rings, necklaces made of single glass beads, metal bracelets and rings, sometimes found in burial mounds, belong to the common East Slavic types.

Slovenian Ilmenskie

The hill culture is associated with this tribal formation. Its main region is the Ilmen basin, where more than 70 percent of burial grounds with hills are concentrated. The rest of them are located in adjacent areas - the upper reaches of the Luga and Plyusse rivers and in the Mologa basin. Outside this territory, very few hills are known in the basins of the Western Dvina and the Velikaya River.

The Tale of Bygone Years reports about the Novgorod Slavs: “The same Slavs who settled near Lake Ilmen were called by their own name - Slavs, and built a city and called it Novgorod.”

Birch bark letters have been preserved - monuments of the writing of the Slavs who lived in Novgorod. Their language belongs to the clicking Polish dialect of the group of Slavic languages. Since almost all the original Novgorodians were destroyed by Ivan the Terrible, one could not talk about them at all, but we must remember that they lived, traveled and traded throughout the north of our Motherland, bringing to the masses the knowledge of their Slavic language. Thereby contributing, along with the Bulgarian priests, to the Slavicization of local Finnish-speaking, Baltic-speaking, Ossetian-speaking and Turkic-speaking tribes.

The Ilmen Slavs were baptized, most likely Nicolaitans, who more than all other saints revered Saint Nicholas, who, in their opinion, was supposed to replace God the Father (Saphaoth) after the death of the latter.

But among them there were many pagans, as evidenced by many legends about the worship of Perun, as well as the presence of pagan names in birch bark letters.

Another interesting fact is the discovery of a prayer to the pagan Dy in the manner of a Greek prayer.

Thus, archaeologist and historian V.L. Yanin, who was engaged in excavations in Novgorod, published an image of a lead lid with the inscription: “OAGIOS AGIOS KOURIOS DYYOS O PLIRIS OURANOS KAI GITIS DOXIS,” which means: “Holy, holy, holy Dy, the sky and the earth with your glory."

Perhaps the use of Greek was in use during a period of preponderance of forces in favor of Christianity, and the Magi felt that prayers in Greek would better reach the gods? Or maybe Greek was preserved by the Greek clergy who moved to the Slavic lands after Bulgaria adopted Christianity? Be that as it may, the fact of using the Greek language in prayers to the Slavic gods has been recorded more than once both in Russia and among the Western Slavs.

Polotsk residents

Belarusian archaeologists found more than 120 objects with runic inscriptions from the 13th or 14th centuries while working on a settlement in Maskovichi (Vitebsk-Polotsk border). Only one inscription had a Latin alphabet, and vowels were not written at all. The rest of the inscriptions are completely runic.

Judging by the surviving documents, in the 14th century. Polotsk residents knew the Slavic language, but what language did they speak in the 10th century? - it’s hard to say. It is possible that even then the Wends, having come to the lands of local tribes, spoke Slavic, like the Ilmen Slovenes.

Drevlyans

The Drevlyans, as the Tale of Bygone Years points out, are Slavs living in the forest zone. However, manuscript SB No. 793 (sheet 12 vol.) reports that “The Drevlyans are not Slavs.” Which of the chronicles contains reliable information?

Most likely, the Drevlyans were Balts, as evidenced by the toponymy of this area.

One expression “OUR GOD” in Drevlyanian has also been preserved: “NOS GLULGA”, which can, knowing Latvian, be translated as “Our clear one” - this is how the Balts called the sun god.

The Drevlyans called themselves Galinds (Golyad).

The Vyatichi who settled on the upper Oka did not occupy empty territory.

The territory of their settlement was originally inhabited by the Galind tribe, who spoke a dialect of the Lithuanian language.

The settlers came from the south, from the Don, where the so-called Mayak culture came down to us from their ancestors.

The population that left us the Mayak archaeological culture was Ossetian-speaking. In our history it is known as Alans, Yases, Rus'.

They called their country the Don region Steppe Ossetia, in their language - Rus Yasska. The Don Yas-Rus had their own written language - the Don runic.

Quite early, some of the Yases adopted Christianity (probably from the Armenians and Syrians, which will be discussed below.

Arriving from the Don to the upper reaches of the Oka, the Yases mixed with the golyad and took the name Vyatichi (from jetek - the leader’s people).

Inscriptions on the stones of the Mayak settlement:

Name: “BEN HA TYF” (“Son of the Merciful”, in Hebrew, for many accepted Judaism). And “ALANUI KAN” (“Alan prince in Ossetian)

The same Yases who came to the area between the Desna and Dnieper rivers, mixing with the local descendants of the Balts and Iranian-speaking Ants, were called Radimichi (from pratamas - the first). Those who settled in the forest part between the Dnieper and Don rivers were called northerners (from sawars, sawaors - shadow, forest aors).

The widespread use of arable farming had a decisive influence on the development of the entire economy of the Vyatichi region.

True, the development of arable farming in the middle zone did not completely replace cuttings, which remained in forest areas until a very late time as a means of developing new lands.

Tools for harvesting crops and herbs were used: sickles and pink salmon scythes of an elongated northern shape.

The coming progress in agriculture made it possible to reduce the labor force for cultivating the land to one strong family, which was a prerequisite for the disintegration of the previous clan groups, the exit from their composition of individual families running small-scale farming. Such families now settled, as a rule, in unfortified settlements located closer to the arable lands. In a new place, they lost contact with their clan group, but a neighboring or territorial community developed, which existed throughout the entire feudal system.

Cattle breeding played a major role in the Vyatichi economy, with cattle playing a leading role. Horse meat was almost never eaten; horses were widely used as draft animals, not only for transportation, but also for field work. This is evidenced by numerous finds of horse equipment - bits and cheekpieces. Numerous tools also testify to the developed hunting and fishing industry. In fishing, in addition to nets with clay weights, iron spears and fish hooks of various sizes were used. In winter, ice fishing was practiced, and ice holes were made with special iron picks. They hunted with iron harpoons and bows with iron arrow tips.

In the 10th century Molded vessels made on a potter's wheel became widespread in Rus'. They also appeared among the Vyatichi on the upper Oka at this time.

The main item exported to eastern countries was furs, which were highly valued outside of Rus'.

It is significant that in those places where the class of feudal lords was born, this was reflected in archeology in the form of the appearance of so-called squad mounds - burials of warriors (knights). Such mounds have been excavated in the lands of Kyiv, Smolensk, Chernigov and Vladimir-Suzdal. There are no military mounds on the territory of the Vyatichi. An undoubted indicator of the lag in the formation of a class society is the fact that the separation of crafts has not yet occurred here, as a result of which cities were completely absent.

As already mentioned, slash-and-burn agriculture continued to play an important role in the Vyatichi economy, requiring the efforts of a whole team to cut down, uproot the forest and clear the field for sowing. This explains the long-term preservation of tribal relationships. For the same reason, the Vyatichi preserved pagan beliefs for a very long time, closely associated with tribal cults. This can also explain the fact that the Vyatichi zealously guarded their independence, since submission meant a break in habitual relationships and beliefs.

Describing the customs and way of life of the Vyatichi, the chronicler provides a lot of interesting data about them. Like their neighbors the Radimichs and northerners, the Vyatichi lived in the forests (like every animal), ate unclean things, and dishonored themselves, not being embarrassed by their fathers and daughters-in-law. “They didn’t have marriages, but they organized games between the villages, and they gathered at these games, dances and all sorts of demonic songs, and here they kidnapped their wives in agreement with them; they had two and three wives.

And if someone died, they held a funeral feast for him, and then they made a large log and laid the dead man on this log and burned him, and then, having collected the bones, they put them in a small vessel and placed them on poles along the roads, as the Vyatichi still do now.” .

In conclusion, the chronicler says that the Vyatichi do not know the law of God, “but they create a law for themselves,” that is, they are pagans.

Chronicle reports and the absence of any serious archaeological research into the antiquities of the Vyatichi led to the fact that before the October Revolution, historians had an idea of ​​these tribes as wild and rough, living mainly by hunting, not knowing agriculture and other cultural achievements. Archaeological research by Soviet scientists completely overturned this kind of idea.

In 1963, a small red slate whorl was discovered in the Ryazan Museum of History and Local Lore.

On both sides around the hole there were alphabetic signs carved into it, which had to be understood. The spindle whorl was found in 1945 by a local lover of archaeological antiquities, Zubkov, on the site of the crumbling Slavic village of Borki, which is located 2 km from Ryazan.

The width of the upper and lower planes, on which alphabetic signs are cut out in a circle, is 7 mm, the width of the hole is 8 mm, the diameter of the spindle whorl is 22 mm, its height is 14 mm. On the side of the whorl there are intricate patterns drawn, reminiscent of “magic” lpbyrinths...

The famous scientist Turchaninov began reading the inscription.

“For the upper plane of the spindle whorl, we conventionally took the one where, in a circle, from left to right, after a drawing like the profile of a horse, well-recognized square Hebrew letters are located? tsade and P heth, denoting the number 908, and after this number in the Syro-Nestorian script, in Alanian it is written: Anzi - "of the year". The word is written in the norm of the Digor dialect of the Ossetian language. The date is based on the Christian era, not the Seleucid era. The Alan who wrote the inscription was bilingual. This follows from the inscription on the other, lower plane of the spindle whorl, where also in a circle from left to right, starting from the word division in the form of a vertical line, as in the first case, well-readable square Hebrew letters are written: tsade, jod, heth, making up the number 918. After the number in Alan letters it is written in Slavic: “ summer" The inscription was made by Alan, because a Russian would have written “summer 918” and placed the word division after the date, and not before it.

As a further presentation of the facts will show, a spindle whorl with inscriptions in the letter of the Alan dukt was not a random phenomenon in the Ryazan region. We will find the same style and culture of writing in the inscription on a pot from the burial of S. Alekanov, located very close to the village of Borki.”

So, the inscription on the spindle whorl contains the oldest (unfortunately, very brief) dated Slavic text.

Here is what Turchaninov reports about the Vyatichi: “The population of the Alekanovsky village is recognized by V. A. Gorodtsov and other researchers as Vyatichi. Academician A. A. Shakhmatov at one time developed the theory that the Vyatichi originally lived on the Don and only later colonized the Oka. This point of view of A. A. Shakhmatov, as we will see below from the epigraphic material, was historically correct.”

All of the above proves that in migration from south to north, from the Don to the Oka and other places, the Alans brought their written culture.

V. A. Gorodtsov found a pot with an inscription near the village of Alekanovo (Ryazan region).

Turchaninov considers the letter beginning of the inscription to be a sign in the shape of an oblique cross after the dot and reads it from left to right.

The result of reading it is the phrase:

Slavontya t 1007 a(nzi).

Alas! This is still not a Slavic, but an Ossetian inscription. Although both Vyatichi inscriptions help to trace the paths of Slavicization of local tribes, no matter what their origin.

Pot from the village of Alekanovo

Most likely, the Vyatichi were Ossetian-speaking Christians, and among them Bulgarian priests lived and carried the word of God, of course, in their Old Bulgarian (i.e., Church Slavonic) language. Living among the Finnish-speaking inhabitants of the Ryazan land, and also communicating with the Turkic-speaking population of neighboring lands, the Vyatichi, like part of the Erzi, gradually switched to Church Slavonic, which over time turned into the Russian language.

The existence of their own writing among the Scythians, Sarmatians and Alans was mentioned in Greek, Latin and Syrian sources starting from the 5th–6th centuries. n. e.

We extracted this evidence from the anonymous Byzantine Paschalia of the 7th century, published by the German historian of antiquity Barthold Georg Niebuhr. Its text reads: “They know their own writings: the Cappadocians, Iberians, they are also tyrants, Tabarens, Latins, they are also used by the Romans, Sarmatians, Spaniards, Scythians, Greeks, Bastarnae, Medes, Armenians.”

“The Polyans, who lived on their own, as we have already said, were from a Slavic family and only later were called Polyans...” (PVL)

The main city of the glades is Kyiv.

Almost nothing is known about the glades and their culture. When the Pechenegs first came to Kyiv (under Princess Olga), one youth, climbing over the wall, passed through their ranks, asking if they had seen his horse. What language could he speak? Only in Turkic. Otherwise, he would have been identified as a spy and captured. And later, traveling around the south of our homeland, Abu Hamid al-Garnati, arriving in Kyiv, claims that the population of Kyiv is Cuman Turks. Moreover, they are Muslims.

If we add to this the discovery in Kyiv of a shard with the inscription in Arabic letters: TURK (or, according to another reading “KABUS”, it all depends on how to consider the scratches, random or related to the text), then there is no doubt that the glades were Turkic- Polovtsy.

And according to the information of the Arab traveler Idrisi, Kyiv was founded by immigrants from Khorezm under the leadership of Kuya (Kiya), whose son, Ahmad ben Kuiya, was the vizier of the Khazar king (10th century).

On ancient maps, Kyiv, together with more southern regions, is part of Pechenegia.

On later maps, a new formation is located there - Circassia. From the Circassians, the ancestors of the Zaporozhye Cossacks, such toponyms as the Psiol (Psel) River, Cherkassy, ​​Novocherkassk have been preserved.

But there is no other information about the Slavs of the Kyiv land other than our chronicle. N.F. Kotlyar writes: “Everything here is unclear, everything is debatable: the names and years of the reign of the princes, their pedigree, the main milestones of political and economic history, even the year of the seizure of the Kyiv land by Lithuania...”

Kyiv was just a marginal trading post of the Khazar Kaganate. And that's all we can say about this area, whose population often changed its composition due to constant wars.

Belarusians and Ukrainians

The Belarusians, before the Russians and Ukrainians, united in a single Polish-Lithuanian state. As for the Ukrainians, the left bank, steppe part of their lands is closely connected with the Don Cossacks and now gravitates towards Russia, while the right bank has always been more independent, focused on its own characteristics, and only its population can be considered true Ukrainians.

So, were there Russians in Rus'? There can be only one answer to this question: it didn’t exist before Peter I. Nowhere. What happened? There were Lithuanian, Finnish, Iranian, Adyghe, Turkic tribes. Western Polish settlers arrived, bringing with them Christian ideas, and the unification of multilingual peoples into a single community began, the language of intertribal communication of which became Slavic - the language of the new faith.

At first, principalities were formed, some of which adopted the Slavic language, but did not at all consider themselves related peoples. Thus, the Novgorod ushkuiniki could attack other city-states and sell prisoners to the Volga Tatars. The Muscovites, without any remorse, fought with the Tver and Ryazan people, not at all considering them blood relatives. And only during the time of Peter I the peoples of the northern Russian principalities united into a single nation, where anyone who converted to Orthodoxy was considered Russian. At this time, a Russian is not necessarily a Slav, but definitely an Orthodox one. And only later the Don, Greben, etc. Cossacks, descendants of the Tatar-Mongols who mixed with the Turkic, Alan and Circassian inhabitants of the southern steppes, joined the Russian nation.

Eastern Slavs Mid-1st millennium AD e. was a turning point for all Slavic tribes of Central and especially Eastern Europe. After the invasion of the Huns, after the departure of the Goths to the west, the time came for the great settlement of the Slavs. They also moved northwest towards

Eastern Slavs (VI-IX centuries) Klyuchevsky devoted not only his History Course to the question of the formation of the Dnieper state, but also the “History of Estates” and the “Boyar Duma”, in which he explored the legal, social and economic consequences of the settlement of the Slavs. One of