In Ancient Rus', people lived in tribes, a tribe made up one big family. All property owned by the tribe was common and indivisible. The father of the clan or family headed the tribe and was its ancestor. The younger ones were obliged to honor and respect the elders, as well as follow their instructions. The Slavs had good health, their bodies were muscular, they easily endured heat and cold, and also made do with a minimum of food and clothing. The ancient Slavs were outwardly very similar in height, fair skin and long dark brown hair. Main value The Slavs believed in freedom and independence.

“All Russians are similar in their way of life, in their love for freedom; they cannot be persuaded to slavery or submission in their country,” as the ancient Byzantine chronicler wrote about them.

According to him, the Slavs were friendly to all foreign guests arriving in their lands, if they came with friendly intentions. Another advantage of the Slavs was that they did not take revenge on their enemies, but released them to their homeland for a ransom. There were cases when the enemy was even left to live in the society of the Slavs as a free person.

The Russians did not fortify their settlements, but built them in hard-to-reach places - on the high banks of lakes and rivers, as well as in swampy areas. Slavic tribes were engaged in cattle breeding, agriculture, fishing and hunting, and also collected roots, mushrooms and berries for the winter. During excavations of Slavic settlements, archaeologists found grains of wheat, rye, barley, millet, oats, buckwheat, peas, hemp - these were the crops that the Slavs of those times were able to domesticate. Some tribes were engaged in breeding horses, goats, sheep and cows. There were entire artisan settlements that made pottery and iron tools. Trade was well developed in ancient Slavic society; they traded furs, wax, honey, weapons, dishes, as well as various jewelry. The Slavs mastered not only rivers and lakes, but also learned to go to sea.

The Old Russian state arose in the 9th century on the territory of Eastern Europe. Under the rule of the princes of the Rurik dynasty, the Finno-Ugric and East Slavic tribes were united. According to historians, at that time about 7,000,000 people lived on the territory of the ancient Russian state. 1,000,000 lived in cities; there were about 300 such small towns.

Population ancient Rus' divided into several groups.

Outstanding Slavic families and tribes became the nobility, its main part being representatives of the Rurik dynasty.

They were helped by squads, and it was from such squads that the boyars were formed. The squads were divided into senior and junior. Prosperous people appeared, such as merchants, land owners, as well as some artisans.

Smerdas Smerdas - small landowners who made up a heterogeneous social legal status group of the population in Ancient Rus' (and in some other Slavic countries). During the period of the XI-XII centuries. S. are, first of all, communal peasants who have lost personal freedom in whole or in part. Along with them, the S. category also included the personally free rural population. During the period of feudal fragmentation (XII-XIII centuries) the term "S." all rural residents of a certain territory were designated (peasants - subjects of the local feudal lord). S.'s personal freedom was limited by the prohibition of transferring under the guardianship of another feudal lord. In the XIV-XV centuries. the concept of peasants in Rus' was replaced by a new one - peasants.

Large legal dictionary. - M.: Infra-M. A. Ya. Sukharev, V. E. Krutskikh, A. Ya. Sukharev. 2003 .

See what "SMERDS" are in other dictionaries:

Communal peasants in Ancient Rus' (9th-14th centuries). Initially free, with development socially economic relations gradually became addicted... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

Smerdy, communal peasants in Ancient Rus' (9th-14th centuries). Initially free, with the development of socio-economic relations they gradually became dependent. Source: Encyclopedia Fatherland ... Russian history

In ancient Russian law, free rural inhabitants were opposed to serfs on the one hand and princely husbands on the other. Dictionary foreign words, included in the Russian language. Pavlenkov F., 1907 ... Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language

Dependent category rural population in Ancient Rus'. Mentioned in Russkaya Pravda, The Tale of Bygone Years, etc. The murder of a scum was punishable by the same fine as the murder of slaves. Their escheated property was inherited by the prince. The word "smerd" ... ... encyclopedic Dictionary

- (smurdi, smardones) social layer of slavs. society early Middle Ages. In sources of the 11th and 12th centuries. S. marked in Kievan Rus(Russkaya Pravda and other sources), in Poland, among the Polabian Slavs; S. may have also been in the Balkans. On the question of... ... Soviet historical encyclopedia

Smerda- – the name of feudally dependent peasants in Ancient Rus' (9th–13th centuries). V.I. Lenin points out that “landowners enslaved the smerds back in the days of “Russian Truth” (Works, vol. 3, p. 170). S., attached to the ground, were operated as... ... Soviet legal dictionary

The name of feudally dependent peasants in Ancient Rus' and in some other Slavic countries. In sources of the 11th and 12th centuries. S. are noted in Kievan Rus (Russkaya Pravda and other sources), in Poland, among the Polabian Slavs. S. in Rus' peasants,... ... Big Soviet encyclopedia

- ... Wikipedia

stinkers- small landowners who made up a heterogeneous group of the population in terms of social and legal status in Ancient Rus' (and in some other Slavic countries). During the period XI-XII centuries. S. are, first of all, communal peasants who have lost personal freedom... ... Large legal dictionary

Smerda- agricultural population of villages. At the beginning of the historical existence of Rus' it was free, and then gradually became dependent on individuals, princes or patrimonial lords. The first written collections of laws are somewhat limited in... ... Cossack dictionary-reference book

Books

• People and customs of Ancient Rus', Romanov B.. Among other books dedicated to the formation of the ancient Russian state, Boris Romanov’s book stands apart. The focus here is not the struggle of princes for power and not military campaigns, but...
• Tsars and Smerds: a novel. Benyukh O.P., Benyukh O.P.. The action of the novel takes place in the outback of Russia and covers the second half of the 20th century. Against this historical background, the life of two main characters is shown - a rural priest and a rural teacher.…

Today our knowledge of Ancient Rus' is similar to mythology. Free people, brave princes and heroes, milk rivers with jelly banks. The real story is less poetic, but no less interesting.

“Kievan Rus” was invented by historians

The name “Kievan Rus” appeared in the 19th century in the works of Mikhail Maksimovich and other historians in memory of the primacy of Kyiv. Already in the very first centuries of Rus', the state consisted of several isolated principalities, living their own lives and completely independently. With the lands nominally subjugated to Kyiv, Rus' was not united. Such a system was common in the early feudal states of Europe, where each feudal lord had the right of ownership of the lands and all the people on them.

Appearance Kyiv princes was not always truly “Slavic” as is commonly imagined. It's all about subtle Kyiv diplomacy, accompanied by dynastic marriages, both with European dynasties and with nomads - Alans, Yases, Polovtsians. The Polovtsian wives of the Russian princes Svyatopolk Izyaslavich and Vsevolod Vladimirovich are known. In some reconstructions, Russian princes have Mongoloid features.

Organs in ancient Russian churches

In Kievan Rus one could see organs and not see bells in churches. Although bells existed in large cathedrals, in small churches they were often replaced by flat bells. After the Mongol conquests, the organs were lost and forgotten, and the first bell makers came again from Western Europe. Musical culture researcher Tatyana Vladyshevskaya writes about organs in the ancient Russian era. One of the frescoes of the St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv, “Buffoons,” depicts a scene with playing the organ.

Western origin

The language of the Old Russian population is considered East Slavic. However, archaeologists and linguists do not entirely agree with this. The ancestors of the Novgorod Slovenes and parts of the Krivichi (Polotsk) arrived not from the southern expanses from the Carpathians to the right bank of the Dnieper, but from the West. Researchers see a West Slavic “trace” in ceramic finds and birch bark records. The prominent historian-researcher Vladimir Sedov is also inclined towards this version. Household items and ritual features are similar among the Ilmen and Baltic Slavs.

How the Novgorodians understood the Kyivans

Novgorod and Pskov dialects differed from other dialects of Ancient Rus'. They contained features inherent in the languages ​​of Polabs and Poles, and even completely archaic, proto-Slavic ones. Well-known parallels: kirky - “church”, hѣde - “gray-haired”. The remaining dialects were very similar to each other, although they were not such a single language as modern Russian. Despite the differences, ordinary Novgorodians and Kyivians could understand each other well: the words reflected the common life of all Slavs.

"White spots" in the most visible place

We know almost nothing about the first Rurikovichs. The events described in The Tale of Bygone Years were already legendary at the time of writing, and the evidence from archaeologists and later chronicles is scarce and ambiguous. Written treaties mention certain Helga, Inger, Sfendoslav, but the dates of events in different sources diverge. The role of the Kyiv “Varangian” Askold in the formation of Russian statehood is also not very clear. And this is not to mention the eternal controversy surrounding the personality of Rurik.

"Capital" was a border fortress

Kyiv was far from being in the center of Russian lands, but was the southern border fortress of Rus', while being located in the very north of modern Ukraine. Cities south of Kyiv and its environs, as a rule, served as centers of nomadic tribes: Torks, Alans, Polovtsians, or were primarily of defensive importance (for example, Pereyaslavl).

Rus' - a slave trading state

An important source of wealth in Ancient Rus' was the slave trade. They traded not only in captured foreigners, but also in Slavs. The latter used in great demand in eastern markets. Arab sources of the 10th-11th centuries vividly describe the path of slaves from Rus' to the countries of the Caliphate and the Mediterranean. The slave trade was beneficial to the princes; large cities on the Volga and Dnieper were centers of the slave trade. Great amount people in Rus' were not free; they could be sold into slavery to foreign merchants for debts. One of the main slave traders were Radonite Jews.

In Kyiv, the Khazars “inherited”

During the reign of the Khazars (IX-X centuries), in addition to the Turkic tribute collectors, there was a large diaspora of Jews in Kyiv. Monuments of that era are still reflected in the “Kiev Letter,” containing correspondence in Hebrew between Kyiv Jews and other Jewish communities. The manuscript is kept in the Cambridge Library. One of the three main Kyiv gates was called Zhidovsky. In one of the early Byzantine documents, Kyiv is called Sambatas, which, according to one version, can be translated from Khazar as “upper fortress.”

Kyiv – Third Rome

Ancient Kyiv before Mongol yoke occupied an area of ​​about 300 hectares during its heyday, the number of churches numbered in the hundreds, and for the first time in the history of Rus', it used a block layout that made the streets orderly. The city was admired by Europeans, Arabs, and Byzantines and was called a rival to Constantinople. However, from all the abundance of that time, almost not a single building remains, not counting the St. Sophia Cathedral, a couple of rebuilt churches and the recreated Golden Gate. The first white-stone church (Desiatinnaya), where Kievans fled from the Mongol raids, was destroyed already in the 13th century

Russian fortresses are older than Rus'

One of the first stone fortresses of Rus' was the stone-earth fortress in Ladoga (Lyubshanskaya, 7th century), founded by the Slovenes. The Scandinavian fortress that stood on the other bank of the Volkhov was still wooden. Built in the era Prophetic Oleg the new stone fortress was no longer inferior to similar fortresses in Europe. It was she who was called Aldegyuborg in the Scandinavian sagas. One of the first strongholds on southern border there was a fortress in Pereyaslavl-Yuzhny. Among Russian cities, only a few could boast of stone defensive architecture. These are Izborsk (XI century), Pskov (XII century) and later Koporye (XIII century). Kyiv in ancient Russian times was almost entirely made of wood. The oldest stone fortress was the castle of Andrei Bogolyubsky near Vladimir, although it is famous more for its decorative part.

The Cyrillic alphabet was almost never used

The Glagolitic alphabet, the first written alphabet of the Slavs, did not take root in Rus', although it was known and could be translated. Glagolitic letters were used only in some documents. It was she who in the first centuries of Rus' was associated with the preacher Kirill and was called the “Cyrillic alphabet”. Glagolitic script was often used as a cryptographic script. The first inscription in the actual Cyrillic alphabet was the strange inscription “goroukhsha” or “gorushna” on a clay vessel from the Gnezdovo mound. The inscription appeared shortly before the baptism of the Kievites. The origin and exact interpretation of this word is still controversial.

Old Russian universe

Lake Ladoga was called “Lake the Great Nevo” after the Neva River. The ending “-o” was common (for example: Onego, Nero, Volgo). The Baltic Sea was called the Varangian Sea, the Black Sea was called the Russian Sea, the Caspian Sea was called the Khvalis Sea, the Azov Sea was called the Surozh Sea, and the White Sea was called the Icy Sea. The Balkan Slavs, on the contrary, called the Aegean Sea the White Sea (Byalo Sea). The Great Don was not called the Don, but its right tributary Seversky Donets. Ural Mountains in the old days it was called the Big Stone.

Heir to Great Moravia

With the decline of Great Moravia, the largest Slavic power of its time, the rise of Kyiv and the gradual Christianization of Rus' began. Thus, the chronicled White Croats came out from under the influence of the collapsing Moravia and fell under the attraction of Rus'. Their neighbors, the Volynians and Buzhanians, had long been involved in Byzantine trade along the Bug, which is why they were known as translators during Oleg’s campaigns. The role of the Moravian scribes, who with the collapse of the state began to be oppressed by the Latins, is unknown, but the most a large number of translations of Great Moravian Christian books (about 39) were found in Kievan Rus.

Without alcohol and sugar

There was no alcoholism as a phenomenon in Rus'. Wine spirit came to the country after Tatar-Mongol yoke, even brewing in the classical form did not work out. The strength of drinks was usually not higher than 1-2%. They drank nutritious honey, as well as intoxicated or infused honey (low alcohol), digests, and kvass.

Ordinary people in Ancient Rus' did not eat butter, did not know spices like mustard and bay leaves, or sugar. They cooked turnips, the table was replete with porridges, dishes from berries and mushrooms. Instead of tea, they drank infusions of fireweed, which would later become known as “Koporo tea” or Ivan tea. Kissels were unsweetened and made from cereals. They also ate a lot of game: pigeons, hares, deer, boars. Traditional dairy dishes were sour cream and cottage cheese.

Two "Bulgarias" in the service of Rus'

These two most powerful neighbors of Rus' had a huge influence on it. After the decline of Moravia, both countries, which arose from the fragments of Great Bulgaria, experienced prosperity. The first country said goodbye to the “Bulgar” past, dissolved in the Slavic majority, converted to Orthodoxy and adopted Byzantine culture. Second after Arab world became Islamic, but retained the Bulgarian language as the state language.

The center of Slavic literature moved to Bulgaria, at that time its territory expanded so much that it included part of the future Rus'. A variant of Old Bulgarian became the language of the Church. It was used in numerous lives and teachings. Bulgaria, in turn, sought to restore order in trade along the Volga, stopping the attacks of foreign bandits and robbers. The normalization of Volga trade provided the princely possessions with an abundance of eastern goods. Bulgaria influenced Rus' with culture and literature, and Bulgaria contributed to its wealth and prosperity.

Forgotten “megacities” of Rus'

Kyiv and Novgorod were not the only ones major cities Rus', it’s not for nothing that in Scandinavia it was nicknamed “Gardarika” (country of cities). Before the rise of Kyiv, one of the largest settlements in all of Eastern and Northern Europe was Gnezdovo, the ancestor city of Smolensk. The name is conditional, since Smolensk itself is located to the side. But perhaps we know his name from the sagas - Surnes. The most populated were also Ladoga, symbolically considered the “first capital,” and the Timerevo settlement near Yaroslavl, which was built opposite the famous neighboring city.

Rus' was baptized by the 12th century

The chronicle baptism of Rus' in 988 (and according to some historians in 990) affected only a small part people, mainly limited to the residents of Kiev and the population of the most major cities. Polotsk was baptized only at the beginning of the 11th century, and at the end of the century - Rostov and Murom, where there were still many Finno-Ugric peoples. Confirming that most ordinary population remained pagans, there were regular uprisings of the Magi, supported by the Smerds (Suzdal in 1024, Rostov and Novgorod in 1071). Dual faith arises later, when Christianity becomes the truly dominant religion.

The Turks also had cities in Rus'

In Kievan Rus there were also completely “non-Slavic” cities. Such was Torchesk, where Prince Vladimir allowed the nomadic Torks to settle, as well as Sakov, Berendichev (named after the Berendeys), Belaya Vezha, where the Khazars and Alans lived, Tmutarakan, inhabited by Greeks, Armenians, Khazars and Circassians. By the 11th-12th centuries, the Pechenegs were no longer a typically nomadic and pagan people; some of them were baptized and settled in the cities of the “black hood” union, subordinate to Rus'. In the old cities on the site or in the vicinity of Rostov, Murom, Beloozero, Yaroslavl, mainly Finno-Ugrians lived. In Murom - Muroma, in Rostov and near Yaroslavl - Merya, in Beloozero - all, in Yuryev - Chud. The names of many important cities are unknown to us - in the 9th–10th centuries there were almost no Slavs in them.

“Rus”, “Roksolania”, “Gardarika” and more

The Balts called the country “Krevia” after the neighboring Krivichi, the Latin “Rutenia”, less often “Roxolania”, took root in Europe, the Scandinavian sagas called Rus' “Gardarika” (country of cities), the Chud and Finns “Venemaa” or “Venaya” (from the Wends), the Arabs called the main population of the country “As-Sakaliba” (Slavs, Sklavins)

Slavs beyond borders

Traces of the Slavs could be found outside the borders of the Rurikovich state. Many cities along the middle Volga and Crimea were multinational and inhabited, among other things, by Slavs. Before the Polovtsian invasion, many Slavic towns existed on the Don. Known Slavic names many Byzantine Black Sea cities - Korchev, Korsun, Surozh, Gusliev. This indicates the constant presence of Russian traders. The Peipus cities of Estland (modern Estonia) - Kolyvan, Yuryev, Bear's Head, Klin - passed into the hands of the Slavs, the Germans, and local tribes with varying degrees of success. Along the Western Dvina, Krivichi settled interspersed with the Balts. In the zone of influence of Russian traders was Nevgin (Daugavpils), in Latgale - Rezhitsa and Ochela. Chronicles constantly mention the campaigns of Russian princes on the Danube and the capture of local cities. For example, the Galician prince Yaroslav Osmomysl “locked the door of the Danube with a key.”

And pirates and nomads

Fugitive people from various volosts of Rus' formed independent associations long before the Cossacks. There were known Berladians who inhabited the southern steppes, the main city of which was Berlady in the Carpathian region. They often attacked Russian cities, but at the same time they took part in joint campaigns with Russian princes. The chronicles also introduce us to the Brodniks, a mixed population of unknown origin who had much in common with the Berladniks.

Sea pirates from Rus' were ushkuiniki. Initially, these were Novgorodians who were engaged in raids and trade on the Volga, Kama, Bulgaria and the Baltic. They even took trips to the Urals - to Ugra. Later they separated from Novgorod and even found their own capital in the city of Khlynov on Vyatka. Perhaps it was the Ushkuiniki, together with the Karelians, who ruined ancient capital Sweden - Sigtun in 1187.

Federal Agency for Health and social development RF

Northern State Medical University

Faculty of Management

TEST

in the discipline History of the Fatherland

on the topic of:

"People and Morals of Ancient Rus'"

student Bobykina Olga Viktorovna

code: EZS – 080802

specialty: 080103.65, course 1

"National economy"

form of study: correspondence

Checked by: teacher Igumnova M.B.

Arkhangelsk

Introduction

1 Appearance ancient Slavs

2 Character of the Slavs

3 Marriage and family relations

4 Economic activities

5 Culture

6 Social structure

7 Religious ideas

Conclusion

List of used literature

INTRODUCTION

There are no doubts reliable information about the origin of the Slavic tribes, since it was so long ago that they were not preserved, and perhaps they did not even exist. Only the Greeks and Romans preserved information about our ancient fatherland.

The initial information about the Slavs was mythical and unreliable and refers to the journey of the Argonauts, committed “12 centuries before the birth of Christ.” Karamzin in his history of the Russian state writes: “... the great part of Europe and Asia, now called Russia, in its temperate climates was originally inhabited, but by wild peoples plunged into the depths of ignorance, who did not mark their existence with any of their own historical monuments.”

The first information about the Slavs was conveyed to us by Herodotus, who wrote in 445 BC, calling them Scythians. "Scythians, called different names, led a nomadic life,...most of all they loved freedom; They didn’t know any arts, except one: “to overtake enemies everywhere, and to hide from them everywhere.”

Speaking about the nature of “Russian Scythia,” Herodotus described it this way: “this land... was an immense plain, smooth and treeless; only between Taurida and the Dnieper estuary were forests... winter lasts there for 8 months, and the air at this time, according to the Scythians, is filled with flying feathers, that is, snow; that the Sea of ​​Azov freezes, the inhabitants ride sleighs through its motionless depths, and even horsemen fight on the water, thick with the cold; that thunder roars and lightning shines only in summer.”

Byzantine chronicles mention the Slavs already at the end of the 5th century, describing “the properties, lifestyle and wars, customs and morals of the Slavs, different from the character of the German and Sarmatian tribes: proof that this people was little known to the Greeks, living in the depths of Russia, Poland, Lithuania, Prussia, in countries remote and seemingly impenetrable to their curiosity.”

The Arab traveler Ibn Rusta writes about Slavic lands like this: “...between the countries of the Pechenegs and the Slavs, the distance is 10 days of travel... The path in this direction goes through the steppes and roadless lands through streams and dense forests. The country of the Slavs is flat and wooded, and they live in it.”

Karamzin writes that the Slavs “under this name, worthy of warlike and brave people, for it can be derived from glory, - and the people whose existence we barely knew have occupied since the sixth century great part Europe".

Thus, without having enough information about where and when the Slavs appeared on the territory modern Russia, let's look at what they were like and how they lived long before the formation of the state.

1 Appearance of the ancient Slavs

Undoubtedly, the nature of the nature where the Slavs lived influenced their constitution, their way of life, and their character.

Severe weather shaped the nature of people's movements themselves. If a milder climate promotes leisurely, measured movements, then “the inhabitant of the midnight lands loves movement, warming his blood with it; loves activities; gets used to enduring frequent changes in air, and is strengthened by patience.” According to the description of modern historians, the Slavs were vigorous, strong, and tireless. It seems possible to quote here, without any comments, an excerpt from Karamzin’s “History of the Russian State”: “Despising the bad weather characteristic of the northern climate, they endured hunger and every need; they ate the coarsest, raw food; surprised the Greeks with their speed; with extreme ease they climbed steep slopes and descended into crevasses; boldly rushed into dangerous swamps and deep rivers. Thinking without a doubt that main beauty a husband has strength in the body, strength in the hands and ease in movements. The Slavs cared little about their appearance: in dirt, in dust, without any neatness in clothing, they appeared in large gatherings of people. The Greeks, condemning this uncleanness, praise their harmony, high growth and manly pleasantness of face. Sunbathing from the hot rays of the sun, they seemed dark, and all, without exception, were fair-haired, like other indigenous Europeans." In his notes to the publication of the above-mentioned work, Karamzin notes: “Some write that the Slavs washed themselves three times throughout their lives: on their birthday, marriage and death.”

In a word, in the descriptions of contemporaries we see the Slavs as healthy, strong, beautiful people.

As for clothing, we have almost no information on this matter. It is only known that it was quite simple and was designed to provide shelter from the weather, bypassing luxury and pretentiousness: “In the 6th century, the Slavs fought without caftans, some even without shirts, in some ports. The skins of animals, forest and domestic, warmed them in cold times. Women wore long dress, decorated with beads and metals mined in war or exchanged with foreign merchants." Some historians even say that clothes were changed only when they had completely lost their suitability.

2 Character of the Slavs

Herodotus describes the character of the ancient Slavs-Scythians as follows: “relying on their courage and numbers, they were not afraid of any enemy; they drank the blood of killed enemies, using their tanned skin instead of clothing, and skulls instead of vessels, and in the form of a sword they worshiped the god of war, as the head of other imaginary gods.” The ambassadors described their people as quiet and peace-loving. But in the 6th century, the Slavs proved to Greece that courage was their natural property. “For some time the Slavs fled battles in open fields and were afraid of fortresses; but having learned how the ranks of the Roman Legions could be broken by a quick and bold attack, they never abandoned battle anywhere, and soon learned to take fortified places. The Greek chronicles do not mention any main or general commander of the Slavs: they had only private leaders; they fought not in a wall, not in closed ranks, but in scattered crowds, and always on foot, following not the general command, not the single thought of the commander, but the inspiration of their own special, personal courage and courage; not knowing the prudent caution that foresees danger and protects people, but rushing straight into the midst of enemies.”

Byzantine historians write that the Slavs, “beyond their usual courage, had a special art of fighting in gorges, hiding in the grass, surprising enemies with an instant attack and taking them prisoner.”

Also incredibly surprising to contemporaries is the art of the Slavs to stay in rivers for a long time and breathe freely through through canes, exposing their end to the surface of the water, which testifies to their ingenuity and patience. " Ancient weapons Slavic consisted of swords, darts, arrows smeared with poison, and large, very heavy shields.”

The courage of the Slavs was also admired, since those captured “endured every torture with amazing firmness, without a cry or groan; they died in agony and did not answer a word to the enemy’s questions about the number and plan of their army.”

But in Peaceful time The Slavs were famous (not to be taken as a tautology!) for their good nature: “they knew neither guile nor anger; preserved the ancient simplicity of morals, unknown to the Greeks of that time; they treated the prisoners friendly and always set a term for their slavery, giving them freedom, either to ransom themselves and return to their fatherland, or to live with them in freedom and brotherhood.”

Equally rare, apparently, in other nations was Slavic hospitality, which has been preserved in our customs and character to this day. “Every traveler was, as it were, sacred to them: they greeted him with affection, treated him with joy, saw him off with a blessing, and handed him over to each other. The owner was responsible to the people for the safety of the stranger, and whoever failed to save the guest from harm or trouble, the neighbors took revenge on him for this insult as if it were their own. When a Slav left his house, he left the door open and food ready for the wanderer. Merchants and artisans willingly visited the Slavs, among whom there were no thieves or robbers among them, but a poor man, who had no way to treat a foreigner well, was allowed to steal everything he needed from a rich neighbor: the important duty of hospitality justified the crime itself.” In addition, “the Slav considered it permissible to steal to treat a wanderer, because with this treat he elevated the glory of an entire clan, an entire village, which therefore looked condescendingly at the theft: it was a treat at the expense of a whole clan.”

Solovyov explains hospitality for a number of reasons: the opportunity to have fun while listening to travel stories; the opportunity to learn a lot of new things: “there was nothing to be afraid of a lonely person, you could learn a lot from him”; religious fear: “every dwelling, the hearth of every house was the seat of the household deity; a wanderer who entered the house was given under the protection of this deity; to offend a wanderer meant to offend the deity”; and, finally, the glorification of a kind: “the stranger, well received and treated, spread good fame about the man and the hospitable race.”

Publications in the Traditions section

Ancient inhabitants of Rus'

And the history of the lands, which today are considered primordially Russian, began long before the appearance of Eastern Slavs states. The Russian plain was inhabited 25 thousand years ago - a site was found near Vladimir ancient man this period. The ancestors of the Balts and Germans lived on the territory of our country, and the first “Muscovites” were from Finno-Ugric tribes. The portal "Culture.RF" collected 7 interesting facts about the residents Central Russia before appearing here Slavic peoples.

The first sites of the Russian Plain

It is believed that people settled on the Russian Plain in the Upper Paleolithic. The site of an ancient man, Sungir near Vladimir, dates back to this period. The age of the site is about 25 thousand years. It was a seasonal hunting camp, which scientists believe was used for two to three thousand years. Today this monument is under the protection of UNESCO.

In the settlement, archaeologists discovered the burial of two boys - 12 and 14 years old. An adult bone filled with ocher was also found here. Researchers found that the bone belonged to the great-great-grandfather of the buried teenagers and had special meaning in the burial: the boys were most likely sacrificed in honor of the fertility cult.

The graves contained spears and darts made from mammoth ivory, as well as disks symbolizing the sun. The children's clothes were embroidered with beads from mammoth ivory - scientists found about 10 thousand of them. The outfits resembled the costumes of today's northern peoples, and after reconstruction they appearance it became clear that the Sungir people could be the ancestors of modern Northern Europeans.

European nomads

In the III–II millennium BC. e. lived on the territory of Central Russia tall people European type with wide faces. They belonged to the community from which the Balts, Germans and Slavs later emerged. This archaeological culture was called Fatyanovo - after the burial ground, which was discovered by archaeologist Alexey Uvarov in 1873. The scientist discovered it near the village of Fatyanovo (today - Yaroslavl district). The second name, “battle ax culture,” arose from the custom of these people to place axes carved from stone in men’s graves. By the way, they buried not only people, but also animals - mainly bears and dogs. The Fatyanovo people revered them as the ancestors of their clan.

The Fatyanovo people roamed, making light dwellings, raising pigs, sheep and goats, and making bone and stone hoes. They transported property on carts and carts.

Scientists have found traces of nomads in the Ivanovo and Yaroslavl, Tver and Kostroma, Nizhny Novgorod and Vladimir, Ryazan and Tula regions, as well as in the foothills of the Urals. Over time, the Fatyanovo people began to be pressed by tribes advancing from the east - part of the people retreated to the west, and the other part mixed with the invaders.

The first Muscovites

From the 8th–7th centuries BC. e. The lands from Vologda to Smolensk were inhabited by the Dyakovo archaeological culture. Only within the borders of modern Moscow, 10 Dyakovo settlements have been discovered - all of them were built on high capes at the confluence of rivers. This is how the oldest settlement arose on the site of the Moscow Kremlin. It is known that the Dyakovites belonged to the Finno-Ugric tribes. It was from their descendants - the Merya and Ves tribes - that we got many of the names of the rivers: Yakhroma, Kashira, Vologda, Vychegda.

The Dyakovites led a sedentary lifestyle - from 50 to 200 people lived in each settlement. From about the 4th century BC. e. Iron spread widely and the prosperity of the clans increased, and therefore predatory raids became more frequent. The Dyakovites began to fortify their settlements with palisades, earthen ramparts and ditches. Their main occupation was cattle breeding: they bred horses. Moreover, horses were practically not used mainly for food, as draft power. The population also hunted: elk and deer, bears and wild boars. The skins of beavers, foxes, martens and otters were used as currency during exchange with other tribes.

The Dyakovites burned the dead and buried them in the “houses of the dead.” Such burials were found in Bereznyaki on the Volga River (today Yaroslavl region), not far from the Savvino-Storozhevsky Monastery in the Moscow region. One of the hypotheses says that Baba Yaga’s fairy-tale hut on chicken legs is the “houses” of the Dyakovites found in the forest.

The ancestral home of the Slavs

Archaeologists and linguists have established that the Slavs separated from the ancient European community in 400 BC. e. By that time, there were already Celts and Italics, Germans and Western Balts, Veneti and Illyrians. According to one version, the ancestral home of the Slavs was the valley between the Vistula and Odra (Oder) rivers in the territory of modern Poland. Other scholars suggest that the Slavs originally settled between the Western Bug and the middle reaches of the Dnieper - today the territory at the intersection of Poland, Ukraine and Belarus. For a long time it was believed that the ancestors of the Slavic peoples came from the Danube - this theory was based on information from the Tale of Bygone Years. Today scientists have recognized it as unscientific.

The Northern European origin of the Slavs was unexpectedly confirmed by the Old English language. It contained many Slavisms - the Angles, Saxons and Jutes who settled the British Isles in the 4th–5th centuries previously lived on the Danish peninsula of Jutland and the lower Elbe. Their neighbors were the Slavs.

"Great Slavic Migration"

Sergey Ivanov. Housing of the Eastern Slavs. Illustration for the collection “Pictures on Russian History”. Edition by Joseph Knebel. 1909

In the 4th century, the lands of the Goths and Romans were invaded by the Huns, Asian nomads who occupied South-Eastern and Central Europe. Fleeing from them, Europeans fled en masse to the west, crowding out other tribes. This is how the Great Migration of Peoples took place for almost three centuries. In history textbooks, the migration of Slavic peoples is explained precisely by this process, but archaeologists emphasize: the Slavs began to settle to the south and east even before the Huns, at the beginning new era. In the 6th century they already made up the bulk of the population of the Avar Kaganate - a state founded in Central Europe Avars.

The real “great Slavic migration” was provoked by a cold snap that began at the end of the 4th century. The coldest over the past 2000 years was the 5th century. At this time, the water level in the North and Baltic seas rose, rivers flooded coastal settlements. Due to flooded fields and the proliferation of swamps, people began to leave the Vistula-Oder region, their ancestral territory, en masse. By the 7th–8th centuries they crossed the border of modern Russia.

Balts near Moscow

In the 9th century, at the time of its formation Old Russian state There was a mixed population on the territory of what is now Central Russia. The indigenous people at that time were the Finno-Ugric peoples and the Balts, the foreign ones were the Slavs and Varangians. In the Tale of Bygone Years, the chronicler listed the tribes that “give tribute to Rus'”: Ves, Merya, Muroma, Cheremis, Mordovians, Chud, Perm, Pechera, Yam, Lithuania, Zimigols, Kors, Narovas and Livs.

On the border of the Moscow, Kaluga and Smolensk regions lived the Golyad tribe, which was finally assimilated only in the 14th century. Probably, the representatives of this people called themselves Galinds, and they came from the Prussian region of Galindia. They spoke a language related to Lithuanian and Latvian. Having moved to the Oka in the 2nd century, the Galinds quickly mixed with the eastern Balts who lived here. As a reminder of this people, we have the Baltic names of the rivers near Moscow: Oka, Dubna, Protva and Istra. According to one version, the word “Moscow” has a Baltic root.

What Slavic tribes lived in Russia

In the Tale of Bygone Years, the author mentioned 15 Slavic tribal unions - three lived on the territory of modern Russia: Slovenes, Krivichi and Vyatichi. Veliky Novgorod, Ladoga, Beloozero, Staraya Russa, etc. were founded in Slovenia. At the time of the formation of the Old Russian state, they paid tribute to the Khazars and lived separately. It was possible to finally annex the lands of the Vyatichi to Ancient Rus' only in the 11th century.