Vikings, Rus, Varangians: The "Varangian Problem" in View of Ethnicity in Archaeology

The Scandinavian activity in Russia during the Viking Age has left traces in both the archaeological and the written material. In the 13th century Russian annals, "The Primary Chronicle", a story is told ofhow "Varangians from beyond the sea" founded the first Russian realm. The Varangians have been interpreted as Scandinavians, and the archaeological material has been connected with this story. This has resulted in a scientific debate, which in many cases has been steered by nationalistic feelings and political aims.

Old-Russian Stribog and his Ancient Greek Brother Astray

The essay analyses the name of a pagan God of the Ancient Rus Stribog, who was mentioned in “The Russian Primary Chronicle” and “The Tale of the Igor’s Campaign” and its connection with the ancient Greek mythology. The article suggests that an old-Russian god Stribog is similar to the ancient Greek god Astray, the father of the famous gods of winds, Boreas — the god of cold northern wind, Zephyr — the god of warm western wind, Anemoi — the god of hot southern wind and Eurus — the god of unstable eastern or south-eastern wind, who are often associated with the winds they symbolize in Russian poetry. The similarity of Stribog and Astray lays not only in their origins, but in the common root str-. The article concludes that because god Astray is not only the farther of the gods of the winds, but also the father of Venus and other stars, it is arguable that Stribog is both the grandfather of the winds and the Slavic god of the night sky.

Ban as a Political Instrument in the Russian Church of the Middle 11th Century New Data about Luka Zhidyata

The article deals with the biography of Luka Zhidyata, the Bishop of Novgorod. The mention of the consecration of St. Sophia of Novgorod by him probably dates back to the “Primary Chronicle”. Information of the chronicles about his three-year suspension and imprisonment in Kiev is compared with the norms of Byzantine canon law. The only rule by which Luka could be subjected to such punishment is a ban for clerics to play dice or communicate with the players. Such an accusation clarifies the role of his servant Dudika in in Luka’s process. The reason for the punishment of Luka by Metropolitan Ephraim was not revenge after Yaroslav's death for his participating in the election of Hilarion and the appointment of new Russian bishops in 1051, but rather the precarious political situation of Ephraim himself after 1054 and Luka's possible attempt to obtain the status of archbishopric for Novgorod.

Architecture and Dynasty

This chapter sketches the political and geographic environment in pre-Petrine Rus´ that favored architecture as a major but little-investigated arena for symbolic action by the ruler. It mentions rulers from Saint Vladimir to Peter the Great that made architecture a useful tool for state-building in order to demonstrate their power and define their image. It also points out that architectural construction, whether of churches, fortifications, or palaces, was avidly noted in chronicles from the Primary Chronicle to the Nikon Chronicle and beyond. The chapter elaborates the ways that Boris Godunov used architecture in order to make a useful case study as architecture in relation to the pre-Petrine period finds too little place in discussions of political history. It provides access to some perceptions of Godunov's architectural efforts and gauges how successful those efforts were.

РАННИЕ СЛАВЯНЕ В ПОВЕСТИ ВРЕМЕННЫХ ЛЕТ МИФЫ ЛЕТОПИСЦЕВ И ИСТОРИОГРАФИИ

The author of the Primary Chronicle (PC) had a dual purpose of proving the legitimacy of the dynasty of Scandinavian origin and recording the traditions of the ethnic Scandinavian and Slavic populations. The author of this paper endeavours to analyse the authenticity of information provided in the PC concerning the origin of early Slavs. Before a critical method of studying medieval narrative texts was developed in the late 19th and the early 20th century, the authenticity of medieval chronicles had not been questioned. Therefore, the 19th century historiography treated all the information from medieval texts as authentic. In Russian historiography it was A.A. Shakhmatov who while dealing with the PC, laid down the foundations of the critical method in dealing with chronicles. He was the founder of the famous school of historical philology which has placed text analysis at its centre. Despite this approach, a “new hypothesis” appeared in the last decades of the 20th century (see the linguistic theory of O.N. Trubachev) gained wide publicity both in Russia and abroad. Trubachev’s theory did not take into conssideration the results of either text analysis or the findings of archaeology and was a return to the position from the 19th century. The author of the paper shows that this theory was a blind alley.

THE MYSTERY OF «OLEH TOMB»: KYIV OR LADOGA?

Described in Primary Chronicle under 912 the story of the unusual circumstances of the death of Kyiv pagan prince Oleh the Prophetic is connected to Kyiv topographic realities, contemporary for chronist, in particular, to the toponym «Oleh Tomb», also known from other sources. According to this chronicle Oleh Tomb was placed on the hill Shchekovytsya but the exact localization of the latter is not provided. In the middle of the 19th century Kyiv people called Shchekovytsya the high hill rising over the Podil on the west side. In the works of the later Kyiv scholars this hill was unequivocally identified with Chronicle Shchekovytsya where they localized the grave of Oleh. This view was challenged by P. G. Lebedyntsev who suggested localizate the Oleh Tomb not on Shchekovytsya / Skavitsya but on the western slope of the Starokyivsky Plateau, on Kudryavka, opposite the Lybid’ River, near the Zhidovsky (Lviv) Gate of Medieval Kyiv. Basing on the analysis of Kyiv Chronicle information the scientist concluded that the toponym «Oleh Tomb» is separated from Shchekovytsya in the annals. The explanation of this contradiction in the chronicle was proposed by one of the best experts in the historical topography of Old Kyiv — M. I. Petrov. He suggested that under the name of Shchekovytsya one should consider not only the Podil hill but also all surrounding ravines and highlands. The Shchekovytsya ridge of mountains and hills stretched from the east to the southwest from the present Shchekovitsa hill to the edge of the present Lviv Square. The common for whole this territory name Shchekovytsya became gradually decay due to the large scale construction of the city in the 18th century and the appearance of proper names of new urban areas. The version of the death and burial of Oleh in Ladoga where one of the central and largest hills got the name «Oleh Tomb» is still popular in historiography, especially Russian. This mound was explored by archaeologists. The cremation burial was discovered under the barrow. It was dated to earlier (9th century) time than the date of Oleh death. Because of the impossibility of this «grave» to be burial place of the Prince of Kyiv, G. S. Lebedev has proposed to consider it the «Oleh Hill» — a «ritual seat» which had some public and religious functions. Despite the hypothetical nature of such interpretation the ghost of Oleh finds the visible features in Ladoga. At the end of the last century in Old Ladoga the stone was erected on that mound with a memorial plaque proclaiming this site of the 9th—10th centuries «The tomb of Prince Oleh the Prophetic». The story of the death of Kyiv pagan prince Oleh the Prophetic «due to horse» contained in the Primary Chronicle under 912 was compilled, apparently, on the base of some archaic mythological song or historical anecdote. It wins over not its factual authenticity but psychological one. However, there is no reason to doubt that Oleh died in Kyiv. The death of the prince, who was crowned with warrior glory, prompted his followers to muse about the choice of a place for the building of the great barrow over his grave. The slopes of the Lysa Gora (Yurkovytsia), where the pagan necropolis had already been laid near Oleh courtyard, probably seemed them to be cramped. This may have been the reason for choosing among the highlands, which rise above the Podil, the beautiful terrain of Kudryavka in the upper reaches of the Hlybochytsa river. The barrow built in the 10th century was probably quite large which explains the relatively long life of «Oleh Tomb» in the Kyiv toponimic.

THE CHERNIHIV SIVERIANS

Issues considers the emerging of East Slavic cities is one of the main challenges for contemporary Medieval studies. This challenge refers mainly to Polians, Drevlians, Severians and other tribes and tribal unions which are mentioned in some of Kyiv Rus manuscripts. The paper deals with the description of localization and finding in Chernihiv city the artifacts defined as the ones belonging to Romenska culture, which, in historical studies, identified as Severians (who was mentioned by Primary Chronicle). Some scholars (e. g. P. Tolochko), accept the hypothesis of Slavs (from Primary Chronicle) having had the cities. The others (e. g. Yu. Yu. Morgunov) are skeptical to this claim. Some historians (namely, A. V. Kuza) debate on series of material evidences — the empirical facts referring to some of inhabited localities which used to be Old Rus city of the period of feudal period. However, the major part of Severian centers showed no differences from other Old Rus centers, and their socio-topographical components looked in a similar way — mainly represented by the nexus of dytynets and posad. This is the core of skeptical theory, who, however, forget about early Slavonic and Kyiv Rus cities and centers are urban organisms existed not synchronically but diachronically — in the two different epochs: the former existed in times of prehistoric societies collapse, while the latter may be considered as «epiphenomenon» of early Slavonic centers, which inherits them culturally. Some Severians centers (such as Lubech, Snovsk or Radychiv) exceeded by fortifications area even some Old Rus cities. Severians tended to choose high terraces as dwelling places, which is exemplified by Novgorod-Siverskiy, Snovsk, Lubech and in Chernihiv particularly.