Slavs and their neighbors in the 9th century. Eastern Slavs: settlement, neighbors, occupations, social system. Paganism. Territories and tribes of the Eastern Slavs

As for the Slavs, their oldest place of residence in Europe was, apparently, the northern slopes of the Carpathian Mountains, where the Slavs under the name of Wends and Sklavens were known back in Gothic and Hunnic times. From here the Slavs dispersed in different directions: to the south (Balkan Slavs), to the west (Czechs, Moravians, Poles) and to the east (Russian Slavs). The eastern branch of the Slavs came to the Dnieper, probably back in the 7th century. and, gradually settling [see article Settlement of the Eastern Slavs], reached Lake Ilmen and the upper Oka. Of the Russian Slavs (§ 1), Croats and Volynians (Dulebs, Buzhans) remained near the Carpathians. The Polyans, Drevlyans and Dregovichi were based on the right bank of the Dnieper and on its right tributaries. The Northerners, Radimichi and Vyatichi crossed the Dnieper and settled on its left tributaries, and the Vyatichi managed to advance even to the Oka. The Krivichi also left the Dnieper system to the north, to the upper reaches of the Volga and Western Dvina, and their Slovenian branch occupied the Lake Ilmen system. In their movement up the Dnieper, on the northern and northeastern outskirts of their new settlements, the Slavs came into close proximity with Finnish tribes, Lithuanian tribes and the Khazars.

The wildest of the tribes neighboring the Slavs was the Finnish tribe, which apparently constituted one of the branches of the Mongol race. Within present-day Russia Finns lived from time immemorial, subject to the cultural influence of both the Scythians and Sarmatians, and later the Goths, Turks, Lithuanians and Slavs. Dividing into many small peoples (Chud, Ves, Em, Ests, Merya, Mordovians, Cheremis, Votyaks, Zyryans and many others), the Finns occupied the forest spaces of the entire Russian north with their rare and small settlements. Scattered and without any internal structure, the Finnish hunting peoples remained in primitive savagery and simplicity, easily succumbing to any invasion of their lands. They either quickly submitted to the more cultured newcomers and merged with them, or without any noticeable struggle they ceded their possessions to them and left them to the north or east. Thus, with the gradual settlement of the Slavs in the middle and northern Russia a lot of Finnish lands passed to the Slavs, and the Russified Finnish element peacefully joined the Slavic population. Only occasionally, where Finnish priest-shamans (according to the old Russian name, “magi” and “magicians”) raised their people to fight, did the Finns stand against the Russians. But this struggle invariably ended in the victory of the Slavs, and which began in the 8th-9th centuries. The Russification of the Finns continued steadily and continues to this day. Simultaneously with the Slavic influence on the Finns, a strong influence began on them from outside Volga Bulgarians (Turkic people, called Volga in contrast to the Danube Bulgarians). The nomadic Bulgarians, who came from the lower reaches of the Volga to the mouths of the Kama, settled here and, not content with nomads, built cities in which lively trade began. Arab and Khazar merchants brought their goods here from the south along the Volga (by the way, silver utensils, dishes, bowls, etc.); here they exchanged them for valuable furs delivered from the north along the Kama and upper Volga. Relations with the Arabs and Khazars spread Mohammedanism and some education among the Bulgarians. The main Bulgarian cities (especially the city of Bolgar, or Bulgar, on the Volga itself) became very influential centers for the entire region of the upper Volga and Kama, inhabited by Finnish tribes. The influence of the Bulgarian cities also affected the Russian Slavs, who traded with the Bulgarians and subsequently became enemies with them. Politically, the Volga Bulgarians were not a strong people. Although initially dependent on the Khazars, they had, however, a special khan and kings or princes subordinate to him. With the fall of the Khazar kingdom, the Bulgarians existed independently, but suffered a lot from the Russians and were finally ruined in the 13th century. Tatars (their descendants, the Chuvash, now represent a weak and underdeveloped tribe).

Lithuanian tribes (Lithuania, Zhmud, Latvians, Prussians, Yatvingians, etc.), constituting a special branch of the Aryan tribe, already in ancient times (in the 2nd century AD) inhabited those places where the Slavs later found them. Lithuanian settlements then occupied the basins of the Neman and Western Dvina rivers and reached from the Baltic Sea to the river. Pripyat and the sources of the Dnieper and Volga. Retreating gradually before the Slavs, the Lithuanians concentrated along the Neman and Western Dvina, in the dense forests of the strip closest to the sea, and there they retained their original way of life for a long time. Their tribes were not united; they were divided into separate clans and were at enmity with each other. The religion of the Lithuanians consisted of the deification of the forces of nature (Perkun is the god of thunder), the veneration of deceased ancestors, and was generally at a low level of development. Contrary to old stories about Lithuanian priests and various sanctuaries, it has now been proven that the Lithuanians had neither an influential priestly class nor solemn religious ceremonies. Each family made sacrifices to gods and deities, revered animals and sacred oaks, treated the souls of the dead and practiced fortune-telling. The rough and harsh life of the Lithuanians, their poverty and savagery placed them lower than the Slavs and forced Lithuania to cede to the Slavs those Lithuanian lands to which Russian colonization was directed. Where the Lithuanians directly neighbors the Russians, they noticeably succumb to their cultural influence.

In relation to their Finnish and Lithuanian neighbors, the Russian Slavs felt their superiority and were aggressive. Otherwise it was the case with Khazars . The nomadic Turkic tribe of the Khazars settled firmly in the Caucasus and the southern Russian steppes and began to engage in agriculture, grape growing, fishing and trade. The Khazars spent the winter in cities, and in the summer they moved to the steppe to their meadows, gardens and field work. Since trade routes from Europe to Asia ran through the lands of the Khazars, the Khazar cities that stood on these routes received great trade importance and influence. They became especially famous capital city Itil on the lower Volga, Semender in the Caucasus and the Sarkel fortress (in Russian Belaya Vezha) on the Don near the Volga. They were important markets in which Asian merchants traded with European ones and at the same time Mohammedans, Jews, pagans and Christians converged. The influence of Islam and Jewry was especially strong among the Khazars; the Khazar khan (“khagan” or “khakan”) with his court professed the Jewish faith; Among the people, Mohammedanism was most widespread, but both the Christian faith and paganism persisted. Such diversity of faith led to religious tolerance and attracted settlers from many countries to the Khazars. When in the VIII century. some Russian tribes (Polyans, Northerners, Radimichi, Vyatichi) were conquered by the Khazars; this Khazar yoke was not difficult for the Slavs. It opened up easy access for the Slavs to Khazar markets and drew the Russians into trade with the East. Numerous treasures of Arab coins (dirgems), found in different places in Russia, indicate the development of this eastern trade in the 8th-10th centuries. During these centuries, Rus' was first under direct Khazar rule, and then under significant Khazar influence. In the 10th century, when the Khazars weakened from a stubborn struggle with a new nomadic tribe - the Pechenegs, the Russians themselves began to attack the Khazars and greatly contributed to the fall of the Khazar state.

Among the neighbors and cohabitants of the Russian Slavs were Varangians. They lived “beyond the sea” and came to the Slavs “from beyond the sea.” Not only the Slavs, but also other peoples (Greeks, Arabs, Scandinavians) called the Normans who left Scandinavia for other countries by the name “Varyags” (“Varangs”, “Varings”). Such immigrants began to appear in the 9th century. among the Slavic tribes, on the Volkhov and Dnieper, on the Black Sea and in Greece, in the form of military or trading squads. They traded or were hired by the Russian and Byzantine military service or they were simply looking for prey and plundering where they could. It is difficult to say what exactly forced the Varangians to leave their homeland so often and wander in foreign lands; in that era, in general, the eviction of Normans from the Scandinavian countries to middle and even southern Europe was very large: they attacked England, France, Spain, even Italy. Among the Russian Slavs from the middle of the 9th century. there were so many Varangians and the Slavs were so accustomed to them that the Varangians can be called direct cohabitants of the Russian Slavs. They traded together with the Greeks and Arabs, fought together against common enemies, sometimes quarreled and fought, and either the Varangians subjugated the Slavs, or the Slavs drove the Varangians “overseas” to their homeland. Given the close communication between the Slavs and the Varangians, one would expect the influence of the Varangians on Slavic life. But great influence they apparently did not exist, because culturally the Varangians were not superior to the Slavic population of that era.

Lecture: Peoples and ancient states on Russian territory. East Slavic tribes and their neighbors

East Slavic tribes and their neighbors

Slavic languages ​​belong to the world's most widespread Indo-European language. language family. Therefore, the basis for the formation of the Slavs and other European peoples (Latvians, Lithuanians, Germans, Greeks, Iranians, etc.) was the ancient Indo-European community. According to one version, it was located in the north of Asia Minor (modern Türkiye). From there, at the turn of the 4th-3rd millennium BC. the resettlement of modern Europeans, including Slavs, began.

The ethnogenesis of the Slavs is the subject of scientific debate. Previously, it was believed that the Slavs came from the Danube, but modern researchers claim that the ancestral home of the Slavs is between the Vistula and Odra rivers. Here the settlement of Slavic tribes to the east and south (Balkan Peninsula) began. The first mentions of nationalities on the territory of Russia date back to Bronze Age. In the Bible, historical documents Ancient Greece and the works of Herodotus are mentioned Cimmerians- a union of tribes living on the Crimean Peninsula and the northern parts of the Black Sea region.

In the Northern Black Sea region of the 7th-6th centuries. BC e. Great colonization of the Greeks to the west began. As a result, many city-states of Chersonesus (Sevastopol), Feodosia, Panticapaeum, Fanagria, Olvia, etc. were founded. They were the center of trade in fish, bread, livestock and slaves. In 480 BC. e. Panticapaeum (the current name is Kerch) became the capital of the Bosporus Kingdom - a powerful Greek-barbarian state. At the same time, Iranian-speaking tribes came to the steppe shores of the Black Sea - Scythians. Their main occupation was cattle breeding, agriculture and crafts. Over time, until the 4th century AD. they settled throughout the northern Black Sea region, from the Danube to the Don. Their structure of life is also described by Herodotus. Later they came to these lands Sarmatians, they conquered most of their lands from the Scythians and occupied them with their settlements.

During Great Migration in the IV-VII centuries. n. e. The Northern Black Sea region is becoming a kind of main route for the movement of peoples from east to west. The hegemony of the Sarmatians in the Black Sea steppes passed to those who came from the Baltic gotham who came from Germanic tribes. Goths in the 4th century AD created the first known state in Europe - Oium. Which was soon destroyed by the Huns. The Huns were a nomadic people, living in the area from the Volga to the Danube. They defeated the Roman cities of the Black Sea region and undermined the prosperity of the Slavs of the Middle Dnieper region, depriving them of the opportunity to export grain. The Huns reached their maximum power during the reign of the leader Attila in the 5th century, and were even able to form a state. But after the death of Attila, due to internecine wars between the heirs and other leaders, the state quickly disintegrated, the Huns went beyond the Dnieper. And the Slavs moved to their place and invaded the Balkan Peninsula en masse.

As a result of the Great Migration of Peoples, the single Slavic community split into three branches: western, southern and Eastern Slavs, which in our time are represented by the following peoples:

• Western Slavs(Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Lusatian Serbs);
• South Slavs (Bulgarians, Serbs, Croats, Macedonians, Slovenes, Montenegrins, Bosnian Muslims);
• Eastern Slavs (Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians).

They settled in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe.

All Slavic tribes occupied a significant part of the territory of the East European Plain. The Eastern Slavs settled in the west, starting from the Carpathians and to the northern territories of the Dnieper in the east, from Lake Ladoga in the north to the Middle Dnieper region in the south. The names of the tribes are associated with their habitat (glades - field, Drevlyans - tree - forests, Dregovichi - dryagva - swamp). The largest in terms of population and area were Polyana and Sloven.

Neighbors of the East Slavic tribes

The neighbors of the Slavs were not very numerous Finno-Ugric and Baltic tribes. In the north they neighbored the peoples of the Finno-Ugric group: Ves, Merya, Muroma, Chud, Mordovians, Mari. The East Slavic tribes were more numerous and more developed, so many neighboring tribes became part of them. But not only the Slavs taught their neighbors, the Finno-Ugric tribes instilled in the Slavs many of their beliefs, just like the Baltic ones.

Nestor's "Tale of Bygone Years" preserved the news of the "torture" of the Slavic tribes by the "images". We are talking about Avarah- nomadic people of Central Asian origin. Which in the VI century. AD moved to Central Europe, creating their own state, the Avar Khaganate (in the territory of present-day Hungary). This state controlled all of Eastern Europe, including the Slavic lands. To protect themselves from the constant raids of the Avars, the Slavs began to make weapons, and men gathered a militia. At the end of the 8th century. The Avar state was destroyed by Hungarian troops.

Another neighboring nomadic tribe is the Khazars. They came in the 7th century. also from Asia, settled in the south of the Volga. Where they formed the largest state in Eastern Europe - the Khazar Kaganate (which included the northern territories of the Black Sea region, the Crimean peninsula, North Caucasus, Lower Volga and Caspian region). Under oppression and constant raids, the Slavs living on the steppes had to pay them tribute, mainly in furs. True, the Khazar state allowed the Slavs to trade along the Volga trade route. Destroyed in the 10th century by the Russian army.

The Varangians played an important role in the life of the Eastern Slavs. The most important trade route that connected Scandinavia and Byzantium passed through the territory of the Eastern Slavs. In addition to economic influence, northern neighbors also had political influence. The Norman theory states that it was people from Scandinavia who gave the Eastern Slavs statehood. In the life of the Slavs, the role of Byzantium, which was one of the largest trade, economic, cultural and religious centers of the 9th century, was also great.

As for the Slavs, their oldest place of residence in Europe was, apparently, the northern slopes of the Carpathian Mountains, where the Slavs under the names of Wends, Antes and Sklavens were known back in Roman, Gothic and Hunnic times. From here the Slavs dispersed in different directions: to the south (Balkan Slavs), to the west (Czechs, Moravians, Poles) and to the east (Russian Slavs). The eastern branch of the Slavs came to the Dnieper probably back in the 7th century. and, gradually settling, reached Lake Ilmen and the upper Oka. Of the Russian Slavs near the Carpathians, the Croats and Volynians (Dulebs, Buzhans) remained. The Polyans, Drevlyans and Dregovichi were based on the right bank of the Dnieper and on its right tributaries. The Northerners, Radimichi and Vyatichi crossed the Dnieper and settled on its left tributaries, and the Vyatichi managed to advance even to the Oka. The Krivichi also left the Dnieper system to the north, to the upper reaches of the Volga and West. The Dvina, and their Slovenian industry, occupied the river system of Lake Ilmen. In their movement up the Dnieper, on the northern and northeastern outskirts of their new settlements, the Slavs came into close proximity with the Finnish tribes and gradually pushed them further to the north and northeast. At the same time, in the northwest, the neighbors of the Slavs were the Lithuanian tribes, who were gradually retreating to the Baltic Sea before the pressure of Slavic colonization. On the eastern outskirts, from the steppes, the Slavs, in turn, suffered a lot from the nomadic Asian newcomers. As we already know, the Slavs especially “tormented” the Obras (Avars). Later, the glades, northerners, Radimichi and Vyatichi, who lived east of their other relatives, closer to the steppes, were conquered by the Khazars, one might say, they became part of the Khazar state. This is how the initial neighborhood of the Russian Slavs was determined.

The wildest of all the tribes neighboring the Slavs was the Finnish tribe, which constitutes one of the branches of the Mongol race. Within the boundaries of present-day Russia, the Finns have lived since time immemorial, subject to the influence of both the Scythians and Sarmatians, and later the Goths, Turks, Lithuanians and Slavs. Dividing into many small peoples (Chud, Ves, Em, Ests, Merya, Mordvins, Cheremis, Votyaks, Zyryans and many others), the Finns occupied with their rare settlements the vast forest spaces of the entire Russian north. Scattered and having no internal structure, the weak Finnish peoples remained in primitive savagery and simplicity, easily succumbing to any invasion of their lands. They quickly submitted to the more cultured newcomers and assimilated with them, or without any noticeable struggle they ceded their lands to them and left them to the north or east. Thus, with the gradual settlement of the Slavs in central and northern Russia, the mass of Finnish lands passed to the Slavs, and the Russified Finnish element peacefully joined the Slavic population. Only occasionally, where Finnish shaman priests (according to the old Russian name for “magi” and “magicians”) raised their people to fight, did the Finns stand against the Russians. But this struggle ended with the invariable victory of the Slavs, and what began in the VIII-X centuries. The Russification of the Finns continued steadily and continues to this day. Simultaneously with the Slavic influence on the Finns, a strong influence on them began from the Turkic people of the Volga Bulgarians (named so in contrast to the Danube Bulgarians). The nomadic Bulgarians who came from the lower reaches of the Volga to the mouths of the Kama settled here and, not limiting themselves to nomads, built cities in which lively trade began. Arab and Khazar merchants brought their goods here from the south along the Volga (by the way, silver utensils, dishes, bowls, etc.); here they exchanged them for valuable furs delivered from the north by the Kama and upper Volga. Relations with the Arabs and Khazars spread Mohammedanism and some education among the Bulgarians. Bulgarian cities (especially Bolgar or Bulgar on the Volga itself) became very influential centers for the entire region of the upper Volga and Kama, inhabited by Finnish tribes. The influence of the Bulgarian cities also affected the Russian Slavs, who traded with the Bulgarians and subsequently became enemies with them. Politically, the Volga Bulgarians were not a strong people. Although initially dependent on the Khazars, they had, however, a special khan and many kings or princes subordinate to him. With the fall of the Khazar kingdom, the Bulgarians existed independently, but suffered a lot from Russian raids and were finally ruined in the 13th century. Tatars. Their descendants, the Chuvash, now represent a weak and underdeveloped tribe.

Lithuanian tribes (Lithuania, Zhmud, Latvians, Prussians, Yatvingians, etc.), constituting a special branch of the Aryan tribe, already in ancient times (in the 2nd century AD) inhabited the places where the Slavs later found them. Lithuanian settlements occupied the basins of the Neman and Zap rivers. The Dvinas also reached the river from the Baltic Sea. Pripyat and the sources of the Dnieper and Volga. Retreating gradually before the Slavs, the Lithuanians concentrated along the Neman and Western. Dvina in the dense forests of the strip closest to the sea and there they retained their original way of life for a long time. Their tribes were not united, they were divided into separate clans and were at mutual enmity. The religion of the Lithuanians consisted of the deification of the forces of nature (Perkun is the god of thunder), the veneration of deceased ancestors, and was generally at a low level of development. Contrary to old stories about Lithuanian priests and various sanctuaries, it has now been proven that the Lithuanians had neither an influential priestly class nor solemn religious ceremonies. Each family made sacrifices to gods and deities, revered animals and sacred oaks, treated the souls of the dead and practiced fortune-telling. The rough and harsh life of the Lithuanians, their poverty and savagery placed them lower than the Slavs and forced Lithuania to cede to the Slavs those of its lands to which Russian colonization was directed. Where the Lithuanians directly neighbored the Russians, they noticeably succumbed to their cultural influence.

In relation to their Finnish and Lithuanian neighbors, the Russian Slavs felt their superiority and were aggressive. It was different with the Khazars. The nomadic Turkic tribe of the Khazars settled firmly in the Caucasus and the southern Russian steppes and began to engage in agriculture, grape growing, fishing and trade. The Khazars spent the winter in cities, and in the summer they moved to the steppe to their meadows, gardens and field work. Since trade routes from Europe to Asia ran through the lands of the Khazars, the Khazar cities that stood on these routes received great trade importance and influence. The capital city of Itil on the lower Volga and the Sarkel fortress (in Russian Belaya Vezha) on the Don near the Volga became especially famous. They were huge markets where Asian merchants traded with European ones and at the same time Mohammedans, Jews, pagans and Christians converged. The influence of Islam and Jewry was especially strong among the Khazars; the Khazar khan ("khagan" or "khakan") with his court professed the Jewish faith; Among the people, Mohammedanism was most widespread, but both the Christian faith and paganism persisted. Such diversity of faith led to religious tolerance and attracted settlers from many countries to the Khazars. When in the 8th century some Russian tribes (Polyans, Northerners, Radimichi, Vyatichi) were conquered by the Khazars, this Khazar yoke was not difficult for the Slavs. It opened up easy access for the Slavs to Khazar markets and drew the Russians into trade with the East. Numerous treasures of Arab coins (dirgems), found in different parts of Russia, testify to the development of eastern trade precisely in the 8th and 9th centuries, when Rus' was under direct Khazar rule, and then under significant Khazar influence. Later, in the 10th century, when the Khazars weakened from a stubborn struggle with a new nomadic tribe - the Pechenegs, the Russians themselves began to attack the Khazars and greatly contributed to the fall of the Khazar state.

The list of neighbors of the Russian Slavs must be supplemented with an indication of the Varangians, who were not direct neighbors of the Slavs, but lived “across the sea” and came to the Slavs “from across the sea.” Not only the Slavs, but also other peoples (Greeks, Arabs, Scandinavians) called the Normans who left Scandinavia for other countries by the name “Varyags” (“Varangs”, “Verings”). Such immigrants began to appear in the 9th century. among the Slavic tribes on the Volkhov and Dnieper, on the Black Sea and in Greece in the form of military or trading squads. They traded or were hired into Russian and Byzantine military service, or simply looked for booty and plundered where they could. It is difficult to say what exactly forced the Varangians to leave their homeland so often and wander around foreign lands; In that era, in general, the eviction of Nomanns from the Scandinavian countries to middle and even southern Europe was very large: they attacked England, France, Spain, even Italy. Among the Russian Slavs, from the middle of the 9th century, there were so many Varangians and the Slavs were so accustomed to them that the Varangians can be called direct cohabitants of the Russian Slavs. They traded together with the Greeks and Arabs, fought together against common enemies, sometimes quarreled and fought, and either the Varangians subjugated the Slavs, or the Slavs drove the Varangians “overseas” to their homeland. Given the close communication between the Slavs and the Varangians, one would expect a great influence of the Varangians on Slavic life. But such influence is generally imperceptible - a sign that culturally the Varangians were not superior to the Slavic population of that era.

When starting a conversation about the Eastern Slavs, it is very difficult to be unambiguous. There are practically no surviving sources telling about the Slavs in ancient times. Many historians come to the conclusion that the process of the origin of the Slavs began in the second millennium BC. It is also believed that the Slavs are an isolated part of the Indo-European community.

But the region where the ancestral home of the ancient Slavs was located has not yet been determined. Historians and archaeologists continue to debate where the Slavs came from. It is most often stated, and this is evidenced by Byzantine sources, that the Eastern Slavs already lived in the territory of Central and Eastern Europe in the middle of the 5th century BC. It is also generally accepted that they were divided into three groups:

Weneds (lived in the Vistula River basin) - Western Slavs.

Sklavins (lived between the upper reaches of the Vistula, Danube and Dniester) - southern Slavs.

Ants (lived between the Dnieper and Dniester) - Eastern Slavs.

All historical sources characterize the ancient Slavs as people with the will and love of freedom, differing in temperament strong character, endurance, courage, unity. They were hospitable to strangers, had pagan polytheism and elaborate rituals. Initially there was no particular fragmentation among the Slavs, since the tribal unions had similar languages, customs and laws.

Territories and tribes of the Eastern Slavs

An important question is how the Slavs developed new territories and their settlement in general. There are two main theories about the appearance of the Eastern Slavs in Eastern Europe.

One of them was put forward by the famous Soviet historian, academician B. A. Rybakov. He believed that the Slavs originally lived on the East European Plain. But the famous historians of the 19th century S. M. Solovyov and V. O. Klyuchevsky believed that the Slavs moved from the territories near the Danube.

The final settlement of the Slavic tribes looked like this:

Tribes	Places of resettlement	Cities
	The most numerous tribe settled on the banks of the Dnieper and south of Kyiv
Slovenian Ilmenskie	Settlement around Novgorod, Ladoga and Lake Peipsi	Novgorod, Ladoga
	North of the Western Dvina and the upper reaches of the Volga	Polotsk, Smolensk
Polotsk residents	South of the Western Dvina
Dregovichi	Between the upper reaches of the Neman and the Dnieper, along the Pripyat River
Drevlyans	South of the Pripyat River	Iskorosten
Volynians	Settled south of the Drevlyans, at the source of the Vistula
White Croats	The westernmost tribe, settled between the Dniester and Vistula rivers
	Lived east of the White Croats
	The territory between the Prut and the Dniester
	Between the Dniester and the Southern Bug
Northerners	Territories along the Desna River	Chernigov
Radimichi	They settled between the Dnieper and Desna. In 885 they joined the Old Russian state
	Along the sources of the Oka and Don

Activities of the Eastern Slavs

The main occupation of the Eastern Slavs must include agriculture, which was associated with the characteristics of local soils. Arable farming was common in the steppe regions, and slash-and-burn farming was practiced in forests. The arable land was quickly depleted, and the Slavs moved to new territories. Such farming required a lot of labor; it was difficult to cope with the cultivation of even small plots, and the sharply continental climate did not allow one to count on high yields.

Nevertheless, even in such conditions, the Slavs sowed several varieties of wheat and barley, millet, rye, oats, buckwheat, lentils, peas, hemp, and flax. Turnips, beets, radishes, onions, garlic, and cabbage were grown in the gardens.

The main food product was bread. The ancient Slavs called it “zhito”, which was associated with the Slavic word “to live”.

Slavic farms raised livestock: cows, horses, sheep. The following trades were of great help: hunting, fishing and beekeeping (collecting wild honey). Fur trading became widespread. The fact that the Eastern Slavs settled along the banks of rivers and lakes contributed to the emergence of shipping, trade and various crafts that provided products for exchange. Trade routes also contributed to the emergence of large cities and tribal centers.

Social order and tribal unions

Initially, the Eastern Slavs lived in tribal communities, later they united into tribes. The development of production and the use of draft power (horses and oxen) contributed to the fact that even a small family could cultivate its own plot. Family ties began to weaken, families began to settle separately and plow new plots of land on their own.

The community remained, but now it included not only relatives, but also neighbors. Each family had its own plot of land for cultivation, its own production tools and harvested crops. Private property appeared, but it did not extend to forests, meadows, rivers and lakes. The Slavs enjoyed these benefits together.

IN neighboring community the property status of different families was no longer the same. The best lands began to be concentrated in the hands of elders and military leaders, and they also received most of the spoils from military campaigns.

Rich leaders-princes began to appear at the head of the Slavic tribes. They had their own armed units - squads, and they also collected tribute from the subject population. The collection of tribute was called polyudye.

The 6th century is characterized by the unification of Slavic tribes into unions. The most militarily powerful princes led them. The local nobility gradually strengthened around such princes.

One of these tribal unions, as historians believe, was the unification of the Slavs around the Ros (or Rus) tribe, who lived on the Ros River (a tributary of the Dnieper). Later, according to one of the theories of the origin of the Slavs, this name passed on to all Eastern Slavs, who received the common name “Rus”, and the entire territory became Russian land, or Russia.

Neighbors of the Eastern Slavs

In the 1st millennium BC, in the Northern Black Sea region, the neighbors of the Slavs were the Cimmerians, but after a few centuries they were supplanted by the Scythians, who founded their own state on these lands - the Scythian kingdom. Subsequently, the Sarmatians came from the east to the Don and the Northern Black Sea region.

During the Great Migration of Peoples, the East German tribes of the Goths passed through these lands, then the Huns. All this movement was accompanied by robbery and destruction, which contributed to the resettlement of the Slavs to the north.

Another factor in the resettlement and formation of Slavic tribes were the Turks. It was they who formed the Turkic Kaganate on a vast territory from Mongolia to the Volga.

Movement of various neighbors southern lands contributed to the fact that the Eastern Slavs occupied territories where forest-steppes and swamps predominated. Communities were created here that were more reliably protected from alien attacks.

IN VI-IX centuries the lands of the Eastern Slavs were located from the Oka to the Carpathians and from the Middle Dnieper to the Neva.

Nomad raids

The movement of nomads created a constant danger for the Eastern Slavs. The nomads seized grain and livestock and burned houses. Men, women, and children were taken into slavery. All this required the Slavs to be in constant readiness to repel raids. Every Slavic man was also a part-time warrior. Sometimes they plowed the land armed. History shows that the Slavs successfully coped with the constant onslaught of nomadic tribes and defended their independence.

Customs and beliefs of the Eastern Slavs

The Eastern Slavs were pagans who deified the forces of nature. They worshiped the elements, believed in kinship with various animals, and made sacrifices. The Slavs had a clear annual cycle of agricultural holidays in honor of the sun and the change of seasons. All rituals were aimed at ensuring high yields, as well as the health of people and livestock. The Eastern Slavs did not have uniform ideas about God.

The ancient Slavs did not have temples. All rituals were carried out at stone idols, in groves, meadows and other places revered by them as sacred. We must not forget that all the heroes of fabulous Russian folklore come from that time. The goblin, the brownie, mermaids, mermen and other characters were well known to the Eastern Slavs.

In the divine pantheon of the Eastern Slavs, the leading places were occupied by the following gods. Dazhbog - the god of the Sun, sunlight and fertility, Svarog - the blacksmith god (according to some sources, the supreme god of the Slavs), Stribog - the god of wind and air, Mokosh - the female goddess, Perun - the god of lightning and war. A special place was given to the god of earth and fertility, Veles.

The main pagan priests of the Eastern Slavs were the Magi. They performed all the rituals in the sanctuaries and turned to the gods with various requests. The Magi made various male and female amulets with different spell symbols.

Paganism was a clear reflection of the activities of the Slavs. It was the admiration for the elements and everything connected with it that determined the attitude of the Slavs to agriculture as the main way of life.

Over time, the myths and meanings of pagan culture began to be forgotten, but much has survived to this day in folk art, customs, traditions.

Let's try to look at the ethnic history of our country from the point of view of the above. In those centuries when the history of our Motherland and its peoples began, humanity inhabited the Earth extremely unevenly. At the same time, some peoples lived in the mountains, others in the steppes or dense forests, and still others on the shores of the seas. And everyone created completely special cultures, different from each other, but connected with the landscapes that fed them. It is clear that foresters could productively engage in hunting, for example, get furs and, by selling them, get everything that they lacked. But this could not be done either by the inhabitants of sultry Egypt, where there were no fur-bearing animals, or by the inhabitants of Western Europe, where ermines were so rare that their fur was used only for royal robes, or by the steppe dwellers engaged in cattle breeding. But the steppe people had milk and meat in abundance; they made tasty and nutritious non-perishable cheese and could sell it. To whom? Yes, to the foresters who made carts from wood that the steppe people could ride. And most importantly, the inhabitants of the forests made tar, without which the wheels of the steppe carts could not rotate. The inhabitants of the Mediterranean coast had excellent fish and olives, and goats grazed on the slopes of the Apennines and Pyrenees. So, each nation had its own way of farming, its own way of maintaining life. Consequently, we must begin the study of the history of peoples with a description of the nature and climate of the territories in which they live.

Division by geographical areas It is often arbitrary and does not always coincide with the division into climatic regions. Thus, Europe is divided by an air border corresponding to the January isotherm, which passes through the Baltic states, Western Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. To the east of this border, the average January temperature is negative, winters are cold, frosty, and often dry, and to the west, wet, warm winters predominate, with slush on the ground and fog in the air. The climate in these regions is completely different.

The great scientist, academician A.A. Shakhmatov, who began the practical study of Russian chronicles, exploring the history of the Russian language and its dialects, came to the conclusion that the ancient Slavs originated in the upper reaches of the Vistula, on the banks of the Tisza and on the slopes of the Carpathians. These are modern eastern Hungary and southern Poland. Thus, our ancestors, the Slavs, appeared and first left their mark on history on the border of two climatic regions (Western European - humid and Eastern European - dry with a continental climate), and this territory is especially interesting to us.

During the Great Migration of Peoples, the Slavs advanced west, north and south to the shores of the Baltic, Adriatic and Aegean seas. Their neighbors to the west were Germanic tribes. In the north-east of Europe, the so-called Balts came into contact with the Slavs: Lithuanians, Latvians, Prussians, Yatvingians. These are very ancient peoples who populated the Baltic territory when the glacier left there. They occupied almost empty places and spread quite widely, approximately from today's Penza to Szczecin. Finnish tribes lived to the northeast. There were many of them: Suomi, and Estonians, and “white-eyed Chud” (that was the name of one of these tribes in Rus'). Further on lived the Zyryans, the Chud of Zavolotsk and many other peoples.

Everything was, as already mentioned, quite stable until the 2nd century. AD, when, as a result of a passionary impulse, the Great Migration of Peoples began. And it started like this. Three Gothic squadrons with brave warriors - the Ostrogoths, Visigoths and Gepids - departed from the shores of southern Sweden, which was then called Gothia. They landed at the mouth of the Vistula, climbed to its upper reaches, reached Pripyat, passed the Dnieper steppes and reached the Black Sea. There the Goths, a people accustomed to sailing, built ships and began to raid the former Hellas - Greece. Capturing cities, the Goths plundered them and took their inhabitants prisoner. Greece belonged at that time to the Roman Empire, and Emperor Decius - a terrible persecutor of Christians, a very good commander and a brave man - opposed the Goths, who had already crossed

Danube and invaded the territory of Byzantium. The magnificent Roman infantry, well trained, armed with short swords, more convenient in battle than long ones, faced the skin-clad Goths, who were armed with long spears. It would seem that the Goths had no chance of victory, but, to the surprise of contemporaries, the Roman army was completely defeated because the Goths, skillfully maneuvering, led it into a swamp, where the Romans got stuck ankle-deep. The legions lost their maneuverability; the Goths stabbed the Romans with spears, not giving them the opportunity to engage in battle. Emperor Decius himself also died. This happened in 251.

The Goths became masters of the mouth of the Danube (where the Visigoths settled) and modern Transylvania (where the Gepids settled). To the east, between the Don and the Dniester, the Ostrogoths reigned. Their king Germanarich (IV century), a very warlike and brave man, subjugated almost all of Eastern Europe: the lands of the Mordovians and Meri, the upper reaches of the Volga, almost the entire Dnieper region, the steppes to the Crimea and Crimea itself.

The powerful state of the Goths perished, as often happened, due to the treason of its subjects and the cruelty of the ruler. Germanarich was abandoned by one of the leaders of the Rossomon tribe, subject to the Goths. The old king, who did not tolerate betrayal and was terrible in his rage, ordered the leader’s wife to be torn apart by wild horses. “It’s so scary to kill our sister!” - the brothers of the deceased, Cap and Ammius, were indignant. And then one day at a royal reception they approached Germanarich and, snatching swords from under his clothes, pierced him. But they didn’t kill them: the guards managed to stab them to death earlier. However, Germanarich did not recover from his wounds, was sick all the time and lost the reins of power. And at this time a terrible enemy was approaching from the east - the Huns.

The ancestors of the Huns, the Huns, were a small people that formed in the 4th century. BC. on the territory of Mongolia. In the 3rd century. BC. They were going through difficult times, as the Xianbi nomads were pressing on them from the east, and the Sogdians, whom the Chinese called Yuezhi, were pressing from the west. The Huns' attempts to take part in Chinese civil strife were also unsuccessful. In China at that time there was a unification of the country, known in Chinese historiography as the “war of the kingdoms”. Of the seven kingdoms, one remained, and two-thirds of the country's population died. It was better not to mess with the Chinese, who did not take prisoners. The Huns turned out to be allies of the vanquished, and it turned out that the first Xiongnu Shanyu (ruler) paid tribute to both eastern and western neighbors, and ceded the southern fertile steppes to China. But here the consequences of the passionary push that shapes the ethnos were felt.

The Hun prince named Mode was not loved by his father. His father, a Shanyu, like all Huns and all nomads, had several wives, loved his younger wife and her son very much. He decided to send the unloved Mode to the Sogdians, who demanded a hostage from the Huns. Next, the king planned to raid Sogdiana in order to push the Sogdians to kill their son. But he guessed his father’s intentions and, when the Shanyu began the raid, the prince killed his guard and fled. His escape made such an impression on the Xiongnu warriors that they agreed: Mode is worthy of much. The father had to put his unloved son at the head of one of the state's destinies.

Mode began training warriors. He began to use a whistling arrow (holes were made in its tip, and when fired, it whistled, giving a signal). One day he ordered the soldiers to watch where he would shoot an arrow and shoot their bows in the same direction. He ordered and suddenly shot an arrow at... his favorite horse. Everyone gasped: “Why kill a beautiful animal?” But those who did not shoot had their heads cut off. Then Mode shot his favorite falcon. Those who did not shoot the harmless bird were also beheaded. Then he shot his beloved wife. Those who did not shoot were beheaded. And then, while hunting, he met the Shanyu, his father, and... shot an arrow at him. Shanyu instantly turned into something like a hedgehog - that’s how Mode’s warriors poked him with arrows. No one dared to shoot.

Mode became king in 209. He negotiated peace with the Sogdians, but the eastern nomads, who were called Dong-hu, demanded tribute from him. At first they wanted to get the best horses. “Horse of a Thousand Lines” (li is a Chinese measure of length, approximately equal to 580 m) - this is how the fleet-footed stallion was beautifully called. Some Huns said: “You can’t give away horses.” “You shouldn’t fight over horses,” Mode did not approve of them, and those who did not want to give up their horses, cut off their heads, as was his custom. Then the Dong Hu demanded beautiful women, including the king's wife. To those who said: “How can we give away our wives!” - Mode cut off his head, saying: “Our life and the existence of the state are worth more than women.” Finally, the Dong Hu demanded a piece of empty land, which served as the border between them and the Huns. It was a desert in the east of Mongolia, and some people thought: “This land is not needed, because we don’t live on it.” But Mode said: “The land is the foundation of the state. The land cannot be given away!” And he cut off their heads. After this, he ordered the soldiers to immediately set off on a campaign against Dong Hu. He defeated them because the Huns began to obey him unquestioningly.

Mode then went to war with China. It would seem that this war was unnecessary. The nomads lived in the steppe, and the Chinese lived further south, behind their Great Wall in a humid and warm monsoon valley. But the Huns had reasons to attack China.

Mode's army surrounded the advance detachment of the Chinese, with whom Emperor Liu Bang himself was. The Huns constantly fired at the Chinese detachment with bows, without giving it a break. Chinese Emperor asked for peace. Some of Mode's nobles offered to kill the enemy, but Mode replied: “Fools, why should we kill this Chinese king - they will choose a new one for themselves. Let him live. After all, the main forces of the Chinese are in the rearguard, we have not fought with them yet.” And Mode concluded a treaty of “peace and kinship” with this emperor, the founder of the Han dynasty (198). This meant that both sides would live without encroaching on each other's lands. The Huns were accustomed to roaming the steppe; they were not bothered by the cold. But the Chinese loved the mild climate of the Yellow River Valley and had no intention of going out into the steppe.

There was also a very unpleasant situation in China. The Chinese received silk or horses from the steppes, or luxury goods from the Mediterranean. Corals, purple dye, and jewelry went to the nobility, and silk was taken from the peasants. Everyone wanted to get as much of the precious goods as possible in order to please their wives and daughters by selling them. Naturally, the Chinese developed a system in which everything was done, as they would say today, “through connections.” All the wives and concubines of the emperor (and the emperor was supposed to have a harem) began to push their relatives into the positions of rulers and chiefs. These relatives, having received the right to manage any region, immediately began to put pressure on the peasants in order to obtain money for bribes. Their crimes, naturally, could not remain a secret to the government: the Chinese were constantly writing denunciations against each other, fortunately there were many literate people among them. Governors were executed from time to time. But they, foreseeing a bitter fate, buried treasures in the ground, giving the places to their children. And therefore the government, knowing well the morals of its compatriots, began to execute not only the criminal, but also his entire family.

So, the silk trade turned out to be disastrous for both empires: the Roman and the Chinese.

Meanwhile, the confrontation between the Xiongnu and China continued. And although China had a population of 50 million, and all the Huns were about three hundred thousand, the struggle, caused by the nomads’ need for silk, flour and iron objects, was fought on equal terms. The horses of the Chinese were much worse than the horses of the steppe people. Expeditions to the Xiongnu steppes usually ended in the death of Chinese mounted troops. When the Chinese managed to find out that in Central Asia there were “heavenly stallions” - thoroughbred horses similar to Arabian horses - they sent a military expedition there. Having besieged the city of Guishan (a region of modern Fergana), the Chinese demanded the release of the best stallions. The besieged gave in, and the Chinese, returning with the spoils, began breeding a new breed. Having succeeded in this matter, they began to make successful raids against the Huns. Moreover, they persuaded their nomadic neighbors from the east, north and west to oppose the Huns.

In 93, the Xiongnu Shanyu lost decisive battle, fled west and went missing. The power of the Huns fell apart. Some tribes scattered in the South Siberian steppes, others went to China, because at that time there was a drought in the Great Steppe. The Gobi Desert in northern China began to expand, and the Huns were able to move to the dried-up Chinese fields, where the dry steppes dear to their hearts were formed. Some of the Huns went to Central Asia and reached Semirechye (the region of modern Alma-Ata). This is where the “weakly powerful Huns” settled.

The most desperate ones moved west. They passed through the whole of Kazakhstan and in the 50s of the 2nd century. reached the banks of the Volga, losing most of their women. They were physically unable to endure such a transition, and only the strongest of the men survived.

The Huns quickly settled into new places convenient for cattle breeding, where no one bothered them. They acquired women by raiding the Alans, and having united and intermarried with the Vogul people (Mansi), the Huns created a new ethnic group - the Western Huns, who were as little similar to the old Asian Huns as Texas cowboys were to English farmers. These Western Huns (for simplicity we will call them Huns) started a war with the Goths.

First, the Huns completed the defeat of the Alans, exhausting their strength with endless war. The state of the Huns expanded and occupied the spaces between the Ural (Yaik) and Don rivers. The Goths tried to hold on to the Don line, but they were exhausted by the exhausting struggle with the Slavs. Therefore, when the Huns came to the rear of the Goths through the Kerch Strait, Crimea and Perekop, they fled. The Ostrogoths submitted to the Huns, the Visigoths, having crossed the Danube, ended up in the Roman Empire. The death of the Gothic power provided freedom of action for the Slavs. But the memory of the former dominance in the southern Russian steppes of the Goths, who once captured the Slavic leader Bozh and crucified 70 Slavic elders, was preserved.

Let's return to the Goths who took refuge in Byzantium. They professed Christianity according to the Arian rite, and Nicene Orthodoxy triumphed in the Eastern Roman Empire. Union and friendship did not work out. The Romans demanded that the Goths crossing the Danube surrender their weapons, and they agreed. But when the imperial officials began to rob the Goths, demand bribes from them, take away their wives, children and property, it turned out that the Goths retained enough weapons to raise an uprising. In 378, at Adrianople, the rebels fought with the Romans, defeated them, killed Emperor Valens and approached the walls of Constantinople. Although the city was well fortified, the Goths had every chance of taking it. However, a strange incident helped the Romans.

The Roman army had a detachment of mounted Arabs. The horsemen circled around the foot Goths. One of the Goths fell behind, and the Arab horseman caught up with him and, hitting him with a spear, knocked him down. Then, jumping off his horse, he cut the enemy’s throat, drank blood, threw back his head and... howled. The frightened Goths decided that it was a werewolf. They retreated from Constantinople and went to plunder Macedonia and Greece. Even Theodosius the Great found it difficult to pacify them. But we will leave the ready to settle scores with the Roman Empire and return to Eastern Europe to the Slavs and Rus.

The Slavs took part in the Gothic-Hunnic war and, naturally, on the side of the Huns. Unfortunately for the Huns and Slavs, the great leader and conqueror Attila fell ill in 453 and died. He left behind 70 children and a young widow who had not even lost her virginity. The question of an heir arose: all of Attila’s sons laid claim to their father’s throne, and the conquered tribes supported different princes. Most of the Huns sided with the leader Ellak, but the Gepids and Ostrogoths opposed him. At the Battle of Nedao (the Slavic name for this river is Nedava), the Huns were defeated and Ellak died (454). The Huns' attempts to fight the Byzantines led them to defeat on the Lower Danube. In the east, in the Volga region, the Huns were defeated (463) and the Saragurs were subjugated. Some of the surviving Huns went to Altai, others to the Volga, where, mixing with the aborigines, they formed the Chuvash people. The scene was left empty.

In the VI-VIII centuries. The Slavs, a strong and energetic people, had great success. The population increased not so much through monogamous marriages, but through captive concubines. The Slavs spread to the north, where they were called Wends (this word is still preserved in the Estonian language). In the south they were called Sklavins, in the east - Antes. Ukrainian historian M.Yu. Braichevsky established that the Greek word “anty” means the same as the Slavic “glade”. The feminine word “polyanitsa” has been preserved in the meaning of “hero.” But the word “polyane” is not used in a similar meaning today, since the Turkic word “hero” has forced it out of use.

By the 6th century The Slavs occupied Volyn (Volhynians) and the southern steppes up to the Black Sea (Tivertsy and Ulichi). The Slavs also occupied the Pripyat basin, where the Drevlyans settled, and southern Belarus, where the Dregovichi (“dryagva” - swamp) settled. Western Slavs - the Wends - settled in the northern part of Belarus. In addition, already in the 7th or 8th century. two other West Slavic tribes - the Radimichi and the Vyatichi - spread south and east to the Sozh, a tributary of the Dnieper, and to the Oka, a tributary of the Volga, settling among the local Finno-Ugric tribes.

For the Slavs, it was a disaster to be in the neighborhood of the ancient Rus, who made it their business to raid their neighbors. At one time, the Rus, defeated by the Goths, fled partly to the east, partly to the south to the lower reaches of the Danube, from where they came to Austria, where they became dependent on the Heruls of Odoacer ( further fate we are not interested in this branch). Part of the Rus, who went to the east, occupied three cities, which became support bases for their further campaigns. These were Cuyaba (Kyiv), Arzania (Beloozero?) and Staraya Rusa. The Rus robbed their neighbors, killed their men, and sold the captured children and women to slave traders.

The Slavs settled in small groups in villages; It was difficult for them to defend themselves against the Russians, who turned out to be terrible robbers. Everything of value became the booty of the Rus. And furs, honey, wax and children were valuable then. The unequal struggle lasted a long time and ended in favor of the Russians when Rurik came to power.

Rurik's biography is not easy. By “profession” he was a Varangian, that is, a hired warrior. By origin - Russian. It seems he had connections with the southern Baltic. He allegedly traveled to Denmark, where he met with the Frankish king Charles the Bald. Afterwards, in 862, he returned to Novgorod, where he seized power with the help of a certain elder Gostomysl. (We do not know for sure whether the word “Gosgomysl” means a person’s own name or a common noun for someone who “thinks,” that is, sympathizes with “guests” - aliens.) Soon an uprising broke out in Novgorod against Rurik, led by Vadim the Brave. But Rurik killed Vadim and again subjugated Novgorod and the surrounding areas: Ladoga, Beloozero and Izborsk.

There is a legend about two brothers of Rurik, Sineus and Truvor, which arose as a result of a misunderstanding of the words of the chronicle: “Rurik, his relatives (sine hus) and warriors (thru voring).” Rurik planted the warriors in Izborsk, sent his relatives further to Beloozero, and himself, relying on Ladoga, where there was a Varangian village, settled in Novgorod. Thus, by subjugating the surrounding Slavs, Finno-Ugrians and Balts, he created his own state.

According to the chronicle, Rurik died in 879, leaving a son named Igor, Ingvar in Scandinavian, that is, “younger.” Since Igor, according to the chronicler, was “detesk velmi” (“very small”), according to the chronicler, power was taken over by a governor named Helgi, that is, Oleg. “Helgi” was not even a name, but a title of Scandinavian leaders, meaning both “sorcerer” and “military leader.” Oleg and his soldiers moved along the great path from the “Varangians to the Greeks”: from Novgorod to the south along the Lovat River, where there was a transfer, and further along the Dnieper, simultaneously occupying Smolensk. The Varangians Oleg and young Igor approached Kyiv. Then the Slavs lived there and Askold’s small Russian squad stood there. Oleg lured Askold and the Slavic leader Dir to the banks of the Dnieper and treacherously killed them there. After this, the people of Kiev submitted to the new rulers without any resistance. This happened in 882.

Oleg occupied Pskov and in 883 betrothed the young Igor to the Pskovite Olga. Olga is feminine named Oleg. Here we most likely encounter the title again, without knowing the real name of the historical person. Probably Olga, like Igor, was a child at the time of the engagement.

By the 9th century. the split in Slavic unity led to the creation of new, previously non-existent peoples. As a result of the mixing of the Slavs with the Illyrians, Serbs and Croats appeared, and in Thrace the mixing with newcomer nomads laid the foundation for the Bulgarian ethnos. Some Slavic tribes penetrated into Greece and Macedonia, reaching the Peloponnese, which they called Morea (from the word “sea”). The growing passionarity of the Slavs scattered them throughout Europe.