Ancient people in works. Ancient measures in fiction

Fate is a rather complex concept and has not yet been fully studied by anyone. Some believe that man himself is the arbiter of his own destiny, while others believe that there is Someone - God, or a Higher Mind, who determines not only the duration of human life, but also the events occurring in it. However, to what category can we include predictions made by writers and poets on the pages of literary works? After all, it often happens that the author first described some event, and only years, or even centuries later, does it come true. It is still unknown how and why science fiction writers were able to “guess” and even to some extent predict many future events. An example is the novel “Futility,” written by Morgan Robertson, an author little known to a wide circle of science fiction fans. The novel takes place on board a ship called the Titan.

E readers. Those who thought of comparing the main characteristics of the ship were horrified: the length of the ship was 243 m (the Titanic had 269 m), it moved at a speed of 25 knots (like the Titanic), both ships - both the fictional and the real - there were 4 pipes and 3 screws. We won’t list the other characteristics of the ships: believe me, they are almost identical. According to the plot of the work, on a cold April night, the Titan ship, considered unsinkable, does not slow down. Hit an iceberg and drowned. 14 years after the publication of the novel, a ship with a similar name, the Titanic, set off on its first voyage. In April 1912, a disaster occurred: moving at night at high speed, the ship collided with an iceberg and died.
The amazing similarity of events did not end there: the writer also indicated the reason for the death of thousands of passengers who did not have enough lifeboats. So what is this - a simple coincidence or a prediction of events?
This story has a continuation. On an April night in 1935, seaman William Reeves stood watch at the bow of the English steamship Titanian, bound for Canada. It was deep midnight, Reeves, impressed by the novel Futility he had just read, suddenly realized that there were shocking similarities between the Titanic disaster and the fictional event. Then the thought flashed through the mind of the sailor that his ship was also in currently crosses the ocean where both the Titan and the Titanic found their eternal rest. Then Reeves remembered that his birthday coincided with the exact date the Titanic sank under water - April 14, 1912. At this thought, the sailor was seized with indescribable horror. It seemed to him that fate was preparing something unexpected for him.
Being under strong impression, Reeves gave a danger signal, and the steamship's engines immediately stopped. The crew members ran out onto the deck: everyone wanted to know the reason for such a sudden stop. Imagine the amazement of the sailors when they saw the ship stopping right in front of the iceberg emerging from the darkness of the night. This means that if Reeves had dismissed his thoughts, the ship would have repeated the fate of both ships discussed above. In 1866, British journalist E.W. Stead also wrote a story about the Majestic, which sank after hitting an iceberg in the North Atlantic. The name of its captain - E. Smith - coincided with the name of the real-life captain of the Titanic liner. It is interesting that Stead, who spent his entire life studying many phenomena, including the role of predictions for a person’s future life, did not pay attention to his own prophecy. E. W. Stead, back in 1912, boarded the most unsinkable ship in the world, which found its icy grave in the Atlantic.

What about the work of the famous American science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke? In 1947, he published his first literary creation - a story about landing a man on the moon. Moreover, the author accurately indicated the geographical characteristics of this celestial body. Not much time passed before the events described in A. Clark’s story came to life.

During the years of Soviet power, a unique prophetic work was under the greatest ban

A. Bogdanov “Red Star”, written by him in 1904.
In this book, which can be called a dystopia, the writer foresaw not only the tragic events in Russia, but also the symbolism of the new state indicated in the title of the novel. And here is what F. M. Dostoevsky wrote in his “Diary of a Writer forty years before the tragic events in Russia: “A terrible, colossal ... revolution is expected, which will shake all countries by changing the face of the world. But this will require a hundred million heads. The whole world will be flooded with rivers of blood... The revolt will begin with atheism and the robbery of all wealth, they will begin to overthrow religion, destroy temples and turn them into stalls, they will flood the world with blood, and then they themselves will be afraid.”
Here the writer predicted the approximate number of victims of the coming revolution (100 million), and in “Demons” - its timing. Petenka Verkhovensky to the question: “When will it all start?” - answered: “In about fifty years... It will begin at Maslenitsa (February), end after the Intercession (October).”
The gift of foresight inherent in some writers is shrouded in a haze of mystery. Even centuries later, he continues to surprise and amaze scientists, who still cannot understand how geniuses artistic word managed to create works that are inherently prophetic.

Prophecies of Russian writers and poets about the future of Russia

We find a whole series of similar breakthroughs into the future and premonitions of it among Russian writers and poets. As in everyday life, these premonitions most often relate to disastrous, catastrophic events.

Almost a hundred years before the revolution and what followed it, Mikhail Lermontov wrote prophetic lines:
The year will come, Russia's black year,
When the kings crown falls;
The mob will forget their former love for them,
And the food of many will be death and blood;
When children, when innocent wives
The overthrown will not be protected by the law...

This was written many years before the overthrow and murder of the last Russian emperor and his family, before the mass executions and camps.

The artistic insights of Russian writers about the events of the coming era are too numerous to be explained by mere coincidence. Among the brilliant insights are lines from some Russian poets about their own death.

Mikhail Lermontov wrote in his poem “Dream”:
In the midday heat in the valley of Dagestan
With lead in my chest I lay motionless;
The deep wound was still smoking,
Drop by drop my blood flowed.

Less than a year had passed since the poet died in a duel during his stay in the Caucasus. Nikolai Gumilyov “saw” in one of his poems a craftsman making a bullet intended for him.
The bullet cast by them will find my chest.

If you read his poems “The Death of a Poet” today, then every line in it clearly corresponds to the life fate of the author - who took the baton from the great Pushkin... “The poet died! - a slave of honor - fell slandered by rumors... He rebelled against the opinions of the world alone, as before, ... and was killed!

In a letter to A.Ya. Bulgakov, P.A. Vyazemsky wrote on August 4, 1841: “...They shoot at our poetry more successfully... They don’t miss the second time. Sad! Yes. I feel sorry for Lermontov, especially after learning that he was killed so inhumanely. At least a French hand was aiming at Pushkin, but it was a sin for a Russian hand to aim at Lermontov..."

It is no coincidence that Boris Pasternak warned his contemporaries-poets against predicting their own death in poetry.
Let us recall Dostoevsky’s prophetic lines from his “Diary of a Writer” for 1877:
“A terrible, colossal spontaneous revolution is foreseen, which will shake all the kingdoms of the world by changing the face of the entire world. But this will require a hundred million heads. The whole world will be flooded with rivers of blood.”
“The revolt will begin with atheism and the robbery of all wealth. They will begin to overthrow religion, destroy temples and turn them into stalls, flood the world with blood, and then they themselves will be afraid..."

Moreover, these prophetic lines were written forty years before the events of 1917, when in public life there seemed to be not the slightest sign of an impending national tragedy. It is not surprising that for the next seventy years the new rulers of Russia preferred not to refer to these lines.

All these years, Alexander Bogdanov’s prophetic dystopia “Red Star” was also banned, in which back in 1904 he foresaw not only the features of the impending totalitarian rule, but even its symbolism, included in the title of the novel.

Among the prophecies and non-random coincidences, there are those when a Russian person does not know whether to cry or laugh. Half a century before the Bolshevik revolution, the satirist Saltykov-Shchedrin wrote the story “The History of a City,” where under the “city of Foolov” more than one generation of Russian readers recognized the country in which they lived. The tyrant governor, says Shchedrin, as soon as he assumed power over the unfortunate city, canceled all holidays, leaving only two. One was celebrated in the spring, the other in the fall. This is exactly what the Bolsheviks did in the very first years of their rule, abolishing all traditional holidays in the country. Of the holidays they introduced, one was celebrated in the spring (May 1), the other in the fall (November 7). The coincidences don't end there. At Shchedrin's spring holiday“serves as a preparation for the coming disasters.” For the Bolsheviks, May 1 was always “the day of review of the fighting forces of the proletariat” and was accompanied by calls for intensifying the class struggle and for the overthrow of capitalism. In other words, he was focused on future disasters. As for the autumn holiday, according to Shchedrin, it is dedicated to “memories of the disasters already experienced.” And as if on purpose or in mockery, November 7, a holiday established by the Bolsheviks, was dedicated to the memory of the bloodshed of the revolution.

Deadly prophecies often appeared against the will of the authors from random, inadvertently thrown words, explains Alexander Sergeevich. - But these words were recorded on paper and, therefore, took on an independent life. And the life of words has its own laws and consequences. First of all, these consequences concern those who uttered these words. See for yourself.

The most striking case is found in the poem by Nikolai RUBTSOV “I will die in the Epiphany frosts.” He died on January 19 - the very day when Orthodox Epiphany is celebrated.

Playwright Alexander VAMPILOV casually scribbled in his notebook: “I know - I will never be old”. And so it happened: he drowned in Lake Baikal a few days before his 35th birthday. Poet and musician Yuri VIZBOR wrote the song “In Memory of the Departed” in 1978, which contains the following line: “How I want to live another hundred years - well, maybe not a hundred, at least half.” It was as if Vizbor himself measured out his earthly term - he lived exactly 50 years.

Vladimir VYSOTSKY is not very good at one thing famous poem predicted the time of his death: “Life is an alphabet: I’m somewhere already in the “tse-che-she-shche” - I’ll leave this summer in a crimson cloak.” The poems were written in early 1980. This summer, on July 25, Vysotsky passed away.

When Valentin PIKUL passed away, his wife found in his library a book with a blind spine, and it contained a creative will that ended with the words: “This was written by Pikul Valentin Savich, Russian, born July 13, 1928, died July 13, 19... of the year". This was written in 1959, and he died on July 16, 1990, having made a mistake in the number by only three days.

Hints of untimely death are found in the works of Sergei YESENIN, Vladimir MAYAKOVSKY, Nikolai GUMILEV, Vsevolod BAGRITSKY, Vasily SHUKSHIN, Marcel PROUST, Heinrich IBSEN, Paul FLEMING.

For example, a flight of fancy allows a genius who sees a self-propelled carriage or a hot air balloon to immediately “predict” traffic jams on the roads of the world and space teeming with interplanetary travelers.

Another thing is predicting one's death. There is an opinion that creative people do not predict the future at all, but rather model it. After all, some of the poetic lines resemble spells like “I want to die young!” Mirra Lokhvitskaya. If we agree that the word is material and has powerful energy, then it is logical to assume that these dangerous phrases can attract troubles to the person who uttered them.

No wonder the wise Akhmatova warned her overly impudent fellow writers: “Poets, do not predict your death - it will come true!”

Literary forecasts for the twentieth century...

Jonathan Swift

(1667 - 1745)

WHAT PRECISED

In the book " Trips Gulliver" (1726), astronomers of Laputa, the country where Gulliver ended up, discovered the presence of two satellites on the planet Mars. And in the chapter dedicated to the Great Academy of Lagado, there is a description of “a machine for the discovery of abstract truths.”

WHAT HAPPENED

The discovery of Phobos and Deimos occurred only one and a half hundred years after the publication of the novel. And in the description of the strange machine one can guess the invention of a “thinking device,” that is, a computer.

Vladimir Odoevsky

(1803 -1869)

WHAT PRECISED

The novel “Year 4338” (1835) tells that in the future the main means of transportation will be air and underground transport. This is how the hero describes his journey to Russia from China: “We flew through the Himalayan tunnel with lightning speed, but in the Caspian tunnel... we had to get out of the electric ship, magnificently illuminated by galvanic lamps.” The novel talks about the exploration of the Moon, which is “uninhabited and serves only as a source of supply for the Earth,” as well as about “electric conversations” that will replace correspondence.

WHAT HAPPENED

Tunnels and electric ships resemble the descriptions of the subway. By the way, the first experimental electric locomotive was built in Germany in 1879. And it was not easy to foresee the use of “galvanic lamps”: Lodygin’s carbon lamp was patented in 1874, Yablochkov’s “candle” in 1876, and Edison’s incandescent lamp in 1879. And the Caspian tunnel, through which the electric ship rushes from China, is laid under the bottom seas- also a very progressive thought for that time. The first practically usable telephone was patented only in 1876. Scientists started talking about using lunar rocks for the Earth’s energy supply only in the second half of the 20th century.

Jules Verne

(1828 - 1905)

WHAT PRECISED

In the novels “From the Earth to the Moon” (1865), “Around the Moon” (1870) and “Paris in the Twentieth Century” (1863), Verne’s heroes “overshot” the Moon and never landed on its surface, then safely circled the Earth’s satellite and returned to Earth. In the third book, the streets of Paris are filled with hydrogen-powered cars, and documents are transmitted using a device that closely resembles a modern fax machine.

WHAT HAPPENED

In the first case, the plot is similar to the fate of the crew of the American ship Apollo 13, which exactly one hundred years later - in April 1970 - was unable to land on the Moon. But even more interesting are the parallels between Vernov’s spacecraft and Apollo 8, which in 1968 made the first manned flight around the Moon. Both devices - both literary and real - had a crew of three people. Their sizes and weights were approximately the same. Both started from the United States. Even the areas of the launch pads coincided! In addition, hydrogen cars are becoming a reality today. But faxes are becoming a thing of the past as unnecessary.

H.G. Wells

(1866 - 1946)

WHAT PRECISED

In his works, he “invented” biological weapons, artificial insemination, and a technique for introducing nutrients directly into the blood. Back in the 1910s, he spoke about the enormous role of nuclear energy in the life of mankind and predicted that in the future high-speed aviation would switch to swept wings. In The War of the Worlds (1898), Wells describes the action of a heat ray similar to a modern laser, and in When the Sleeper Awake (1899) - “strange technical devices, on the smooth surface of which bright colored pictures with moving figures appear.”

WHAT HAPPENED

Wells was many decades ahead of scientific and technological progress. Aircraft designers arrived at the correct wing design only 20 years after the writer’s prediction. In the last century, lasers appeared, including combat ones. The author’s description of the late nineteenth century television and VCR is very impressive.

Arthur Clarke

(b. 1917)

WHAT PRECISED

In 1945, he seriously talked about launching communications satellites into low-Earth orbit. He also claimed that man would land on the moon before the year 2000, and suggested the appearance of phones with a camera, teletext and opportunity create messages and an intercom built into a wristwatch.

WHAT HAPPENED

Less than half a century has passed since the Earth’s orbit was literally filled with such satellites. His other scientific “discoveries” have already come into use today.

Compared to these prophecies, the predictions of other authors look much paler. But let us still remember that sound recording devices appeared in Cyrano de BERGERAC’s “States and Empires of the Moon” (1655), the first robots- in Karel Czapek’s play “R.U.R.” (1920), the calculator is found in Isaac Asimov's "Foundation" (1951), the player is found in Ray BRADBURY's book "Fahrenheit 451" (1953).

...FOR THE COMING CENTURIES

By 2519, Europe will go wild

Having looked through literary works, you can try to look into the future

Wilhelm Küchelbecker in his “European Letters” (1820) assumed that by 2519 Europe would go wild: London and Paris would disappear from the face of the Earth, and Spain would be populated by certain Guerilasses, who would wander from valley to valley and rob merchants and travelers.

British humorist Jerome K. Jerome in his story “The New Utopia” (1891) looks all the way into the 29th century. There we will find a world in which Universal and Absolute Equality reigns - people are obliged to wear the same clothes, wash and eat at the same time. Names will be replaced by numbers (we also find a similar prediction in Yevgeny Zamyatin’s dystopia “We”, 1924), and if someone’s intelligence turns out to be above average, then the brain of such a person will be “averaged” by surgeons.

As for scientific discoveries and technological achievements, here are just a few predictions:

2023 - creation of a superintelligent robot (“Turing Option” by Robert Minsky and Harry Harrison).

2119 - the appearance of a universal cure for all diseases (Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, “Noon, XXII century”).

2122 - discovery of extraterrestrial life on Tagore’s planet, with whose population earthlings will establish contact in 2124 (Strugatsky, “Noon, XXII Century”).

23rd century - the invention of the psychosynthesizer, a device for materializing images that arise in the human brain (Grigory Temkin, “The Bonfire”).

XXIV century - houses will be built on the basis of the “theory of four-dimensional cubes”. Here the interior will be updated by itself, and the rooms will move from floor to floor so that the owner does not get bored (Robert Heinlein, “The House That Teal Built”).

Science fiction writers also predict the invention of photographs that convey smell, sound and moving images (Joe Haldeman, “The Right to Earth”), the appearance of luminous implants that will be implanted into the human body instead of jewelry (Paul Di Filippo, “Problems of Survival”) and much more.

Man began to create from the moment of his appearance. Scientists still find paintings, sculptures and other artifacts of impressive age today. We collected 10 ancient works art found at different times and in different parts of the world. And there is no doubt that women were the source of inspiration for the ancient masters.

1. Prehistoric rock art - 700 - 300 thousand years BC.

The oldest samples Prehistoric rock art found to date is a form of pictograms called cups by archaeologists, sometimes carved with longitudinal grooves. Cups are depressions carved into walls and rock tops. At the same time, they are often orderedly arranged in rows and columns. Such rock artifacts have been found on all continents. Some indigenous peoples in Central Australia still use them today. The oldest example of such art can be found in the Bhimbetka cave in central India.

2. Sculptures - 230,000 – 800,000 BC

The oldest sculpture of a human being is the Venus of Hole Fels, which is 40,000 years old. However, there is a much older statue, the authenticity of which is heavily debated. This statue, discovered in the Golan Heights in Israel, was named Venus of Berekhat Ram. If this is in fact a real sculpture, then it is older than Neanderthals and was probably made by the predecessor of Homo sapiens, namely Homo erectus. The figurine was discovered between two layers of volcanic rock and soil, radiological analysis of which showed a staggering age of between 233,000 and 800,000 years. Controversy over the figurine's discovery intensified after the discovery of a figurine called "Tan-Tan" in nearby Morocco, which was between 300,000 and 500,000 years old.

3. Drawings on the shells of ostrich eggs - 60,000 BC.

Ostrich eggs were important tool in many early cultures, and decorating their shells became an important form of self-expression for people. In 2010, researchers from Diepkloof in South Africa discovered a large cache containing 270 fragments of ostrich eggs, which were decorated with decorative and symbolic designs. The two different main motifs in these designs were hatched stripes and parallel or converging lines.

4. The oldest cave paintings in Europe - 42,300 – 43,500 BC.

Until recently, it was thought that Neanderthals did not know how to create works of art. That changed in 2012, when researchers working in the Nerja caves in Malaga, Spain discovered paintings that were older than famous drawings in the Chauvet Cave in southeastern France for more than 10,000 years. Six drawings on the cave walls were made with charcoal, and radiocarbon dating showed that they were created between 42,300 and 43,500 BC.

5. Oldest handprints - 37,900 BC

Some of the oldest paintings ever created have been found on the walls of caves in Sulawesi, Indonesia. They are almost 35.5 years old and almost as old as the paintings at El Castillo Cave (40,800 years old) and the cave paintings at Chauvet Cave (37,000 years old). But the most original images in Sulawesi are 12 ocher handprints that are at least 39,900 years old.

6. Oldest bone figurines - 30,000 BC.

In 2007, archaeologists from the University of Tübingen carried out excavations on a plateau in Baden-Württemberg in Germany. They discovered a cache of small animals carved from bone. Bone figurines were made no less than 35,000 years ago. Five more figurines carved from mammoth ivory were discovered in the Vogelherd cave in southwest Germany. Among these finds were the remains of two lion figurines, two fragments of mammoth figurines, and two unidentified animals. Radiocarbon dating and the rock layer in which they were found indicate that the bone sculptures were made during the Aurignacian culture, which is associated with the first appearance modern man in Europe. Tests show that the figures are 30,000 – 36,000 years old.

7. The oldest ceramic figurine - 24,000 – 27,000 BC.

The Vestonice Venus is similar to other Venus figurines that are found around the world, and is an 11.3-centimeter nude female figure With big breasts and wide hips. It is the first known ceramic sculpture made from fired clay, and it predates the period in which fired clay began to be widely used to make tableware and figurines by 14,000 years. The figurine was discovered during excavations on July 13, 1925 in Dolní Vestonice, South Moravia, Czechoslovakia.

8. The first landscape painting - 6000 - 8000 BC.

The Çatalhöyük painting is the oldest known in the world landscape painting. However, this claim is disputed by many scholars who claim that it is a depiction of abstract shapes as well as leopard skin. What it really is, no one knows. In 1963, archaeologist James Mellaart was excavating at Çatalhöyük (modern Turkey), one of the largest Stone Age cities to be found. He discovered that one of the many frescoes used to decorate the home, he believed, depicted a view of the city, with the Hasan Dag volcano erupting nearby. A study conducted in 2013 partially confirmed his theory that it was in fact a landscape. It was discovered that there was a volcanic eruption near the ancient city during that time period.

9. Earliest Christian illuminated manuscript - 330-650 AD

In medieval times and earlier, books were an extremely scarce commodity, and were considered virtually treasures. Christian scribes decorated the covers of books with precious stones and painted the pages with calligraphic patterns. In 2010, researchers discovered the Gospel of Garima in a remote monastery in Ethiopia. This Christian manuscript was originally thought to have been written in 1100, but carbon dating showed the book to be much older, dating from 330-650 AD. This remarkable book may be associated with the time of Abba Garima, the founder of the monastery where the book was discovered. Legend has it that he wrote the Gospel in one day. To help him with this task, God stopped the movement of the Sun until the book was completed.

10. The oldest oil painting is from the 7th century AD.

In 2008, in the Bamiyan cave monastery in Afghanistan, scientists discovered the world's oldest oil painting. Since 2003, scientists from Japan, Europe and the United States have been working to preserve as much art as possible from the Bamiyan monastery, which was dilapidated by the Taliban. In the labyrinth of caves, walls were discovered covered with frescoes and paintings depicting Buddha and other mythological characters. The researchers believe that studying these images will provide invaluable information about cultural exchanges along in different parts light on the Silk Road.

It is worth noting that today, among peaceful pastorals, noble portraits and other works of art that only evoke positive emotions, there are strange and shocking paintings, such as .

Bazarova Yana

Ancient measures in works of art. Historical reference. Ancient measures in proverbs and sayings.

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Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Belarus

Ivolginsky district

Municipal educational institution Suzhinskaya secondary school

Scientific and practical conference for primary school students

"First steps"

Ancient measures in fiction.

Suzhinskaya secondary school of Ivolginsky district

Home address: With. Nurseleniya, 14 a

Phone: 89503825382

Supervisor: Tugutova Tuyana Leonidovna

Phone:89140526432

With. Suzha

2014

1. Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………...3 - 4

2. Main part. Ancient measures in works of art…4-9

2. 1. Ancient measures. Historical background…………………………...4

2.2. Ancient measures of length…………………………………4 -8

3. Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………9

3.1. Questionnaire “Do you know ancient measures?” for primary school students………………………………………………………8

3.2. Conclusions and results obtained…………………………………...8-9

4. List of sources and literature used………………….....10

5. Applications.

1. Introduction

A thousand years ago, the Russian people had not only their own system of measures, but also state control over the measures. By the end of the 18th century, this system had become the only national system of measures in the world.

When I was little and couldn’t read, the fairy tales and stories that I listened to from my mother and grandmother were always understandable. The time has come, I became a reader, and here a huge number of different questions appeared.

Problem of my research work:

Not all the words I came across in the texts were familiar. Most of them are ancient measurements of length, weight, volume. As it turned out later, understanding these measures causes difficulties for many children. In modern language we almost never use them. Only when reading works of fiction do we come across these concepts. But, nevertheless, we must know the meanings of the measures. After all, this is our story. I was interested in this topic, and I decided to seriously study the units of measurement of length, weight, volume, as well as monetary units, based on works of different genres. It’s not for nothing that the Russian saying folk proverb: “You can’t weave a bast without measure.”

In my opinion, the relevance The chosen topic is that it is still possible to learn about ancient measures only from specialized literature or from old people. This is very inconvenient, because quite often these measuring units are found at Russian language olympiads, where it is required to reveal the meaning of this word, in mathematics competitions, difficulties arise when solving problems with such measurements. In addition, there is no single textbook or manual where ancient measures would be collected. Therefore, I decided to compile and print an illustrated dictionary of these words. This dictionary contains material that covers the meaning of the most commonly used units of measurement, as well as excerpts from works of fiction that I have read.

Target:

Explore the meaning and use of ancient units of length in works of art.

Tasks:

1. Study and analyze in various sources vintage units measurements;
2. To trace how these dimensions or the words denoting them have been preserved in modern Russian;
3. Systematize the information received;
4. Compile a dictionary of ancient length measures.

I was prompted to do research work on the chosen topic by my acquaintance with proverbs, sayings, fairy tales, and original texts, which we work with in class, as well as outside of class.

The meaning of proverbs and sayings, texts in which these measures are found, remained unclear. I believe that ignorance of them would be a manifestation of disrespect for the history of one’s country.

In our research work, we turn to the following sources: an explanatory dictionary of the Russian language, a reference book on mathematics, an encyclopedic dictionary on mathematics, a phraseological dictionary of the Russian language, works studied according to the program.

2. Main part. Ancient measures in works of art.

2. 1. Ancient measures. Historical reference.

Most of the old measures have been forgotten and fallen out of use, but many of them are in literary works, historical monuments. The Mers lived, sometimes grew old and died, sometimes were reborn to a new life. The history of measures is part of the history of mankind.

In Rus', improvised household utensils were used as a unit of volume measurement. Basic Russian measures of volume of liquids -bucket, bottle, mug, cup, scale, barrel.

The Russian people used such weight measures aspood, half a pood, spool, steelyard, kad.

There were monetary measures in use:altyn, hryvnia, penny, half, nickel, half.

2.2. Ancient length measures.

Arshin - arshin measure came into use as a result of the development of trade with eastern peoples (from Persian arsh – elbow). It is equal to 71 cm 12 mm . He came to Rus' together with merchants from distant countries. Eastern merchants, when measuring fabrics, did without any meters: they stretched the fabric over their own arm, up to the shoulder. That's what it was called measure by arshins.

Although the measure was very convenient, it had a significant drawback: unfortunately, everyone’s hands are different. The cunning merchants quickly realized that they needed to look for clerks with shorter arms: the same piece, but more arshins. But one day this came to an end. Selling “at your own yard” was strictly prohibited by the authorities. Only government-issued arshins were allowed to be consumed.

State arshin - a ruler, the length of someone’s hand, was made in Moscow, then copies were made from it and sent to all parts of Russia. To prevent the wooden arshin from being shortened, its ends were bound with iron and marked with a seal.

Tens of years are no longer measured in arshins, but this word has not been forgotten. We still find this measure of length in proverbs and sayings.

For example:

He sees three arshins into the ground! – about an attentive, perspicacious person from whom nothing can be hidden.

He measures to his own yardstick. Each merchant has his own arshin measures - about a person who judges everything one-sidedly, based on his own interests.

Arshin for a caftan, and two for patches.

Write about other people's sins arshin , and about our own - in lowercase letters.

Sits and walks as if arshin swallowed - about an unnaturally straightforward person.

On an arshin beard, but smart enough -about an adult but stupid person.

You write in arshin letters - very large.

A.S. Pushkin "The Tale of Tsar Saltan, of his glorious son and mighty hero Prince Guidon Saltanovich and the beautiful Swan Princess" -

Meanwhile how far away he is

It beats long and hard,

The time of birth is coming;

God gave them a son arshin.

On the back with two humps

Yes, with arshin ears.

F.I. Tyutchev -
You can't understand Russia with your mind,

Arshin cannot be measured.

To the poor animals;
There's less left underneath them arshin land wide...

Versta - Russian travel measure. Initially, the distance from one turn of the plow to another during plowing. Verst length 1060 m.
Kolomenskaya verst – “Big” is a humorous name for a very tall person. It dates back to the times of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, who reigned from 1645 to 1676

Boundary mile existed in Rus' until the 18th century. To determine the distance between settlements and for land surveying (from the word boundary - the border of land holdings in the form of a narrow strip). The length of such a mile 1000 fathoms, or 2.13 km.

This measure is often found in works of different genres.

Moscow verst far away, but close to my heart- this is how Russian people characterized their attitude towards the capital.

Love is not measured by miles. A hundred miles is not a detour for a young man - distance cannot be an obstacle to love.From word to deed - whole verst.

Verstoy closer - a nickel cheaper. A mile away if you fall behind, you'll catch up by ten- even a small lag is very difficult to overcome.

You can see him a mile away - a well-known person.

To lie - seven miles to the sky and all through the forest.
Seven miles away They were looking for a mosquito, but the mosquito was on their nose.
From thought to thought five thousand verst
Hunter seven miles away goes to sip jelly .

Stretch a mile , don't be simple.

Epics "Volga Svyatoslavovich" -

Here Volga turned into a bay aurochs with golden horns and ran towards the Indian kingdom: he made the first jump - for a mile away left, and disappeared with the second one from view.

Russian fairy tale "Fight on Kalinov Bridge» -

A six-headed snake rides out from Miracle Yudo,
how it breathes on all sides -
on three miles I burned everything with fire.

A.S. Pushkin “Winter Road” -

No fire, no black house
Wilderness and snow meet me.
Only miles striped
Come across one.

N.A. Nekrasov “General Toptygin” -

And the horses are even more afraid -

We didn't take a break!

Verst fifteen at full speed

Poor guys got away!

P.P. Ershov “The Little Humpbacked Horse” -

The little hunchback flies like the wind,
And almost on the first evening
Verst waved away a hundred thousand,
And I didn’t rest anywhere.

Vershok - an ancient Russian measure of length equal to the width of two fingers (index and middle).

Vershok equaled1/16 arshin, 1/4 quarter. In modern terms - 4.44cm . The name "Vershok" comes from the word "top".

In the literature we often encounter this measure.

For example:

Two inches from the pot, and already a pointer - a young man who has no life experience, but arrogantly teaches everyone.

She has Saturday through Friday for two an inch came out - about a sloppy woman whose undershirt is longer than her skirt.

P.P. Ershov “The Little Humpbacked Horse” -

At the end of three days,
I will give you two horses -
Yes, the same as today
There was no trace of it,
Moreover, I have the face of a horse, only three tall inch
On the back with two humps and arshin ears

Fathom (from squat – to reach something, to reach) dates back to the 11th century.

In everyday life there were different fathoms - flywheel and oblique. So,

Flywheel – the distance between the arms outstretched in both directions along the ends of the outstretched middle fingers; 1 fly fathom – 1m 76 cm.

Oblique – from the heel of the right foot to the tips of the fingers of the left hand extended upward, i.e. near 248 cm.

Sometimes they say about a person:“There is a slant in the shoulders fathom ".

Here are examples of the use of this measure in works:

You are an inch away from the truth (from service), and it is within an inch away from you. fathom.

N.A. Nekrasov “Grandfather Mazai and the Hares” -

Every minute the water was rising
To the poor animals;
There is less than an arshin of land left under them in width,
less fathoms in length.

The epic "Alyosha Popovich and Tugarin" -

I saw Tugarin Zmeevich.

Is he, Tugarin, three tall? fathom.

There is a red-hot arrow between the eyes.

Span (or span) - an ancient measure of length equal to approximately a quarter of an arshin, that is, a fourth of 71.1 cm. Simple calculations show that in a span there were about 18 centimeters.

The Old Russian “span” goes back to the common Slavic verb “five” - to stretch. Therefore, the following expressions occur:

Don't give up an inch - not to give even the smallest amount.

Seven spans in the forehead - about a very smart person.

Elbow - the distance in a straight line from the elbow to the end of the extended middle finger.

The cubit was widely used in trade as a particularly convenient measure. In the retail trade of canvas, cloth, and linen, the cubit was the main measure. No wonder they said:"He's as small as a fingernail, and his beard is as big as elbow ".

3. Conclusion.

1. Questionnaire “Do you know the ancient measures?

23 students took part in the survey junior classes. The purpose of this work was to determine the level of awareness of the children on this issue, as well as to identify interest in the topic. The results of the work done are presented in the table, from which it can be seen that my peers do not know ancient measuring units well, so I would like to help them. I think that if you convince the guys that the importance of this topic is enormous and that it is interesting to work on it, then the next survey will show a different result.

1. Conclusions and results obtained.

In my work I:

• I found works where these measures are mentioned and cited excerpts from them;
• showed the basic relationships between ancient and modern measures;
• I found illustrations that reveal this topic in the most accessible and understandable way.

As a result, I came to the following conclusions:

• the materials collected in this dictionary will help children work on works of different genres for a more complete understanding of their content;
• I think that it would be right if in each grade, starting from the first, similar working dictionaries would be kept, where I would enter the measures found in the text, as well as excerpts from the work itself.

I want my research work to attract the attention of many inquisitive schoolchildren, to become a necessary good assistant for students in preparing for competitions, for olympiads, and in working on projects. And those who show an increased interest in mathematics and literary reading can find a lot of interesting and educational material here. This work brought me great pleasure.

List of sources and literature used:

1. A.I. Molotkov. Phraseological dictionary of the Russian language. M.: “Russian language”, 1986. 543 pp.
2. V. I. Dal. Dictionary Russian language. M.: Astrel, 2001
3. E.A. Bystrova. Educational phraseological dictionary of the Russian language. M.: "AST-LTD", 1997. 304 pp.
4. I. Depman. Measures and the metric system. - M.: Education, 1953
5. Ozhegov S.I., Shvedova N.Yu. Explanatory dictionary of the Russian language. M. Azbukovnik, 1997
6. A short encyclopedic reference book on mathematics. – M., 2003
7. Proverbs. Sayings. Puzzles. – M. Sovremennik, 1986

Material culture (from the Latin materia and cultura - cultivation, processing) as a set of objects created by man, is included in the world of the work. However, there is no single term to designate objects of material culture depicted in literature. Thus, A.G. Tseitlin calls them “things,” “details of everyday life, what painters include in the concept of “interior”.” But material culture is firmly inscribed not only in the interior, but also in the landscape (with the exception of the so-called wild landscape), and in the portrait (since costume, jewelry, etc. are part of it
). A.I. Beletsky proposes the term “still life”, by which he means “an image of things - tools and results of production - an artificial environment created by man...”. This term from the field of painting has not taken root in literary criticism. And for A.P. Chudakov’s “thing in literature” is a very broad concept: he does not distinguish between a “natural or man-made” object, which removes at the terminological level an extremely important concept: material culture/nature. Here, by things we mean only man-made objects, elements of material culture (although the latter cannot be reduced to things, including also diverse processes).
The material world in a literary work correlates with objects of material culture in reality. In this sense, according to the creations “long ago days gone by“It is possible to reconstruct material life. So, R.S. Lipets in his book “Epic and Ancient Rus'” convincingly proves what was said by S.K. Shambinago’s assumption about the genetic connection between the life of epics and the everyday life of Russian princes. The reality of white stone chambers, gilded roofs, unchanging white oak tables, at which the heroes sit, drinking honey drinks from their brothers and accepting rich gifts from the prince for faithful service, has also been proven by archaeological excavations. “Despite the abundance of poetic images, metaphors, generalized epic situations, despite the broken chronology and the displacement of a number of events, epics are all excellent and one-of-a-kind historical sources...”
The depiction of objects of material culture in literature is evolving. And this reflects changes in the relationship between man and thing in real life. At the dawn of civilization, a thing is the crown of human creation, evidence of wisdom and skill. Aesthetics heroic epic implied descriptions of things of “ultimate perfection, highest completeness...”.
The bipod's bipod is maple, the bipod's horns are damask, the bipod's bipod's horn is silver, and the bipod's horn is red and gold.
(Bylina “Volga and Mikula”)
Storytellers are always attentive to the “white stone chambers”, their decoration, bright objects, to fabrics on which the “pattern is cunning”, jewelry, magnificent feast bowls.
Often the very process of creating a thing is captured, as in Homer’s Iliad, where Hephaestus forges Achilles’ battle armor:
And at first he worked as a shield, both huge and strong, decorating everything gracefully; he drew a circle around it, white, shiny, triple; and attached a silver belt. The shield consisted of five sheets and on a vast circle God made many wondrous things according to his creative plans...
(Song XVIII. Translated by N. Gnedich)
Attitude towards objects of material culture as an achievement human mind This is demonstrated especially clearly by the Age of Enlightenment. The pathos of D. Defoe's novel “Robinson Crusoe” is a hymn to labor and civilization. Robinson embarks on risky raft trips to a stranded ship in order to transport the things he needs to the shore of a desert island. More than eleven times he transports numerous “fruits of civilization” on rafts. In more detail Defoe describes these things. The hero’s most “precious find” is a carpenter’s box with working tools, for which, by his own admission, he would give a whole ship full of gold. There are also hunting rifles, pistols, sabers, nails, screwdrivers, axes, sharpeners, two iron crowbars, a bag of shot, a barrel of gunpowder, a bundle of sheet iron, ropes, provisions, and clothing. Everything with which Robinson must “conquer” the wild nature.
In the literature of the 19th-20th centuries. There have been different trends in the depiction of things. The human Master, homo faber, is still revered, and objects made by skillful hands are valued. Examples of such an image of things are given, for example, by the work of N.S. Leskova. Numerous objects described in his works - a “steel flea” of Tula masters (“Lefty”), an icon of Old Believer icon painters (“Sealed Angel”), gifts from a dwarf from the novel “Soborians”, crafts by Rogozhin from “A Seedy Family”, etc. - “trace of skill” of Leskov’s heroes.
However, the writers also sensitively grasped another facet in the relationship between a person and a thing: the material value of the latter can overshadow a person; he is assessed by society by how much expensive things possesses. And a person is often likened to a thing. This is the dying cry of the heroine of the play by A.N. Ostrovsky’s “Dowry”: “A thing... yes, a thing! They are right, I am a thing, not a person.” And in the artistic world of A.P. Chekhov's things: the piano on which Kotik ("Ionych") plays, pots of sour cream, jugs of milk surrounding the hero of the story "Literature Teacher" - often embody the vulgarity and monotony of provincial life.
In the 20th century More than one poetic spear has been broken in the fight against materialism - the slavish dependence of people on the things around them:
The owner dies, but his things remain,
They don’t care about things, about other people’s, human misfortunes.
At the hour of your death, even the cups on the shelves do not break,
And the rows of sparkling glasses do not melt like pieces of ice.
Maybe you shouldn’t try too hard for things...
(V. Shefner. “Things”)
The intimate connection between a person and a thing, characteristic especially of the Middle Ages, where things often have proper names(remember the sword Durendal, which belongs to the main character of “The Song of Roland”). There are a lot of things, but they are standard, there are almost of them! do not notice. At the same time, their “inventory lists” can be! ominously self-sufficient - so, mainly through long lists of numerous purchases replacing each other, the life of the heroes of the story by the French writer J. Perec “Things” is shown.
With the development of technology, the range of things depicted in literature expands. They began to write about giant factories, about the hellish punitive machine (“In the Penal Colony” by F. Kafka), about the machine of times, about computer systems, about robots in human form (modern science fiction novels). But at the same time, alarms about the downside of scientific and technological progress are becoming increasingly louder. In Russian Soviet prose and poetry of the 20th century. “machine fighting motifs” are heard primarily among peasant poets - S. Yesenin, N. Klyuev, S. Klychkov, P. Oreshin, S. Drozhzhin; the authors of the so-called “ village prose" - V. Astafieva, V. Belova, V. Rasputina. And this is not surprising: after all, the peasant way of life suffered most from the continuous industrialization of the country. Entire villages are dying out, destroyed (“Farewell to Matera” by V. Rasputin), folk ideas about beauty, “lada” (the book of the same name by V. Belov), etc. are eradicated from people’s memory. In modern literature it is increasingly heard; warning about an environmental disaster (“The Last Pastoral” by A. Adamovich). All this reflects the real processes occurring in a person’s relationship with things created by his hands, but often beyond his control.
At the same time, a thing in a literary work acts as an element of the conditional, art world. And in contrast to reality, the boundaries between things and humans, living and nonliving, here can be unsteady. Thus, Russian folk tales provide numerous examples of the “humanization” of things. Literary characters can be a “stove” (“Geese-Swans”), a doll; (“Baba Yaga”), etc. This tradition is continued by both Russian and foreign literature: “ Tin soldier» G.H. Andersen, “The Blue Bird” by M. Maeterlinck, “Mystery-bouffe” by V. Mayakovsky, “Until the Third Rooster” by V.M. Shukshina and others. The world of a work of art can be saturated with things that do not exist in reality. Science fiction literature is replete with descriptions of unprecedented spaceships, orbital stations, hyperboloids, computers, robots, etc. (“Hyperboloid of Engineer Garin” by A. Tolstoy, “Solaris”, “Stalker” by St. Lem, “Moscow-2004” by V. Voinovich).
Conventionally, we can distinguish the most important functions of things in literature, such as cultural, characterological, plot-compositional.
The thing may be a sign of the depicted era and environment. The cultural function of things is especially clear in travel novels, where they are presented in a synchronous section different worlds: national, class, geographical, etc. Let us remember how Vakula from Gogol’s “The Night Before Christmas”, with the help of evil spirits and his own resourcefulness, gets from a remote Little Russian village to St. Petersburg in a matter of minutes. He is amazed by the architecture and clothing of his contemporaries, distant from his native Dikanka: “...the houses grew and seemed to rise from the ground at every step; the bridges trembled; the carriages were flying<...>pedestrians huddled and crowded under houses strewn with bowls<...>. The blacksmith looked around in amazement in all directions. It seemed to him that all the houses fixed their countless fiery eyes on him and looked. He saw so many gentlemen in cloth-covered fur coats that he didn’t know whose hat to take off.”
Ivan Severyanovich Flyagin, who was languishing in Tatar captivity (Leskov’s story “The Enchanted Wanderer”), did a considerable service, a chest with the necessary accessories for fireworks, which brought indescribable horror to the Tatars, who were not familiar with these attributes of European urban life.
The culturological function of things in the historical novel is very important - a genre that was formed in the era of romanticism and strives to visually represent in its descriptions historical time and local color (French couleur locale). According to the researcher, in “Notre Dame Cathedral” by V. Hugo, “things live a life deeper than living characters, and the central interest of the novel is focused on things.”
Things also perform a symbolic function in everyday works. Gogol colorfully depicts the life of the Cossacks in “Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka.” Ostrovsky’s “Columbus of Zamoskvorechye” gained fame not only because of the accuracy of his depiction of the characters of a hitherto unknown “country” to the reader, but also due to the visible embodiment of this “bear’s corner” in all its details and accessories.
An item can serve as a sign of wealth or poverty. According to a tradition originating in Russian epic epic, where heroes competed with each other in wealth, striking with an abundance of jewelry, precious metals and stones become this indisputable symbol. Let's remember:
Brocade fabrics are everywhere; The yachts play like heat; There are golden incense burners all around, Raising fragrant steam...
(A. S. Pushkin. “Ruslan and Lyudmila”)
Or the fairytale palace from " Scarlet flower» ST. Aksakov: “the decoration everywhere is royal, unheard of and unprecedented: gold, silver, oriental crystal, ivory and mammoth.”
The characterological function of things is no less important. Gogol's works show the “intimate connection of things” with their owners. No wonder Chichikov loved to look at the home of the next victim of his speculation. “He thought to find in it the properties of the owner himself, just as one can judge from a shell what kind of oyster or snail was sitting in it” (“Dead Souls” - vol. 2, chapter 3, early ed.).
Things can line up in a sequential row. IN " Dead souls", for example, every chair shouted: “And I, too, Sobakevich!” But one detail can characterize a character. For example, a jar labeled "laceberry", prepared with caring hands Baubles (“Fathers and Sons” by Turgenev). Interiors are often depicted according to a contrasting principle - let us recall the description of the rooms of two debtors of the moneylender Gobsek: the countess and the “fairy of purity” seamstress Fanny (“Gobsek” by O. Balzac). Against this background literary tradition The absence of things can also become significant (the so-called minus device): it emphasizes the complexity of the hero’s character. So, Raisky, trying to find out more about Vera, who is mysterious to him (“The Cliff” by I.A. Goncharov), asks Marfinka to show him his sister’s room. He “had already pictured this room in his mind: he crossed the threshold, looked around the room and was disappointed in his expectations: there was nothing there!”
Things often become signs, symbols of a person’s experiences:
I look like crazy at the black shawl, And my cold soul is tormented by sadness.
(A. S. Pushkin. “Black Shawl”)
The “copper cones” on grandfather’s armchair completely calmed the little hero from Aksakov’s story “The Childhood Years of Bagrov’s Grandson”: “How strange it is! These chairs and copper cones first of all caught my eye, attracted my attention and seemed to dispel and cheer me up a little.” And in V. Astafiev’s story “Arc,” the hero’s accidental discovery of a duta from the wedding train fills him with memories of the long-forgotten times of his youth.
One of the common functions of things in a literary work is plot-compositional. Let us recall the ominous role of the scarf in the tragedy “Othello” by W. Shakespeare, the necklace from Leskov’s story of the same name, the “tsarina’s slippers” from Gogol’s “The Night Before Christmas”, etc. A special place is occupied by things in detective literature (which is emphasized by Chekhov in his parodic stylization “Swedish match"). This genre is unthinkable without details.
The material world of the work has its own composition. On the one hand, details are often lined up and together form an interior, landscape, portrait, etc. Let us remember detailed description heroes of Leskov (“Soborians”), urban landscape in “Crime and Punishment” by F.M. Dostoevsky, numerous luxury items in “The Picture of Dorian Gray” by O. Wilde.
On the other hand, one thing highlighted in the work close-up, carries an increased semantic, ideological load, developing into a symbol. Is it possible to call “a dried, scentless flower” (A.S. Pushkin) or “geranium flowers in the window” (Taffy. “On the island of my memories...”) just an interior detail? What is the “satin turlyu-lu” (“Woe from Wit” by A.S. Griboyedov) or the Onegin “Bolivar” hat? What does the “respected closet” from Chekhov’s “The Cherry Orchard” mean? Symbolic things are included in the title of a work of art (“ Shagreen leather» O. Balzac, “Garnet Bracelet” by A.I. Kuprin, “Pearls” N.S. Gumilyov, “Twelve Chairs” by I. Ilf and B. Petrov). The symbolization of things is especially characteristic of lyric poetry due to its attraction to the semantic richness of the word. Each of the objects mentioned in G. Shengeli’s poem evokes a number of associations:
In tables “purchased on the occasion” At sales and auctions, I like to look through their boxes... What was in them? Paper, wills, Poems, flowers, love confessions. All souvenirs are a sign of hopes and faith, Recipes, opium, rings, money, pearls, From the son’s head there is a funeral crown. IN last minute-revolver?
(“In tables, “on the occasion of those purchased.”.*)
In the context of a work of art, symbolism may change. Thus, the fence in Chekhov’s story “The Lady with the Dog” became a symbol of a painful, joyless life: “Right opposite the house there was a fence, gray, long, with nails. “You’ll run away from such a fence,” thought Gurov, looking first at the windows, then at the fence.” However, in other contexts, the fence symbolizes the desire for beauty, harmony, and faith in people. This is exactly how the episode with the heroine’s restoration of the front garden, destroyed every night by her careless fellow villagers, is “read” in the context of A. V. Vampilov’s play “Last Summer in Chulimsk”.
The brevity of the author's text in drama, the “metonymic” and “metaphorical” nature of the lyrics somewhat limit the depiction of things in these types of literature. The most extensive possibilities for recreating the material world open up in the epic.
Genre differences in works also affect the depiction of things and the actualization of certain of their functions. Signs of a particular way of life, culture, things appear primarily in historical novels and plays, in everyday works, in particular in “physiological” essays, in science fiction. The plot function of things is actively “exploited” by detective genres. The degree of detail in the material world depends on the author's style. An example of the dominance of things in a work of art is the novel by E. Zola “Ladies' Happiness”. The optimistic philosophy of the novel is contrasted with the critical pictures of reality drawn by the writer in previous novels of the Rougon-Macquart series. Striving, as Zola wrote in a sketch for the novel, “to show the joy of action and the pleasure of being,” the author sings a hymn to the world of things as a source of earthly joys. The kingdom of material life is equal in its rights with the kingdom of spiritual life, therefore Zola composes “poems of women’s dresses,” comparing them with a chapel, then with a temple, then with the altar of a “huge temple” (Chapter XIV). The opposite style trend is the absence and rarity of descriptions of things. Thus, it was very sparingly indicated in G. Hesse’s novel “The Glass Bead Game,” which emphasizes the detachment from everyday, material concerns of the Master of the Game and the inhabitants of Castalia in general. The absence of things can be no less significant than their abundance.
The description of things in a literary work can be one of its style dominants. This is typical for a number of literary genres: artistic-historical, science-fiction, morally descriptive (physiological essay, utopian novel), artistic-ethnographic (travel), etc. It is important for the writer to show the unusualness of the situation surrounding the characters, its dissimilarity from the one to which the implicit reader is accustomed. This goal is also achieved through detailing the material world, and not only the selection of objects of material culture is important, but also the method of describing them.
Emphasizing the originality of a particular way of life, everyday life, writers widely use various lexical layers of language, the so-called passive vocabulary, as well as words that have a limited scope of use: archaisms, historicisms, dialectisms, barbarisms, professionalism, neologisms, vernacular, etc. The use of such vocabulary, being an expressive device, at the same time often creates difficulties for the reader. Sometimes the authors themselves, anticipating this, supply the text with notes and special dictionaries, as Gogol did in “Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka.” Among the words explained by pasichnik Rudy Panko in the “Preface”, the lion’s share belongs to the designation of things: “bandura is an instrument, a type of guitar”, “batog is a whip”, “kaganets is a type of lamp”, “cradle is a pipe”, “rushnik is a cleaning device” ", "smushki - lamb fur", "khustka - handkerchief", etc. It would seem that Gogol could immediately write Russian words, but then “Evenings ...” would have largely lost the local flavor cultivated by the aesthetics of romanticism.
Usually, intermediaries help the reader understand a text rich in passive vocabulary: commentators, editors, translators. The question of what is acceptable, from an aesthetic point of view, in the use of passive vocabulary has been and remains controversial in literary criticism and literary criticism. Here is the beginning of S. Yesenin’s poem “In the Hut,” which immediately immerses the reader in the life of the Ryazan village:
It smells like loose hogweed; There is kvass in the container at the threshold, Above the chiseled stoves Cockroaches crawl into the groove.
In total, in this poem, consisting of five stanzas, according to N.M. Shansky, 54 independent words, at least a fifth of which need explanation. “The words that require interpretation, undoubtedly, include the words dracheny - “baked flatbread with milk and eggs from millet porridge and potatoes”, dezhka - “tub”, pechurka - “a recess similar to a Russian stove in its side wall, where they put or place something” or so that it is dry or warm” (there are usually several such recesses), a groove is “a narrow long gap between loosely fitting bricks...<...>The bulk of…verbal “outsiders” are dialectisms, “birthmarks” of the poet’s native Ryazan dialect. It is absolutely clear, and there can be no other opinions: S. Yesenin’s sense of artistic proportion here has changed.” However, there are still “other opinions” and the issue remains controversial.
In general, the choice of one or another synonym, a linguistic doublet, is expressive stylistic device, and when describing the situation as a whole, stylistic unity is important here, “fixing” the consistency with each other of the details that make up the ensemble. Thus, in a romantic elegy in the description of the home (native land) of the lyrical hero, the very choice of words (archaisms, soporific forms, etc.) muffles everyday concreteness and emphasizes the conventionality and generalization of the image. As G.O. writes Vinokur, “this includes, for example, a canopy, an attic, a hut, a shelter, a hut, a cell (meaning “small poor room”), a shelter, a corner, a garden, a house, a hut, a shack, a light, a gate, an office, a cloister, a fireplace and similar words, symbolizing the inspiration and cozy isolation of the poet from society and people.” A completely different stylistic connotation of the word is found in the description of interiors, which abound in physiological essays. Their poetics and stylistics are emphatically naturalistic and extremely specific. This is, for example, the description of the room in “Petersburg Corners” by N.A. Nekrasova: “One of the ceiling boards, black and dotted with flies, jumped out at one end from under the middle cross beam and stuck out obliquely, which, it seemed, the inhabitants of the basement were very happy about, for they hung their towels and shirts on it; For the same purpose, a rope was drawn across the entire room, secured at one end to a hook located above the door, and with the other to the top hinge of the cabinet: this is what I call an oblong recess with shelves, without doors, in the back wall of the room; However, the landlady told me, there once were doors, but one of the residents tore them off and, putting them in his corner on two logs, thus made an artificial bed.” Boards, a hook, a cross beam, the top hinge of a cabinet, a rope, shirts, towels, etc. - also an ensemble of details, vocabulary that betrays an experienced person, knowledgeable in boards and beams. But this is a completely different ensemble.
It is necessary to distinguish between the literary and linguistic aspects of word usage, since the vocabulary denoting things can be updated; This especially applies to the names of clothing items, luxury items, interior design - what constitutes fashion in material culture. Thus, stylistically motivated archaisms should not be confused with words that have become lexical archaisms for new generations of readers (for example, Raisky’s “house coat” from Goncharov’s “Cliff” (Chapter I) means a robe, and Olga Ivanovna’s “waterproof” from “Poprygunya” Chekhov - waterproof raincoat). Lexico-semantic archaisms are also distinguished, i.e. words that have changed their meaning since the time the work was written (for example, “screen” in Dostoevsky’s “The Idiot” means “screen” - Chapter 15)2.
The material world and its designation in utopias and science fiction - genres where a living environment is constructed that has no direct analogues in reality - deserves special consideration. Unusual things Neologisms correspond here: they often give the title to the work, creating in the reader a corresponding set of perception: “Hyperboloid of Engineer Garin” by A. Tolstoy, “Solaris” and “Stalker” by Art. Lema.
Compared to nature, the man-made environment surrounding humans changes quickly. Therefore, in works where the action takes place in the past, future, fantastic times and corresponding spaces, the depiction of things constitutes a special creative problem.

The connection between the characteristics of the heroes and their actions in both cases is very direct. It’s different, for example, in the obituary description of Vsevolod Yaroslavich: “This noble prince Vsevolod was mockingly loving of God, loving the truth, providing for the poor, giving honor to the bishop and presbyter, loving the monks and giving their demands. He himself abstained from drunkenness and from lust..." etc. Nothing in this characterization follows from the facts cited about him in the chronicle. The characterization of Vsevolod Yaroslavich here performs a purely etiquette function: it is a conventional funeral word, noting his Christian qualities at the moment when these Christian qualities needed to be remembered.

Consequently, another difference between the epic style in the depiction of people and the dominant medieval monumentalism is that the diversity of the hero, appearing each time in a new guise appropriate to him, is absent in the epic style: here the hero is closely connected with one or more of his exploits, his characteristics are uniform, unchangeable, attached to the hero. The characteristics of the hero are like his coat of arms; she is short and extremely expressive, like a shield Prophetic Oleg at the gates of Constantinople.

In general, the epic style in the depiction of people precedes the monumental style in stages, just as the oral creativity of a written people precedes it. But with the advent of writing, oral creativity does not disappear; the influence on literature of this epic style in the depiction of heroes also does not disappear. It manifests itself in those works that are associated with oral folk art.

In fact, something in the depiction of the characters in the chronicle suggests a relationship with folklore.

Folk art, obviously, goes back to the chronicles and other works of literature in the characteristics of the characters based on their one major act. This is how, for example, Prince African is described in the Kiev-Pechersk Patericon: “Prince African, the brother of Yakun Slepago, who escaped from the golden moon, fought in a regiment in Yaroslav with the Fierce Mstislav.”

Before us is a reminder of a well-known feat, deed or incident. This is how, in particular, some of the characters in “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” are characterized: “... to the brave Mstislav, like the dawn of Rede-dupred pylkykasozhiok”; "...until today's Igor, who has suffered through his own selfishness and sharpened his hearts with courage, filled with the military spirit, brought his brave tears to the Polovtsian land for the Russian land."

It is remarkable that in the chronicle many of the famous Polovtsian khans are introduced to the reader in this way: “...Kontsak, like the one who demolished Sula, walked walking, carrying a cauldron on his shoulder”; "...Sevench Bonyakovich...like byashetrekl: "I want to be beaten in Golden Gate, like my father"" ; "... Altunopu, like the word courage."

The general characteristics of the inhabitants of any locality also have a national character. The people of Kiev called the Novgorodians “carpenters.” Residents of Rostov, Suzdal and Murom say about the residents of Vladimir: “...then these are our servants of stone.” The people of Vladimir noted their “pride” in the Novgorodians. Following these folk characteristics and the chronicler says about the Pereyaslavl people that they “dare to be.”

Adjacent to these same characteristics is the description of the Kurdish people - “knowledgeable marksmen” in “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.” All these characteristics are interesting in that they are conveyed by the chronicler as known to everyone, as popular opinion and as “glory” about certain residents. In all of them one can feel the reliance on real popular rumor.

The characterization of the “Kuryans” in “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign”, in its principles of artistic generalization, coincides with the characterization of the “Ryazan army” in “The Tale of the Ruin of Ryazan by Batu” - those “dares and frolics” of Ryazan, of whom “one fought with a thousand, and two with you." Both in the “Word” and in the “Tale” we have a description of the army, in which not a word is said about the feudal loyalty of the soldiers to their prince, but everything is aimed only at revealing the military virtues of the fighters - the defenders of the homeland.

Characteristic phenomena discovered in the XII-XIII centuries. in the same monuments when creating the image of a national hero, the image of a defender of the homeland. This hero exaggerates his strength and courage, he seems to grow in size, his enemies cannot defeat him. However, the concept of hyperbole can be applied here with great restrictions. The impression of hyperbole is achieved by the fact that the exploits of his squad are transferred to this hero. So. for example, Vsevolod Bui Tur in “The Tale of Igor’s Host” shoots arrows at his enemies, rattles his Haraluz swords against their helmets, and the Avar helmets are “scratched” by his red-hot sabers.

It goes without saying that Vsevolod shoots at his enemies with the arrows of his squad, fights with their swords and sabers: Vsevolod himself could only have one sword or saber. We see the same transfer of the exploits of the squad to the prince in the Lay and in other cases. Svyatoslav of Kiev “pulled away” the treachery of the Polovtsians “with his strong plakas and haraluzhny swords”; Vsevolod of Suzdal can “pouring the Don with helmets” - not with just his helmet, but with many, of course, helmets of his warriors.

The image of Evpatiy Kolovrat in “The Tale of the Ruin of Ryazan by Batu” is created in the same way. The exploits of his warriors and their fighting qualities are transferred to Evpatiya. It seems to combine the features of the entire Russian army. Without mercy, he cuts down Batu’s regiments so that the Tatars become “like drunk or frantic.” When Evpatiy's swords became dull, he took Tatar swords and cut them with them. Again this is typical plural: "...as the swords became dull, and I took the Tatar swords and cut them." There can be no doubt that, speaking of Evpatiya, the author had in mind not just him, but his entire squad. That is why it goes on to say: “... the Tatars are mnyash, as if they were dead.” It's about namely about the dead, about many resurrected fighters. That is why further, without any transition, it is said about the Evpatiy regiment: the Evpatiy regiment and Evpatiy himself are united. Thanks to this, Evpatiy grows to heroic proportions: he is “giant in strength”; the Tatars manage to kill him only with the help of “numerous vices” - battering machines.

The death of Evpatiy is a kind of birth of the first hero in Russian literature. We clearly see how the image of Evpatiy combines the qualities of his squad. It is not the hero who is strong - it is the army that he embodies that is strong. Artistic generalization follows the path of creating a collective image of a hero who embodies the qualities of all Russian soldiers. This path led to the development of the image of the epic hero, who over time began to fight alone, without an army, for the Russian land against a huge host of enemies. This path, not yet trodden and only weakly outlined, will in the future lead to literary generalizations new, more perfect character. This path, as we have clearly seen in other cases, was associated with a violation of the narrow class, feudal literary stereotype in the depiction of people. These violations were especially frequent in the depiction of women. Women did not usually take their place in the hierarchical ladder of feudal relations. She was a princess, princess, noblewoman, hawthorn or merchant's wife by her husband or father. And this weakened the definiteness of her class characteristics.

Works of ancient Russian literature reflected few character traits of women ancient Rus'. In great state concerns, ancient Russian writers rarely had to turn their gaze to the daughters, wives and mothers of the heroes of Russian history. However, short and few lines of Russian secular works are almost always written about women with sympathy and respect. " Evil wife", so typical of the ascetic church literature - rare guest in works of secular literature: in the chronicle, in military, ambassadorial, historical stories. And even in those cases when she appears in secular works, as, for example, in the “Prayer” of Daniil Zatochnik, she is devoid of any femininity: she is “rotasta,” “jawed,” “old-looking.” Young women are attractive without exception. With what touchingness Vladimir Monomakh writes in a letter to Oleg Svyatoslavich about the widow of his son Izyaslav, who was killed by Oleg; the chronicler remembers the mother of Monomakh’s young brother, Rostislav, who died untimely in Stugna. Rostislav's mother mourned him in Kyiv, and the chronicler sympathizes with her grief: “And crying for him, his mother and all the people pitied her little by little, for his loss.”

He knows ancient Russian literature and heroic images of Russian women. Princess Maria, the daughter of the Chernigov prince Mikhail who died in the Horde and the widow of the Rostov prince Vasilko, who was tortured by the Tatars, worked hard to perpetuate the memory of both. At her direction (and perhaps with her direct participation), the life of her father Mikhail of Chernigov was compiled and touching lines were written about her husband Vasilka in the Rostov Chronicle.

Touching and beautiful in “The Tale of the Ruin of Ryazan by Batu” is the image of the wife of the Ryazan prince Fyodor, Eupraxia. Her husband sacrificed his life defending her honor in Batu’s camp. Hearing about the death of her husband, Eupraxia “abby rushed from his high temple with his son and Prince Ivan into the middle of the earth, and became infected to death.”

Although stingy in everything that concerns the personal feelings of its characters, the Russian chronicle nevertheless notes that the Suzdal prince Vsevolod the Big Nest was “sorry” for his “dear daughter” Verkhoslava. Vsevolod gave “a lot of money for her, countless gold and silver,” richly presented the matchmakers and, releasing her with great honor, accompanied her to three camps. “And her father and mother cried for her: she was sweet even when she was young.” The chronicler did not forget that unknown woman who, mistaking the blinded Prince Vasilko-Rostislavich Terebovolsky for the dead, mourned him and washed his bloody shirt.

Describing the death of the Volyn prince Vladimir Vasilkovich, the chronicler did not fail to mention his love for his wife - “dear Olga”. This was the fourth daughter of the Bryansk prince Roman, but she was “dearest” to him. Roman gave “his dear daughter” to Vladimir Vasilkovich, “he sent with her the son of his eldest Mikhail and many boyars.” Subsequently, her brother Oleg visits her. With her help, on his deathbed, Vladimir Vasilkovich settles his state affairs, and calls her “Princess Moa Mila Olgo.” Vladimir and Olga were childless. Vladimir’s dying concerns are directed “to arrange the fate of her and their adopted daughter, Izyaslava, “like the Milovs, like his dear daughter.” Vladimir Vasilkovich allows his wife to do after his death as she pleases - live like this or go to the monastery: “I can’t get up to see what someone is doing to my stomach,” he says.

The gentle, thoughtful appearance of a woman-mother was brought to us by works of Russian painting of the 12th century. They embody the care of a woman, her love for her deceased son.

There is a story about the impression these works left on the audience. The proud prince Andrei Yuryevich Bogolyubsky, who never bowed his head to anyone, a brave warrior who was always the first to rush at enemies in battle, was amazed by the image of Our Lady of Vladimir. “The Tale of the Miracles of the Vladimir Icon” speaks of the deep impression that the icon of Our Lady of Vladimir made on Andrei Bogolyubsky. Seeing her for the first time, he fell to his knees in front of her - “falling to the ground.” Subsequently, he and his chronicler attributed all his victories over enemies to the help of this icon.

In all these few references, the woman invariably appears in the charm of tender caring, soulful understanding of the state concerns of her husbands and brothers. Daughter, mother or wife - she always helps her father, son or husband, grieves for him, mourns him after death and never inclines him during life to cowardice or self-preservation at the cost of shame. She takes death in battle with enemies for granted and mourns her sons, husbands or fathers without a shadow of reproach, without a trace of discontent, as warriors and patriots who have fulfilled their duty, without being horrified or condemning their behavior, but with quiet affection and praise for them courage, their valor. Love for a husband, father or son does not dull their love for their homeland, hatred of enemies, or confidence in the rightness of the cause of their loved one.

The Russian women of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” embody the same traits that, although meagerly, were quite clearly conveyed to us by the chronicles and military stories of the 12th-13th centuries. We can confidently imagine the ideal of a woman in ancient Rus' of the 12th-13th centuries, which will be the same in the chronicles, and in military stories, and in “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign”; only in “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” the image of a modest, caring, faithful and loving woman, worthy of the wife of her hero-husband, appears with even greater clarity and greater charm. The ideal of a woman of the 12th-13th centuries. contains few class features. The feudal class did not develop its own ideal of a woman, which was sharply different from the popular one. Even among feudal lords, a woman was devoted to her cares as a wife, mother, widow, and daughter. Large government responsibilities were not her lot. And this is precisely what contributed to the convergence of female images - feudal and folk. That is why Yaroslavna in “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” is presented in the image of a lyrical, song-like Russian woman - Yaroslavna.

The epic style in depicting people never fully embraces a literary work. Even in “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” this epic style is combined with the style of medieval monumentalism. As we have already seen, elements of the epic style are clearly felt only in the initial part of the Tale of Bygone Years, and subsequently in the images of women. It is reflected in the Ipatiev Chronicle (characteristic of Roman Galitsky), in the “Tale of Destruction” Russian land", in the Life of Alexander Nevsky (in the characterization of the six brave men of Alexander Nevsky), in "The Tale of the Ruin of Ryazan by Batu" and in some other works. Such episodicity in the manifestations of this style is quite understandable: this style was mainly expressed only in oral folk art, and in literature it was reflected from time to time under the influence of the latter. Since oral folk art Kyiv period known to us in scant remains among written works, many features of this style still remain unclear to us.

The epic style was almost not reflected in the visual arts. This is understandable: art was much more “expensive” than literature, but individual elements of the epic style still penetrated into the visual arts through direct executors of the will of the feudal customers. Here is what M. V. Alpatov writes about this: “The art that was created in Kiev by the people for themselves has not reached us. The Smerdas had to live in semi-dugout type chicken huts. But they composed songs about heroes, the voice of protest of the common people sounded in the cities at the assembly. Working people had their own ideals of life and their own concepts of beauty. The hands of these people created the Kiev buildings with their magnificent decoration. That is why in many grand-ducal monuments one can feel the echoes of folk artistic ideas."

Chapters: “Folk poetry during the heyday of the ancient Russian early feudal state (X-XI centuries)” and “Folk poetry during the years of feudal fragmentation of Rus' - before the Tatar-Mongol invasion (XII - early XII centuries).” in the book: "Russian folk poetic creativity", vol. I, M-L., 1953.

Stories about Nikola Zarazsky - Proceedings of the Department of Old Russian Literature (ODRL) of the Institute of Russian Literature of the USSR Academy of Sciences, vol. VII, 1949, pp. 290-291.

Stories about Nikola Zarazsky - Proceedings of the Department of Old Russian Literature (ODRL) of the Institute of Russian Literature of the USSR Academy of Sciences, vol. VII, 1949, p. 293.

Stories about Nikola Zarazsky - Proceedings of the Department of Old Russian Literature (ODRL) of the Institute of Russian Literature of the USSR Academy of Sciences, vol. VII, 1949, p. 294.

The Tale of Bygone Years, vol. I, p. 144.

Due to the fact that the portrait of the prince was always facing the viewer and painted for the viewer, those features that were most dear to the viewer who acted as the customer for the work were easily visible in it. In the vault of the Rostov princess Maria, in the description of her late husband - the Rostov prince Vasilko Konstantinovich - not only praise is clearly felt, but also an expression of the grief of loss: “Vasilko is red-faced, bright and menacing in the eyes, handsome beyond measure for a hunter, light in heart, the boyar is affectionate, but no one from the boyars who served him and ate his bread, and drank his cup, and had gifts - then no other prince could have been for his love; he loved his servants too much. Courage and intelligence are in him lively, but the truth walks with him. He was clever and able to do everything, and in goodness he was on his table and his days" (Lavrentevskaya Chronicle, under 1237, p. 467). This lyrical portrait, in which external features such great importance is attached to the prince, can only be compared with the portrait of the Volyn prince Vladimir Vasilkovich, compiled by the Volyn chronicler, who was also especially attentive to the fate of the widow of this prince - “sweet” Olga. Volynsky: Rostov chroniclers - both wrote for the widows of their princes, both, to some extent, reflected their feelings. “This blessed prince Volodymer,” writes the Volyn chronicle, “was tall in age, had great shoulders, had a red face, had curly yellow hair, a shorn beard, and had red hands and feet; his speech was thick and his mouth was thick, he said It is clear from the books that he was a great philosopher and a cunning fisherman, good-natured, meek, humble, kind, truthful, not a bribe-taker, not a liar, hating thieves, and not drinking his own drink, but having love for everyone, even more so for his brothers, in the kiss of Christ, standing with all the truth, unfeigned" (Ipatiev Chronicle, under 1289, p. 605).

Proceedings of ODRL, vol. VII, p. 289.

Ipatiev Chronicle, under 1187, p. 443.

Ipatiev Chronicle, under 1264, p. 569.

Ipatiev Chronicle, under 1274, p. 577.

Ipatiev Chronicle, under 1287, p. 595.

Ipatiev Chronicle, under 1287. Vladimir says about Izyaslav: “God did not allow me to give birth to my own, for my sins, but I was like a horn from my princess, I took you from my mother in swaddling clothes and nursed me” (p. 593).

The Legend of the Miracles of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God. Ed. IN. Klyuchevsky. Society of Lovers of Ancient Writing, vol. XXX, 1878, p. 30.

M.V. Alpatov. General History of Arts, ///. M., 1955, pp. 60-61.