What were the Slavs like? Correct life: how the Slavs treated life and death

We all know that important role in the formation of states of Eastern Europe the Slavs played. This group of related peoples, the largest on the continent, has similar languages and similar customs. Its population is approximately three hundred million people.

Eastern Slavs in ancient times: settlement in Europe

Our ancestors were a branch Indo-European family peoples, which during the Great Migration scattered throughout Eurasia. The closest relatives of the Slavs are the Balts, who settled in the territories of modern Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia. Their neighbors were the Germans in the south and west, the Scythians and Sarmatians in the east. In ancient times, the Eastern Slavs traveled through Eastern and Central Europe, where, in the area between the Dnieper and Vistula rivers, they founded the first cities of Ukraine and Poland. Then they crossed the foothills of the Carpathians, settling along the banks of the Danube and on the Balkan Peninsula. The great territorial remoteness of the Proto-Slavs made adjustments to their language, customs and culture. Therefore, the group split into three branches: western, southern and eastern.

Eastern Slavs in ancient times

This branch of our forefathers occupied a vast territory. From Lakes Ladoga and Onega to the Black Sea region, from the Oka and Volga to the Carpathian Mountains, they plowed the land, conducted trade, and built temples. In total, historians name fifteen tribes of the Eastern Slavs. Next door to them, the Finno-Ugric tribes lived peacefully - our ancestors were not excessively belligerent, but preferred to support a good relationship with everyone.

Activities of the Eastern Slavs

Our ancestors were farmers. They skillfully wielded a plow, a sickle, a hoe, and a plow with a ploughshare. The steppe inhabitants plowed expanses of virgin soil, first uprooted trees in the forest zone, and used the ash as fertilizer. Gifts of the earth were the basis of the Slavs' diet. Millet, rye, peas, wheat, barley, buckwheat, and oats were used for baking bread and cooking porridge. Industrial crops were also grown - flax and hemp, from whose fibers they spun threads and made fabrics. People treated domestic animals with special love, since each family raised cattle, pigs, sheep, horses, and poultry. Together with the Slavs, cats and dogs lived in their houses. Hunting, fishing, beekeeping, blacksmithing and pottery were developed at a very high level.

Religion of the Proto-Slavs

Before coming to Slavic lands Christianity reigned here under paganism. In ancient times, the Eastern Slavs worshiped a whole pantheon of gods who personified the forces of nature. Svarog, Svarozhich, Rod, Stribog, Dazhdbog, Veles, Perun had their own places of worship - temples where idols stood and sacrifices were made. The dead were burned on bonfires, and mounds were heaped over the ashes placed in a pot. Unfortunately, East Slavs in ancient times they did not leave written evidence about themselves. The famous Veles book raises doubts among researchers about its authenticity. However, archaeologists find a large number of household items, weapons, remnants of clothing, jewelry, religious items. They can tell about the life of our ancestors no less than chronicles and legends.

SLAVS, Slavs (Slavs outdated), units. Slav, Slav, husband. A group of peoples living in eastern and central Europe and the Balkans. East Slavs. Southern Slavs. Western Slavs. “Leave it alone: this is a dispute among the Slavs among themselves.” Pushkin... ... Dictionary Ushakova

SLAVS, a group of peoples in Europe: Eastern Slavs (Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians), Western Slavs(Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Lusatians), South Slavs (Bulgarians, Serbs, Croats, Slovenes, Macedonians, Bosnians, Montenegrins). They speak Slavic... ...Russian history

Ancient, a group of Indo-European tribes. First mentioned in the 1st and 2nd centuries. in ancient Roman sources under the name of the Wends. According to the assumption of a number of researchers, the Slavs, along with the Germans and Balts, were descendants of pastoralists and agriculturalists... Art encyclopedia

Slovenian Dictionary of Russian synonyms. Slavs noun, number of synonyms: 1 Slovenes (2) ASIS Dictionary of Synonyms. V.N. Trishin. 2013… Synonym dictionary

Modern encyclopedia

Group of peoples in Europe: eastern (Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians), western (Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Lusatians), southern (Bulgarians, Serbs, Croats, Slovenes, Macedonians, Bosnians, Montenegrins). 293.5 million people (1992), including Russian Federation… … Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

SLAVS, yang, unit. Yanin, ah, husband. One of the largest groups in Europe of peoples related in language and culture, making up three branches: East Slavic (Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians), West Slavic (Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Lusatians) and... ... Ozhegov's Explanatory Dictionary

Slavs- (Slavs), group of peoples of the East. Europe, known in Ancient. Rome as the Sarmatians or Scythians. It is believed that the word S. comes from slowo (well-spoken; the word Slovenian has the same root). After the collapse of the Hunnic state in the 5th century. S. migrated to 3 ... The World History

Slavs- SLAVS, a group of related peoples with a total number of 293,500 thousand people. Main regions of settlement: countries of Eastern Europe (about 290,500 thousand people). They speak Slavic languages. Religious affiliation of believers: Orthodox, Catholics,... ... Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary

The largest group of peoples in Europe, united by the proximity of languages (see Slavic languages) and common origin. Total number glory peoples in 1970 about 260 million people, of which: Russians over 130 million, Ukrainians 41.5 million... Big Soviet encyclopedia

Books

Slavs, their mutual relations and connections T. 1-3, . Slavs, their mutual relations and connections / Op. Joseph Pervolf, order. prof. Warsaw. un-ta. T. 1-3A 183/690 U 62/317 U 390/30 U 238/562: Warsaw: typ. Warsaw. textbook okr., 1893: Reproduced in...
Slavs in European history and civilization, Frantisek Dvornik. The proposed publication is the first monographic publication in Russian by one of the largest Byzantinists and Slavists in the 20th century, Frantisek Dvornik (1893-1975). Book `Slavs…

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And if you put the question differently - “Were the Slavs Rus?”...

“No one asks whether the Tatars were Tatars... Azerbaijanis were Azerbaijanis”...
But THIS is very relevant... because the Tatars and the Azerbaijanis... and the Slavs are all artificially created peoples, by the so-called “HISTORIANS”... and ALL THIS was done with intent... so today they tell us - and who are YOU??? What are the Rus, Rosas, Slavs?
there was no one here before the Khazar Kaganate... Monkeys climbed palm trees and semi-wild peoples sat in swamps...
so today, based on this, the Jews say - here WE ARE more important than ALL!!!
Our Khazar Kaganate was formed as a state before anyone else!
WOW!!! and they adjust History to fit THIS...
And everything is moving towards THIS... and yet conversations are already heard more and more often... and history has already been altered to suit THIS...

“The question is, when did the Slovenians become Russians?”... and not vice versa...
And then another question arises - “Why?” or “WHAT was covered up by the Mongol-Tatar yoke”... “Why is the theory of settling the lands of the Volga-Oka-Don basin so persistently propagated by the Mordovians and the Ugro-Finami... and where did Rus-Artania so suddenly disappear, and instead of it, Kiev is imposed on us Rus'?"...
Kyiv has never been the capital of Rus'!!! NEVER!
There is NOT a single mention of this in any chronicle... and many Eastern authors, on the contrary, write that many Slavs, Jews, Pechenegs and Maghrebians lived in Kyiv!
And blaming Eastern merchants for not knowing the PLACES where they traded is stupid...
Their Profit and Life depended on THIS...

I will give just a few references to Rus' by Eastern and Western Authors:
This is what Leo the Deacon wrote about the Scythians-Ross:
“These people are reckless, brave, warlike and powerful, they attack all neighboring tribes, many say. The Divine Ezekiel speaks about this in these words: Behold, I bring Gog and Magog, the prince of Ros, upon you...”
The ancient Hellenes and Romans frightened their children with the warlike Scythian people.
And here is what the Byzantine Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus himself wrote about the Scythians-Roses: “The winter and harsh way of life of those same Roses is like this. When the month of November comes, immediately their Archons (supreme rulers) come out with all the Ros from Kiaw, and go on a polylude called circling... to collect tribute from their paktiots (tributaries)... Feeding there throughout the winter, the Ros again, starting in April, when the ice on the Dnieper River melts, they return to Kiav...".

The Scythians-Roses dominated in Malaya and Central Asia more than 1500 years and were squeezed out of Western Asia only in 580 BC, with the fall of the last fortresses of Urartu (Transcaucasia). Main role, the Median king Cyaxares and the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar played a role in ousting the Scythians-Roses from Asia.

The tribe of Western Rus - Rugov (Rarogs) lived along the southern coast of the Baltic Sea and was part of the union of the Obodritov tribes (it also included: Varangi, Veneds, Vandals, Viltsy, Bodrichi and Rarogi). The Rarogs were sometimes called Velety (Majestic), just like the Rusichi - Vyatichi (Vyatshie, Noble, Noble). The name “RUG” (RUS) defines the class of Aryan Priests-Tushes (Warriors-Magi), who were the Spiritual guardians of the Aryan Vedic Culture, monitoring the purity of the White Race Family.
At first new era The Roman historian Publius Cornelius Tacitus wrote:
“Rugia live near the ocean... Distinctive feature these tribes - round shields, short swords and obedience to their kings ... ".

In the Magdeburg Civil Code, for a long time, there was a point according to which the Slovenian princes were divided into “Simple” and “Russian”. Internal organization the tribes where the Magi-Rus ruled were theocratic, the Priests had enormous weight here, especially the temple of Sventovit (the symbol of which was the Eight-Armed Yarga-Swastika in the circle of time). The main Temple of God Sventovit was located in Arkona, on the island of Rugen (Rügen, Ruyan), in the Baltic (Vendian) Sea, and it belonged to the Rugov tribe. The sanctuaries on the island of Rügen were destroyed by the Danish Vikings (Crusaders), led by King Valdemar, in 1168.
“On that island there lived people who were idolaters Ruyana or Ruten, fierce, cruel in battle... Their language was Slovenian and Vindalian...” (Gerhard Mercator).

Roman statesman Guy Pliny the Elder (23 - 79) described the peoples located north of the Danube:
“North of the Istra, all tribes are considered Scythian, but the coastal areas are occupied different tribes, from the Getae to the Sarmatians... of them are the Aorsa, then come the Alans and Roxolans...”
The Greek historian and geographer Strabo (64 - 24 BC) wrote about the same thing, but at the same time, he noted special role the northernmost and legendary people- Roksolan. He located the Asian country of Sarmatia east of the Ra (Volga) River. Here is what information we find about this in Strabo’s “Geography”:
“The entire space between Borysthenes and Ister is occupied, first by the Getae, then by the Tiregets, followed by the Yazygi-Sarmatians... and Urgi... The northernmost ones, occupying the plain between Tanais and Borysthenes, are called Roksolans...”.

For those who are not in the know, the Getae are the Fire Worshipers of the Rus (hence the concept - Getae-Russian or Etruscan)... hence: TireGeta, MassaGeta, etc... and the Aorsi (Aortas) are the inhabitants of Arsania (Artania). ..

Outside Artania (Arsania, ArRushani) Rosov-Rusov were called Rusnaki.
Rusnak is a Rusich from the central part of Rus' (Artania), who settled in the western or southern Slovenian-Aryan lands. The Western Slovenians called such Vyatshi Rusichs “Rusnak”, and the southern ones, sometimes also abbreviated as “Rusak”. The Arab traveler Abu Hamid Al-Garnati mentions the Rusnaki in his stories:
“From Kuyava to Saksin (formerly Itil) I went the southern route... From Saksin I sailed by sea for a month to Khorezm, through a country where there are many cities and villages of Rusnaks, and this country is rich in fruits...”.
Our Ancestors had a complete understanding of the tribes and peoples living on the vast territory of Rus'. They knew exactly who the Rusichi were, and that Rusak and Rusnak were not a Cossack, not a Bulgarian, not an Alan, and not a Slovenian. And even in the 19th century, more than 4.5 million Rusnaks officially lived in Austria-Hungary (Ugric Rus') alone.

Where THEY are today - history is silent... this is the beginning of the destruction of the Russian people in Europe... already before the Second World War, every concept was eradicated in Europe - Rus', Rusnak, Russian... a Taboo was imposed on these Words!
All Austrian and German Slavs were ordered to speak only in German, and with Hitler coming to power, the West German Slavs were declared Germans...

And that's not all, the Rus had a written language!!!
There are early Byzantine references to the writing of the Slovenian-Aryans, as in the “Easter Chronicle” (VII century) it says:
"Really enjoy in your own letters the following peoples: Cappadocians... Sarmatians... Scythians...".
However, there are also Arabic references to “Russian writing”, so the Arab scientist Ibn-Yaqub-el-Nedim, in his work “The Book of Painting of Sciences”, reports the following:
“The Rus have writings. A man told me, on whose veracity I rely, that one of the kings of Mount Kabk (Caucasus) sent him to the king of the Rus, but claimed that they had writings carved on wood. He showed me a piece of white wood on which there were images, but I don’t know whether they were words or individual letters...”

I have already mentioned the Rarogs as one of the Clans of the ancient Rus. However, it is worth clarifying that the Rarogs came to Lake Ilmen from the south, in III millennium BC, and founded the city of Russa (now it is Staraya Russa). Subsequently, the Rugs separated from the main Family of Rarogs and went west to the Venedian Sea (Baltic), where the island of Rügen (Rugen) became their cultural and religious center.
The main totem of the Rarogs was the Fire Falcon Rarog.
Rarog, as a messenger of Heaven, gives People the Sacred Fire. It is the Falcon Rarog that is considered the Fire Avatar of God “AGUNA” (Spirit of Fire), youngest son God Svarog. With the name of God Aguna, the Rarogi-Rus cremated the bodies of their deceased Relatives, in the hope that in this way their Souls would reach the Sun faster, and whose cult of Fire was the basis of the Old Russian tradition.
Very often the emblem of the Russian Warriors was the Lynx, for which they were sometimes called “Lynxes”.
In the Greek legend about Triptolemus, there is an episode where the God of the Southern Scythians-Skolots Linhe is converted by the Goddess Demeter into a Lynx. There were several Rous tribes in central Europe. In the chronicle of one anonymous Bavarian geographer of the 9th century, the following Russian communities are mentioned - Attrosy, Vilyrosy, Zabrosy, Khozrosy.
The eastern author Ibn-Khordabeg called them Ruos, identifying them from the Slavs, whom he calls Sakalibs, at the same time he argued:
“As for Russian merchants, they are a type of Slavs...”
In the old days, the Finns called the Swedes (Svei, Ours) - Ruots.
Abu Mansur (10th century) in his notes tells us an interesting observation:
“The Slavs are a red tribe with light brown hair...”
And as we already know, Red is the color of the Russian Warriors. Arab Al-Marwazi calls the Rus - Ar-Rusiya, and places them on an island in the sea, and that island cannot be circumvented even in three days. Another Arab author Al-Idrisi wrote the following:
“In the country of Ar-Rusiya there is a city of Marturi, at the source of the Danast River... And from Marturi to the city of Sarmali there is a four-day journey in a southerly direction. Sarmali is called in the Rumi language - Tuya. Sarmali and Marturi belong to the country of Ar-Rusiya. Country Ar-Rusiya big land, both in width and in length...”
Liuntprand of Cremona placed the Rus in the South, next to the Khazars and Pechenegs (southern Artania). And Ibn-Haukal placed the Rus between the Kama Bolgars and the Sakalibs (Oka lands, which were also part of Artinia), while almost all Eastern authors did not consider Kyiv (Cuyaba) a Russian city. The lands of the Chernigov region and the entire upper reaches of the Dnieper and Desna (whose inhabitants are also called Podesnyantsy) belonged to Rus'; these lands belonged to the Seversky Principality, the ruling elite of which included the Russian nobility. This middle part of Rus' was called White.
And Varangian Rus' or Black (Red) Rus' is mentioned by many Western authors, like the Baltic.
Thus, the Western European chronicler of the 12th century Helmold, describing the westernmost lands of the Slavs, mentions the location of Vagria:
“Between Mecklenburg and Holstein lands. From the above-mentioned Vagria, from the Old City, Rurik arrived in Novgrad.”
Stargard (Old City), after being captured by the Germans in 1157, was renamed Oldenburg. By the way, Empress Catherine II the Great was from the Holstein family (how everything was intertwined in Old Russian roots).

In Italy, on the monument to the first Neapolitan king, an interesting inscription is carved - “Rucciero il normanno” (Northern Rus).
In Latin “Rus” - village, village, field, arable land, “Rursus” - again, back, back (to the origins), and “Russus” is red (the color of Ali, like the purity of the Blood of the Rus-Rasen). On English language"Russet" is a coarse homespun wool fabric of a reddish-brown color, as well as a variety of apples of a reddish-yellow color.

The German historian Adam of Bremen wrote: “The Russian land, called by the Danes (Dats) Ostrograd or the Vrstochny region, is otherwise called Hunagard, after the former population of the Huns in it...”.
The fact that the Southern Rus are Huns is also said by the Byzantine author Priscus of Pannius, who in the 5th century saw the Huns from the walls of Constantinople with his own eyes, but at the same time he sometimes calls them Slavs. Another Byzantine author, Ammianus Marcellinus, based on the stories of Gothic refugees, calls the Huns, either Scythians or Slavs. Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus put it more specifically:
“We call these people Huns, in reality they call themselves Rus.”
And the historian Leo the Deacon, who observed the ceremony of the meeting of Emperor Tzimiskes with Prince Svyatoslav on the Danube, called the latter Hun.
Priscus of Panniya, who visited the headquarters of King Attila in 448, as part of the Byzantine embassy, described the life of the Huns exactly as Slovenian. And the author united all the opponents of the Goths, Sloven-Russians and Turks-Bulgars under common name- Huns.

The toponyms and hydronyms of Western Rus' tell us that Europe was Russia. In the upper reaches of the Neman there are rivers - Ros, Roska, Rosava. The right branch of the Neman delta is called Rus, and the sea bay into which the Neman River flows is called Russian. And the coast that adjoins this bay until the end of the 15th century was called the Russian Land.
Further to the West we find such names as Rostock, Rustov, Rousse, Ruskewitz, Russenfeld, Rosengard, Roussewass, and the island of Rügen with the Holy Arkona and adjacent lands was even called Russia by the Germans and Dots. We find confirmation that Southern Rus' is related to Northern Norman Rus' from Bishop Lautprand of Cremona, who, back in the 10th century, wrote the following about this:
“In the north of Constantinople live the Ugrians, Pechenegs, Khazars, Russians, whom we otherwise call Nordmanns, and the Bulgarians, their closest neighbors...”
In addition, the Scandinavians called the Varangians, who came from the East of Rus' and joined the Normans (Vikings), nothing less than “Oski” (or “Rous-Oski” who came from the Oka).

Turkic and others Eastern peoples They called the “Volga-Oka-Don” Rus - Urus, Ur-Russ, Ar-Russ, Arsy, Arty, Ortichi, Vyatichi. We learn that the Rus, Alans, Bulgars and Khazars lived in close contact with each other from the Arab author At-Tabari, where he speaks, in his manuscript “History of Prophets and Kings,” about the countries located in the North of Caucasus Mountains, the following:
“The inhabitants of these countries, all infidels, are from the Khazars, Bulgars, Rus and Alans. They mixed with the Turks and mutually united with them through marriages...”

As a matter of fact, many Eastern authors say that the people of Bulgaria and Khazaria for the most part are similar in morals, appearance and way of life to the Slavs and Rus, but only the Persian historian Fakhr ad-din Mubarakshah Marvarrudi has an interesting mention of the Khazar writing, as about one of the varieties of Rumian-Russian writing:
“The Khazars have a letter that they borrowed from the branch of the Rumiians, which is located near them, and they call these Rumiians - Rus. The Khazars write from left to right and do not connect letters together...”
At the same time, back in early middle ages, many Eastern authors of the Rus also located in the North Caucasus, calling them “The Country of Alans and Rus”.
The Persian philosopher and poet Nizami tells us the same thing, for whom the Rus are located north of the Abkhazians, being their adversary neighbors. But at the same time, the Alans, Burtases and Khazars go on campaigns on the side of the Rus and under their command, with their raids they penetrate into the valleys of Arran as if it were their home (especially since Arran was once their Khvalynsk land for the Rus, many ancient sources say, and not only Eastern ones).
The fact that the Rus are close neighbors Caucasian peoples, there are also references from the Cairo historian Al-Kalkamandi, who writes that they:
“Circassians, Rus and Ases (Alans) have well-appointed and densely populated cities, planted with fertile trees...”
Many Eastern authors noted that from the 2nd century BC to the 9th century AD, in some areas Central Asia and the Aral region there were many communities of Sarmatians, Rus and Alans, of which there is evidence in archeology. And in Plano Carpini, who used ancient manuscripts, we find a direct mention of this, where he, describing the capital of Khorezm, Urgench, says:
“There are a lot of Christians there, namely the Khazars, Rusovs, Alans...”

The Romans called Rus' “Ruteni” (Rutenes), and the Russians themselves were either Etruscans (Russian Getae) or “Rutilus” - fair-haired, red-haired.
And in the Western chronicles the Russian princes, otherwise known as “Primus rex Ruthenorum” ( Grand Duke Rutenov) and are not mentioned.
The Ruso-Aryans themselves Central Europe They called themselves Racines, Rusnaki or Rusichs. For “Rus-Sur” is not just the land where the Rasen people are located, as a certain collection of people, but also belongs to the Great Family of the White Race, which are the descendants of Dazhdbog (the Sun itself).

Based on this, when it is necessary to define a country as a land, they use the concept “Russian land”, and not Russia. But, in the case when it was necessary to distinguish the entire People of the Race from another meaning of the word “Rus”, in the sense of the Essence of the name of the People, as children of the Light, they said “Holy Rus'”. Concepts such as: “Russia”, “Rusena”, “Porussia” and “Prussia” only defined parts of the Russian land, under the general name - “Russia” (Country of Light, where the people of the Race live). Since in ancient times, there was still the concept of the land “Rus”, as a territory stretching from the Rip Mountains (Urals) to the Rhine River ( modern name- Europe).
On Arabic Europe was previously called “U-Rus”. The Arab author Al-Battani, back in the 9th century, mentioning the land of the Scythians-Sarmatians (Slovenian-Aryans), calls it “Sarmatiya Urusi” (European Sarmatia).
Even in Arabia itself, there are references to the Russians once arriving there: the salt marsh - Aba-er-Rus (Fathers of the Russians) and the area - Bilyad-er-Rus (the country of the Russians). Among the Egyptians (Copts), the words “Rus”, “Ra” and “Paradise” are synonyms, and are expressed by one sign defining the letter “R”.

The fact that the Rus were divided into two types, Western and Eastern, was already known to Arab authors. In the text entitled “Entertainment of the weary one in wandering through the regions,” which is original in relation to the map, Al-Idrisi is given enough detailed description Rusov, in different sections:
“6th section VI climate... Rusov - two species. One of their species is the one we are talking about in this place (Eastern Rus'). And another type of them ( Western Rus') are those who live next door to the country of Unkariya (Hungary)... There are three groups of Rus. One of their groups is called Rawash and its ruler lives in the city of Kuiyana. Another group of them is called As-Salawiyya and its ruler lives in the city of Salaw. This city stands on the top of a mountain. The third group is called Al-Arsaniyya and its ruler arrives in the city of Arsa. The city of Arsa is a beautiful fortified city on a mountain. Its location is between Salav and Kuiyana. From Kuiyana to Arsa there are four marches, and from Arsa to Salav four days. Muslim merchants from Arminiya (Armenia) reach Kuiyana. As for Arsa, Sheikh Al-Hawkali reports that no foreigners penetrate there, since they kill every foreigner who enters them and no one dares to enter their lands...”

In the book “Vedas of Slovenia”, published in 1874 by S. Verkovich, there are specific words: “Our grandfathers, in ancient times, were the most learned on Earth, and all the others came to ask teachers how and what to do... They ( The Hellenes) received the plow from us, and learned crafts, both reading and writing... When our Ancestors lived on the Land's End (Arctida), Zhiva-Yuda came and taught the king to write the golden Tablets of the Garden... There were many books of that Faith... There were such books in every village and in Daspod (Bulgaria), until the Gentiles came... And they began to burn those old books... But now no one takes them out, but hide them in hiding places...”

This is just a tiny part of my many years of research relating only to the WORD - “ROUS” (Rus, Ros)... described in my book - “The Ancient Russian Word in the Enchanted History of the Great Family of the White Race”... and this book is only the Tenth part of that Great and Mighty layer of Ancient Russian Bystina that has yet to be rethought and released into the Light... not in order to PROVE Something to Someone... but for Memory... Descendants...

Slavs are the largest ethnic community Europe, but what do we really know about them? Historians still argue about who they came from, where their homeland was located, and where the self-name “Slavs” came from.

Origin of the Slavs

There are many hypotheses about the origin of the Slavs. Some attribute them to the Scythians and Sarmatians who came from Central Asia, others to the Aryans and Germans, others even identify them with the Celts. All hypotheses of the origin of the Slavs can be divided into two main categories, directly opposite friend to a friend. One of them, the well-known “Norman” one, was put forward in the 18th century by German scientists Bayer, Miller and Schlozer, although such ideas first appeared during the reign of Ivan the Terrible.

The bottom line was this: the Slavs - Indo-European people, which was once part of the “German-Slavic” community, but broke away from the Germans during the Great Migration. Finding themselves on the periphery of Europe and cut off from the continuity of Roman civilization, they were very behind in development, so much so that they could not create their own state and invited the Varangians, that is, the Vikings, to rule them.

This theory is based on the historiographical tradition of the Tale of Bygone Years and famous phrase: “Our land is great and rich, but there is no harmony in it. Come reign and rule over us." Such a categorical interpretation, which was based on obvious ideological background, could not but arouse criticism. Today archeology confirms the presence of strong intercultural relations between the Scandinavians and the Slavs, but it hardly indicates that the former played decisive role in the making ancient Russian state. But disputes about the “Norman” origin of the Slavs and Kievan Rus do not subside to this day.

The second theory of the ethnogenesis of the Slavs, on the contrary, is patriotic in nature. And, by the way, it is much older than the Norman one - one of its founders was the Croatian historian Mavro Orbini, who wrote a work called “The Slavic Kingdom” at the end of the 16th and beginning of the 17th centuries. His point of view was very extraordinary: among the Slavs he included the Vandals, Burgundians, Goths, Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Gepids, Getae, Alans, Verls, Avars, Dacians, Swedes, Normans, Finns, Ukrainians, Marcomanni, Quadi, Thracians and Illyrians and many others: “They were all the same Slavic tribe, as will be seen later."

Their exodus from the historical homeland of Orbini dates back to 1460 BC. Where did they not have time to visit after that: “The Slavs fought with almost all the tribes of the world, attacked Persia, ruled Asia and Africa, fought with the Egyptians and Alexander the Great, conquered Greece, Macedonia and Illyria, occupied Moravia, the Czech Republic, Poland and the coasts of the Baltic Sea "

He was echoed by many court scribes who created the theory of the origin of the Slavs from the ancient Romans, and Rurik from the Emperor Octavian Augustus. In the 18th century, the Russian historian Tatishchev published the so-called “Joachim Chronicle,” which, as opposed to the “Tale of Bygone Years,” identified the Slavs with the ancient Greeks.

Both of these theories (although there are echoes of truth in each of them) represent two extremes, which are characterized by a free interpretation historical facts and archaeological information. They were criticized by such “giants” national history, like B. Grekov, B. Rybakov, V. Yanin, A. Artsikhovsky, arguing that a historian should in his research rely not on his preferences, but on facts. However, the historical texture of the “ethnogenesis of the Slavs”, to this day, is so incomplete that it leaves many options for speculation, without the ability to definitively answer main question: “Who are these Slavs anyway?”

Age of the people

The next pressing problem for historians is the age of the Slavic ethnic group. When did the Slavs finally emerge as a single people from the pan-European ethnic “mess”? The first attempt to answer this question belongs to the author of “The Tale of Bygone Years” - monk Nestor. Taking the biblical tradition as a basis, he began the history of the Slavs with the Babylonian pandemonium, which divided humanity into 72 nations: “From these 70 and 2 languages the Slovenian language was born...”. The above-mentioned Mavro Orbini generously gave the Slavic tribes a couple of extra thousand years of history, dating their exodus from their historical homeland to 1496: “At the indicated time, the Goths and Slavs left Scandinavia ... since the Slavs and Goths were of the same tribe. So, having subjugated Sarmatia, the Slavic tribe was divided into several tribes and received different names: Wends, Slavs, Ants, Verls, Alans, Massetians... Vandals, Goths, Avars, Roskolans, Russians or Muscovites, Poles, Czechs, Silesians, Bulgarians ...In short, the Slavic language is heard from the Caspian Sea to Saxony, from the Adriatic Sea to the German Sea, and within all these limits lies the Slavic tribe.”

Of course, such “information” was not enough for historians. Archeology, genetics and linguistics were used to study the “age” of the Slavs. As a result, we managed to achieve modest, but still results. According to accepted version, the Slavs belonged to Indo-European community, which most likely came out of the Dnieper-Donetsk archaeological culture, in the area between the Dnieper and Don rivers, seven thousand years ago during the Stone Age. Subsequently, the influence of this culture spread to the territory from the Vistula to the Urals, although no one has yet been able to accurately localize it. In general, when speaking about the Indo-European community, we do not mean a single ethnic group or civilization, but the influence of cultures and linguistic similarity. About four thousand years BC it broke up into conventional three groups: the Celts and Romans in the West, the Indo-Iranians in the East, and somewhere in the middle, in Central and Eastern Europe, another one emerged language group, from which the Germans, Balts and Slavs later emerged. Of these, around the 1st millennium BC, the Slavic language begins to stand out.

But information from linguistics alone is not enough - to determine the unity of an ethnic group there must be continuous continuity archaeological cultures. The bottom link in the archaeological chain of the Slavs is considered to be the so-called “culture of podklosh burials”, which received its name from the custom of covering cremated remains with a large vessel, in Polish “klesh”, that is, “upside down”. It existed in the V-II centuries BC between the Vistula and the Dnieper. In a sense, we can say that its bearers were the earliest Slavs. It is from this that it is possible to identify continuity cultural elements up to the Slavic antiquities of the early Middle Ages.

Proto-Slavic homeland

Where, after all, was the Slavic ethnos born, and what territory can be called “originally Slavic”? Historians' accounts vary. Orbini, citing a number of authors, claims that the Slavs came out of Scandinavia: “Almost all the authors, whose blessed pen conveyed to their descendants the history of the Slavic tribe, claim and conclude that the Slavs came out of Scandinavia... The descendants of Japheth the son of Noah (to which the author includes the Slavs ) moved north to Europe, penetrating into the country now called Scandinavia. There they multiplied innumerably, as St. Augustine points out in his “City of God,” where he writes that the sons and descendants of Japheth had two hundred homelands and occupied lands located north of Mount Taurus in Cilicia, along the Northern Ocean, half of Asia, and throughout Europe all the way to the British Ocean."

Nestor called ancient territory Slavs - lands along the lower reaches of the Dnieper and Pannonia. The reason for the resettlement of the Slavs from the Danube was the attack on them by the Volokhs. “After many times, the essence of Slovenia settled along the Dunaevi, where there is now Ugorsk and Bolgarsk land.” Hence the Danube-Balkan hypothesis of the origin of the Slavs.

The European homeland of the Slavs also had its supporters. Thus, the prominent Czech historian Pavel Safarik believed that the ancestral home of the Slavs should be sought in Europe in the neighborhood of related tribes of Celts, Germans, Balts and Thracians. He believed that in ancient times the Slavs occupied vast territories of Central and Eastern Europe, from where they were forced to leave beyond the Carpathians under the pressure of Celtic expansion.

There was even a version about two ancestral homelands of the Slavs, according to which the first ancestral home was the place where the Proto-Slavic language developed (between the lower reaches of the Neman and Western Dvina) and where the Slavic people themselves were formed (according to the authors of the hypothesis, this happened starting from the 2nd century BC era) - the Vistula River basin. Western and Eastern Slavs had already left from there. The first populated the area of the Elbe River, then the Balkans and the Danube, and the second - the banks of the Dnieper and Dniester.

The Vistula-Dnieper hypothesis about the ancestral home of the Slavs, although it remains a hypothesis, is still the most popular among historians. It is conditionally confirmed by local toponyms, as well as vocabulary. If you believe the “words”, that is, the lexical material, the ancestral home of the Slavs was located away from the sea, in the forest flat zone with swamps and lakes, as well as within the rivers flowing into the Baltic Sea, judging by the common Slavic names of fish - salmon and eel. By the way, the areas of the Podklosh burial culture already known to us fully correspond to these geographical characteristics.

"Slavs"

The word “Slavs” itself is a mystery. It firmly came into use already in the 6th century AD, at least among Byzantine historians of this time there were frequent references to the Slavs - not always friendly neighbors Byzantium. Among the Slavs themselves, this term was already widely used as a self-name in the Middle Ages, at least judging by the chronicles, including the Tale of Bygone Years.

However, its origin is still unknown. The most popular version is that it comes from the words “word” or “glory”, going back to one Indo-European rootḱleu̯- “to hear.” By the way, Mavro Orbini also wrote about this, albeit in his characteristic “arrangement”: “during their residence in Sarmatia, they (the Slavs) took the name “Slavs”, which means “glorious”.

There is a version among linguists that the Slavs owe their self-name to the names of the landscape. Presumably, it was based on the toponym “Slovutich” - another name for the Dnieper, containing a root with the meaning “to wash”, “to cleanse”.

At one time, a lot of noise was caused by the version about the existence of a connection between the self-name “Slavs” and the Middle Greek word for “slave” (σκλάβος). It was very popular among Western scientists of the 18th-19th centuries. It is based on the idea that the Slavs, as one of the most numerous peoples Europe, made up a significant percentage of captives and often became objects of the slave trade. Today this hypothesis is recognized as erroneous, since most likely the basis of “σκλάβος” was a Greek verb with the meaning “to obtain spoils of war” - “σκυλάο”.

The Slavs are Europe's largest ethnic group, but what do we really know about them? Historians still argue about who they came from, where their homeland was located, and where the self-name “Slavs” came from.

Origin of the Slavs

There are many hypotheses about the origin of the Slavs. Some attribute them to the Scythians and Sarmatians who came from Central Asia, others to the Aryans and Germans, others even identify them with the Celts. All hypotheses of the origin of the Slavs can be divided into two main categories, directly opposite to each other. One of them, the well-known “Norman” one, was put forward in the 18th century by German scientists Bayer, Miller and Schlozer, although such ideas first appeared during the reign of Ivan the Terrible.

The bottom line was this: the Slavs are an Indo-European people who were once part of the “German-Slavic” community, but broke away from the Germans during the Great Migration. Finding themselves on the periphery of Europe and cut off from the continuity of Roman civilization, they were very behind in development, so much so that they could not create their own state and invited the Varangians, that is, the Vikings, to rule them.

This theory is based on the historiographical tradition of “The Tale of Bygone Years” and the famous phrase: “Our land is great, rich, but there is no side in it. Come reign and rule over us." Such a categorical interpretation, which was based on obvious ideological background, could not but arouse criticism. Today, archeology confirms the presence of strong intercultural ties between the Scandinavians and Slavs, but it hardly suggests that the former played a decisive role in the formation of the ancient Russian state. But the debate about the “Norman” origin of the Slavs and Kievan Rus does not subside to this day.

Both of these theories (although there are echoes of truth in each of them) represent two extremes, which are characterized by a free interpretation of historical facts and archaeological information. They were criticized by such “giants” of Russian history as B. Grekov, B. Rybakov, V. Yanin, A. Artsikhovsky, arguing that a historian should in his research rely not on his preferences, but on facts. However, the historical texture of the “ethnogenesis of the Slavs”, to this day, is so incomplete that it leaves many options for speculation, without the ability to finally answer the main question: “who are these Slavs after all?”

Age of the people

Of course, such “information” was not enough for historians. Archeology, genetics and linguistics were used to study the “age” of the Slavs. As a result, we managed to achieve modest, but still results. According to the accepted version, the Slavs belonged to the Indo-European community, which most likely emerged from the Dnieper-Donets archaeological culture, in the area between the Dnieper and Don rivers, seven thousand years ago during the Stone Age. Subsequently, the influence of this culture spread to the territory from the Vistula to the Urals, although no one has yet been able to accurately localize it. In general, when speaking about the Indo-European community, we do not mean a single ethnic group or civilization, but the influence of cultures and linguistic similarity. About four thousand years BC it broke up into conventional three groups: the Celts and Romans in the West, the Indo-Iranians in the East, and somewhere in the middle, in Central and Eastern Europe, another language group emerged, from which the Germans later emerged, Balts and Slavs. Of these, around the 1st millennium BC, the Slavic language begins to stand out.

But information from linguistics alone is not enough - to determine the unity of an ethnic group there must be an uninterrupted continuity of archaeological cultures. The bottom link in the archaeological chain of the Slavs is considered to be the so-called “culture of podklosh burials”, which received its name from the custom of covering cremated remains with a large vessel, in Polish “klesh”, that is, “upside down”. It existed in the V-II centuries BC between the Vistula and the Dnieper. In a sense, we can say that its bearers were the earliest Slavs. It is from this that it is possible to identify the continuity of cultural elements right up to the Slavic antiquities of the early Middle Ages.

Proto-Slavic homeland

Nestor called the most ancient territory of the Slavs - the lands along the lower reaches of the Dnieper and Pannonia. The reason for the resettlement of the Slavs from the Danube was the attack on them by the Volokhs. “After many times, the essence of Slovenia settled along the Dunaevi, where there is now Ugorsk and Bolgarsk land.” Hence the Danube-Balkan hypothesis of the origin of the Slavs.

The Vistula-Dnieper hypothesis about the ancestral home of the Slavs, although it remains a hypothesis, is still the most popular among historians. It is conditionally confirmed by local toponyms, as well as vocabulary. If you believe the “words”, that is, the lexical material, the ancestral home of the Slavs was located away from the sea, in a forested flat zone with swamps and lakes, as well as within the rivers flowing into the Baltic Sea, judging by the common Slavic names of fish - salmon and eel. By the way, the areas of the Podklosh burial culture already known to us fully correspond to these geographical characteristics.

"Slavs"

The word “Slavs” itself is a mystery. It firmly came into use already in the 6th century AD; at least, Byzantine historians of this time often mentioned the Slavs - not always friendly neighbors of Byzantium. Among the Slavs themselves, this term was already widely used as a self-name in the Middle Ages, at least judging by the chronicles, including the Tale of Bygone Years.

However, its origin is still unknown. The most popular version is that it comes from the words “word” or “glory,” which go back to the same Indo-European root ḱleu̯- “to hear.” By the way, Mavro Orbini also wrote about this, albeit in his characteristic “arrangement”: “during their residence in Sarmatia, they (the Slavs) took the name “Slavs”, which means “glorious”.

At one time, a lot of noise was caused by the version about the existence of a connection between the self-name “Slavs” and the Middle Greek word for “slave” (σκλάβος). It was very popular among Western scientists of the 18th-19th centuries. It is based on the idea that the Slavs, as one of the most numerous peoples in Europe, made up a significant percentage of captives and often became objects of the slave trade. Today this hypothesis is recognized as erroneous, since most likely the basis of “σκλάβος” was a Greek verb with the meaning “to obtain spoils of war” - “σκυλάο”.