The settlement of the Dulebs went from west to east, through Polesie towards the Dnieper. The area of the densest settlement of Dulebs was the upper and middle reaches of the Sluch, the interfluve of the Goryn and Sluch and the upper reaches of the Teterev, a tributary of the Dnieper. To the north of Teterev, settlements cover the basin of its tributary Irsha and the upper reaches of the Uzha. Here clearly lay the lands of several tribes. The Korczak group of settlements was located on Teterev, which gave its name to the archaeological culture of the Slavs. From the Duleb tribes compactly settled in these areas, a tribal union of the Drevlyans later formed. Initially, the Drevlyans were a tribe (or already a number of tribes) that settled in the forest areas of this region, directly approaching the Anta forest-steppe. In the Drevlyan tribal union, two centers of princely power were later distinguished. One was the area where Irsha and Uzha converged, where the princely cities of Malin and Iskorosten were then located. The other was the lands higher along the Uzh and north of Zherev, where the city of Ovruch was located. The latter region was still sparsely populated during the Korczak period. But there were already isolated Slovenian settlements quite far to the north from there, on Slovechna, which flows into the Pripyat.
The Drevlyans buried their dead mainly in mounds, but sometimes in ground burial grounds. From the 8th century Only one dead person was buried in the mounds, as a rule, without an urn. The burning was usually carried out externally, but sometimes on site. In this case, the deceased was placed on boards or in a wooden block, positioned along the east-west line.
“The arrival of Slavic settlers to the Kyiv region from the west was reflected in several legends, starting with the ancient Russian “Tale of Bygone Years.” One of the Ukrainian texts (one of the later ones - the most logically constructed) unambiguously talks about military actions. A certain “lord” incredibly oppressed people, “took away everything he could from them.” In the end, the “subjects” rebelled. The combined forces of the rebels defeated the “pan” with his army and drove them to the site of present-day Kyiv, where they destroyed their oppressor and his associates. This, again, extremely late legend vaguely reflected the initial power of the Ants (felt by the neighboring Dulebs) and the fall of this power as a result of the war, which led to the settlement of the Kiev region by the Slovene-Dulebs.”(S. Alekseev. “Slavic Europe in the 5th-8th centuries”)
According to the Tale of Bygone Years, “the Drevlyans lived in a brutal manner, living like bestials, and killed each other, eating everything unclean, and they did not have marriage, but they kidnapped maidens near the water.” Of course, Nestor is clearly exaggerating the colors here in order to emphasize the isolation of the glades, which claim primacy in the Slavic world. But besides political differences, he had other reasons for this. The Drevlyans differed from the Polyans in their way of life and even in appearance. Thus, the Volynians, judging by later medieval burials, had an elongated head, a wide face, and a strongly protruding nose. We see this combination of Slavic broad-facedness with the typical features of all Caucasians in the southern and western neighbors of the Volynians - the Drevlyans, Ulichs, and Tiverts. They, especially the descendants of the Antes, differed only in their slightly less elongated heads. They differed significantly - with a narrower face, a slightly less protruding nose, a medium-sized head - only in the clearing. In my opinion, this is explained by the fact that the Antes and Dulebs in general and the Drevlyans in particular were Sarmatian tribes, unlike the Polyan-Scythians. And in this regard, it seems doubtful to me that the identification of the Drevlyans with the Agachirs described by the Bulgarian chroniclers Gazi-Baraj and Sheikh-Gali, which is made in the article “Drevlyans” by S.V. Trusov. “Agach” in Tatar means “tree,” but Trusov himself gives a different interpretation of this ethnonym based on Sheikh-Gali. Here it is:
“The first mention of them corresponds to 1300-1200 BC, when the ancient Greeks (Tyrians) left the territory of their North Black Sea homeland and moved to the Balkans and Greece: “The Tyrians carried away with them part of the Karasaklans, who isolated themselves led by the biy Asparchuk in the “Aka Dzhir” region on the Aka River and therefore called Akadzhirs.” As can be seen from the above passage, Gali, like Gazi-Baraj, who used ancient texts when compiling his history, even derives the etymology of the “Drevlyans” (Agachirs) not from the “tree”, but from the name of the area in the Oka (Aki) basin. Let me remind you that the Bulgars called ancient Rostov Dzhir. The Akadzhirs, according to Gali, were eternal allies of the Tyrians (Greeks): “With the help of these Akadzhir saklans, the Tyrians conquered Little Rum and the island of Kresh and mercilessly exterminated the Imen people there.” Here: Lesser Rum - the territory of Greece and Turkey; Crash – Crete; Imenians - Minoans.."
In the second century AD, the Rosomons, together with the Wends-Rugs, Polans and other Slavic tribes, formed the state of Rusalania, which existed for about eighty years and fell under the blows of the Goths. Most likely, the Drevlyans were part of this Rusalan Union, the capital of which was the city of Gelon, known since the time of Herodotus. After the defeat of the Rusalans, part of the Dulebs fell under the rule of the Visigoths, the other part - the eastern - under the rule of the Huns, who came from the southern coast of the Baltic and initially acted as allies of the Goths. (Read the article "Huns") It is possible that during the time of Rusalania and the Gothic-Hunnic rule The Drevlyans-Dulebs and Goldescythians-Akajirs were perceived by the Bulgarians-steppe dwellers precisely as Agachirs, that is, “forest people”. But the Bulgarians of that time spoke not Turkic or even Finno-Ugric, but a completely Slavic language, which, however, does not exclude the presence of both Ugric and Turkic clans in this originally Sarmatian ethnic group. (Read the article “Bulgarians”). The Bulgarians were far from playing the last roles in the Hunnic union, just like the Akatsirs, the inhabitants of the home who went down in the history of Europe as the Akatsirs. Byzantine chroniclers note the presence of the Akatsir tribe in the post-Hunnic era precisely on the Don, but in this case we are simply talking about the ethnic unity of the inhabitants of Poochya and the Don region preserved from Scythian times. There is no need to talk about any Drevlyan, Ugric or Turkic presence in this case.
The Drevlyans appeared on the right bank of the Dnieper at the beginning of the 7th century, during the Avar-Anta war, and immediately the Savirs (descendants of the Sarmatians) and Rus (descendants of the Scythians) moved towards them from the Don, who by this time had merged into a single community of Rosomon-Rusalans. (Read the article “Polyane”) The Savir-Russians are headed by Prince Kiy. It is difficult to say whether this Kiy was a descendant of Kiy, the founder of Rusalania, known to us from the Book of Veles, or whether we are talking about a title that became a proper name. Most likely it’s the second one. Both Kiyas, Rusalan and Savir, founded cities called Kyiv, but if we are not talking about a proper name, but about a title, then most likely “Kiev” is the residence of “Kiya,” the supreme ruler. One way or another, the origin of the modern city of Kyiv is connected with the second, Savir or Don Kiy. The Dulebs in general and the Drevlyans in particular are included in this newly formed union along with the Polyans, Savirs and Rus. Apparently, the principle of this union is the same as in Masudi’s “Valinan”, already known to us. At the head of the new formation is Kiy, aka “Maha,” that is, the Grand Duke, and all other leaders of tribes or tribal unions are called small princes or Mals.
Trees, Trees, Drevskaya land, Drevlyanschina are words that have come to us from the depths of centuries. In biblical times, after the flood, one of the three sons of Noah, Japhet, after the distribution of the Earth, received Media, Albania, Armenia Minor and Major, Cappadocia, Paphlogonia, Galatea, Colchis, Bosporia, Maeotia, DERVIA, Sarmatia, Tauria, Scythia... So states the famous monk Nestor, in the chronicle. By the way, without mentioning any more tribes from the later chronicled Russian tribes. Of course, this is not confirmed by historical or archaeological sources, but it is a fact that Drevia (Drevlyanshchina) as a state association existed during the time of the Bosporan kingdom known to us on the territory of Crimea. Which, according to historical data, dates back to the middle of the 1st millennium BC, i.e. one and a half millennia earlier than the beginning of the existence of Kievan Rus. It can be assumed that already in those days there was also a center (capital) of the Drevlyansky Land, Iskorosten.
Who are these legendary inhabitants of Derbe? What is their origin? The ancient Greek historian Herodotus (5th century BC), in his “History” calls them forest NEURAS, settling them in the forest thickets of the Right Bank Dnieper region south of Pripyat. At the turn of our era, the territory of the region was inhabited by tribes of the Zarubintsy archaeological culture, which corresponds historical Slavs Wends. The Gothic historian of the 6th century. Jordanes reports in his work “On the Origin and Actions of the Goths” that north of a large tribe ants, who, according to the Roman historian of the mid-VI century. Procopius of Caesarea (“War with the Goths”) lived in the territory from the middle Dnieper region to the northern Danube, lived Slavic tribes of the Wends(Vinetov, Wendov). Pliny the Elder (“Natural History”), Cornelius Tacitus (“Germany”), and Claudius Ptolemy (“Geography”) also mention these same tribes in their works. According to them, the eastern part of these tribes lived in the forest area south of Pripyat (Volin-Zhitomir Polesie), and the western part from the Western Bug to the Vistula and the Baltic Sea, displacing the Celts from there at the beginning of the 1st millennium BC.
In our opinion, it is East End Wendish tribes became the core of the formation Drevlyan tribe, and together with the neighboring Ants they are the ancestors of the Ukrainian peoples.
About the strength and power of the Wends ( Drevlyans) we can judge by some facts. According to Procopius of Caesarea, in 546 the Wends defeated the Antes in open battle. In 558-568, the militant Avars (Obras) went on a devastating campaign from the Southern Volga region to modern Hungary, defeating the Alans, Antes, Slavs in the Prut and Dniester basins, tribes in the Czech Republic and Moravia, Franks and Gepids in the territory of Hungary and only Wends did not allow the conquerors into their territory and did not become their tributaries. John of Ephesus reports that in 583-584 army of forest dwellers(Venedov) went through a military campaign through Thrace, Dacia and Macedonia (north of the Byzantine Empire), capturing great booty.
There is also reason to associate Drevlyanshchina second half of the 1st millennium with the legendary Artania, which Russian historians groundlessly locate in many places (in the Novgorod land, in Tmutarakan, in the Ryazan region, in Roden).
But what did unbiased Arab chroniclers write? Thus, according to the Arab chronicler Al-Istarhi (beginning of the 10th century), Arab merchants delivered their goods to Cuyaby(Kyiv), behind which further to the west was a mysterious Artania or ( Arsania), into which not a single foreigner penetrates, since the locals destroy them. The Artanians sail to Cuiaba by water bringing furs, tin, and swords, which they exchange for expensive oriental fabrics, jewelry, and spices. Don't let the reader be confused by the tin. It was produced in abundance further west Drevlyanschina and through exchange, it ended up in our region.
Another Arab chronicler Al-Idrisi, describing the main city Artania writes that hail Arsa very beautiful and located on a fortified mountain between Slavia And Kuyabom. From Cuiaba to Arsy four crossings (38x4=152km), and from Arsy it’s a four-day (76x4=304 km) journey to Slavia. We are convinced that Artania is Drevlyanshchina With Arsom (Iskorostenem), and Slavia is a tribal union Dulebov(they are Buzhans and later Volynians) in the lower reaches of the Western Bug. Exactly according to Ushe(Uzhu), Pripyat, Dnieper Drevlyans descended by water to Kyiv, precisely from Kyiv to Korosten 150 km., and from Korosten to Volyn 300 km.
A report by another medieval Arab, Khudad al-Alem, reports that the lands of the Rus are located along the Rus River, which flows from the depths of the land of the Slavs and heads east, flowing along the border Ass - Slavia(Dulebov), Al-Arsania (Drevlyans). Of course, this is the Pripyat River, along which the northern borders passed and Dulebov And Drevlyan. Moreover, from this message it is clear that the land of the Rus is precisely the land of the Dulebs and Drevlyans, and that they are the ancestors of the Rus ( Rus').
Giving a characterization Slavs, the Arab Ibn-Rusteh writes that the country of the Slavs is flat and wooded, its inhabitants grow mainly millet, there are no vineyards or arable fields, honey is mined, there are few draft animals and horses. Weapons: darts, shields and spears..., favourite drink mead. Tsar called " head of chapters"and has a deputy "zhupenedzh", he has riding horses and "beautiful, strong and precious chain mail." The king lives in the city of Jarvab and goes to collect tribute. As we see, this characteristic coincides with what we know about Drevlyans.
Characterizing the residents Artania (Arsania) Arab traveler Ibn-Haukal (first half of the 10th century) in his “Book of Ways and States” writes: “... from Arsy black sables and a number of slaves are exported. They (Russians) large in number and have long been attacking the adjacent territories of Rum and impose tribute."
Analysis of medieval evidence Byzantine, European And Arabic historians, geographers and travelers lead to the opinion and conviction that it was the inhabitants of the forest area from the southern Povislenie to the Dnieper ( Ukrainian Polesie) from the first centuries AD formed the first tribal unions Slavia, Artania, Kuyavia, the first, albeit primitive, state formations that became the basis for the creation Kievan Rus, but we can go further in this assumption that it was they who became the basis of education Ukrainian people.
Talking about geographical location of the Drevlyan tribal union, two thoughts have formed in historical science. According to academician Shakhmatov and his followers, the eastern border of settlement Drevlyans extended all the way to Left bank of the Dnieper, entering the Right Bank Podesennya. Here is what Shakhmatov wrote: “It’s hard to say that Drevlyans... did not cross to the left bank of the Dnieper... it is possible that the Right Bank of the Podesnenya was occupied Drevlyans. Some indication of this is given by the oldest form... of a tale of revenge Drevlyans. Subduing Drevlyan, Olga set off with her squad across the Drevskaya land “inserting regulations and lessons, and the essence of the situation is traps, both along the Dnieper and along the Desna...”. Meanwhile, it must be assumed that Drevlyans were on the left side of the Dnieper, also in view of the chronicle article of 970. Here, Vladimir’s mother and Dobrynya’s sister Malusha, called the daughter of Malk Lyubechanin, and recognizing as possible the guess of Prozorovsky and Sreznevsky that this Malk is identical with the Drevlyan prince Mal, we have to conclude that Lyubech was a Drevlyan city." Moreover, some of the adherents this group of scientists V. Parkhomenko, P. Tolochko put forward the hypothesis that even Kyiv at the beginning of its existence was also a Drevlyan city, an outpost of the Drevlyan region to the southeast. Also Antonovich V.B. and Spitsyn, on the basis of archaeological research, argued that within the boundaries of Kyiv and its suburbs no burials characteristic of the Polyanins were identified, but all of them Drevlyansky type. Later, during the time of Igor and Olga, the Ipatiev Chronicle writes that Lyut left Kyiv to hunt and drove into the Drevlyan territory, i.e. The Drevlyansky land came close to Kyiv. This is also indicated by N. Kostomarov and N. Barsov, that beyond Belgorod and Vyshgorod it began " Derevskaya land", "Trees".
The borders of the Drevlyanshchina along Rusanova and Zvizdetsky in the east they passed along the swampy floodplain of the Zdvizh River, further along Teterev to the confluence of the Irsha.
Regarding other boundaries, there are no contradictions between scientists. In the north, the Drevlyans along the Pripyat River were neighbors of the Dregovichi, in the west they bordered the Dulebs (Volynians) in the area between the Sluch and Goryn rivers (as the author of “Essays on the history of the Volyn land until the end of the 11th century” Andriyashev A. points out) Pogorinnoye was originally Drevlyan territory y, and in the south their border probably coincided with the border of the forests of Polesie, beyond which began the semi-steppe spaces, where the nomadic descendants of the Scythians, Sarmatians, and Huns ruled. On the southern borders, the Drevlyans and their ancestors defended their land from the militant Cimmerians, Scythians, Sarmatians, Romans, Goths, Huns, Avars, Byzantines, and not one of these alien conquerors was able to penetrate the land of the Drevlyans.
It was in this territory that archaeologists discovered the first reliably Slavic memos, the so-called Korczak culture. Slavic tribes Drevlyanschina, due to natural inaccessibility and isolation, formed a fairly stable population of the local anthropological type, which was formed over about a whole millennium. After all, only on the territory Drevlyans scientists have established the fact of consistent and continuous development of the Slavic population from the V to the XIII centuries. According to some researchers (Petrashenko V.O.), it is Drevlyanshchina their material and cultural achievements (housing construction, ceramics, etc.) had a significant influence on the Polyana Kiev region, which brought together and connected their material cultures and then became the key to the fact that these two tribal associations played a leading role in the formation of the southern Russian state Kievan Rus.
In the VI-VII centuries Slavic tribes, who lived from the middle Dnieper region to the spurs of the Carpathians, were called in historical science ants And Sklavins. That's what the famous people called them Roman history ready Procopius of Caesarea, Jordan and Emperor Mauritius. It is most certain that sklavins, these were the future Drevlyani. According to their description, the Antes and Sklavins were governed by the people's assembly, were dexterous, brave and hardy warriors, were engaged in cattle breeding and agriculture, and were very crowded people. "Tribes Slavs And ants, Mauritius wrote, they love freedom and have no inclination towards either slavery or obedience, they are brave, especially in their own land, they are hardy and can easily endure cold and heat..., their young men are very masterful use of weapons".
In archaeological science, the local population of the period of the 6th-9th centuries belongs to the so-called Blučac type ceramic culture. Fragments of such ceramics are common in burial mounds in the ritual of corpse cremation around the ancient Iskorostenya.
According to Academician B.A. Rybakov and other scientists, at the end of the 7th century, a group of tribes that lived in the Uzh River basin united in a tribal union around the strongest tribe, which bore the name of the Drevlyans. The oldest mention of the Drevlyan tribe is found in the work of the Byzantine emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus “On State Administration,” where, among other Slavic tribes, the Drevlyans are also mentioned. The Drevlyans, as one of the Slavic tribes, are also mentioned in the chronicle: “The same Slavs came and sat along the Dnieper and called themselves Polyanians, while others were called Drevlyans, since they settled in the forests...”
In socio-economic terms, this period is for Drevlyans was a transition from the clan order to the feudal one, the reason for which was positive changes in the economy, primarily in agriculture, where labor productivity increased thanks to the use of iron tools. Each family itself was now able to cultivate a plot of land, and therefore tribal communities broke up into separate “houses” with plots of arable land, which was periodically redistributed. At the same time, the process of property differentiation deepens, the tribal nobility subjugates the best lands.
The main type of Drevlyan settlements there remained unfortified villages, which, as a rule, were located on slopes above floodplain terraces, rivers, streams, on plateaus of high banks, rivers or on elevations of river floodplains. This was due to the availability of soil and pastures for grazing livestock, the opportunity to engage in fishing to replenish food products, and, in addition, to elevated areas it was easier hold the line from the conquerors. Such Drevlyan settlements consisted of several separate dwellings ground, half-earth or earthen type. Housing walls were built from wooden logs, which lined the walls and the part of the dwelling buried in the ground. Fireplace stoves were built to heat homes.
One of these dwellings was excavated in 1934 on the northern outskirts of the city. It was a dugout 5x5.5 meters with traces of a fire in the middle and with the remains of things: iron axes, carpentry tools, chisels, millstones, fragments of dishes and spindle whorls. These things give an idea of the crafts of the “Korosten people” of that time. Materials from archaeological excavations indicate that significant development has occurred iron production and products made from it.
This was facilitated by the fact that swamp ore deposits were widespread in our area. It was melted in cheese furnaces, in which layers of crushed ore and charcoal were placed, the temperature was increased by pumping air into the middle of the furnace using leather bellows. From such a furnace, one melt could produce 2-6 kg. raw metal, which was then forged into metal products. Archaeologists excavated one of these ovens near Ushomir. "... in the old Drevlyansky land, and ore was processed here, undoubtedly, back in the pagan period: this is indicated by the finds of hammers, slag, a significant number of iron products, undoubtedly of local origin, found in the Drevlyansky burial grounds, especially a lot of large nails that make up the characteristic belonging to the Drevlyan funeral rite" wrote M. Grushevsky.
Also common were pottery, carpentry("tree-making"), weaving. The development of the latter can be judged from the unique discovery near Mikhailovka of the remains of a workshop for making spindle whorls from a rock called red slate (pyrophylite slate). Archaeologists find these spindle whorls in many places of the former state of the Kyiv Movement, where they got through exchange of goods.
Residents of the area were mainly engaged in agriculture And cattle breeding. In agriculture, the dominant system was the so-called cutting or slashing system, according to which a plot of land cleared of forest was used for 3-4 years, to the depletion of fertility, with the next transition to another plot. The soil was processed with a wooden plowshare with a metal plowshare, or less often with a shovel or hoe. They sowed rye, barley, oats, millet, lentils, flax, hemp, and raised horses, cows, bulls, bulls, pigs, and pigeons.
An important help in life Drevlyans remained hunting And fishing, as well as beekeeping - collecting honey wild forest bees. Local residents no longer “teared out” or destroyed bee houses, but streamlined this trade, calling it beekeeping. "Bort" is a "hollow" inhabited by forest bees. On the opposite side of the hole (taphole) they began to cut down or burn out a hole in the tree up to half a meter in height and up to 15 cm in width, through which they cut out part of the honeycomb with honey, and covered the hole with a board. This made it possible to preserve the bee colony and use it for more than one year. As a rule, honey was selected from the beet closer to autumn, when there were practically no brood larvae in the combs. The found board became property; the owner put a special sign on the tree, which meant that the tree and the sides belonged to a certain owner.
Among Drevlyans during this period it was established pagan religion. The description of the beliefs of the Antes, which was given by the Roman historian Procopius, can be transferred to the Drevlyans: “They believe that only one god, the creator of lightning, is the power over everything, and they sacrifice bulls to him and perform other sacred rituals... They also worship rivers , and nymphs, and all other demons, they make sacrifices to all of them and with the help of these sacrifices they carry out fortune-telling."
There is also something peculiar burial of the Drevlyan type. These are large or medium-sized mounds, around which, as a rule, a ditch was dug, through which a bridge was laid. The deceased was mostly buried in a wooden coffin made of thick bars or logs and placed at ground level or above and very rarely in a recess. A clay jug with food was placed near each corner of the coffin.
There were also interesting customs of the Drevlyans, which its author, the legendary monk Nestor, so angrily condemns in the chronicles. We can forgive him, because when he wrote the chronicle, he was fulfilling, as they would say now, the “social order” of the Kyiv princes, i.e. princes of the Polyan tribe, and was forced to humiliate the dignity of representatives of other tribes and exalt his own. Hence his respectful attitude towards the Polians and disdainful attitude towards other Slavic tribes. This is what he wrote: “And the Drevlyans lived like animals, they lived like bestials: and they killed each other, and ate everything unclean, and they did not have weddings, but they kidnapped (stole) girls near the water.” This “kidnapping” is nothing more than the pagan holiday of Kupala, which would later spread among other Slavic tribes.
Lukashenko Vladimir Vasilyevich. Thanks to such sincerely passionate people, you and I have the opportunity to learn more about the history of our area.This is one of the rare cases when you, dear readers, can familiarize yourself with the working materials before the book is published. I hope that these materials will raise reader interest in the works of Vladimir Vasilyevich and increase the demand for the new publication “My Korostenshchina...” that will appear soon, as well as other works by V.V. Lukashenko. which already exist or will appear.
Such books should be present on the bookshelves of every self-respecting person, so as not to become “Ivans who knew no kinship” themselves, and not to let their descendants turn into them.
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The information is presented in a slightly abbreviated form. To learn more, we recommend that you purchase books by Vladimir Vasilyevich.
The eastern neighbors of the Volhynians were the Drevlyans (Derevlyans), who received their name from the wooded area: “... zane sedosh in leseh.” The territory of the Drevlyans is not defined by the chronicle. It is only known that this tribe lived in the vicinity of the glades, northwest of Kyiv, and its center was Iskorosten.
The Drevlyans apparently had a developed tribal (semi-state) organization. The Tale of Bygone Years already states on the first pages that they had their own reign. The chronicles contain information about the Drevlyan princes, tribal nobility (“the best men”) and the squad. Between the Drevlyan and Kyiv princes until the middle of the 10th century. There were repeated clashes. Apparently, this is connected with the judgment of the author of the historical introduction to the Tale of Bygone Years, undoubtedly a resident of Kiev, that “... the Drevlyans live in a bestial manner, they live bestially: they kill each other, eat everything uncleanly, and they never had a marriage, but they snatched a girl from the water” (PVL , I, p. 15)
Until 946, the Drevlyans' dependence on Kyiv was limited to paying tribute and participating in military campaigns. In 945, during the collection of tribute by the Drevlyans, the Kiev prince Igor was killed. The following year, Olga and Igor’s young son Svyatoslav undertook a military campaign against the Drevlyan land, as a result of which the Drevlyan army was defeated and their city of Iskorosten was burned (PVL, I, pp. 40-43). The Drevlyans finally lost their independence and became part of the Kyiv state. The Drevlyansky land was now ruled by proteges of Kyiv. So, going to Bulgaria in 970, Svyatoslav planted one of his sons in the Drevlyan land (PVL, I, p. 49).
Attempts to restore the territory of settlement of the Drevlyans on the basis of chronicle evidence have been made repeatedly, but none of them can be considered successful. The brevity of the chronicle data about the Drevlyan land gave rise to very contradictory judgments regarding its borders. Thus, N.P. Barsov and L. Niederle believed that the Drevlyans belonged to the region south of Pripyat, between Goryn and Teterev, beyond which there was already the land of glades (Barsov N. /7., 1885, p. 127-129; Niederle L., 1956, p. 156). S. M. Seredonin allocated a wider space to the Drevlyans, limited by Goryn in the west, Pripyat in the north and the Kyiv Dnieper region in the east (Seredonin S. M., 1916, pp. 146, 147).
A. A. Shakhmatov, using indirect data from Russian chronicles, assumed that the area of Drevlyan settlement extended to the left bank of the Dnieper (Shakhmatov A. A., 1916, p. 100). Message from the chronicle: “And Volga walked through the wilds of the land with his son and his retinue, instructing regulations and lessons; and the essence of her camp and the catcher... and along the Dnieper the outweigher and along the Desna...” (PVL, I, p. 43) - meant, in the opinion of this researcher, that the area of the Drevlyans included the Dnieper river with the mouth of the Desna. A. A. Shakhmatov identified Malk Lyubechanin with Mal Drevlyansky, which allowed him to attribute Lyubech to the Drevlyan land (Shakhmatov A. A., 1908, pp. 340-378).
However, it is more plausible to interpret the chronicle report about Olga’s activities in such a way that the regions along the Dnieper and Desna were not part of the land of the Drevlyans, otherwise their mention would have been unnecessary. B. A. Rybakov believed that A. A. Shakhmatov was mistaken in determining the personality of Mal Drevlyansky (Rybakov B. A., 1956, pp. 46-59).
V. A. Parkhomenko agreed with A. A. Shakhmatov’s assumption about the spread of the Drevlyans to the Dnieper left bank (Parkhomenko V. A., 1924, p. 46-50). In his opinion, Kyiv, mainly associated with the left bank, was originally a city of the Drevlyans and only in the 10th century. was conquered by the glades.
The decisive role in determining the boundaries of settlement of the Drevlyans belongs to the burial mound material. The first attempt to outline the area of this tribe was made by the researcher of the Drevlyan burial mounds V.B. Antonovich. Before the field research of this archaeologist, scientific excavations in the Drevlyan land were not significant. Interesting studies of the mounds on Teterev in the vicinity of Zhitomir were carried out by S. S. Gamchenko (Gamchenko S. S., 1888). Very brief information was published on excavations in Annopol and Nemovichi (Volynskie Gazette, 1879; Kyiv Starina, 1888, pp. 34, 35). V. 3. Zavitnevich, who carried out excavations in the Pripyat River and in more northern regions, tried to outline the border between the Dregovichi and Drevlyansky mounds (Zavitnevich V. 3., 1890a, p. 22). Since in the areas he studied, burial mounds on the horizon predominated, he considered them Dregovichi, and attributed burials in pits to the Drevlyans. On this basis, he drew the border between the Dregovichi and the Drevlyans south of Pripyat, and attributed individual burial grounds along Teterev (for example, Zhitomirsky) to the Dregovichi.
V.B. Antonovich's burial mound excavations were concentrated in the southern and southeastern parts of the Drevlyansky land and in neighboring areas of the glades (Antonovich V.B., 18936). According to this researcher, the clearings contained mounds with corpses, accompanied by horse burials. As a result, all mounds without horse burials were attributed to the Drevlyans. Since the mounds in the river basin Since in the upper reaches of Uborti and Stvigi had not been explored by excavations by that time, and the mounds of the Volynians had not yet been identified, the boundaries of the Drevlyansky land were delineated by V.B. Antonovich very subjectively.
V.B. Antonovich included mounds near Kiev, as well as embankments in the basins of the Teterev, Uzh, Irpen and Rostavitsa rivers as Drevlyans. Thus, the Drevlyan land was defined within the range from the middle point of the Slucha (Gorynskaya) in the west to the right bank of the Dnieper in the east and from the Uzha basin in the north to the left tributaries of the upper Ros in the south. V.B. Antonovich calculated that mounds with pit corpses noticeably predominate in this territory (58%). Mounds with burials on the horizon account for 25% of those studied, and with burials above the horizon - 17%. On this basis, the researcher considered mounds with burials in ground pits to be characteristic of the Drevlyaps.
V. B. Antonovich’s conclusions attracted the attention of researchers and were repeatedly used in the scientific literature (A. A. Spitsyn, V. A. Parkhomenko and others).
Excavations of the Drevlyan burial mounds continued at the end of the 19th and in the first decades of the 20th century. S. S. Gamchenko explored the mounds to the Sluchi basin (Gamchenko S. S1., 1901, pp. 350-403). F.R. Steingel’s excavations in the Ovruch and Zhitomir districts of the Barashi, Veselovka, Korosten, Katsovshchina, Kovali, Norinsk, Rudnya Borovaya and Tatarinovichi burial grounds were very significant (F.R. Steingel, 1904, pp. 153-167). In the northern half of the Drevlyansky land, in the Ubort and Uzha basins, significant surveys of mounds were carried out by Ya. V. Yarotsky. He explored about 50 mounds located at 11 points (Yarotsky Ya.V., 1903, pp. 173-192; Excavations of Kurgapov, 1903, pp. 329-332). The mounds of the Uzha basin in the vicinity of Ovruch in 1911 attracted the attention of the famous archaeologist V.V. Khvoika (Viezzhev R. /., 19546, pp. 145-152).
After the Great October Revolution, significant work on the study of mounds in the Zhitomir region was carried out by S. S. Gamchenko. He was the first to discover and excavate mounds from the third quarter of the 1st millennium. e. (Petrov V.P., 1963a, p. 16-38). In 1924, over 20 mounds in different points of the Drevlyan area (the vicinity of Korostepya and Ovruch, Norinsk, Babipichi, Leplyanshchina, Rosohi, Narodich, Yazhberen) were excavated by an expedition of the Volyn Museum, and in 1926 the Drevlyan mounds were explored by I. F. Levitsky (Vikgorovsky V., 1925, pp. 19, 20).
In recent decades, relatively small studies of mounds have been carried out, but they are very significant, since the perfection of the methodology has made it possible to pay attention to some details that were not noticed before. In the 50s of the XX century. 10. V. Kukharenko explored the Drevlyan mounds in two locations - Rakitno and Miropol (Kukharenko Yu. V., 1969, pp. 111-115). In those same years, small studies of the mounds near Dovginichy, Khaich and Novoseloki were carried out by I. S. Vinokur and V. A. Mesyats (Vinokur I. S., 1960, pp. 151-153). In the 60s, excavations of mounds (Buki, Mezhirichki, Miropol Gorbashi) were carried out by I. P. Rusanova (Rusanova I. P., 1961, pp. 70, 71; 1967, pp. 42-47; 1970, p. 278; 1973, pp. 26-30).
The analysis of mound materials from the chronicle area of the Drevlyans belongs to I. P. Rusanova (Rusanova I. P., 1960, pp. 63-69). Having critically examined the conclusions of V.B. Antonovich, the researcher showed that it is impossible to delineate the Drevlyan territory based on the distribution of mounds with corpses in ground pits. It turned out that such mounds are known only on the outskirts of the Drevlyan land and are more typical for the neighboring tribes - the Polyans and Volynians. In the main territory of the Drevlyans, i.e. in the areas of Korosten and Ovruch, there are almost no burial pits under the burial mounds. Burials on the horizon are more typical for this territory; corpses in mounds are less common.
I.P. Rusanova managed to notice a very characteristic feature of the mounds of the Drevlyan region - accumulations of ash and coals in the mounds, always above the trench positions. Usually this is a thin ash-coal layer located in the center of the mound. Its formation is associated with a certain ritual - the legacy of the rite of cremation of the dead. Apparently, initially, during the construction of the mound, a small fire was lit in its upper part, which had a cleansing and ritual meaning. Later, instead of a fire, they began to bring ash and coal from outside to the upper part of the mound.
This detail of the Drevlyan funeral rite allows us to outline the area of this tribe (Map 13). The border between the Drevlyans and the glades in the 11th-12th centuries, when mounds with a noted feature were built, passed through the forests between the Teterev and Rostavitsa rivers and through the swampy course of the river. Zdvizh. Further, the eastern border of the Drevlyan settlement went north, crossing the rivers Teterev (approximately at the mouth of the Irsha), Uzh (below the confluence of Norini) and Slovechna (at the mouth of Yasenets).
In the north, the Drevlyans neighbored the Dregovichi. I.P. Rusanova, noting mounds with a coal layer above the burials in the Turov region, drew the northern border of the Drevlyans along Pripyat (from the mouth of the Goryn to the mouth of the Stviga). However, in the Turov burial mounds, typically Dregovichi features clearly predominate, including ethnically defining grained beads. On the contrary, mounds with ash-coal accumulations at the top are relatively rare here.
Taking this into account, the border between the Drevlyans and Dregovichs must be drawn south of Pripyat. The right bank of this river was undoubtedly Dregovichi. The dividing line between the Drevlyap and Dregovichi areas was the wide swampy spaces south of Turov, where, judging by the absence of ancient Russian mounds, there was no population or it was extremely rare. Only individual mounds of the Drevlyan type (with the remains of fire pits in the embankment above the burial) penetrate north of this strip, into their own Dregovichi territory. Such mounds were studied in the burial grounds of the lower reaches of Stviga and Goryn (Otverzhichi and Rychevo). On the contrary, several mounds with Dregovichi grained beads were excavated in the northwestern regions of the Drevlyan territory. These are the burial grounds of Andreevichi and Olevsk in the upper reaches of the Ubort. This picture of interpenetration is common for the border regions of all East Slavic tribes.
The western border of the distribution of the Drevlyanian mounds passed along the Sluch, where wooded areas separated the Drevlyanian region from the Volynian one.
The oldest burial mounds in the Drevlya area are burial mounds and urns of the Prague-Korchak type. They usually have a small (0.3-0.9 m) height, are somewhat vague and form burial grounds consisting of 10-30 mounds.
The calcined bones collected from the funeral pyre were placed mainly in urns in the upper part of the mound or at its base. Mounds with burials in the upper part of the mound predominate. As an exception, there are burials placed in holes in the mainland. Such mounds were excavated in the Teterev basin in the vicinity of Zhitomir (near the villages of Korchak, Styrty, Yankovtsy, etc.), in the upper reaches of Slucha (Miropol), Uzha (near the villages of Selets, Gutki, Loznitsa) and Uborti. The number of burials in the mounds revealed by excavations is from one to three, but there were probably more. Some of the burials located in the upper layers of the embankments apparently have not survived.
Probably in the VI-VIII centuries. The kurgan burial rite was predominant in the region of the Drevlyans. Part of the population, adhering to the old tradition, buried the dead in burial grounds without burial mounds. The burial ritual in them is the same as in barrow burials. Here, too, the burnt bones along with the ashes were placed in clay urns belonging to the Prague-Korchak type of ceramics. Such moundless burial grounds are known in the Drevlyan area only from superficial, often random, examinations.
Late-time burial mounds (8th-10th centuries) each contain one burial (Table XXV). Unlike earlier ones, burials without urns are common in these pa-rashes. The burning of the dead was still carried out on the side, but corpses were also burned on the site of the mound. There have been cases of incomplete burning - the remains of charred bones form an elongated spot oriented in the west-east direction. Sometimes traces of burnt boards or wooden blocks are observed under the remains of burning.
Calcined bones with ash and small coal-pumps are often placed in the upper part of the mound. Perhaps in this regard, the custom appears to place ashes with coals in the upper part of mounds with corpses.
Drevlyansky mounds with corpses, as a rule, are devoid of material material. Funeral urns are of two types: molded vessels of the Luka-Raikovetskaya type and, occasionally, early pottery pots. Wire ring-shaped temple rings with converging ends were also found in isolated mounds.
Mounds with trun-burnings of the 8th-10th centuries. never form independent groups, but are part of burial grounds, where there are mounds with corpses from the Kievan Rus era, and sometimes mounds with ceramics of the Prague-Korchak type.
In the 10th century The cremation of the dead is replaced by the rite of burial of unburned corpses. The deceased was laid on the horizon and a mound was built above him. As already noted, the ritual of placing ash and coal in the upper part of the mound was almost obligatory for Drevlyan burials.
Mounds with corpses in the Drevlyan area are quite uniform. The orientation of the deceased, as a rule, is pan-Slavic, Western. The opposite position - with the head to the east - was recorded in two burial grounds - the Knyazhe tract near the village. Andreevichi and in Tepenice. Quite often there are coffins made of thick boards (two long longitudinal and two transverse), and sometimes wooden logs. In the burial grounds near the villages of Andreevichi and Rechitsa, cases of covering the dead with birch bark were noted.
During excavations of mounds near the village. Beeches traced circular grooves with the remains of a palisade around the burial (Rusanova I. Ya., 1967, p. 42-47). The diameters of such rings are 4-5.7 m, the width of the grooves is 0.2-0.4 m, the depth is 0.1-0.2 m. Such grooves were dug in the mainland, and vertical stakes were driven into their bottom (to a depth of 0. 1-0.15 m).
The burial ritual of the Drevlyans in the burial mounds near the village. Beeches are reconstructed in the following form. The deceased was placed on a horizontal platform or in a small depression dug in the mainland (length 2.2-3.2 m, width 1.1-1.2 m, depth 0.1-0.2 m). A ritual fire was immediately lit on the mainland, from which a small layer of ash and coal was preserved in the mounds. Sometimes small fragments of clay vessels are found in this layer. At the same time, the burial was surrounded by a ditch with a palisade. All this was covered with earth, constructing a mound-like embankment. Sometimes fires were also lit on the outside of the fence.
Ring grooves with a palisade, which sometimes burned down and in other cases remained unburned, cannot be considered a feature of the Buk or exclusively Drevlyansky mounds. In previous excavations, such a detail often went unnoticed by researchers. And in recent decades, ring-shaped grooves have been discovered over a wide area - in the mounds of the Vyatichi, glades, Dregovichi, Smolensk Krivichi, and the Volga-Oka interfluve. Even earlier, ring fences were recorded in mounds on the upper Don.
Among the Drevlyansky mounds, the embankments along the river are somewhat unique. Clean up. They have structures made of stones inside. Thus, many mounds near Zubkovichi, Olevsk and Tenenitsa were lined with stones, some mounds in the burial grounds near Zubkovichi, Lopatichi and Andreevichi (Knyazhe tract) were covered with pavements of stones. Stonework has also been discovered in one of the Tenenets mounds. Stones in the embankment were also found in one of the Andreevich mounds. In another mound of this burial ground, which contained a burial according to the burning ritual, the “core” of the mound was made of stone. In the Zubkovichi mounds, stones covered grave pits with corpses.
These stone structures have no analogues in the kurgan antiquities of the southwestern group of Eastern Slavs. Stone covers and stone "cores" are common in the burial mounds of the Yotvingians or their Slavicized descendants. In this regard, it can be assumed that the burial grounds along the river. The Ubort were left by a mixed population of different tribes. Here settlers from the Yatvingian regions coexisted with the Drevlyans. This is also supported by corpses with an eastern orientation, known in the Drevlyan land only in two burial grounds on Ubort. The inventory of the Ubort embankments is identical to the materials from the Drevlyansky mounds.
Mounds with corpses on the horizon dominated the area of the Drevlyans for quite a long time, until the disappearance of the custom of building mound embankments over burials. Pit burial mounds of corpses are known mainly on the southeastern outskirts of the Drevlyansky land, as well as in the Uborti basin (Andreevichi, Zubkovichi, Lopatichi and Tenenitsa). Several mounds with corpses in pits were discovered nearby - in the Rechitsa burial ground.
The clothing inventory of the Drevlyan burial mounds is not rich. The most common temple decorations were ring-shaped rings of two types - with closed ends and one and a half turn (Table XXVII, 1, 3-8). In the burial mounds near Korosten and in the Zhitomir burial ground, ring-shaped rings with an S-shaped end were found. Occasionally, one bead, paste or glass (Korosten, Olevsk, Zubkovichi), and sometimes metal grained (Buki) is placed on wire rings. Three-bead temple rings (Table XXVII, 2) were found in four burial grounds - Velikaya Fospya, Korosten Lopatichi, Olevsk (the “Under the Eagles” tract). In one of the mounds of the Ovruch burial ground and in one mound of the Rechitsa burial ground, earrings of the so-called Volyn type were found. From the Zhitomir burial ground (mound 37) comes an earring in the form of a ring with six rosettes fixedly attached to it. The rosettes are made of six balls strung on wire rings. A decoration of a similar appearance was found in the Polyansky burial mounds of Grubsk. Such earrings are not typical for East Slavic territories; there are analogies for them in the Slavic antiquities of Czechoslovakia.
Neck necklaces were discovered in many Drevlyan burial mounds, but they usually consist of two to four beads. Very rarely, necklaces have a larger number of beads and additional pendants. The most common are gilded glass beads of cylindrical, barrel-shaped, bi-truncated conical (Table XXVII, 13) and trapezoidal shapes, as well as similar single and double low-cut beads (Table XXVII, 12). Occasionally there are blue and
yellow glass beads, somewhat more often - white, yellow and red infusion beads. Beads made of carnelian were found in one and a half dozen mounds (Table XXVII; 17). Their shape is different - tiled, six- and octagonal, multifaceted and prismatic. Crystal and amber beads were found in three burial grounds (Zhitomir, Korosten and Rechitsa). Finally, silver beads are represented by isolated finds: in the mounds near Zhitomir and Korosten, lobed beads were found, decorated with fine grain and filigree, and in one of the Zhytomyr mounds, rosette-shaped beads were found, made of three or four rows of beads welded together.
Among the pendants for the necklace are moonlites (Rechitsa and Podluby), bells (Podluby), and sea shells (Ovruch). Bronze and iron mushroom-shaped buttons are rare in burials (Table XXVII, 15); sometimes slate whorls apparently served as buttons.
Rings are relatively common in female burials of the Drevlyans (Table XXVTI, 9-11, 16). The most common among them are simple wire ones. In addition, twisted, false-twisted, woven, closed lamellar and knitted lamellar rings were found. A thin-wire twisted bracelet was found only once (Rakitno).
Bronze and iron belt rings and lyre-shaped buckles are occasionally found in the male burials of the Drevlyan burial mounds. Horseshoe-shaped fasteners were found in the burial mounds of Korostensky and Iskrinsky burial grounds (Table XXVII, 14). Sometimes men were buried with iron knives, swords, sharpening stones and wooden buckets, from which iron hoops and bows usually remain in the mounds. From Korosten Kurgan 5 come a battle ax dating back to the 11th century and a sickle.
The burial mound ritual in the land of the Drevlyans, as in other Middle Dnieper regions, disappeared at the turn of the 12th and 13th centuries. The history of the Drevlyan tribe is short-lived. Originally, the Drevlyans were one of the regional groups of the Eastern Slavs. The territorial isolation of the Drevlyans led to the creation of their own tribal organization with their own princes and army. Gradually, its own ethnographic features appear. However, these features have only just emerged - the Drevlyan women's costume is no different from the attire of women of neighboring tribes. The early loss of tribal independence led to the erasure of ethnographic features. Modern dialectology and ethnography have not yet revealed any features remaining from the tribal period of the Drevlyans.
On this day:
Birthdays 1877 Was born Henri Edouard Breuil- French Catholic priest, archaeologist, anthropologist, ethnologist and geologist, specialist in the Paleolithic and the history of primitive art. He studied rock art in the Somme and Dordogne valleys, studied primitive sites in Spain, Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Ethiopia, South Africa, British Somalia and China. He proved the existence of the Aurignacian era of the Upper Paleolithic of Western Europe, as well as the ancient Paleolithic Klektonian complexes, characterized by the absence of hand axes.Ancient authors were sure that on the lands that were subsequently occupied by the Old Russian state, there lived wild and warlike Slavic tribes, which every now and then were at enmity with each other and threatened more civilized peoples.
Vyatichi
The Slavic tribe of Vyatichi (according to the chronicle, its ancestor was Vyatko) lived on a vast territory, which today is the Smolensk, Kaluga, Moscow, Ryazan, Tula, Voronezh, Oryol and Lipetsk regions. According to anthropologists, the Vyatichi were outwardly similar to their northern neighbors, but differed from them in the higher bridge of their nose and in the fact that most of their representatives had light brown hair.
Some scientists, analyzing the ethonym of this tribe, believe that it comes from the Indo-European root “vent” (wet), others believe that it comes from the ancient Slavic “vęt” (large). Some historians see the kinship of the Vyatichi with the German tribal union of the Vandals; there is also a version linking them with the tribal group of the Wends.
It is known that the Vyatichi were good hunters and skilled warriors, but this did not prevent them from engaging in gathering, cattle breeding and shifting agriculture. Nestor the Chronicler writes that the Vyatichi mostly lived in forests and were distinguished by their “beastly” disposition. They resisted the introduction of Christianity longer than other Slavic tribes, preserving pagan traditions, including “bride kidnapping.”
The Vyatichi fought most actively with the Novgorod and Kyiv princes. Only with the coming to power of Svyatoslav Igorevich, the conqueror of the Khazars, were the Vyatichi forced to moderate their warlike ardor. However, not for long. His son Vladimir (the Saint) again had to conquer the obstinate Vyatichi, but this tribe was finally conquered by Vladimir Monomakh in the 11th century.
Slovenia
The northernmost Slavic tribe - the Slovenes - lived on the shores of Lake Ilmen, as well as on the Mologa River. The history of its origin has not yet been clarified. According to a widespread legend, the ancestors of the Slovenes were the brothers Sloven and Rus; Nestor the Chronicler calls them the founders of Veliky Novgorod and Staraya Russa.
After Sloven, as legend tells, power was inherited by Prince Vandal, who married the Varangian maiden Advinda. The Scandinavian saga tells us that Vandal, as the ruler of the Slovenes, went north, east and west, by sea and land, conquering all the surrounding peoples.
Historians confirm that the Slovenes fought with many neighboring peoples, including the Varangians. Having expanded their possessions, they continued to develop new territories as farmers, simultaneously entering into trade relations with the Germans, Gotland, Sweden and even with the Arabs.
From the Joachim Chronicle (which, however, not everyone trusts) we learn that in the first half of the 9th century, the Slovenian prince Burivoy was defeated by the Varangians, who imposed tribute on his people. However, the son of Burivoy Gostomysl regained his lost position, once again subordinating the neighboring lands to his influence. It was the Slovenes, according to historians, who subsequently became the basis of the population of the free Novgorod Republic.
Krivichi
By the name “Krivichi”, scientists mean the tribal union of the Eastern Slavs, whose area in the 7th-10th centuries extended to the upper reaches of the Western Dvina, Volga and Dnieper. The Krivichi are known, first of all, as the creators of extensive military mounds, during the excavations of which archaeologists were amazed by the variety and richness of weapons, ammunition and household items. The Krivichi are considered a related tribe of the Lutich, characterized by an aggressive and ferocious disposition.
Krivichi settlements were always located on the banks of rivers along which the famous route “from the Varangians to the Greeks” went. Historians have established that the Krivichi interacted quite closely with the Varangians. Thus, the Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus wrote that the Krivichi made ships on which the Rus sailed to Constantinople.
According to information that has reached us, the Krivichi were active participants in many Varangian expeditions, both trade and military. In battles they were not much inferior to their warlike comrades - the Normans.
After joining the Principality of Kyiv, the Krivichi took an active part in the colonization of the vast northern and eastern territories, known today as the Kostroma, Tver, Yaroslavl, Vladimir, Ryazan and Vologda regions. In the north they were partly assimilated by Finnish tribes.
Drevlyans
The territories of settlement of the East Slavic tribe of the Drevlyans are mainly the modern Zhitomir region and the western part of the Kyiv region. In the east, their possessions were limited by the Dnieper, in the north by the Pripyat River. In particular, the Pripyat swamps, according to historians, created a natural barrier that separated the Drevlyans from their Dregovich neighbors.
It is not difficult to guess that the habitat of the Drevlyans is forests. There they felt like full owners. According to the chronicler Nestor, the Drevlyans were noticeably different from those who lived to the east of the meek glades: “The Drevlyans live in a bestial manner, they live bestially: they kill each other, they eat everything uncleanly, and they have never had a marriage, but they have snatched a maiden from the water.”
Perhaps for some time the glades were even tributaries of the Drevlyans, who had their own reign. At the end of the 9th century, the Drevlyans were subjugated by Oleg. According to Nestor, they were part of the army with which the Kiev prince “went against the Greeks.” After Oleg's death, the Drevlyans' attempts to free themselves from Kyiv's rule became more frequent, but in the end they only received an increased amount of tribute imposed on them by Igor Rurikovich.
Arriving to the Drevlyans for the next portion of tribute, Prince Igor was killed. According to the Byzantine historian Leo the Deacon, he was captured and executed, torn in two (they were tied by his hands and feet to the trunks of two trees, one of which had been strongly bent before and then released). The Drevlyans paid dearly for the terrible and daring murder. Driven by a thirst for revenge, the wife of the deceased prince Olga destroyed the Drevlyan ambassadors who had come to woo her, burying them alive in the ground. Under Princess Olga, the Drevlyans finally submitted, and in 946 they became part of Kievan Rus.
The Drevlyans are an East Slavic people, a tribe that lived in the territory of what is now Ukrainian and Zhytomyr woodlands, as well as Right Bank Ukraine along the Terev, Uzh and Uborot rivers. From the east, their territory was limited by the Dnieper, and from the north by Pripyat, beyond which the Dregovichi lived. The Drevlyans became one of the tribes that became part of Rus' and gave the basis to the modern ethnic group.
Origin of the Drevlyans and life before joining Rus'
The Drevlyans neighbored many ancient tribes: from the east - with the Polyans, from the west - with the Volyns and Buzhans, and in the north - with the Dregovichs. The Dulebs are considered the ancestors of the Drevlyans; Neighboring tribes also belong to the same group - Duleb. It is believed that the Drevlyans got their name due to the fact that they settled mainly in dense forests and led a sedentary lifestyle, as close as possible to nature and the earth. Representatives of this tribe lived mainly in half-dugouts. There were only a few “city” fortified with stone: for example, Vruchiy (modern Ovruch in Ukraine) and the capital of the Drevlyans - the city of Iskrosten (modern Korosten in Ukraine) on the Uzh River, where the ancient settlement of the Drevlyans is still preserved.
During the period of their independence, the Drevlyans managed to create a fairly developed tribal structure, which can be classified as an early state one. According to the Tale of Bygone Years, the Drevlyans had their own principality with a single prince at its head. In particular, the chronicle mentions a certain Prince Mal and the community of “best men” ruling the Drevlyan land. The Drevlyans in the chronicles were often compared with their neighbors - the Polyans, and this comparison showed the Drevlyans as a rather wild people who kill and eat animals and constantly wage civil strife. However, modern scientists have come to the conclusion that the description given in the chronicles does not entirely correspond to reality. The reason lies in the fact that the chroniclers were Christians, and the Drevlyans were pagans, and within the framework of the Christian tradition this is practically tantamount to savagery. In addition, the constant confrontations between the Russian and Drevlyan princes (as well as the confrontation between the Russians and the Pechenegs, Khazars, Cumans and other nomads) led to the fact that these people were considered wild and warlike.
The Drevlyans were an independent tribe for several centuries, from the 6th to the 10th, but in 946 they finally lost their independence and became part of the Old Russian state, merging with the local population. There is information that for quite a long time the Drevlyan nobility (the above-mentioned Prince Mal) did not want to become part of Ancient Rus' and resisted this with all their might. The Drevlyans sought to defend their independence and avoid the adoption of Christianity, which would immediately follow the unification.
Drevlyans and Rus'
In 883, the Drevlyans first became dependent on Rus' - Kyiv was captured by Prince Oleg (Prophetic Oleg), who forced the Drevlyans living nearby to pay him tribute and obey his laws. A little later, in 907, the Drevlyans even took part in Oleg’s famous military campaign against Byzantium. After the tragic death of Oleg, the Drevlyans refused to continue paying tribute, but Prince Igor quickly suppressed the nascent uprising and re-conquered the Drevlyans, forcing them to continue paying.
In 945, Igor tried to collect double tribute from his subordinates, which greatly displeased the Drevlyan prince Mal, who did not want to pay the Russian prince anyway. In 946 there was an uprising of the Drevlyans. By order of Mal, Igor was killed in the vicinity of the Drevlyan city of Iskrosten. The murder of Igor by the Drevlyans served as the reason for the start of another war between the Drevlyans and the Russians, which was undertaken by Igor’s widow, Princess Olga.
The war between the Drevlyans and Princess Olga ended with the complete conquest of the Drevlyans. Their cities were devastated and burned, the capital of the Drevlyan state - Iskrosten (945-946) was destroyed, and all the Drevlyan nobility were exterminated. The people were essentially left beheaded. All lands that previously belonged to the Drevlyans now became part of the Old Russian state and were turned into a Kiev appanage with its center in the city of Vruchiy, where Oleg and Svyatoslav later reigned.
From that moment on, the Drevlyans finally lost their independence.
Drevlyans in the chronicles
The Drevlyans were mentioned not only in Russian chronicles. For example, the Drevlyans’ campaign against Igor and his murder were reflected in the chronicles of Constantinople. According to these chronicles, Emperor John repeatedly corresponded with Prince Svyatoslav and quite often mentioned in his letters the Drevlyans and how they killed Svyatoslav’s father, Igor. After Olga’s campaign against the Drevlyans, information about this people was still found in various chronicles for some time, but gradually faded away.
The last time the Drevlyans were mentioned in the chronicle was in 1136, when Grand Duke Yaropolk Vladimirovich donated the former lands of the Drevlyans to the Tithe Church. Since then, the name of the Drevlyans disappears from history forever, and the people themselves finally merge with the Russians.