The history of the appearance in the language, the very origin of the word “Rus” has always been of interest to scientists - philologists, historians, linguists. Many Russian writers gave their understanding of the term. It is also used in works of oral folk art. First attempts to explain the meaning of this word their roots go back to ancient times. Over the past centuries, several versions of its interpretation have emerged, but none of them can be called absolutely correct.
The origin of the word "Rus" and the literary heritage of the Russian people
In support of the idea expressed above, we can give examples of literary works, the authors of which present their vision of the origin and interpretation of the word “Rus”.
The version expressed by Nestor is generally considered to be one of the most ancient. The author left his descendants with notes that make them think about many things, including the origin of the Russian people, their historical homeland. Other famous literary figures of the past offer a different interpretation of the concepts. Special attention The research works of M.V. Lomonosov, N.M. Karamzin ("History of the Russian State"), L.N. Gumilyov ("From Rus' to Russia") deserve research.
In the novel “Memory” by V. Chivilikhin, the author puts forward a version about the existence of inexplicable sources that are capable of feeding the energy of every person living in their native land. Thanks to the ability to honor their historical homeland, to know the language and customs of their ancestors, people can withstand and overcome any adversity. The work provides evidence of the emergence of the first Russian settlements on the banks of numerous rivers and lakes.
The origin of the word "Rus" is discussed in many school and university textbooks. Some authors' interpretations of the concepts are very similar. Other scientists present to the readers their own vision, which differs from the views of their colleagues. It should be taken into account that each of the authors has done a great deal research work before making your guess. And this deserves respect.
The influence of foreign and on the birth of hypotheses
There are many versions in which the theory of the origin of the word “Rus” is associated with foreign languages. So, for example, in the Western European group the root “rus” is used, the meaning of which comes down to the word bear. In the Finno-Ugric languages, a lexeme with a similar sound also existed. All this served as the basis for the emergence of another additional version, explaining the origin of the word “Rus”.
The Latin language also gave rise to a hypothesis trying to explain the meaning of this concept. in this language meant the countryside.
Variants of the origin of the proper name and the name of the people are available in Swedish, Iranian, Old Russian, and many Slavic languages. Traditionally, the interpretation of the concept is associated with the ancient state located on the territory of Eastern and Northern Europe, as well as the peoples who inhabited it. Most linguists are still inclined to believe that the word “Rus”, for many reasons, cannot be of Slavic origin - it came from a foreign language.
Version one
There is a large group of scientists, linguists, and historians who connect the origin of the word “Rus” with the name of a river or a noun denoting a body of water. This version looks the most reliable and has concrete evidence.
It is known that most of the ancient Slavic settlements appeared on the banks of rivers and lakes. Water greatly facilitated people’s lives, was used in economic activities, and was a natural barrier to the enemy army’s route; it was easy to move on water in the summer and build roads in the winter.
So the meaning of the word “Rus” is in direct connection with the name of the rivers, on the banks of which, in ancient times, settlements were founded, which became the beginning of great cities. It is known that Ros is the right tributary of the mighty Dnieper. Neman had the same name many centuries ago. The word "Rus" refers to the name of one of the branches of the river in its delta. The bay into which it flowed was called Rusnaya.
Other small rivers that were tributaries of larger bodies of water had similar names. In this regard, we must not forget that the great Volga in ancient times was also called Ras or Ros.
Version two
According to B. A. Rybakov and a group of other scientists, the origin of the word “Rus”, “Russians” is associated with the name of the tribe that lived in ancient times in the vast territories of modern Eastern Europe - to Kiev in the north and the steppe zone in the south. Later, the tribes of the Ros, or Rus, as they were called, were joined by their neighbors. The unification of tribes served as a prerequisite for the birth of a people who later began to be called Russian, and the territory where they lived - Rus.
Version three
Another group of scientists trying to explain the origin and meaning of the word “Rus” says that its interpretation is closely connected not with water, but with forest. The Dews are forest uprooters, people who settled in areas covered with forests. It was the forest that helped the tribes survive in harsh climatic conditions, giving warmth, food, allowing you to make much-needed household items.
One more version can be attributed to the same group of versions. As mentioned above, the word “bear” in some Western European languages sounds very similar to the root “rus”. It follows that Rus could be called people who settled in the forest, leading a secretive lifestyle, but strong and powerful, like a bear. This animal was considered the strongest and most formidable inhabitant of the forests.
Version four
This hypothesis of the appearance of the word is associated with the languages of the Finno-Ugric group. In some of them there was also a word similar in sound and pronunciation to the root “ros”. Translated, it sounds like “Varangian,” which means “mercenary warrior.” Mostly, the Varangians became people who came from the territory of Eastern Europe. Later, the places where most of them came from began to be called Russia. Initially, the word “Varangians” was not the name of a people, but indicated the social status of a group of people.
Now there is an assumption that Varangians and Russians are words that are close in meaning. They mean the name of the same people who lived in the territory ancient state, located in northern Europe.
Version five
One of the common hypotheses explaining the meaning of the word and its origin indicates that “Rus” is not the name of a tribe. According to scientists, this was the name given to those who collected tribute from people who had to pay it.
This version is confirmed by the modern translation of The Tale of Bygone Years, where the names of the Slavic tribes are contrasted with the word “Ros”.
Words with the same root, their interpretation
Considering the meaning of the word Rus, it is impossible to believe that there is a whole group of forms that are close to it in meaning. After a little research, it is not difficult to notice that each of the above interpretations is again connected in one way or another with water, river, or sea.
Instead of a conclusion
Versions of the origin of the word “Rus”, their huge diversity indicate great interest in this issue not only among scientists around the world, but also ordinary people. Attention to the topic has not waned for many centuries.
The large number of existing versions indicates that the problem has not been resolved. But the following becomes clear: the formation of a powerful Old Russian state became the basis for the formation of a single nationality and the emergence of the Russian language. Circumstances associated with the feudal fragmentation of Rus' and the invasion of the Mongol-Tatars led to the fact that the cultural development of individual territories followed its own special path.
But, despite the years of fragmented existence, it still took place, which subsequently led to the emergence of an independent, united Russian state.
There are several hypotheses about the ethnicity of Rus': Norman, Slavic (anti-Norman), Indo-Iranian (Sarmatian) and others.
Norman theory
The Norman theory suggests that the Rus people come from Scandinavia during the period of Viking expansion, which Western Europe called Normans. This conclusion is based on the interpretation of the “Tale of the Calling of the Varangians” contained in the “Tale of Bygone Years” in 862: “And they said to themselves (Chud, Slovenes and Krivichi) : “Let’s look for a prince who would rule over us and judge us by right.” And they went overseas to the Varangians, to Rus'. Those Varangians were called Rus, just as others are called Svei, and some Normans and Angles, and still others Goths, so are these."
From the listing of the Varangians-Rus in the same row as the Svei (Swedes), the Urmans (Norwegians), the Angles and the inhabitants of Gotland, it is concluded that “Rus” is the name of one of the Scandinavian peoples. On the other hand, in the Novgorod Chronicle, which reflected the Initial Code of the late 11th century preceding the Tale of Bygone Years (PVL), this story is presented somewhat differently: it does not contain a comparison of Rus' with the Scandinavian peoples, and it itself is not directly identified with the Varangians: " And I decided to myself: “Let’s look for a prince who would rule over us and rule over us by right.” I went across the sea to the Varangians and said: “Our land is great and abundant, but we have no outfit; let you come to us to reign and rule over us.”".
The origin of the ethnonym "Rus" is traced back to the Old Icelandic word Ropsmenn or Ropskarlar - "oarsmen, sailors" and to the word "ruotsi/rootsi" among the Finns and Estonians, meaning Sweden in their languages, and which, according to some linguists, should have turned into "Rus" when borrowing this word into Slavic languages.
The most important arguments of the Norman theory are the following:
1. Byzantine and Western European written sources, in which contemporaries identified Rus' as Swedes or Normans.
2. Scandinavian names of the founder of the Russian princely dynasty - his “brothers” Sineus and Truvor, and all the first Russian princes before Svyatoslav. In foreign sources their names are also given in a form close to the Scandinavian sound. Prince Oleg is called X-l-g (Khazar letter), Princess Olga - Helga, Prince Igor - Inger (Byzantine sources).
3. Scandinavian names of most of the ambassadors of the “Russian family” listed in the Russian-Byzantine treaty of 912.
4. The work of Konstantin Porphyrogenitus “On the Administration of the Empire” (c. 949), which gives the names of the Dnieper rapids in two languages: “Russian” and Slavic, where a Scandinavian etymology can be proposed for most “Russian” names.
Additional arguments are archaeological evidence documenting the presence of Scandinavians in the north of East Slavic territory, including finds from the 9th-11th centuries at the excavations of the Rurik settlement, burials in Staraya Ladoga (from the mid-8th century) and Gnezdovo. In settlements founded before the 10th century, Scandinavian artifacts date specifically to the period of the “calling of the Varangians,” while in the most ancient cultural layers the artifacts are almost exclusively of Slavic origin.
In historiography, the Norman hypothesis was first formulated in the 18th century by German scientists in Russian Academy Sciences G.Z. Bayer, G.F. Miller and A.L. Schlözer. This theory was also adhered to by N.M. Karamzin and after him almost all major Russian historians of the 19th century.
Disputes around the Norman version at times took on an ideological character in the context of the question of whether the Slavs could have created a state on their own, without the Norman Varangians. During Stalin's time, Normanism in the USSR was rejected at the state level, but in the 1960s, Soviet historiography returned to the moderate Norman hypothesis while simultaneously exploring alternative versions of the origins of Rus'. Foreign historians for the most part consider the Norman version as the main one.
Slavic theory
The Slavic theory was formulated by V.N. Tatishchev and M.V. Lomonosov as a critic of the Norman theory. It comes from the interpretation of another fragment of “The Tale of Bygone Years”: “ Therefore, the teacher of the Slavs is Pavel, and we, Rus', are from the same Slavs... But the Slavic language and Russian are one; after all, they were called Russia from the Varangians, and before there were Slavs; Although they were called Polyans, their speech was Slavic."
From the point of view of supporters of the Norman theory, the quotation only implies that the word “Rus” is a Varangian nickname and came from the Varangians to those Slavs who were previously called Polyans.
Lomonosov proved the Slavic identity of the Rus (Russians) people through their identity with the Prussians. He defined the Prussians themselves (Baltic tribes) as Slavs, recruiting Praetorius and Helmond as “accomplices,” who believed “ Prussian and Lithuanian languages for the branch of Slavic", as well as personal opinion about the similarity of "them (Prussians) language with Slavic"At the same time, in former Prussia and coastal Lithuania, place names with the root “Rus” are actually found, and early medieval sources record the activities of a certain Rus there.
Another source of the Slavic hypothesis is the message of the Arab geographer Ibn Khordadbeh, whose data on Eastern Europe are one of the oldest (840s), who believed that the Rus are a Slavic people. Ibn Khordadbeh is the only eastern author who attributed Rus' to al-Saqaliba, the rest of the Arab authors describe them separately.
Late literary tradition correlates the Rus with a brother named Rus from the legend of three Slavic brothers - Czech, Lech and Rus. According to this legend, the brother princes left Croatia around 644. The legend appeared in its completed form in the “Great Polish Chronicle” of the 14th century.
In Russian historiography of the 19th century, the Slavic theory was not widespread. Its two most prominent representatives were S.A. Gedeonov and D.I. Ilovaisky. The first considered the Rus to be Baltic Slavs - Obodrits, the second emphasized their southern origin, and derived the ethnonym Rus from their light brown hair color. (cf. Slavic word roud-s-is, cognate words light brown (roud-s-os), ore (roudh-os), red (rudh-os).
IN Soviet time Since the 1930s, the Slavic identity of Rus' has been actively defended, being closely linked to criticism of Normanism. In Soviet historiography, the Middle Dnieper region was considered the homeland of the Rus; they were identified with the glades in the Kyiv land. This assessment had official status. The contrast between the Slavs and Rus' in the Tale of Bygone Years was explained by the subordination of the majority of Slavic tribes to the Kyiv princes, whose domain was called “Rus” at the initial stage of state formation. The ethnonym Rus was derived from local toponymy (names of rivers and settlements), for example, from the name of the Ros River in the Kiev region (however, this word was not fundamentally O and not at, A ъ- R's (like Bulgari), indirect cases of Rsi, therefore at present this etymology is considered doubtful).
From modern concepts theories about the “Russian Kaganate” by V.V. became famous. Sedov and Rusi-Rugakh A.G. Kuzmina. The first, based on archaeological material, places Rus' in the interfluve of the Dnieper and Don (Volyntsevo archaeological culture) and defines it as a Slavic tribe. The second connects Rus' with the Ruyans - the Slavic inhabitants of the island of Rügen. Ruyan in the late Magdeburg Annals (XII century) was possibly called Russian (Rusci), as reported by A.G. Kuzmin with reference to the work of 1859 " In the Magdeburg Annals, the inhabitants of Fr. Rügen designated under 969 as Rusci"According to Polish researchers, the Magdeburg Annals were compiled in the 12th century on the basis of the Prague and Krakow annals, as well as a list of acts of the Magdeburg archbishops. It should be noted that in synchronous sources the word rusci is not applied to the inhabitants of Rügen. The author of the 10th century, who participated together with the Rujans in military campaign in 955, calls them in quite Slavic ruani.Additional information about Rus' and rugi can be found in the article.
Archaeological finds, made in the 20th century in Pskov, Novgorod, Ruse, Ladoga, etc., indicate a very close connection between the population of the north Ancient Rus' with the Slavic southern coast of the Baltic - with the Pomeranian and Polabian Slavs. According to many scientists, during the early Middle Ages, the South Baltic Slavs directly moved to the lands corresponding to the north of the future Kievan Rus. This is evidenced by both archaeological and anthropological, craniological and linguistic studies. At the same time, South Baltic ceramics reach Yaroslavl, the Upper Volga and Gnezdov on the Dnieper, that is, they were noted precisely in those areas where the Kiev chronicler placed the Varangians. (" Novgorodians from the Varangian family", etc.) It was not found in Kyiv.
Indo-Iranian theory
There is an opinion that the ethnonym “ros” has a different origin than “rus”, being much more ancient. Supporters of this point of view, also originating from M.V. Lomonosov, note that the people “grew” were first mentioned in the 6th century in “Church History” by Zechariah the Rhetor, where they are placed next to the peoples of “dog people” and Amazons, which many authors interpret as the Northern Black Sea region. From this point of view, he is traced back to the Iranian-speaking (Sarmatian) tribes of the Roxalans or Rosomons, mentioned by ancient authors.
The Iranian etymology of the name Rus is most fully substantiated by O.N. Trubachev (ruksi “white, light” > rutsi > russi > Rus'; compare with Ossetian rukhs (Ironsk.) / rokhs (Digorsk.) “light”).
Georgy Vernadsky also developed a theory about the origin of the name of Rus' from the Azov tribes of the Ases and Rukhs-Ases (light Ases), which, in his opinion, were part of the Antes, nevertheless he believed that Rus' was a mixture of Scandinavian settlers with local tribes.
In the 60s XX century Ukrainian archaeologist D.T. Berezovets proposed to identify the Alan population of the Don region, known from the monuments of the Saltovo-Mayak culture, with the Rus. This hypothesis is currently being developed by E.S. Galkina, who identifies the Don region with the central part of the Russian Kaganate, mentioned in Muslim, Byzantine and Western sources in the 9th century. She believes that after the defeat of this unification by the nomadic tribes of the Hungarians in the end. 9th century, the name "Rus" from the Iranian-speaking Rus-Alans (Roksolans) passed to the Slavic population of the Middle Dnieper region (Polyans, Northerners). As one of the arguments, Galkina cites the etymology of M.Yu. Braichevsky, who proposed an Alan interpretation (based on the Ossetian language) for all the “Russian” names of the Dnieper rapids from the work of Konstantin Porphyrogenitus.
material from Wikipedia
“Whoever successfully explains the name of Rus' will master the key to solving the beginnings of its history,” once said academician O. N. Trubachev, the greatest researcher in the field of Slavic studies, who devoted most of his life to solving this particular problem. What is the etymology of the word Rus? Are the words Rus and fair-haired having the same root?
Etymology (from the Greek ετυμος (the real meaning of a word) and λόγος (science) is a branch of linguistics that studies the origin of words, as well as the very origin of a word. The science of the true (or original) meaning of words. Etymology, like any other science, satisfies our natural desire to know the truth.
Who are we, Russians? For some reason, people don’t think much about their national name. Meanwhile, at some point every nation chooses a name for itself. The choice of a national name is the most important moment in the self-determination of a people in its historical existence. In a national name, the people express something important for themselves and in themselves. This name is born in the depths of the people's consciousness and defines a certain new community of people, often still residing in the depths of the former clan, or tribal, or even state existence.
Why did some tribes once have the name Slavs, and then some of them were called Russians, and others, for example, Poles? By calling itself one name or another, each nation, in essence, already determines its future historical possibilities and prospects.
So, it turns out, the Slavs in ancient times were defined as Slovenes; Science associates this naming with the concept of “word”. Obviously, defining oneself through the concept of “word” indicates deep needs people's soul who chose such a significant name for herself. Once upon a time, some Western scientists tried to connect the ethnonym “Slavs” with the ancient Roman “sclavi”, which means “slaves”. This clearly untenable, unscientific opinion is expressed by an obvious desire to humiliate the Slavs, to present them as “second-class” people. This shows how important it is to correctly understand your own popular name.
Our ancestors, the Slavs, came from Asia to Europe in ancient times. They first settled along the lower reaches of the Danube and occupied lands north of it to the Carpathian Mountains. It was easy to live on the Danube: the climate here is warm, the lands are fertile, and the vegetation is rich. The Slavs would not have left here of their own free will, but other peoples began to press them. The Slavic tribe had to split up and move to other lands.
One part of them still remained on the Danube. The Serbs and Bulgarians originated from these Slavs.
Another part of the Slavs went further north. From them came the Czechs, Moravians, Slovaks and Poles. And those Slavs who settled along the Elbe River and along the shores of the Baltic Sea, over time, got lost among the strong German tribes, merged with them into one people - they became Germanized.
The third part of the Slavs went to the northeast, settled along the Dnieper and its tributaries and along the Ilmen and Volkhov. These Slavs were our ancestors; the Russian people originate from them.
The Slavs who settled in the fields along the middle reaches of the Dnieper were called glades. The land here produced rich harvests and could feed many people. People settled in large groups and began farming. They had the city of Kyiv. Those who settled in the forests along the Pripyat River - the Drevlyans - lived scatteredly, in small villages, and mainly hunted. They had a city called Iskorosten. The Dregovichi lived between Pripyat and Dvina. On the Dvina - Polochans, on behalf of the Polota River, which flows into the Dvina. Some of the Slavs were called northerners. They lived northeast of the glades, along the Desna. They had the cities of Lyubech and Chernigov. The Krivichi lived north of the glades along the upper reaches of the Dnieper and Western Dvina. The cities of Izborsk and Smolensk stood in the Krivskaya land. The Radimichi and Vyatichi lived east of the Krivichi. They were engaged in agriculture, hunting, and fishing. The Ilmen Slavs lived near Lake Ilmen; their city was Novgorod.
Starting from the 9th century, numerous East Slavic tribes - Polyans, Drevlyans, Dregovichs, Dulebs, Northerners, Slovenes and others - began to use a new name that united them - “Rus”.
Clarifying the question of the etymology of the name “Rus” is complicated by the lack of written sources from the 8th-10th centuries. in Rus'. And also by the extreme paucity of information borrowed from written sources of other peoples, sometimes having different interpretations. In this connection, all existing etymologies are based on the use of information from later (up to the 12th century) sources, as well as, indirectly, materials from archaeological research.
1. Slavic versions of the origin of the ethnonym “Rus”
Over many decades of studying the etymology of the word “Rus”, many hypotheses have been formulated. Slavic, Old Russian, Gothic, Swedish, Iranian and other options were assumed. My work presents several historically based and linguistically researched theories.
1. 1. Derivation from the name of a specific river
There are studies that derive the name “Rus” from the name of the Ros River. For example, this is how B. A. Rybakov describes it in his book “Where did the Russian Land Come From”:
“In the old agricultural region of the forest-steppe on the banks of the river. There was a Rosi (II-IV centuries) tribe called Ros, or Rus, this tribe was Slavic. The center of the tribe was the city of Roden at the mouth of the Ros.
In the VI century. , when a formidable enemy, the Obry (Avars), appeared in the steppes, the tribes of the forest-steppe rallied into a large union under the hegemony of the southernmost, closest to the steppes, Dnieper tribe of the Ros, or Rus. Union of tribes VI - VII centuries. received the name Rus, or Russian land. The core of the union was the lands along the river. Rosi with the city of Rodney
Somewhat later, the primacy in the alliance of tribes of the Dnieper region passed to the northern neighbor of the Rus - to Polyany, with its center in Kyiv, in the very north of the forest-steppe strip. But Polyany did not pass on their name to other tribes; the union of tribes, which developed into a feudal state, still bore the name of Rus'.”
Professor F.I. Knauer in his work “On the Origin of the Name of the People of Rus'” notes that the ancient hymns of the Rigveda (X century BC) mention the mythical river “Rasa”, the “great mother” flowing in the distant northwest, in the old homeland. The “Avesta” (VII–VIII centuries BC), the sacred book of the ancient Persians, attributed to Zarathustra himself (Zarathustra), speaks of the river “Ranha”, where people live without leaders, where winter reigns and the earth is covered with snow; later among the Persians it is the river “Raha”, separating Europe from Asia.
F.I. Knauer proves the etymological identity of these names with the ancient name of the Volga - “Ra”, which later acquired such forms as Ros among the Greeks and Arabs, and Ros, Rus, Rosa, Rusa among the Slavs. The author believes that “. the name of the people Rus is of purely Slavic-Russian origin and in the exact rendering of the word means nothing more than the Volga people.”
1. 2. Origin by place of settlement
A great many tribes and peoples on earth were named according to their place of primary residence. The self-name of the coastal Chukchi is an kalyn ("sea inhabitants"), the Bedouins are "desert dwellers", the Selkups are shesh kul ("taiga man"), the Seneca Indians are nunda-ve-o-no ("great people of the hills").
Our distant ancestors deified the river and the first evidence of the Slavs’ veneration of rivers and watermen. The chronicler Nestor also wrote that in the pagan era, the Slavs, in addition to the gods, also revered rivers, lakes, and springs.
Slovak linguist and ethnographer Pavel Safranek (1795-1860): “In the Proto-Slavic language the river was called “Rusa” (rusa). This root Slavic word, as a common noun, has already remained in use only among Russians in the word ruslo, meaning hollow, river bed, depth, vir; but how given name rivers, cities and villages lying more or less near them, is used by almost all Slavs.”
Vladimir Chivilikhin (“Memory”, Book 2, chapter 28): “The most ancient settlements of the Eastern Slavs, from which the first Russian cities were later formed, all, without a single exception, settled on rivers. The river largely ensured the livelihoods of our ancestors: it provided water for cooking and housekeeping, supplied fish and water birds, provided an easy, perfectly smooth path on water in summer, on ice in winter; the river also formed a natural defense on the steep banks, indented by tributaries.”
Thus, if: “Rusa” is a river - the eternal place of settlement of our ancestors, with which their way of life and beliefs were always so closely connected (for example, Rus was the name of a now half-forgotten, mythical Dnieper deity), then: generalized The ethnonym “Rus” or “Russians” - from ancient times meant “living on rivers”, “river inhabitants”, “river people”.
1. 3. Origin according to legends and first written mentions
The first mention of “Rus” and “Rug” takes us back centuries - many years before our era.
While examining the Vlesov (Velesov) book, S. Paramonov (“History of the Russians according to the Vlesova Book”) read on its tablets a legend about Bogumir, his wife Slavunya, daughters Drev, Skrev, Polev and sons Sev and Rus: “The legend says that Bugomir did not have husbands for his daughters. On the advice of his wife, he went in search of suitors. In the evening he stood in a field near an oak tree and built a fire. Then he saw three horsemen rushing towards him. They drove up and said: “Hello! What are searching for?". Bogumir spoke about his need. They answered that they were looking for wives. Bogumir returned to his steppes, leading three husbands to his daughters. Next, several lines were destroyed. Then it is said that three glorious families came from here - the Drevlyans, Krivichi and Polyans. From the sons came the northerners and the Russians. The legend of Bogumir is also attractive because at the end there are interesting details about the place and time - a circumstance that is also very original in relation to the legend.” According to these details, it turns out that these clans were created 1000 BC. e.
The chronicler Nestor begins his historical work on the origin of the state of Rus' with a legend about the construction of Kiev: in the land of “wise and meaningful” glades, Prince Kiy and his two brothers - Shchek and Khoriv - built a city on the high bank of the Dnieper and named it Kiev in honor of their elder brother. In some regions of Russia, where ancient birch bark letters were found, the legendary brothers Kiy, Shchek and Khoryv are called by other names, which sound like Chekh (Shchek), Lekh (Khoryv) and Russ (Kyy). Perhaps the word “Kiy” did not mean the name of one of the brothers, but his profession - a blacksmith, and the name sounded exactly like Russ.
The very name of the tribes “Rus” is mentioned in written sources long before the 9th century, and the word “Rus” was widespread far beyond the Russian plains.
Mavro Orbini says in “Historiography of the Slavic People” (1606) (Dalmatian historian, was a monk of the Benedictine monastery on the island of Mljet, then abbot, author of the book “Slavic Kingdom”, in which he tried to give the history of all Slavic peoples): “Ancient writers they were called differently. Aelius Spartian and Capitoli in the “Biography of Pius” and Flavius Vopiscus in the “Biography of Aurelian” called them Roxolani (IV century AD), Pliny (I century AD) called them Toxolani, Ptolemy (II century AD) ) - Troxolans, Strabo (1st century BC) - Rasnals and Roxanas, Raphael of Volateran and many others called them Ruthenes.
Nowadays it is customary to call them Russians, that is, scattered, since in Russian or Slavic Rosseya means nothing more than scattering. And not without reason they called them Russians or scattered, because their colonies were scattered from Arctic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and the Adriatic Gulf, from the Great Sea to the Baltic Ocean. For the same reason, Greek writers, as Procopius of Caesarea reports, called them “spores,” that is, “dispersed people.”
Historical evidence records the ethnonym Ros at least from the 6th century, and precisely the ethnonym, since almost all of the above reports are not about a country or state, but only about a people referred to as hros (hrus), rosy (Rus), rodi. These people, living somewhere near the Crimea (Caucasus), as well as in the Northern Black Sea region, are awarded the following characteristics: barbaric, cruel and nomadic; brave and victorious, making his raids only by ship; a merchant who does not disdain the slave trade; not eminent, humiliated and poor, but having reached brilliant heights and untold wealth. Sometimes the characteristics look contradictory, for example, the Russians do not have villages or real estate, but at the same time there are many cities. Did this people, awarded with such striking, albeit contradictory characteristics, not have their own state? It turns out that he did, but in the distant past. Moreover, the state of this unusual people could, in its heyday, be considered a great power, with which arrogant Rome itself reckoned. But none of the witnesses whose works have survived, including the earliest of them, have found this state.
The Slavs waged a constant struggle with the nomads who lived in the Black Sea steppes and often plundered the Slavic lands. The most dangerous enemy were the nomadic Khazars, who created in the 7th-8th centuries. a large state in the lower reaches of the Volga and Don rivers. During this period, the Eastern Slavs began to be called Rus or Dews, believed to be from the name of one of the tribes - the Rus, who lived on the border with Khazaria, between the Dnieper and Don.
1. 4. Origin of the root base “Rus”
The root basis of the word “Rus” has been heard on our land since time immemorial. “Rus” is a Proto-Slavic root that formed such a large nest of words only in the Russian language.
The tradition of understanding the meaning of Rus' “the bright side” was preserved for a very long time, for example, in Dahl’s dictionary of Rus - “(white) light” (Dal IV, 114).
V.I. Dal recorded in his dictionary many Russian words derived from the same original root “rus”: ruslen - a shelf over the side, to which the shrouds are attached; ruslina - rapids, rod; rust - “water flows rustically”, this means it flows in a stream, a stream; proper name Rus - “fairy-tale monster of the Dnieper rapids”; male name Ruslan, memorable from Pushkin's poem
The word “mermaid” is derived from the same Proto-Slavic root “rus”; many pagan beliefs and pagan rites of mermaid are associated with her ancient cult.
According to the book by A. I. Asov “Russian Vedas”: “ROS is a mermaid, the daughter of the Dnieper, according to Slavic mythology she gave birth to Dazh-god from Perun. The ancestor of the Russian people. Russians – that is, descendants of Rus'. She was the goddess of the river Ra (Volga).”
The root of the word “Rus” goes back to the Sanskrit “ros”, which means “clan”, “parent”. In general, in the lands inhabited by the Slavs, there are a great many proper names from the ancient stem “ros”, “rus”. In the area of Lake Peipsi there is the Roson River. Near Narva there is an island - Rusiny. The Russian River flows near Lake Ilmen, the Porus River near Novgorod, then the city of Staraya Russa, and between the Oka and Don there is the Ryasskoe Field. It is not difficult to add the well-known cities of Ryasno and Rostov.
The main guiding word for linguists who adhere to this version remains “channel,” inherent only in the Russian language and formed from the root “rus.”
So, the word “Rus” comes from the root “ros” - “clan”. It was originally associated with water, with the magic of water, with its life-giving power. Hence the legend about the mermaid - the goddess of water, who gave birth to the Russian people from Perun - the god of thunder, the god of the sky.
2. Versions of the origin of the ethnonym “Rus” from foreign words
There are many hypotheses that derive the name “Rus” from foreign sources.
Linguists note that the word-formation structure of the ethnonym “Rus” is identical to the structure of collective ethnonyms ending with a softened final consonant (graphically conveyed by the final –b): kors, lib, chud, all, Rusi, yam, sum, etc. However, all these names are connected with non-Slavic (Baltic and Finno-Ugric) peoples, which is proof of the non-Slavic origin of “Rus”.
2. 1. Scandinavian etymology
The Slavs were in constant communication with the Varangians, who in the West were called Normans. These were warlike people from Scandinavia who carried out endless campaigns of conquest and raids throughout Europe. They often served as mercenaries, particularly in Byzantium. "Varangians" is a Greek word meaning mercenary warriors. "Normans" is a Western term translated as "northern people". But there was another name for these northern warriors. The Finns, who lived in the neighborhood and interspersed with the Eastern Slavs, used the word “ruotsi” in their language, meaning “army”, which sounded among the Slavs as “Rus”. The semantic basis of this term was the concepts of “cheerful people”, “rowing warriors”.
According to legend, the semi-degenerate leader of the Novgorod Slavs, Gostomysl, before his death, wanting to save the Novgorod residents from strife and anarchy, bequeathed to call one of the Varangian leaders as the ruler of the Novgorod lands.
Here’s how A. Ishimova talks about it (“The Great Illustrated Encyclopedia of the History of Russia for Children”): “They heard that in one Varangian clan, which was called Russia, there are three princes who judge truthfully and are good warriors, so they will be able to force their subjects to obey, and will not offend anyone. These brothers' names were: Rurik, Sineus and Truvor. So the Slavs sent ambassadors to them. The ambassadors came, bowed to these princes and said: “Our land is great and abundant, but there is no order in it, come to reign and rule over us.” These princes agreed to their request and came to them with all their family and retinue. Rurik and his brothers came to the Slavic land and brought with them their entire Russian family, which is why the land where they began to reign was called Russia.”
2. 3. On behalf of the Rue tribe
In the II-III centuries AD. e. among the Balts, Slavs and Germans lived some kind of ruts (rugs). The Rugs were recorded on the Middle Danube (about 450), Tacitus also called them “reudignii”, perhaps this ethnonym means “forest uprooters”, which means the Rugs were engaged in agriculture. There are hypotheses that the ethnonym Rus', ruty, ruten is formed from the ethnonym rugi. Perhaps the Rugi are Slavs from the island of Rügen (Rugin/Ruyan). It is possible that Rugi is a general name for the Slavs (it formed the Late Latin name for medieval Rus' - Ruthenia) and the Goths (2nd century AD), who recently left Scandinavia.
2. 4. From the Western European word “bear”
There are proposals about another initial concept that formed the ethnonym “Rus” - the word “bear” (for example, Latin “ursus”), which in many Western European languages has common root"urs". The myth of the Bear - the owner of the forest and a powerful deity - has been preserved in Russian fairy tales. For quite a long time the bear was revered as a sacred animal. The true name of this beast-deity was so sacred that it was not spoken out loud. The Greek and Latin names for the bear - arctos and ursus - have taken root in the languages of many peoples. Our ancestors were not satisfied with the old bear name shared with other languages. It seemed to ancient people that the name of any creature was connected with itself by a mysterious and wonderful thread. A name is a part of a person, an animal, an object; Moreover, perhaps their most important part. Therefore, you cannot call the creature’s name in vain - you will call upon it itself. Well, what should we do? But instead of a real name, you need to create a conditional one. They replaced the terrible name Arktos with the pseudonym honey badger (honey, bear).
In the East Slavic languages, the original similarity of the self-name of the Rus and the names of some animals and plants especially revered by them has been preserved. All of them were considered related, sacred, first of all, because they had a golden-red or pink-brown color - they were “fair-haired”: these are the names “lynx”, “wolverine”, “leopard”, “badger”, as well as “bear” ", the forbidden name of which can be determined based on the Latin name of the bear "ursus" as the stem "rus".
It is not for nothing that in the West Russia is still called the “Bear Country”.
2. 5. From the Latin word “rus”
Some researchers derive the name “Rus” from the Latin word “rus”, meaning rural area, arable land.
In more ancient times, the ancestors of Russians scattered throughout Europe were mentioned as Rus, Rusyns, Rusnyaks, Rosy, Rasen, Ruten, Rugi. So the races, who inhabited the northern half of Italy even “before the founding of Rome,” called their rural communities “rus” - Russian. From this root word the Latins nicknamed the Rasens “Etruscans.”
3. Version of the origin of the word “Rus” from a term defining a social group
The word “Rus” was not considered by the authors of some ancient Russian sources as an ethnonym. This argument formed the basis of the hypothesis that “Rus” is a term that refers not to an ethnic, but to a social group of Eastern Slavs. If it denoted a social group, it could refer to representatives of various ethnic groups: Danes, Swedes, Norwegians, Finns, Eastern Slavs and Eastern Baltic Slavs. But what social functions could unite these people?
The term “Polyudye” means the collection of tribute; according to this hypothesis, “people” are those who were forced to pay tribute, and “Rus” are those who collected this tribute. Among the tribute collectors there were many Varangian warriors, so the social term was transferred to the ethnic name of the Scandinavians.
Indeed, the Finno-Ugric peoples are still for a long time names going back to the root “rus-” were used to designate different peoples who took tribute from them, while the word “people” even became the self-name of one of the Finno-Ugric peoples (Ljudi).
Then “Rus” may in some texts be associated with the Varangians (if they are part of the social elite collecting tribute), and in others differ from them (if we are talking about mercenary detachments of Scandinavians invited for a while).
Conclusion
The topic of the emergence of the Russian state and the origin of the word “Rus” itself dates back more than one century.
The word "Russian" began to be used much later. It appeared in the 9th century and spread in the 10th-12th centuries from the “tribal” word “Rus”, probably by decree of 882 by the Prophetic Oleg - “Russian Grand Duke”. This was done to identically designate the 12 tribes of the Eastern Slavs, which were part of a huge federal power - the great “Russian Land”. The logic of the decree is simple: in Rus' all Slavs should be called “Russians”, since “the Slovenian language and Russian are one” (Nestor the Chronicler).
Etymology owes much to data from other fields of knowledge. However, this connection is reversible: etymological studies of words dating back to ancient times make it possible to restore many aspects of the life, culture, and economy of ancient peoples, enriching history, ethnography and other sciences.
As L. Uspensky wrote in his book “A Word about Words”: “The word lives because the people who created it live; lives - changes, grows, develops the language to which it belongs. No one - not a single person, no matter how great his talents, intelligence, and power - can, without the consent and approval of the entire people, give life to even the smallest word, although each of us is capable of inventing hundreds of excellent sonorous words in half an hour.”
Preamble
Hypotheses on the topic - where did the Russian land come from?
Each of us is interested in where the Russian land came from? Historians have created many hypotheses about its origin. If we summarize all the existing hypotheses about the origin of statehood among the Eastern Slavs and the name “Rus,” then we can single out eight from the set.
First hypothesis: Norman or Varangian
Its “godfathers” were German scientists G.3. Bayer (1694–1738) and G.F. Miller (1705–1783), who were in academic service in Russian Empire. They claimed that Old Russian state founded by immigrants from Scandinavia - the Normans, who in Rus' were called Varangians. They first came to the Slovenes and established the city of Ladoga. And the eldest Rurik sat in Ladoga, and the second, Sineus, sat on White Lake, and the third, Truvor, in Izborsk. And from those Varangians it received the name Russian Land.
The main argument of the Normanists is as follows: Rus' got its name from the Finnish word “ruotsi”, which the Finns used to call the Swedes in the middle of the 9th century. And they still call it to this day. The Finnish "Ruotsi" means "Sweden". Estonians call Sweden Rootsi.
Second hypothesis: Slavic
The founder of the Slavic (anti-Norman) theory of the origin of the Old Russian state was the Russian scientist M. V. Lomonosov (1711–1762). In the Varangian version, he saw a blasphemous allusion to the “defectiveness” of the Slavs, to their inability to independently organize a state in their northeastern European lands.
Third hypothesis: Iranian-Slavic
According to this hypothesis, there were two types of Rus - the Obodrit Rus or Rugs, inhabitants of the island of Rügen (they are called the Baltic Slavs), and the Black Sea Rus, descendants of Slavic and Iranian tribes. The Ilmen Slovenes invited the Obodrit Rus to reign. When the East Slavic tribes united into single state– Rus', there has been a rapprochement between two types of Rus.
Fourth hypothesis: Celto-Slavic
According to the academician National Academy Sciences of Ukraine V.G. Sklyarenko, the Novgorodians turned for help to the Varangian Slavs (Baltic Slavs), who were called Rutens or Rus. The name Ruten (Rus) comes from one of the Celtic tribes, since the Ruten Celts took part in the ethnic formation of the Slavs of the island of Rügen.
Fifth hypothesis: Compromise or Slavic-Varangian
One of the first attempts to connect the Norman theory with the ideas of anti-Normanists about the local, Slavic roots of the Old Russian state was made by the famous Russian historian V. Klyuchevsky. He considered the earliest local political form, formed in Rus' around the middle of the 9th century, to be “an urban region, that is, a trading district governed by a fortified city, which at the same time served as an industrial (craft) center for this district.” The second local political form, in his opinion, was the “Varangian principalities.” From the combination of the Varangian principalities and the city regions that retained their independence, a third political form emerged - the original form of the “Russian state”.
Subsequently, this theory was developed by the Russian-Soviet academician M.N. Pokrovsky called “merchant capitalism”.
Sixth hypothesis: Indo-Iranian
This hypothesis insists that the ethnonym “ros” has a different origin than “rus”, being much more ancient - Sarmatian. Supporters of this opinion, also originating from M.V. Lomonosov, note that the people “grew up” were first mentioned in the 6th century in “Church History” by Zechariah the Rhetor, where they are placed next to the peoples of “dog people” and Amazons, which many authors interpret as the Northern Black Sea region. From this point of view, it is traced back to the Iranian-speaking (Sarmatian) tribes of the Roxalans or Rosomons, mentioned by ancient authors.
Seventh hypothesis: Khazar
The Russian-American historian G.V. Vernadsky put forward a hypothesis about the founding of Kyiv by the Khazars no earlier than the 830s, when, as a result of a great war, the Khazars conquered the Vyatichi, Northerners and Radimichi. According to this hypothesis, the three brothers Kiy, Shchek and Horiv were Khazars. The name "Kiy" may have come from the Turkic word kiy ("river bank"), since the ruling Jewish clan of the Khazar state was of Turkic origin.
The idea of G.V. Vernadsky was developed by Harvard University (USA) professor E. I. Pritsak, author of the historical six-volume study “The Origin of Rus'”.
In his opinion, the Old Russian state was not founded by either the Varangians or the Slavs. It was a multi-ethnic and multi-lingual trading union that, in the process of establishing its control over trade routes between the Baltic, Mediterranean and Caspian seas, created a political entity in Eastern Europe called Rus. In other words, “Rus” was originally called not an ethnic community (not a tribe or people), but a special mobile social group(corporation), consisting of professional warrior-merchants. The synthesis of a corporation of sea and river nomads (Vikings, Varangians) with steppe nomads (Khazars) contributed, according to Pritsak, to the emergence in the 9th–10th centuries. Volga-Russian Kaganate.
The eighth hypothesis was composed by the Austro-Hungarian-Ukrainian historian M.S. Grushevsky (at the end of his life a Soviet academician). This is where we will end our historical journey.
How do the emergence of Kyiv and Veliky Novgorod and the birth of Rus' fit into these hypotheses? This will be discussed in the following chapters of this book.
There are several hypotheses about the origin and ethnicity of Rus': Norman, Slavic (anti-Norman), Indo-Iranian (Sarmatian) and others.
Norman hypothesis
Slavic hypothesis
Slavic hypothesis was formulated by V.N. Tatishchev and M.V. Lomonosov. It comes, firstly, from a fragment of The Tale of Bygone Years:
... from the same Slavs are we, Rus'... But the Slavic people and the Russians are one, after all, they were called Russia from the Varangians, and before there were Slavs; Although they were called Polyans, their speech was Slavic.
And secondly, from the message of the Arab geographer Ibn Khordadbeh, whose data on Eastern Europe is one of the most ancient (mid-9th century), and who believed that the Rus are a Slavic people.
History of the Russian people according to written sources
Written sources relating to the time of the appearance of the ethnonym Rus, are diverse, but stingy in detail and scattered. In addition to the Old Russian chronicles, which were compiled at a later time, references to Rus' are contained in contemporary Western European, Byzantine and Eastern (Arab-Persian and Khazar) sources of a chronicle and memoir nature.
The Tale of Bygone Years
The earliest ancient Russian source that has reached our time is “The Tale of Bygone Years,” written by the monk Nestor at the beginning of the 12th century based on the chronicle of the 11th century. According to Nestor, the territory subject to Russian princes in his time was inhabited in ancient times
- Slavic tribes: Polyans, Drevlyans, Novgorodians (Slovenians), Polochans, Dregovichi, Northerners, Buzhanians (Volynians), Radimichi, Vyatichi, Ulichs, Tivertsy;
- non-Slavic tribes: Chud, Merya, Ves, Muroma, Cheremis, Mordovians, Perm, Pechera, Em, Lithuania, Zimigola, Kors, Narova, Livs, Yatvingians;
There is no tribe on the list Rus. Nestor found the first mention of Rus':
The chronicle does not specify where the Varangians-Rus came from; it only reports that “ from across the sea».
Most of the events in the chronicle are dated, but this chronology (for the 9th-10th centuries), as comparisons with independent sources prove, is not always accurate and therefore is conditional.
Byzantine sources
The Byzantines called the people not only Rus (Ρουσιος), but also Ros (Ρος), presumably by analogy with the name of the demonic biblical people Rosh.
The first mention in Byzantine sources probably refers to the description of a raid on the Byzantine city of Amastris (on the southern coast of the Black Sea) in the Life of George of Amastris (according to some estimates - the beginning of the 830s, but not later than 842). In "Life of George" dew named " people, as everyone knows, extremely savage and rude" The Propontis, which was located near Constantinople, was first attacked, which may be an indication of a previously held bargaining in the Byzantine capital. The custom of switching to military action after the completion of trading operations was characteristic of the medieval Vikings. Perhaps it was after this war that the Russian ambassadors, Swedes by origin, arrived in Constantinople for negotiations, whom Emperor Theophilus sent back through the Frankish Empire (see below), where their arrival is dated to 839. A number of modern researchers do not support the dating of these events to the 830s and believes that the campaign took place during the Russian raids in 860 or even 941. Indeed, the same Byzantines and Franks argued (see Russian Kaganate) about the origin of this people and the title of their leader, before they thoroughly became acquainted with the Rus already in the era of Prince Oleg and his successors.
Another source about the Rus is the Russian edition of “The Life of St. Stephen of Sourozh”, compiled in the 15th century, possibly based on an early Byzantine original that has not reached us. In the life of a certain Russian Prince Bravlin raids Crimea, but after a miracle at the tomb of Stephen of Sourozh, he is baptized and releases all the captured Christians. If the event really took place, then it dates back to the turn of the 8th-9th centuries.
In popular literature there are references to a Russian raid on the Greek island of Aegina (near Athens) in 813. This fact comes from an erroneous translation of the name of the Arabic (Berber) pirate Mau rousioi like "Russian" in "Life" Venerable Athanasia Aegina".
Judging by the words of Photius, the Byzantines were aware of the existence of Rus'. In 867, Photius, in a letter to the Eastern patriarchs, speaks about Rus', mentioning the so-called first baptism of Rus':
“... even for many, many times famous and leaving everyone behind in ferocity and bloodshed, that same so-called people of Ros - those who, having enslaved those who lived around them and therefore became overly proud, raised their hands against the Roman power itself! But now, however, they too have changed the pagan and godless faith in which they lived before, to the pure and genuine religion of Christians, ... putting them in the position of subjects and hospitable people instead of the recent robbery and great boldness against us. And at the same time, they were so inflamed by their passionate desire and zeal for the faith... that they received a bishop and a shepherd and with great zeal and diligence they meet Christian rites.”
Photius did not name names Russians leaders, according to the chronicler Nestor, the raid was carried out by the Varangians Askold and Dir. As modern historians suggest, these same Varangians adopted Christianity soon after their successful campaign against Byzantium. When Rus led by Prince Igor again besieged Constantinople in 941, the Byzantines had already identified a warlike people. Feofan’s successor reports: “ On ten thousand ships the Dews, who are also called Dromites, came from the Frankish tribe and sailed to Constantinople.» The Byzantines considered all inhabitants of northwestern Europe to be Franks. In the description of the raid on Constantinople in 860, the same successor of Theophanes called the Rus " Scythian tribe, unbridled and cruel". In Byzantine writings from the 10th century the name Scythians or Tauro-Scythians firmly established among the Russians as some equivalent to the concept - barbarians from the northern shores of the Black Sea.
The most detailed information about the Rus and the structure of their state was left by the Byzantine Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus in his essay “On the Administration of the Empire,” written around 950.
“...The winter and harsh way of life of those same dews is like this. When November comes, their princes leave Kiev with all the Russians and go on a polyudye, that is, a circular tour, namely, to the Slavic lands of the Drevlyans, Dregovichi, Krivichi, Northerners and other Slavs who pay tribute to the Russians. Feeding there during the winter, in April, when the ice on the Dnieper melts, they return to Kyiv, assemble and equip their ships and set off for Byzantium.”
In June, the Russes with goods and slaves rafted down the Dnieper to the Black Sea, and the names of the Dnieper rapids are listed by Konstantin in two languages: “ in Russian and Slavic" At the mouth of the Dnieper, on an island, the Russians rest before going to sea:
“On this island they perform their sacrifices, since there is a huge oak tree there: they sacrifice live roosters, they strengthen arrows around [the oak], and others - pieces of bread, meat and what everyone has, as their custom dictates.”
Western European sources
The first dated news of Rus' contained in the Bertin Annals and dates back to 839, that is, to a period earlier than described in the Old Russian chronicles.
The annals report the embassy of the Byzantine Emperor Theophilus to Emperor Louis the Pious on May 18, 839. Certain people were sent with the Byzantine embassy, to whom Theophilus asked for assistance in returning to their homeland:
“He also sent with them those very people who called themselves, that is, their people, Ros, whom their king, nicknamed Kagan, had sent earlier so that they would declare friendship for him [Theophilus], asking through the mentioned letter, since they could [is] to receive the favor of the emperor, the opportunity to return, and also help through all his power. He [Theophilus] did not want them to return those [paths] and end up in great danger, because the paths along which they walked to him in Constantinople, they made among the barbarians of very cruel and terrible peoples. Having very carefully examined the reason for their arrival, the Emperor [Louis] learned that they were from the people of the Swedes [Swedes], who were considered to be scouts rather than petitioners for the friendship of that kingdom and ours, he ordered to keep them with him as long as he could truly open."
The existence of the Rus in the 1st half of the 9th century is also noted by another synchronous source - the list of tribes of the “Bavarian Geographer”. In this list, among the peoples who do not border the Frankish Empire and are located to the east of it, the Ruzzi are mentioned. Next to the Ruzzi tribe stands the Caziri tribe, from which historians identify the Rus-Khazar couple. According to the list, she lived east of the Prussians and did not belong to the inhabitants of the Scandinavian Peninsula, who were not listed as being north of the borders of the Frankish empire.
Arab-Persian sources
“Before that, they were here [in Abaskun] under Hassan ibn Zayd, when the Rus arrived in Abaskun and waged war, and Hassan Zayd sent an army and killed everyone.”
“I saw the Rus when they arrived on their trading business and settled down near the Atyl [Volga] River. I have not seen [people] with more perfect bodies than them. They are like palm trees, blond, red in face, white in body. They wear neither jackets nor khaftans, but among them the man wears a kisa, with which he covers one side, with one of the arms coming out of it. And each of them has an axe, a sword and a knife, [and] he [never] parts with all this. Their swords are flat, grooved, Frankish. And from the edge of the nails of one of them [the Rus] to his neck [there is] a collection of trees, images [of something] and the like...
Rus dirhams [money] - gray squirrel without hair, tail, front and hind legs and head, [as well as] sable... They use them to make barter transactions, and they cannot be taken out of there, so they are given for goods, they do not have scales there, but only standard metal bars...
And [they] gather in one house [in a trading settlement] ten or twenty, less or more. Each one has a bench on which he sits, and with him are beautiful girls for the merchants. And so one [of them] gets married to his girlfriend, and his friend looks at him. And sometimes a group of them gathers in this position, one against the other, and a merchant enters to buy a girl from one of them, and comes across him marrying her. He doesn’t leave her until he satisfies his needs...
One of the customs of the king of the Rus is that with him in his very high castle there are always four hundred husbands from among the heroes, his associates... With each of them is a girl who serves him, washes his hair and prepares for him what he eats and drinks , and another girl, [whom] he uses as a concubine in the presence of the king. These four hundred [men] sit and sleep at night at the foot of his bed...
If a quarrel and dispute arise between two persons, and their king is unable to achieve reconciliation, he makes a decision that they fight each other with swords, and the one who turns out to be the winner has the truth on his side.”
The Arab geographer of Persian origin Ibn Ruste compiled a compilation of information from various authors in the 930s. There he also spoke about the Russians:
“As for Russia, it is located on an island surrounded by a lake. This island, on which they live, occupies the space of three days' journey: it is covered with forests and swamps; unhealthy and so raw that as soon as you step on the ground, it already shakes due to the abundance of water in it.
They have a king who is called Khakan-Rus. They raid the Slavs, approach them on ships, disembark, take them prisoner, take them to Khazran and Bulgar and sell them there. They have no arable land, but eat only what they bring from the land of the Slavs.
When one of them has a son, he takes a naked sword, places it in front of the newborn and says: “ I will not leave you any property as an inheritance, but you will have only what you acquire for yourself with this sword“. They have no real estate, no cities [or villages], no arable land; Their only trade is trading in sable, squirrel and other furs, which they sell to those who wish; the payment they receive in money is tied tightly into their belts...
They have healers, some of whom command the king as if they were their [Russian] leaders. It happens that they order that sacrifices be made to their creator, whatever they please: women, men and horses, and when the healers order, it is impossible not to fulfill their order in any way. Having taken a person or animal, the healer throws a noose around his neck, hangs the victim on a log and waits until it suffocates, and says that this is a sacrifice to God...
They are courageous and brave. When they attack another nation, they do not lag behind until they destroy it all. The women of the vanquished are used by themselves, and the men are enslaved. They are tall and have good view and courage in attacks; but they do not display this courage on horseback, and carry out all their raids and campaigns on ships. They wear wide sharavars: one hundred cubits of material goes for each one. When putting on such harvaras, they gather them into gathers at the knee, to which they then tie them.”
The Baghdad traveler Al-Masudi in the 940s left notes about the Rus, based on the stories of the inhabitants of Tabaristan and other Caspian countries. He spoke in some detail about the unsuccessful campaign of the Rus against the Caspian Sea in 913, but actually wrote little about the Rus:
“As for the pagans in the [Khazar] state, among their ranks are the Sakaliba [Slavs] and the Rus, who live on one side of this city [Itil]. They burn their dead along with their horses [lit.: animals], utensils and decorations. When a man dies, his wife is burned alive with him, but if a woman dies, the husband is not burned. If someone dies unmarried, he is married posthumously, and the women fervently desire to be burned in order to enter heaven with the souls of their husbands […] The Rus and Saklabs, who, as we have already said, are pagans, [also] serve in the army of the king [Khazars ] and are his servants.[…]
The Rus are a huge tribe; they obey no king and no law. […]
The Rus consist of numerous tribes various kinds. Among them are the al-Ludzgana, who are the most numerous and constantly visit the countries of Andalus, Rome, Constantinople and the country of the Khazars for trading purposes.”
“And there are three groups of Russians. The (first) group is closest to the Bulgar, and their king is in a city called Cuiaba, and it is larger than the Bulgar. And the group is the highest (main) of them, they call it al-Slaviya, and their king is in the city of Salau, (third) a group of them, called al-Arsaniya, and their king sits in Ars, their city. […] The Rus come to trade in the Khazar and Rum. Bulgar the Great borders with the Rus in the north. They (Russians) are large in number and have long been attacking those parts of Rum that border them and imposing tribute on them. […] Some of the Rus shave their beards, some of them twist it like a horse’s mane [braid it] and paint it with yellow (or black) paint.”
“This is a vast country, and its inhabitants are malicious, disobedient, arrogant, quarrelsome and warlike. They fight with all the infidels living around them and emerge victorious. Their ruler is called Rus-Kagan […] Among them live a part of the Slavs who serve them […] They wear hats made of wool with tails falling on the back of their necks […] Cuyaba is the city of the Rus, located closest to the lands of Islam. This is a pleasant place and the residence of [their] ruler. It produces furs and valuable swords. S.laba is a pleasant city, from which always, when peace reigns, they leave for trade in the Bulgar region. Urtab is a city in which foreigners are killed whenever they visit it. He produces very valuable blades and swords that can be bent twice, but as soon as the hand is removed, they return to their original position.”
Khazar sources
Sources originating from Rus'’s closest southern neighbor, the Khazar Khaganate, also contain modern information reflecting the difficult relations between the two countries.
“Roman [the Byzantine emperor] [the villain] also sent great gifts to X-l-gu, the king of Russia, and incited him to his (own) misfortune. And he came at night to the city of S-m-k-rai [Samkerts] and took it by stealth, because there was no chief there […] And this became known to Bul-sh-tsi, that is, the venerable Passover […] And from there he went to war against H-l-ha and fought... for months, and God subjected him to Passover. And he found... the booty that he had captured from S-m-k-paradise. And he says: “Roman put me up to this.” And Pesach said to him: “If so, then go to Roman and fight with him, as you fought with me, and I will retreat from you. Otherwise, I will die here or (or) I will live until I avenge myself.” And he went against his will and fought against Kustantina [Constantinople] at sea for four months. And his heroes fell there, because the Macedonians overpowered [him] with fire. And he fled and was ashamed to return to his country, but went by sea to Persia, and there he and his entire camp fell.”
In the same document, the Slavs are mentioned among the tributaries of the Khazar king.
Archaeological evidence
Archaeological research confirms the fact of major socio-economic changes in the lands of the Eastern Slavs and records the penetration of Scandinavians into their environment in the 9th century (see Rus'). In the north (Novgorod lands), Scandinavian influence is noted earlier and is much more noticeable than in the south (Kyiv). In general, the results of archaeological research do not contradict the legend of the “Tale of Bygone Years” about the calling of the Varangians in 862, however, difficulties in the exact dating and ethnic identification of archaeological material do not allow us to draw definite conclusions about the origin, geographical localization and historical role of Rus' in the formation of the East Slavic state.
In the middle of the 8th century, two settlements: Lyubsha fortress on the site of the Finno-Ugric tribes and, presumably later, a few kilometers from it on the other bank of the Volkhov, the Scandinavian settlement of Ladoga. In the 760s Ladoga is attacked, and its population up to