The history of Russian statehood begins from the time when ten centuries before the beginning new era Numerous Slavic tribes began to settle in the northern and central parts of the East European Plain. They were engaged in hunting, fishing and agriculture. Those who lived in the steppe were engaged in animal husbandry.

Who are the Slavs

The term "Slavs" refers to an ethnic group of people who have centuries of cultural continuity and who speak a variety of related languages ​​known as Slavic languages ​​(all of which belong to the Indo-European language family). Little is known about the Slavs before they were mentioned in Byzantine records of the 6th century AD. e., while most of what we know about them until that time, scientists obtained through archaeological and linguistic research.

Main places of residence

Slavic tribes began to develop new territories in the 6th-8th centuries. The tribes diverged in three main directions:

• to the south - the Balkan Peninsula,
• to the west - between the Oder and the Elbe,
• to the east and northeast of Europe.

They are the ancestors of such modern peoples as Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians. The ancient Slavs were pagans. They had their own deities, they believed that there were evil and good spirits that personified various natural forces: Yarilo - the Sun, Perun - thunder and lightning, etc.

When the Eastern Slavs mastered the East European Plain, changes occurred in their social structure- tribal unions appeared, which later became the basis of future statehood.

Ancient peoples on the territory of Russia

The oldest of the far north were Neolithic wild reindeer hunters. Archaeological evidence of their existence dates back to the 5th millennium BC. Small-scale reindeer herding is believed to have developed as early as 2,000 years ago.

In the 9th-10th centuries the Varangians (Vikings) controlled central part and the main rivers of the eastern territory modern Russia. East Slavic tribes occupied the northwestern region. The Khazars, a Turkic people, controlled the south central region.

Even 2000 BC. e., both in the north, and in the territory of modern Moscow, and in the east, in the Urals region, there lived tribes who grew unprocessed grains. Around the same time, tribes in the territory modern Ukraine also engaged in farming.

Distribution of ancient Russian tribes

Many peoples gradually migrated to what is now eastern Russia. East Slavs remained in this territory and gradually became dominant. Early Slavic tribes Ancient Rus' were farmers and beekeepers, as well as hunters, fishermen, shepherds and hunters. By 600, the Slavs had become the dominant ethnic group on the East European Plain.

Slavic statehood

The Slavs withstood invasions by the Goths from Germany and Sweden and the Huns from Central Asia in the 3rd and 4th centuries. By the 7th century, they had established villages along all the major rivers of what is now eastern Russia. In the early Middle Ages, the Slavs lived between the Viking kingdoms in Scandinavia, the Holy Roman Empire in Germany, the Byzantines in Turkey, and the Mongol and Turkish tribes in Central Asia.

Kievan Rus arose in the 9th century. This state had a complex and often unstable political system. The state flourished until the 13th century, before its territory sharply decreased. Among the special achievements Kievan Rus- the introduction of Orthodoxy and the synthesis of Byzantine and Slavic cultures. The disintegration of Kievan Rus played a decisive role in the evolution of the Eastern Slavs into the Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian peoples.

Slavic tribes

Slavs are divided into three main groups:

• Western Slavs (mainly Poles, Czechs and Slovaks);
• South Slavs (mostly tribes from Bulgaria and the former Yugoslavia);
• East Slavic tribes (primarily Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians).

The eastern branch of the Slavs included numerous tribes. The list of names of tribes of Ancient Rus' includes:

• Vyatichi;
• Buzhan (Volynians);
• Drevlyans;
• Dregovichi;
• Dulebov;
• Krivichi;
• Polotsk;
• clearing;
• Radimichi;
• Slovene;
• Tivertsev;
• streets;
• Croats;
• Bodrichi;
• Vistula;
• Zličan;
• Lusatians;
• Lutich;
• Pomeranian

Origin of the Slavs

Little is known about the origins of the Slavs. They inhabited areas of east-central Europe in prehistoric times and gradually reached their current limits. The pagan Slavic tribes of Ancient Rus' migrated from what is now Russia to the southern Balkans more than 1,000 years ago and took over the Christian communities founded by Roman colonists.

Philologists and archaeologists claim that the Slavs settled in the Carpathians and in the region of modern Belarus a very long time ago. By 600, a linguistic division had resulted in southern, western, and eastern branches. The Eastern Slavs settled on the Dnieper River in what is now Ukraine. They then spread north to the northern Volga Valley, east of modern Moscow, and west to the basins of the northern Dniester and Western Bug, into the territory of modern Moldova and southern Ukraine.

Later the Slavs adopted Christianity. These tribes were scattered over a large area and suffered from the invasions of nomadic tribes: the Huns, Mongols and Turks. The first large Slavic states were the Western Bulgarian state (680-1018) and Moravia (early 9th century). In the 9th century the Kiev state was formed.

Old Russian mythology

Very little mythological material has survived: until the 9th-10th centuries. n. e. Writing was not yet widespread among the Slavic tribes.

One of the main gods of the Slavic tribes of Ancient Rus' was Perun, who is associated with the Baltic god Perkuno, as well as with the Norwegian god Thor. Like these deities, Perun is the god of thunder, the supreme deity of the ancient Russian tribes. The god of youth and spring, Yarilo, and the goddess of love, Lada, also occupied an important place among the deities. They were both gods who died and were resurrected every year, which was associated with fertility motives. The Slavs also had a goddess of winter and death - Morena, a goddess of spring - Lelya, a goddess of summer - Zhiva, gods of love - Lel and Polel, the first was the god of early love, the second was the god of mature love and family.

Tribal culture of Ancient Rus'

In the early Middle Ages, the Slavs occupied large territory, which contributed to the emergence of several independent Slavic states. From the 10th century BC. e. There was a process of gradual cultural divergence that gave rise to a variety of closely related but mutually exclusive languages ​​classified as part of the Slavic branch of the Indo-European language family.

Currently exists a large number of Slavic languages, in particular Bulgarian, Czech, Croatian, Polish, Serbian, Slovak, Russian and many others. They are distributed from central and eastern Europe to Russia.

Information about the culture of the East Slavic tribes of Ancient Rus' in the VI-IX centuries. there are very few. They were mainly preserved in works of folklore recorded later, represented by proverbs and sayings, riddles and fairy tales, work songs and stories, and legends.

These tribes had some knowledge about nature. For example, thanks to the system of shifting farming, the East Slavic agricultural calendar appeared, divided on the basis of agricultural cycles into lunar months. Also, the Slavic tribes on the territory of Ancient Rus' had knowledge about animals, metals, and actively developed applied art.

History does not have accurate data about where the first Slavs appeared. All information about their appearance and settlement throughout the territory of modern Europe and Russia was obtained indirectly:

• analysis of Slavic languages;
• archaeological finds;
• written mentions in chronicles.

Based on these data, we can conclude that the original habitat of the Slavs was the northern slopes of the Carpathians; it was from these places that the Slavic tribes migrated to the south, west and east, forming three branches of the Slavs - Balkan, Western and Russian (Eastern).
The settlement of East Slavic tribes along the banks of the Dnieper began in the 7th century. Another part of the Slavs settled along the banks of the Danube and received the name Western. The South Slavs settled on the territory of the Byzantine Empire.

Settlement of Slavic tribes

The ancestors of the Eastern Slavs were the Veneti - a union of tribes of ancient Europeans who lived in Central Europe in the 1st millennium. Later, the Veneti settled along the coast of the Vistula River and the Baltic Sea to the North of the Carpathian Mountains. The culture, life and pagan rituals of the Veneti were closely connected with the Pomeranian culture. Some of the Veneti who lived in more western areas were influenced by Germanic culture.

Slavic tribes and their settlement, table 1

In the III-IV centuries. The East European Slavs were united under the rule of the Goths as part of the Power of Germanaric, located in the Northern Black Sea region. At the same time, the Slavs were part of the tribes of the Khazars and Avars, but were in the minority there.

In the 5th century, the settlement of East Slavic tribes began from the territories of the Carpathian region, the mouth of the Dniester and the banks of the Dnieper. The Slavs actively migrated in various directions. In the East, the Slavs stopped along the Volga and Oka rivers. The Slavs who migrated and settled in the East began to be called Ants. The Antes' neighbors were the Byzantines, who suffered the raids of the Slavs and described them as "high, strong people With beautiful faces" At the same time, the southern Slavs, who were called Sklavins, gradually assimilated with the Byzantines and adopted their culture.

Western Slavs in the 5th century. were settled along the coast of the Odra and Elbe rivers, and constantly launched raids into more western territories. A little later, these tribes split into many separate groups: Poles, Czechs, Moravians, Serbs, Luticians. The Slavs of the Baltic group also separated

Slavic tribes and their settlement on the map

Designation:
green - Eastern Slavs
light green - Western Slavs
dark green - southern Slavs

The main East Slavic tribes and their places of settlement

in the VII-VIII centuries. Stable East Slavic tribes were formed, whose settlement occurred as follows: Polyans - lived along the Dnieper River. To the north, along the Desna River lived the northerners, and in the northwestern territories lived the Drevlyans. The Dregovichi settled between the Pripyat and Dvina rivers. Polotsk residents lived along the Polota River. Along the Volga, Dnieper and Dvina rivers there are Krivichi.

Numerous Buzhans or Dulebs were settled on the banks of the Southern and Western Bug, some of whom migrated towards the west and assimilated with the Western Slavs.

The places of settlement of the Slavic tribes influenced their customs, language, laws and methods of farming. The main occupations were growing wheat, millet, barley, some tribes grew oats and rye. Bred large cattle and small poultry.

The settlement map of the ancient Slavs displays the boundaries and areas characteristic of each tribe.

East Slavic tribes on the map

The map shows that the East Slavic tribes are concentrated in Eastern Europe and in the territory of modern Ukraine, Russia and Belarus. During the same period, a group of Slavic tribes began to move towards the Caucasus, therefore in the 7th century. Some of the tribes find themselves on the lands of the Khazar Kaganate.

More than 120 East Slavic tribes lived on the lands from the Bug to Novgorod. The largest of them:

1. The Vyatichi are an East Slavic tribe that lived at the mouths of the Oka and Moscow rivers. The Vyatichi migrated to these areas from the Dnieper coast. This is the tribe long time lived separately and retained pagan beliefs, actively resisting joining to the Kyiv princes. The Vyatichi tribes were subject to raids by the Khazar Khaganate and paid them tribute. Later, the Vyatichi were still annexed to Kievan Rus, but did not lose their identity.
2. The Krivichi are the northern neighbors of the Vyatichi, living on the territory of modern Belarus and the Western regions of Russia. The tribe was formed as a result of the merger of the Balts and Finno-Ugric tribes that came from the north. Most elements of Krivichi culture contain Baltic motifs.
3. Radimichi are tribes that lived in the territory of modern Gomel and Mogidev regions. Radimichi are the ancestors of modern Belarusians. Their culture and customs were influenced by Polish tribes and eastern neighbors.

These three Slavic groups subsequently united and formed the Great Russians. It must be understood that the ancient Russian tribes and the places of their settlement did not have clear boundaries, because Wars were fought between the tribes for lands and alliances were concluded, as a result the tribes migrated and changed, adopting each other’s culture.

In the 8th century the eastern tribes of the Slavs from the Danube to the Baltic already had a single culture and language. Thanks to this, it became possible to create a trade route “from the Varangians to the Greeks” and became the root cause of the formation of the Russian state.

The main East Slavic tribes and their places of settlement, table 2

Western Slavic tribes

West Slavic tribes lived in the territory of modern Central Europe. They are usually divided into four groups:

• Polish tribes (Poland, Western Belarus);
• Czech tribes (part of the territory of modern Czech Republic);
• Polabian tribes (lands from the Elbe River to the Odra and from the Ore Mountains to the Baltic). The “Polabian union of tribes” included: Bodrichi, Ruyans, Drevyans, Lusatian Serbs and more than 10 other tribes. In the VI century. most of the tribes were captured and enslaved by the young Germanic feudal states.
• Pomeranians who lived in Pomerania. Beginning in the 1190s, the Pomeranians were attacked by the Germans and Danes and almost completely lost their culture and assimilated with the invaders.

Southern Slavic tribes

The South Slavic ethnic group included: Bulgarian, Dalmatian and Greek Macedonian tribes settled in the northern part of Byzantium. They were captured by the Byzantines and adopted their customs, beliefs and culture.

Neighbors of the ancient Slavs

In the west, the neighbors of the ancient Slavs were tribes of Celts and Germans. In the east are the Balts and Finno-Ugric tribes, as well as the ancestors of modern Iranians - the Scythians and Sarmatians. Gradually they were supplanted by the Bulgar and Khazars tribes. In the south, Slavic tribes lived side by side with the Romans and Greeks, as well as the ancient Macedonians and Illyrians.

The Slavic tribes became a real disaster for the Byzantine Empire and for the Germanic peoples, carrying out constant raids and seizing fertile lands.

In the VI century. Hordes of Turks appeared in the territory inhabited by the Eastern Slavs, who entered into a fight with the Slavs for lands in the Dniester and Danube region. Many Slavic tribes went over to the side of the Turks, whose goal was to seize the Byzantine Empire.
During the war, the Western Slavs were completely enslaved by the Byzantines, the southern Slavs, the Sklavins, defended their independence, and the East Slavic tribes were captured by the Turkic horde.

East Slavic tribes and their neighbors (map)

A thousand years ago, the chroniclers of ancient Kyiv claimed that they, the people of Kiev, were Rus', and that the state of Rus' came from Kyiv. The Novgorod chroniclers, in turn, claimed that Rus' was them, and that Rus' came from Novgorod. What kind of tribe is Rus', and what tribes and peoples did it belong to?

Traces of these tribes, which left a deep mark on the history of Europe and Asia, can be found in place names from the Rhine to the Urals, from Scandinavia to the Middle East. Ancient Greek, Arab, Roman, German, and Gothic historians wrote about them. There was Rus' in Germany in the Gera district, and only by order of Hitler during the war with Russia this name was abolished. There was Russia in Crimea on the Kerch Peninsula back in the 7th century AD. Only in the Baltic states there were four Rus: the island of Rügen, the mouth of the Neman River, the coast of the Gulf of Riga, in Estonia Rotalia-Russia with the islands of Ezel and Dago. In Eastern Europe, in addition to Kievan Rus, there were: Rus in the Carpathian region, in the Azov region, in the Caspian region, at the mouth of the Danube, Purgasova Rus on the lower Oka. In Central Europe in the Danube region: Rugia, Ruthenia, Russia, Ruthenia Mark, Rutonia, Rugiland in the territory of present-day Austria and Yugoslavia. Two principalities of "Rus" on the border of Thuringia and Saxony in Germany. The city of Russia in Syria, which arose after the first crusade. Roger Bacon (English author of the 13th century) mentions the “Great Russia”, which encircles Lithuania on both sides of the Baltic Sea, including the modern Kaliningrad region. In the same century, the Tefton Germans came here, and this territory became German Prussia.

German historians, authors Norman theory, declare that Rus' is one of the Germanic tribes. Russian scientists claim the opposite: Rus' is one of the Slavic tribes. But the closest to the truth, after all, is the Arab scientist and historian, a contemporary of Ancient Rus' and an outside, independent observer, Al-Masudi, who wrote: “The Rus are numerous peoples, divided into various tribes, among them the strongest is Ludaana.” But the word "Ludaana" is clearly explained from Slavic languages ​​as "people", these are Slavic tribes who lived on the southern shores of the Baltic Sea from East Germany between the Elbe and Oder to the White Sea coast. The western part of these lands was called Slavia (“Slavic Chronicle” by Helmgold, 1172), and extended from Greece to the Baltic (Scythian) Sea. Al-Istarkhi’s “Book of the Ways of States” speaks about this: “And the most distant of them (Russians) is a group called as-Slavia, and their group is called al-Arsania, and their king sits in Ars.” The Lyutichs most likely got their name from the word “fierce, cruel, merciless.” It was they who stood at the forefront of the offensive of the Balkan Slavs to the north and west, forcing the Germans to cross the Rhine and go to Italy and Gaul (present-day France). In VIII, the Franks defeated the Russian-Slavic tribe of Varins, known from Scandinavian and Russian legends as the Varings-Varangs-Varyags, and forced some of them to leave for the eastern shore of the Baltic. At the beginning of the 10th century, having gathered all the power of the German Empire, Emperor Henry I declared “Drang nah Osten” (pressure to the east) against the Slavs who then lived in the territory of what is now East Germany. Russian-Slavic tribes: Vagrs, Obodrits (Reregs), Polabs, Glinyans, Lyutichs (aka Viltsi: Khizhans, Cherezpenyans, Ratari, Dolenchans), having fallen under the cruel oppression of the German barons, began to leave Slavia (East Germany) to the east in search of freedom and will. Many of them settled near Novgorod and Pskov, others went further towards the Urals, to the Russian North. Those who remained in place were gradually assimilated by the Teutons, who poured from Germany into the richest Slavic lands.

The work of the Byzantine Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus “On State Administration” lists the names of the Dnieper rapids in Slavic and Russian. The Russian names of the rapids sound like Scandinavian ones: Essupi “don’t sleep”, Ulvorsi “island of the rapid”, Gelandri “noise of the rapid”, Aifor “pelicans”, Varouforos “threshold with a pool”, Leanti “seething water”, Strukun “small rapid”. Slavic names: Don’t sleep, Ostrovuniprag, Gelandri, Tawny Owl, Vulniprag, Verutsi, Naprezi. This suggests that the Russian and Slavic languages ​​are still different; the Russian language of Constantine Porphyrogenitus differs from the Slavic, but not enough to be classified as a Germanic language. The literature mentions many tribes of Rus, leading their history from the shores of the Baltic. Rugi, Rogi, Rutuli, Rotal, Ruten, Rosomon, Roxalan, Rozzi, Heruli, Ruyan, Ren, Ran, Aorsi, Ruzzi, Gepids, and they spoke different languages: Slavic, Baltic, Celtic.

Still, Al-Masudi was right when he wrote that the Rus are numerous peoples, divided into various tribes. The Ruthenians included the northern peoples: Slavs, Scandinavians, northern Celts “Flavi Ruteni”, that is, “red Ruteni”, and at the beginning of the 2nd millennium AD also the Finno-Ugrians (the names of the Ruthenians from Igor’s treaty with the Greeks: Kanitsar, Iskusevi, Apubksar) . The tribes received the name “Rus, Rus” regardless of their nationality. Back in the 10th century, the Northern Italian historian Liutprand explained the name of the tribes “Rus” from the Greek language as “red”, “red-haired”. And there is numerous evidence of this. Almost all the names of Russian tribes come from the word “red” or “red” (Rotals, Ruten, Rozzi, Ruyan, Rus, etc.), or from the Iranian word “Rus”, which means light, fair-haired, blond. Many ancient authors who wrote about the Rus characterize them as fair-skinned, red-haired, and red-haired. For the Greeks, red was the color distinctive feature supreme power, and only kings and emperors could use it. To emphasize his innate right to power, the Byzantine Emperor Constantine added to his name the title Porphyrogenitus, that is, born red or red. Therefore, the Greeks especially distinguished the northern red-haired tribes, calling them Russia, regardless of the language this tribe spoke. At the beginning of our era, it was the Byzantine Greeks who brought the light of civilization to Eastern Europe, giving names to European peoples in their own way. Therefore, on the map of Europe the name Rus' appears precisely in the zone of influence of the Byzantine Empire.

Such a light-skinned and red-haired type of people could only have been formed through a long existence in the north, in a cold climate and, as modern scientists have determined, with high consumption of fish. The archaeological culture of “kyekkenmedings” or heaps of kitchen waste left at the sites of fishermen and hunters along the shores of the North and Baltic seas is quite suitable for these conditions. They left behind huge piles of fish bones, shells and bones of sea animals. These are the creators of the so-called “pit” ceramics. They decorated their pots with one or several rows of small, round pits along the rim and strokes along the walls. Using this ceramics, one can unmistakably trace the routes of movement of Russian tribes. Most likely, in the beginning they spoke a Baltic language, an intermediate between the Germanic and Slavic languages. In their ancient language there were many words with Slavic roots. In the essay of the Byzantine Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus “On the Russians coming from Russia on odnoderevkas to Constantinople,” the names of the seven Dnieper rapids are mentioned in Slavic and Russian. Of the seven names, two have the same sound, both in Slavic and in Russian: Essupi (don’t sleep) and Gelandri (noise of the threshold). Two more Russian names have a Slavic root and can also be explained in the Slavic language: Varuforos (the Slavic root “var” meaning “water”, from which the meaning “cook” has been preserved in modern Russian), and Strukun with the meaning “flowing, flowing” ). As a result, it turns out that out of seven Russian words, four, which is 57%, that is, more than half have Slavic roots. But, having taken up science before the Slavs, German scientists, in view of the loud military glory of the Russian tribes, classified the Baltic languages ​​as Germanic and called them “East Germanic”. With the same success, the languages ​​of the northern Russian tribes, including the Scandinavian ones, can be called “North Slavic” languages. This is nowadays Swedish language became closer to Germanic languages, having been subjected to the strong influence of German culture imposed on him from the outside. The same thing happened with the Norwegian language. The Gothic historian Jordanes also mentions the Norwegians under their original name “Navego”. Most likely this name came from the totem of the tribe’s patron and had its root in the name of a fish (for example, “navaga”) or a sea animal (for example, “narwhals”). At the turn of the 2nd millennium AD, this Baltic tribe also underwent severe Germanization. The name “Navego” was reinterpreted in a Germanic manner and began to sound like “Norwegians” from the German word “road to the north,” but what does the Norwegian people and “road to the north” have to do with it?

It would be most expedient to separate the ancient Russian-Baltic languages ​​into a separate group of Indo-European languages ​​and give it the name “Baltic,” which is completely true.

The abundance of food: fish and sea animals, the climatic optimum on the shores of the Baltic Sea, contributed to the rapid growth of the population, the excess of which, wave after wave, began to move south. In the upper reaches of the Volga and Oka, Russian tribes mixed with the Eastern Slavs, and with a small number of Siberian people who came from beyond the Urals. From this mixture appeared Russian-Slavic tribes, creators of cultures of “pit-comb” ceramics. Their most ancient sites are found near Moscow (Lyalovskaya site), and throughout the Volga-Oka interfluve from the 4th millennium BC. The distribution of pit-comb ceramics shows the widespread settlement of Russian-Slavic tribes throughout the forest belt of Eastern Europe, including the Scandinavian Peninsula. They spoke a Slavic language, but, unlike the Balkan and Danube Slavs, they had light, blue eyes and light brown or red hair, all signs of Russian tribes. And in culture they were close to the Russian-Baltic tribes. Procopius of Caesarea wrote about them: “They (Antes) are very tall and of enormous strength. Their skin and hair color is very white or golden, and not quite black, but they are all dark red.”

And so the Jewish prophet Ezekiel speaks about the people of Ros:
1. “You, son of man, prophesy against Gog and say: Thus says the Lord God: Here I am against you, Gog, prince of Ros, Meshech and Tubal!
2. And I will turn you and lead you, and will bring you out from the ends of the north and bring you to the mountains of Israel” (Ezekiel, chapter 39).

The concept: Russian tribes included all the peoples of northern Europe who spoke Slavic languages: Rugs, Ruyans, Vagr-Varangians, Obodrit-Bodrichi-Reregi, Viltsy, Lyutich, etc. In the Baltic languages: Chud, Goths, Swedes, Navego (future Norwegians), Izhora, etc. In Celtic languages: Estii, Rutheni, etc. In Finno-Ugric languages ​​(assimilated Baltic, Celtic and Russian-Slavic tribes). The Russian tribes also included the Northern Iranian Scythians, who have lived in the north of Eastern Europe since ancient times. Therefore, such confusion has been created in the literature about Russian tribes that no one can unravel it to this day. Some Rus burned their dead relatives in a boat, others buried them in simple ground pits, and others buried an entire log house in the ground and buried them together with their living wife. Some Russians wore short jackets, others did not wear jackets or caftans, but wore a “kisa” - a long piece of material wrapped around the body, and still others wore wide trousers, each of which contained one hundred “cubits” of material. Of course, the Goths who came from the southern shores of the Baltic also belonged to the Russian tribes. In the Lithuanian language, Russians are still called “guti”, that is, “Goths” (Tatishchev). One of the self-names of the Goths was “gut-tiuda”, but the name “tiuda”, which is recognized by many modern historians, means the Baltic tribe “Chud”. This tribe, together with the Slavs and ancient Finno-Ugrians, played a huge role in the development of medieval culture in the territory from the White Sea to Spain. The Chud tribes spoke the Baltic language, close to Russian-Slavic. In the modern Russian language from that time, the words “wonderful”, “miracle”, “eccentrics” remain, that is, people who are very close in culture and language, but have their own wonderful customs. For example, from communication with the ancient Finno-Ugric tribe Merya, who spoke a foreign, incomprehensible language, the words “vile”, “abomination” remained in the Russian language. From contact with the Finno-Ugric tribe “Mari” the word “mara”, that is, “death”, remained in the Russian language. For the Slavs, meeting them meant physical or ethnic death, loss of life, or loss of their language and culture.

At the beginning of our era, the people “Chud” (Tiuds) lived along the entire Baltic coast, the Goths (Gut-Tiuds) and the Swedes (Swiet-Tiuds) considered themselves to be among them. The name of the Gothic king Theodoric can be translated as Tiudorix, that is, “the king of Chud.” All the facts indicate that Chud is a very ancient Russian-Baltic tribe, from which both the Goths and the Swedes branched off.

According to the legends of the Udmurt people, the richest Cheganda (Pianobor) archaeological culture of the 2nd century BC - 3rd century AD on the territory of Udmurtia was created by the light-eyed Chud, who came from the north. This is also confirmed by archeology: “corded” ceramics with cord impressions are disappearing, Baltic “pit” ceramics are widespread. This period of time completely fits into the time when the Goths advanced from the southern coast of the Baltic to the Black Sea region. In the book “Getika” by the Gothic historian Jordan (6th century AD) it is written that the Goths, when moving south, ousted from their places the related tribe of the Ulmerugs, that is, the island Rugs. Since then, the friends considered the Goths their own worst enemies and repeatedly defeated them in battles. Jordan himself did not consider the Rugs to be Germans; they were originally a Russian-Slavic tribe. Breaking through Germany to the west, the Goths literally flooded their lands with blood in battles, beating the Germanic tribes individually and all together. Since then, the name of the Baltic tribe of Goths for the Germans acquired the meaning of God.

We can clarify: the richest Cheganda (Pianoborsk) archaeological culture (2nd century BC - 5th century AD) in the lower reaches of the Kama River was created by the Russian-Slavic tribe of the Rugs, displaced in the Black Sea region by the Goths. Probably, several generations of Goths lived in the Kama region, gathering forces to break through to the most fertile lands of the Black Sea region.

Further, Jordan writes that the king of the Goths, Filimer, before attacking the sleepers, who blocked the Goths’ exit to the steppe expanses, sent half of his army to the east. They crossed the river (presumably the Kama, because steppes already spread out in the lower reaches of the Kama), left and disappeared into endless swamps and bottomless swamps. These lands can only be the vast swamps of Western Siberia. Nowadays, archaeologists find traces of these Goths, in the form of Scandinavian products that “accidentally ended up there,” throughout the forest-steppe part of Western Siberia. They reached Tuva, becoming princes and kings for the local peoples. They passed on their culture and runic writing to the Yenisei Kirghiz, Khakassians and ancient Tuvans. The name “runic” is translated from the Gothic language as “secret”.

According to descriptions of Chinese historians, the Mongolian family of Borjigins, to which Genghis Khan belonged, came to Mongolia from the north, from the territory of present-day Tuva, and was very different from the local Tatars. They were tall, gray-eyed and fair-haired. It is quite possible that Genghis Khan is a direct descendant of the Rus-Goths, who left the Kama region to the east in the second century BC. The Mongols also wrote in Scandinavian runic script. Probably, remembering their Russian origin, the Borjigins (Genghisids) did not destroy the Russian princes in Rus', as they completely destroyed the Tatar, Bulgar, Finno-Ugric, Kipchak, Cuman princes, but accepted them almost as equals. The name "Urus Khan" - "Russian Khan", is often mentioned among the supreme rulers Mongol Hordes. The son of Batu Khan (Batu), Sartak, considered it an honor to become a sworn brother of the Russian prince Alexander Nevsky.

The Goths, who broke into the Black Sea region, fell under the attack of the Huns, and went to Western Europe, where, having changed the entire course of European history, they gradually dissolved among the Italians, French and Spaniards.

If we talk about which tribes Rus' belonged to, which created the state of Ancient Rus', then we can say unequivocally - Slavic Rus', speaking the Slavic language. This conclusion can be reached by analyzing the modern Russian language. The word “work” has the same root as the word “slave”; to work means to perform the function of a slave, to be a slave. But the word “dream” has the same root as the word “sword”. To dream means to think about how to use a sword to achieve everything you want: happiness, fame, wealth and power. Most Russian folk tales tell very fascinating stories about how younger son found a treasure sword and, having gone to distant countries, got everything for himself: wealth, fame, a bride and a kingdom in addition. This fully corresponds to the characteristics that ancient authors gave when describing the Rus (for example, Ibn-Rust “Dear Values”). When their son is born, he (Rus) gives the newborn a naked sword, places it in front of the child and says: “I do not leave you any property as an inheritance, and you have nothing except what you acquire with this sword,” “Rus they have no real estate, no villages, no arable land and feed only on what they get in the land of the Slavs,” “but they have many cities, they are warlike, brave, and pugnacious.” But “the Russes themselves... belong to the Slavs” (Ibn Khordadbeg, 9th century AD).

One of the names of the Russian-Baltic tribe of Swedes is “Sviet-Tiuda”, that is, “bright miracle”. Ibn-Ruste writes that among the Slavs bordering the Pechenegs, the king is called “Sviet-malik”, that is, “Amalik Swede” (Swede from royal family Amalov), and he feeds only on mare’s milk. What most likely happened was that, unlike Slavic Rus', Swedish Rus' came under the strong influence of the Sarmatian-Finno-Ugrians and the Scythian-Iranians. They switched from boats to horses and became typical nomads, widely known from Russian chronicles as “Polovtsians”. Polovtsians - from the word “polovy”, which, again, means “red-haired”, and the nomadic Turks could not be fair-haired by their southern nature. Until the Mongol invasion, the Polovtsy (Swedes - who became nomads) were the masters of the Black Sea steppes. Even after the Mongol invasion, the Polovtsian (Swedish) khans ruled in the Black Sea steppes along with the Mongol khans. To this day, the local population calls the Polovtsian mounds in the Black Sea region “Swedish graves.” And the famous Polovtsian Khan Sharukan is mentioned by medieval historians as the leader of the Goths (Swedes). It is quite possible that this is why the Polovtsian khans and Russian princes quickly found a common language and jointly tried to resist the Mongol invasion. Gradually, the Polovtsian Swedes dissolved among the Slavs and became part of the Ukrainian people.

The Russian-Baltic tribes were the “Chud” and “Izhora”; they lived from the region of present-day St. Petersburg and Estonia to the upper reaches of the Vyatka and Kama. At the turn of the second millennium, they, having experienced the strong influence of the Finno-Ugrians, partially took their language and became Estonians, Udmurts and Komi, but the majority remained Russian, having mastered the related Slavic-Russian (modern Russian) language, which was closer to them. In Udmurtia, the Russian-Baltic Chud tribes assimilated by the Finno-Ugrians make up more than 30% of the Udmurts, and are known as Chudna and Chudza. One of the ancient settlement centers of the Russian-Baltic Chudza tribe was the area of ​​the city of Izhevsk, and the village of Zavyalovo, whose lands are located around Izhevsk, was called Dari-Chudya.

The large Russian-Slavic tribe “Ves”, traces of whose presence can be found on geographical map from the Baltic states to the eastern slopes of Altai: rivers whose names have the Indo-European ending “-man” and settlements that begin or end with “ves” or “vas”. It was only partially assimilated by the Finno-Ugrians - these are the current Vepsians. The overwhelming majority of the people were originally part of the Russian people. In the brilliant work of the ancient Russian chronicler “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” the word “all” is used in the meaning of “native village”. In the famous Words: “How the prophetic Oleg is now gathering...” the epithet “prophetic” has no relation to the word “prophecy” or “predict.” Oleg did not predict anything; it was the Magi who predicted his death from his beloved horse. Most likely, the word “prophetic” meant that Prince Oleg was from the Russian-Slavic tribe Ves or was Prince Vesi, and the name Oleg itself comes from the Iranian word Khaleg (creator, creator). Part of the Russian-Slavic tribe Ves, who lived in Siberia, was cut off from the bulk of their fellow tribesmen by the Finno-Ugrians advancing from the Kazakh steppes and received the name “Cheldons”. They were widely known in the Urals and Siberia, and small numbers have survived to this day under the same name. The name "chel-don" consists of two words. The word “chel” comes from the self-name of the Slavs - man, and the ancient Ural word “don” - which means prince. It is quite possible that the Cheldon Slavs, before the arrival of the Ugrians, were a princely tribe in Western Siberia and the Urals. After the annexation of Siberia to Russia, the first Russian settlers were called by local peoples the word “Padzho”, meaning “prince” or “king”, apparently in memory of that ancient Russian-Slavic tribe Ves that lived in Siberia before the arrival of the Ugrians. The very name “all” comes from the word “message”, “broadcast”, that is, to speak. From time immemorial she lived in Ves and on the territory of Udmurtia. What remains from them are the ruins of the city - the Vesyakar fortress on the Cheptse River and the legends of the Udmurt people about the hero Vesya.

In Germany, since the Middle Ages, it was believed that the state of Ancient Rus' was created by the Rugians, about whom Tacitus (1st - 2nd centuries AD) wrote: “Near the Ocean itself (northern East Germany, area of ​​​​the city of Rostock) the Rugians and Lemovians live; distinctive feature of all these tribes - round shields, short swords and obedience to kings." Apparently, after coming from the territory of what is now Sweden to the southern coast of the Baltic, the rugi were divided. One half went to the Kama region, the second to the lands of what is now East Germany. Actively participating in all the wars of the mid-first millennium AD, often, as part of both warring sides, the Rugians scattered throughout Europe, and wherever the Rugians appeared at the beginning, the name Rus or Ros appeared on the map. For example: Russia in Styria in southern Austria, Russia on the Kerch Peninsula in Crimea. But where there were Rugs, there were also their eternal rivals - the Goths, and it is impossible to say for sure who created the next Rus'. This once again confirms the assumption that the Greeks gave the name “Rus” regardless of the tribal affiliation of the creators of the next Rus', and regardless of the language they spoke. In the place where Tacitus places the “Germanic” tribes of the Rugov and Lemovians, the Slavic tribes Lugi (Luzichans) and Glinyans “suddenly” appear. It can be confidently stated that the “Germanic” tribes of Rugov and Lemovii are a Germanic vocalization of the originally Russian-Slavic tribes Lugov (Luzhichan) and Glinyan (clay in German sounds like “lem” - Lehm, Glinyan - they are also Lemovii). Part of the Russian-Slavic tribe of Rugs (Lugians), who created the state of Ancient Rus' (Kyiv and Novgorod), still live in their ancient ancestral home - in Slavia, that is, in East Germany.

http://www.mrubenv.ru/article.php?id=4_5.htm

Ancient historians were sure that warlike tribes and “people with dog heads” lived on the territory of Ancient Rus'. Much time has passed since then, but many mysteries of the Slavic tribes have not yet been solved.

Northerners living in the south

At the beginning of the 8th century, the tribe of northerners inhabited the banks of the Desna, Seim and Seversky Donets, founded Chernigov, Putivl, Novgorod-Seversky and Kursk.
The name of the tribe, according to Lev Gumilyov, is due to the fact that it assimilated the nomadic Savir tribe, which in ancient times lived in Western Siberia. It is with the Savirs that the origin of the name “Siberia” is associated.

Archaeologist Valentin Sedov believed that the Savirs were a Scythian-Sarmatian tribe, and the place names of the northerners were of Iranian origin. Thus, the name of the Seym (Seven) river comes from the Iranian śyama or even from the ancient Indian syāma, which means “dark river”.

According to the third hypothesis, the northerners (severs) were immigrants from the southern or western lands. On the right bank of the Danube lived a tribe with that name. It could easily have been “moved” by the invading Bulgars.

The northerners were representatives of the Mediterranean type of people. They were distinguished by a narrow face, an elongated skull, and were thin-boned and nosed.
They brought bread and furs to Byzantium, and back - gold, silver, and luxury goods. They traded with the Bulgarians and Arabs.
The northerners paid tribute to the Khazars, and then entered into an alliance of tribes united by the Novgorod prince Oleg the Prophet. In 907 they took part in the campaign against Constantinople. In the 9th century, the Chernigov and Pereyaslav principalities appeared on their lands.

Vyatichi and Radimichi - relatives or different tribes?

The lands of the Vyatichi were located on the territory of the Moscow, Kaluga, Oryol, Ryazan, Smolensk, Tula, Voronezh and Lipetsk regions.
Outwardly, the Vyatichi resembled northerners, but they were not so big-nosed, but they had a high bridge of the nose and brown hair. The Tale of Bygone Years states that the name of the tribe came from the name of the ancestor Vyatko (Vyacheslav), who came “from the Poles.”

Other scientists associate the name with the Indo-European root “ven-t” (wet), or with the Proto-Slavic “vęt” (large) and put the name of the tribe on a par with the Wends and Vandals.

The Vyatichi were skilled warriors, hunters, and collected wild honey, mushrooms and berries. Cattle breeding and shifting agriculture were widespread. They were not part of Ancient Rus' and more than once fought with the Novgorod and Kyiv princes.
According to legend, Vyatko's brother Radim became the founder of the Radimichi, who settled between the Dnieper and Desna in the Gomel and Mogilev regions of Belarus and founded Krichev, Gomel, Rogachev and Chechersk.
The Radimichi also rebelled against the princes, but after the battle on Peshchan they submitted. Chronicles mention them for the last time in 1169.

Are Krivichi Croats or Poles?

The passage of the Krivichi, who from the 6th century lived in the upper reaches of the Western Dvina, Volga and Dnieper and became the founders of Smolensk, Polotsk and Izborsk, is not known for certain. The name of the tribe came from the ancestor Kriv. The Krivichi differed from other tribes in their tall stature. They had a nose with a pronounced hump and a clearly defined chin.

Anthropologists classify the Krivichi people as the Valdai type of people. According to one version, the Krivichi are migrated tribes of white Croats and Serbs, according to another, they are immigrants from the north of Poland.

The Krivichi worked closely with the Varangians and built ships on which they sailed to Constantinople.
The Krivichi became part of Ancient Rus' in the 9th century. The last prince of the Krivichi, Rogvolod, was killed with his sons in 980. The principalities of Smolensk and Polotsk appeared on their lands.

Slovenian vandals

The Slovenes (Itelmen Slovenes) were the northernmost tribe. They lived on the shores of Lake Ilmen and on the Mologa River. Origin unknown. According to legends, their ancestors were Sloven and Rus, who founded the cities of Slovensk (Veliky Novgorod) and Staraya Russa before our era.

From Sloven, power passed to Prince Vandal (known in Europe as the Ostrogothic leader Vandalar), who had three sons: Izbor, Vladimir and Stolposvyat, and four brothers: Rudotok, Volkhov, Volkhovets and Bastarn. The wife of Prince Vandal Advinda was from the Varangians.

Slovenes continually fought with the Varangians and their neighbors.

It is known that the ruling dynasty descended from the son of Vandal Vladimir. The Slavs were engaged in agriculture, expanded their possessions, influenced other tribes, and traded with the Arabs, Prussia, Gotland and Sweden.
It was here that Rurik began to reign. After the emergence of Novgorod, the Slovenes began to be called Novgorodians and founded the Novgorod Land.

Russians. A people without territory

Look at the map of the settlement of the Slavs. Each tribe has its own lands. There are no Russians there. Although it was the Russians who gave the name to Rus'. There are three theories of the origin of the Russians.
The first theory considers the Rus to be Varangians and is based on the “Tale of Bygone Years” (written from 1110 to 1118), it says: “They drove the Varangians overseas, and did not give them tribute, and began to control themselves, and there was no truth among them , and generation after generation arose, and they had strife, and began to fight with each other. And they said to themselves: “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 Swedes, and some Normans and Angles, and still others Gotlanders, so are these.”

The second says that the Rus are a separate tribe that came to Eastern Europe earlier or later than the Slavs.

The third theory says that the Rus are the highest caste of the East Slavic tribe of the Polyans, or the tribe itself that lived on the Dnieper and Ros. “The glades are now called Rus'” - it was written in the “Laurentian” Chronicle, which followed the “Tale of Bygone Years” and was written in 1377. Here the word “Rus” was used as a toponym and the name Rus was also used as the name of a separate tribe: “Rus, Chud and Slovenes,” - this is how the chronicler listed the peoples who inhabited the country.
Despite research by geneticists, controversy surrounding the Rus continues. According to the Norwegian researcher Thor Heyerdahl, the Varangians themselves are descendants of the Slavs.

The most important arguments of the Norman theory are the following:

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. Shlozer. 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. IN 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 studying alternative versions of the origin 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 criticism of the Norman theory. It comes from the interpretation of another fragment of The Tale of Bygone Years: