Eastern Slavs in antiquity. The emergence of the state among the Eastern Slavs

The history of the emergence of such a great and powerful people as the Slavs has been of interest to many generations and does not cease to lose interest in itself even in our time. The origin of the Eastern Slavs was of interest to many historians, and this is still being debated. In ancient times, the Slavs were admired by such great minds and scribes as Bishop Otto of Bamber, Emperor of Byzantium Mauritius the Strategist, Procopius of Pisaria, Jordan and many others. Read more about who the Slavs are, where they came from and how they formed the first community, read our article.

Eastern Slavs in antiquity

A definite theory about where the ancestral home of the ancient Slavs was located has not yet been deduced. Historians and archaeologists have been arguing for several decades, and one of the most important is Byzantine sources, which claim that the Eastern Slavs in antiquity are closer to the 6th century BC. occupied a vast territory of Central and Eastern Europe, and were also divided into three groups:

1. Wends (lived near the Vistula basin);
2. sklavins (lived between the upper reaches of the Vistula, the course of the Danube and the Dniester);
3. Antes (lived between the Dnieper and the Dniester).

According to historians, these three groups of Slavs later formed the following branches of Slavism:

• South Slavs (Sklavins);
• Western Slavs (Vendi);
• Eastern Slavs (Antes).

Historical sources of the 6th century claim that there was no fragmentation between the Slavs at that time, since the tribal unions of the Eastern Slavs had a similar language, customs, and laws. They also had a similar lifestyle, customs and love of freedom. The Slavs generally distinguished themselves by a very great will and love for freedom, and only a prisoner of war acted as a slave, and this was not life-long slavery, but only for a certain period of time. Later, the prisoner could be redeemed, or he was released and offered to become part of the community. Since ancient times, the ancient Slavs lived in the people's rule (democracy). By their temperament, they were distinguished by strong character, endurance, courage, solidarity, were hospitable to strangers, differed from the rest in pagan polytheism and special thoughtful rites.

Tribes of the Eastern Slavs

The earliest tribes of the Eastern Slavs, about which the chroniclers wrote, were the Polans and the Drevlyans. They mainly settled in forests and fields. The Drevlyans often lived by raiding their neighbors, which often affected the meadows. These two tribes founded Kyiv. The Drevlyans were located on the territory of modern Ukraine in Polissya (Zhytomyr region and the western part of the Kyiv region). The glades inhabited the lands near the middle reaches of the Dnieper and on its right side.

After the Dregovichi came the Krivichi and the Polochans. They inhabited the modern territory of the Pskov, Mogilev, Tver, Vitebsk and Smolensk regions of the Russian Federation, as well as the eastern part of Latvia.

After them were the Novgorod Slavs. Only the indigenous inhabitants of Novgorod and those who lived in neighboring lands called themselves so. Also, the chroniclers wrote that the Novgorod Slavs are the Ilmen Slavs, who came from the Krivichi tribes.

The northerners were also migrants of the Krivichi, and inhabited the modern territory of the Chernihiv, Sumy, Kursk and Belgorod regions.



The Radimichi and Vyatichi were the deportees of the Poles, and were called so from the names of the ancestors. Radimichi inhabited the interfluve of the upper part of the Dnieper, as well as the Desna. Their settlements were also located along the entire course of the Sozha and all its tributaries. Vyatichi inhabited the upper and middle Oka and the Moscow River.

Dulebs and buzhani are the names of the same tribe. They were located on the Western Bug, and since it was written about them in the annals that this tribe was located at the same time in one place, they were later called Volynians. Duleb can also be seen as a branch of the Croatian tribe that settled to this day on the banks of the Volhynia and the Bug.

The last tribes that inhabited the South were the Ulichi and the Tivertsy. The streets were located along the lower reaches of the Southern Bug, the Dnieper and the Black Sea coast. The Tivertsy were located in the interfluve of the Prut and Dnieper, as well as the Danube and the Budzhak coast of the Black Sea (modern territory of Moldova and Ukraine). These same tribes resisted the Russian princes for hundreds of years, and they were as well known to Iornad and Procopius as the Antes.

Neighbors of the Eastern Slavs

At the turn of the II-I millennium BC. the neighbors of the ancient Slavs were the Cimmerians, who inhabited the Northern Black Sea region. But already in the VIII-VII centuries. BC. they were forced out of the lands by the warlike tribe of the Scythians, who years later founded their own state on this place, which will be known to everyone as the Scythian kingdom. They were subject to many Scythian tribes who settled in the lower reaches of the Don and Dnieper, as well as in the coastal steppes from the Danube to the Crimea and the Don.

In the III century BC. Sarmatian tribes began to move from the east because of the Don to the Northern Black Sea region. Most of the Scythian tribes assimilated with the Sarmatians, and the rest retained their former name and moved to the Crimea, where the Scythian kingdom continued to exist.

In the era of the Great Migration of Peoples, East Germanic tribes, the Goths, moved to the Black Sea region. They significantly influenced the economy and culture of the Northern Black Sea region, the current territory of Ukraine and Russia. After the Goths came the Huns, who destroyed and plundered everything in their path. It was because of their frequent attacks that the great-grandfathers of the Eastern Slavs were forced to move closer to the north in the forest-steppe zone.

The last ones who had no small influence on the resettlement and formation of the Slavic tribes were the Turks. In the middle of the 6th century, proto-Turkish tribes came from the east, who formed the Turkic Khaganate on a vast territory stretching from Mongolia to the Volga.

Thus, with the advent of more and more neighbors, the settlement of the Eastern Slavs took place closer to the current territory of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia, where the forest-steppe zone and swamps mainly prevailed, near which communities were built and which protected the clans from the raids of warlike tribes.

In the VI-IX centuries, the territory of the settlement of the Eastern Slavs stretched from east to west, starting from the upper reaches of the Don and the Middle Oka and up to the Carpathians, and from south to north from the Middle Dnieper to the Neva.

Eastern Slavs in the pre-state period



The Eastern Slavs in the pre-state period mainly formed small communities and clans. At the head of the clan was the "ancestor" - the elder of the community, who made the final decision for his tribe. The tribes often moved from place to place, since the main occupation of the ancient Slavs was agriculture, and they needed new land for plowing. They plowed the land either in the field, or cut down the forest, burned the fallen trees and then sowed everything with seeds. The land was cultivated in winter so that by spring it would already be rested and full of strength (ash and manure fertilized the land well for sowing, helping it to achieve greater productivity).

Another reason for the constant movement of Slavic tribes was the attacks of neighbors. The Eastern Slavs in the pre-state period often suffered from the raids of the Scythians and Huns, because of which, as we wrote above, they had to settle the lands closer to the north in the forest area.

The main religion of the Eastern Slavs is pagan. All their gods were prototypes of natural phenomena (the most important god Perun is the god of the Sun). An interesting fact is that the pagan religion of the ancient Slavs originates from the religion of the ancient Indonesians. During the entire migration, it was often subject to changes, as many rituals and images were borrowed from neighboring tribes. Not all images in the ancient Slavic religion were considered gods, since God in their concept is a giving inheritance, wealth. As in ancient culture, the gods were divided into heavenly, underground and earthly.

Formation of the state among the Eastern Slavs

The formation of the state among the Eastern Slavs took place at the turn of the 9th-10th centuries, as the clans became more open and the tribes more friendly. After their unification into a single territory, a competent and strong leader was required - the prince. While in all of Northern, Eastern and Central Europe the tribes united into the Czech, Great Moravian and Old Polish states, the Eastern Slavs invited an overseas prince to rule their people, named Rurik, after which Russia was formed. Novgorod was the center of Russia, but when Rurik died, and his legitimate heir, Igor, was still small, Prince Oleg took power into his own hands and, having killed Askold and Dir, annexed Kyiv. This is how Kievan Rus was formed.



Summing up, we can say that our ancestors experienced a lot of troubles, but having steadfastly withstood all the trials, they founded one of the strongest states that lives and flourishes to this day. The Eastern Slavs are one of the strongest ethnic groups that eventually united and founded Kievan Rus. Their princes conquered more and more territories every year, uniting them into one single great state, which was feared by kingdoms that have existed for much longer with a more developed economy and politics.

Origin and settlement of the Slavs. In modern science, there are several points of view on the origin of the Eastern Slavs. According to the first, the Slavs are the indigenous population of Eastern Europe. They come from the creators of the Zarubinets and Chernyakhovsk archaeological cultures who lived here in the early Iron Age. According to the second point of view (now more common), the Slavs moved to the East European Plain from Central Europe, and more specifically, from the upper reaches of the Vistula, Oder, Elbe and Danube. From this territory, which was the ancient ancestral home of the Slavs, they settled in Europe. The Eastern Slavs crossed from the Danube to the Carpathians, from there to the Dnieper.

The first written evidence about the Slavs dates back to the 1st-2nd centuries. AD They were reported by Roman, Arabic, Byzantine sources. Ancient authors (the Roman writer and statesman Pliny the Elder, the historian Tacitus, the geographer Ptolemy) mention the Slavs under the name of the Wends.

The first information about the political history of the Slavs dates back to the 4th century. AD From the Baltic coast, the Germanic tribes of the Goths made their way to the Northern Black Sea region. The Gothic leader Germanaric was defeated by the Slavs. His successor Vinitar deceived 70 Slavic elders led by Bus and crucified them (after 8 centuries, an unknown author "Words about Igor's Campaign" mentioned "Busovo time").

Relations with the nomadic peoples of the steppe occupied a special place in the life of the Slavs. At the end of the IV century. the Gothic tribal union was broken by the Turkic-speaking tribes of the Huns, who came from Central Asia. In their advance to the west, the Huns also carried away part of the Slavs.

In the sources of the VI century. Slavs for the first time act under their own name. According to the Gothic historian Jordanes and the Byzantine writer-historian Procopius of Caesarea, the Wends at that time were divided into two main groups: (eastern) and Slavins (western). It was in the VI century. Slavs declared themselves as a strong and warlike people. They fought with Byzantium and played a major role in breaking the Danube border of the Byzantine Empire, settling in the VI-VIII centuries. the entire Balkan Peninsula. During the settlement, the Slavs mixed with the local population (Baltic, Finno-Ugric, later Sarmatian and other tribes), as a result of assimilation, they developed linguistic and cultural characteristics.

- the ancestors of Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians - occupied the territory from the Carpathian Mountains in the west to the Middle Oka and the upper reaches of the Don in the east, from the Neva and Lake Ladoga in the north to the Middle Dnieper in the south. In the VI-IX centuries. Slavs united in communities that had not only a tribal, but also a territorial and political character. Tribal unions are a stage on the path of formation. In the chronicle story, one and a half dozen associations of Eastern Slavs are named (Polyans, Northerners, Drevlyans, Dregovichi, Vyatichi, Krivichi, etc.). These unions included 120-150 separate tribes, whose names have already been lost. Each tribe, in turn, consisted of many clans. The need to protect against the raids of nomadic tribes and to establish trade relations forced them to unite in unions of the Slavs.

Household occupations of the Eastern Slavs. The main occupation of the Slavs was agriculture. However, it was not plowed, but slash-and-fire and shifting.

Slash-and-burn agriculture was widespread in the forest belt. The trees were cut down, they withered on the vine, and they were burned. After that, the stumps were uprooted, the earth was fertilized with ash, loosened (without plowing) and used until exhaustion. Fallow plot was 25-30 years old.

Shifting agriculture was practiced in the forest-steppe zone. The grass was burned out, the resulting ash was fertilized, then loosened and also used until exhaustion. Since grassland burning produced less ash than forest burning, the plots had to be changed after 6-8 years.

The Slavs were also engaged in animal husbandry, beekeeping (gathering honey from wild bees), and fishing, which were of secondary importance. An important role was played by hunting for squirrel, marten, sable, its purpose was the extraction of furs. Furs, honey, wax were exchanged for fabrics, jewelry mainly in Byzantium. The main trade route of Ancient Russia was the route "from the Varangians to the Greeks": Neva - Lake Ladoga - Volkhov - Lake Ilmen - Lovat - Dnieper - Black Sea.

State of the Eastern Slavs in the 6th-8th century

The social structure of the Eastern Slavs. In the VII-IX centuries. among the Eastern Slavs, the process of decomposition of the tribal system was going on: the transition from a tribal community to a neighboring one. The community members lived in semi-dugouts designed for one family. Private property already existed, but land, forest land, and livestock remained in common ownership.

At this time, a tribal nobility stood out - leaders and elders. They surrounded themselves with squads, i.e. armed force, independent of the will of the people's assembly (veche) and capable of forcing ordinary community members into obedience. Each tribe had its own prince. Word "prince" comes from the common Slavic "knez" meaning "leader". (V c.), who reigned in the tribe of glades. The Russian chronicle "The Tale of Bygone Years" called him the founder of Kyiv. Thus, the first signs of statehood were already appearing in Slavic society.

Artist Vasnetsov. "Prince's Court".

Religion, life and customs of the Eastern Slavs. The ancient Slavs were pagans. They believed in evil and good spirits. A pantheon of Slavic gods developed, each of which personified various forces of nature or reflected the social relations of that time. The most important gods of the Slavs were Perun - the god of thunder, lightning, war, Svarog - the god of fire, Veles - the patron of cattle breeding, Mokosh - the goddess who protected the female part of the tribe. The god of the sun was especially revered, which was called differently among different tribes: Dazhd-god, Yarilo, Horos, which indicates the absence of stable Slavic intertribal unity.

Unknown artist. "Slavs guess before the battle."

The Slavs lived in small villages along the banks of the rivers. In some places, for protection from the enemy, the villages were surrounded by a wall, around which a ditch was dug. This place was called a city.

Eastern Slavs in antiquity

Slavs were hospitable and good-natured. Each wanderer was considered an honored guest. According to Slavic orders, it was possible to have several wives, but only the rich had more than one, because. for each wife, a ransom had to be paid to the parents of the bride. Often, when a husband died, the wife, proving her loyalty, killed herself. The custom of burning the dead and erecting large earthen mounds - kurgans - over the funeral pyres was widespread everywhere. The more noble the deceased, the higher the hill was built. After the burial, they celebrated the "feast", i.e. arranged feasts, fighting games and horse races in honor of the deceased.

Birth, marriage, death - all these events in a person's life were accompanied by incantations. The Slavs had an annual cycle of agricultural holidays in honor of the sun and various seasons. The purpose of all rituals was to ensure the harvest and health of people, as well as livestock. In the villages there were idols depicting deities to whom "the whole world" (that is, the whole community) offered sacrifices. Groves, rivers, lakes were considered sacred. Each tribe had a common sanctuary, where members of the tribe converged on especially solemn holidays and to solve important matters.

Artist Ivanov SV - "Housing of the Eastern Slavs".

Religion, life and social and economic system of the Eastern Slavs (table chart):

The Eastern Slavs in ancient times were a united group of peoples, which included thirteen tribes. Each of them had its own characteristics, place of settlement and population.

Tribes of the Eastern Slavs

The table below “Eastern Slavs in antiquity” will give a general idea of ​​which peoples were part of this group and how they differed.

Rice. 1. Map of the settlement of the Slavs.

The main occupations of the Eastern Slavs

They mainly cultivated the land. Depending on the region, this resource was used in different ways: for example, in the south, with its rich black soil, the land was sown for five years in a row, and then moved to another site, allowing it to rest. In the north and in the center, at first it was necessary to cut down and burn the forest, and only then to grow useful crops on the liberated area. The plot was fertile for no more than three years. They grew mainly cereals and root crops.

The Slavs were also engaged in fishing, hunting and beekeeping. Stable cattle breeding was quite developed: they kept cows, goats, pigs, horses.

A very important role was played in the life of the Slavic tribes by trade, which was conducted along the famous route “from the Varangians to the Greeks”. The skins of martens served as the main "monetary unit".

The social system of the Eastern Slavs

The social structure was not complex: the smallest unit was the family headed by the father, families united into communities under the leadership of the elder, and the communities already formed a tribe, the important issues of life of which were decided at the people's assembly - veche.

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Rice. 2. People's Council.

Belief system of the Eastern Slavs

It was polytheism or, in other words, paganism. The ancient Slavs had a pantheon of deities that they bowed to. The belief was based on fear or worship of natural phenomena, which were deified and personified. For example, Perun was the god of thunder, Stribog was the god of the wind, and so on.

Rice. 3. Statue of Perun.

The Eastern Slavs performed rituals in nature, they did not build temples. Statues of deities carved from stone were placed in glades, in groves.

The Slavs also believed in spirits, such as mermaids, brownies, goblin, etc., which was later reflected in folklore.

What have we learned?

From the article, we learned briefly about the Eastern Slavs in antiquity: the tribal division and territories that each tribe occupied, their characteristics and main occupations. We learned that the main among these occupations was agriculture, the types of which differed depending on the locality, but others were also important, such as cattle breeding, fishing and beekeeping. They clarified that the Slavs were pagans, that is, they believed in a pantheon of gods, and their social system was based on communities.

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Good afternoon, dear friends of the muse Clio. Who is it? This is one of the patrons of the arts and sciences among the ancient Greeks - the muse of History! And with you Kotsar Evgeny Sergeevich, the best teacher in Russia, an expert on the Unified State Examination. Today we will start the USE preparation course in history with the best teacher in Russia. The topic and question of the lesson - how did the state of the Eastern Slavs arise?

The history of Russia begins with history. Who is it? This is a whole group of related tribal unions that broke away from the Slavic ethnic layer. To VIII-IX centuries, from which our conversation will begin, they controlled vast expanses of the East European (Russian) plain, from the Baltic to the Black Seas, from the Carpathian Mountains to the upper Volga region.

The main source on the history of Ancient Russia for us will be. These are weather historical records that told the events that took place “from summer to summer”, an analogue of European chronicles.

"Where did the Russian land come from?" Nestor, PVL.

Thus begins the first Russian chronicle. And to be more precise - (PVL). This is the main source on the early history of the Slavs, written OK. 1116 monk of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra (monastery) Nestor.

We started talking about the historical map. Let's immediately agree that as soon as it comes to geographical objects, wars, economic development and trade, we start working with a map. It is to work, not to look at it. Independently put those events and facts that we are talking about on the map. The map that you drew with your own hand, you will not forget. And this will be very useful to you when working with and for better visual consolidation of the material.

Trends in the development of the history of Russia

So, we have characterized the Eastern Slavs and their neighbors. What important conclusions can we draw? The open nature of the plain, where the Eastern Slavs settled, dictated two development trends:

1. Constant military threat. Through the huge steppe gates from the Ural Mountains to the Caspian Sea, nomads constantly invaded the southern steppes. There was a process from Asia to Europe, and Russia was constantly in the thick of these events.
2. Neighborhood with multilingual tribes could also develop in the spirit of economic interaction, ethnic and linguistic assimilation. There was a lot of land, weak tribes simply retreated. Another feature of the history of the Slavs is the expansion of their habitat to the east and north, towards the Volga and the Arctic Ocean.

What is the result?

How did the state appear among the Slavs? Historical dispute

We see that among the Slovenes and among the Polans, Nestor names the names of the rulers - This, at a minimum, is the same as the creation - the enlargement of the tribes under common authority, speaks of the beginnings of statehood among the Slavs of the 9th century. We have come to the first key date in Russian history.

862 - the beginning of the history of Russia.

Slovenes were called to reign in Novgorod by Rurik (with Sineus and Truvor).

This fact became the basis for writing (based on the Scandinavian sagas), the authors are German historians of the 18th century Bayern, Miller, Schlozer. In turn, Russian history is largely based on this theory. All the classics of the Russian state school of history of the 19th century were Normanists - those people who wrote the history of Russia that we study at school.

What are the main provisions of the Norman theory?

• Rurik - Scandinavian (Viking,
• Novgorod Slovenes had no power
• Rurik founded the state of the Slavs
• The Slavs were not able to organize the state due to backwardness
• The name of the country Rus - from Russ, Ross(ethnonym of the Vikings of Scandinavia)

The first evidence of the Slavs.

The Slavs, according to most historians, separated from the Indo-European community in the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. The ancestral home of the early Slavs (Proto-Slavs), according to archaeological data, was the territory to the east of the Germans - from the Oder River in the west to the Carpathian Mountains in the east. A number of researchers believe that the Proto-Slavic language began to take shape later, in the middle of the 1st millennium BC.

The first information about the political history of the Slavs dates back to the 4th century. ad. From the Baltic coast, the Germanic tribes of the Goths made their way to the Northern Black Sea region. The Gothic leader Germanaric was defeated by the Slavs. His successor Vinitar deceived 70 Slavic elders headed by God (Bus) and crucified them. Eight centuries later, an unknown author " Words about Igor's regiment” mentioned “Busovo time”.

A special place in the life of the Slavic world was occupied by relations with the nomadic peoples of the steppe. Along this steppe ocean, stretching from the Black Sea to Central Asia, wave after wave of nomadic tribes invaded Eastern Europe. At the end of the IV century. the Gothic tribal union was broken by the Turkic-speaking tribes of the Huns, who came from Central Asia. In 375, the hordes of the Huns occupied the territory between the Volga and the Danube with their nomads, and then moved further into Europe to the borders of France. In their advance to the west, the Huns carried away part of the Slavs. After the death of the leader of the Huns, Atilla (453), the Hunnic state disintegrated, and they were thrown back to the east.

In the VI century. the Turkic-speaking Avars (the Russian chronicle called them obrams) created their own state in the southern Russian steppes, uniting the tribes that roamed there. The Avar Khaganate was defeated by Byzantium in 625. “Proud in mind” and in body, the great Avars-obras disappeared without a trace. “Keep dead like an obre” - these words, with the light hand of the Russian chronicler, became an aphorism.

The largest political formations of the VII-VIII centuries. in the southern Russian steppes were Bulgarian kingdom and Khazar Khaganate, and in the Altai region - the Turkic Khaganate. The states of the nomads were unstable conglomerates of the steppes, who hunted for military booty. As a result of the collapse of the Bulgarian kingdom, part of the Bulgarians, led by Khan Asparuh, migrated to the Danube, where they were assimilated by the southern Slavs who lived there, who took the name of Asparukh's warriors, i.e. Bulgarians. Another part of the Bulgarian-Turks with Khan Batbai came to the middle reaches of the Volga, where a new power arose - Volga Bulgaria (Bulgaria). Its neighbor, who occupied from the middle of the 7th century. the territory of the Lower Volga region, the steppes of the North Caucasus, the Black Sea region and partly the Crimea, was the Khazar Khaganate, which levied tribute from the Dnieper Slavs until the end of the 9th century.

Eastern Slavs in the 6th century. repeatedly made military campaigns against the largest state of that time - Byzantium. From that time, a number of works by Byzantine authors have come down to us, containing original military instructions on the fight against the Slavs. For example, the Byzantine Procopius from Caesarea in the book “War with the Goths” wrote: “These tribes, Slavs and Antes, are not ruled by one person, but since ancient times they live in democracy (democracy), and therefore they consider happiness and misfortune in life to be a common thing ... They consider that only God, the creator of lightning, is the lord over all, and bulls are sacrificed to him and other sacred rites are performed ... Both of them have the same language ... And once even the name of the Slavs and Antes was the same Same".

Byzantine authors compared the way of life of the Slavs with the life of their country, emphasizing the backwardness of the Slavs. Campaigns against Byzantium could only be undertaken by large tribal unions of the Slavs. These campaigns contributed to the enrichment of the tribal elite of the Slavs, which accelerated the collapse of the primitive communal system.

For the formation of large tribal associations of the Slavs indicates the legend contained in the Russian chronicle, which tells about the reign of Kyi with the brothers Shchek, Khoriv and sister Lybid in the Middle Dnieper. The city founded by the brothers was allegedly named after the elder brother Kyi. The chronicler noted that other tribes had the same reigns. Historians believe that these events took place at the end of the 5th-6th centuries. AD The chronicle tells that one of the Polyansky princes Kiy, together with his brothers Shchek and Khoriv and sister Lybid, founded the city and named it Kyiv in honor of their elder brother.

Then Kiy went to the Tsar-city, i.e. to Constantinople, was received there by the emperor with great honor, and returning back, he settled with his retinue on the Danube, founded a "town" there, but subsequently entered into a fight with the locals and returned to the Dnieper banks, where he died. This legend finds a well-known confirmation in the data of archeology, which indicate that at the end of the 5th - 6th centuries. on the Kyiv mountains there already existed a fortified urban-type settlement, which was the center of the Polyan union of tribes.

Origin of the Eastern Slavs.

Europe and part of Asia have long been inhabited by tribes of Indo-Europeans who spoke the same language and had many common features in appearance. These tribes were in constant motion, moving and developing new territories. Gradually, separate groups of Indo-European tribes began to separate from each other. Once a common language broke up into a number of separate languages.

Approximately 2 thousand years BC, the Balto-Slavic tribes emerged from the Indo-European tribes. They settled part of the territory of Central and Eastern Europe. In the 5th century BC, these tribes were divided into Balts and Slavs. The Slavs mastered the territory from the middle reaches of the Dnieper to the Oder River.

In the 5th century, Slavic tribes rushed to the east and south in powerful streams. They reached the upper reaches of the Volga and the White Lake, the shores of the Adriatic, penetrated the Peloponnese. During this movement, the Slavs were divided into three branches - eastern, western and southern. The Eastern Slavs settled in the 6th-8th centuries the vast territory of Eastern Europe, from Lake Ilmen to the Black Sea steppes and from the Eastern Carpathians to the Volga, that is, most of the East European Plain.

Economy of the Eastern Slavs.

The main occupation of the Eastern Slavs was agriculture. The main part of the territory inhabited by them was covered with dense forests. Therefore, before plowing the land, it was necessary to cut down the trees. The stumps left on the field were burned, fertilizing the soil with ash. The land was cultivated for two or three years, and when it ceased to produce a good harvest, a new plot was abandoned and burned. This system of farming is called slash-and-burn. More favorable conditions for agriculture were in the steppe and forest-steppe zone of the Dnieper region, rich in fertile lands.

At first, the Slavs lived in dugouts, then they began to build houses - hearths were built in these wooden dwellings in the middle, the smoke escaped through a hole in the roof or wall. Each house necessarily had outbuildings, they were made of wattle, adobe or similar materials and were placed in the yard either freely, scattered, or along the perimeter of a quadrangular yard, forming an open space inside.

There were few households in Slavic settlements: from two to five. They were surrounded by earthen ramparts for protection from enemies.

As mentioned earlier, the main occupation of the Slavs, of course, was agriculture. Archaeological finds suggest that they grew rye, wheat, barley, millet, turnips, cabbage, beets, etc. From industrial crops, the Slavs bred flax and hemp.

Another important activity Slavic tribes were cattle breeding. The cattle breeding of the Eastern Slavs was organically connected with agriculture. Cattle breeding provided meat and milk; livestock was used as a tax on arable land (in the non-chernozem zone - horses, in the black earth zone - oxen); without manure, it was impossible to conduct field farming in the non-chernozem zone; both wool and leather were obtained from livestock. East Slavic peoples bred large and small cattle, horses, pigs, poultry. Ducks and geese were bred less, but chickens were almost certainly kept in every household.

Fishing and hunting were of no small importance, especially since there were many fur-bearing animals in dense forests, the fur of which was used to make clothes, and was also sold.

The Slavs used bows, spears, swords, clubs (sticks with heavy knobs and spikes) as weapons. Fired from hard bows, hardened arrows could overtake the enemy even at a great distance. For protection, the Slavs used helmets and strong "shirts" made of small metal rings - chain mail.

An important role in the life of the Eastern Slavs was also played by beekeeping - the collection of honey from wild bees.

But besides agriculture The Slavs were also engaged in metal processing (blacksmithing), the production of ceramic products. Jewelry, stone-cutting, carpentry crafts were also not alien to them. The settlements located in the most successful (from the point of view of the possibility of trade) places turned into cities. Also became cities and princely fortresses. The most ancient cities of Russia were: Novgorod, Chernigov, Suzdal, Murom, Smolensk, Pereslavl, Ladoga, Rostov, Beloozero, Pskov, Lyubech, Turov. According to scientists, by the beginning of the IX century. On the territory of Russia there were about 30 cities.

The city usually arose on a hill or at the confluence of two rivers, which was associated with trade. And trade relations between the Slavic and neighboring tribes were quite well-established. Cattle were driven from the south to the north. The Carpathians supplied everyone with salt. Bread went to the north and northwest from the Dnieper and Suzdal lands. They traded in furs, linen, cattle and honey, wax and slaves.

There were two main trade routes that passed through Russia: along the Neva, Lake Ladoga, Volkhov, Lovat and Dnieper, the great water route "from the Varangians to the Greeks" passed, connecting the Baltic Sea with the Black Sea; and through the Carpathians, trade routes led to Prague, to German cities, to Bulgaria, to the countries of the Muslim world.

Life and customs of the Eastern Slavs.

The Slavs were distinguished by high stature, strong physique, possessed extraordinary physical strength and unusual endurance. They had blond hair, a ruddy face, and gray eyes.

The settlements of the Eastern Slavs were located mainly along the banks of rivers and lakes. The inhabitants of these settlements lived in families, in semi-dugout houses, with an area of ​​10 - 20 sq.m. The walls of houses, benches, tables, household utensils were made of wood. Several exits were arranged in the houses, and valuables were hidden in the ground, because enemies could attack at any moment.

Eastern Slavs were good-natured and hospitable. Each wanderer was considered an honored guest. The owner did everything possible to please him, put the best food and drinks on the table. The Slavs were also known as brave warriors. Cowardice was considered their greatest shame. Slavic warriors swam well and could stay under water for a long time. They breathed through hollowed-out reeds, the top of which came out to the surface of the water.

The weapons of the Slavs were spears, bows, arrows smeared with poison, round wooden shields. Swords and other iron weapons were rare.

The Slavs respectfully treated their parents. Between the villages, they arranged games - religious holidays, on which the inhabitants of neighboring villages kidnapped (kidnapped) their wives by agreement with them. At that time, the Slavs had polygamy, there were not enough brides. To appease the clan from which the bride was kidnapped, her relatives were given a wreath (ransom). Over time, the kidnapping of the bride was replaced by the rite of walking the son-in-law after the bride, when the bride was redeemed from her relatives by mutual agreement. This rite was replaced by another - bringing the bride to the groom. The relatives of the bride and groom became brothers-in-law, that is, their own people for each other.

The woman was in a subordinate position. After the death of a husband, one of his wives was to be buried with him. The deceased was burned at the stake. The burial was accompanied by a feast - a feast and military games.

It is known that the Eastern Slavs still had a blood feud: the relatives of the murdered man took revenge on the killer with death.

The spiritual world of the Eastern Slavs.

Like all peoples who were at the stage of decomposition of the primitive communal system, the Slavs were pagans. They worshiped the phenomena of nature, deifying them. So, the god of the sky was Svarog, the god of the sun - Dazhdbog (other names: Dazhbog, Yarilo, Khoros), the god of thunder and lightning - Perun, the god of the wind - Stribog, the patron of cattle - Velos (Volos). Dazhdbog and the deity of fire were considered the sons of Svarog and were called Svarozhichs. Goddess Mokosh - Mother-Cheese earth, goddess of fertility. In the 6th century, according to the testimony of the Byzantine historian Procopius of Caesarea, the Slavs recognized one god, Perun, the god of thunder, lightning, war, as the ruler of the Universe.

At that time there were no public services, there were no temples, no priests. Usually, images of the gods in the form of stone or wooden figures (idols) were placed in certain open places - temples, sacrifices were made to the gods - trebs.

The cult of ancestors was greatly developed. He is associated with the guardian of the clan, family, the ancestor of life - the Family and its Women in Childbirth, i.e. grandparents. The ancestor was also called "chur", in Church Slavonic - "shur".

The expression “Chur me” that has survived to this day means “grandfather keep me”. Sometimes this guardian of the clan appears under the name of a brownie, the guardian of not the whole clan, but of a separate courtyard, house. All nature seemed to the Slavs animated and inhabited by many spirits, goblin lived in the forests, water mermaids lived in the rivers.

The Slavs had their own pagan holidays associated with the seasons, with agricultural work. At the end of December - mummers went from house to house with songs and jokes, glorified the owners, who were supposed to give mummers gifts. The big holiday was the farewell to winter and the meeting of spring - Maslenitsa. On the night of June 24 (according to the old style), the feast of Ivan Kupala was celebrated - rituals with fire and water, fortune telling, round dances, and songs were sung. In autumn, after the completion of field work, the harvest festival was celebrated: a huge honey loaf was baked.

Farming communities.

Initially, the Eastern Slavs lived "each in their own way and in their own places", i.e. united on the basis of consanguinity. At the head of the clan was an elder who had great power. As the Slavs settled over vast areas, tribal ties began to disintegrate. The consanguineous was replaced by the neighboring (territorial) community - the verv. Vervi members jointly owned hayfields and forest land, and the fields were divided among separate family farms. All the householders of the district converged on a general council - a veche. They chose elders to conduct common affairs. During the attacks of foreign tribes, the Slavs gathered the people's militia, which was built according to the decimal system (tens, groans, thousands).

Separate communities united into tribes. Tribes, in turn, constituted tribal unions. On the territory of the East European Plain lived 12 (according to some sources - 15) East Slavic tribal unions. The most numerous were the meadows that lived along the banks of the Dnieper, and the Ilmen Slavs, who lived on the shores of Lake Ilmen and the Volkhov River.

Religion of the Eastern Slavs.

The Eastern Slavs had a patriarchal-tribal system for a very long time, so they also retained a family-tribal cult for a long time in the form of veneration of ancestors associated with a funeral cult. Beliefs regarding the relationship of the dead to the living were very firmly held. All the dead were sharply divided into two categories: "clean" dead - those who died of natural causes ("parents"); and on the "unclean" - those who died a violent or premature death (they also included children who died unbaptized) and sorcerers. The first ones were usually revered, and the second ones (“dead people” - many superstitions associated with the dead come from here) were afraid and tried to neutralize:

The veneration of "parents" is a family, and earlier (ancestral) cult of ancestors. Many calendar holidays are associated with it - Shrovetide, hence the parental Saturday), Radunitsa, Trinity and others. From here, perhaps, the image of Chur (Shchur) appeared, exclamations such as “Chur me”, “Chur is mine”, could mean a spell calling Chur for help. From the cult of ancestors comes the belief in the brownie (domovik, domozhil, owner, etc.).

- "Unclean Dead". In many ways, these were people who were feared during their lifetime, and did not cease to be feared even after their death. An interesting rite of "neutralization" of such a dead man during a drought, which was often attributed to them. They dug up the grave of a dead man and threw him into a swamp (sometimes they filled it with water), perhaps this is where the name “Naviy” (dead, deceased) comes from, as well as “navka” - a mermaid.

Formation of political associations

In ancient times, the Slavs did not have the opportunity to pursue an independent foreign policy, acting in the international arena under their own name. If they had large political associations, they remained unknown to the written civilizations of that era. Archaeological research does not confirm the existence of significant proto-urban centers on the lands of the Eastern Slavs until the 6th century, which could indicate the strengthening of the power of local princes among the settled population. The East Slavic tribes in their habitat in the south came into contact and were partially involved in the area of ​​distribution of the archaeological Chernyakhov culture, which modern archaeologists tend to associate with the settlement of the Goths in the northern Black Sea region.

Vague information about the wars in the 4th century between the Slavs and the Goths has been preserved. The great migration of peoples from the 2nd half of the 4th century led to global migrations of ethnic groups. The Slavic tribes in the south, previously subordinate to the Goths, submitted to the Huns and, probably under their protectorate, began to expand their area of ​​\u200b\u200bdwelling to the borders of the Byzantine Empire in the south and the German lands in the west, displacing the Goths to the Crimea and Byzantium.

At the beginning of the 6th century, the Slavs become to make regular raids on Byzantium, as a result of which Byzantine and Roman authors started talking about them ( Procopius of Caesarea, Jordan). In this era, they already had large inter-tribal unions, which were formed mainly on a territorial basis and were something more than an ordinary tribal community. The Antes and Carpathian Slavs for the first time had fortified settlements and other signs of political control over the territory. It is known that the Avars, who first conquered the Black Sea (Ants) and West Slavic tribes, for a long time could not destroy a certain alliance of the “Sklavins” with a center in Transcarpathia, and their leaders not only behaved proudly and independently, but even executed the ambassador of the Avar Khagan Bayan for insolence . The leader of the Ants, Mezamir, was also killed during an embassy to the Avars for his insolence in front of the kagan.

The grounds for Slavic pride were, obviously, not only complete control over their own and adjacent Slavic territories, but also their regular, devastating and mostly unpunished raids on the Transdanubian provinces of the Byzantine Empire, as a result of which the Carpathian Croats and other tribes, apparently, part of the union of the Antes, partially or completely moved beyond the Danube, separating into a branch of the southern Slavs. The Dulebs also expanded their territories to the west to the present-day Czech Republic and east to the Dnieper. In the end, the Avars subjugated both the Antes and the Dulebs, after which they forced them to fight with Byzantium in their own interests. Their tribal unions disintegrated, the Ants were no longer mentioned from the 7th century, and, according to the assumption of some modern historians, several other Slavic unions separated from the Dulebs, including the meadow.

Later, part of the East Slavic tribes (Polyans, northerners, Radimichi and Vyatichi) paid tribute to the Khazars. In 737, the Arab commander Marwan ibn Mohammed, during a victorious war with Khazaria reached a certain “Slavic river” (obviously, the Don) and captured 20,000 families of local residents, among whom were Slavs. The captives were taken to Kakheti, where they revolted and were killed.

The Tale of Bygone Years lists twelve East Slavic tribal unions that by the 9th century existed in the vast territory between the Baltic and Black Seas. Among these tribal unions are Polans, Drevlyans, Dregovichi, Radimichi, Vyatichi, Krivichi, Slovenes, Dulebs (later known as Volhynians and Buzhans), White Croats, Northerners, Ulichs, Tivertsy.

In the 8th century with the beginning of the Viking Age Vikings began to penetrate into Eastern Europe. By the middle of the IX century. they imposed tribute not only on the Baltic states, which were the first to undergo regular invasions, but also on many territories between the Baltic and Black Seas. In 862, according to the chronicle chronology of the PVL, the leader of Russia Rurik was called to reign at the same time by the Chud (the Finno-Ugric peoples who inhabited Estonia and Finland), the whole and both Slavic tribes that lived next to them: the Pskov Krivichi and Slovenes.

Rurik settled among the Slavic villages in the fortress, near which Veliky Novgorod later arose. His legendary brothers received reigns in the tribal center of the village of Beloozero and the center of the Krivichi Izborsk. By the end of his life, Rurik expanded the possessions of his kind to Polotsk, Murom and Rostov, and his successor Oleg captured Smolensk and Kyiv by 882. The titular ethnic group of the new state was not any of the Slavic or Finno-Ugric peoples, but Rus, a Varangian tribe, whose ethnicity is disputed.

Russia stood out as a separate ethnic group even under the closest successors of Rurik, princes Oleg and Igor, and gradually dissolved into the Slavic people under Svyatoslav and Vladimir the Holy, leaving its name to the Eastern Slavs, by whom they now differed from the western and southern (for more details, see the article Rus). At the same time, Svyatoslav and Vladimir completed the unification of the Eastern Slavs in their state, adding to it the lands of the Drevlyans, Vyatichi, Radimichi, Turov and the region of Cherven Rus.

Eastern Slavs and their immediate neighbors

The advance of the Slavs across the vast expanses of Eastern Europe and their development were in the nature of peaceful colonization.

Colonization - settlement, development of empty or sparsely populated lands.

The settlers lived next to the local tribes. The Slavs borrowed the names of many rivers, lakes, and villages from the Finno-Ugric tribes. Following the Finns, they began to believe in evil spirits, wizards. The Slavs also adopted from the forest inhabitants the belief in the Magi, sorcerers. Living together with the Finno-Ugric peoples also led to a change in the external appearance of the Slavs. Among them, people with flatter and rounder faces, high cheekbones, and wide noses began to be more common.

The descendants of the Iranian-speaking Scythian-Sarmatian population also had a great influence on the Slavs. Many Iranian words have firmly entered the Old Slavonic language and have been preserved in modern Russian (god, boyar, hut, dog, ax, and others). Some Slavic pagan deities - Horos, Stribog - bore Iranian names, and Perun was of Baltic origin.

However, the Slavs did not have friendly relations with all neighbors. Slavic legends tell about the attack of the Turkic-speaking nomads-Avars on the Slavic tribe of Dulebs, who lived in the Carpathian region. Having killed almost all the men, the Avars harnessed the Duleb women to the cart instead of the horses. In the 8th century, the East Slavic tribes of the Polyans, Severyans, Vyatichi and Radimichi, who lived close to the steppes, conquered the Khazars, forcing them to pay tribute - "for ermine and squirrel from smoke", that is, from each house.