Secrets of Russian history: Azov-Black Sea Russia and Varangian Russia
In 7-8 vv. n er on the territory of Scythia-Sarmatia a transition period has come. Almost simultaneously, the Avar and Turkic empires ceased to exist in the 630s. The time has come to form new state formations.
Obviously, the formation of the state, which in historiography was called “Kievan Rus”, “Old Russian State” (the inhabitants of this power themselves called it “Rus”, “Russian Land”), was greatly influenced by political cultural and ethnic impulses from the West. Actually at that time, a significant part of Europe was settled by Slavs - the current European historical schools are trying to hide the fact that, say, Venice-Venetia, Berlin, Vienna, Dresden and dozens, hundreds of other cities and towns were founded by our direct ancestors - Slavs, Russians.
However, on the fact of the enormous influence of the Slavs of Europe on the emergence of “Kievan Rus”, the theory was first built of “the coming of the Slavs to Eastern Europe from the West”, and then the creation of Russian statehood by Western newcomers-civilizers. The problem is that thanks to this theory, an artificial gap is created between the direct ancestors of the Russians - Scythians, Sarmatians, Alans (objective studies in the field of anthropology, linguistics, material and spiritual culture of these peoples prove this), and Slavs, Rus of the early Middle Ages. Naturally, this theory is very convenient for Western civilization and Westerners in Russia. It allows not to answer a lot of unpleasant questions for them, such as the destruction of an entire Slavic civilization (Venedic, Varyazhskaya Rus) in the center of Europe, which existed on the site of modern Germany, Austria, parts of Denmark and Southern Scandinavia. Allows you to hide the unity of Great Scythia, Sarmatia and its direct heiress of Russia-Russia. As a result, the superethnos of Rusov (Russian civilization) loses most of its roots, respectively, and spiritual strength. Millennial history is cut off only before the events of the last millennium. And without knowledge of the events of previous millennia, it is almost impossible to understand the following pages. We actually read only the last chapters of the Russian Chronicle. Many Russian ascetics - Lomonosov, Tatishchev, Trediakovsky, Ilovaysky, Veltman, Lyubavsky, Tsvetkov, Vernadsky, Petukhov and many others tried to break this "wall". However, the circumcised history of Russia is still being studied in Russian schools and higher educational institutions. Genuine Russian History can remove the troubles from the Russian hero, which many people on the planet are afraid of. Awakened and aware of their role Russ, can completely change the existing world order.
On the "arrival of the Slavs from the Danube"
After the unsuccessful campaign of the Avar to Constantinople in 626, the Danube Slavs ceased to obey them and formed their state formation. At the same time, the Avar Khaganate lost all the eastern possessions, having reduced to a relatively small territory in Western Hungary. The Avar state, which lost the status of a great power, continued to exist until the end of the 8 century, when it was crushed by the forces of Charlemagne. By the middle of the 7 century, the Slavic community of "Prague ceramics" had advanced significantly to the east. In Ukraine, its monuments are found interspersed with local pottery of the Penkovo culture type, which belonged to the Slavs-ants. The archeology data also confirms information from the Tale of Bygone Years, where it is reported how the Slavs came from the Danube, “sat down” on the Dnieper, calling themselves glades, settled in Polote, calling themselves Polochans, etc. But at the same time, all the early medieval Eastern sources say that already in the 8-9 centuries, and possibly earlier, the Slavs lived not only in the Middle and Lower Don, but also in the North Caucasus, near the Sea of Azov. And there are no traces of the Danube Slavs, the Prague-Korchak culture in these regions. In addition, the antiquities of the Russian North (in Priilmenye and other places) also have little in common with the “Danube” culture. The area of influence of the Slavs who came from the Danube actually covered only the territory of modern Ukraine. This influence was significant in the region of Right-Bank Ukraine and weaker on the left bank.
Thus, we can conclude that the culture of Prague ceramics 5-7 centuries. belonged to the Slavs, but did not cover the entire territory of the settlement of the Slavs, Russ. It occupied only the valleys of the Danube, Dniester and Dnieper. At the same time, the Russian North had more connections with the Baltic Wendians-Wends, and the eastern regions retained more continuity with the previous Scythian-Sarmatian culture.
Some interesting information can be found in the heavily edited Tale of Bygone Years. Vyatichi and Radimichi are called “from the kind of Poles” (that is, the Western Slavs) and are opposed to the meadows and drevlyans. The legend of the mission of the Apostle Paul in Russia, states that the Slavs lived in the area of the future Novgorod already at the beginning of 1 in thousand. er It is also noted that Novgorodians are “of the Varangian kind,” that is, their ties with the Wends were highlighted. The Tale of Bygone Years tells us that the Avars oppressed the Slavic tribe of Dulebs, who lived in the Southern Bug, "where are now the Volynians." According to the chronicles, there were a lot of streets and Tivertsi before, they used to “sit” along the Dniester all the way to the Black (Russian) Sea, and their cities survived, so the Greeks called them the “Great Scythian”. Rus in the annals named the Vikings, who arrived to the North, the clearing - "now called Callus Rus." In addition, the Russian named Black Sea.
Some data from the Tale of Bygone Years are confirmed by other sources. Thus, the Nikanor chronicle, which was based on the chronicles of Novgorod, reports about the settling of the North by the Russians in the earlier period. She reports on the appearance of the Slavs in Priilmenye in 2 thousand BC. e., clearly indicating that they came "from the Scythians" from the shores of Pontus and Meotida (the Black and Azov seas). This is also reported by the “Legend of Slovene and Ruse and the city of Slovensk”. According to the "Legend", the sons of Prince Scythian - brothers of Sloven and Rus created a state education in the North. This happened back in 2395 BC. er (Descendants of Scythian, Sloven, Rus and Vandal).
It should also be recalled that the entire Russian north was referred by the ancient geographers to “Sarmatia”, calling the Vistula River its western border. The Baltic Sea was then called the “Sarmatian”, the Valdai Upland - the Alan Mountains. According to Herodotus and other authors, the inhabitants of the forest zone of the East European Plain - “gelons”, were relatives of the Scythians (descended from the brothers Scythian and Gelon), spoke in similar languages. It is clear that the entire East European Plain was part of Great Scythia. Therefore, the legend of the Apostle Andrew, that part of her that speaks of the Slavs living in the future Novgorod land, has a real basis.
As a result, the movement of the Danube Slavs to the east in 6-7 centuries. n er It was not an event of epochal significance, as we are informed by researchers who voluntarily or involuntarily fulfill the geopolitical order of the West. We see not the "settlement of Eastern Europe by the Slavs", but the usual intra-Slavic migration, of which there were many in the history of the Slavic world. From the valley of the Danube to the east moved only a few political associations, alliances of tribes. However, they did not go to new lands, but to territories that had long been known and settled by the Slavs. According to the same Tale of Bygone Years, the two unions of the tribes, Vyatichi and Radimichi, were of Western origin (the “family of Lyakhs”), apparently, they moved from the Vistula region. “Lyakhs” are Western Slavs, which is also confirmed by the word “Vyatichi”, it is derived from the words “Venda”, “Wends”, “Veneta”. In addition, the Ilmen Slovene had strong ties with Venedia. The archaeological culture of the "hills" - a special type of mounds, which appeared in the Novgorod land in the 8-9 centuries, have analogues in the South Baltic Pomerania. Novgorod ceramics is similar to Vendian; the anthropological type of Novgorod is close to the Varangians; Yes, and the legends of Novgorod has a significant number of "sea" motifs that are not associated with the epics of the forest-steppe part of Russia.
It is also possible to understand from the text of the PVL that the term “Slavs” meant for its author, only one subgroup (Danube), that community which today is called “Slavic”. In addition, describing the migration of the Danube Slavs to the east, the author of the chronicle accepts as evidence that the tribes related to the “Danube” lived on the Russian plain before this migration.
Among the "natives" are the ancestors of Novgorod, Ilmen slovens. Apparently, they are descendants of two groups of immigrants - early, she owns the local cultures of the Late Bronze Age and the Iron Age (the echo of this migration is “The Legend of Slovena and Ruse and the Slovensk city”). The second group already belongs to the early Middle Ages - it is the “hill" culture, which appeared in Novgorod land only in the 8 century BC. er and belonged to the "family of Varangian", which arrived from Venedia. One more autochthonous Russian north-west is Krivichi, which occupied vast territories of modern Belaya Rus, Smolensk, Pskov land and as far as Moscow. The Krivichi are not named in the Tale of Bygone Years, neither among the community of the Danube Slavs, nor among the Lyakhs. Their material culture is rooted in the local Bronze and Iron Ages, it is successive to the Dnieper-Dvina, Tushemli archaeological cultures, the culture of "shaded ceramics". At the same time, it should be noted that the sources do not contain information about foreign language Krivichy, they were also part of the ancient "Slavic" community. Slovenia and Krivichi were the direct heirs of the most ancient population of the Russian North, since the times of Sarmatia and Scythia. Russ-Slavs long, from the Bronze Age, inhabited the Russian north.
We find “natives” who had no relation to the Danube subgroup of Slavs in the south of Russia. Thus, the number of autochthonous are undoubtedly Dulebs, streets and Tivertsi, which can be identified with known from the written sources. These should also include Carpathian Croats (White Croats), which are not listed among the unions of the tribes resettled from the Danube Valley. The Duleb union existed within the framework of the state formation of ants, after the defeat of the Avars, in its place the Volynian union was created. The Tivertsy and Tivertsy occupied the lands along the lower reaches of the Dnieper, the Southern Bug, the Dniester and the Prut, as well as the Danube, and the Black Sea coast. Sources report their abundance. An anonymous Bavarian geographer reports that the "fierce" Tivertsi had 148 cities, and the streets had 318. It is clear that basically these were fortified villages, the proto-city, but even this number is impressive.
Archaeological studies of these cities of the “Great Skufi” show that they contain earlier strata of Scythian settlements. Some villages are based on the site of the Tripoli culture of the Early Bronze Age. It is known that the lands of Tivertsy and the streets have long been the western border of Great Scythia. Everything converges on the fact that the Dnieper-Dniester antes and streets with the Tivertsi were direct descendants of the western group of Scythians (Sarmatians).
According to the chronicle sources, the Slavic unions of the tribes were divided into several groups: 1) Krivichi and partly Ilmen Slovenes (having Black Sea and Baltic roots) - the autochthons of the Russian North; 2) Radimichi and Vyatichi - migrants from the land of Vendians-Venedi; 3) Dnieper-Dniester-Danube streets and Tivertsi, descendants of the inhabitants of the south-western part of Great Scythia; 4) Carpathian Croats, apparently, the tribes of the earlier wave of immigrants from the Balkan Peninsula; 4) glades, Dregovichi, Volhynians, Polochans, part of the northerners (have local roots) - migrants from the Danube.
At the same time, it is obvious that the Tale of Bygone Years is a very limited source. In particular, he does not answer the question, why is the Black Sea called Russian? PVL was written and edited by people who had their own interest and preferences. The Tale was created when the processes of the disintegration of Russia into parts were already underway. As a result, its authors tried to present the history of Russia as it was beneficial only for one of the “lands”. We must not forget the fight against the "pagan past." There was a process of building Christian Russia, its long pagan past was crossed out to please the Christian hierarchs and their Byzantine curators. We saw a similar process relatively recently - in the 1920s and 1990-2000s, when they tried to expose the centuries of “damned tsarism” and “Stalinist-Soviet totalitarianism” to oblivion.
The lands of Great Scythia stretched to the northern regions of China and the Pacific. The Russian chronicles practically do not report anything about the fate of the European Scythians who lived in this territory. They give a description of only those events that occurred in the western part of the great civilization of Northern Eurasia.
Considering the fact that the final edition of the Tale of Bygone Years was created under the auspices of the Grand Duke of Kiev Vladimir Monomakh (1053 - 1125) and his son Mstislav the Great (1076 - 1132), who were unable to preserve the unity of Russia, relied on the formation of a powerful state on the territory of modern Ukraine, it is clear that the interests of which part of the Russian land reflects the PVL. The Tale of Bygone Years is a vision of the history of Russia in the interpretation of the Kiev elite. It should be noted that here the interests of the Kiev elite coincided with the opinion of the Greco-Christian world, which persistently conducted work on the Christianization of Russia. Later, the PVL version was adopted in Russian historiography as canonical. It is clear that in this version of the history of Russia, the main role is assigned to alliances of tribes resettled from the Balkan Peninsula, the “natives” are rarely mentioned. In addition, there is almost no information about the powerful fragment of the Great Scythia - southern, steppe Azov-Black Sea Russia (thanks to her, the Black Sea was called Russian), and Western Russia (Venedsko-Varyazhskaya Russia).
Azov-Black Sea Russia
There is little information about this public education. However, from scraps, you can add up the big picture. The Life of Stephen Surozh of the 15th Century reports an attack on the turn of the 8-9 centuries AD er the great Russian army from Novagrad under the command of Prince Bravlin on the Crimean Surozh, a Byzantine city in the south-east of the Crimean peninsula. Prince Bravlin ravaged the land from Korsun to Kerch and approached Surozh with great force, after the 10-day siege the city was captured. According to the Life, during the robbery of the church of St. Sophia, Prince Bravlin was punished by an attack that paralyzed him. Only the return of the loot, repentance, and "appeal to the true faith" he was cured.
According to a number of researchers, Novagrad could not be the Novgorod of the Russian north, because it was not founded yet. It has been suggested that Russian warriors came from the Scythian (New Town) Naples near the present Simferopol. This ancient city was in decline compared with ancient times, but still existed. The Life of Stephen Surozhsky testifies that at the end of the 8 century the Crimea was a Russian peninsula, the Greeks controlled only part of the coast. Such a situation would not have been possible if the Rus had not controlled the steppe zone of the Northern Black Sea and Azov regions.
In the 7th-9th centuries Byzantium had a stronghold of Korsun (Khersones) and a number of other cities, settlements on the coast of Crimea. However, sources report powerful Russian navy, which dominated the Russian (Black) Sea. This fleet has made campaigns on Constantinople more than once. Messages about the fighting of Russian ships from the end of the 8th century become permanent. “Arab Herodotus,” a historian, geographer, and traveler of Al-Masoudi, reports that the Black Sea is “a sea of Rus along which other tribes do not swim, and they settled on one of its shores.” The Byzantine chronicler Theophanes the Confessor reports that Russian ships in the fleet of Emperor Constantine V acted against the Bulgarians in 773. This suggests that the Azov-Black Sea Rus, as later Kievan Rus, had conflicting relations with Byzantium, the Rus and Greeks were either military allies and political partners, or they fought. So, in the 9th century, the Russian fleet inflicted military attacks on the Byzantine Empire. In 813, the Russian fleet attacked Aegina. Life of St. George Amastrid reports on the attack of Russian ships on the southern coast of the Black Sea between 820-840. In the middle of the 9th century, Russian landings became commonplace for the inhabitants of Constantinople. Even the Tale of Bygone Years tells of the campaign of Askold and Dir in 866. True, his outcome was unsuccessful. The Greeks report a campaign in 860, which brought success to the Russian waxes and the terrible storm of Constantinople, which almost became a disaster for Byzantium.
The largest monument of the Russian chronicle of the XVI century - the Nikon chronicle, describes in more detail about the Russian-Byzantine wars of this period. It describes as many as four trips to Constantinople. The first of these occurred during the reign of Basileus Michael and his mother Theodora - before 856; the second under Emperor Michael and the patriarch of Photius - before 866 of the year (apparently, this campaign of 860 of the year, when the Russian soldiers “created many evil” to the Greeks); the third occurred under the joint rule of the emperors Michael and Basil - 866-867. (campaign of Askold); The fourth trip to the reign of Basil - in 876 year.
So for Russia fought with romeyami? The Nikon Chronicle gives an almost direct answer to this question: “The same families, called rusami, who, like the Cumans, lived near Evksinsky Ponte and began to capture the Roman country ...”. The chronicle places the Rus not only in the Black Sea region (Pont Evksinsky - one of the ancient names of the Black Sea, literally “hospitable sea”), but also reports that in their way of life they were close to the steppe Kuman (one of the names of the Polovtsy). This message directly refers the Rus to the Scythian-Sarmatian times.
So, we see that Russia of the early Middle Ages is not only Novgorod and Kiev, but also the Russes of the steppe, Black Sea-Azov zone, obviously the heirs of the Alan-Sarmatian era. In addition, these Ruses are excellent sailors, have a powerful navy and control the Russian Sea. It was Azov-Black Sea Russia that opposed the Byzantine Empire. Later, the Kiev princes, Oleg Veshchy, Igor Stary, and Svyatoslav continued this battle.
An interesting fact is that, apparently, the great Russian writer Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin owned this information (few Russians know that the great poet was also an excellent historian who studied a lot of sources), and reflected it in the images of Chernomor, 33 heroes and “islands Buyana ”in“ Ruslan and Lyudmila ”, also in“ The Tale of Tsar Saltan ”. One of the “Buyans” is the Crimea peninsula inhabited by the Tauro-Scythians (the other is Ruyan in the Baltic Sea).
To be continued ...
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