Introduction

The formation of the Old Russian state is the result of a long historical process. Over the course of several centuries, the Eastern Slavs not only mastered the vastness of the East European Plain, learned to build cities, and formed a great culture, but also created one of the largest states of medieval Europe.

The purpose of my test is an in-depth study of the state of Ancient Rus'. My task is to describe in more detail the origin and settlement of the Eastern Slavs, their occupations, social system and religion. I would also like to highlight such issues as the formation of the state among the Eastern Slavs, the internal and foreign policies of the first Kyiv princes. The topic of Ancient Rus' is well covered in textbooks by such authors as Chapek V.Yu., Orlov A.S. etc. The structure of my work consists of four chapters, an introduction and a conclusion.

Origin and settlement of the Eastern Slavs in the VI-VIII centuries.

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. The first written evidence about the Slavs dates back to the beginning of the 1st millennium AD. e. Greek, Roman, Arab, and Byzantine sources report on the Slavs. Ancient authors mention the Slavs under the name of the Wends (Roman writer Pliny the Elder; historian Tacitus, 1st century AD; geographer Ptolemy Claudius, 2nd century AD). By the middle of the 1st millennium AD. e. The process of settlement of the Slavs throughout Europe is basically completed. In addition to the name “Vends”, the Slavs are also called Sklavins or Ants, which indicates the separation of separate branches of the Slavs from the common Proto-Slavic world (later they will be called Western - Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Kashubians, Lusatian Serbs; Eastern - Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians; southern - Bulgarians, Serbs, Croats, Slovenes, Macedonians, Bosnians, Montenegrins).

During the era of the Great Migration of Peoples (III-VI centuries AD), which coincided with the crisis of the slave world, the Slavs developed the territory of Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe. They lived in the forest and forest-steppe zone, where, as a result of the spread of iron tools, it became possible to conduct a settled agricultural economy.

By the 6th century refers to the separation from a single Slavic community of the branch of the Eastern Slavs, on the basis of which the Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian peoples subsequently emerged.

In the middle of the first millennium AD, East Slavic tribes formed over a vast territory of Eastern Europe, from Lake Ilmen to the Black Sea steppes and from the Eastern Carpathians to the Volga. Historians count about 15 such tribes. Each tribe was a collection of clans occupying a relatively isolated area. The map of the settlement of the Eastern Slavs in the 8th-9th centuries looked like this: the Slovenes (Ilmen Slavs) lived on the shores of Lake Ilmen and Volkhov; Krivichi with Polovtsy - at the headwaters of the Western Dvina, Volga and Dnieper; Dregovichi - between Pripyat and Berezina; Vyatichi - on the Oka and Moscow Rivers; Radimichi - on the Sozh and Desna; northerners - on the Desna, Seim, Sula and Seversky Donets; Drevlyans - in Pripyat and in the Middle Dnieper region; glade - along the middle reaches of the Dnieper; Buzhans, Volynians, Dulebs - in Volyn, along the Bug; Tivertsy, Ulich - in the very south, near the Black Sea and the Danube.

Probably, a division between the southern and eastern Slavs was brewing on the Danube. The South Slavs eventually managed to break through into the Byzantine Empire. By the 7th-8th centuries they occupied the entire Balkan Peninsula, reached the Adriatic Sea and penetrated to the very southern tip of Greece. The Eastern Slavs fled from the Danube to the north. Their paths can be traced.

Of course, only speculatively. The region immediately adjacent to the mouth of the Danube from the north probably constituted the territory of the Eastern Slavs even before the splitting of the south-eastern branch of the Slavs into southern and eastern, that is, in any case, even before the 6th century. This is a quadrangle approximately elongated to the northwest between the Carpathians, the arms of the Danube, the Black Sea coast and the Southern Bug. In this quadrangle, part of the Eastern Slavs remained even when the other part moved on.

From the upper reaches of the Prut, Dniester and Southern Bug, the settlement of the Slavs went to the north and northeast. They occupied the upper reaches of the Western Bug and the upper reaches of the southern tributaries of the Pripyat. From the upper reaches of the Southern Bug along the Rossi River, the movement of the Eastern Slavs approached the Dnieper (glade) and then went up the Dnieper, one can judge at least by the name of the Desna. The Desna, that is, the right river, was named one of the main tributaries of the Dnieper on the left side (downstream). Thus, the Slavs occupied the middle reaches of the Dnieper and its tributaries. In the 9th century, the flow of Slavic colonization that came from the bottom of the Dnieper met the flow that came from the west. Probably, leaving under the pressure of the Avars fleeing the Frankish defeat, the Slavic tribes from the upper reaches of the Vistula moved to the upper reaches of the Dnieper, Oka and western Dvina (Radimichi - along the Sozh, Vyatichi - along the Oka, Polotsk - along the Western Dvina). It is difficult to say when and where the Krivichi and Ilmen Slavs came from.

The settlement of the Eastern Slavs up the Dnieper preceded their settlement along the northern coast of the Black and Azov Seas. Slavic tribes can be noted especially on the Don. The Arab historian Ibn Khordadbek calls the Don a Slavic river. Another Arab writer Masudi (10th century) says that the banks of Tanais (Don) are inhabited by numerous Slavic people. Al-Balarudi (writing in the 60s of the 10th century) wrote that the uncle of the Arab caliph raided the land of the Slavs who lived in the land of the Khazars.

Over the course of two and a half centuries (from the end of the 6th to the beginning of the 9th), the Eastern Slavs thus occupied a vast territory from the northwestern corner of the Black Sea to Lake Ladoga, and along the northern coast of the Black Sea - intermittently - to the Don and Kuban. The Slavs failed, however, to achieve their own state formation. As was said, they became part of the states formed by the nomadic peoples of the Turkish tribe (Avar and Khazars). But if there was no state unity, there was tribal unity. The consciousness of this tribal unity of different East Slavic tribes was vividly inherent in the Russian chronicler of the 11th century. The Eastern Slavs, dividing into various tribes, constituted one people - the Russian people.

Lecture No. 2. Eastern Slavs in ancient times. Formation of the Old Russian state.

In historical science, it is generally accepted that the history of any nation begins with the formation of a state. More than 100 peoples and nationalities live in the Russian Federation. But the main state-forming people of our country are the Russian people (out of 141 million, about 80% are Russians). The Russian people - one of the largest peoples in the world - for many centuries played a leading role in the political, economic, and cultural development of the country. The first state of Russians, as well as Ukrainians and Belarusians, was formed in the 9th century. around Kyiv by their common ancestors - the Eastern Slavs.
The first written evidence about the Slavs. By the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. Slavs stand out from the Indo-European community. The oldest known habitat of the Slavs in Europe was the lower and middle reaches of the Danube. By the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. The Slavs became so significant in numbers and influence in the world around them that Greek, Roman, Arab, and Byzantine authors began to report on them (Roman writer Pliny the Elder, historian Tacitus - 1st century AD, geographer Ptolemy Claudius - 2nd century. AD Ancient authors call the Slavs "Antes", "Sclavins", "Vends" and speak of them as "countless tribes".
During the era of the great migration of peoples, the Slavs on the Danube began to be crowded out by other peoples. The Slavs began to split up.

• Some of the Slavs remained in Europe. Later they will get a name southern Slavs(Bulgarians, Serbs, Croats, Slovenians, Bosnians, Montenegrins will descend from them).
• Another part of the Slavs moved to the north - Western Slavs(Czechs, Poles, Slovaks). Western and southern Slavs were conquered by other peoples.
• The third part of the Slavs, according to scientists, did not want to submit to anyone and moved to the northeast, to the East European Plain. Later they will get a name Eastern Slavs(Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians).

It should be noted that during the era of the great migration of peoples, most tribes strove to Central Europe, to the ruins of the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire soon fell (476 AD) under the attacks of alien barbarians. On this territory, the barbarians, having absorbed the heritage of ancient Roman culture, will create their own statehood. The Eastern Slavs went to the northeast, into the deep forest wilds, where there was no cultural heritage. The Slavs went to the northeast in two streams: one part of the Slavs went to Lake Ilmen (later the ancient Russian city of Novgorod would stand there), the other part went to the middle and lower reaches of the Dnieper (another ancient city of Kiev would become there).
In the VI - VIII centuries. Eastern Slavs mainly settled along the East European Plain.
Neighbors of the Eastern Slavs. Other peoples already lived on the East European (Russian) Plain. Baltic (Lithuanians, Latvians) and Finno-Ugric (Finns, Estonians, Ugrians (Hungarians), Komi, Khanty, Mansi, etc.) tribes lived on the Baltic coast and in the north. The colonization of these places was peaceful, the Slavs got along with the local population.
In the east and southeast the situation was different. There the steppe adjoined the Russian Plain. The neighbors of the Eastern Slavs were the steppe nomads - the Turks (Altai family of peoples, Turkic group). In those days, peoples leading different lifestyles - sedentary and nomadic - were constantly at war with each other. The nomads lived by raiding the settled population. And for almost 1000 years, one of the main phenomena in the life of the Eastern Slavs would be the struggle with the nomadic peoples of the Steppe.
The Turks on the eastern and southeastern borders of the settlement of the Eastern Slavs created their own state formations.

• In the middle of the 6th century. in the lower reaches of the Volga there was a state of the Turks - the Avar Kaganate. In 625 Avar Khaganate was defeated by Byzantium and ceased to exist.
• In the 7th - 8th centuries. here the state of other Turks appears - Bulgar (Bulgarian) kingdom. Then the Bulgarian kingdom collapsed. Part of the Bulgars went to the middle reaches of the Volga and formed Volga Bulgaria. Another part of the Bulgars migrated to the Danube, where they were formed Danube Bulgaria (later the newcomer Turks were assimilated by the southern Slavs. A new ethnic group arose, but it took the name of the newcomers - “Bulgarians”).
• After the departure of the Bulgars, the steppes of southern Rus' were occupied by new Turks - Pechenegs.
• On the lower Volga and in the steppes between the Caspian and Azov seas, semi-nomadic Turks created Khazar Khaganate. The Khazars established their dominance over the East Slavic tribes, many of whom paid them tribute until the 9th century.

In the south the neighbor of the Eastern Slavs was Byzantine Empire(395-1453) with its capital in Constantinople (in Rus' it was called Constantinople).
Territory of the Eastern Slavs. In the VI - VIII centuries. The Slavs were not yet one people.
They were divided into tribal unions, which included 120 - 150 separate tribes. By the 9th century there were about 15 tribal unions. Tribal unions were named either by the area in which they lived or by the names of the leaders. Information about the settlement of the Eastern Slavs is contained in the chronicle “The Tale of Bygone Years,” created by the monk of the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery Nestor in the second decade of the 12th century. (The chronicler Nestor is called “the father of Russian history”). According to the chronicle "The Tale of Bygone Years", the Eastern Slavs settled: the glades - along the banks of the Dnieper, not far from the mouth of the Desna; northerners - in the basin of the Desna and Seim rivers; Radimichi - on the upper tributaries of the Dnieper; Drevlyans - along Pripyat; Dregovichi - between Pripyat and Western Dvina; Polotsk residents - along Polota; Ilmen Slovenes - along the Volkhov, Shchelon, Lovat, Msta rivers; Krivichi - in the upper reaches of the Dnieper, Western Dvina and Volga; Vyatichi - in the upper reaches of the Oka; Buzhans - along the Western Bug; Tivertsy and Ulich - from the Dnieper to the Danube; White Croats occupied part of the western slopes of the Carpathians.
The path "from the Varangians to the Greeks." The Eastern Slavs did not have a sea coast. Rivers became the main trade routes for the Slavs. They "huddled" to the banks of rivers, especially the greatest river of Russian antiquity - the Dnieper. In the 9th century a great trade route arose - “from the Varangians to the Greeks.” It connected Novgorod and Kyiv, Northern and Southern Europe. From the Baltic Sea along the Neva River, caravans of merchants reached Lake Ladoga, from there along the Volkhov River and further along the Lovat River to the upper reaches of the Dnieper. From Lovat to the Dnieper in the area of ​​Smolensk and on the Dnieper rapids we crossed by "portage routes". Then along the western shore of the Black Sea they reached the capital of Byzantium, Constantinople. This path became the core, the main trade road, the “red street” of the Eastern Slavs. The entire life of East Slavic society was concentrated around this trade route.
Occupations of the Eastern Slavs. The main occupation of the Eastern Slavs was agriculture. They cultivated wheat, rye, barley, planted turnips, millet, cabbage, beets, carrots, radishes, garlic and other crops. They were engaged in cattle breeding (they raised pigs, cows, horses, small cattle), fishing, and beekeeping (collecting honey from wild bees). A significant part of the territory of the Eastern Slavs lay in a zone of harsh climate, and farming required the exertion of all physical strength. Labor-intensive work had to be completed within a strictly defined time frame. Only a large team could do this. Therefore, from the very beginning of the appearance of the Slavs on the East European Plain, the most important role in their life began to be played by the collective - the community and the leader.
Cities. Among the Eastern Slavs in the V - VI centuries. cities arose, which was associated with the long-standing development of trade. The most ancient Russian cities are Kyiv, Novgorod, Smolensk, Suzdal, Murom, Pereyaslavl South. In the 9th century The Eastern Slavs had at least 24 large cities. Cities usually arose at the confluence of rivers, on a high hill. The central part of the city was called Kremlin, Detinets and was usually surrounded by a rampart. The Kremlin housed the dwellings of princes, nobility, temples, and monasteries. Behind the fortress wall, a ditch filled with water was built. Behind the moat there was a market. Adjacent to the Kremlin was a settlement where artisans settled. Individual districts of the settlement, inhabited by artisans of the same specialty, were called settlements.
Public relations. The Eastern Slavs lived in births. Each clan had its own elder - the prince. The prince relied on the clan elite - the “best husbands”. The princes formed a special military organization - a squad, which included warriors and advisers to the prince. The squad was divided into senior and junior. The first included the most notable warriors (advisers). The younger squad lived with the prince and served his court and household. The warriors from the conquered tribes collected tribute (taxes). Trips to collect tribute were called polyhuman. Since time immemorial, the Eastern Slavs have had a custom of resolving all the most important issues in the life of the clan at a worldly meeting - a veche.
Beliefs of the Eastern Slavs. The ancient Slavs were pagans. They worshiped the forces of nature and the spirits of their ancestors. In the pantheon of Slavic gods, a special place was occupied by: the sun god - Yarilo; the god of war and lightning is Perun, the god of fire is Svarog, the patron saint of cattle is Veles. The princes themselves acted as high priests, but the Slavs also had special priests - sorcerers and magicians.

When starting a conversation about the Eastern Slavs, it is very difficult to be unambiguous. There are practically no surviving sources telling about the Slavs in ancient times. Many historians come to the conclusion that the process of the origin of the Slavs began in the second millennium BC. It is also believed that the Slavs are an isolated part of the Indo-European community.

But the region where the ancestral home of the ancient Slavs was located has not yet been determined. Historians and archaeologists continue to debate where the Slavs came from. It is most often stated, and this is evidenced by Byzantine sources, that the Eastern Slavs already lived in the territory of Central and Eastern Europe in the middle of the 5th century BC. It is also generally accepted that they were divided into three groups:

Weneds (lived in the Vistula River basin) - Western Slavs.

Sklavins (lived between the upper reaches of the Vistula, Danube and Dniester) - southern Slavs.

Ants (lived between the Dnieper and Dniester) - Eastern Slavs.

All historical sources characterize the ancient Slavs as people with the will and love of freedom, temperamentally distinguished by strong character, endurance, courage, and unity. They were hospitable to strangers, had pagan polytheism and elaborate rituals. Initially there was no particular fragmentation among the Slavs, since the tribal unions had similar languages, customs and laws.

Territories and tribes of the Eastern Slavs

An important question is how the Slavs developed new territories and their settlement in general. There are two main theories about the appearance of the Eastern Slavs in Eastern Europe.

One of them was put forward by the famous Soviet historian, academician B. A. Rybakov. He believed that the Slavs originally lived on the East European Plain. But the famous historians of the 19th century S. M. Solovyov and V. O. Klyuchevsky believed that the Slavs moved from the territories near the Danube.

The final settlement of the Slavic tribes looked like this:

Tribes	Places of resettlement	Cities
	The most numerous tribe settled on the banks of the Dnieper and south of Kyiv
Slovenian Ilmenskie	Settlement around Novgorod, Ladoga and Lake Peipsi	Novgorod, Ladoga
	North of the Western Dvina and the upper reaches of the Volga	Polotsk, Smolensk
Polotsk residents	South of the Western Dvina
Dregovichi	Between the upper reaches of the Neman and the Dnieper, along the Pripyat River
Drevlyans	South of the Pripyat River	Iskorosten
Volynians	Settled south of the Drevlyans, at the source of the Vistula
White Croats	The westernmost tribe, settled between the Dniester and Vistula rivers
	Lived east of the White Croats
	The territory between the Prut and the Dniester
	Between the Dniester and the Southern Bug
Northerners	Territories along the Desna River	Chernigov
Radimichi	They settled between the Dnieper and Desna. In 885 they joined the Old Russian state
	Along the sources of the Oka and Don

Activities of the Eastern Slavs

The main occupation of the Eastern Slavs must include agriculture, which was associated with the characteristics of local soils. Arable farming was common in the steppe regions, and slash-and-burn farming was practiced in forests. The arable land was quickly depleted, and the Slavs moved to new territories. Such farming required a lot of labor; it was difficult to cope with the cultivation of even small plots, and the sharply continental climate did not allow one to count on high yields.

Nevertheless, even in such conditions, the Slavs sowed several varieties of wheat and barley, millet, rye, oats, buckwheat, lentils, peas, hemp, and flax. Turnips, beets, radishes, onions, garlic, and cabbage were grown in the gardens.

The main food product was bread. The ancient Slavs called it “zhito”, which was associated with the Slavic word “to live”.

Slavic farms raised livestock: cows, horses, sheep. The following trades were of great help: hunting, fishing and beekeeping (collecting wild honey). Fur trading became widespread. The fact that the Eastern Slavs settled along the banks of rivers and lakes contributed to the emergence of shipping, trade and various crafts that provided products for exchange. Trade routes also contributed to the emergence of large cities and tribal centers.

Social order and tribal alliances

Initially, the Eastern Slavs lived in tribal communities, later they united into tribes. The development of production and the use of draft power (horses and oxen) contributed to the fact that even a small family could cultivate its own plot. Family ties began to weaken, families began to settle separately and plow new plots of land on their own.

The community remained, but now it included not only relatives, but also neighbors. Each family had its own plot of land for cultivation, its own production tools and harvested crops. Private property appeared, but it did not extend to forests, meadows, rivers and lakes. The Slavs enjoyed these benefits together.

In the neighboring community, the property status of different families was no longer the same. The best lands began to be concentrated in the hands of elders and military leaders, and they also received most of the spoils from military campaigns.

Rich leaders-princes began to appear at the head of the Slavic tribes. They had their own armed units - squads, and they also collected tribute from the subject population. The collection of tribute was called polyudye.

The 6th century is characterized by the unification of Slavic tribes into unions. The most militarily powerful princes led them. The local nobility gradually strengthened around such princes.

One of these tribal unions, as historians believe, was the unification of the Slavs around the Ros (or Rus) tribe, who lived on the Ros River (a tributary of the Dnieper). Later, according to one of the theories of the origin of the Slavs, this name passed on to all Eastern Slavs, who received the common name “Rus”, and the entire territory became Russian land, or Russia.

Neighbors of the Eastern Slavs

In the 1st millennium BC, in the Northern Black Sea region, the neighbors of the Slavs were the Cimmerians, but after a few centuries they were supplanted by the Scythians, who founded their own state on these lands - the Scythian kingdom. Subsequently, the Sarmatians came from the east to the Don and the Northern Black Sea region.

During the Great Migration of Peoples, the East German tribes of the Goths passed through these lands, then the Huns. All this movement was accompanied by robbery and destruction, which contributed to the resettlement of the Slavs to the north.

Another factor in the resettlement and formation of Slavic tribes were the Turks. It was they who formed the Turkic Kaganate on a vast territory from Mongolia to the Volga.

The movement of various neighbors in the southern lands contributed to the fact that the Eastern Slavs occupied territories dominated by forest-steppes and swamps. Communities were created here that were more reliably protected from alien attacks.

In the VI-IX centuries, the lands of the Eastern Slavs were located from the Oka to the Carpathians and from the Middle Dnieper to the Neva.

Nomad raids

The movement of nomads created a constant danger for the Eastern Slavs. The nomads seized grain and livestock and burned houses. Men, women, and children were taken into slavery. All this required the Slavs to be in constant readiness to repel raids. Every Slavic man was also a part-time warrior. Sometimes they plowed the land armed. History shows that the Slavs successfully coped with the constant onslaught of nomadic tribes and defended their independence.

Customs and beliefs of the Eastern Slavs

The Eastern Slavs were pagans who deified the forces of nature. They worshiped the elements, believed in kinship with various animals, and made sacrifices. The Slavs had a clear annual cycle of agricultural holidays in honor of the sun and the change of seasons. All rituals were aimed at ensuring high yields, as well as the health of people and livestock. The Eastern Slavs did not have uniform ideas about God.

The ancient Slavs did not have temples. All rituals were carried out at stone idols, in groves, meadows and other places revered by them as sacred. We must not forget that all the heroes of fabulous Russian folklore come from that time. The goblin, the brownie, mermaids, mermen and other characters were well known to the Eastern Slavs.

In the divine pantheon of the Eastern Slavs, the leading places were occupied by the following gods. Dazhbog is the god of the Sun, sunlight and fertility, Svarog is the blacksmith god (according to some sources, the supreme god of the Slavs), Stribog is the god of wind and air, Mokosh is the female goddess, Perun is the god of lightning and war. A special place was given to the god of earth and fertility, Veles.

The main pagan priests of the Eastern Slavs were the Magi. They performed all the rituals in the sanctuaries and turned to the gods with various requests. The Magi made various male and female amulets with different spell symbols.

Paganism was a clear reflection of the activities of the Slavs. It was the admiration for the elements and everything connected with it that determined the attitude of the Slavs to agriculture as the main way of life.

Over time, the myths and meanings of pagan culture began to be forgotten, but much has survived to this day in folk art, customs, and traditions.

1. EASTERN SLAVS: SETTLEMENT AND WAY OF LIFE.

The origin of the Eastern Slavs is a complex scientific problem, the study of which is difficult due to the lack of reliable and complete written evidence about the area of ​​their settlement and economic life, life and customs. The first rather meager information is contained in the works of ancient, Byzantine and Arab authors.

Ancient sources. Pliny the Elder and Tacitus (1st century AD) report the Wends living between the Germanic and Sarmatian tribes. At the same time, the Roman historian Tacitus notes the belligerence and cruelty of the Wends, who, for example, destroyed captured foreigners. Many modern historians see the Wends as ancient Slavs, still preserving their ethnic unity and occupying approximately the territory of what is now South-Eastern Poland, as well as Volyn and Polesie.

Byzantine historians of the 6th century. were more attentive to the Slavs, because they, having strengthened by this time, began to threaten the Empire. Jordan elevates the contemporary Slavs - the Wends, the Sklavins and the Antes - to one root and thereby records the beginning of their division, which took place in the 1st-111th centuries. The relatively unified Slavic world disintegrated as a result of migrations caused by population growth and the “pressure” of others tribes, as well as interaction with the multi-ethnic environment in which they settled (Finno-Ugrians, Balts, Iranian-speaking tribes) and with which they came into contact (Germans, Byzantines). It is important to take into account that representatives of all groups recorded by Jordan participated in the formation of the three branches of the Slavs - eastern, western and southern.

Old Russian sources. We find data about the East Slavic tribes in the “Tale of Bygone Years” (PVL) by the monk Nestor (beginning of the 12th century). He writes about the ancestral home of the Slavs, which he identifies in the Danube basin. (According to the biblical legend, Nestor associated their appearance on the Danube with the “Babylonian pandemonium,” which, by the will of God, led to the separation of languages ​​and their “dispersion” throughout the world). He explained the arrival of the Slavs to the Dnieper from the Danube by an attack on them by warlike neighbors - the “Volokhs”, who drove the Slavs out of their ancestral homeland.

The second route of advance of the Slavs to Eastern Europe, confirmed by archaeological and linguistic material, passed from the Vistula basin to the area of ​​Lake Ilmen.

Nestor talks about the following East Slavic tribal unions:

1) glades who settled in the Middle Dnieper region “in the fields” and therefore were called that;

2) the Drevlyans, who lived northwest of them in dense forests;

3) northerners who lived to the east and northeast of the glades along the Desna, Sula and Seversky Donets rivers;

4) Dregovichi - between Pripyat and Western Dvina;

5) Polochans - in the river basin. Floors;

6) Krivichi - in the upper reaches of the Volga and Dnieper;

7-8) Radimichi and Vyatichi, according to the chronicle, descended from the clan of "Poles" (Poles), and were brought, most likely, by their elders - Radim, who "came and sat down" on the river. Sozhe (tributary of the Dnieper) and Vyatko - on the river. Oke;

9) Ilmen Slovenes lived in the north in the basin of Lake Ilmen and the Volkhov River;

10) Buzhans or Dulebs (since the 10th century they were called Volynians) in the upper reaches of the Bug;

11) white Croats - in the Carpathian region;

12-13) Ulichs and Tivertsy - between the Dniester and the Danube.

Archaeological data confirm the boundaries of settlement of the tribal unions indicated by Nestor.

Activities of the Eastern Slavs . Agriculture. The Eastern Slavs, exploring the vast forest and forest-steppe spaces of Eastern Europe, brought with them an agricultural culture. Swidden (slash-and-burn) agriculture was widespread. On lands freed from forest as a result of cutting and burning, agricultural crops were grown for 2-3 years, using the natural fertility of the soil, enhanced by ash from burnt trees. After the land was exhausted, the site was abandoned and a new one was developed, which required the efforts of the entire community. In the steppe regions, shifting agriculture was used, similar to cutting, but associated with the burning of field grasses rather than trees.

From U111 c. In the southern regions, field arable farming began to spread, based on the use of draft animals and wooden plows, which survived until the beginning of the 20th century.

The basis of the economy of the Slavs, including the Eastern ones, was arable farming. Activities of the Eastern Slavs

1. Slash-and-burn agriculture. They grew rye, oats, buckwheat, turnips, etc.

2. Cattle breeding. They bred horses, bulls, pigs, and poultry.

3. beekeeping– collecting honey from wild bees

4. Military campaigns on neighboring tribes and countries (primarily on Byzantium)

Other activities. Along with cattle breeding, the Slavs also engaged in their usual trades: hunting, fishing, beekeeping. Crafts are developing, which, however, have not yet separated from agriculture. Of particular importance for the fate of the Eastern Slavs will be foreign trade, which developed both on the Baltic-Volga route, along which Arab silver arrived in Europe, and on the route “from the Varangians to the Greeks,” connecting the Byzantine world through the Dnieper with the Baltic region.

The lowest level of social organization was the neighboring (territorial) community - the rope. The basis of the ruling layer was the military service nobility of the Kyiv princes - the squad. By the 9th century the squadron moved to leading positions. The prince and his squad were in a privileged position, participating in military campaigns and returning with loot

Social structure. "Military democracy". It is more difficult to “restore” the social relations of the Eastern Slavs. The Byzantine author Procopius of Caesarea (1st century) writes: “These tribes, the Slavs and the Antes, are not ruled by one person, but from ancient times they have lived in the rule of people, and therefore, regarding all happy and unhappy circumstances, they make decisions together.” Most likely, we are talking here about meetings (veche) of community members, at which the most important issues in the life of the tribe were decided, including the choice of leaders - “military leaders”. At the same time, only male warriors participated in the veche meetings. Thus, during this period, the Slavs experienced the last period of the communal system - the era of “military democracy”, preceding the formation of the state. This is also evidenced by such facts as the intense rivalry between military leaders, recorded by another Byzantine author of the 1st century. - Mauritius the Strategist, the emergence of slaves from captives, raids on Byzantium, which, as a result of the distribution of looted wealth, strengthened the prestige of military leaders and led to the formation of a squad consisting of professional military men, comrades-in-arms of the prince.

The transition from a tribal community to an agricultural one. In addition, changes took place in the community: the collective of relatives who jointly owned all the land was being replaced by a community consisting of large patriarchal families, united by common territory, traditions, beliefs and independently managing the products of their labor.

Tribal reigns. Information about the first princes is contained in the PVL. The chronicler notes that tribal unions, although not all of them, have their own “principalities.” So, in relation to the glades, he recorded a legend about the princes, the founders of the city of Kyiv: Kiy, Shchek, Khoriv and their sister Lybid.

More reliable are the data of the Arab encyclopedist al-Masudi (10th century), who wrote that long before his time the Slavs had a political union, which he called Valinana. Most likely we are talking about the Volyn Slavs (the chronicle Duleb), whose union was crushed, according to PVL data, by the Avar invasion in the beginning. U11th century The works of other Arab authors contain information about three centers of the Eastern Slavs: Kuyavia, Slavia, Artania. Some domestic historians identify the first with Kiev, the second with Novgorod or its more ancient predecessor. The location of Artania continues to be controversial. Apparently they were pre-state formations, including a number of tribal unions. However, all these local principalities had little connection with each other, competed with each other and therefore could not resist powerful external forces: the Khazars and Varangians.

Beliefs of the Eastern Slavs . The worldview of the Eastern Slavs was based on paganism - the deification of the forces of nature, the perception of the natural and human world as a single whole. The origin of pagan cults occurred in ancient times - in the Upper Paleolithic era, about 30 thousand years BC. With the transition to new types of economic management, pagan cults were transformed, reflecting the evolution of human social life. At the same time, the most ancient layers of beliefs were not supplanted by newer ones, but were layered on top of each other. Therefore, restoring information about Slavic paganism is extremely difficult. In addition to this circumstance, reconstructing the picture of paganism of the Slavs is also difficult because practically no written sources have survived to this day. For the most part, these are Christian anti-pagan works.

Gods. In ancient times, the Slavs had a widespread cult of the Family and women in labor, closely associated with the worship of ancestors. The clan - the divine image of the clan community - contained the entire universe - heaven, earth and the underground abode of the ancestors. Each East Slavic tribe had its own patron god.

Priesthood (magi, magicians) who perform sacrifices and other religious ceremonies. Paganism is the worship of the animate forces of nature. It takes the form of polytheism (polytheism)

The main gods of the Slavs were:

Rod - the progenitor of gods and people

Yarilo - sun god

Stribog - god of the wind

Svarog - god of the sky

Perun - god of thunder and lightning

Mokosh - goddess of moisture and patroness of spinning

Veles - “cattle god”

Lel and Lada - gods who protect lovers

Brownies, kikimoras, goblins, etc.

Sacrifices were performed in special places - temples

Subsequently, the Slavs increasingly worshiped the great Svarog - the god of the sky and his sons - Dazhdbog and Stribog - the gods of the sun and wind. Over time, Perun, the god of thunderstorms, the “creator of lightning,” who was especially revered as the god of war and weapons in the princely militia, began to play an increasingly important role. Perun was not the head of the pantheon of gods; only later, during the formation of statehood and the increasing importance of the prince and his squad, the cult of Perun began to strengthen. The pagan pantheon also included Veles or Volos - the patron of cattle breeding and the guardian of the underworld of the ancestors, Makosh - the goddess of fertility and others. Totemic ideas associated with the belief in a kindred mystical connection of the clan with any animal, plant or even object were also preserved. In addition, the world of the Eastern Slavs was “populated” by numerous bereginyas, mermaids, goblins, etc.

Priests. There is no exact information about the pagan priests; apparently they were the chronicle “magi” who fought in the 11th century. with Christianity. During cult rituals that took place in special places - temples (from the Old Slavonic "kap" - image, idol), sacrifices were made to the gods, including human ones. A funeral feast was held for the dead, and then the corpse was burned on a large bonfire. Pagan beliefs determined the spiritual life of the Eastern Slavs.

State of the art. In general, Slavic paganism could not meet the needs of the emerging Slavic states, because it did not have a developed social doctrine capable of explaining the realities of the new life. The fragmented nature of mythology prevented the Eastern Slavs from holistically understanding their natural and social environment. The Slavs never developed a mythology that explained the origin of the world and man, telling about the victory of heroes over the forces of nature, etc. By the 10th century, the need to modernize the religious system became obvious.

Thus, migrations, contacts with the local population and the transition to settled life in new lands led to the formation of the East Slavic ethnos, consisting of 13 tribal unions.

Agriculture became the basis of economic activity of the Eastern Slavs, and the role of crafts and foreign trade increased.

In the new conditions, in response to changes occurring both within the Slavic world and in the external environment, a transition is planned from tribal democracy to military, from tribal community to agricultural one.

The beliefs of the Eastern Slavs are also becoming more complex. With the development of agriculture, the syncretic Rod - the main god of the Slavic hunters - is being replaced by the deification of individual forces of nature. However, the discrepancy between existing cults and the development needs of the East Slavic world is increasingly felt.

So, Slavs U1-ser. 1X centuries, preserving the foundations of the communal system (communal ownership of land and livestock, arming of all free people, regulation of social relations with the help of traditions, i.e. customary law, veche democracy), underwent both internal changes and pressure from external forces, which in its entirety created the conditions for the formation of the state.

The emergence of statehood among the Slavs dates back to the early Middle Ages. This was the time (IV–VIII centuries) when, as a result of the migration of “barbarian” tribes living in the north and east of Europe, a new ethnic and political map of the continent was formed. The migration of these tribes (Germanic, Slavic, Baltic, Finno-Ugric, Iranian) was called the Great Migration.

The Slavs became involved in the migration process in the 6th century. AD Before that, they occupied the territory from the upper Oder to the middle reaches of the Dnieper. The settlement of the Slavs took place in the 4th–8th centuries. in three main directions: to the south - to the Balkan Peninsula; to the west - to the Middle Danube and between the Oder and Elbe rivers; to the east – north along the East European Plain. Accordingly, the Slavs were divided into three branches - southern, western and eastern. The Slavs settled a vast territory from the Peloponnese to the Gulf of Finland and from the middle Elbe to the upper Volga and upper Don.

During the settlement of the Slavs, the tribal system decomposed and a new feudal society gradually began to form.

In the territory that became part of Kievan Rus, 12 Slavic unions of tribal principalities are known. Here lived the Polyans, Drevlyans, Volynians (another name is the Buzhans), Croats, Tivertsy, Ulichi, Radimichi, Vyatichi, Dregovichi, Krivichi, Ilmen Slovenians, and Northerners. These unions were communities that were no longer consanguineous, but territorial and political in nature.

The social system of pre-state Slavic societies is military democracy. The political side of the emergence and development of feudalism among the Slavs in the 8th–10th centuries. there was the formation of early medieval states.

The state of the Eastern Slavs received the name "Rus".

1. Introduction 2
2. Origin of the Eastern Slavs 3
3. East Slavic tribal unions5
4. Eastern Slavs and neighbors 7
5. Social order 7
6. Culture and religion of the Eastern Slavs 9
7. Conclusion 12
8. References 13

Introduction.

The uniqueness of Russian history lies in the nature of the connection of two centers of power, thanks to which there is a new unique unity called Russia. The question of the origin of the Slavs is one of the most complex and controversial issues facing historical science. Since ancient times, settling on the vast plains from the Danube to the Volga (and even earlier in Asia), the Indo-European ancestors of the Slavs constantly mixed with other peoples, adopted from them and passed on racial-genetic, linguistic and cultural traits to them. The history of the Eastern Slavs, like most other peoples, has its roots in ancient times. Already about two thousand years ago, Greek and Roman scientists knew that in the east of Europe, between the Carpathian Mountains and the Baltic Sea, numerous tribes of Wends lived

This work is devoted to the issue of the origin of the Eastern Slavs, the formation of the first ethno-territorial unions and proto-state associations, as well as their relations with neighboring peoples and tribes, the way of life, economy and beliefs of our ancestors.

Origin of the Eastern Slavs.

The starting position for a consistent consideration of the history of the Slavs should be considered the period of separation of the Slavic language family from the general Indo-European massif.

The Slavs belonged to the third largest group of peoples, the largest Indo-European language family on earth. In the V-IV millennium BC. e. inhabited the territories of Central Asia, the Balkan Peninsula and Asia Minor. The separation of the Proto-Slavic tribes and the formation of the Proto-Slavic language began approximately in the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. e. or in the middle of the 1st millennium BC on the territory of the Upper Order to the Northern Dnieper. During the great migration of peoples

The historical fate of Eastern Europe (including the Black Sea region as part of it) was decided in the black soil steppes occupied by warlike nomads, whose lands were measured in months of horse travel, and in the forest-steppe and forest lands, from where the agricultural tribes of the Slavs launched an attack on the nomads and on the slave-holding Black Sea cities. The earliest information from written sources about the Slavic tribes dates back to the 1st-2nd centuries AD. (Tacitus, Pliny, Ptolemy). Roman writer Tacitus in the 1st century AD. describes in detail the Slavs, who at that time began to play a noticeable role in international events: “The Wends borrowed much from the customs of the Saramats, for they extend their warlike campaigns to all the forests and mountains that rise between the Pevkins and the Fennas,” that is, from the habitat of the northeastern peoples who did not yet know iron arrows (fennians), to the mouth of the Danube, where the Peucines lived at that time and where the border of the Roman Empire lay. Under the name of the Wends, the Slavs then inhabited the territories in the river basin. Vistula and the Baltic Sea coast. The first Eastern Slavs (Antes) in the 2nd-5th centuries began to settle on a vast territory from the Western Bug to the Dnieper. They lived in a communal tribal system, engaged mainly in agriculture, as well as raising livestock, hunting, and collecting wild honey, mushrooms and berries. By the way, the established opinion about the primitiveness of the economic and social life of our ancestors is largely refuted by the results of modern archaeological research. Archaeological materials indicate major changes that took place in Slavic society in the first centuries of our era. Of all the Slavic lands, the Middle Dnieper region, the future core of Kievan Rus, especially stood out. Trade developed here (in the lands of the Slavs, many treasures of Roman coins of the 2nd - 4th centuries AD were found, buried, probably during raids of enemy tribes). It is believed that some of the coins served the Slavs not only as treasure, but also as money. Herodotus, who visited the southern Russian steppe back in the 5th century BC, wrote about the northern regions where the so-called Scythian plowmen lived near “many huge rivers,” “who sow grain not for their own needs, but for sale.” Plow farming, cattle breeding, and crafts developed here. In addition to blacksmithing, which is always the first to be separated from agriculture, pottery production also appeared.

All this indicates a fairly high level of development in the 2nd - 4th centuries. n. E. Slavic society, fully prepared for the emergence of class relations and the state. Perhaps somewhere among the Slavs in these centuries slave relations developed, but for the most part the Slavs were at the stage of tribal life. The main unit of Slavic society was the clan community, which at that time grew in the south into a neighboring, territorial community. Numerous Slavic tribes that occupied in the 2nd-5th centuries. n. e. vast spaces in Central and Eastern Europe are beginning to play an increasingly significant role in pan-European events. By the 7th-8th centuries, Slavic tribes settled over a vast territory covered with dense forests and swamps along the Dnieper and its tributaries, reached the Western Dvina, Lake Peipsi, the Lovat River, Lake Ilmen, Volkhov and Neva, reached the White Lake and the Volga, Moscow and Okie. They built cities and villages along the waterways. In their centuries-long movement to the north and northeast, the Slavic tribes occupied large territories inhabited by Baltic and Finno-Ugric tribes. The Slavic newcomers settled mixed with the small local population and, as a result of long-term communication, assimilated it. The tribal unions of the Eastern Slavs were headed by princes. They had warriors, they were surrounded by nobles. There was also a general tribal militia. In the VI century - IX century. The Slavs united in a community that was no longer only tribal but also territorial and political in nature. The name of such communities came either from the name of the area (Polyane, Buryane). Or from legendary ancestors (Radimichi, Vyatichi). The Ilmen Slovenes - one of the East Slavic tribes - built the city of Slava on the Volkhov River (later Novgorod the Great arose near this place) and formed a third tribal union, which included some Finno-Ugric tribes.

East Slavic tribal unions.

The lands of the glades were the core of the ancient Russian state, and it was noted that at that time the glades were called Russia. The neighbors of the glades in the east were the northerners who lived along the Desna, Seim, Sula and Seversky Donets rivers. Down the Dnieper, south of the glades, lived the Ulichi, who moved in the middle of the 10th century. in the area between the Dniester and Bug rivers. In the west, the neighbors of the glades were the Drevlyans, who were often at enmity with the Kyiv princes. Even further to the west were the lands of the Volynians, Buzhans and Dulebs. The extreme East Slavic regions were the lands of the Tiverts on the Dniester (ancient Tiras) and on the Danube and the White Croats in Transcarpathia. To the north of the glades and Drevlyans were the lands of the Dregovichi (on the swampy left bank of the Pripyat), and to the east of them, along the Sozh River, were the Radimichi, and along the upper Oka, the Vyatichi. To the north of the Radimichi were the lands of another large “tribe” of the Krivichi, which were divided into eastern and western. The latter lived along the Polota River and were also called Polotsk residents. The Krivichi settlements to the east reached the present Moscow region, where they merged with the Vyatichi.

Early East Slavic associations either bore old tribal names (according to areas of settlement - Krivichi, Croats, Dulebs, Northerners), or received new names, most often associated with the nature of the territory they occupied (Dregovichi, Polyans, Drevlyans) or with the rivers along which they settled ( Buzhans, Polochans).

In the historical literature, the conventional term “tribes” (“tribe of the glades”, tribe of the Radimichi) has been assigned to these areas. Each region was an association of several small tribes. Each tribe probably held a council that decided the most important issues of public life; a military leader (prince) was elected; there was a permanent squad of young people and a tribal militia (regiment, a thousand, divided into hundreds). The tribe had its own city. There a general tribal council gathered, bargaining took place, and a trial took place.

The development of peaceful ties between tribes, or military victories of some tribes over others, or, finally, the need to combat a common external danger contributed to the creation of tribal alliances. Among the Eastern Slavs, the formation of fifteen large tribal unions can be attributed to approximately the middle of the 1st millennium AD. e.

Eastern Slavs and neighbors.

The early history of the Eastern Slavs is closely connected with the history of the Khazars, Normans and Byzantines. The Khazars were the closest neighbors of the glades in the east. The nomadic horde of the Khazars moved to Europe following the Huns, Avars and Bulgarians. Unlike other hordes that passed through the Volga steppes to the west, the Khazars, having displaced the Bulgarians, settled in the Volga region. Formation of the Khazar Khaganate in the middle of the 7th century. changed the face of Eastern Europe. The Kaganate stopped the movement of nomadic hordes from Asia to Europe for two centuries, which created favorable conditions for the Slavic colonization of Eastern Europe. In the 9th century. The Khazars subjugated some East Slavic lands. The Vyatichi, Northerners, Polyans and Radimichi, who lived in close proximity to the borders of Khazaria in the Middle Volga and Podnerovye, began to pay tribute to the Kaganate.

In the Baltic and in the upper Volga region, the closest neighbors of the Slavs were the tribes of the Finns and Balts. To the north of them in Scandinavia lived the Normans, who belonged to the Germanic tribes. From the 8th century The countries of Europe were attacked by the “nomads of the sea” - the Vikings. The Viking period ended the era of the "Great Migration". The Scandinavians entered Khazaria through the Upper Volga. The great path “from the Varangians to the Greeks” led from the Varangian Sea “to the Great Lake Nevo” (Ladoga), along the Volkhov and Lovat rivers through the portages to the Dnieper and to the Pont Euxine (Black Sea). Vikings rushed across the Black Sea to Constantinople. Passing through the lands of the Slavs, the Vikings captured prisoners and sold them into slavery.

Social system.

In the II-V centuries. Only a limited part of the East Slavic tribes of the forest-steppe zone had a high level of development of production forces for that time, which allows us to speak only about the beginning of the process of class formation in the territory, which later naturally became the core of the ancient Russian state. In the VI - IX centuries. Arable farming, known among the Ants, moves far into the forest zone. By the end of the period under review, crafts were developing everywhere. Specialists stood out - blacksmiths, foundry workers. Masters of gold and silversmiths, later - potters. Craft villages were created. Craft workshops were concentrated in settlements-cemeteries and in tribal “towns”, which became the embryos of feudal cities. The historical distinction between the southern and northern parts of Russian lands was gradually erased. The level of crafts and agriculture was such that it allowed the cultivation of the land by an individual family; the clan community became a neighbor's community.

During the VI -IX centuries. The intensive disintegration of tribal ties continued. The economic independence of individual families made the existence of tightly knit clan groups unnecessary. The plowing of new lands began with the efforts of individual families. Individual families, no longer united on the basis of kinship, but on the basis of a common economic life, formed a rural (neighboring) or territorial community. Members of this community, individually owning separate arable land plots, at the same time had the right to use land belonging to the community.

The institution of private property developed within the community. From the 6th century special systems of property signs were developed, which marked weapons, horses and other property. As a result of the campaigns against Byzantium, the Slavs, according to John of Ephesus, “became rich, acquired gold and silver and own herds of horses and weapons, having learned military affairs better than the Byzantines themselves,” the tribal nobility - princes and boyars - became especially rich. In some Byzantine sources of the IV - VI centuries. there was news about prisoners being taken to the country of the Slavs (Ants), and about ransom for them. Successful campaigns strengthened the position of the princes and boyars. Property differentiation grew both within clan communities and within tribes. There was a permanent tribal squad, whose members differed in economic and social status from their fellow tribesmen.

The development of agriculture, the separation of crafts from agriculture, the growth of property inequality, the development of private property, the complication of the apparatus of tribal principalities, as well as the strengthening of the boyars - all this prepared the emergence of a new, feudal mode of production and, consequently, the formation of an early feudal state.

Culture and religion of the Eastern Slavs.

The culture of the Slavic tribes on the eve of the formation of the Old Russian state is little known. The source of its study is the Russian language, which at that time was close to other Slavic languages. An inexhaustible treasury of folk wisdom is folklore. There are no surviving works of folk literature that could be reliably attributed specifically to the time in question. But an analysis of the archaic features of the folklore of the Eastern Slavs and its comparison with Western and South Slavic material allows us to consider a whole series of labor ritual songs, funeral laments, riddles, and fairy tales that reflected the complex system of relationships between man and the forces of nature to be very ancient. Many children's and youth games that developed strength, dexterity and courage go back to ancient times.

Epic poetry played a very important role in the education of patriotic feelings, but only fragments of it have reached us. The author of “The Lay of Igor’s Campaign” preserved it in a 12th-century recording. echoes of the Danube campaigns of the Antes, during which they “made a path for Trojan through the fields to the mountains.” He also recalls the songs composed on the occasion of the death of Bus (Boz), the Anta prince who died in the fight against the Goths in the 4th century. AD Byzantine chronicles preserved fragments of legends about the struggle of the Slavs with the Avars. Russian chronicles of the 11th - 12th centuries. contain a number of legends dating back to the 6th - 8th centuries. (about the founding of Kyiv, the violence of the Avars, etc.).

The examples of applied art that have reached us testify to the originality and independence of the creativity of artisans who emerged from the communities. An interesting treasure of Russian items from the 6th - 7th centuries was found in the Rosi River basin, among which stand out silver figurines of horses with golden manes and hooves and silver images of men in typical Slavic clothing, with patterned embroidery on their shirts. For many silver items from the 6th - 7th centuries. Southern Russian regions are characterized by complex compositions of human figures, animals, birds and snakes. Many subjects bring together Slavic art of the 6th - 8th centuries. with Russian folk art of the 18th - 19th centuries.

In the 7th - 8th centuries. the need for writing arose. Slavic princes in Byzantine service began to use letters of the Greek alphabet to convey Slavic words. In the middle of the 9th century. Byzantine missionary Konstantin the Philosopher (Kirill) saw in the city of Kherson in the Crimea a liturgical book written by “Russian writers”.

An essential feature of ancient Slavic culture was the religious-magical coloring of almost all its appearances. Slavic beliefs reflected not only the ideological ideas of that time, but also numerous layers of distant primitive times. The custom of burning the dead and erecting large earthen mounds - mounds - over funeral pyres spread everywhere. Belief in the afterlife was manifested in the fact that things, weapons, food were placed with the deceased, and funerals were held annually at the graves in honor of sacred ancestors. To protect against evil forces (ghouls, goblin, evil spirits), amulets made of wolf and bear teeth were used, verbal spells were used, and magical signs were introduced into the ornament. Birth, wedding, death - all these events in a person’s life were accompanied by spell rituals. There was 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. Among the forces of nature, the sun and fire occupied the main place. Dazhdbog personified the sun, Svarog was the god of fire, Stribog was the god of wind and storms. Veles was considered the patron of the herd - the “cattle god”; the god of thunderstorms was Perun. The Slavs erected wooden statues of their gods in open places in the middle of the “temples”. The “idols” could be appeased with sacrifices. Each clan honored the shchur, the mystical ancestor, the founder of the clan, hence the “ancestor” and “chur me,” the oldest known prayer-spell. Groves, lakes and rivers inhabited by goblins, water creatures and mermaids were considered sacred. In addition, each tribe had a common sanctuary, where members of the tribe gathered for especially solemn holidays and to resolve important matters.

The strengthening of squads and princely power also affected the pagan cult. Huge mounds, like hills, were built over the deceased prince, and one of his wives, or slaves, was burned along with the deceased. They celebrated a funeral feast, i.e. They organized war games and horse races in honor of the deceased military leader. They began to build magnificent pagan temples that amazed foreigners with their luxurious decoration.

There was a change in the pagan pantheon. The main deity of princes and warriors was the thunder god Perun, who turned into the god of war, the Slavic Mars. Ambassadors swore oaths in the name of Perun, and diplomatic treaties were sealed.

Conclusion.

“...A people cannot in any way be called barbaric if, even in the most unsatisfactory social condition, it is aware of this dissatisfaction and strives to achieve a better order; Moreover, the more obstacles he encounters on his path to order, the higher his feat; if he overcomes them, the greater is such a people before history. So, were our ancestors barbarians?

Thrown to the edge of Europe, cut off from the society of educated peoples, in constant struggle with the Asian barbarians, even falling under the yoke of the latter, the Russian people tirelessly accomplish their great work, conquering immeasurable spaces for European-Christian citizenship from the Bug to the Eastern Ocean, conquering not with military weapons, but mainly through peaceful labor; The Russian people had to create everything for themselves in this wild and deserted country. Finding themselves in the most unfavorable circumstances, left to their own devices, our ancestors never lost their European-Christian image. Not a single century of our history can be represented as a century of stagnation; strong movement and success are noticed in everyone.” With these words of the great worker of science Sergei Mikhailovich Solovyov, I would like to finish and summarize my work. In the history of the Slavic tribes, much remains to be discovered. Our archaeologists are exploring the remains of ancient settlements and villages, and historians continue to study ancient chronicles and other documents. Thanks to this, the history of our ancestors - the ancient Slavs - is replenished with new valuable information.

The decomposition of the primitive system among the Eastern Slavs was accompanied by a transition from a consanguineous community to a neighboring territorial one and an increase in the property differentiation of fellow tribesmen.

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