Views of historians about the Slavic ancestral home. The ancestral home of the Slavs. Versions and disputes about the origin and ancestral home of the Slavs. Vistula-Oder theory of the origin of the Slavs
The ancestors of the Slavs have long lived in the territory of Central and of Eastern Europe. In terms of their language, they belong to the Indo-European peoples who inhabit Europe and part of Asia up to India. Archaeologists believe that Slavic tribes can be traced from excavations to the mid-second millennium BC. The ancestors of the Slavs (in scientific literature they are called Proto-Slavs) are supposedly found among the tribes that inhabited the basin of the Odra, Vistula and Dnieper; in the Danube basin and the Balkans, Slavic tribes appeared only at the beginning of our era. It is possible that Herodotus speaks about the ancestors of the Slavs when he describes the agricultural tribes of the middle Dnieper region.
He calls them “scolots” or “borysthenites” (Borysthenes is the name of the Dnieper among ancient authors), noting that the Greeks mistakenly classify them as Scythians, although the Scythians did not know agriculture at all. 11 Orlov S.A., Georgiev V.A., Georgieva N.G., Sivokhina T.A. History of Russia.-M.: Unity, 1999. P. 73
The estimated maximum territory of settlement of the ancestors of the Slavs in the west reached the Elbe (Laba), in the north to the Baltic Sea, in the east to the Seim and Oka, and in the south their border was a wide strip of forest-steppe running from the left bank of the Danube east towards Kharkov . Several hundred Slavic tribes lived in this territory.
In the VI century. from a single Slavic community, the East Slavic branch (the future Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian peoples) stands out. The emergence of large tribal unions of the Eastern Slavs dates back approximately to this time. The chronicle has preserved the legend about the reign of the brothers Kiya, Shchek, Khoriv and their sister Lybid in the Middle Dnieper region and about the founding of Kyiv. There were similar reigns in other tribal unions, which included 100-200 individual tribes.
Many Slavs, of the same tribe as the Poles who lived on the banks of the Vistula, settled on the Dnieper in the Kyiv province and were called polyans from their pure fields. This name disappeared in ancient Russia, but became the common name of the Poles, the founders of the Polish state. From the same tribe of Slavs there were two brothers, Radim and Vyatko, the heads of the Radimichi and Vyatichi: the first chose a home on the banks of the Sozh, in the Mogilev province, and the second on the Oka, in Kaluga, Tula or Oryol. The Drevlyans, named after their forest land, lived in the Volyn province; Dulebs and Buzhans along the Bug River, which flows into the Vistula; Lutichi and Tivirians along the Dniester to the sea and the Danube, already having cities in their land; White Croats in the vicinity of the Carpathian Mountains; northerners, neighbors of the glades, on the banks of the Desna, Semi and Suda, in the Chernigov and Poltava provinces; in Minsk and Vitebsk, between the Pripet and the Western Dvina, Dregovichi; in Vitebsk, Pskov, Tver and Smolensk, in the upper reaches of the Dvina, Dnieper and Volga, Krivichi; and on the Dvina, where the Polota River flows into it, Polotsk residents of the same tribe; on the shores of Lake Ilmen there are actually the so-called Slavs, who after the Nativity of Christ founded Novgorod.
The most developed and cultural among the East Slavic associations were the Polyans. To the north of them there was a kind of border, beyond which the tribes lived in a “beastly manner” 22 Rybakov B.A. Paganism of ancient Russia. - M.: Znanie, 1987. P. 112. According to the chronicler, “the land of the glades was also called “Rus”. One of the explanations for the origin of the term “Rus” put forward by historians is associated with the name of the Ros River, a tributary of the Dnieper, which gave the name to the tribe on whose territory the Polyans lived.
The beginning of Kyiv dates back to the same time. Nestor in the chronicle talks about it this way: “The brothers Kiy, Shchek and Khoriv, with their sister Lybid, lived between the glades on three mountains, of which two are known, after the name of the two smaller brothers, Shchekovitsya and Khorivitsa; and the eldest lived where now (in Nestorov’s time) Zborichev vzvoz. They were knowledgeable and reasonable men; They caught animals in the then dense forests of the Dnieper, built a city and named it after their elder brother, i.e. Kiev. Some consider Kiya to be a carrier, for in the old days there was a transportation in this place and was called Kiev; but Kiy was in charge of his family: he went, as they say, to Constantinople, and received great honor from the Greek king; on the way back, seeing the banks of the Danube, he fell in love with them, cut down the town and wanted to live in it, but the inhabitants of the Danube did not allow him to establish himself there and to this day call this place the settlement of Kievets. He died in Kyiv, along with two brothers and a sister.” 33 Rybakov B.A. Paganism of ancient Russia. - M.: Knowledge, 1987. P. 113
In addition to the Slavic peoples, according to Nestor’s legend, many foreigners also lived in Russia at that time: the Merya around Rostov and on Lake Kleshchino or Pereslavl; Murom on the Oka, where the river flows into the Volga; Cheremis, Meshchera, Mordovians to the southeast of Mary; Livonia in Livonia, Chud in Estonia and east to Lake Ladoga; narova is where Narva is; yam, or eat in Finland, all on Beloozero; Perm in the province of this name; Yugra, or the current Berezovsky Ostyaks, on the Ob and Sosva; Pechora on the Pechora River.
The chronicler's data on the location of Slavic tribal unions is confirmed by archaeological materials. In particular, data on various forms of women's jewelry (temple rings), obtained as a result of archaeological excavations, coincide with the instructions in the chronicle about the location of Slavic tribal unions.
Byzantine historians of the 6th century. were more attentive to the Slavs, who, 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 6th-8th 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. He gives us the most valuable information about the Slavs “Tales of Bygone Years”(PVL) monk Nestor (beginning of the 12th century). He writes about the ancestral home of the Slavs, which he places in the Danube basin. (According to the biblical legend, Nestor associated their appearance on the Danube with “ Babylonian pandemonium”, which led, by the will of God, 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 their warlike neighbors - the “Volokhs”.
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: the Polyans, who settled in the Middle Dnieper region “in the fields” and therefore were called that; the Drevlyans, who lived northwest of them in dense forests; northerners who lived to the east and northeast of the glades along the Desna, Sula and Seversky Donets rivers; Dregovichi - between Pripyat and Western Dvina; Polotsk residents - in the river basin Floors; Krivichi - in the upper reaches of the Volga and Dnieper; 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; Ilmen Slovenes lived in the north in the basin of Lake Ilmen and the river. Volkhov; Buzhans or Dulebs (since the 10th century they were called Volynians) in the upper reaches of the Bug; white Croats - in the Carpathian region; Ulichi and Tivertsy - between the Dniester and the Danube. Archaeological data confirm the boundaries of settlement of the tribal unions indicated by Nestor.
Introduction to Slavic philology.
Question No. 9. The problem of the ancestral home of the Slavs. Indo-Europeans and Slavs.
The formation of Slavic tribes occurs in the process of separating them from the numerous tribes of a large language family - the Indo-European. But scientists cannot give a definite answer to the question of what the Indo-European family was. The idea was expressed about the relationship of Indo-European languages with the Uralic, Altaic, Hamitic, Iberian-Caucasian and some other languages. It is traditionally believed that all Indo-European languages were formed as a result of the collapse of the Indo-European proto-language. Indo-European linguistic community by the end of the 4th - beginning of the 3rd millennium BC. disintegrates. Tribes who speak Indo-European dialects are spread across the vast territories of Europe and Asia. The ancestors of the future Slavs with the ancestors of other peoples are isolated from the Indo-European linguistic unity, and by the beginning of the third millennium BC. the Indo-European community no longer exists.
There are many hypotheses about the ancestral homeland of the Indo-Europeans and Slavs.
The ancestral home of the Indo-Europeans.
There is a traditional point of view according to which the Indo-Europeans were located in the central and southeastern Europe. There are debates about whether to include the Balkans and where the eastern border lies - along the Don or along the Volga. In the 80s of the 20th century, the monumental work of T.V. was written. Gankrelidze and V.V. Ivanov “Indo-European language and Indo-Europeans”, in which a reconstruction and historical-typological analysis of the proto-language and proto-culture was carried out.
In 5-4 millennia BC. Indo-Europeans lived in the territory from the Balkans, including the Middle East and Transcaucasia, all the way to southern Turkmenistan.
The question of the ancestral home of the Slavs.
There is no single view on the localization of the Proto-Slavic language continuum from the Indo-European one. There are a number of hypotheses according to which we can talk about the Slavs from a certain time:
Since the 3rd millennium BC.
Starting from the middle (beginning) of the 2nd millennium BC.
Starting from the 4th century. BC.
The first evidence is presented in the Russian chronicle - the Tale of Bygone Years.
The earliest scientific hypotheses about the Slavs can be found in the works of Russian historians: Karamzin, Soloviev, Klyuchevsky, who refer to the PVL and consider the Danube and the Balkans to be the ancestral homeland of the Slavs.
This hypothesis was clarified at the end of the 20th century in his works by O.N. Trubachev, who is the creator of the Neodanubian hypothesis.
Most modern scientists consider the ancestral home of the Slavs to be the territory between the Vistula, Oder and Dnieper rivers; the differences are expressed in the fact that some scientists shift the territory closer to the east, others - closer to the west. Currently, 2 hypotheses are most preferred:
1) Vistula-Oder hypothesis. Between the Vistula and Oder (northern border – Baltic Sea). Approximately corresponds to modern Poland. Hence the settlement to the Danube and Dnieper. The author of this hypothesis is T. Lehr-Splavinsky (“On the origin and ancestral home of the Slavs”)
2) Vistula-Dnieper (Middle Dnieper) theory . The most preferred hypothesis now. Supported by modern scientists - Vasmer (Germany), S.B. Bernstein (USSR), Muszynski (Poland). The ancestral home of the Slavs is between the middle reaches of the Dnieper and the middle reaches of the Vistula. In the north the border is Pripyat, in the south – the right-bank forest-steppe areas. The territory of modern Ukraine (northwest), southern Belarus, southeastern Poland.
Shakhmatov's hypothesis. Shakhmatov A.A. indicates 2 (or even 3) ancestral homelands of the Slavs. He was a supporter of a single Balto-Slavic proto-language. The Balts did not change their place of residence, so some scientists position the ancestral home of the Slavs to where the modern Balts live. Shakhmatov denies the Danube as the first ancestral home. If this were so, then the Slavs appeared on the historical arena earlier than the Germans; the Slavs could not have been further south than the Germans, otherwise there would have been more ancient features. The Proto-Slavs were localized between the lower reaches of the Neman and the western Dvina, the coast of the Baltic Sea. Shakhmatov calls the Vistula River region the second ancestral home of the Slavs. Movement of the Slavs in the first centuries AD. was stopped by the invasion of the Huns. Some of the Slavs remained in the Vistula region, they gave rise to the western branch of the Slavs, the other part moved south. Part went a more western route and reached the Danube (later - the southern Slavs), 2 part went the eastern route (later - the eastern Slavs), and both of them did not pass the third ancestral home according to Shakhmatov - the Danube.
Sedov's hypothesis. Sedov believed that there was no reason to place the ancestral home of the Slavs between the Neman and the western Dvina (in the Baltic Sea region). The ancestral home of the Slavs is in the area of the Vistula River. In the 4th century AD Climate change occurs in eastern Europe, resulting in swamping of the traditional places of residence of the Slavs. For this reason, the Slavs begin to move to other territories from the Vistula River region towards the northeast, towards the Balts and Finns, the other part - towards the south, towards the Danube.
Trubachev's neo-Danubian hypothesis. Trubachev intensified the theory associated with the Danube. There is also a different view of the ancestral homeland of the Indo-Europeans than in the works of Gankrelidze and Ivanov. The ancestral home of the Indo-Europeans is central Europe and the Balkans.
The ancestral home of the Slavs according to Trubachev. The middle course of the Danube (modern Austria, the Czech Republic, southern Germany and Pannonia (modern Hungary). In his hypothesis, Trubachev relies on the analysis of hydronymics and on the ancient legends of the Slavs about the Danube.
Origin of the Slavs
(Ethnogenesis)
Using the sources listed above, scientists build hypotheses about the origins of the Slavs. However, different scientists do not agree not only on determining the place of the Slavic ancestral home, but also on the time of separation of the Slavs from the Indo-European group. There are a number of hypotheses according to which we can speak with confidence about the Slavs and their ancestral homeland, starting from the end of the 3rd millennium BC. (O.N. Trubachev), from the end of the 2nd millennium BC. (Polish scientists T. Lehr-Splawinski, K. Yazdrzewski, J. Kostrzewski etc.), from the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. (Polish scientist F. Slavsky), from the 4th century. BC. ( M. Vasmer, L. Niederle, S.B. Bernstein, P.Y. Safarik).
The earliest scientific hypotheses about the ancestral home of the Slavs can be found in the works of Russian historians of the 18th – 19th centuries. N.M. Karamzina, S.M. Solovyova, V.O. Klyuchevsky. In their research they rely on "The Tale of Bygone Years" and conclude that the ancestral home of the Slavs were R. Danube and Balkans. Supporters Danube origin Slavs there were many Russian and Western European researchers. Moreover, at the end of the 20th century. Russian scientist HE. Trubachev clarified and developed it. However, throughout the 19th – 20th centuries. This theory also had many opponents.
One of the major Slavic historians, Czech scientist P.I. Safarik believed that the ancestral home of the Slavs should be sought in Europe, in the neighborhood of related tribes of Celts, Germans, Balts and Thracians. He believes that the Slavs already occupied vast areas of Central and Eastern Europe in ancient times, and in the 4th century. BC. under the pressure of the Celts they moved beyond the Carpathians.
However, even at this time they occupy very vast territories - in the west - from the mouth of the Vistula to the Neman, in the north - from Novgorod to the sources of the Volga and Dnieper, in the east - to the Don. Further, in his opinion, it went through the lower Dnieper and Dniester along the Carpathians to the Vistula and along the watershed of the Oder and Vistula to the Baltic Sea.
At the end of the 19th – beginning of the 20th centuries. acad. A.A.Shakhmatov developed the idea of two Slavic ancestral homelands : the area within which the Proto-Slavic language developed (the first ancestral home), and the area that the Proto-Slavic tribes occupied on the eve of their settlement throughout Central and Eastern Europe (the second ancestral home). He proceeds from the fact that initially a Balto-Slavic community emerged from the Indo-European group, which was autochthonous in the Baltic region. After the collapse of this community, the Slavs occupied the territory between the lower reaches of the Neman and the Western Dvina (the first ancestral home). It was here that, in his opinion, the Proto-Slavic language developed, which later formed the basis of all Slavic languages. In connection with the great migration of peoples, the Germans at the end of the 2nd century AD. moving south and liberating the river basin. Vistula, where the Slavs come (second ancestral home). Here the Slavs are divided into two branches: Western and Eastern. The western branch advances to the river area. Elbe and becomes the basis for modern West Slavic peoples; the southern branch after the collapse of the Hun Empire (second half of the 5th century AD) was divided into two groups: one of them settled the Balkans and the Danube (the basis of modern South Slavic peoples), the other - the Dnieper and Dniester (the basis of modern East Slavic peoples).
The most popular hypothesis among linguists about the ancestral home of the Slavs is Vistula-Dnieper. According to scientists such as M. Vasmer(Germany), F.P. Filin, S.B. Bernshtein(Russia), V. Georgiev(Bulgaria), L. Niederle(Czech Republic), K. Moszynski(Poland), etc., the ancestral home of the Slavs was located between the middle reaches of the Dnieper in the east and the upper reaches of the Western Bug and Vistula in the west, as well as from the upper reaches of the Dniester and Southern Bug in the south to Pripyat in the north. Thus, the ancestral home of the Slavs is defined by them as modern northwestern Ukraine, southern Belarus and southeastern Poland. However, in the studies of individual scientists there are certain variations.
L. Niederle believes that the location of the Slavic ancestral home can only be determined tentatively. He suggests that such tribes as the Nevri, Budins, and Scythian plowmen belong to the Slavs. Based on reports from historians of the Roman era and data from linguistics, in particular toponymy, L. Niederle very carefully outlines the area of Slavic settlement at the beginning of the 1st millennium AD.
It, in his opinion, was located to the north and northeast of the Carpathians, in the east it reached the Dnieper, and in the west - the upper reaches of the Varta River. At the same time, he notes that the western borders of the Slavic area may have to be moved to the Elbe River if the Slavic affiliation of the burial grounds - burial fields of the Lusatian-Silesian type - is proven.
F.P. Owl defines the area of settlement of the Slavs at the beginning of our era. between the Western Bug and the Middle Dnieper. He, relying on linguistic and extralinguistic data, proposes a periodization of the development of the language of the Proto-Slavs. The first stage (until the end of the 1st millennium BC) is the initial stage of the formation of the basis of the Slavic language system. At the second stage (from the end of the 1st millennium AD to the 3rd-4th centuries AD), serious changes in phonetics occur in the Proto-Slavic language, its grammatical structure evolves, and dialect differentiation develops. The third stage (V-VII centuries AD) coincides with the beginning of the widespread settlement of the Slavs, which ultimately led to the division of a single language into separate Slavic languages. This periodization largely corresponds to the main stages of the historical development of the early Slavs, restored on the basis of archaeological data.
Further settlement of the Slavs from the Vistula-Dnieper region took place, according to S.B. Bernshtein, west to the Oder, north to Lake Ilmen, east to the Oka, south to the Danube and the Balkans. S.B. Bernstein supports A.A. Shakhmatov’s hypothesis about the initial division of the Slavs into two groups: western And eastern; from the latter at one time stood out eastern And southern groups. This is precisely what explains the great closeness of the East Slavic and South Slavic languages and a certain isolation, in particular phonetic, of the West Slavic.
He repeatedly addressed the problem of the ethnogenesis of the Slavs B.A. Rybakov. His concept is also connected with the Vistula-Dnieper hypothesis and is based on the unity of the territories inhabited by the Slavic ethnic group for two millennia: from the Oder in the west to the left bank of the Dnieper in the east. History of the Slavs B.A. Rybakov begins with the Bronze Age - from the 15th century. BC. - and identifies five stages.
First stage he associates it with the Trzyniec culture (XV-XIII centuries BC). The area of its distribution, in his opinion, was “the primary place of unification and formation of the Proto-Slavs who first branched off... this area can be designated by the somewhat vague word ancestral home.” The Trzyniec culture extended from the Oder to the left bank of the Dnieper. Second phase - Lusatian-Scythian - covers the XII-III centuries. BC. The Slavs at this time were represented by several cultures: Lusatian, Belogrudovskaya, Chernoleskaya and Scythian forest-steppe. The tribes of the forest-steppe Scythian cultures, engaged in agriculture, were Slavs, united in a union under the name Skolots. The fall of the Lusatian and Scythian cultures led to the restoration of Slavic unity - came third stage history of the Proto-Slavs, which lasted from the 2nd century. BC. to the 2nd century AD, and is represented by two closely related cultures: Przeworsk and Zarubinets. Their territories extended from the Oder to the left bank of the Dnieper. Fourth stage it dates back to the 2nd-4th centuries. AD and calls it Przeworsk-Chernyakhovsky. This stage is characterized by the strengthening of the influence of the Roman Empire on the Slavic tribes. Fifth stage - Prague-Korchak, dates back to the 6th-7th centuries, when, after the fall of the Roman Empire, Slavic unity was restored. The coincidence of the areas of all the listed cultures, including the reliably Slavic one - Prague-Korchak - is, according to B.A. Rybakov, proof of the Slavic affiliation of all these cultures.
In recent decades, expeditionary research by Ukrainian archaeologists has significantly expanded the scientific base. According to these scientists, the history of the Slavs begins with the late La Tène period. According to V.D. Barana, the formation of early medieval Slavic cultures was the result of the integration of several cultures of Roman times: the Prague-Korchak culture developed on the basis of the Chernyakhov culture of the Upper Dniester and Western Bug region with the participation of elements of the Przeworsk and Kyiv cultures; the Penkov culture developed in the context of the merging of elements of the Kyiv and Chernyakhov cultures with nomadic cultures; Kolochin culture arose from the interaction of late Zarubintsy and Kyiv elements with Baltic ones. The leading role in the formation of the Slavs, according to V.D. Baran, belonged to the Kyiv culture. The concept of Slavic ethnogenesis is outlined V.D. Baran, R.V. Terpilovsky and D.N. Kozak. The early history of the Slavs, in their opinion, begins in the first centuries of our era, when information about the Slavs, then called Wends, appears in the works of ancient authors. The Weneds lived east of the Vistula, they belonged to the Zarubinets and Przeworsk cultures of the Volyn region. Subsequently, the Zarubinets and late Zarubinets cultures were associated with the Slavs, and through them the Kiev and partially Chernyakhov cultures, on the basis of which the early medieval Slavic cultures were formed.
In recent decades, a number of works have been devoted to the problems of ethnogenesis of the Slavs. V.V. Sedova. He considers the culture of under-klesh burials (400-100 BC) to be the oldest Slavic culture, since it was from this culture that elements of continuity in the evolutionary development of antiquities can be traced up to the authentic Slavic era of the early Middle Ages.
The culture of under-klesh burials corresponds to the first stage in the history of the Proto-Slavic language according to the periodization of F.P. Owl. At the end of the 2nd century. BC. Under the strong Celtic influence, the culture of under-klesh burials was transformed into a new one, called Przeworsk. Within the Przeworsk culture, two regions are distinguished: the western - Oder, inhabited mainly by the East German population, and the eastern - Vistula, where the predominant ethnic group was the Slavs. Chronologically, the Przeworsk culture corresponds, according to the periodization of F.P. Filin, the middle stage of development of the Proto-Slavic language. He considers the Zarubintsy culture, formed with the participation of the alien Pokleshevo-Pomeranian tribes and local Milograd and Late Scythian tribes, to be a linguistically special group that occupied an intermediate position between the Proto-Slavic and Western Baltic languages. The Slavic Prague-Korchak culture is connected in its origin with the Przeworsk culture. According to V.V. Sedov, the Slavs constituted one of the components of the multi-ethnic Chernyakhov culture.
O.N. Trubachev in his works he rejects both the Vistula-Dnieper hypothesis and its Vistula-Oder version. As an alternative, he puts forward the so-called "neo-Danube" hypothesis of the ancestral home of the Slavs. He considers the place of their primary settlement to be the Middle Danube region - the territory of the countries of the former Yugoslavia (Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro), the south of Czechoslovakia and the lands of the former Pannonia (in the territory of modern Hungary).
For some time around the 1st century AD. the Slavs were driven out by the Celts and Ugrians to the north, in Povislenye, and to the east, in the Dnieper region. This was connected with the great migration of peoples. However, already in the middle of the 1st millennium AD. the Slavs, “keeping the memory of their former habitats,” “again occupy the Danube region, the lands beyond the Danube, and the Balkans.” Thus, “the movement of the Slavs to the south was reversible.”
O.N. Trubachev argues his hypothesis with linguistic and extralinguistic facts. He believes that, firstly, the advance of the Slavs first to the north and then to the south fits into the general process of migration of peoples within Europe. Secondly, it is confirmed by the records of the chronicler Nestor: “By many times, they are timeless.” Thirdly, it was among the southern Slavs who lived along the river. Danube, the first to appear was the self-name *slověne - Slovenian, which gradually became established in the works of Byzantine historians of the 6th century, the Gothic historian of the 6th century. Jordan (sklavina). At the same time, they call the Western and Eastern Slavs Wends and Ants, that is, names alien to the Slavs. The ethnonym Slavs itself, O.N. Trubetskoy, correlates the word with the lexeme and interprets it as “clearly speaking,” that is, speaking an understandable, not alien language. Fourthly, in the folklore works of the Eastern Slavs, r. is very often mentioned. Danube, which O.N. Trubachev considers to be the preserved living memory of the Danube region. Fifthly, he believes that the Ugrians, having come to the territory of the Danube region and founded them in the 1st century AD. their state, they found there a Slavic population and Slavic toponyms: *bъrzъ, *sopot, *rěčina, *bystica, *foplica, *kaliga, *belgrad, *konotopa, etc.
Thus, O.N. Trubachev believes that “the southern Vistula-Oder area... approximately coincides with the northern periphery of the Middle Danube area,” and the area of primary settlement of the Slavs coincides with the area of primary settlement of speakers of the common Indo-European language.
The question of the ancestral home of the Slavs continues to remain open. Scientists are putting forward more and more evidence in favor of one or another hypothesis. In particular, G.A. Khaburgaev believes that the Proto-Slavic tribes arose as a result of the crossing of Western Baltic tribes with Italics, Thracians (in the area of modern northern Poland) and Iranian tribes (on the Desna River).
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Notes
See for more details: Shakhmatov A.A. Russian language and its features. The question of the formation of adverbs // Shakhmatov A.A. Essay on modern Russian literary language. – M., 1941.
Niederle L. Slavic antiquities. – M., 2000.
Filin F.P. Formation of the language of the Eastern Slavs. M.-L., 1962.
Bernstein S.B. Essay on the comparative grammar of Slavic languages. – M., 1961.
Rybakov B.A. Paganism of the ancient Slavs. - M., 1981. P. 221.
Rybakov B.A. Herodotus Scythia. – M., 1979.
Baran V.D. On the question of the origins of Slavic culture of the early Middle Ages // Acta archeologica Carpathica. T. 21. Krakow, 1981. pp. 67-88.
Baran V.D., Terpilovsky R.V., Kozak D.N. Adventures of words" Jan. Kiev, 1991.
Sedov V.V. Origin and early history Slavs M., 1979. Sedov V.V. Slavs in ancient times. M., 1994.
Sedov V.V. Slavs in ancient times. - M., 1994. P. 144.
Filin F.P. Formation of the language of the Eastern Slavs. - M.;L., 1962. P. 101-103.
Filin F.P. Formation of the language of the Eastern Slavs. - M.;L., 1962. P. 103-110.
Trubachev O.N. Linguistics and ethnogenesis of the Slavs // Questions of linguistics. – 1985. - No. 4. – P.9.
Trubachev O.N. Linguistics and ethnogenesis of the Slavs. Ancient Slavs according to etymology and onomastics // Questions of linguistics. – 1981. - No. 4. – P.11.
Trubachev O.N. Linguistics and ethnogenesis. Ancient Slavs according to etymology and onomastics // Questions of linguistics. – 1982. - No. 5. – P.9.
Trubachev O.N. Right there.
Trubachev O.N. Linguistics and ethnogenesis of the Slavs // Questions of linguistics. - 1985. - No. 5. – P.12.
Scientists put forward several versions of the ancestral home of the Slavs and their ethnogenesis. But the basis of most theories is the oldest Russian written monument - the chronicle “The Tale of Bygone Years”, in which the monk of the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery Nestor puts forward a mythological version of the origin of the Slavs: as if their family goes back to the youngest son of Noah - Japheth. It was Japheth who, after dividing the lands with his brothers, received the Northern and Western countries as an inheritance. Gradually, historical facts appear in the narrative. Nestor settles the Slavs in the Roman province of Noricum, located between the upper reaches of the Danube and Drava. From there, pressed by the Romans, the Slavs were forced to move to new places - to the Vistula and Dnieper.
"Danube" version The ancestral homeland of the Slavs was adhered to by the Russian historian S.M. Soloviev, referring to the ancient Roman historian Tacitus.
Student S.M. Solovyova - historian V.O. Klyuchevsky also recognized the “Danube” version of the ancestral home of the Slavs. But he added his own clarifications to it: before the Eastern Slavs from the Danube came to the Dnieper, they stayed in the foothills of the Carpathians for about 500 years. According to Klyuchevsky, only from the 7th century. Eastern Slavs gradually settled on the modern Russian Plain.
Some domestic scientists were inclined to the “Danube” origin of the Slavs, but the majority adhered to the version that the ancestral home of the Slavs was much further north. At the same time, they disagreed about the ethnogenesis of the Slavs, and about where the Slavs formed into a single ethnic community - in the Middle Dnieper region and along Pripyat or in the area between the Vistula and Oder rivers.
B.A. Rybakov, based on the latest archaeological data, tried to combine both of these versions of the possible ancestral home of the Slavs and their ethnogenesis. In his opinion, the Proto-Slavs occupied a wide swath of Central and Eastern Europe.
Currently, there are two most common points of view on the issue of the area of origin of the Slavic ethnic community. According to one such area was the territory between the Oder (Odra) and the Vistula - Oder-Vislyanskaya theory, according to another - it was the area between the Oder and the Middle Dnieper - Oder-Dnieper theory (M.S. Shumilov, S.P. Ryabikin).
In general, the problem of the origin and settlement of the Slavs is still under discussion. Apparently, the separation of the Slavs from the Indo-European community occurred during the transition to arable farming.
Ancient (I-II centuries) and Byzantine (VI-VII centuries) authors mention the Slavs under different names: Wends, Antes, Sklavins.
By the time the Slavs joined the Great Migration of Peoples (VI century), the countries of the world had gone a long way of development: states arose and collapsed, active migration processes were underway. In the 4th century. The huge Roman Empire collapsed. In Europe, the Western Roman State was formed with its center in Rome. On the territory of the Balkans and Asia Minor a powerful state arose - the Eastern one, with its center in Constantinople, which later received the name Byzantine Empire(existed until 1453).
IN Western Europe in the V-VII centuries. There was a settlement of Germanic tribes that conquered the territory of the Roman Empire. The so-called “barbarian” kingdoms arose here - Frankish, Visigothic, Lombard, etc.
In the VI century. Slavs (called Slovenes) joined the world migration process. The settlement of the Slavs took place in the VI-VIII 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 and north - along the East European Plain. At the same time, the Slavs were divided into three branches: southern, western and eastern.
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Modern researchers of the Slavic peoples argue that the origins of these peoples go back to more ancient times and are associated with a common geographical territory for all tribes, which today is commonly called the ancestral home of the Slavs. However, historians themselves note that it is unlikely that we will ever be able to accurately find out the location of the original place of formation of the Slavic ethnic group, because we are talking about events that are thousands of years distant from us.
Basic theories of the ancestral home of the Slavic tribes
Let's try to consider the most popular theories supported by facts about where the Slavic ancestral home could have been located. Today there are at least three such versions:
- Danube;
- Middle Dnieper;
- and the Vistula-Oder hypothesis.
It is important to know! There are three main versions of the ancestral homeland of the Slavic tribes: Danube, Dnieper and Vistula-Oder.
Table: theories of the ancestral Slavs
Vistula-Oder theory of the ancestral home of the Slavs
This hypothesis opposes the most common Middle Dnieper hypothesis, sometimes nevertheless confirming its events. The origins of the Vistula-Oder version go back to the end of the eighteenth century, but it gained its popularity only in the twenties and thirties of the last century. The most famous representatives of this movement were T. Lehr-Splavinsky, K. Yazhdzhevsky, J. Chekanovsky, as well as L. Kozlovsky, V. Martynov and V. Sedov.
At the same time, supporters of the above-mentioned version, when drawing their conclusions, used data collected by various sciences: from linguistics and archeology to paleobotany and anthropology. The clearest formulation of the theory of the ancestral home of the Slavs was formed in 1946 by T. Ler-Splavinsky in his publication so-called “On the origin and ancestral home of the Slavs.” Using archaeological data, the author presented the stages of the formation of the ethnos as follows:
- until the second millennium BC North-Eastern Europe (the territory from Silesia to Pomerania) by the Finno-Ugrians, whom archaeologists consider representatives of comb ceramics;
- starting from the second millennium BC, groups of the Corded Ware culture, representing Indo-European tribes, moved east from the central regions of the European continent;
- both of these groups, interacting, formed the Baltoslavs, who later created the Lusatian culture, often mistaken for Slavic;
- Then came the collapse of society into the Proto-Balts and the Proto-Slavs, and the latter became a separate ethnic group around the middle of the first millennium BC in the territory between the Odra and the Vistula.
Confirmation of this theory of the Slavic ancestral home was found in the languages of the peoples by linguists and some modern Slavic researchers.
Middle Dnieper version of the ancestral home of the Slavs
This version, although similar in some places to the previous one, is its opposite. The works of M. Vasmer (especially his publications on the Pripyat-Volyn ancestral home), as well as Polish scientists, the most famous of whom was J. Rozvadovsky, were close to the Middle Dnieper version of the Slavic ancestral home. It was this researcher who discovered, while analyzing hydronyms, a greater percentage of them in the territories between the Dvina and Dnieper. And the scientist K. Moshinsky, as a result of his research, came to the conclusion that the Proto-Slavs lived at the turn of the era on lands stretching from the Western Bug to the eastern banks of the Dnieper. At the same time, in the north the ethnic group occupied the southern part of Belarus, as well as the northern part of present-day Ukraine.
In addition to numerous evidence of this version of the ancestral home of the Slavs, which was collected on the basis of linguistic research, some Slavophile researchers put forward as an argument the fact of denying the antiquity of the steppe, pointing to the names of such steppe birds as the bustard and partridge, the names of which are based on ancient Proto-Slavic roots.
Danube version of the ancestral home of the Slavic tribes
The following hypothesis of the ancestral home of the Slavs is the oldest among all of the above. It was formed in one of the most ancient literary sources of Rus', “The Tale of Bygone Years,” the authorship of which is usually attributed to the chronicler Nestor. At the same time, modern historians increasingly attribute it not to the usual twelfth century, but to the eleventh and earlier.
In the eighties and nineties of the twentieth century, this hypothesis regained its strength, because the famous researcher Trubachev began to prove it, the main evidence base of which was the story itself and the customs of the Proto-Slavs.
For example, his most powerful archaeological argument in favor of the fact that the south was the ancestral home of the Slavs was the burning of corpses practiced by them, which, of course, was a southern tradition, the main purpose of which was to counter the development of various epidemics.
It should be noted that all three theories of the Slavic ancestral home exist today, being the subject of no less heated discussions at conferences. Moreover, each of them is “overgrown” with new evidence and facts every year.
Tables and diagrams: settlement and origin of East Slavic tribes
