Rus: An Early History

Author: Dr. Donald R. Houston
Published on: Feb 29, 2004

Slavs in ancient times were a nomadic folk who wandered into what is today southwestern Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Serbia & Macedonia. Slavic languages are a sub-family of the Indo-European family of languages. The Slavic group of languages is deemed to be closer to the Baltic group than to any other group. It is for that reason that most scholars combine the 2 into the Balto-Slavic sub-family of the Indo-European languages. The total number of people who speak a Slavic language as their mother tongue is estimated at more than 300+ million, the vast majority of whom live in Russia, Belorus & Ukraine.

All Slavic tongues are believed to have evolved from a single parent language, taht is designated as the Proto-Slavic language, which split off much earlier probably around 2000-3000 B.C. from Proto-Indo-European. This specific language was original language ancestor of the members of today's Indo-European language family. It is what was spoken by such notables as King Phillip the Elder & King Phillip the Junior of Macedonia. It was Alexander the Great's native tongue until he went to Greece at the behest of his father, King Phillip the Junior. Proto-Slavic was most probably still common to all Slavs into the 1st Century AD & probably as late as the 8th Century AD. It was in the 9th Century AD that individual Slavic languages (actually at that point dialects) began to emerge.

Slavic life has been connected with water in various ways since the earliest beginnings. Water to drink has always been a necessity. water for farming irrigation is a given. Ancient Slavs were no different than any other people because they too built their settlements near lakes & rivers. Fish were an important food source combined with the vegetables & fruits gathered/harvested from the woodlands that also border waterways. Waterways became major transportation arteries for these ancient folk. Rough-hewn boats of several types & sizes made it easier as well as safer to travel over long distances rather than doing so by trekking through dense forests or across open plains that provide little or no cover & concealment. Boat building technology gradually improved & thus so did the canoe-like vessels of the Slavs. Originally these craft were pushed through the water with poles now they became considerably faster & more maneuverable with the introduction of oars and sails.

It was by the 7th Century that boat construction technology had adequately advanced to allow the Slavs to navigate rivers but to also venture out upon the open sea. They sailed to all over the Black Sea, through the Bosporus into the Aegean & Mediterranean Seas to Thessalonika, to Crete, the southern coast of Italy & at the walls of Constantinople, engaged the Byzantines in naval battles. Definitely the most famous of the ancient trade routes was the one called "from the Vikings to the Greeks." Kyiv & later Novgorod, principal cities of Ancient Kyivian Rus, flourished because they were located along the waterways of this major trading route. The establishment of trading posts, usually fortified, along the waterways was an economic boost for the Slavs & provided their nomadic neighbors such as the Khazars, Magyars & Pechenegs with places to exchange hides, food stuffs, etc. for salt, weapons, cloth, etc.

For long voyages the early Kyivians built the light, open vessels called lodya. The Byzantines called it in Greek, monoxile, because it was made from a single tree trunk, usually the hollowed-out trunk of an oak or linden. Layers of planking were secured to the hull to increase its height & oars were affixed to the planking. A single mast with a square sail made the lodya seaworthy. It was also light enough that when the need arose, it could portaged. Although they seldom exceeded 20 meters (60-65 feet) in length, lodya often held a crew of 35-45 men.

In the 9th. Century, Kyivian Grand Prince Oleg, using a fleet of lodyas, launched an attack against Constantinople. This grand & great city was called Tsargrad by the Slavs. His victorious campaign verified might & independence of Kyivian Rus. According to the Chronicles, Prince Oleg "hung his shield upon the Gate of Tsargrad" and then sailed back to Kyiv with all of the plundered treasures of his great victory.

In 941 AD, Grand Prince Igor Rurikovich, sailed against Tsargrad with a large armada of lodyas. In a sea battle off the northeast coast of the Bosporus, Byzantine galleys, called dromons, decimated the Kyivian fleet by using "Greek fire." Prince Igor the remains of his armada retreated & fled back to Kyiv. It was later, in 943 AD, that he assembled a larger & much more powerful force. He then launched a successful assault against Constantinople & claimed for the Kyivian Rus the rights for trade with the Byzantine Empire. A great many of the Rus's earliest heroes, some of whom are true historical figures, others are purely legendary being most often a combination of the two, emerged from Kyivian Rus.

Along with his faithful warriors, Kyivian Grand Prince Svyatoslav Igorevich became fabled for his acts of valor. Prince Svyatoslav's most celebrated deed was his conquest of Khazaria in 966 AD After a great sea battle. Sixteen years later Grand Price Vladimir, son of Svyatoslav, attacked Byzantium and engaged the Byzantines in yet another naval battle. The resultant peace fostered friendlier relations with Byzantium and thus permitted Kyivian Rus to begin to develop technology, craftsmanship, trade, as well as stone construction technology. Advancements in the art of shipbuilding progressed very slowly. The early Kyivians continued to ply the rivers, lakes & seas in their dug-out boats and to transport their simple goods by river on crude, raft-like vessels.

In 1043 AD THE Kyivian Rus began its 9Tth. naval campaign against Constantinople. Prince Vladimir, son of Yaroslav the Wise, sailed into the Bosporus with his armada of lodyas & totally routed the Byzantine's naval forces. This was last assault of a Kyivian Rus fleet upon Tsargrad. The death of Vladimir Monomakh in 1125 AD, began the struggle for power between the princes of the Ancient Kyivian Rus which became intensified. Un-united & weakened through internecine strife, the princes gave no thought or attention to warring against their neighbor states.

The princes of the Kyivian Rus began to use their fleets of lodyas to fight against one another. In 1151 AD Prince Izyaslav Mstislavich used a more advanced type of sailing vessel in a battle against the forces of Prince Yuri Dolgoruky: Prince Isyaslav's lodyas had decks & had been built with rudders at the bow & the stern. During the years that followed almost no other changes were made in the basic design of this primitive water craft. By the end of the 12th. Century Vladimir-Suzdal had become a notably vigorous & strong princedom. Prince Vesevolod, a son of Yury Dolgoruky & nicknamed "Bolshoye Gnezdo," meaning the "Great Nest" claimed himself the Grand Prince of Kyiv. He then proclaimed himself, Grand Prince of Vladimir as well.

Both Vesevolod & his son, Prince Yury II, equipped multiple fleets of lodyas & sent them forth against the Volga Bulgars. It was during one of these military campaigns that Prince Yury II founded the eastern-most of the Kyivian Rus princedoms, the city of Nizhny-Novgorod, situated at the confluence of the Volga & Oka Rivers. Prince Yury II's efforts to strengthen the eastern boundaries of his Rus princedom were inspired by a divination of things to come. In the East the might of the Golden Horde was beginning to build. It was out of the East that the Tatar-Mongols would sweep into the Rus & impose upon the Rus the "yoke" that lasted for nearly 300 years before the yoke was thrown off.

What was to later become Ukraine, Belorus (White Rus) & modern Russia began as seen in the Kyivian Rus. The addition of Varengian Viking aristocracy to that of the Slavs & augmented by tribal hierarchy of the Khazars made a strong & militant Slavic Rus under strong & crafty princes. More is to be learned about this fascinating history of what subsequently became Russia & later the roots of the Soviet Union. At a later date we will examine more of this culture, the Rus.

Sources:
http://www.slavism.com

Origin of The Rus
Taras D. Malinchuk, PhD
Monograph In Ukrainian
Published 1998 in Kyiv
Translated by: Prof. Yuri Nekrutenko