Procopius of Caesarea in his work "The war with the Goths" (553) wrote that the Slavs are people of "great strength" and "high growth". He noted that they revere nymphs and rivers, as well as "all kinds of deities." The Slavs make sacrifices to all of them and "make fortune-telling" with the help of these sacrifices.
Where are the ideas of the Slavs about the world reflected?
One of the first about our ancestors was told by the Byzantine historian Procopius of Caesarea. He left us the rarest and priceless information about the Slavs. During the creation of the work "The War with the Goths," they barely entered the world stage. At that time, the Slavs still lived in a separate culture, which was far from the culture of antiquity. Our ancestors will touch on her achievements much later. This will happen after the adoption of Christianity by our country.
In the meantime, the ancient myths of Russia flourished . They reflected the ideas of the Slavs about the world. The ancient myths of Russia tell us about the gods who are directly related to nature. Today it is hardly possible to imagine the general picture of the Slavic pantheon. Many legends and ancient myths of Russia are forgotten, lost. Only a few god names have survived to this day.
Russian fairy tales brought to us the poetic charm of Slavic ideas about the world. And today they color our childhood with poetry. We get acquainted with such heroes as brownies, goblin, water, mermaids, Koschey the Immortal, Miracle Yudo, Baba Yaga, etc. Moral principles were often presented in a personified form to an ancient person. This, for example, Krivda, True, Grief-misfortune. Even our ancestors depicted death as a skeleton dressed in a shroud with a scythe in their hands. The name of God was the word "chur", which is used today in the form: "Chur me!"
The fight of Perun with Veles, the heroes of the myths of Ancient Russia
Among the ancient Slavs, Perun was the supreme deity. This is a thunder god living on top of a mountain . The ancient myths of Rus depict Veles as his enemy. This is an evil, treacherous god. He abducts cattle. Veles is a werewolf god who could turn into both a man and a beast. Myths and legends of Ancient Russia tell us that Perun is constantly fighting Veles, and when he defeats him, blessed and invigorating rain pours onto the earth. He gives life to all crops.
Note that the word "god", probably derived from "rich", is often associated with the names of various deities. There was, for example, Stribog and Dazhdbog. Myths and epics of Ancient Russia tell us about such heroes as nightingale robbers, ghouls, kikimors, Zmey Gorynych, divas, Lel, Yaryla winds, etc. Sometimes the names of numbers take on divine meaning. In particular, even is a positive beginning, while odd is a negative beginning.
Characterizing the myths of Ancient Russia briefly, one cannot help but dwell in more detail on the theme of the creation of the world. Our ancestors had very interesting ideas about him.
world creation
In one of the myths of the ancient Slavs, it is said that Svarog and Svarozhichi after the battle of the gods with the Black Serpent fell to the ground. They saw that she was mixed with blood. Mother Earth, it was decided to cut, and she absorbed the blood. After that, the gods set about arranging the world, as evidenced by the myths of Ancient Russia. What did god Svarog create? Where the serpent harnessed to the plow paved the furrows, the Danube, Don (Tanais) and Dnieper (Danapris) rivers began to flow. In the names of these rivers is the name of Dana, the Slavic Mother of Waters. Translated from ancient Slavic, the word "yes" means "water", and "Nenya" is translated as "mother". However, rivers are far from all that the gods created.
Kingdom of the gods
The Riphean mountains appeared at the site of the battle of Svarog and Svarozhichi with the Serpent. It was in these places, over the White Alatyr Mountain (the White River originates from it) that the winner of the Serpent established Svarga. That was the name of the heavenly kingdom of the gods. After a while, a sprout rose on the mountain. He grew up in a sacred Elm, connecting the whole world. The tree stretched its branches to the sky itself. Alkonost made a nest on its eastern branches, and the bird Sirin - on the western. At the roots of the World Elm, the Serpent moves. Svarog himself, the king of heaven, walks by his trunk, and after him goes Lada-mother. Near the Alatyr mountain, in the Riphean mountains, other magical trees began to grow. In particular, cypress rose on Hwangur. This tree was considered the tree of death. Birch began to grow on Mount Berezani. This is a tree of poetry.
Iry Garden
Svarog planted the Iry Garden on Alatyr Mountain. It grew a cherry tree, which was dedicated to Vyshnya. Gamayun bird flies here. A sunny oak tree appeared next to it. It grows with branches down and roots up. The Sun has its roots, and 12 branches are 12 Vedas. An apple tree also rose on Alatyr Mountain. Golden fruits grow on it. Those who try them will receive power over the entire Universe and eternal youth. Mountain giants, snakes, basilisks and griffins guard the approaches to this garden. And the dragon Ladon guards the apple tree itself.
Description of Iria, Slavic paradise, is available in many songs. It is also in the legend about the father of Agapia, and is also placed in a book called "Monuments of Ancient Russia of the XII century." (Moscow, 1980).
Riphean mountains
The name "Rips", according to scientists, is of Greek origin. Gelannik wrote of Hyperboreans as a people living behind these mountains. Aristotle also noted that the Riphean mountains are under the constellation Ursa Major, beyond extreme Scythia. He believed that it was from there that the largest number of rivers flowing out, the largest after Istra. Apollonius of Rhodes also mentions the Riphean mountains. He says that the sources of Istra are in them. In the 2nd century AD e. Claudius Ptolemy summarized the historical and geographical facts known at that time. According to this researcher, the Riphean mountains were located between 63 ° and 57 ° 30 '(approximately in the middle). He also noted that they were bordered by a zone of resettlement of Borusks and Savars. A large number of medieval maps were created based on the information of Ptolemy. They also marked the Riphean mountains.
White Alatyr Mountain
It is known that in Russian conspiracies and works of ancient Russian authors Alatyr-stone is "father to all stones." He was at the Center for Peace. This stone in the verse about the "Pigeon Book" is associated with an altar located on the island of Buyan, in the middle of the sea-ocean. This altar is located in the very center of the world. Here is the world tree (the throne of world governance). This stone has magical and healing properties. Healing rivers flow from all over the world.
Two versions of the emergence of Alatyr
Alatyr, according to ancient legends, fell from the sky. The laws of Svarog were carved on this stone. And where he fell, Alatyrskaya Mountain appeared. This stone connected the worlds - dolny, heavenly and highland. The mediator between them was the book of the Vedas that fell from heaven and the bird Gamayun.
Other myths of Ancient Russia put forward a slightly different version. A summary of its following. When Svarog created (welded) the earth, he found this magic stone. Alatyr grew up after God uttered a magic spell. Svarog foamed the ocean with it. Moisture, thickened, became the first land. The gods were born from sparks when Svarog struck Alatyr with a magic hammer. The location of this stone in Russian folklore is inextricably linked with the island of Buyan, which was located in the "sea-shore". Alatyr is mentioned in conspiracies, epics and Russian folk tales.
Currant River
Kalinov Bridge and the Currant River are often mentioned in conspiracies and fairy tales. However, in them this river is most often called simply Smolyanaya or Tierra del Fuego. This corresponds to the descriptions presented in fairy tales. Sometimes, especially often in epics, Currants are called the Puchai River. Probably, she began to be called so due to the fact that her boiling surface swells, seethes, bubbles.
Currants in the mythology of the ancient Slavs - a river that separates from each other two worlds: the living and the dead. The human soul needs to overcome this barrier on the way to the "other world". The river got its name not at all from the berry shrub known to us. In the Old Russian language was the word "currant", used in the 11-17 centuries. It means stench, stench, pungent and strong smell. Later, when the meaning of the name of this river was forgotten, a distorted name "Currant" appeared in fairy tales.
Penetration of Christian Ideas
The ideas of Christianity began to penetrate our ancestors from the 9th century. Having been in Byzantium, Princess Olga was baptized there. Prince Svyatoslav, her son, buried his mother already according to the customs of Christianity, but he himself was a pagan and remained an adherent of the ancient gods. As you know, Christianity in Russia was established by Prince Vladimir, his son. This happened in 988. After this, a struggle began with the ancient Slavic mythological representations.