Askold and Deer are famous for what. Askold and Dir: who the first Kiev princes really were. Askold - the son of Rurik

Askold and Dir In the dated part of the "Tale of Bygone Years" there is a very short message about how the Varangian rulers appeared in Kiev. These were supposedly close associates of the legendary Rurik: “In the summer of 6370 ... he had 2 husbands, not his tribe, but a boyar, and she asked for

B. Olshansky. In the summer of 908. Going to Constantinople

882
Askold - Varangian from Rurik's squad, Kiev prince in 864-882. (ruled together with Deer).

According to The Tale of Bygone Years, Askold and Dir were boyars of the Novgorod prince Rurik, who sent them off on a campaign against Constantinople. They settled in Kiev, seizing power over the glades, which at that time did not have their own prince and paid tribute to the Khazars (864).

Rus' campaign to Constantinople in 860
Trizna of Russian vigilantes. Painting by G. Semiradsky.

The chronicles associate the names of Askold and Dir with the first campaign of Rus against Constantinople, dated 866 (probably took place in 860; Byzantine sources report only one leader of the Rus, without naming him), which was followed by the so-called first baptism of Rus. It is possible that Askold's Christian name was the name of Nikola, since on the site of his grave a church was built in honor of this saint.

Askold and Dir were killed (882) by the Novgorod prince Oleg, who accused them of illegal seizure of power, since they were not from the Rurik clan.

According to the Novgorod first chronicle, the Varangians Askold and Dir are not associated with Rurik, and came to Kiev before Rurik was invited to Novgorod, but after the Rus campaign against Constantinople. In Kiev, they called themselves princes and began to fight with the Drevlyans and the Uglichs.

Hike to Constantinople of Askold and Dir in the Radziwill Chronicle, 15th century

Description in later sources

In the Pskov 2nd Chronicle (15th century) it is said that: “And the princes in that summer byahu on the Ruska lands; From Varyag 5 princes, the first name is Skald (that is, Askold), and the other is Dir, and the third is Rurik ... ".

The Nikon and Joachim annals contain information unknown from other sources about the events of the 870s: the flight of a part of the Novgorod nobility from Rurik to Askold during the struggle for power in Novgorod, the death of Askold's son in the fight against the Bulgarians (872), Askold's campaigns against Polotsk ( 872), Krivichi (where Rurik planted his governors) and Pechenegs (875). The campaign of Rus to Constantinople (860), attributed by the Tale of Bygone Years to 866, is dated 874-875.

Siege of Constantinople by the Russians, led by Askold and Dir. Patriarch Photius and Emperor Michael III touch the surface of the sea with the Robe of Our Lady. The Radziwill Chronicle.

In addition to the ancient Russian chronicles, Askold and Dir are mentioned in the work of the 15th century Polish historian Jan Dlugosh (possibly compiled to substantiate Poland's claims to the Kiev inheritance, as opposed to the Moscow Rurikovichs). In his interpretation, Askold was a Polyansky prince, a descendant of Kiy, the founder of Kiev. He was the governor of Prince Dir, who may have removed the latter from the throne and became an autocratic ruler.

Historiography according to Askold

Askold's grave, Ivan Bilibin

In 1919, Academician A. A. Shakhmatov linked Prince Askold with Southern Priilmeny (center of Staraya Russa). According to his hypothesis, Rusa was the original capital of the most ancient country. And from this "ancient Rus ... soon after" 839, a movement of Scandinavian Rus began to the south, which led to the founding of a "young Russian state" in Kiev around 840. In 1920, Academician S.F. Platonov noted that future research would collect ... the best material for clarifying and strengthening A.A. The prominent historian of the Russian diaspora G.V. Vernadsky also linked Prince Askold with Staraya Russa.

BA Rybakov put forward a bold assumption about the presence of "Askold's chronicle" in Ancient Russia.

The name Askold, according to most researchers, comes from the Old Norse Haskuldr or Hoskuldr. According to another version, the name has local, Slavic roots. BA Rybakov believed that the name Oskold may come from the ancient self-designation of the Scythians: chipped.

In 2010, V.V.Fomin considered it possible to admit that Askold and Dir, forced to leave Priilmenye, as soon as Rurik, representing Varangian Russia, first settled in Ladoga, were connected with Staraya Russkaya Rus (the center of Staraya Russa)

Dir (in the Ipatiev Chronicle also Dird,? -882) - the legendary Varangian who seized Kiev together with Askold and was killed with him by the Novgorod prince Oleg.

According to The Tale of Bygone Years, he was a boyar of the Novgorod prince Rurik. Together with Askold, they allegedly went down the Dnieper to Kiev in the land of the meadows, which at that time did not have a prince and paid tribute to the Khazars, and sat there as princes. Further in the PVL it is reported that in 866, under the leadership of Dir and Askold, Rus made the first campaign against Constantinople (and Byzantine sources indicate that the campaign was in 860), then in about 882 Rurik's successor, Prince Oleg of Novgorod, captured Kiev and, according to legend, he deceived Dir and Askold to his boat and killed both because of the illegality of their rule due to the lack of princely dignity, introducing them to Igor, the son of Rurik.

Death of Askold and Dir. Engraving by F.A. Bruni, 1839.

According to another hypothesis, Askold and Dir ruled at different times. The mention of Dir is sometimes seen in the message of the Arab geographer al-Masudi (mid-10th century), about a certain powerful Slavic ruler: various kinds of goods ". Consequently, Dir could rule either after Askold, or even before his arrival. According to one version, Deer, mentioned by al-Masudi, ruled after Oleg the Prophet, but was deposed and killed by the legendary Oleg II (who, in turn, was expelled by his cousin Igor Rurikovich around 936). According to this version, the author of the PVL combined the legend of the elimination of Askold by Prince Oleg the Prophet with the legend of the elimination of Dir by the legendary Oleg II. According to another version, Dir reigned in Kiev until Askold and took part in the campaign in 860. It has been suggested that Dir can be identified with the "king of the Slavs", to whom the Caucasian tribe of the Sanarians in the 850s turned for help against the Arab caliph. This "king of the Slavs" was placed by the author of the 9th century al-Ya'kubi on a par with the rulers of Byzantium and Khazaria. VN Tatishchev, relying on the "Joachim Chronicle", believed that Askold's invitation to Kiev was due to the lack of a ruler in the glades, that is, as other historians believe, after the death of Dir. However, Tatishchev himself considered the appearance of Dir a mistake in reading the text of the chronicle.

Death of Askold. Unknown artist of the late 19th century

Askold and Dir, allegedly killed by Oleg together, were buried in various places: “And they killed Askold and Dir, carried him to the mountain and buried Askold on the mountain, which is now called Ugorskaya, where now Olmin's yard; on that grave Olm built the church of St. Nicholas; and Dirov's grave - behind the church of St. Irene. " According to one version, this testifies to an artificial connection in the annals of Askold and Dir, which may have happened due to a misreading of the Scandinavian spelling of Askold's name - Hoskuldr, or under the influence of local legends about Dir and his grave.

According to another version, "Deer" is the title or nickname of Prince Askold, whose existence is beyond doubt among many. Academician Rybakov Boris Aleksandrovich, Soviet historian and Slavic scholar, wrote: “The personality of Prince Dir is not clear to us. It is felt that his name is artificially attached to Oskold, because when describing their joint actions, the grammatical form gives us a single, not double, as it should be when describing the joint actions of two persons. "

Hike to Constantinople.

Having concentrated power in his hands after the death of the brothers, Rurik lived in Novgorod, distributing to the best warriors for feeding the city of Polotsk in the land of the Krivichi, Rostov in the land of Mary, Beloozero in the land of Vesi, Murom (the city of the Finnish tribe of the same name on the Oka River). He allowed Askold and Dir to go on a campaign against Constantinople. There are different opinions about the origin of Askold and Dir. According to one version, Askold, the Russian kagan, was a direct descendant of Kiy, the founder of Kiev. He ruled Kiev along with Deer (or Dmir). According to another version, the prince of Kiev was Dir, whose governor Askold served. According to the third version, Askold and Dir were Rurik's vigilantes and comrades.

With a small retinue, they went down the Dnieper to Kiev, stopped at the meadows and began to gather an army. Kievans paid tribute to the Khazars. Askold and Dir promised to free them from tribute and settled in a rich city. The Varangians, led by experienced military leaders, conducted several successful campaigns in the steppe, and the Khazars did not want to demand tribute from the Kievites. For four years of active combat life, the squad of Askold and Dir has grown significantly. They decided to go to Constantinople.

Preparations for a difficult campaign ended, and 200 rooks set off in 860. along the Dnieper to the Black Sea. Each boat had 40-50 people.

Sacrifice of Rurik 862.
Engraving by B. Chorikov. XIX century.

They chose a very good time for the hike. In Constantinople that year there was neither an army nor Emperor Michael III, who was waging a difficult struggle with the Arabs. Only Patriarch Photius was in the capital, but he did not think about the invasion of the enemy, burdened with state, religious and personal affairs. In the summer of 860, Emperor Michael III set out on a campaign against the Arabs. The boats of Askold and Dir hurried to the capital of the Byzantine Empire.

On June 18, 860, the weather was calm and sunny in Constantinople. Suddenly in the north a motley spot appeared in the strait, and people froze with horror: the boats of the Russians cut a soft wave, approaching the city. The rooks went exactly on the course outlined by Askold and Dir. Each knew her place in the ranks. The Russians clearly landed troops, took the low suburban gates, scattered across the outskirts. The warriors of Askold and Dir worked harmoniously: they threw everything valuable into boats, then fire into houses ...

And the Byzantine soldiers were preparing for an enemy assault. They hoped very much for the high, solid walls of Constantinople.

Having coped with the first task of the raid, the Russians approached the city and began to build an embankment. There were too few defenders, and their mood quickly changed. They were close to panic, despair. On the outside, under the walls, stubborn lovers of other people's good are swarming. From the inner side of the fortress, as from a volcano that suddenly woke up, the noise of panicking Constantinople rushes.

And suddenly the volcano began to subside: something important happened in the city. There, in the church of Hagia Sophia, Patriarch Photius spoke calmly, firmly. And his speech was strange. He denounced fellow citizens, recalling how "the Greeks unjustly ran around the visiting Russians", about other sins.

The mound was growing. And the inhabitants of the capital of the world power went to the temple, from where they heard a confident voice: “We received forgiveness and did not have mercy on our neighbor. The delighted themselves, grieved everyone, the glorified themselves, dishonored everyone ... Finally the time has come to resort to the Mother of the Word, to Her, the only hope and refuge. We will cry out to her: "Venerable, save your city, as you know!"

From the Blachernae Church they raised the robe of the Mother of God, and the people set out for the procession. The patriarch and the clergy in full vestments, banners, a solemn choir of voices, a string of townspeople and in front of them is a miraculous robe ...

The Russians from below saw people on the fortress wall and the sky clipped by the edge of a brick wall. In the sky, people moved slowly, united by a single spirit ...

For several decades in a row, the Slavs went to the Slavs, and they did not have unity, there was no powerful support of the spirit that led the Byzantines along the wall. Rurik brought order to the Slavs with a sword - did they succeed? Fear calmed down the Slavs a little, but there was something else between the high wall and the Byzantine sky. It was not fear that led the townspeople to the procession.

The Byzantines kept walking and walking along the wall. A single mass. The voices of the singers had a magical effect on the Russians. The Russians were not shy. And the state that they experienced cannot be called fear. That was a stronger feeling. And it was not a feeling at all, but Vera. At that moment, the soldiers realized that it was impossible to defeat the people on the wall, just as it was impossible to make the sun not shine. And when the unhurried procession approached the builders of the embankment along the edge between the sky and the wall, one of the Russians screamed, threw the tool and rushed to the boats, dragging his comrades-in-arms with him. No one fired at them, no one chased them. And they ran, ran, as if from fire.

Excited Russians went home ...

In 867, as Photius says in a letter to the Pope, the Rus tribe adopted the Christian faith. It was one of the tribes that settled in the Black Sea region. However, some historians claim that Askold was the first in Russia to accept the Orthodox faith, which means that many of his retinue were also.

This episode, recorded in the message of the Patriarch of Constantinople, must be borne in mind when discussing the topic of the Baptism of Rus, which took place more than a century after the events described.

"The Tale of Bygone Years" set up two "Varangians" - Askold and Dir, who supposedly came to Kiev from Novgorod and liberated the "Polyans" from the Khazar tribute.

Like Rurik, both "Varangian princes" firmly established themselves in the pages of ancient Russian history. However, there is absolutely nothing to confirm the historicity of these characters. In the middle of the IX century. neither Novgorod nor Kiev as urban centers existed yet. The names of the leaders of the Rus who raided Constantinople in 860 remained unknown to Byzantine and Western European chroniclers. A similar picture was observed in Russia, where the annalistic collection of the preceding "Tale of Bygone Years", preserved as part of the Novgorod first chronicle of the younger edition, also did not connect this campaign with Askold and Dir. From this it follows that the names of Askold and Dir were included in the chronicle by one of the later editors of The Tale of Bygone Years, who also turned them into "Varangians" and Rurik "boyars". Thus, the whole history of their reign in Kiev is a "poem" that is completely inappropriate for historical reconstructions.

To confirm the historical existence of Askold and Dir, a fragment from the work of the Arab historian Masudi with the mention of a similar name is usually used: "The first of the Slavic kings is king Dir (or Aldira, Dina, Aldin. - S. Ts.), it has vast cities and many inhabited countries; Muslim merchants arrive in the capital of his state with all sorts of goods. "

At the same time, historians turn a blind eye to the fact that this text is completely inappropriate for describing the Middle Dnieper region of the second half of the 9th century, where there was still no "vast cities" or a political association embracing "many inhabited countries", but more or less noticeable traces of trade with the Arabs (treasures with dirhams) appear only after 900 BC.

But most importantly, Masudi's message about "King Dir" is viewed in isolation from the context, which assumes a completely different historical and geographical reality. The boundaries of the "kingdom of Dir" are outlined as follows: "Next to this king of the Slavic kings lives the king al-Olwang, who has cities and vast areas, many troops and military supplies; he is at war with Rum [Byzantium], Ifrange [Frankish empires], Nukabard [ distorted: the Lombards, that is, Northern Italy] and with other peoples ... "Judging by the geographical marks, the Arab writer clearly speaks of some Croatian prince of Dalmatia (among the local cities, Konstantin Porphyrogenitus, a contemporary of Masudi, calls Alvun (Olvang in Masudi) - modern Labin on the Istrian peninsula in Yugoslavia). "Then, - continues Masudi, - the king of Turk [Hungary] borders on this Slavic king. This tribe [Hungarians] is the most beautiful of the Slavs, the largest of them in number and the bravest of them ..."

So, the "kingdom of Dir" is limited on the one hand by the northwestern Balkans, on the other - by Hungary, which circumstance negates all attempts to correlate it with the Kiev principality of Askold and Dir.

Moreover, it is not identified at all with any of the Slavic states of the late 9th - early 10th centuries. According to the geographical reference points of Masudi, the "kingdom of Dir" should be located either south or north of the Danube, in the territory between Dalmatia and Pannonia (Hungary). Therefore, we can talk about Great Moravia or about Bulgaria - countries whose sovereigns really claimed primacy in the Slavic world, in whose vast possessions there were populous cities. But the name "kingdom of Dir" is not applicable to any of them, since this name is absent both in the names of the ruling dynasties and in the toponyms of these countries.

Old Russian warrior. Late 9th - early 10th century

But this is not all the arguments against the localization of the "kingdom of Dir" in the Middle Dnieper region. The assignment of the Hungarians to the "Slavs" testifies to the fact that Masudi used the term "al-Sakaliba" ("Slavs") rather broadly - to refer to the general population of Europe living between the Frankish state, Italy and Byzantium. Therefore, it is possible that the "first of the Slavic kings" actually means Otto I - the Saxon duke, and since 936 the king of the East Frankish kingdom (Germany) - really the strongest state of Central Europe at that time.

The obvious foreignness of the chronicle legends about Askold and Dir of the historical reality of Kiev on the Dnieper suggests their involvement in the history of some other, Danube Kiev, where they could have come from. For this role are suitable, for example: Keve (Kevee, near Orsov), which is narrated by the Hungarian chronicler Anonymous Notary, the city of Kijov in South Moravia near Brno, six more Kyjov and three Kyje in the Czech Republic, three Kije, four Kijani and two Kijova in Slovakia. This hypothesis is also supported by the message from the Nikon Chronicle (16th century) about the death of Askold's son in the fight against the Danube Bulgarians.

The etymology of both names does not add anything significant to the origin of Askold and Dir. The name Dir is Celtic (Dir) and means - faithful, strong, noble ( Kuzmin A.G. Old Russian names and their parallels // Where did the Russian land come from. Book. 1.M., 1986 ); It was also assimilated by the Slavs (in the chronicle of Kozma of Prague there are Czech names Tyr, Tyro; the Polish historian Palatsky mentions Dirslas or Dirislas). The name Askold (the original Oskold), apparently, is related to the Church Slavonic word oskol - "rock" (the addition of the final "d" is characteristic of the South Russian dialect - so Dir in the Ipatiev Chronicle is read in the form of Dird) ( Fasmer M. Etymological Dictionary: In 4 volumes. Ed. 2.M, 1986.T. III. P. 160 ). That is, both of them are devoid of any characteristic features that would help to firmly link them with a particular region.

In the end, the only proof of the real presence of Askold and Dir in the history of ancient Kiev is their "graves", already mentioned in the "Tale of Bygone Years" as local attractions and preserved in Kiev topography up to the present day. However, spaced apart at a considerable distance, they do little to popularize the chronicle idea of ​​the "Varangian princes" as an inseparable government tandem. And the very "folk study of local lore", which associates certain areas with the biographies of historical or pseudo-historical characters, is an extremely unreliable source even for probabilistic conclusions.

In a word, it is very likely that we have before us the phantom figures of early Russian history.

Meanwhile, the Rus really had to settle in the Middle Dnieper region no later than the middle of the 9th century. Patriarch Photius noted that in 860 the Rus turned their weapons against Byzantium only after they had conquered the peoples around them. These peoples could only be the East Slavic tribes that lived in the Dnieper region, whom Constantine Porphyrogenitus would later describe as "paktiots" (that is, tributaries) of the Rus.

Most likely, the first "Russian" prince, who settled in the Middle Dnieper on the Kiev "mountains", remained unknown to us. But if we talk not about the personality of the ruler, but about the ruling stratum as a whole, then there is no need to guess here: it consisted of Tauride Rus. Indeed, according to the conclusion of D.L. Talis, "Byzantine writers called Dnieper Rus' Tavro-Scythians and Taurus precisely because the name of the people who really lived in Crimea in the 8th-9th centuries, that is, dews" was transferred to it "(Talis D. Rosa in Crimea). This is indicated, in particular, by one curious hydrographic paradox - the name of the Desna River, which flows into the Dnieper just above Kiev. According to modern geographic concepts, this is - left a tributary of the Dnieper, but for those who gave the Desna its name, it was "right hand", that is, " right"the river. And the only Slavic ethnos, which, moving up the Dnieper, could find the Desna to the right of them, were.

Apparently, from about this time, the name began to be fixed for the Middle Dnieper: Rus, Russian land.
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The history of ancient Russia keeps many secrets and secrets. One of these mysteries is the first princes of Kiev, whom we know as Askold and Dir. Who were they by origin, where did they come from, who were they to each other? Or maybe it was just one person?

Let's try to figure it out by setting out the generally accepted version, as well as several versions of events that historians admit, based on very specific facts.

Official version

It is believed that Askold and Dir were by origin Varangians - Rus, as they were then called. They had no relationship with the ruling prince Rurik, but were simply his "boyars". When Rurik sat down in Novgorod, he began to distribute to his closest people. So he let Dir and Askold go south in search of a suitable place to rule. Those, going down the Dnieper, saw the glorious city of Kiev, in which the glade lived. Askold and Dir decided to stay there and declared themselves rulers.

They were loyal to the population, local customs and religion. The tribute was left unchanged. In addition, like any northern warrior, they knew military affairs well and came accompanied by a well-armed detachment. Therefore, the Kievites decided not to rebel and calmly accepted their new rulers.

Around 860-866 Askold and Dir made an ambitious military campaign against Constantinople. To protect his city from the warlike Rus, the reigning emperor Michael III decided to end the war with the Arabs and hastily returned to the capital.

They arrived at the walls of Constantinople, leading an impressive flotilla of two hundred ships. They quickly and successfully plundered the outskirts and laid siege to the city. A real threat of conquest hung over the capital of Byzantium. Then the emperor Michael and the saint began to pray intensely for the protection of the center of the Christian world. Suddenly, a terrible storm arose on the sea, which scattered and destroyed the warlike ships of the Rus. Constantinople was saved by divine providence.

Askold and Dir were forced to conclude a peace treaty with Byzantium and decided to be baptized into Christianity.

In 879, Prince Rurik died in Novgorod, leaving his young son Igor as his heir and his relative known as Oleg the Prophet as his guardian. He decided to take power not only over the northern, but also over the southern lands, so he gathered an impressive army from the Slavs and Varangians and moved in a southern direction. Smolensk and ancient Lyubech submitted to him. Soon Oleg approached Kiev.

He understood well that the Kiev princes had a strong squad and would defend themselves so as not to surrender power. Therefore, I decided to act by cunning. He left his main army in an ambush, while he passed himself off as a peaceful merchant and invited Askold and Dir to him for negotiations on trade. Those without fear went to the meeting, but on the shore they were surrounded by a military squad. According to The Tale of Bygone Years, Oleg came out in front of the captured princes and accused them that they were not of a famous family and ruled over the people by deception. Then he pointed to little Igor and said: "Here is the prince, here is the son of Rurik!"

Askold and Dir were immediately killed. A mound with the remains of Askold still stands on the steep bank of the Dnieper, and the ashes of Dir rested for a long time near the temple of St. Irene.

So Oleg began to rule in Kiev from It was he who declared Kiev the mother of Russian cities, the center of Russian lands. In 882, for the first time, the northern and southern lands united under the rule of one prince.

This is the official version of events. But historians are considering many options based on a comparison of various chronicles and legends.

Story options

For example, there are disagreements about the origins of Dir and Askold. Some historians believe that Askold was a Slav and a direct descendant of Dir. Others, on the contrary, only ascribe the role of a subordinate to Dir, while Askold is considered a Varangian and a voivode.

Ancient Byzantine sources, when describing the military campaign of the Russians in 866, generally mention only one prince, therefore it is quite possible that Askold and Dir are one and the same person, the Varangian Askold nicknamed Dir. Translated from the ancient northern language, Dir meant "Beast", which could be a nickname-title.

If, nevertheless, we confidently consider them as two separate people, then it is quite logical to assume that Askold and Dir ruled at different times, and in the Tale of Bygone Years they are artificially united into co-rulers. The chronicler could logically combine them as two illegal rulers. Historians are surprised by the fact that two princes, who were killed at the same time, according to the scriptures, were buried in such distant places. And the Joachim Chronicle says that Oleg killed only one prince - Askold, and the name of Dir is not mentioned there at all.

If we compare multiple historical sources, it becomes quite obvious that Dir was the first ruler of Kiev and lived in the early and middle of the 9th century, and Askold became his successor and reigned in the second half of the 9th century.

As we can see, there are many unexplained circumstances in the history of these Kiev princes, which are reliably hidden from us by centuries of history. Will we ever solve them?

(2nd half of the 9th - the turn of the 9th-10th centuries?), Possibly the first Rus. christ. princes. According to the Kiev (?) Legend, recorded in a short, ancient form in the so-called. The initial set of the 90s. XI century. (reflected in the NPL Commission List), and in a lengthy, several. later - in the "Tale of Bygone Years" (10-ies. XII century), A. and D. ruled in Kiev until the capture of his prince. Oleg. The oldest version represents A. and D. as newcomers-Varangians who settled in Kiev some time after the legendary founders of the city - the brothers Kyi, Schek and Khoryv and who fought with the neighboring Eastern Slavs. by the tribes of the Drevlyans and the Ulitsy (see. Slavs). The Varangian prince who appeared from Novgorod. Igor tricked A. and D. into negotiations, killed them under the pretext that they were princes illegally, not belonging to a princely family, and took the Kiev table. The graves of A. and D. were known at the time of the chronicler (A. - in the courtyard of a certain Olma, D. - near the monastery of St. Irina). The author of the PVL, who knew, thanks to the treaty between Russia and Byzantium from 911, that Oleg reigned in Kiev before Igor, rightly assumes that A. and D. were killed by Oleg's orders; Rurik, and also supplies the story with artificial dates (862 - the vocation of Rurik by Novgorod Slovenes and the departure from him to the south of A. and D., 882 - the capture of Kiev by Oleg and the murder of A. and D.), which cannot be considered as reliable ...

The Varangian origin of A. and D. is confirmed by the Scandinavian name A. (from Old Scandal. Stem;?) And, apparently, also D. (Old Scand. Dýri? Corresponds to Old German * tiuri - beast). In the pairing of the names A. and D., the influence of the Khazars is sometimes seen. models of dual power, but it is quite possible that oral tradition combined the names of the princes who ruled at different times. In support of the latter opinion, they often refer to the mention of the alleged glories. book ad-Dir in the Arab. writer of the 40s. X century. al-Masudi, information to-rogo about the Slavs, of course, is much older than the 1st floor. X century, however, it must be borne in mind that both the reading of ad-Dir and its interpretation as the name of the Kiev prince are controversial.

The assumption of the compiler of PVL does not look incredible, which is known from the Greek. sources hike rus. fleet to K-pol in June 860 (in the PVL it is erroneously dated 866) came from Kiev in the times of A. and D. According to the District Epistle of the K-Polish Patriarch St. Photius 866/67 and the Life of the Imp. Basil I, written in mid. X century. imp. Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus, imprisoned shortly after the Russian-Byzantine campaign. the peace treaty provided for the Baptism of Rus and the creation of a bishopric here (according to Constantine VII, archdiocese). Russia adopted the Greek. Bishop and was baptized (in historiography, this event was named "the first baptism"; according to the Life of Basil I, Baptism was preceded by a miracle with the Gospel that did not burn in fire, which convinced the "barbarians" of the truth of the Christ. Faith). Apparently, the memory of A. and D. as the first Rus. christ. rulers were preserved in the oral tradition, and for this reason Olma placed over the grave of A. "the church of St. Nicholas" (NPL, p. 107). The beginnings of Christianity, which appeared in Kiev under A. and D., were apparently destroyed by pagan reaction during the reign of Oleg.

The Nikon Chronicle (1st half of the 16th century) contains a number of additional information about A. and D. (about their wars with the Polotsk and Pechenegs, about the arrival of “Novgorod husbands” who fled from Rurik, etc.), reliability to-rykh is doubtful. In addition, due to the unsuccessful combination of news from different sources by the compiler of the Nikon Chronicle, the impression arises of several. campaigns A. and D. to Constantinople. It is impossible to assume on this basis the existence of some ancient Kiev chronicle of the era of A. and D. (B. A. Rybakov). The attempts to confirm the reliability of the Polish information are equally unconvincing. historian of the XV century. Dlugosha that A. and D. were glory. princes from the Kiya clan.

Source: NPL. S. 106-107; PSRL. T. 1. Stb. 20-23; T. 2. Stb. 15-17; T. 9.S. 7, 9, 13, 15; Istrin V. M. Books of the time and imagery of Georgy Mnich: Chronicle of Georgy Amartol in the ancient Slavic Rus. translation. Pg., 1920.T. 1.S. 511; Chronicler Jellinsky and Roman. SPb., 1999. T. 1.S. 455; Sitopt F. Anecdota Bruxellensia, I: Chroniques byzantines du manuscrit 11376. Gand, 1894. P. 33; Θωτίου ῾Ομιλίαι / Ed. B. Laourdas. Thessal. 1959. P. 29-52; Photii patriarchae Constantinopolitani Epistulae et Amphilochia / Rec. B. Laourdas, L. Westerinck. Lpz. 1983 T. 1. P. 49; Constantini Porphyrogenneti de Basilio Macedone. IV, 33; V, 97 // Theophanes Continuatus, Ioannes Cameniata, Symeon Magister, Georgius Monachus / Rec. I. Becker. Bonnae, 1838. P. 196, 342-344; Les prairies d "or / Ed. Ch. Pellat. Beyrouth, 1966. P. 144; Joannis Dlugossii Annales, seu Cronicae incliti regni Poloniae / Rec. D. Turkowska. Warsz., 1963. T. 1. P. 121.

Lit .: Macarius. History of the RC. Book. 1.S. 196-207; Golubinsky. History of the RC. T. 1/1. S. 35-52; Shakhmatov A. A . Investigations about the most ancient Russian annalistic vaults. SPb., 1908.S. 319-323; Vasiliev A. A. The Russian Attack on Constantinople in 860. Camb. (Mass.) 1946; Rybakov B. A . Ancient Russia: Legends, epics, chronicles. 1965.S. 159-173; O. Tvorogov V . Old Russian chronographs. L., 1975.S. 57, 71, 201, 259, 273, 283, 303; he is. How many times did Askold and Dir go to Constantinople? // Slavic studies. 1992. No. 2. S. 54-59; Sakharov, A. N. Diplomacy of Ancient Rus: IX - first half. X century. M., 1980. S. 48-82 [Bibliography]; M üll er L. Die Taufe Russlands: Die Frühgeschichte des russischen Christentums bis zum Jahre 988. Münch. 1987 S. 32-44, 57-66; Nazarenko A. V . Russian Church in the X - 1st third of the XV century. // PE. T. ROC. P. 38.

A. V. Nazarenko

A. was buried in Olma's courtyard “on the mountain, nowadays Ugorsk is danced” (NPL, p. 107), after. this tract began to be called Askold's grave. Before the beginning. XX century. there was a cemetery on Askold's grave, now it is part of a park complex on the right, high bank of the Dnieper. In 1810, on the site of a long standing wooden church. in the name of St. Nicholas, which belonged to the nearby Nikolo-Desert mon-ryu, a small stone church with a rotunda was built in the name of St. Nicholas according to the project of architect. A. I. Melensky. In the crypt under the church in 1908, the theologian Bishop was buried. Kanevsky Sylvester (Malevansky). During the Soviet era, the church was rebuilt into a park pavilion. Divine services in it resumed in the 90s. XX century, in the present. time the temple belongs to the Greek Catholics. Based on chronicle motives and folk legends, MN Zagoskin in 1833 wrote the novel "Askold's Grave", the plot of which formed the basis of the opera of the same name by AN Verstovsky (1835).

Lit .: Zakrevsky N. Description of Kiev. M., 1868.2 t .; Titov F. Guidebook for viewing the shrines and sights of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra and Kiev. K., 1910; Kiev: Encyclopedia. ref. K., 1982.

E. V. Lopukhina