Scientists cannot say exactly when the Old Russian state appeared in our time. Different groups of historians talk about many dates, but most of them agree on one thing: the appearance of Ancient Russia can be dated to the 9th century. That is why various theories of the origin of the ancient Russian state are widespread, each of which tries to prove its own version of the emergence of a great state.

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The emergence of the ancient Russian state is brief

As it is written in the world-famous "Tale of Bygone Years", Rurik and his brothers were called to reign in Novgorod in 862. For many, this date became the starting point for the statehood of Ancient Rus. Varangian princes sat on the thrones in Novgorod (Rurik), Izborsk (Truvor), in Belozero (Sineus). After some time, Rurik managed to unite together the presented lands under a single authority.

Oleg, a prince from Novgorod, captured Kiev in 882 to unite the most important groups of lands, and then annexed the rest of the territory. It was from that period that the lands of the Eastern Slavs united into a large state. In other words, the formation of the Old Russian state dates back to the 9th century, according to most scientists.

The most common theories of the origin of the ancient Russian state

Norman theory

The Norman theory tells that the state was able to organize the Vikings, who at one time were called to the throne. These are the brothers mentioned above. It is worth noting that this theory originates in The Tale of Bygone Years. Why did the Vikings manage to organize the state? The thing is that the Slavs allegedly quarreled among themselves, unable to come to a common solution. Representatives of the Norman theory say that the Russian rulers turned to foreign princes for help. It was in this way that the Varangians established the state system in Russia.

Anti-Norman theory

The anti-Norman theory says that the state of Ancient Rus appeared for other, more objective reasons. Many historical sources say that the statehood of the Eastern Slavs took place before the Varangians. At that period of historical development, the Normans were below the Slavs in terms of political development. In addition, the state cannot arise in one day thanks to one person, it is the result of a long-term social phenomenon. The autochthonous (in other words, the Slavic theory) was developed thanks to its adopters - N. Kostomarov, M. Grushevsky. The founder of this theory is the scientist M. Lomonosov.

Other notable theories

In addition to these most common theories, there are several more. Let's consider them in more detail.

The IRANO-SLAVIC THEORY of the emergence of the state suggests that there were 2 separate types of Rus in the world - the inhabitants of Rügen (Rus-encouraged), as well as the Black Sea Rus. Some Ilmen Slovenes invited the Russ-cheers. The rapprochement of the Russians took place precisely after the unification of the tribes into one state.

COMPROMISE theory in other words is called Slavic-Varangian. One of the first adopters of this approach to the formation of the Russian state was the historical figure Klyuchevsky. The historian singled out a certain urban area - an early local political form. It is a trading district ruled by a fortified city. He called the Varangian principalities the second local political form. After the unification of the Varangian principalities and the preservation of the independence of the city regions, another political form emerged, called the Grand Duchy of Kiev.

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In addition, there is a theory called Indo-Iranian. At the heart of this theory is the opinion that Rus and grew up are completely different nationalities that arose at different times.

Video: Rurik. History of Russian Goverment

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For many centuries scientists have been breaking spears trying to understand the origin of the Russian people. And if the research of the past was based on archaeological and linguistic data, today even genetics have taken up the task.

From the Danube

Of all the theories of Russian ethnogenesis, the Danube one is the most famous. We owe its appearance to the chronicle collection "The Tale of Bygone Years", or rather to the centuries-old love for this source of Russian academicians.

The chronicler Nestor determined the initial territory of the Slavs' settlement by territories along the lower reaches of the Danube and Vistula. The theory of the Danube "ancestral home" of the Slavs was developed by such historians as Sergei Soloviev and Vasily Klyuchevsky.
Vasily Osipovich Klyuchevsky believed that the Slavs moved from the Danube to the Carpathian region, where an extensive military alliance of tribes arose, led by the Duleb-Volyn tribe.

From the Carpathian region, according to Klyuchevsky, in the 7th-8th centuries, the Eastern Slavs settled in the East and North-East to Lake Ilmen. Many historians and linguists still adhere to the Danube theory of Russian ethnogenesis. A great contribution to its development was made at the end of the 20th century by the Russian linguist Oleg Nikolaevich Trubachev.

Yes, we are Scythians!

One of the most fierce opponents of the Norman theory of the formation of Russian statehood, Mikhail Lomonosov, leaned towards the Scythian-Sarmatian theory of Russian ethnogenesis, about which he wrote in his "Ancient Russian History". According to Lomonosov, the ethnogenesis of the Russians occurred as a result of the mixing of the Slavs and the Chudi tribe (Lomonosov's term is Finno-Ugric), and he named the interfluve of the Vistula and the Oder as the source of the ethnic history of Russians.

Supporters of the Sarmatian theory rely on ancient sources, and Lomonosov did the same. He compared Russian history with the history of the Roman Empire and ancient beliefs with the pagan beliefs of the Eastern Slavs, finding a large number of coincidences. The fierce struggle with the adherents of the Norman theory is quite understandable: the people-tribe Rus, according to Lomonosov, could not have originated from Scandinavia under the influence of the expansion of the Vikings-Normans. First of all, Lomonosov opposed the thesis about the backwardness of the Slavs and their inability to independently form a state.

Gellenthal theory

An interesting hypothesis about the origin of Russians, published this year by the Oxford scientist Garrett Gellenthal. Having done a lot of work on studying the DNA of various peoples, he and a group of scientists compiled a genetic atlas of the migration of peoples.
According to the scientist, two significant milestones can be distinguished in the ethnogenesis of the Russian people. In 2054 BC. e., according to Gellenthal, the trans-Baltic peoples and peoples from the territories of modern Germany and Poland migrated to the north-western regions of modern Russia. The second milestone is 1306, when the migration of the Altai peoples began, which actively interbred with representatives of the Slavic branches.
Gellenthal's research is also interesting in that genetic analysis proved that the time of the Mongol-Tatar invasion had practically no effect on Russian ethnogenesis.

Two ancestral homelands

Another interesting migration theory was proposed at the end of the 19th century by the Russian linguist Alexei Shakhmatov. His theory of "two ancestral homelands" is also sometimes called Baltic. The scientist believed that initially the Balto-Slavic community emerged from the Indo-European group, which became autochthonous in the Baltic. After its collapse, the Slavs settled in the territory between the lower reaches of the Neman and the Western Dvina. This territory became the so-called "first ancestral home". Here, according to Shakhmatov, the Proto-Slavic language was formed, from which all Slavic languages ​​originated.

Further migration of the Slavs was associated with the great migration of peoples, during which at the end of the second century AD the Germans went south, liberating the Vistula River basin, where the Slavs came. Here, in the lower basin of the Vistula, Shakhmatov defines the second ancestral home of the Slavs. Already from here, according to the scientist, the division of the Slavs into branches began. The western one went to the Elbe region, the southern one split into two groups, one of which inhabited the Balkans and the Danube, the other - the Dnieper and Dniester. The latter became the basis of the East Slavic peoples, which include the Russians.

We are local

Finally, one more theory, different from migration theory, is the autochthonous theory. According to her, the Slavs were an indigenous people inhabiting eastern, central and even part of southern Europe. According to the theory of Slavic autochthonism, the Slavic tribes were the indigenous ethnos of a vast territory - from the Urals to the Atlantic Ocean. This theory has rather ancient roots and many supporters and opponents. This theory was adhered to by the Soviet linguist Nikolai Marr. He believed that the Slavs did not come from anywhere, but formed from tribal communities that lived in vast territories from the Middle reaches of the Dnieper to the Laba in the West and from the Baltic to the Carpathians in the south.
The autochthonous theory was also adhered to by Polish scientists - Klechevsky, Pototsky and Sestrentsevich. They even led the ancestry of the Slavs from the Vandals, basing their hypothesis, among other things, on the similarity of the words "Wends" and "Vandals". Of the Russians, the origin of the Slavs Rybakov, Mavrodin and Grekov was explained by the autochthonous theory.

The emergence of property inequality, the concentration of power and wealth in the hands of clan and tribal leaders, the formation of military squads loyal to the leader, the transition from a consanguineous community to a territorial one - all this created the preconditions for the emergence of state power.

Norman theory- a set of scientific concepts, according to which the first foundations of statehood in Russia were laid by the Scandinavians (ie "Varangians"), who were called to rule Russia. The Norman theory was put forward in the first half of the 18th century by German historians - Bayer and Miller. Both settled in Russia during the reign of Anna Ioannovna, for many years they worked at the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. The term "Varangians" itself arose in the late 9th - early 10th centuries. The Varangians are first mentioned in The Tale of Bygone Years, written by the monk Nestor. The tale of bygone years, created in the tenth, early eleventh centuries, says that the name of our state comes from the name of the Varangian tribe - "Rus", which was called by the Slavic and Finno-Ugric tribes (Slovenia, Krivichi, Chud and all) to resolve the inter-tribal conflict in 862: “And the Slovene said to themselves:“ Let us look for a prince who would rule over us and judge us by right. ” And they went across the sea to the Varangians, to Russia. Those Varangians were called Rus, as others are called the Swedes, and other Normans and Angles, and still other Gotlandians — that's how these are ”1. There is no mention of Russia as a state before. Consequently, according to the Norman theory. Until 862, the Slavic tribes inhabiting the territory of the future Russian state lived separately under their own names.

Varyag Rurik, according to the Ipatiev Chronicle, sat down to reign in Ladoga. After the death of the brothers Sineus and Truvor (whose existence is in doubt), the prince founded the city of Novgorod, where he himself moved, uniting all the power and lands of Russia in his hands. The chroniclers of ancient Russia, one of whom was the monk Nestor, who wrote already in the twelfth century, mentioned: “from those Varangians the Russian land was nicknamed”. Thus, according to this theory, the first princely family of Russia is of Scandinavian origin.

Archaeological sources most closely support the theory. The graves of the Rus found near Ladoga correspond to the method of burial in Sweden and on the Aland Islands. In 2008, at the Zemlyanoy settlement of Staraya Ladoga, archaeologists discovered objects from the era of the first Rurikovichs with the image of a falcon, which supposedly became a symbolic trident - the coat of arms of the Rurikovich. A similar image of a falcon was struck on the English coins of the Danish king Anlaf Gutfritson (939-941). During archaeological studies of the layers of the 9th-10th centuries in the Rurik settlement, a significant number of finds of military equipment and clothing of the Vikings were discovered, objects of the Scandinavian type were discovered (iron torcs with Thor's hammers, bronze pendants with runic inscriptions, a silver figurine of the Valkyrie, etc.), which indicates the presence of immigrants from Scandinavia in the Novgorod lands at the time of the birth of Russian statehood.

Anti-Norman theory is based on the concept of the impossibility of bringing statehood from outside, on the idea of ​​the emergence of the state as a stage in the internal development of society. Mikhail Lomonosov was considered the founder of this theory in Russian historiography. Famous Ukrainian historians of the "old school" - N. Kostomarov, V. Antonovich, M. Hrushevsky, D. Bagaliy - adhered to the Slavic theory of the origin of Russia and firmly stood on the positions of anti-Normanism. The hypothesis was formulated by V. N. Tatishchev and M. V. Lomonosov. It comes, firstly, from another fragment of the "Tale of Bygone Years":

In Soviet historiography, the Middle Dnieper region was considered the homeland of the Rus, they were identified with the glades. This assessment had official status. From modern concepts the theory of V. V. Sedov about the "Russian Kaganate" is known, which on the basis of archaeological material places Russia in the interfluve of the Dnieper and Don (Volyntsev archaeological culture) and defines it as a Slavic tribe.

In addition, there are different points of view on the origin of the Vikings themselves. Scientists, starting with Lomonosov, suggest their origin from the West Slavic lands. There are also intermediate versions of localization - in Finland, Prussia, and other parts of the Baltic states.

M.V. Lomonosov identified Russia ( Ross) with the Prussians, including the latter among the Slavs. In this Mikhail Vasilyevich relied primarily on his personal opinion about the similarities " their (Prussians) language with Slavic", And also referred to Pretoria and Helmold, who read" Prussian and Lithuanian for the branch of Slavic»[.

Using the "District Epistle of Patriarch Photius", he refuted the Norman theory. The mentioned work mentions "wagras". Lomonosov equates them with the Varangians. In the religious beliefs of the Roxolans, there is a worship of Perun. Hence, their identification with the Slavic population. In addition, many peoples living along the Baltic coast were called "Varangians". Conclusion: there were Varangians-Rus and Varangians-Scandinavians. The Russian language lacks elements of the Scandinavian languages. Consequently, there is no reason to say that the Varangians mentioned in the "Tale of Bygone Years" are Scandinavians. The place of the beginning of the ethnic history of Russians, in his opinion, is the interfluve of the Vistula and the Oder.

The most prominent anti-Normanist of the 19th century was DI Ilovaisky. DI Ilovaisky was a supporter of the southern origin of Russia. He defended the original Slavism of the Bulgarians, the great role of the Slavs in the Great Migration of Nations and the important role of the Slavs in the union of the Huns.

In the vastness of Europe in the second half of the first and the beginning of the second millennium, numerous sources localize, in addition to Kievan Rus, Carpathian Rus, Azov (Tmutarakan), Caspian, Danube (Rugiland-Rusia), in general, more than a dozen different Rusias. But especially many of them appear on the southern and eastern shores of the Baltic Sea. And it is precisely with the Baltic Rus, within which the Slavs and the peoples assimilated by them lived, that the very fact of the vocation of Varangian Rus is connected.

Centrist theory

Modern historians (Yurganov, Katsva) try to overcome extremes

both of these theories. The Old Russian state arose as a result of the internal development of society, social and economic changes; the formation of the Old Russian state was led by the need to regulate relations between people living in the same territory, as well as to protect their land from external enemies. They came to the following conclusions:

The Normans themselves at that time did not have statehood - the process of state formation began before the arrival of Rurik; the very fact of his invitation to reign suggests that this form of power was already known to the Slavs;

The question of whether Rurik is a real historical person is not connected with the problem of the formation of the state; no matter how he came to power (there is a version that he seized Novgorod by force), he took possession of it in the form in which it existed among the Ilmenian Slovenes;

Oleg, uniting the Novgorod and Kiev lands and establishing control over the two most important sections of the road "from the Varangians to the Greeks", brought the economic base under the emerging state.

Iranian-Slavic theory

According to this theory, there are two types of Rus - Rus-encouraged or Rugi, the inhabitants of Rügen (Baltic Slavs), and the Black Sea Rus, descendants of the Slavic and Iranian tribes. By the Ilmen Slovenes, the Rus-encouraged were invited. When the East Slavic tribes are united into a single state - Rus, there is a convergence of the two types of Rus.

Also, the form “ros” is identical with the Iranian languages ​​(from the word rokhs). Since the time of the Scythian domination in the Northern Black Sea region, the Iranian-speaking peoples had an influence on the non-Tran tribes. Among these non-Iranian tribes there were also Slavic tribes (antes) that lived between the Dnieper and Podontsovye during the early Middle Ages, and who had relations with the Iranian tribes.

Celtic-Slavic theory

According to Academician of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine V.G. Sklyarenko, the Novgorodians turned for help to the Varangians-Slavs (Baltic Slavs), who were called Ruthenes, or Rus.

The name Ruthenes (Rus) comes from one of the Celtic tribes, as the Ruthenian Celts took part in the ethnic formation of the Slavs of the island of Rügen. In addition to them, there were still the Azov-Black Sea Rus - the descendants of the Antes and Celts-Ruthenes, known even before the invitation of the Varangians-Slavs by the Novgorodians.

Both the Azov-Black Sea Rus and the Varangian-Rus are of Slavic-Celtic origin, only the former are of East Slavic-Celtic origin, and the latter are of West Slavic-Celtic origin. And the Zaporozhye Cossacks were descendants of the Azov-Black Sea Rus.

Indo-Iranian theory

The Indo-Iranian hypothesis insists that the ethnonym "Ros" has a different origin than "Rus", being much more ancient. Supporters of this opinion, also originating from M.V. Lomonosov, note that the people "grew up" were first mentioned in the 6th century in the "Church History" by Zachary Ritor, where they are placed next to the peoples of the "dog people" and the Amazons, what many authors interpret as the Northern Black Sea region. From this point of view, it is traced back to the Iranian-speaking (Sarmatian) tribes of the Roxalans, or Rosomons, mentioned by ancient authors.

A version of this theory was developed by G.V. Vernadsky, who placed the original territory of the Rus in the Kuban delta and believed that they had acquired their name from the Roxalans ("Light Alans"), who, in his opinion, were part of the Antes. At the same time, he considered the Russians to be ethnic Scandinavians.

In the 60s. XX century Ukrainian archaeologist DT Berezovets proposed to identify with the Rus the Alanian population of the Don region, known from the monuments of the Saltovo-Mayatsk culture.

FIRST NEWS ABOUT RUSSIA

Assignment 1. Draw up a detailed plan on the topic "Scientists' hypotheses: the origin of the people of Russia" according to the text of the paragraph.

1. The appearance of the Varangians of the people of Russia in Novgorod, power in Novgorod
2. Death of Rurik. Capture of Kiev by Oleg. The reign of Igor Rurikovich. The founding of the dynasty of princes Rurikovich.
3. Borrowing the word "rus". First, the people of the newcomers "from overseas" were called Rus, then - the ruling and trading class, as well as the squad, finally, the word Rus began to call the state.
4. The entry of all Slavic tribes into Russia. The planned work of the first princes to unite the territories of the Slavic tribes under the rule of one prince.

Task 2. Using the textbook and additional sources, find the main versions of the origin of the Vikings. Fill the table.

Normanists	Anti-Normanists	My point of view
The Varangians are Scandinavians (Svei). The Old Russian state was created by the Varangians with the voluntary consent of the Slavs. The Varangians are representatives of a more developed world. They were more educated and organized than the Slavs.	The Varangians are a West Slavic tribe from the shores of the Baltic Sea. The Slavic belonging of the people of Russia (Rossi) was proved through their identity to the Prussians. The Old Russian state was formed on an internal socio-economic basis. The Varangians only joined the local process of state formation. The Varangians stood at the same stage of social and cultural development as the Eastern Slavs, so they could not bring to Russia either a higher culture or statehood.	I believe that there is no sufficient reason to unequivocally consider the Rus as Scandinavians, Germans or Slavs. Most likely, this tribe was formed as a result of numerous mixtures, incorporating Scandinavian, Slavic, and Germanic roots. The basis is that in the "Tale of Bygone Years" the people of Russia stand out as independent in Japheth's offspring. It also says that Russia spoke the same language with the Slavs.

Assignment 3. With the help of a textbook and the Internet, find out whether it is possible with the help of modern archaeological data to solve the dispute between Normanists and anti-Normanists. Argument your answer.

I believe that archaeological finds do not give sufficient grounds to assert about the homeland of "aliens from overseas." Archaeologists have found traces of Scandinavian-type settlements in the Ladoga region. However, the found jewelry, pottery, five-walled houses and weapons were common not only in Scandinavia, but also among the Slavs on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, which means that the settlements found near Ladoga are not necessarily Scandinavian. They can also be South Baltic. In addition, no evidence of the Scandinavians' trade farther than the northern territories of Russia was found, which means that it was not Scandinavians who sailed along the trade route "from the Varangians to the Greeks."

Task 4. On the contour map, mark Scandinavia, the island of Rugen, Ladoga, Novgorod. Write the names of the largest rivers.

NORMAN (VARAZHIAN) THEORY

Historically, the first theory to explain the phenomenon of the emergence of the state among the Eastern Slavs was the so-called Norman theory. Her "godfathers" were German scientists G.3. Bayer (1694-1738) and G.F. Miller (1705-1783), who argued that the Old Russian state was founded by immigrants from Scandinavia - the Normans, who in Russia were called the Varangians. At the same time, scientists referred to the data of the oldest Russian chronicle - "The Tale of Bygone Years" by monk Nestor, in which, under 862, the myth of the calling of the Vikings to the lands of Chudi, Slovens, Krivichi and Vesi is really placed. From the Varangians, according to the Tale of Bygone Years, the name of Rus also originated. Senate reign state Old Russian

“They went [Chud, Slovenia, Krivichi and all] across the sea to the Varangians, to Russia,” says Nestor the chronicler. - For that was the name of those Varangians - Rus ... Chud Rus, Slovenia, Krivichi and the whole said: “Our land is great and generous, but there is no order in it. Go reign and own us. "

“And three brothers with their families got out, and took Russia with them. And they came first to the Slovenes, and set up the city of Ladoga. And the oldest Rurik sat down in Ladoga, and the second, Sineus, - on the White Lake, and the third, Truvor, - in Izborsk. And from those Varangians it got the name “Russian land”.

Then the chronicler unfolds before our gaze a genealogical legend about Rurik's successors. After the death of the "founding father", he says, power passed to his relative Oleg, who in 882 deceived Kiev and united northern and southern Russia into one state with the capital in Kiev. When Oleg "accepted death by his horse" (912), Igor became the prince, who was called the son of Rurik by the chronicler. And when Igor was killed by the Drevlyans (945), his widow Olga began to rule. As you can see, all the first rulers of Russia bear Varangian names.

The main arguments of the Normanists are as follows:

• 1. Rus got its name from the Finnish word "ruotsi", which in the middle of the IX century. called the Swedes.
• 2. The most ancient chronicle includes the Rus among the other Varangian peoples - the Swedes, the Urmans (Norwegians), the Angles and the Goths.
• 3. Most of the names of the "Russian" ambassadors recorded in the treaties with Byzantium (911, 944) are clearly of Scandinavian origin (Karl, Inegeld, Farlof, Veremud).
• 4. All the first rulers of Russia bear Scandinavian names (Rurik, Oleg, Igor, Olga).
• 5. In the Western European "Bertine annals" it is noted that about 839 the Byzantine emperor sent an embassy to the Frankish emperor Louis I the Pious, which included representatives of the "people who grew up"; Louis decided that these "dews" were Swedes.
• 6. The Byzantine Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus in his book "On the Administration of the Empire" (c. 950) gives both Slavic and "Russian" names of the Dnieper rapids. Most of the "Russian" names are clearly of Old Norman origin.
• 7. Islamic geographers and travelers of the 9th - 10th centuries. always clearly separated "Rus" from "Sakaliba" (Slavs).

Among the prominent Ukrainian historians of the "old school", D. Doroshenko was firmly in the position of Normanism. In his opinion, the Varangian newcomers played "the role of an ovary, the role of cement", which held together the disparate Russian tribes, uniting them "into one political system, into one state."

SLAVIC (AUTOCHTON) THEORY

Famous Ukrainian historians of the "old school" - N. Kostomarov, V. Antonovich, M. Hrushevsky, D. Bagaliy - adhered to the Slavic theory of the origin of Russia and firmly stood on the positions of anti-Normanism. The founder of the Slavic (or autochthonous, anti-Norman) theory of the origin of the Old Russian state was the Russian scientist M. Lomonosov (1711 - 1762). In the Varangian version, he saw a blasphemous allusion to the "inferiority" of the Slavs, to their inability to independently organize a state on their lands.

The main arguments of the anti-Normanists are as follows:

• 1. The name "Rus" is etymologically connected not with Veliky Novgorod or Ladoga in the north, but with Ukraine (Middle Dnieper). Toponymic proof of this statement is the presence of rivers in this area with the names Ros, Rusa, Rostavitsa. In addition, in the Syrian "Church History" of Pseudo-Zechariah Ritor (555), long before the arrival of the Normans in Eastern Europe, the people of Hros or "Rus", who lived south of Kiev, are mentioned.
• 2. There were no tribes or people with the name "Rus" in Scandinavia; they are not mentioned in the Scandinavian sagas.
• 3. The Norman names of the Byzantine ambassadors to the emperor of the Franks (839) and Russian ambassadors to Byzantium (911) do not at all prove that the Rus were Swedes. Norman diplomats only represented the Slavic-Russian princes.
• 4. The Islamic writer Ibn-Khordadbeg, who wrote between 840 and 880, unequivocally calls the Rus a Slavic tribe.
• 5. Archaeological material from Eastern Europe gives very few things of Varangian origin.
• 6. The Normans could not "export" the idea of ​​statehood and state structures to Eastern Europe, since in Scandinavia itself in that era the process of decomposition of primitive communal relations had not yet been completed and there were no more perfect political institutions than the Eastern Slavs.

According to Academician B. Rybakov, Normanism arose when “both German and Russian science were still in their infancy, when historians had very vague ideas about the complex centuries-old process of the birth of statehood. Neither the system of the Slavic economy, nor the long evolution of social relations were known to scientists. The "export" of statehood from another country, carried out by two or three militant detachments, seemed then the natural form of the birth of the state. "

In The Tale of Bygone Years, the process of the birth of the state is compressed to several decades of the 9th century, and the millennium of creating the prerequisites for such a birth fit into the life of one hero - the founder of the state. This is explained by the mythological thinking of the chronicler and the medieval habit of replacing the whole with a part, a symbol (for example, in the drawings, the city was replaced by the image of one tower, and the army - by one horseman). The state, in this case, was replaced by the symbolic personality of Prince Oleg.

IRAN-SLAVIC THEORY

According to this theory, there are two types of Rus - Rus-encouraged or Rugi, the inhabitants of Rügen (Baltic Slavs), and the Black Sea Rus, descendants of the Slavic and Iranian tribes. By the Ilmen Slovenes, the Rus-encouraged were invited. When the East Slavic tribes are united into a single state - Rus, there is a convergence of the two types of Rus.

Narrative and linguistic sources prove the long-standing origin of the ethnonym Rus in the form of "ros" in the Northern Black Sea region. The Iranian origin, in the form "rus", was pointed out at one time by A.I. Rogov and B.N. Florea. In the "Getyk" of Jordan, the 6th century Gothic historian, there is a mention of the Rosomon tribe. The form "grew" by M. Fasmer is identified with the ancient Iranian word auruљa, which means "white", as well as in the Ossetian vors. A.G. Kuzmin deciphered the name of the tribe "Roxalans" as light or white Alans. So, the form "ros" is identical with the Iranian languages ​​(from the word "rokhs"). From the time of the Scythian domination in the Northern Black Sea region, the Iranian-speaking peoples had an influence on the non-Iranian tribes. Among these non-Iranian tribes there were also Slavic tribes (antes) that lived between the Dnieper and Podontsovye during the early Middle Ages, and who had relations with the Iranian tribes.

The Ant language had its own characteristics. According to V.V. The Sedov Ant dialect stood out among other Proto-Slavic dialects by a large number of Iranisms. F.P. Eagle owl pointed to the existence of Iranian-Slavic lexical connections. In addition to the language, the name of the ants expressively testifies to the influence of the Iranian-speaking peoples. According to B.A. Rybakov, the ethnonym "Anty" was of Iranian origin. Researchers F.P. Filin and O.B. Tambourine developed this assumption in more detail. According to their thought, the word "anti" is consonant with the ancient Iranian words antas (end, edge), antyas (which is on the edge) and Ossetian attiiya (back, behind). Based on this meaning, the word "anti" can be translated as "living in Ukraine, border resident". Before that, we can only add that the ethnonym "Anty" is not a self-name of the Slavs, but only a nickname for their location. In addition to the Antes and Russes, some other Slavic ethnonyms are also of Iranian origin - Serbs, Croats. According to this, it can be assumed that the Slavic tribes Antes and Rus got their names from the Iranian tribes.

CELTIC-SLAVIC THEORY

According to Academician of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine V.G. Sklyarenko, the Novgorodians turned to the Varangians-Slavs (Baltic Slavs), who were called Ruthenes or Rus, for help. The name Ruthenes (Rus) comes from one of the Celtic tribes, since the Ruthenian Celts took part in the ethnic formation of the Slavs on the island of Rügen. In addition to them, there were still the Azov-Black Sea Rus - the descendants of the Antes and Celts-Ruthenes, known even before the invitation of the Varangians-Slavs by the Novgorodians. Both the Azov-Black Sea Rus and the Varangian-Rus are of Slavic-Celtic origin, only the former are East Slavic-Celtic, and the latter, West Slavic-Celtic, are of origin. And the Zaporozhye Cossacks were descendants of the Azov-Black Sea Rus.

COMPROMISE (SLAVIC-VARYAGIAN) THEORY

One of the first attempts to connect the Norman theory with the anti-Normanist ideas about the local, Slavic roots of the Old Russian state was made by the famous Russian historian V. Klyuchevsky. The earliest local political form that emerged in Russia around the middle of the 9th century, he considered "a city region, that is, a trading district ruled by a fortified city, which at the same time served as an industrial (craft) center for this district." The second local political form, in his opinion, was the "Varangian principalities". From the union of the Varangian principalities and the city regions that retained their independence, a third political form emerged - the Grand Duchy of Kiev, which became "the seed of that union of Slavic and neighboring Finnish tribes, which can be recognized as the original form of the Russian state."

The Ukrainian historians A. Efimenko and I. Kripyakevich also shared a similar compromise point of view.

INDO-IRANIAN THEORY

The Indo-Iranian hypothesis insists that the ethnonym "Ros" has a different origin than "Rus", being much more ancient. Supporters of this opinion, also originating from M.V. Lomonosov, note that the people "grew up" were first mentioned in the 6th century in the "Church History" by Zachary Ritor, where they are placed next to the peoples of the "dog people" and the Amazons, what many authors interpret as the Northern Black Sea region. From this point of view, it is traced back to the Iranian-speaking (Sarmatian) tribes of the Roxalans or Rosomons, mentioned by ancient authors. The most fully justified by ON Trubachev (* ruksi "white, light"> * rutsi> * russi> rus).

A version of this theory was developed by G.V. Vernadsky, who placed the original territory of the Rus in the Kuban delta and believed that they had acquired their name from the Roxalans ("Light Alans"), who, in his opinion, were part of the Antes. At the same time, he considered the Russians to be ethnic Scandinavians.

In the 60s. XX century Ukrainian archaeologist DT Berezovets proposed to identify with the Rus the Alanian population of the Don region, known from the monuments of the Saltovo-Mayatsk culture. At present, this hypothesis is being developed by E.S.Galkina, who identifies the Don region with the central part of the Russian Kaganate, mentioned in Muslim, Byzantine and Western sources in the 9th century. She believes that after the defeat of this association by the tribes of the Hungarians in the end. IX century, the name "Rus" from the Iranian-speaking Rus-Alans (Roksolans) passed to the Slavic population of the Middle Dnieper (glade, northerners). As one of the arguments, Galkina cites the Alanian (based on the Ossetian language) etymologization of all the names of the Dnieper rapids different from the Slavic "Russian" names from the work of Konstantin Porphyrogenitus.

KHAZAR THEORY

According to the professor of Harvard University (USA) O. Pritsak, the author of the six-volume study "The Origin of Rus", the Old Russian state was not founded by either the Varangians or the Slavs. It was a multi-ethnic and multilingual trade union, which in the process of establishing its control over the trade routes between the Baltic, Mediterranean and Caspian seas, created a political union in Eastern Europe called Rus. In other words, “Rus” was originally called not an ethnic community (not a tribe or people), but a special mobile social group (corporation), which consisted of professional soldier-merchants. The synthesis of the corporation of sea and river nomads (Vikings, Varangians) with the steppe nomads (Khazars) contributed, according to Pritsak, to the emergence in the 9th-10th centuries. Volga-Russian Kaganate.

Many modern Ukrainian historians opposed O. Pritsak's concept. One of the main opponents of the American professor was, in particular, Academician P. Tolochko. Among the weakest arguments of Pritsak, he attributed his thesis about the "export" of statehood to the Slavic lands from neighboring countries (only not by another people, as was the case with the Normans, but by a mythical multinational trade union), as well as the statement that Kiev was originally a Khazar city.