Kyiv: The Early Years
While Slavs, Finns and Scandinavians were expanding their long-distance trade routes with the Judaic Khazars and the Muslims of Persia, Central Asia, and the Middle East, another fortified settlement was growing to the south of Staraia Ladoga.
Between the northern boreal forest and the prairies to the south lay a mixed zone where tall grasses were interspersed by patches and stands of deciduous trees and woods. Land was more fertile here, and Slavic clans had begun to expand south by the beginning of the millennium as witnessed by the Kyiv culture and the Cherniakhiv settlements. The Dnipro and the Desna rivers as well as many forest clearings provided the early agriculturalists with rich fishing grounds and plentiful game such as red deer, moose, boar, and forest bison to supplement agricultural produce. By about the 6th century the forest-steppe zone in what is today north-central Ukraine came under the control of the Poliani tribe, the “People of the Plains”1 who were certainly of mixed Slavic-Gothic origin, as witnessed by Gothic place-names such as Oster, and Hermanivka.A particular attraction was a remarkable feature on the west bank of the Dnipro just to the south of its tributary with the Desna River, a steep hilly plateau which rises above the surrounding flat plain to dominate the countryside. The only high ground in the entire area and easy to defend, it was immune to annual spring flooding and was a natural site for a permanent settlement.2 One story has it that the initial site was known as “Kyov lov” or “Kyi’s catch,” a rich fishing location with a plentiful supply of fish, such as the large sturgeon and giant catfish. The importance of fishing is illustrated by an excavated contemporary spinning whorl which depicts a trident, or a threepronged implement used to spear large fish.3 While the hilly plateau was not unknown to the Scythians and later the Goths it was not occupied before the 7th-8th centuries, when a settlement was built on today s Starokyivska (Old Kyiv) Hill.
The two-hectare site was protected by wooden fortifications and earth ramparts, and by the 8th century it had become the tribal center of the Poliani tribe. An added feature was its strategic location since it was located where several tribal territories met.4 The oldest reference to the founding of Kyiv is found in the Kyiv Primary Chronicle.While the Poliani lived apart and governed their families (for before the time of these brothers there were already Polianians, and each one lived with his clan on his own lands ruling over his kinfolk) there were three brothers, Kyi, Shchek, and Khoriv, and their sister was named Lebed. Kyi lived upon the hill where the Borichev trail now is, and Shchek dwelt upon the hill now named Shchekovitsa while on the third resided Khoriv, after whom this hill is named Khorevitsa. They built a town and named it Kyov after their oldest brother. Around the town lay a wood and a great pine forest in which they used to catch wild beasts. These men were wise and prudent; they were called Polianians, and there are Polianians descended from them living in Kyov to this day.5
The legend is probably based on some fact, and makes it clear that Kyivwas settled by the Poliani tribe. Afar-fetched hypothesis that Kyiv was founded by the Khazars has also been proposed but can safelybe rejected.6
The initial rise in Kyiv s importance was also due to its strategic location. The Arab conquest of the Middle East, Egypt and North Africa had cut the long-distance trade routes between what had been the Western Roman Empire and Asia. Trade began to shift to the north establishing an east-west route from Central Asia, north of the Caspian Sea, and along the Desna River to Chernihiv and Kyiv. From there the merchandise proceeded to Regensburgh on the Danube in today s southern Germany. Following the civil war in the Khazar kaghanate begun by the Kobars of the northern Caucasus in the 820s, which for a time blocked access to the Caspian Sea the Slav and Scandinavian traders began to divert their attention to the Roman Empire.
This was the beginning of the north-south trade route, “from the Varangians to the Greeks” as it became known to the Slavs, from the Baltic to Staraia Ladoga, through Kyiv, down the Dnipro River and along the Black Sea coast to Constantinople. The region of Rus, today,s north-central Ukraine, found itself at the crossroads of two major mercantile routes which would turn its capital Kyiv into the greatest city of Europe, outside of Greece and Italy.Trade, however, was interspersed by a common side ac-
tivity, periodic raids which made Rus well known to the Christian and Moslem worlds. The raids were no doubt a continuation of the Slavic Severian and Viatichi forest tribes’ practice of raiding Khazar territory, and by the late 8th and early 9th centuries the Polanians of Rus were involved in raiding the coast of the Black Sea. The major attack which shook Constantinople in 860 was not an isolated incident but was preceded by other smaller raids, most of which were not recorded. Two raids, however, are mentioned in Greek manuscripts describing the miracles (supposedly) Wroughtbytwo saints—St. George of Amas- tris and St. Stephen of Saugdaia (Surozh). The first raid occurred on the northern stretch of the shore of Asia Minor from the Propontis (off the Sea of Marmara) to Amastris, today s Amasra near Sinope, Turkey. The attack is described in a Greek manuscript, “The Life of St. George of Amastrisf which states that the attack was carried out by “barbarians of Rus, a people as all know (who) are cruel and unkind, who show no mercy to people, regardless of rank or age.” After much slaughter of the population the (unknown) barbarian leader supposedly entered St. George s cryptwhere a miracle occurred, which completely altered the fierce leader s disposition and stopped the raiders in their tracks. The chief immediately converted to Christianity and the event was treated as a great miracle.
Another account is in “The Life of St. Stephen of Saug- daia,” today s Sudak in the Crimea.
Within a few years of St. Stephens death (about 786), a large force from Rus led by Prince Bravlin attacked the country between Chersonesus (southern Crimea) and Kerch (Sea of Azov). After ten days of fighting, Bravlin took Saugdaia and immediately after looting the Church of St. Stephen he fell ill. Bravlin s health immediately returned, however, when he agreed to give the treasure back. Only the Slavic translation of the document has survived and the original Greekprobably dates to the early 9th century. There is no mention of other ethnic groups being present, although some could clearly have participated in the expedition—extra manpower was never frowned upon. Not all raids were successful, however. The Persian historian Ibn Isfandiyar, writing in 1216-17, mentions a raid from Rus during the reign of Hasan ben Zayd (882-884) on the southeastern Caspian port of Abeskun. The Rusian force was defeated and driven off.7During the 9th century the fertile region between the Desna and the Seym rivers, as well as the middle Dnipro area began to support a growing population. By the early part of the century Kyiv had spread to the other nearby four hills, and beginning in the 2nd half Chernihiv began to expand as well, surrounded by satellite settlements such as the well-excavated Shestovitsy site, some 12 kilometers to the southwest. The arrival of the Turkic Pechenegs on Khazar territory, however, had a marked effect on communications and trade, so that by 900 there is virtually a complete lack of silver dirhams being excavated in Slavic lands. This opened another route along the Dnipro River, which began to gain prominence as a trade route to the southern markets, in spite of the imposing cataracts; and Kyivlay closer to the Christian imperial trade centers than the more established emporium at Staraia Ladoga, giving it an added strategic advantage. Soon Kyiv s location began to attract northern merchants and Varangian (Scandinavian) and Slavic adventurers often hired as men-at-arms to protect the convoys.
Of course, if trade was not forthcoming then raiding parties would be launched on Christian and Muslim lands in search of loot and merchandise.The Varangian-Slavic joint venture to open the route to Constantinople and the Eastern Roman Empire was led by Scandinavians and their longboats which were ideally suited for river navigation. There were Varangians who were born of Scandinavian fathers in the service of the manufacturing and trading settlements that would become Novgorod and Slavic mothers, which would have been particularly true of Scandinavian leaders marrying daughters of Slavic chieftains to cement alliances. The multi-ethnic composition of the militarycommercial enterprise that became Rus was observed by the Persian geographer al-Istarhi:
The Rusians are of three kinds. The king of those nearest to Bul- ghar lives in a city called Kuyabah (Kyiv). It is larger than Bul- ghar. Another kind, farther off than these is called Slawiyah (Novgorod, the Slavic tribes?), and there is a kind called Arthaniyah, whose king lives in Artha (Scandinavia?). The people come to trade in Kyiv.... They descend by water to trade and say nothing of their affairs and merchandise.8
The first raiding expeditions from Rus against Constantinople occurred in the summer of860 led by the two legendary chieftains Askold and Dir. They are at times held to be Scandinavians but there is a source which describes them to be natives of Rus. It must also be kept in mind that archaeological evidence indicates that Scandinavian (Ostro) Goths had settled in the Kyiv region several centuries previously (Chapter 3). The Polish medieval chronicler Jan Dlugoszwrites: “After the death of Kyg (Kyi), Szczyek (Shchek), and KorewKhoriv), their sons and grandsons ruled among the Ruthenians in a direct line of succession for many years, and then the succession passed to two full brothers, namely Oszkold and Dyr.”9 While the method of succession is not stated the chronicler s tone suggests it occurred fairly naturally and not by a military takeover.
According to the Muslim writer al-Masudi it was only Dir who was the ruler of Rus, and his brother Askold may have been his coruler and a commander of the armed forces. “The first among the Slavic kings... was King al-Dir, who had large cities and numerous populated lands. He was known from the Muslim merchants who went to trade to his capital with various goods.”10 Given the presence of both Slavs and Scandinavians in the region both Askold and Dyr were probably of mixed ethnic backgrounds which is consistent with their Slavicized names of Scandinavian origin, Hoskuldr and Diri, respectively.In 9th-century east European Slavic society the basic units were the clans, which in turn made up tribes, each with its own authority based on general democratic practice, as was noted by many observers who came in contact with the pagan Slavs. The tribal divisions stood in the way of formation of any larger, longer-lasting political structures such as kingdoms, which could unite the various tribes into a more powerful force. This is confirmed by the IOth CenturyMoslem writer al-Masudi:
They are divided into many people, some of whom are Christians and some are pagans who worship the sun as their god.... Heretofore we mentioned a king to whom in times past were subjected other kings. This king was Madzak, King of Valynania (Volynia), a people who were one of the principal Slav peoples and who, held in high esteem by the other peoples, were commonly regarded as the strongest of all. But, when dissention spread among their people, their power was destroyed. They declined in strength and were divided, each tribe electing its own king, the reasons for all of which are too lengthy to recount here?
Another IOth century writer, Ibn-Yakub, observed that “In general the Slavs are a brave people, capable of making enduring military raids, and if it would not be for the dissention that exists among the various tribes, no people in the world could resist them.”12
The independent self-rule of the Slavic tribes, however, would soon come to an end. A contribution of the Scandinavians to the eastern Slavs, it was seen, were their swift and maneuverable longboats which played an important role in trade and in the raids on southern Christian and Muslim ports. The second and perhaps more important influence was a kingly (princely) non-tribal model of political rule based on a standing military force consisting of the chief’s armed followers. The idea was to impose a tribute (in kind, usually furs) on a population, and then trade or sell the tribute to raise revenue, which in turn could be used to support the men-at-arms and the princely system. Since loyalty was pledged to an individual prince, the system was inter-tribal allowing for the formation of much larger pools of manpower and resources. A professional military force was foreign to the Slavs, where every tribesman was also a warrior. Another enduring influence which came from Constantinople was the adoption of Orthodox Christianity as the official religion of Rus.13 The idea was for the Church to provide ideological cement for the princely semi- monarchical state and help unite the various Slavic tribes under a God-given ruler. The entire social order was enshrined in the law of the “kniaz” or prince, and was administered by his senior military “druzhina,” the comrades-in-arms.14 Some forms of Slavic tribal democracy still persisted, such as the Veche system of public gatherings practiced in cities like Kyiv, Chernihiv and Novgorod and social mobility based on personal merit would also remain a characteristic feature of Kyiv “feudalism.”