Suchergebnisse

This article deals with the historical and geographical analysis of the description of the "Route from the Varangians to the Greeks" — a key reference point in the system of spatial coordinates of the Primary Chronicle. The author reconsiders the "ultra-philological" approaches to this description and the cosmographic introduction of the Primary Chronicle as a purely literary (and manuscript) reality and argues in favor of the real geographical basis of the passage about the "Route from the Varangians to the Greeks". Contrary to the traditional historiographical idea, the scheme mainly reflects not the water, but the overland route covered by the hypothetical author of this passage. Firstly, this is indicated by the obvious view of the "Route from the Varangians to the Greeks" "from land" (волоки), and not "from the river / sea". Secondly, the medieval word usage of the term "волок" in the sense of a land route through a vast watershed space and at the same time about this space itself, which finds analogies not only in Old Russian sources but also in at least one medieval Icelandic text. The author draws a comparison of the building activity of prince Vsevolod Yaroslavich with his special attitude to the cult of Andrew the Apostle which makes it possible to assume that the author of the description of the "Route from the Varangians to the Greeks" was Metropolitan Ephrem of Pereyaslavl. Being of Greek origin, Ephrem entered the close circle of Vsevolod Yaroslavich after his marriage to the daughter of the Byzantine Emperor Constantine IX Monomachos. Ephrem personally made a journey along the "route from the Varangians to the Greeks" and left a topographically detailed description typical of Greek (Byzantine) culture, i.e. an eye-witness observation. In accordance with Christian cosmography, his task was to "normalize" the vast territory of Rus' which had never been part of the universal Roman imperial (and later Christian) order.

The present article attempts to transcode the "animal" status of those buried in the first monumental burial ground of the Scythians in the Lower Dnieper region — the famous Solokha barrow. Solokha's materials are seen as an optimal case for such kind of study. On the one hand, two burials from different periods and of different statuses were found underneath the mound. On the other hand, each of the burials contained artefacts with depictions of wild and mythological predators, which makes it possible to correlate the statuses of the buried with the depictions of beasts. Based on the analysis of the funeral contexts in Solokha, and taking into account the semantics of animal styles, it is possible to conclude that the lateral grave belonged to a legitimate king of the Scythians (conventionally, "Oktamasades") whose status was clearly marked by feline-shaped predators, and the central one — to a "prince" (conventionally, "Orikos") who died at a young age and forever remained on the primary, "wolf" stage of military initiation.

"Picturing Russian Empire brings a fresh approach to both Russian and Imperial Studies by centering the visual. In a series of short essays, focused on striking images, the authors reexamine historical encounters and exchanges within the shifting borders of the empire. The book not only offers interpretations of the images but also shows the kinds of work that images themselves can accomplish by changing or solidifying notions of how the world is or should be organized. The book advances the idea of a "pictosphere" in which images from the many visual cultures of the empire interacted. The essays are lively and accessible, crafted to engage the reader. Picturing Russian Empire also provides a historical and visual approach to understanding present-day conflicts in Russia, Eastern Europe, and Eurasia"--