What did Prince Svyatoslav Igorevich look like? Svyatoslav the Brave. Kiev prince Svyatoslav Igorevich: biography, years of reign. Chapter 2 customs of the Rus

© L.R. Prozorov The Appearance of Prince Svyatoslav Igorevich as an Ethno-Defining Sign. 1060th anniversary of the Russian Hero / Caucasian Rus: Original Russian land. - M.: Yauza: Eksmo, 2009. - p. 222 - 247
© L.R. Prozorov, Candidate of Historical Sciences, Izhevsk, Russia

1060th anniversary of the Russian Hero

INTRODUCTION

For more than a century, there has been a dispute between scientists about the ethnicity of the Rus tribe (“Rus” of chronicles, “Ross” of Greek sources, “ar-rus” of Arabic, etc.), which united the Slavs and a number of non-Slavic tribes of Eastern Europe under their rule and created Russian state.

Recently, this question has been solved from a purely linguistic, even from a purely onomastic point of view (1). The main argument in determining the origin of the Rus is the etymology of the word "Rus", the names of the ambassadors of the "Russian family" in treaties with Byzantium in the 10th century, the "Russian" names of the thresholds of Constantine Porphyrogenitus. At the same time, a huge layer of information about the culture and life, customs of the Rus, contained in the sources, is missed. In particular, descriptions of the appearance and "hairstyles" of the Rus, the most striking of which is the description of the appearance of the led. book. Svyatoslav Igorevich at Leo the Deacon (book 9, ch. 11):

"This is what his appearance was like: moderate height, not too tall and not very short, with shaggy eyebrows and bright eyes, snub-nosed, beardless, with thick, excessively long hair above his upper lip. His head was completely naked, on one side of it a tuft of hair hung down - a sign of nobility "(2).

This description is extremely valuable for us in that it is the only detailed description of the appearance of a noble Rus of that era, made by his contemporary under the direct impression or from the words of an eyewitness.

A number of questions arise: firstly, can a hairstyle serve as a sign of ethnicity, secondly, how typical was this appearance for the Rus of the 9th-11th centuries, and thirdly, since the theory of the Scandinavian origin of the Rus now dominates, how to correlate these descriptions with fourthly, because, as we will see below, this hairstyle is associated with Turkic influence, as far as it corresponds to Turkic traditions. Finally, what were the Slavic customs in this area of ​​\u200b\u200blife and whether they differed greatly from the customs of the Rus. Having solved these questions, we will be able to judge the appearance of the bikes. book. Svyatoslav Igorevich in particular and the Rus in general, as an ethno-determining feature, which will help in solving the problem of the ethnicity of the Rus by means that seem to be more reliable than onomastic ones.

ch. 1 HAIR HAIR AS A SIGN OF BELONGING.

In the Middle Ages, as well as in antiquity and in general in traditional society, the issue of appearance, in particular hairstyles, was least of all a matter of fashion and personal choice. As a rule, a person's appearance was determined by his affiliation - ethnic, confessional, estate (during the pagan period, these factors could merge, more precisely, they had not yet separated). So, late Roman authors indicate that it was the hairstyle that distinguished the Alans from the Scythians - accordingly, hair cut in a circle instead of long, shoulder-length (3). The Bible contains a prohibition for Jews to cut their beards and shave their heads, "for you are the sons of the Lord your God" (Deut.14:1-2. See also Lev.19:27-28,21:1-6). In Sparta, the duties of a male Spartiate, i.e. full citizen, equally applied "Visit sisitii, shave his mustache and obey the laws" (4).

The most curious example is the history of hairstyles in Byzantium. In the IV-VI centuries. most of the subjects and the emperor himself shaved their faces cleanly, beards and mustaches were a sign of a "Hellene", that is, a pagan (5). On the contrary, the iconography of the 7th-9th centuries. practically does not know beardless emperors, their subjects are also depicted with beards and mustaches (as a rule, hair was cut no higher than the ears. However, there were exceptions - see below). The fact is that the mentioned periods are separated by the era of iconoclasm. The images of Christ with the virginally pure face of an angel or eunuch (Christ the Good Shepherd, Christ Diogenes, etc.) (6) were mostly destroyed, and were replaced, at its end, by icons of the Middle Eastern, Syrian school, where Christ was represented with a beard and mustache. And medieval Christians, who sacredly remembered the words of the Bible about "image and likeness" (Genesis 1:26), and focusing on new icons, began to let go of beards and mustaches.

So, the image of the Deity or the idea of ​​Him served as a guideline in relation to the appearance of the hairstyle, which is generally natural for the actions of a traditional or religious person: "a religious person ... realizes himself as a true person only to the extent that he resembles the Gods, the Heroes-founders of civilizations , mythical Ancestors…

By reproducing his myths, a religious person wants to get closer to the Gods and join Being" (7).
This relationship is important for our topic. Firstly, we found that in the hairstyle, the traditional person sought to imitate the Gods and Ancestors. Since at the pagan level the confessional and ethnic are indistinguishable - see the treaty of 912: "Rusyn or bo Christian" (8) - then the hairstyle becomes a fairly reliable ethno-defining feature.
Secondly, the images and descriptions of the pagan Gods, therefore. are a reliable source in the field of the customs of the peoples who revere them.

Chapter 2 CUSTOMS OF THE RUSSIANS.

Apparently, it should be immediately noted that Svyatoslav was no exception among the Rus. Leo the Deacon directly says that the appearance of the prince "did not differ in anything" from his entourage. As a hint at the difference, one can only recall a lone "lock of hair - a sign of the nobility of the family." Consequently, the other Rus were beardless and shaved bald.

Arab authors, describing the Rus, rarely talk about their hairstyle. There are two explanations for this: firstly, taking off your headdress outside the home was contrary to the customs of the Rus. The expression "goof off" has retained a disapproving meaning to this day. Russian princes of the 11th century. even in the church (!) they stood with their heads covered (9). Secondly, for shaven-headed Muslims, the shaved heads of the Rus could seem something ordinary, self-evident and unworthy of mention. However. Ibn-Khaukal positively reports shaving of heads among the Rus (10). We learn from him, Idrisi and Dimeshki that some of the Rus shave their beards, while others let them go, curling them “like a mane”, or dyeing them with saffron (11). It should be noted that bearded men in the reports of Arab authors invariably follow shaving people: perhaps because the latter were the majority among the Rus.
The Frankish chronicler Ademar Shabansky writes about the Russians at the turn of the 10th-11th centuries: "... a certain Greek bishop came to Russia ... and forced them to accept the Greek custom regarding the growth of a beard and everything else" (12). From this it is clear that the "growth of a beard" for the Rus of the tenth century. there was a "Greek custom" that came along with Christianity. Before that, the Russians, obviously, shaved.
Lifetime images of Russian princes of the 10th-11th centuries have been preserved - on the coins of Vladimir I - the son of Svyatoslav - and his grandson. Svyatopolk I (13). A seal of Yaroslav the Wise with a portrait of the prince was found in Novgorod (14). A bas-relief has been preserved, where, according to scientists, he is depicted in the form of his heavenly patron, St. Dmitry Solunsky, Izyaslav Yaroslavich (15). His brother Svyatoslav is depicted on the miniature of the selection that bears his name (16).

It is impossible to see the hairstyle on the coins, one thing is obvious - this is not long hair (that it was in the power of the minters to depict them, it becomes clear, it is worth turning over the gold plate of Vladimir, on the reverse of which Christ with long hair and a beard is depicted). Hair is not knocked out from under the crown or cap. There is also no beard, only a long mustache is visible, framing a bare round chin.

The appearance of Yaroslav Vladimirovich is impressive. On the seal, we see a look that is very different from Gerasimov's reconstruction - we have before us a typical European knight of the 10th-11th centuries, in a conical helmet with a nose, from under which long mustaches stick out to the sides. No beard, no hair visible from under the helmet.

On the Kiev bas-relief, we see a hairstyle of the Byzantine type - hair combed in the middle with curls at the level of the ears. Does this hairstyle belong to a real prince or an icon-painting canon of St. Demetrius is completely unclear. One thing can be safely recognized as a portrait feature of Izyaslav - a shaved chin and a mustache bent down. The Byzantines of that era did not shave their beards!
Finally, in Svyatoslav's Izbornik we see: neither the prince nor his five sons' hair is visible from under the caps that open their ears. The faces of the princes are naked. The prince's chin is covered with stubble (but not a beard!). Under the nose - a small, thick, curving downward mustache.

Descriptions should be added to images. In the "Tale of Boris and Gleb", compiled, as they say, in the 11th century, one can read a description of the eldest of the martyr brothers: "He was handsome in body, tall, round in face, broad shoulders, thin at the waist, kind in the eyes, cheerful in face, he was small in age and was still young "(17). In this description, most likely going back to the recollections of an eyewitness, the prince's mustache is described, but not a word about a beard or hair, in contrast to later icons, already painted under the influence of Byzantine fashions and icon-painting canons.

So, by reviewing the material we have, we can confidently say: the appearance of Prince Svyatoslav Igorevich was by no means his personal whim. Russ IX-XI centuries. shaved beards, and until the XI century. - and heads. Subsequently, perhaps, the hair was cut short.
Since the Normans claimed and still claim that the Rus are Scandinavians, the next stage of our research should be the study of Scandinavian customs in the field of hairstyles, as well as what the Scandinavian tradition says about shaving the head and beard.

Ch.3 CUSTOMS OF THE SCANDINAVIANS.

Here is what rightly recognized as the leading "anti-Normanist" of the 19th century writes. S. Gedeonov in his major work "Varangians and Rus":

“Long hair was (among the Germans and Scandinavians - L.P.) the hallmark of a free husband, a shaved head was the stigma of a slave. The Germanic pagans swore by hair and beard (Vodanova). the highest dishonor" (18).

But Gedeonov is an "anti-Normanist". Perhaps he is mistaken or deliberately distorts the facts?

As already noted, people of traditional cultures tried to imitate their Gods in appearance. The same "Greeks" of the time of Justinian did not grow beards in order to differ from Christians (which was not safe), they imitated Zeus-Jupiter, Serapis, etc.

One, indeed, among his nicknames and names bore the name Harbard - "Long (or Gray) beard." By this name, among others, he calls himself in the Eddic "Song of Grimnir", under which he performs in a special song of the same name in the Elder Edda (19). Guttorm Sindri, in a drape in honor of Hakon the Good, calls the shield "Harbard's shelter" (20). There are images of Odin with long hair and a beard (21).

Images of Thor with a beard have also survived (22). In the saga of Eirik the Red, Thorhall the Hunter says:
- Well, didn't Redbeard turn out to be stronger than your Christ?
- referring to the Torah (23).

The third most powerful of the Scandinavian Gods, Freyr, is little reflected in Eddic poetry and there is no mention of a beard in his nicknames, but the idols of this God are equipped with a long, sharp beard (24).

Believers have not fallen behind their Gods. The cases when the beard is mentioned are simply innumerable in the sagas. What are some nicknames worth: Björn Bluetoothbeard, Broddy the bearded man, Bjalvi the bearded man, Gnup Beard, Grim Shaggycheeks, Sigtrygg Silkbeard, Thorvald Curlybeard, Thorvald Bluebeard, Thorgeir Beard to the Belt, Tord Beard, Thorolf Beard (25), Nicholas Beard, Svein Forkbeard, Thorir the Beard, Thorir the Woodbeard, Thorolf the Lousybeard, Harald the Goldenbeard, Harald the Redbeard (26).

There are also frequent nicknames that mark the color of the hair (Red, White, Black, Golden), their beauty (Fair-haired), or the sad consequences of poor care for them (Harald Shaggy, Calv Dandruff). The ideal hero of the Scandinavian epic, Sigurd-Siegfried, "hair ... was dark blond and beautiful in appearance and fell in long waves. The beard was thick, short, of the same color" (27). One of the Jomsvikings, sentenced to death, asks someone to hold his hair so that an ax does not touch it, and blood does not splatter (28). And people around take it for granted! The Russian proverb "When you take off your head, you don't cry for your hair" would hardly be understood here. On the other hand, the complex of sayings marked by Dahl in his collection with a note (rassk.) - schismatic - "Cut our heads, do not touch our beards", "without a beard and they will not be allowed into paradise", "The image of God is in the beard, and the likeness is in the mustache" ( 29) - the Normans, apparently, would have understood perfectly, except that by God they mean not the Orthodox Savior, but Odin.
It should be specially emphasized that the above sayings are schismatic, Old Believer, i.e., firstly, relatively late, secondly, not reflecting the opinions and customs of the entire mass of Eastern Slavs, thirdly, again due to religion, and religion foreign, introduced.

How did the Scandinavians treat people without hair and beards? A strand about Audun from the Western Fjords, describing the title character returning from a pilgrimage to Rome, lists the signs of his plight: "He was attacked by a terrible illness. He was terribly emaciated. All the money came out ... He began to beg and ask for food." Worse for the proud Norman, it seems, you can’t imagine, but the narrator completes the description with a stroke that should emphasize the whole abyss of Audun’s fall: “His head is shaved and he looks rather miserable” (30). It is noteworthy that Audun in this form "does not dare to appear before the eyes of the king." Time of action - XI century.

In the saga of the burning of Njal and his sons, with deep regret, as a deplorable physical defect of a worthy and respectable person, the title character, it is noted: "but he did not have a beard" (31). Hallgerd, who hates Njal - only she and no one else - calls him beardless: "You and Njal suit each other - all your nails are grown, and he is beardless", "who will take revenge on us? Isn't he beardless?", "Why isn't he manures manure on his chin to be LIKE ALL MEN (emphasis added by me - L.P.)?", "We call him beardless, and his sons - dung beards" (32). The sons of Njal respond to these insults by killing their kinsman Hallgerd. The action of the saga takes place in the second half of the 10th century.

So, a shaved head was a sign of complete fall and impoverishment, humiliating and shameful, "beardless" - a deadly insult along with "dung-bearded" for the Scandinavians of the X-XI centuries.

It should immediately be noted that we do not have much information about the customs in the field of hairstyles among the Swedes, with whom the Normanists usually identify the Rus. Perhaps the images on the Korsun gates of the Novgorod St. Sophia Cathedral, taken out from Sigtuna, where we see either bearded men with hair covering their ears, or naked young men with hair tied up in braids, or, finally, clean-shaven clerics of the Catholic Church (33). Also in one of the Swedish ballads, the hero defeats the enemy by grabbing him by the beard (34).

In addition, in Sweden, Odin, Thor and Freyr were revered as the supreme Gods (35), and therefore they imitated their appearance. Secondly, the cult of hair was not only pan-Scandinavian, but even pan-German. Even Suetonius Caligula, rowing Gauls - slaves into Germans to stage a triumph over the latter, orders them to LET LONG HAIR (36), despite the fact that the standard epithet of Gaul in Roman literature was comata - shaggy (37). The Vandals were ruled by the royal family of the Hazdings - literally "Female-haired", "Long-haired" (38). The Franks in the VI century. long hair is a sign of royal dignity, they are cut as a sign of humiliation and abdication (Gregory of Tours) (39). The medieval "Song of Roland" constantly mentions the beard and gray curls of the emperor Charles, let out over the armor, his "bearded regiment", in the "Nima Cart" Charles's vassal, William, kills the Moor who grabbed him by the beard (40). Paul the Deacon mentions the long beards of the Lombards, from which, in fact, the name of the tribe comes (41). A statue of a pagan Swab with a long beard and nine braids has been preserved (42). In the Nibelungenlied, Siegfried defeats his opponent by grabbing his beard (43). The German medieval "Song of Gudrun" says: "The aged knights Vata and Fruta came to the court with long gray curls intertwined with gold, and everyone found that they truly looked like deserved valiant knights (!) ". The same Vate then appears "with a long bushy beard." The father of the title character of The Tale of Wolfdietrich, King Gugdietrich, had "long, curly blond hair that fell over his shoulders and reached his waist." Enemies promise Wolfdietrich's tutor, Duke Berchtung, "to rip out his entire beard by a hair" (44), etc. It is noteworthy that one of the greatest representatives of the Germanic tribe went down in world history under the nickname of Barbarossa. It is hardly possible that the customs of the Swedes would be an exception to the general German rule - in any case, no indication of this has been preserved.

So, in the Scandinavian and wider - in the Scandinavian tradition, long well-groomed hair and an impressive beard were the necessary accessory of a free and, especially, noble person. Not only shaving the beard, but even touching it was a deadly insult. A shaved head was a sign of extreme squalor and shame. The word "beardless" is an occasion for blood feud.

Obviously, the customs of the Rus not only did not coincide with the Scandinavian ones - directly arising from the ethnic cult - but also directly contradicted them.

To be continued...

About the author: Lev Rudolfovich Prozorov (Ozar Voron), candidate of historical sciences, Izhevsk, Russia, historian, researcher of Slavic paganism and famous Russian writer, author of books: Svyatoslav the Brave - Russian God of War (2009); Heroic Rus': Russian titans and demigods (2009); Rus' is pagan. Twilight of the Gods (2009), Caucasian Rus: Primordial Russian Land (2009); Evpaty Kolovrat (2009) and others.

This text is an attempt at a little reflection on how Svyatoslav actually looked and how much this corresponds to the usual appearance of the prince, replicated in hundreds of paintings. I will say right away - that appearance of Svyatoslav, which is so famous now, appeared more as a political action than as a result of scientific research. And it appeared relatively recently. A hundred years ago, no one would have drawn Svyatoslav in the guise of a Zaporizhzhya Cossack with a shaved head, a forelock and a long drooping mustache. If we look at the sculpture of the prince on the “Millennium of Russia” monument in Novgorod or at his miniature portraits from ancient Russian chronicles, then they depict a Russian prince, whose appearance does not cause us cultural and civilizational dissonance.

Svyatoslav did not have a settled
It is well known that the Turkic-Balkan-Polish material culture of the Cossack Ukraine of the XVI-XVIII centuries. had nothing to do with the material culture of Rus' in the 9th-13th centuries. The only thing that could connect them is the appearance of Prince Svyatoslav Igorevich, described in the "History" by Leo Deacon: a shaved chin, a long mustache and a shaved head with a tuft of hair. It was this hairstyle that the Zaporizhian Cossacks wore. It is noted that the ruler of the Huns, Attila, also wore a similar hairstyle:

... For the vassants of Prisk and Leo Deacon, the "settlers" of Attila and Svyatoslav served as a clear sign of their high personal status.
(Oleksandr Galenko. A bow and a towel in the face symbols of the Ukrainian Cossacks:
the paradox of the Cossack ideology and the problem of similar infusion // Mediaevalia Ucrainica: mentality and history of ideas, No. 5.)
http://www.ukrhistory.narod.ru/texts/galenko-1.htm

It is interesting to note that the Cossacks contained both European and Eastern culture. Dressed in traditional oriental costume. The Cossack had a hairstyle - "sedentary". This hairstyle was worn by: the famous king of the Huns in the middle of the 5th century. Attila and the Kiev prince of the second half of the 10th century. Svyatoslav is the son of Princess Olga.
http://meria.dp.ua/culture/pravoslavie/?pid=454

Even according to the description of Atilla, a typical Russian / Russian is a shaved head with a forelock, we see the same forelock with Svyatoslav and the Cossacks ...
http://russdom.ru/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?action=display&board=2001&num=1089738967&start=0
It is also noteworthy that Leo the Deacon, to whom we owe a description of the appearance of Svyatoslav, in his "History" abundantly uses the works of his predecessors:

Commentary by M.Ya. Syuzyumova and S.A. Ivanova: Leo the Deacon describes the peace talks as if he himself had witnessed them. But this is hardly the case. He, perhaps correctly - according to eyewitness accounts - draws the appearance of Svyatoslav, but his narrative does not inspire confidence because of his particular predilection to imitate ancient authors. In this case, as Gaze showed, the description of Svyatoslav's appearance resembles the description of Attila by Prisk. (Leo Deacon. History. M., 1988. S. 214.)

Indeed, let's compare the description of Attila by Jordan and Priscus of Pania and the description of Svyatoslav by Leo the Deacon:

Jordan about Attila: He was a man, born to shock the peoples, the horror of all countries, who, by no one knows what lot, made everyone tremble, widely known everywhere by the terrible idea of ​​him. He was proud of his steps, cast his eyes here and there, and by the very movements of his body revealed his highly exalted power. A lover of war, he himself was moderate at hand, very strong in sanity, accessible to those who ask and merciful to those whom he once trusted. In appearance, short, with a broad chest, with a large head and small eyes, with a sparse beard, touched by gray hair, with a flattened nose, with a disgusting [skin] color, he showed all the signs of his origin.

Priscus of Panius about Attila: Luxurious dishes were prepared for other barbarians and for us, served on round silver dishes, and Attila was served nothing but meat on a wooden plate. And in everything else, he showed moderation: for example, gold and silver bowls were served to the guests, and his goblet was wooden. His clothes were also modest and did not differ from others in any way, except for cleanliness; neither the sword hanging from his side, nor the bandage of barbarian shoes, nor the bridle of his horse were decorated, like other Scythians, with gold, stones or anything else of value.

Leo the Deacon about Svyatoslav: Sfendoslav also appeared, sailing along the river on a Scythian boat; he sat at the oars and rowed along with his entourage, no different from them. This was his appearance: of moderate height, not too tall and not very short, with shaggy eyebrows and light blue eyes, snub-nosed, beardless, with thick, excessively long hair above the upper lip. His head was completely naked, but on one side a tuft of hair hung down - a sign of the nobility of the family; a strong nape, a broad chest and all other parts of the body are quite proportionate, but he looked sullen and wild. In one ear he had a gold earring: it was adorned with a carbuncle, framed by two pearls. His attire was white and differed from the clothes of his associates only in cleanliness. (Leo the Deacon. History. IX 11. M., 1988. S. 82.)

The resemblance is striking. But it's not just about similarities. Like Attila at the Jordan and Priscus, Svyatoslav at the Leo Deacon is presented as a man of short stature, with a broad chest and a snub nose. And Leo's almost verbatim repetition of Priscus's words about clothes that did not differ in any way from the clothes of those close to him, except for cleanliness, leaves no doubt that Leo simply attributed to Svyatoslav the appearance of another well-known enemy of the Roman Empire - Attila, described by his predecessors, only adding to it the well-known him the features of the physical appearance of Rus' (light blue eyes). This conclusion is supported by all the historical data available to us. Before the appearance of the Turkic-Mongolian tribes in Ukraine, the “settler” was unknown there. Images of the Scythians and Sarmatians indicate that they wore long hair and beards.

Additional evidence that the "settler" was first brought to Ukraine by the Huns can be found in the Name Book of the Bulgarian Khans, which lists the ancient rulers of the Bulgar state, including those who ruled on the lands of present-day Ukraine:

Avitokhol has lived for 300 years, he was born Dulo, and I eat (y) dilom tvirem.
Irnik lives for 100 and 8 years, his family is Dulo, and fly him dilom tvirem.
The gostun governor is 2 years old, born to him Yermi, and let him dohs tvirem.
Kurt 60 years old, trembling, give birth to Dulo, and let him live forever.
Bezmer is 3 years old (a), and this Dulo is born, and let him shegor vechem.
These 5 princes reign over the country of the Danube for 500 years and 15 shorn heads.
And then I came to the country of the Danube Isperih prince, I am the same hitherto.

The Bulgar horde was formed from the remnants of the Huns who migrated from the Danube region to the east as a result of the defeat that the Goths inflicted on the Huns after the death of Attila. It is assumed that Avitohol of the List of Bulgarian Khans is Attila himself, and Irnik is his son Ernakh. For us, in the above text, it is especially noteworthy that the Hunnic-Bulgarian khans ruled “over the country of the Danube” (i.e. in Ukraine) with “shorn heads”.

From the Bulgarian Wikipedia:
Ernak (Gracki: Ήρνάχ "Hernach") is the third son of Atila.
The trace of smartta on Atila prez 453, the empire of se barzo disintegration is inconsiderate and stop and minavat under the rule of Yernak. It was crumpled, the four of them reigned from 453 to 503 over the Bulgarite Utiguri, a tribe that represented a significant part of the Khunsk empire and inhabited the iztochnata and part (day Ukraine).
Spore Imennik on Bulgarian Khanov, the ruler on the name of Irnik, beat the head on Prabalgarite for a period of 150 years and began to reign at the beginning of his reign, approximately around 453 AD.
http://bg.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%95%D1%80%D0%BD%D0%B0%D0%BA

For European peoples, including the Slavs, the custom of shaving the head was completely alien, while in the east it has long been very widespread, including among the Turkic-Mongolian tribes.

The Germans, including the Vikings, let their hair go long. This was especially true for noble people, and dependent people were often required to have their hair cut short (which is called in Russian “in a circle”). But this also applies to the Slavs. Scientists agree that the custom of shaving the head was introduced from the East, where it has been common since ancient times. The Hittite warrior on the relief in the tomb of Heremheb is depicted with a shaved head, except for a tuft of hair that reaches his shoulder on one side. In the Iranian-Arab Muslim world, the barber has always played an important role, and the custom of shaving the head, leaving a long tuft of hair on one side (or both sides), has been well documented for centuries. Muslims had a special reason for leaving one (or two) tufts of hair while shaving the rest of their heads. According to Thomas Herbert's Travels in Persia, 1627-1629. ed. Sir William Foster (New York, 1929), p. 230, “The Persians shave their hair all over their bodies, except for the upper lip, on which they let out a long thick hanging mustache, as well as a tuft of hair on the crown, for which, as they believe, their prophet, after the resurrection, will take them to paradise. Elsewhere they shave their head or rub daway oil into it three times, after which no more hair grows on it. This has become a custom among the Eastern peoples since the proclamation of the Qur'an by the Arabs. The same information can be found in the works of other authors, for example: Samuel K. Nweeya, Persia, the Land of the Magi (6th ed.; Philadelphia, 1916), pp. 164-165.
(Victor Terras. Leo Diaconus and the Ethnology of Kievan Rus’ // Slavic Review, 1965. Vol. 24, No. 3. P. 403.)

Czech Slavist Lubor Niederle: As for hairstyles and beards, the Slavs for the unmarried undoubtedly had an ancient custom of wearing long, uncut hair, combed at the temples, as we see, for example, on the images of the Wolfenbüttel Codex or on the frescoes of the chapel in Znojmo. If, in the sources of the end of the pagan period, we read something else about the Slavs in Ruyan and about the Moravans, then this is only the result of foreign influence. The Ruyans in the 12th century shaved their beards and cut their hair, while the Moravans, as sources clearly state, followed the example of the Magyars, shaved their beards and mustaches, and cut their heads short. In general, among the Slavs, short-cropped hair was a sign of slavery, and anyone who cut their hair or beard to a free person was punished. (L. Niederle. Slavic Antiquities. M., 2001. S. 258-259.)

Dmitry Zelenin: The sedentary hairstyle was borrowed [by Ukrainians] from the Eastern peoples. In 1253, Rubruk described it in the Golden Horde of Batu on the Volga; in 1504, the Genoese Giorgi pointed to its existence among the Circassians in the Caucasus. (Dmitrij Zelenin. Russische (Ostslavische) Volkskunde. Berlin, 1927, p. 245.)

Rubruk about the hairstyle of the Mongols: Men shave a quadrangle on the top of their head and from the front corners they shave the top of the head to the temples. They also shave the temples and the neck to the top of the hollow of the back of the head, and the forehead to the crown, on which they leave a tuft of hair descending to the eyebrows. (Journey to the Eastern countries of Wilhelm de Rubruck. Chapter 8. About shaving men and dressing women.)
http://www.hist.msu.ru/ER/Etext/rubruk.htm

Turks of the First Turkic Khaganate

Bulgarian Khan Asparuh

The battle of Rus' with the Khazars (in the foreground, a seated Khazarin)

Pecheneg

Battle of the Poles with the Turks

So, we can say with confidence that the custom of shaving the head was completely alien to the Slavs and Rus'. It was first brought to Ukraine by the Huns, and for centuries lived among the Turkic-Mongolian tribes that lived on Ukrainian lands - Avars, Khazars, Pechenegs, Polovtsy, Mongols, Turks, etc., until it was finally borrowed by the Zaporizhzhya Cossacks, along with all the other Turkic-Mongolian traditions Sich. The appearance that Leo the Deacon attributes to the Russian prince Svyatoslav Igorevich is in fact the appearance of the Hun ruler Attila. The true appearance of Svyatoslav - with long hair and a beard - was brought to us by miniatures of Greek and Russian chronicles.

In his appearance, Svyatoslav was no different from other Russian princes, whose images have survived to this day.

Vladimir I Svyatoslavovich

Yaroslav I Vladimirovich

Svyatoslav II Yaroslavich

Yaropolk Izyaslav

Yaroslav II Vsevolodovich

Latin original:
182 Cuius exercitus quingentorum milium esse numero ferebatur. Vir in concussione gentium natus in mundo, terrarum omnium metus, qui, nescio qua sorte, terrebat cuncta formidabili de se opinione vulgata. Erat namque superbus incessu, huc atque illuc circumferens oculos, ut elati potentia ipso quoque motu corporis appareret; bellorum quidem amator, sed ipse manu temperans, consilio validissimus, supplicantium exorabilis, propitius autem in fide semel susceptis; forma brevis, lato pectore, capite grandiore, minutis oculis, rarus barba, canis aspersus, semo nasu, teter colore, origenis suae signa restituens.
http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/iordanes1.html

Which once again indicates that Leo the Deacon attributed the appearance of Attila to Svyatoslav.

We present to your attention an attempt at a scientific and historical reconstruction of the appearance of Prince Svyatoslav.

A textbook description of the appearance of Svyatoslav was given by Leo the Deacon, a contemporary of the Russian-Byzantine war in Bulgaria. The siege of Dorostol ended with a personal meeting between Emperor John Tzimiskes and the Russian prince. The emperor arrived on the banks of the Danube on horseback, accompanied by his retinue. “Sfendoslav also appeared,” continues the Deacon, “who sailed along the river on a Scythian boat; he sat at the oars and rowed along with his entourage, no different from them. This was his appearance: of moderate height, neither too tall nor too short, with shaggy eyebrows and light blue eyes, snub-nosed, beardless, with thick, excessively long hair above his upper lip. His head was completely naked, but on one side a tuft of hair hung down - a sign of the nobility of the family; a strong nape, a broad chest and all other parts of the body are quite proportionate, but he looked sullen and wild. He had a gold earring in one ear; it was adorned with a carbuncle framed by two pearls. His attire was white and differed from the clothes of his associates only in cleanliness. Sitting in a boat on a bench for rowers, he talked a little with the sovereign about the conditions of peace and left. (Translated by M.M. Kopylenko).

True, some details of the description of the appearance of Svyatoslav by Leo Deacon allow for ambiguous interpretation. So, instead of "beardless", let's say the translation is "with a sparse beard", and "a tuft of hair" can hang not from one, but from two sides of the head. This is exactly how Svyatoslav appears on the pages of S.M. Solovyov’s “History” with a rare beard and two braids.

This reconstruction is based on a more traditional idea of ​​the appearance of the ancient Russian princes.

The "average" height of Svyatoslav is corrected by the length of his sword ("Frankish" swords of that time did not exceed 80-90 cm). His age at the time of death did not exceed 30-32 years.

In Svyatoslav's attire, the "poverty" of his clothes is emphasized, and vice versa, good, "rich" armor and weapons. This feature of the prince - indifference to luxury and love for weapons - is historical, attested by the annals.

The helmet reproduces the type of military headdress of the middle of the 10th century. from the so-called "princely" Black Grave near Chernigov.
The "drop-shaped" form of the shield of the Rus of that time is attested by the same Leo Deacon.
Trousers for the prince "sewn" according to the testimony of an Arab author of the late ninth century. Ibn-Ruste that the Russians "wear wide trousers ... putting on such trousers, they assemble them into an assembly and tie them up at the knees."

Boots came into wide use in Rus', apparently, only in the 11th century.

When it came to negotiations and the conclusion of an agreement, the opponents decided to meet. The meeting took place on the banks of the Danube. Tzimisces appeared on the banks of the Danube in magnificent gilded weapons, surrounded by a retinue in brilliant armor. Svyatoslav sailed to the place of rendezvous on the other side of the Danube in a boat, rowing with an oar along with other rowers. Leo the Deacon left a curious description of Svyatoslav's appearance: “He was of medium height, his nose was flat, his eyes were blue, his eyebrows thick, there was little hair in his beard, and his mustache was long and shaggy. The entire head was shorn, except for one tuft that hung on both sides as a sign of his noble origin. His neck was thick, his chest was broad, and he was very slender. His whole appearance was gloomy and severe. In one ear hung an earring adorned with a carbuncle and two pearls. His white clothes only differed in cleanliness from the clothes of other Russians.

On the way back from Bulgaria, Svyatoslav sent his army overland, and he himself, with a small squad, decided to go up the Dnieper to Kyiv on boats. However, the Pechenegs, having learned about the small number of the prince's squad, waylaid Svyatoslav in the rapids and killed his squad. Svyatoslav fell in an unequal battle as a victim of his unreasonable courage. According to the chronicle, the prince of the Pechenegs ordered to make a bowl from his skull, framed with silver, from which he then drank at feasts, boasting of his victory over the formidable dew.

Paganism in Rus' IX-X centuries.

The Rus had a custom of human sacrifices to Perun. In the chronicles there is a story about how Prince Vladimir, while still a pagan, ordered a young man to be chosen by lot to be sacrificed. The lot fell on the son of a Varangian, a Christian, who refused to "give his son to demons" and suggested that one of the idols worshiped by the people of Kiev should come and take the boy. An angry mob broke down the gate and killed both (this plot is depicted on the left). On the right are domestic Slavic idols. Below - a pagan sanctuary in Hadasovichi.

Vladimir and the Baptism of Rus'

Of the sons of Svyatoslav, Vladimir soon advanced, reigning first in Novgorod, and then taking possession of Polotsk and Kiev. Vladimir was not only brave, but also an intelligent and far-sighted prince. He found Kyiv almost a Christian city. He himself was probably ready to accept Christianity, following the example of his grandmother Saint Olga, but, like Clovis, he was afraid to drop his dignity by too hasty transition from paganism to Christianity. He knew that all the neighboring tribes - the Danube Bulgarians, Ugrians, Poles - had already abandoned paganism, but, proud of his dignity as the sovereign ruler of a vast country, he decided to win his faith. In 987, taking advantage of some insignificant pretext, he declared war on Byzantium and laid siege to the city of Korsun in the Crimea, near present-day Sevastopol. The Korsunians resisted for a long time and stubbornly, and they say that Prince Vladimir made a vow - to be baptized if he overcomes the Korsunians. Soon the city really surrendered to him, and then Vladimir, the victor, entered into negotiations with the Byzantine emperors Basil and Constantine, declared his desire to be baptized and demanded the hand of the Greek princess Anna, the sister of the emperors. Princess Anna sailed from across the sea to Korsun, having decided on a feat for the lofty goal of converting a pagan country to Christianity, and when Vladimir was baptized, she married him. Returning from Korsun with the Greek princess-wife and the Greek clergy, Vladimir baptized his sons and ordered that idols be immediately destroyed everywhere, and the people should be taught the new faith and prepared for baptism. The work of conversion went very successfully, because even before that time there were already quite a few Christians in Kyiv. Soon, at the command of Prince Vladimir, all the unbaptized Kievans were summoned to the banks of the Dnieper and baptized there in 988.

Construction of the first temples

After the baptism of the people of Kiev, Vladimir began to take care of the spread of Christianity in other regions of the Russian land, the construction of churches and the founding of monasteries. In Kiev itself, in 989, Vladimir founded the first stone church in Rus' in the name of the Most Holy Theotokos, erected by Byzantine architects, since the Russians at that time, and much later, still did not know how to build large stone buildings. This church was called the Tithes, because Prince Vladimir presented her with a gift of a tenth (tithe) of his income. Soon after that, churches began to appear in other Russian cities, and the first schools appeared near them, in which they taught literacy, the beginnings of the Christian faith and church singing.

Remains of the Church of the Tithes of the 10th century. before its demolition. 19th century view

The other day was the anniversary of the defeat by Prince Svyatoslav of Khazaria. To this day, in many magazines there was a picture (by an artist unknown to me), depicting Svyatoslav.

I kept thinking whether it was worth writing about it or not and decided to write it all the same. Because there is no longer any strength to endure the image of the Russian prince in the form of a half-Turk, half-protoukr.

Unfortunately, exactly the same Svyatoslav is depicted on the famous monument of the sculptor Klykov. It seems that such a look has simply turned into a stereotype, and its recognition by the masses greatly facilitates the life of artists.

Let us analyze the objection to such an image of the Russian prince.

1. First, the most important - anthropological characteristics. Under no circumstances could Svyatoslav look like a Turkified Ukrainian living in Lviv. That is, under no circumstances is Svyatoslav a god of a different appearance than the North European. That is, it cannot contain either Dinaric or Turanid signs. Portraits of Russian princes of a later time, direct descendants of Svyatoslav, made according to the method of reconstruction of M. Gerasimov, confirm to us the exclusively northern European phenotype of the Rurik dynasty.

2. Secondly, the appearance of the prince immediately catches the eye. I will not refute or prove the presence of Svyatoslav's sedentary, although the translation of the description of his appearance by Leo the Deacon is ambiguous and allows for various interpretations. I will only note the fact that the hair and mustache gathered in a bun as a sign of the military class are fixed among the Franks and Goths, so Svyatoslav could well have these signs. But besides this, the prince simply had to have a beard. This is due to the fact that the Rus, as well as the Germans, Scandinavians, Slavs, wore a beard simply without fail. aquilaaquilonis studying the original Greek text of Deacon found that The beardlessness of Svyatoslav in the translation of M.M. Kopylenko (Lev Deacon. History. M., 1988) is a mistake of the translator. The original Greek is pogon epsilomenos, which actually means "sparse beard". Moreover, the description of Svyatoslav from the source was translated into Latin as barba rara, i.e. "with not a thick beard." There is also evidence of contemporaries, such as Ibn - Haukal "Some of the Rus shave their beard, others curl it like a mane and dye it with saffron."
Considering that shaving the beard was a typical Turkic sign, it is simply absurd to endow the Russian prince, for whom the loss of a beard was considered a dishonor (as for every German and Slav, this is also recorded in the code of laws - Russkaya Pravda) with such an unusual distinction.

Let's start with visualization. I will give a reconstruction of the external appearance of Prince Svyatoslav, made by one of the most famous illustrators-reenactors of the Middle Ages A. McBride.

This illustration testifies to us that in Europe no one considers Svyatoslav to be a Ukro-Turkic mestizo. The North European phenotype, which has nothing in common with the southern dinaroid traits attributed to Svyatoslav by Ukrainian historians, is shown quite correctly, with the quite obvious political goal of turning the Russian prince into a Zaporizhian Cossack.

Now let's analyze the arguments of the proponents of the theory smelding A.

1. Connection of appearance with the traditional image of Perun.
However, if we turn to the chronicle description of the idols of Perun, we will see the following there: " And the beginning of the prince Volodimer in Kiev is one. And put an idol on the hill. Outside the courtyard of the Teremnago. Peruna is ancient. And I will silver his head. And oh gold.(Laurentian Chronicle).
Obviously, the description does not mention any shaved head of Perun, he is depicted with white (silver) hair and a golden mustache. Most likely (guided by the rule that the sources do not describe the obvious, but pay attention to noticeable differences) Perun's hair and beard were silver, and his mustache was golden, thus standing out on the face of the idol. Moreover, as chronicles tell us - e if a person passing by Perun did not have anything to offer a sacrifice, then they sacrificed hair from their heads and beards.

Image of the Trok idol of Perun. The beard is clearly visible.

2. The absence of the tradition of wearing a beard under the first Kievan princes.
You can say as much as you like that the first Kyiv princes did not wear beards, but in the Judgment Letter of Prince Yaroslav Vladimirovich (first quarter of the 11th century) it is directly stated : "If you cut your head or beard - 12 hryvnias to the bishop, and execute the prince." The text of the law refers to the time separated from the reign of Prince Svyatoslav for 40-50 years. And it already notes that the loss of a beard - one of the gravest insults - is punishable by death. Obviously, in such a short time, ideas about honor and dishonor cannot change so radically.

Moreover, it should be noted that in the lengthy edition of Russkaya Pravda (the last quarter of the 11th century), the punishment for damaging the beard is significantly reduced: " About the beard. And whoever tears his beard, and takes a sign, and people come out, then 12 hryvnias are sold ...". That is, 60 years after the release of Yaroslav's Judgment Letter, the loss of a beard was perceived as a dishonor, but was no longer punished so severely.

3. Shaving of hair and beard by the Slavic peoples.
If we examine the topic of shaving hair and beards by the Slavic peoples, we will find that it was very little spread, and where it is recorded, it was a consequence of the influence of other peoples.
For example, in the chronicle of Archbishop Ditmar it is said that the Moravans shaved beard and mustache, and cut their heads short following the example of the living Magyars next to them (that is, non-Caucasoid nomads who came from the steppe). The miniatures of the Wülfenbüttel Condex (end of the 10th century) show us the bearded and long-haired Czech nobility. Exactly the same depictions of Czechs are given in the Visegrad Codex (1085). ( Niederle L., "Slavic Antiquities").

Image from the Visegrad Codex. The beard is clearly visible.

4. The connection of the hairstyle of the Rus with the nobility and the military class.
Academician V. Yanin: "... There is a remarkable testimony of Gilbert de Lanois, who came here at the beginning of the 15th century: “In Novgorod, everyone braids braids. Men - one, women - two. On a relief from the German city of Stralsund around the same time, Novgorodians have braided hair and beards. But such was the European canon of the image in general of all people from the East, including the Polovtsians, Tatars. There is an icon of the 15th century “Praying Novgorodians”, there are also boyars with braids. And the same can be seen on the wooden sculptures of the 11th century. This hairstyle was typical for the elite".

Archaeological materials of Novgorod excavations. In July 1995, during the work at the Troitsky XI excavation, a completely preserved wooden pommel was discovered, the knob of which was made in the form of a three-dimensional sculptural image of a male head. The face is quite expressive, with a short beard and well-defined teeth. The hairstyle is a strand of hair braided into a tight pigtail.

Beard and long hair braided materials from the Trinity excavation site.

5. Images of the princes of the early Kyiv period on the coins of that time.
If we look at the coins (gold pieces and pieces of silver) of Vladimir, we will find the following picture there.

Silver medal of Vladimir Svyatoslavovich. The prince's beard is very clearly visible (an oblique line on the chin, below the line of the mustache).

Zlatnik Vladimir Svyatoslavovich. A small beard is also clearly visible (while the prince's cheeks are shaved).

Part 3


Proponents of the theory smelding and continue to delight me with their creativity.
Now I was given the following set of killer arguments:

1. Image of Perun from the Radziwill Chronicle

Yes, in the Radziwill chronicle there is such an image that Somebody think Perun. On it, if desired, you can see a shaved head and a sedentary.

But in the same chronicle there is another image, also considered to be Perun, who this time has both hair and a beard.

That is, in addition to the obvious discrepancies in the data of the chronicle (showing both the shaved version and the version with a beard and hair), we see a very interesting detail. "Perun" is depicted with attributes not peculiar to him - a spear and a shield. This alone makes it possible to doubt the correctness of the attribution of the miniature itself and, consequently, to reject this argument.

2. Images on the coins of Yaroslav the Wise
Here, there is no argument at all in favor of the hypothesis of a sedentary and mustache, but some kind of anecdote. On the coins of Yaroslav the Wise, the prince of Kiev was not depicted, but the image of St. George was minted, which can be easily seen from the halo, spear, shield and inscription on the coin.

3. Images in the Radziwill Chronicle
The situation is such that those who refer to miniatures rely on the fact that those who will read their reasoning have not seen illustrations from ancient Russian chronicles. And there we can observe the exact opposite of their stories.

4. Images in the Izbornik of Svyatoslav
This collection actually has the only a miniature in which there are princes without beards (but I will also note without settlers). However, this miniature also contains an image of a prince with a small beard, very similar to the one with which princes Vladimir and Yaroslav were depicted. it should also be noted that of the four beardless - three are young men, children of Svyatoslav Yaroslavich. So the example of this miniature is at least very controversial and does not prove anything.

Additions:

Image of Prince Svyatoslav from the Radziwill Chronicle. Comments are superfluous.

Icon of St. Prince. Gleb. Second quarter of the 11th century. Another source close in time to Svyatoslav's Izbornik. The prince has a small wedge-shaped beard clearly visible.

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