Most of us know about him only what they remember from childhood from epics and fairy tales, and are often amazed at the complexity and ambiguity of this image. Scientists of various specialties have been fighting over the solution of the mysteries associated with it for almost two centuries, but the secrets still remain.
In 1988, the Interdepartmental Commission conducted a study of the relics of Ilya Muromets. The results were amazing. He was a strong man who died at the age of 45-55 years old, tall - 177 cm. The fact is that in the XII century, when Ilya lived, such a person was considered quite tall, because the average height of a man was 165 cm.
Moreover, on the bones of Ilya, scientists found traces of many battles - multiple fractures of the collarbones, broken ribs, traces of the blow of a spear, saber, sword. This confirmed the legend that Ilya was a powerful warrior, a participant in fierce battles.
But what struck scientists most of all was something else: this Ilya really could not walk for a long time! According to the conclusion of the researchers, the reason for this was a serious illness - bone tuberculosis or poliomyelitis. This was the cause of the paralysis of the legs.
Ilya Muromets was born approximately between 1150 and 1165. And he died at the age of about 40–55 years, as it is assumed, during the capture of Kiev by Prince Rurik Rostislavich in 1204, when the Pechersk Lavra was defeated by the Polovtsy allied to Rurik.
A medical examination of the hero's mummified remains, carried out already in the 20th century, showed that he did not become an easy prey. Several wounds were found on the body. Another oddity is that both feet are missing.
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In addition to a deep, rounded wound on the left arm, the same significant damage is visible in the left chest region. It seems that the hero covered his chest with his hand, and with a blow of a spear she was nailed to the heart.
The relics are dressed in monastic clothes. Above the tomb there is an image of St. Ilya of Murom.
Most likely, by that time, the hero had already taken monastic vows at the Kiev-Pechersky Monastery. And Ilya became already in the monastery - the Russian chronicles do not mention his true name.
But he is the main character not only of our epics, but also of the Germanic epic poems of the 13th century, based on earlier legends. In them, he is represented by a mighty knight, a princely family, Ilya the Russian.
In a documentary source, the name of this famous hero was first mentioned in 1574. The envoy of the Roman emperor Erich Lassot, who visited Kiev in 1594, left a description of the tomb of Ilya Muromets, which was located in the heroic side-altar of the Sophia Cathedral.
The mystery of the death of Ilya Muromets
An explanation for this fact has not yet been found. Perhaps the name of a commoner was an eyesore to the noble boyars and princes of the golden age of Kievan Rus. Therefore, it was erased, as an unwanted and even outrageous precedent for the dizzying rise of a simple peasant.
Moreover, this commoner was buried in the side-altar of the main church of Kievan Rus - Sophia of Kiev - the grand ducal tomb (where not all princes were buried).
Probably for this reason, at a later time, the tomb of the "peasant boyar" was destroyed, while the tomb of his friend in the chapel, the son of the Drevlyane prince Mal, Dobrynya Nikitich, "survived." This was reported in his diaries by the ambassador of the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire Rudolph II Erich Lassota, who traveled to Kiev from May 7 to 9, 1594, on his way to the Cossacks on a diplomatic mission.
By that time, the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra took care of the remains of the legendary man, where he rests to this day, in the Near Caves, under a modest inscription over the tomb “Ilya from Murom”.
In his epic life, Ilya Muromets performed many other feats, defending the Russian land from enemies from enemies. Contemporaries noted his incredible, inhuman strength, so in the memory of people he remained, probably, the greatest Russian hero.
Suffice it to recall the painting "Three Heroes", in which Ilya Muromets is depicted in the center - as the strongest and most powerful.
But, contrary to legends, Ilya Muromets never served Prince Vladimir. They simply could not meet, because they lived in different centuries. Ilya served one of the later Russian princes, defending Russia from the Polovtsians.
The sculptural portrait of Ilya Muromets was created by the leading expert in this field, criminologist and sculptor S. Nikitin. When reconstructing the face from the skull, the technique of the famous Soviet anthropologist M. M. Gerasimov was used.
The strong arms of the hero rest on the monastic staff as a symbol of the last years of his life spent in the monastery.
In 1643, Ilya Muromets was canonized by the Orthodox Church in the rank of a reverend.