There on unknown paths
Traces of unseen animals … "- A. S. Pushkin "Ruslan and Lyudmila"
Any association of people, be it an organization or a state, creates its own symbolism, which is a kind of visiting card and makes it possible to clearly identify such an association. The original symbols are used in various fields of activity - trade, production, provision of various services, in sports, in religious and public organizations. State symbols, in addition to protocol and other issues, solve the problem of rallying the people of the country, their awareness of their unity.
In the article "Famous flag of an unknown country" we found out that Tartary-Tartary had coats of arms and flags. In this work, we will consider the imperial flag of Tartary or the Tatar Caesar flag, as it is called in the "Declaration of the sea flags of all states of the universe", published in Kiev in 1709 with the personal participation of Peter I. We will also reflect on whether this flag could unite different peoples Great Tartary and touch on some more moments of our past.
To begin with, let us recall the description of this flag, given in the "Book of Flags" by the Dutch cartographer Karl Allard (published in Amsterdam in 1705 and republished in Moscow in 1709): "Caesar's flag from Tartary, yellow, with black drains lying and looking outward (a great serpent) with a basilisk tail. " Now let's look at the images of this flag from various sources of the 18th-19th centuries (the table includes images of flags from sources published: Kiev 1709, Amsterdam 1710, Nuremberg 1750 (three flags), Paris 1750, Augsburg 1760, England 1783, Paris 1787, England 1794, unknown publishing house, 18th century, USA 1865).
Unfortunately, the drawings leave much to be desired. are for reference and not heraldic purposes. And the quality of most of the images found is very weak, but still, it's better than nothing.
In some of the drawings, the creature depicted on the flag actually looks like a dragon. But in other pictures, it can be seen that the creature has a beak, and dragons with a beak do not seem to exist. The beak is especially noticeable in the drawing from the collection of flags published in the USA in 1865 (the last drawing in the bottom row). Moreover, in this figure it can be seen that the head of the creature is birdlike, apparently, eagle. And we know of only two fabulous creatures with bird heads, but not a bird's body, this is a griffin (left) and a basilisk (right).
Promotional video:
However, the basilisk is usually depicted with two paws and the head of a rooster, and in all the drawings, except for one, there are four paws and the head is by no means a cock. In addition, various information resources claim that the basilisk is an exclusively European fiction. For these two reasons, we will not consider the basilisk as a "candidate" for the Tartar flag. Four paws and an eagle's head indicate that we are still facing a griffin.
Let's take another look at the drawing of the imperial flag of Tartary, published in the USA in the 19th century.
But maybe the American publisher got it all wrong, because Allard's Book of Flags clearly states that the flag must have a dragon.
And could Allard be mistaken or deliberately distort the information on someone's order. After all, the demonization of the enemy in public opinion, which in modern times we have all seen in the examples of Libya, Iraq, Yugoslavia, and to be honest, the USSR, has been practiced since time immemorial.
An illustration, apparently from the same "World Geography", published in Paris in 1676, in which we found the coat of arms depicting an owl for the previous article, will help us to answer this question.
The coat of arms of Little Tartaria (according to the canonical history of the Crimean Khanate) depicts three black griffins on a yellow (gold) field. This illustration gives us the opportunity to assert with a high degree of probability that it is not a dragon that is depicted on the imperial flag of Tartary, but a griffin or a vulture (gryv), as it was called in Russian books of the 18th-19th centuries. Thus, it was the American publisher of the 19th century who was right, who placed the vulture on the flag of the Tatar Caesar, and not the dragon. And Karl Allard, calling the vulture a dragon, was mistaken, or by someone's order the information about the flag was distorted, at least in the Russian-language edition of the Book of Flags.
Now let's see if the mane could be a symbol followed by the peoples who inhabited the multinational Empire stretching from Europe to the Pacific Ocean.
Archaeological finds and old books will help us answer this question.
When excavating Scythian burial mounds in the vast expanses of Eurasia, I'm not afraid of this word, various objects with the image of a vulture come across in droves. At the same time, such finds are dated by archaeologists from the 4th or even the 6th century BC.
These are Taman, Crimea and Kuban.
And Altai.
Both the Amu-Darya region and the current Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug.
A true masterpiece is the pectoral of the 4th century BC. from "Tolstoy grave" near Dnepropetrovsk.
The image of a griffin was also used in tattoos, which is confirmed by archaeological excavations of burial grounds of the 5th-3rd centuries BC. in Altai.
In Veliky Ustyug in the 17th century, this fabulous creature was painted on the lids of chests.
In Novgorod in the 11th century, the vulture was carved on wooden columns, at about the same time in the Surgut region it was depicted on medallions. In Vologda, it was carved on birch bark.
In the Tobolsk region and in Ryazan, the vulture was depicted on bowls and bracelets.
A drawing of a griffin can be found on the page of the 1076 selection.
Even today, griffins can be seen on the walls and gates of ancient Russian churches. The most striking example is the 12th century Dmitrievsky Cathedral in Vladimir.
The walls of the St. George Cathedral in Yuryev-Polsky also contain images of griffins.
There are griffins on the Church of the Intercession-on-Nerl, as well as on the gates of the temple in Suzdal.
And in Georgia, on the 11th century temple of Samtavisi, about 30 kilometers from the city of Gori, there is an image of a griffin.
But the vulture was depicted not only on religious buildings. This symbol was widely used in Russia by the great dukes and kings in the 13th-17th centuries (illustrations from the multivolume Antiquities of the Russian State, printed by the determination of the supremely established Committee in the middle of the 19th century). We can find vultures on the helmet of Grand Duke Yaroslav Vsevolodovich (XIII century).
We find the Gyphon both on the royal zion (ark) of 1486 and on the entrance doors to the upper chamber of the Terem Palace of the Moscow Kremlin (1636).
Even on the banner (great banner) of Ivan IV the Terrible in 1560 there are two griffins. It should be noted that Lukian Yakovlev, the author of the supplement to the III section of "Antiquities of the Russian State" (1865), where the banner with the stamp is shown, in the preface (pp. 18-19) writes that “… the banners were always made with images of sacred content, other images, which we will call everyday, were not allowed on the banners."
After Ivan IV, the vulture cannot be found on the royal banners, but it continues to be used on other royal attributes until the end of the 17th century. For example, in the case of the Tsar's Saadak. By the way, it can be seen from the sight that the "rider" on horseback is not opposed to the griffin, he pricks himself a snake at one end of the bow, and the griffin stands at the other end and holds the Power of the Russian Kingdom.
The griffin is also present on one of the main symbols of the imperial power of the "Power of the Russian Kingdom" or otherwise "Power of Monomakh".
The last made image of a griffin on royal things before a long break until the middle of the 19th century was found on a double throne, which was made for Tsars Ivan and Peter Alekseevich.
Now think that in most of the territory of Tartary (the Russian Empire, the USSR - as you like), images of a griffin have been used at least since the 4th century BC. at the end of the 17th century (in Muscovy), and in the Perekop kingdom (as Sigismund Herberstein in the 16th century calls the Crimean Khanate known to us) - most likely before the capture of Crimea, i.e. until the second half of the 18th century. Thus, the continuous period of life of this symbol on the vast territory of Eurasia, if we are guided by the canonical chronology, is more than TWO THOUSAND TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY years!
According to legend, griffins guarded gold in the Ripean mountains of Hyperborea, in particular from the mythical giants of the Arimasps. They are trying to look for the emergence of the image of a griffin in the Assyrian, Egyptian and Scythian cultures. Perhaps the origin of this fantastic animal is foreign. But taking into account the "habitat" of the griffin and the fact that, with rare exceptions, the image of the Scythian vulture has not changed much since the 4th century BC, it seems that the griffin is not alien to Scythia.
At the same time, one should not be afraid of the fact that griffins are still used in the heraldry of cities in other European states. If we talk about the north of Germany, the Baltic states, and in general about the southern coast of the Baltic, then these are the lands of the ancient settlement of the Slavs. Therefore, griffins on the coats of arms of Mecklenburg, Latvia, the Pomeranian Voivodeship of Poland, etc. should not raise questions.
Interestingly, according to a legend recorded in the 15th century by Nikolai Marshal Turiy in his work Annals of Heruls and Vandals: "Antyuriy placed Bucephalus's head on the bow of the ship on which he sailed, and put a vulture on the mast." (A. Frencelii. Op. Cit. P. 126-127,131). The mentioned Antyury is the legendary ancestor of the encouraging princes, who was a companion of Alexander the Great (this is an important fact for our further research). Arriving in the Baltic, he settled on its southern coast. His companions, according to the same legend, became the founders of many noble families of encouragement. By the way, on the coat of arms of Mecklenburg, along with the griffin, there is a bull's head, and Bucephalus means “bull-headed”.
If we recall the image of griffins in the Cathedral of St. Mark in Venice, then there is a Slavic trace too, because there is a possibility that Venice could have been Venedia, and only then Latinized.
As we have seen, the image of the griffin, both among the Slavs and among other peoples of our country, was popular, therefore the presence of a griffin in the symbolism of those settlements where these peoples could live in ancient times should not cause surprise or bewilderment.
Interesting fact. If you look for the old Russian name for the griffin, you can find that it is not only divas, but also legs, noguy, sometimes, nagai, nogai. The Nogai Horde immediately comes to mind. If we assume that its name came not so much from the name of the commander of the Golden Horde - Nogai, as from the name of the bird Nogai, i.e. griffin, under the banners with the image of which they fought, as, for example, the vanguard of the Tatar Caesar, then instead of a gang of incomprehensible savages "Mongols" is seen a very presentable military unit of Tartary. By the way, a newly-made Nogai flag is walking on the Internet, the historical connection of which with the past, judging by some reviews, raises questions. At the same time, he is wearing a winged beast, though not a vulture, but a wolf. Yes, and a miniature from the "Vertograd of stories of the countries of the East" by Hetum Patmich (15th century), depicting the battle of Temnik Nogai on the Terek,it will not be superfluous to see, although the image of the griffin is not there.
But back to the flag of the Tatar Caesar. If someone is not yet convinced that it is a griffin on him, then there is one more fact that, I think, will not only put a fat point on this issue, but will also open up new ways for our research.
In the book "Coats of arms of cities, provinces, regions and townships of the Russian Empire" (1899-1900), you can find the coat of arms of the city of Kerch, which was until the second half of the 18th century in the so-called. "Crimean Khanate" or Little Tartary.
The griffin, of course, has changed a little, but in general it is very similar to the vulture from the flag of Tartaria. The colors are the same, and on the tail is the same triangle, only smaller, and the tail is thinner.
Apparently, the authorities of the Russian Empire returned the vulture to the Crimea, since at that time there were too few of those left who would remember its historical past, so the return of this symbol could not threaten the authorities in any way. It is striking that after the conquest of the “Crimean Khanate” by the Russian Empire, 30 thousand indigenous Christians were evicted from Crimea (and if they counted only by adult men, as was often done in those days, then much more). Note that the new authorities forcibly evicted from the Crimea not Muslims, not Jews and not pagans, but Christians. This is a fact from canon history.
As everyone knows, Islam forbids depicting people and animals. But on the flag of the Tatar Caesar, let it be fantastic, but an animal, and on the coat of arms of Little Tartary there are three of them. After the fall of the "Crimean Khanate" a huge number of Christians were evicted from Crimea. So who were the indigenous "Crimean Tatars"? We will try to answer this question below.
By the way, at present, a griffin is used on the coat of arms of the Crimea (and, by the way, on the modern coats of arms of the Altai Republic, the cities of Verkhnyaya Pyshma, Sverdlovsk region, Manturovo, Kostroma region, Sayansk, Irkutsk region and a number of others). Apparently, we are far from the first to consider the question of its origin.
In the explanation to the coat of arms of Kerch in 1845, we read that "in a golden field, a black, galloping griffin is the coat of arms of the once flourishing capital of the kings of the Vosporsky Panticapaeum, on the site of which Kerch was founded."
This is where the fun begins. The Bosporan kingdom, according to canonical history, founded by Greek settlers, existed in the Crimea and on the Taman Peninsula since 480 BC. to the 4th century. In the X century, it is not known from where the Tmutarakan principality appears, where Russian princes rule, which also mysteriously disappears from the chronicles in the XII century. True, the capital of this principality, according to the annals, is not on the Crimean peninsula in Panticapaeum, but on the opposite bank of the Kerch Strait on the Taman Peninsula.
Here is what the well-known Russian historian anti-Normanist of the 19th century D. Ilovaisky writes about this: “In the 4th century A. D. the news of an independent Bosporus kingdom that existed on both sides of the Kerch Strait almost ceases; and at the end of the X century in the same places, according to our chronicles, is the Russian Tmutrakan principality. Where did this principality come from, and what were the fate of the Bosporus region during a period that embraces five or six centuries? There have been almost no answers to these questions.”
About the emergence of the Bosporus kingdom, Ilovaisky notes: "By all indications, the land on which the Greek settlers were based was ceded to them by the native Scythians for a certain fee or for an annual tribute." He believes that the Scythians constituted one of the vast branches of the Indo-European family of peoples, namely the German-Slavic-Lithuanian branch. Ilovaisky calls the cradle of the Scythian peoples proper the countries irrigated by rivers, known in ancient times under the name Oxus and Yaksart (now Amu-Darya and Syr-Darya). We will not raise discussions on this topic, now it is not so important for us, but the hypothesis about the Amu and Syr Darya is interesting.
So we gradually moved to the ancient times. So let's talk a little about characters that are legendary rather than historical, although sometimes myths and legends can tell no less than historical sources. In some cases, this will take us away from the main topic of our story, but not much.
First, let's talk about the Amazons. "Well, what does the Amazon have to do with it?" - you ask. But at what. The theme of battles between Amazons and griffins was very fashionable in the Crimea at that time. This plot is very common on the so-called. late Bosporus peliks found in the northern Black Sea region.
Ilovaisky writes: "Let us not forget that the Caucasian lands in ancient times were revered as the homeland of the Amazons … the people (Savromats) were known for their warlike women, and, according to the ancients, originated from the Scythians, who were combined with the Amazons." Ilovaisky calls such an origin of the Savromats fables, but we will not deny this either, since we are talking about mythological and legendary deeds.
Russian historian of the 18th century V. N. Tatishchev approaches the question of the existence of the Amazons and … the Amazons more seriously and, referring to the Greek authors, declares: "The Amazons were essentially Slavs."
M. V. Lomonosov, referring to Herodotus and Pliny, also mentions the people of the Amazons: “The Amazons or Alazones are Slavic people, in Greek it means samokhvalov; it is clear that this name is a translation of the Slavs, that is, the famous, from Slavic into Greek."
Let's put aside for the time being that, according to legend, the Amazons participated in the Trojan War.
The image of such a character in ancient Greek mythology as Apollo is also closely connected with the Northern Black Sea region.
According to myths, Apollo lived in Delphi, and once in nineteen years he flew north, to his homeland of Hyperborea. Some sources say that he flew in a chariot drawn by white swans, while others report that he flew on griffins. In the northern Black Sea region, the second version prevailed, which is confirmed by archaeological finds, for example, this red-figured cilicum of the 4th century BC, found in the Panskoye necropolis.
As Ilovaisky points out: “In connection with art, the Scythian influence was reflected, of course, in the religious sphere. So among the main deities worshiped by the Bosporan Greeks were Apollo and Artemis, that is, the sun and the moon … . Now it is appropriate to draw your attention to the fact that Ilovaisky often mentions the wars between the Bosporians and the Tavroscythians. He also cites the statement of the Byzantine historian of the 10th century Leo the Deacon that in their native language the Tavro-Scythians call themselves Ros. On this basis, a number of historians, including Ilovaisky, attribute the Tavro-Scythians to the Rus.
Information about the worship of Apollo by the Bosporans as the main deity is doubly interesting in the light of the ancient authors' references to the worship of Apollo by the Hyperboreans. “They (the Hyperboreans) themselves are, as it were, some kind of priests of Apollo” (Diodorus); "They had a custom of sending the first fruits of fruits to Delos to Apollo, whom they especially revere" (Pliny). "The race of Hyperboreans and their veneration of Apollo are praised not only by poets, but also by writers" (Elian).
So, among the Bosporians and Hyperboreans, Apollo was revered as the main deity. If we identify the Tavro-Scythians-Ros with the Rus, then it is worth remembering which god among the Rus corresponded to Apollo. That's right - Dazhbog. Divine "functions" of Apollo and Dazhbog are very similar. B. A. Rybakov in his work “Paganism of the Ancient Slavs” writes that Dazhbog was the Slavic pagan solar deity corresponding to Apollo. You can also find information that Dazhbog also flew on griffins. For example, on this medallion, which was found during excavations in Old Ryazan, the character is not made in the Greek manner at all.
If we recall that, according to Diodorus, the Hyperboreans “are, as it were, some kind of priests of Apollo,” the Bosporan veneration of Apollo as one of the supreme gods and the legend of the origin of the Rus from Dazhbog, then despite all the skepticism of the canonical history in relation to Hyperborea and the opinion of Herodotus that Hyperboreans live north of the Scythians, it is possible with a fair degree of confidence to cite ethnonyms related to each other: Hyperboreans, Rus, Tavro Scythians, Bosporians.
“But the Bosporians belong to the Greeks and they had wars with the Tavro Scythians,” you say. Yes they were. And in Russia, Moscow, for example, did not fight with Tver or Ryazan in its time? Muscovites, on the other hand, did not become Mongols from such civil strife. “But what about the language, all sorts of inscriptions in Greek,” you object. And when the Russian nobility almost universally communicated and wrote in French, were we French? And now, when the average Russian writes an official document, for example, to Lithuanians (who are also Slavs, by the way) what language does he use: Russian, Lithuanian or English? The Greek language, I believe, was then one of the languages of international communication. And it would be unreasonable to deny that there was a Greek diaspora in the Crimea at that time (the only question is who is meant by the Greeks, and this is a separate conversation). But that,that Dazhbog could have been borrowed by the Greeks under the name Apollo, it can be assumed. Apollo is an alien god from the Greeks.
Soviet historical science emphasized the pre-Greek (in other words, non-Greek) origin of Apollo, but called him the homeland of Asia Minor, appealing to the fact that in the Trojan War he was on the side of the Trojans ("Myths of the peoples of the world" vol. 1, ed. By S. Tokarev, -M.: Soviet encyclopedia, 1982, page 94.).
Here it's time to talk about another character of Iliad and, accordingly, the participant in the Trojan War, Achilles. Although he did not fly on vultures, he was directly related to the northern Black Sea region.
So the Kinburn spit, which encloses the Dnieper estuary from the south, was called by the Greeks "Run of Achilles", and the legend said that on this peninsula Achilles performed his first gymnastic feats.
Leo the Deacon gives information, which in turn is reported by Arrian in his "Description of the Seashore". According to this information, Achilles was a Tavro-Scythian and came from a town called Mirmikon, located near Lake Meotius (Sea of Azov). As signs of his Tavro-Scythian origin, he points to the following features in common with Russia: the cut of a cloak with a buckle, the habit of fighting on foot, light-brown hair, light eyes, insane courage and a cruel disposition.
Ancient sources echo the archaeological finds of our time. In Nikopol (this is not so far from the place of the described events) in February 2007, the burial of a Scythian warrior with an unparalleled cause of death was discovered. Miroslav Zhukovsky (Deputy Director of the Nikopol State Museum of Local Lore) described this burial as follows: “This is a small burial of the Scythian era, it is more than two thousand years old. In the talus calcaneus of one of the skeletons, we found the tip of a bronze arrow stuck. Such an injury is fatal, since the external and internal plantar veins, as well as the small hidden vein, pass in this place. That is, the warrior, most likely, bled out."
Ilovaisky writes that in Olbia (a Greek colony on the shores of the present Dnieper Bay) there were several temples dedicated to Achilles, for example, on the islands of the Serpent (among the Greeks - Levka) and Berezan (among the Greeks - Boristenis).
Here we see how over time, entering legends, prominent people or heroes could begin to be worshiped as gods (a textbook example is Hercules). Unlike Hercules, Achilles is not in the Olympic pantheon. This, by the way, can be caused by its non-local origin. But in Olbia there was apparently no disdain for the Tauroscythians. It is interesting that Serpents' Island, located near the mouth of the Danube, moved away from the Ottoman (Ottoman) Empire to the Russian only in 1829. But already in 1841, the large blocks that formed the foundation of the Temple of Achilles were dug out of the ground, and the cornices were smashed into pieces. The materials left over from the destroyed temple were used to build the Serpent Lighthouse. "This vandalism," writes the 19th century historian N. Murzakevich, "was perpetrated with such zeal that no stone was left of the Achilles temple."
Temples were dedicated to Dazhbog-Apollo and Achilles, both of them, one way or another, participated in the Trojan War, but on different sides. Both are from Hyperborea-Scythia. It's time to remember the legend that the Amazons (or Amazons-Alazons?) Who lived in the same places also participated in the Trojan War. Apollodorus (2nd century BC) calls the Trojans barbarians who worship Apollo. Those. Apollo among the Trojans is one of the main gods, like among the Bosporians and Hyperboreans, or like Dazhbog among the Russians. In the 19th century, Yegor Klassen, after conducting a serious research, wrote: “Troy and Russia were occupied not only by the same people, but also by one of its tribes; … therefore, Rus is the tribal name of the people who inhabited Troy. Was Troy Schliemann to look for in Asia Minor?
If we take into account all the above, the Lay of Igor's Campaign will sound quite differently:
“A resentment arose in the strength of Dazhbozh's grandson, entered the land of Troyan as a virgin, splashed like swan wings on the blue sea near the Don …”.
The transformation of heroes into gods is confirmed by another example. Let us cite, with some abbreviations, an excerpt from the book of the Czech historian P. Shafarik "Slavic Antiquities" (translated by O. Bodyansky):
“The writer of the XIII century, Snoro Sturleson (d. 1241), compiled his, known under the name of Neimkringla, the chronicle of the ancient Scandinavian kings, almost the only and best native source of the most ancient Scandinavian history. “From the mountains,” he begins, “surrounding the corner of the land inhabited in the North, flows, not far from the country Swithiot mikla, that is, the great Scythia, the Tanais river, known in ancient times under the names of Tanaguisl and Wanaguisl, and flows far south into the Black Sea. The country dotted and irrigated by the branches of this river was called Wanaland or Wanaheim. On the eastern side of the Tanais River is the land of Asaland, in whose main city, called Asgard, was the most famous temple. Odin reigned in this city. Unchanging happiness accompanied Odin in all his military endeavors, in which he spent whole years,while his brothers ruled the kingdom. His warriors considered him invincible, and many lands submitted to his power. One, foreseeing that his descendants were destined to live in the Nordic countries, put his two brothers Be and Vila, the rulers of Asgard, and himself, with his Diyars and a great multitude of people, set off further west, to the land of Gardarik, then down to the south, to the country of Sasov, and from there, finally, to Scandinavia."
This legend has no direct relation to our research, but it seemed interesting to me. After all, Tanais (Don) is a direct path to Lake Meotian (Sea of Azov), and to the east of the Don, according to legend, was the city of Odin - Asgard. It turns out that the Swedes are also from ours, from tartars.
Somehow we will talk about the Swedes separately, this is also a very interesting topic, but now we will return again to the Greeks and move from the mythological area to the more or less historical area.
Let's remember the bas-relief with griffins at the Dmitrievsky Cathedral in Vladimir, which is called "The Ascension of Alexander the Great."
Now let's look at a couple of photographs of a silver bowl with the same plot and name. By the way, how do you like the bearded Macedonian?
And now for a medallion of the same content, found in the Crimea, and a 12th century diadem from Sakhnovka (Ukraine). And where does such veneration for Macedonian come from?
Basically, the images of "ascension" refer to the X-XIII centuries according to canonical chronology.
It is probably naive to argue the widespread use of such images of Alexander, in particular, on religious buildings, his great popularity at that time (although such a justification is found).
Please note that most of the scenes of the "ascension of Alexander" are made as if certain canons were established for the image - the position of the hands, scepter-wands, etc. This suggests that the requirements for the depiction of "Macedonian" were the same as are usually imposed on religious images (like icons, for example).
The foreign scenes of the rapture look the same.
If we consider that flying on griffins is an attribute of Dazhbog-Apollo, it can be assumed that his cult was still strong at that time and to eliminate the conflict with Christianity, the image of this deity was renamed into the more harmless Macedonian. And the plot of the ascension of Alexander with a liver tied to sticks, with which he lured griffins (according to another version of large white birds - maybe swans?), Could be a later insert, written to divert the eyes. Another thing is that Alexander could be the heroic prototype of this god. If we recall the legend about the companion of the Macedonian Antyuria, the “forefather” of the Baltic Slavs, then this assumption does not seem so fantastic. However, it seems that the version about the disguise of Dazhbog as Macedonian also deserves much attention.
For example, the wands of "Alexander" in a number of images repeat the wand of a Slavic deity on a belt plaque from Mikulchits dated to the 9th century: a man in long clothes raises a turium horn with his left hand, and in his right hand holds the same short hammer-shaped wand.
Here is what B. A. Rybakov (who, by the way, closely linked the image of Dazhbog and Alexander) in his work "Pagan Symbolism of Russian Jewelry of the XII Century": "In this chronological interval between the X and XIII centuries, we will meet many griffins and simargles on kolts, on silver bracelets, on a princely helmet, on a bone box, in white-stone carvings of Vladimir-Suzdal architecture and on tiles from Galich. For our topic, it is very important to establish the semantic meaning of these numerous images - are they just a tribute to European-Asian fashion (there are magnificent griffins on imported fabrics), or did some pagan sacred meaning still be put into these ancient “dogs of Zeus”? After studying the entire evolution of Russian applied art of the XI - XIII centuries. the answer to this question becomes clear by itself:by the end of the pre-Mongol period, all pagan in their essence items of clothing for princesses and boyars are gradually giving way to things with purely Christian plots. Instead of mermaids-sirins and turkey horns, instead of the tree of life and birds, instead of griffins, they appear at the end of the XII - the beginning of the XIII century. images of Saints Boris and Gleb or Jesus Christ."
From the works of B. A. Rybakov can be seen that at the beginning of the XIII century. the image of Jesus Christ replaced not Alexander the Great, but Dazhbog.
Why the worship of Dazhbog flying on griffins lasted so long is difficult to say. Maybe Dazhbog, as the god of the Sun, fertility, life-giving power, was a very important deity for the people and Christianity could not find a worthy replacement for him in the form of some saint (like Perun and Ilya the Prophet, Lada and St. Praskovya, etc.).). Maybe due to the fact that it is Dazhbog that is considered the legendary progenitor of the Rus, or maybe for some other reason. At the same time, the scene of "ascension" is found even on the 15th century Tver coins.
The attack on Russian antiquities can be traced in other directions as well. So there is evidence of alteration of the appearance of churches. Officials say that this was due to the need to strengthen the buildings, but the hiding of the facades by later masonry could also be of a cosmetic nature. For example, in the very center of Moscow, in the Kremlin, on the wall of the Annunciation Cathedral, there is a section where, apparently, a cavity was opened during the late restoration. There you can see the capital of the column very similar to the capital from the famous 12th-century Church of the Intercession-on-Nerl (the griffins from which were given in our study), this may indicate that the former Cathedral of the Annunciation was its contemporary. The canonical history of the construction of the Cathedral of the Annunciation dates back to the 15th century, and in the 16th century, according to the official version, the same reconstruction took place,which hid its facade. But the 15th century is far from the XI-XIII, when simargly, griffins and Dazhbog were depicted quite widely. At the same time, it is mentioned that in the 15th century the Annunciation Cathedral was built on the site of an earlier church. Maybe in the 15th century it was also reconstructed, and how many more churches hide the past of our Motherland from us?
But I think that in most cases it will not be possible to remove the late masonry and peel off the plaster. For example, on the territory of the Pskov Kremlin, the fate of the Achilles Church in the 18th century befell the so-called. Dovmont city, which included a whole complex of unique temples of the XII-XIV centuries. During the Great Northern War, Peter I set up an artillery battery in the Dovmont town, as a result of which some of the churches were demolished, and the few that remained were closed and used for warehouses for weapons, ship rigging, etc., which eventually led to their destruction. I can’t help but quote from an article about Dovmont’s city a quote from the sentence that follows the text about the cold-blooded destruction of ancient temples: “However, he (Peter I - my note) also loved to create. At the beginning of our century, in the north-western corner of Dovmont's town near the Smerd'ya tower of Krom (renamed Dovmontova), there was a garden planted by order of Peter the Great."
So, he demolished the temples and planted a garden. As they say, comments are unnecessary.
We are presented with a version that justifies the destruction of Dovmont's city by defense tasks, which is not excluded. However, in addition to the military, Peter was very active in solving religious issues. In the I section of the "Antiquities of the Russian State" (1849) it is said that by a decree of April 24, 1722 he "ordered to remove the pendants from the icons and deliver them to the Holy Synod for analysis," what is old and curious in them. " a little earlier on April 12, but also devoted to questions of faith, Peter wrote: "the custom of arranging immoderate carvings of icons entered Russia from the infidels, and especially from the Romans and Poles who are foreign to us." Further in the Antiquities we read: “On the basis of church rules, by the decree of the same year, October 11, it was forbidden“to use carved and cast icons in churches, except for Crucifixes, skillfully carved, and in houses, except for small crosses and panagias”. Noticein "Antiquities" it is said about three in 9 months, but I think not all decrees concerning the correction of "immoderation" in religious symbolism.
So maybe, having examined the churches of Dovmont's city, Peter saw that they are completely "old and curious", that it is simply impossible to retouch such antiquity, and that is why he destroyed the unique temples?
Thus, it can be assumed that in the X-XIII centuries (according to canonical chronology) pagan traditions were still very strong in Russia and worship, in particular, of Dazhbog continued. Perhaps it was, so to speak, pagan Christianity or dual faith, as it is called in other similar studies. Christianity actually got stronger, apparently not earlier than the XIV-XV centuries and gradually supplanted the worship of Dazhbog, which also caused the disappearance of griffins as attributes of this deity. In Little Tartary, which included the Crimea, the tradition of symbolic and possibly sacred images of griffins, as mentioned above, lasted until the second half of the 18th century.
We will not return to the "Greek" Alexander the Great. The theme of his trip to Scythia-Tartaria-Russia, his imprisonment of the peoples of Gog and Magog, as well as a discussion of the Macedonian letter to the Slavs and his treasure at the mouth of the Amur from S. Remezov's drawing map of Siberia at the beginning of the 18th century, although it illustrates the close connection of the commander with the history of our country but goes beyond researching the griffin flag. It is rather a topic for a separate work.
Concluding the conversation about our ancestors from the northern Black Sea region and their connections with "Greece", one can casually recall the myth of the Argonauts and their journey for the Golden Fleece, since on the golden pectoral with griffins from the Scythian "Tolstoy Kurgan" there is a story about sheep's skin. Probably Jason sailed to the Scythians. The only question is where.
And to summarize the topic of the "Greeks", you can quote from the book of the German historian Fallmerayer "History of the Morea Peninsula in the Middle Ages", published in 1830: "Scythian Slavs, Illyrian Arnauts, children of midnight countries, blood relatives of Serbs and Bulgarians, Dalmatians and Muscovites, - behold, those peoples that we now call Greeks and whose genealogy, to their own surprise, we trace back to Pericles and Philopemenos …"
Maybe this phrase is taken out of context, but the more completely the mosaic of historical inconsistencies is formed, the more questions are raised by the same ancient “Greeks”. Actually, was there a boy?
Tartary is already clear that there was at least Small. And if we are moving on the right path in our research, then, apparently, the Bosporus kingdom, the Tmutarakan principality, Little Tartary, is one of the twigs bitten off from us into ancient history, only into the real one, and not fictional.
So, what the griffin told us from the flag of Caesar of Tatar:
1. Vulture (griffin, mane, divas, legs, nogai) is the oldest non-borrowed symbol on the territory of Scythia (Great Tartary, Russian Empire, USSR). This symbol could certainly be unifying and sacred for the Slavic, Turkic, Ugric and other peoples living on a vast territory from Europe to the Pacific Ocean.
2. In Muscovy, in official and everyday symbols, the griffin was gradually ousted from use, especially with the coming to power of the Romanov dynasty, and in the Russian Empire, with the beginning of the reign of Peter I, it was actually consigned to oblivion. It appeared again already borrowed in the Western European form on the coat of arms of the Romanovs, which was only approved by the highest on December 8, 1856. The disappearance of the images of the griffin in the regions where Islam spread and strengthened can not be commented on.
3. The image of the griffin, as an attribute of Dazhbog-Apollo, was also used for cult purposes, but with the strengthening of Christianity and Islam, it left religious rituals.
4. Bosporus kingdom (Tmutarakan principality, Perekop kingdom) - a door to our antiquity, possibly walled up by canonical history.
5. After the conquest of Crimea by the authorities of the Russian Empire, a kind of cultural genocide was carried out in relation to its indigenous Christian (Russian) population through its eviction with the aim of destroying the people's memory of the ancient times of our Fatherland.
6. In the 18th-19th centuries, the official authorities of the ruling dynasty of the Romanovs, with the personal participation of the "highest persons" (in the case of the Dovmont city, this does not need proof), destroyed at least two complexes of monuments of world importance, which caused irreparable damage to domestic and world culture and our understanding of our past.
7. In the light of our research, it is necessary to study in more detail the relationship between the Crimean Khanate (the Perekop kingdom) and the Ottoman Empire, which was its ally.
8. Perhaps further research will go easier, since I want to believe that at least one reference point in Russian history has apparently been found.
Author: yuri-ost