Prince Oleg is probably the most mysterious person in the history of the state. His death was also mysterious.
The chronicler Nestor, in the tale of bygone years, writes a rather entertaining story in the famous chronicle novella, marked in 912: “And Oleg lived in peace with all countries, the prince in Kiev. And autumn came in time, and Oleg remembered his horse, which he once put to feed, deciding never to sit on it.
After all, once he asked the magi and sorcerers: "From what will I die?" And one magician said to him: “Prince! You have a favorite horse, which you ride, and you will die from it. " These words sunk into the soul of Oleg, and he said: "I will never sit on him and see more."
And he commanded to feed him and not to lead him to him, and so he lived for several years, not seeing him, until he went to the Greeks. And after his return to Kiev (according to the annals in 907 - S. Ts.), Another four years passed, and the fifth summer passed, when he remembered about his horse, and called the senior groom, and said: “Where is my horse, which I ordered to feed and protect? " He answered him: "He died." Oleg chuckled and reproached that magician: “The wise men are not telling the truth, but all their words are lies: my horse has died, and I am alive”.
And he ordered to saddle the horse: "May I see his bones." And he came to the place where his naked bones and naked skull lay, and got off the horse, and laughed, saying: "Should I accept death from this skull?" And stepped foot on the skull; and the snake crawled out of the skull and stung him in the leg. And from this he fell ill and died. And all the people wept with great weeping, and they carried him and buried him on a mountain called Schekovitsa; there is his grave to this day, it is reputed to be Olegova's grave”.
Later, "The Lay of Igor's Campaign" through the lips of Boyan formulated this moral idea of the Old Russian chronicle as follows: "Neither the cunning, nor the much … the judgment of God will not end."
Nestor the Chronicler.
The question has been raised for a long time and repeatedly, so a study was conducted. Presumably, Oleg died in the Kiev area. There were only 3 types of snakes, from which the prince could suffer. These are steppe, forest-steppe and common vipers. Most likely, it was a steppe viper.
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Steppe viper.
However, already in the XIII century. the Novgorod chronicler did not agree with the Kiev version of Oleg's death. The prophetic prince, according to him, was going to visit the Novgorod land for something. Having set off from Kiev to the north, he reached Ladoga. “Others say,” the chronicler continues, that Oleg went “overseas”, where “I will bite a snake in the leg, and from there I will die”. They supposedly buried him in Ladoga.
This snake physically cannot bite through the shoes in which the ancient princes walked (after all, heavy boots). Even if we assume that the prince loved to walk barefoot, or the snake crawled into his boots, death did not come from a bite, because its bite is not fatal. Even if the immune system is severely weakened.
Of course, it is possible that Oleg died as a result of improper treatment. If you tightly bandage the bite site, then due to the high concentration of the poison in one place, death can occur. But the likelihood of this is very small.
In fact, how the Prophetic Oleg actually died is not known, and, most likely, it will never be known.
