Many followers of the Christian faith argue that before the baptism of Russia, our ancestors did not have and did not know how to do anything, and only with the advent of Christianity did the rise of the Russian people begin, let's see if it really was so.
I will give some facts about the achievement of the Russian people before the arrival of Christianity in Russia.
1. Writing
Before the advent of Christianity, the Russian people had runic and semi-runic writing. The writings of the ancient Rus were found on many archaeological finds.
For details you can see A. Platov, Monuments of runic art of the Slavs / Myths and magic of the Indo-Europeans, issue 6, - M., Manager. 1998, pp. 90-130. And also read about the Chernyakhovsky finds of Rybakov and Tikhanova.
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2. Construction, wood and stone processing
It is not for nothing that in the Scandinavian sagas, Russia is called Gardarika, a country of cities because of its developed housing construction.
Houses were built mainly of wood, Russian towers were known in many countries, but in those places where there was a shortage of wood, houses were built of stone, an example of this is Arkona on the island of Ruyan (Rügen).
3. Developed metallurgy and pottery
In the book "Paganism of the Ancient Slavs" by academician Rybakov, reproductions of painted ceramics from Tripillya, 3000 years old, are given, which suggests that even in those distant times, our ancestors had developed pottery.
Numerous finds of metal household items and weapons speak in favor of developed metallurgy. More detailed information can be found in any of the three volumes of Archeology of the USSR, edited by Rybakov - 1987-1988.
4. Developed shipbuilding and navigation
I hope everyone knows and will not dispute the historical fact when, in the 9th century, Prince Oleg approached Constantinople on 200 boats. Also, a large number of ancient Russian port cities indicate that our ancestors had developed shipbuilding and were quite good at sailing the seas.
Also, our ancestors had a good knowledge of astronomy and conducted observations of celestial bodies, in confirmation of this, many ancient stone observatories.
All this confirms the fact that long before the baptism of Russia, our ancestors had a developed civilization, and the baptism of Russia threw back and slowed down development, but did not in any way serve as an incentive, as they are trying to present to us.