Eastern Slavs in the 6-9 centuries. Social order, culture, basic occupations

Eastern Slavs belong to the western branch of the oldest Indo-European tribes. Their history begins long before our era, but the Eastern Slavs in the 6th-9th centuries were only able to form long-term associations of allied tribes that formed the prototype of the state system.

Eastern Slavs in antiquity

6-9 centuries of our era are distant from us by centuries. Nevertheless, some information about the history of the Slavs in those distant times became known. For example, the fact that in the modern territories of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus the Eastern Slavs appeared in the era of the great migration of peoples does not raise questions. They settled the forest and forest-steppe zones of Eastern Europe and played a significant role. Neighbors of the Eastern Slavs of the 6th-9th centuries have already formed their own states: from the west, the settlements of the prasu-cic people were surrounded by Byzantine lands, and from the south - by the Hunn state. Later, on the outskirts of the Slavic lands, unstable state formations of nomadic peoples emerged - the state of the Avars (Ob), the Khazar Khaganate, and the Bulgarian Empire.

Neighbors of the Slavs

Relations with neighbors were not easy. Eastern Slavs in the 6-9 centuries repeatedly reflected the enemy's attacks, went to military campaigns, concluded military alliances. The main enemy friend in this era is the mighty Byzantium. The first mention of the Eastern Slavs as an organized force is found in Byzantine sources. For example, the famous chronicler Procopius of Caesarea pointed out that antes and convents do not have a king, these tribes live by the interests of the community, worship one god and speak the same language.

The territory of the Eastern Slavs

The first homeland of the Eastern Slavs were the territories located on the coasts of the Oder. The westernmost slopes of the ancient Slavs are considered to be the western slopes of the Carpathian Mountains. Gradually the development of more eastern lands was underway. The mild climate and fertile lands of the Dnieper plain were developed and settled by the Eastern Slavs in the 6th-9th centuries. The resettlement to the north occurred later, during the formation of Kievan Rus. Slavic tribes settled on the banks of the Neva and Ladoga, reached the Vyatka lands and the severe coast of the Northern Dvina. In the borderlands there was a gradual assimilation of the Slavic tribes with the Baltic and Finno-Ugric nationalities. Monuments containing images of Slavic deities can still be found in our northern territories.

Tribes of the Eastern Slavs

The Eastern Slavs in the 6th and 9th centuries formed associations that were formed not by patrimonial, but by territorial sign. For example, glades lived in the forest-steppe, which was located along the middle course of the Dnieper. The right bank was occupied by the Drevlyane. To the north of this tribe, between the banks of the Pripyat and the Western Dvina are the Dregovichi lands. This name comes from the Slavic word "drywall". Nearby Polotsk residents, named so along the river Polota, on the banks of which these tribes lived lived. Tiberians, Vyatichi, Radimichi, Krivichi tribes were known, and white Croats settled on the western slopes of the Carpathians. Travelers who visited the Slavic lands, noted that the Eastern Slavs in the 6-9 centuries, as well as at the beginning of the millennium, inhabited their territories unevenly. The most dense settlements were on the territory of the Dnieper area, where the glade lived. One of the names that entrenched this people sounded like Rus. The question of the origin of this term is not fully understood. Gradually, the resettlement of the Slavs and their assimilation with indigenous tribes led to the emergence of relatively strong tribal alliances. Thus, the foundations of statehood were laid, and the social structure of the Eastern Slavs of the 6th and 9th centuries was formed.

How the Slavs lived in ancient times

A great role in the life of the Slavic tribe was played by the community (verte). Low labor productivity required the use of the forces of the whole team. The tasks of the elders included control over the use of resources and the observance of an equitable distribution of labor outcomes.

Gradual improvement of tools and sedentary life contributed to greater independence of individual families and clans. The main activities of the Eastern Slavs of the 6th-9th centuries are deforestation, sowing of crops, cattle breeding, hunting and fishing. The single economy gradually disintegrated, huge houses, in which several hundred people lived, gave way to small dwellings intended for the residence of individual families. The advent of the Iron Age gave people iron axes, plows with metal tips, hoes, spades, and also improved weapons: a bow with arrows, swords, and darts appeared in everyday use. So gradually the opportunities of individual families not only to grow independently, but also to maintain their safety. Common ownership fell into small plots - allotments, but hunting for a large beast, clearing the land for agricultural purposes, still required significant efforts.

Increasing inequality

Gradually increasing prosperity of each family led to the emergence of surplus products. So there was a property, and later - and social inequality. The old generic nobility became the cream of feudal society, gradually seizing new lands and forcing free community members to pay tribute. So the Eastern Slavs in the 6-9th centuries formed a new feudal social system. Both feudal possessions and peasant farms, for the most part, had a natural character of production. Both of them did not consider the products of labor created as goods. Small surpluses went to pay tribute or served as a means of exchange for handicraft goods. The centers of such transactions were cities. From a defense structure designed to protect the surrounding lands and serve as a protection to the princely family, the cities turned into trade centers.

Beliefs and life of the Eastern Slavs

In the 6th-9th centuries of the first millennium AD, the religious views of our ancestors constituted a stable religion, well adapted to the everyday realities of every Slav.

The origins of beliefs were in the depths of antiquity. Many ideas about the world order of things came from the Indo-European past, or even from the Paleolithic era. For example, the head of the Slavic pantheon was Svarog - the god of the whole world around him. His sons carried light and fire to people. The God of the Sun Dazhdbog was considered a national deity - it's not for nothing that "The Lay of Igor's Host" calls the ancient Rusics "dazhbozhimi sons." The Slavs prayed to the ancient Roda and to the women, the goddesses of the family and fertility. Veles was considered the patron of livestock and trade, and Stribog became the lord of the winds.

Beliefs of the Slavs

The culture of the Eastern Slavs of the 6th-9th centuries was based on worshiping their gods. Archaeologists find a lot of evidence of close connection between the spiritual and material world of our ancestors. Numerous idols, ancient temples and obreghi-embroideries show us that amazing world full of mythical creatures in which lived and believed in the Eastern Slavs in the 6-9 centuries. Briefly, their worldview was reduced to the existence of three worlds - heavenly, earthly and underground. The heavenly world was the dwelling of the gods and lightnings, the earthly inhabited by people, animals and various mythological creatures. The underworld was the abode of the dead.

Along with the spread of pagan beliefs, social ladders were built. The society was increasingly divided into independent nobility and warriors and dependent peasants. More and more lands were concentrated in the hands of princes and nobles, more and more often the peasants had to pay taxes and serve duties. In society feudal relations were established, which led to the rise of the glade tribe and the formation of the state Kievan Rus.