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RUSSIAN ART AND ARCHITECTURE
THROUGH THE CENTURIES

 
 

Introduction


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The conspicuous absence of historic data that could throw more light on the history of various ancient nomadic tribes that once populated the steppes north of the Black Sea and the territories along and north of the rivers Dniester, Dnieper and Don and their tributaries opened the way to a subjective interpretation of the Slavic tribes who claim this area as their national cradle. In some cases imagination and hypothesis substituted for hard research work and there are scholars who were quick to deny the Slavs of their national originality; the others described them as odds and ends of the Scythian, Thracian or Neuri tribes who somehow managed to outlive their better known forefathers. When Herodotus described the life of the Scythians, he merely mentioned the existence of the Neuris. This simple detail made possible for some historians to assume that Neuris were the Slavs' ancestors. And yet, the Slavs, if not under this name, must have existed before the seventh or the eight centuries A.D. If they didn't come to Russia from some other place during the many migrations of peoples that swept through this area, (a fact which has been impossible to establish with certainty), then they must have lived for centuries, isolated and protected from the South and the main trade routes by deep and impenetrable forests that discouraged many invaders.

If we look at the map of Russia we can see that even nature left unprotected from the East this enormous and rich area that stretches over the basins of Volga, the Don, the Dniester, the Dnieper and the Danube. From the Altai uplands and beyond the ground looks as if it descends towards the West. The nomadic barbarian tribes from Asia easily discovered that by passing across the Iranian plains (of Turan) and through the steppes between the Caspian Sea and the Ural mountains they could easily reach the rich river basins. Through this area also passed two important commercial routes that connected Europe with Asia and the Near East. The Scythians and the Sarmatians, the Huns and the Avars, Khazars and Pechengs, the Turks and Cumans and the Tatars all followed the same itinerary during some ten centuries of incursions into the South East of Europe. Almost all of these tribes showed an extraordinary capacity for quick deployment, not hesitating to undertake a several-thousand mile expedition from their bases. They were very experienced horsemen and well disciplined, but for some of them merciless treatment of captives was part of their military exercise. Surprise attacks combined with devastation, and cruelty struck panic among their victims, making victory seldom a perilous adventure but often very rewarding. Under the circumstances it was not surprising that the repeated barbaric invasions provoked great migrations of many peoples, their intermixing, racial and cultural, and in some cases the complete disappearance of some. The geographic monotony of this enormous and unbroken plain that stretches from the Altai and Ural mountains to the Carpathians was another major factor that facilitated the intermixing of tribes and made difficult the establishment of state boundaries.

 
 

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