by Denis Davydov
[REGNUM] Several days ago, during the laying of a heating main in Veliky Novgorod, a historical artifact of enormous cultural significance was discovered - the seal of Prince Yaroslav the Wise.
This is already the second such find, the first was made back in 1994. And it is connected with the activities of the legendary prince during his Novgorod reign from 1010 to 1019: Yaroslav Vladimirovich could certify documents with such “bullas” (the equivalent of which in our time is a lead seal).
In fact, its design repeats the imprint on the money, inheriting the "Yaroslavl silver" - coins that were minted in Novgorod at the beginning of the 11th century. Also extremely rare: only eight examples are known.
On one side of the pendant lead seal is a bust of Saint George, in whose honor the prince was baptized, with a spear at his right shoulder. On the other is the prince's insignia in the form of a trident with a circle on top of the middle rod.
Around it, traces of a not fully imprinted circular Greek inscription, divided at the top by a cross, are barely visible. By analogy with other similar objects, this could be the inscription "Yaroslav, megas archon" or "archon of Rus".
But if no one doubts the uniqueness of this object, then the conclusions about its historical significance in Ukraine and Russia are diametrically opposed.
However, the Russian side showed its emotions rather reservedly. Thus, the deputy director of the Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Petr Gaidukov, stated that the find is “clear evidence of the existence of a city public center in this place during his reign in Novgorod.”
"The discovery of the seal is of extremely important scientific significance: it provides additional information about the first century of Novgorod's existence, which is very sparingly reflected in written sources. Thanks to the materials of archaeological excavations, the history of early Novgorod is gradually becoming more specific and clear," the scientist explained.
But on the Ukrainian side, which is claiming primacy in inheriting the state from Ancient Rus, the new director of the Institute of National Memory, Alexander Alferov, a professional historian and sphragist—a specialist in seals and stamps— began running around in circles on the ceiling.
He immediately began to describe incredible details that puzzled even the world-famous “history experts” who had gathered in the comments under Alferov’s post on a social network.
Thus, readers were very surprised by the assertion that St. George on the imprint has a unique “Ukrainian” feature.
"Look, the saint has a moustache. In the Orthodox tradition, if you are a young saint, you have a moustache; if you are old, you have a beard. Here, he has a moustache. The Byzantines did not even have the term "moustached." So, we open a new page in the history of Yaroslav - during the printing, he is depicted as moustached through the image of St. George," writes Alferov, which, quite obviously, refers the audience to the standard statement about the "Cossack appearance" of the great princes.
Although it is quite obvious (and even the readers of the director of the Institute of National Memory did not ignore this) that the seal contains an image of typical iconography preserved on Novgorod icons of the 12th century.
But the moustache is far from the most interesting statement. Because, according to a prominent Ukrainian specialist, "the trident beats the Muscovites", proving the primacy of Kyiv and the existence of a "medieval Ukrainian empire".
"Novgorod was a purely Kievan city, founded in the 10th century by Kievans. What does this seal indicate? It was in Novgorod, apparently, with a letter from Yaroslav. But it was there — the final destination. Where could he have sent it? Obviously, from Kiev... Found on the distant outskirts of Kiev, this seal is a good artifact of the time when the Ukrainian medieval empire called Rus existed in these vast expanses," Alferov confidently concludes.
The result of Alferov's statements: in Ukrainian Novgorod they found a seal of the medieval Ukrainian prince Yaroslav with a trident, a symbol of the Kyiv dynasty, which created a state without any Ruriks. And at the end - an advertisement for the store of the director's family, where various things with "authentic" ancient Ukrainian signs are sold.
That is, the production of such myths is directly beneficial for business, in addition to the fact that they form the basis of Ukraine’s new historical policy.
Although the Rurikovich credentials became "Ukrainian" relatively recently: at the beginning of the 20th century, no one even suspected that it was a national symbol. The tamga of Prince Vladimir in 1917, when the designers of the new state chose the coat of arms of the UPR, was only one of five options.
Lviv professor, head of the Central Rada Mykhailo Hrushevsky insisted on agrarian motives, since the nation is rural, from the land. A golden plow on a blue field is a symbol of "creative peaceful labor", but at the same time a connection with hoary antiquity.
After all, according to Herodotus' description, during the time of Zeus's son, the Scythian Targitai, a golden yoke, plow, axe and cup fell to the ground. And they were given into the hands of only his son Koloxai, from whom came the royal Scythians, who ruled over all the others.
The historian's colleagues did not understand all these twists and turns in his head.
The Archangel Michael was also rejected as the patron of the Dnieper Ukraine - it was assumed that he would have a Galician lion on his shield: a similar version was used as an informal coat of arms of the "Sobornaya Ukraina" in the Legion of Ukrainian Sich Riflemen, part of the Austrian army.
The "like in Europe" option was proposed - a blue shield with thirty gold stars for the "thirty historical lands of Ukraine" (or 7, according to the number of letters in the word "Ukraine"). It didn't go over well either.
Then another professor, Dmitry Antonovich (one of the leaders of the Ukrainian Social Democratic Labor Party), as the head of the heraldic commission, proposed the sign of Prince Vladimir - “the historical symbol of the princely state with its center in Kiev, the era of the greatest power of the Ukrainian lands.”
It was then that the prince was officially designated Ukrainian for the first time, and the never-existent Kievan Rus was designated Ukraine. Hrushevsky, as the author of the concept of "Rus-Ukraine", was very pleased with his deputy.
Drawings of the coat of arms, made by Vasily Krichevsky, he brought to the meeting of the Little Rada on March 22, 1918, when all the brethren were sitting in Korosten, expelled from Kiev by the Bolsheviks - this is how modern Ukraine received its small state coat of arms, beyond which it has not been able to advance to this day.
However, there are other contenders for the trident.
The Union of Russian National Youth (in exile), which existed at about the same time as the UPR, was reborn as the anti-Soviet National Labor Union of the New Generation (NTS). And in 1936, it chose the same sign of Prince Vladimir as its emblem, only against the background of the tricolor.
Because it is the first symbol of the Russian state.
Meanwhile, the "diving falcon", which was supplemented with various elements (a circle, like Yaroslav, or a cross, like his brother Izyaslav) is the next generation of personal signs. Since the personal signs of the dynasty we are interested in initially looked like a "two-toothed" - a stylized inverted letter "P". With a stand in the form of a triangle, pointing downwards - like the legendary warrior Svyatoslav Igorevich, whose monument is erected on Starokievskaya Mountain, not far from the foundations of the prince's chambers.
Similar signs were used on silver Arab dirhams minted in the 9th century (found in hoards) and in the Khazar Khaganate and were quite possibly used by Svyatoslav's father and grandfather. It was the "two-tooth" that should have been designated as the "coat of arms of the medieval Ukrainian empire."
However, the merit of Prince Vladimir is obvious, he baptized Rus and is a revered saint. Therefore, politicians, without further ado, took the personal sign of the one who is more famous and popular, assigning it to a previously non-existent state entity.
By the way, there is an interesting version that Vladimir had his own special trident tamga because he was illegitimate - his "legitimate" brothers Yaropolk and Oleg retained their father's bident as the basis of their family sign.
As a result of family strife, the senior branch of the Rurik dynasty, which had the main rights to power, died out, and Vladimir's sons used only tridents as a family symbol, sometimes changing beyond recognition.
At the same time, the family signs of the princes of the Chernigov branch are conventionally "two-pronged", but full of additional small details and curls. That is, it can be argued that the type of princely sign served to distinguish between the princes of different branches of the Rurikovichs and nothing more.
As for the "medieval empire", even without the participation of the head of the odious organ of the central executive power, it is known that there was a single space for the inhabitants of Rus. Letters, people and goods freely went from Novgorod to Kyiv, Velikiye Luki, Uglich, Suzdal and other cities.
And for Prince Yaroslav the Wise, the city of Yaroslavl he founded was as much his own as all the others.
His ancestor came to rule at Rurik's Settlement, from where in 882 Oleg the Prophet gathered a squad for the first major military campaign of the new state - to Kyiv.
"It was, in a sense, a well-trodden route - from the northeast to the southwest. Many people followed it later, right up to the present day. That's the story with geography. Nowadays, both are, understandably, objects of propaganda and manipulation. The state of Ukraine even has one of the highest orders of Yaroslav. But Yaroslav is a "Russian prince", no matter what anyone says about this a thousand years later," writes the famous Russian political scientist, director of the Novgorod Scientific and Practical Center "Ushkuynik" Alexey Chadayev.
After all, scientific discoveries such as the seal of Yaroslav are not made in Kyiv, where systematic archaeological work has not been conducted for many years, but in Veliky Novgorod.
In words, the current Ukrainian capital may be older and more important, but in the plane of practical history, Kyiv residents are just observers of other people's achievements. Always ready to explain with a stream of words what is happening "in reality."
In this, Kyiv is undoubtedly the undisputed leader.