PreRussia

568 year. The Avars occupy Pannonia and the Lombards pass through the Slavic kingdom of Rugiland (in present-day Austria) to Northern Italy.

VI century. The Syrian author Pseudo-Saccharum mentions the Ros people in the Black Sea region.

VI century. As-Sa'alibi, the historian of the beginning of the XI century at the court of the Ghaznavids (now Southern Afghanistan) in the story about the construction of the Derbent Wall by Khosrow I (531-579) mentions the Russ along with the Turks and Khazars.

VI century. Zahir al-din Mar'ashi, the 15th-century Persian author from the Caspian region mentions the Russ in the North Caucasus region.

626 year. The Byzantine poet Konstantin Manassi (XII century) names the Russians among those who besieged Constantinople together with the Avars.

643 year. At-Tabari, the Arab historian from Baghdad (838-923) twice calls the Russ as enemies of the world, especially the Arabs.

765 (or 773) year. The Byzantine chronicler Theophano (died 817) mentions Russian helandiy (ships).

773-774 years. Russian Count Erno is mentioned in the French poem about Ogier the Dane (XII—XIII centuries) who led a Russian detachment defending Pavia (the capital of the Lombards) from the army of Charlemagne. In Northern Italy the Russ occupy the Garda area near Verona (the Scandinavians then called Eastern Russia "Guards").

Ca. 778. The famous heroic French poem of the Middle Ages "The Song of Roland" names the Russ among the opponents of the Frankish army. "Russian cloaks" are also mentioned.

The end of the VIII – beginning of the IX century. In the poem "Renaud de Montebane" (late XII – early XIII century) based on ancient folk tales a Russian count is named among the entourage of Charlemagne.

The end of the VIII century. In “The Life of Stefan Surozhsky” the Russian Prince Bravlin is mentioned. The name of the prince probably comes from Bravalla at which in 786 there was a great battle between the Danes and the Frisians. The Frisians were defeated and many of them left their country moving to the east.

The end of the VIII century. "Geographer of Bavaria" in his list of peoples and tribes who inhabited the areas east of the Frankish state in the IX century (found in the Bavarian State Library, Munich) mentions the Russ located next to the Khazars as well as certain Ros (Rots) somewhere in the interfluve of the Elbe and Sala: Attoroses, Viliroses, Hoziroses, Zabroses.

VIII—IX centuries. Popes Leo III (795-816) and Benedict III (855-858) send special messages to the "clerics of the Rogs". Apparently, the Rug communities continued to keep apart from the rest of the Christians.

839 year. The Bertin Annals report the arrival of a representatives of the people of Ros whose ruler bore the title of Khagan to Louis I the Pious (in a company with the ambassadors of the Byzantine Emperor Theophilus).

Before 842. The description of the life of Saint and Bishop George of Amastrid tells about the attack of the Roses on the Byzantine city of Amastrida (Asia Minor).

Between 836-847. The outstanding scientist Muhammad ibn Musa al Khorezmi in a geographical composition mentions the Russian Mountain from which the river Drus originates.

844 year. The Arab historian from Khorezm Al-Yakubi reports on the Rus attack on Seville in Spain.

844 year. The head of the post offices of northern Persia and geographer Ibn Khordadbeh in his "Book of Ways and Countries" calls the Russ a kind of the Slavs.

June 18, 860. The attack of the Rosses on Constantinople is documented in the Byzantine chronicles.

861 year. The Byzantine Greek Konstantin-Kirill the Philosopher, the future creator of the Slavic alphabet (together with Methodius) discovers in the Crimea the gospel and the psalter written in Russian scripts, learned the spoken language and deciphered the writing (meeting with a person who spoke this language).

As we can see since the VI century (3 centuries before the arrival of Rurik) Russia in one form or another is constantly present in Western European, Arab and Byzantine sources. Moreover, as other researchers have already noted, these Russ operate throughout Europe – from the Pyrenees to the Caucasus Mountains and from the Baltic coast to the Mediterranean coast. If we take into account all the evidences then at least 14 Rus states are known: as many as four Rus(es) were in the Baltic States. Rus also existed on the banks of the Dnieper, on the Don, at the mouth of the Danube, in the Carpathian Mountains, on the coast of the Azov and Caspian Seas, in the Crimea, in Western Europe (on the territory of modern Austria), in Thuringia, in Saxony, and even some Rus (Ruzzika) was part of the Vandal kingdom in North Africa.[37 - Кузьмин А.Г. "Откуда есть пошла Русская земля", Т.2. М., изд. "Молодая гвардия", 1986.]

The question is how many of these Rus states scattered all over the earth were the fragments of a single Russian super-ethnos? How much were they related to each other? Which of them contributed and in which way to the creation of the Russian state of the Eastern Slavs? It is simply impossible to bring all this information, theories and hypotheses in one book. The most well-established and reasoned 3 groups of theories are the following:

– Norman

– Slavic (including Lomonosov's)

– North Black Sea (including Indo-Iranian).

The origin of Russia is such a topic where there are three opinions between two historians. There is a separate thick book dedicated to numerous inconsistencies in ancient Russian history where the author has dug up so many of them that in his opinion it's time to rewrite the entire history anew.[38 - Константин Нивников "От Троянской войны до Чингисхана. О противоречиях древней истории", Litres, 2018, ISBN 978-5-4493-6934-5, 470 с.] As a matter of fact it is going to happen indeed as the now officially accepted Norman theory is very shaky under the blows of new and new pop-up facts.

Russia adopted the Orthodox faith from the Greeks through Byzantium. After the conquest of Byzantium by the Ottoman Turks, Russia considered itself to some extent its spiritual heir. Even during the time of the atheistic USSR some historians called Moscow the Third Rome (the second was Constantinople of Byzantium, later renamed to Istanbul). The relations of the growing strength of the Russian state with the decrepit Byzantine Empire were not always friendly. Below is the list of conflicts.

A successful robbery raid by the "great Russian army" on the Crimean Byzantine city of Surozh (Sugdea) in 750 (according to other sources – in 790) led by Prince Bravlin from Novagrad.

Rus' campaign against Byzantium (830s). The Russ raided on the province of Paphlagonia during the reign of Emperor Theophilus. The Russ plundered the city of Amastrida and withdrew. Perhaps it was a revenge for the failure of the Russian embassy mission to Byzantium in 839 (because the consulate was not established).

The campaign of Russia against Byzantium in 860. Although Constantinople (Tsargrad) was not captured the Russ took away a large booty. Presumably the campaign was led by the Varangian Kievan princes Askold and Dir. According to “The Tale of Bygone Years” this campaign took place in 866 by a Russian chronology (which was 6 years ahead of the Byzantine one), that is two years after Rurik's arrival in Russia.

The Russian-Byzantine War of 907 – the legendary campaign against Constantinople by Prince Oleg. According to the "Tale of Bygone Years" it led to the signing of peace in 907 and was followed by the conclusion of a trade agreement beneficial for Russia in 911.

The Russian-Byzantine War of 941-944 – the campaigns against Constantinople by Prince Igor. In the first campaign the Rus army failed at sea, the second campaign ended with the signing of a peace treaty and a tribute from Byzantium.

The Russian-Byzantine War of 970-971 – the campaign of Prince Svyatoslav, first in alliance with the Greeks against Bulgaria and then in alliance with the Bulgarian tsar (king) Boris II against Byzantium. The war ended with the withdrawal of Russian troops from Bulgaria and the death of Svyatoslav at the hands of the Pechenegs.

The Russian-Byzantine War of 988 – the successfull siege of Korsun in the Crimea by Prince Vladimir. After that the gradual baptism of the Russian people followed.

The campaign of Russia against Byzantium in 1024 – an “independent” non-state campaign of a detachment of the Russ led by Chrysochyrus to the island of Lemnos during the time of troubles of the power struggle in Russia. All 800 participants of the campaign were killed.

The Russian-Byzantine War of 1043 – fleet attack (400 ships) to Constantinople (Tsargrad) led by Yaroslav the Wise. It ended in failure – some ships were lost to a storm, others were burned by Greek fire.

These campaigns against Byzantium were aimed not only at extracting profit from robbery, trade or imposed tribute, but also the original desire of Russia to be a maritime power. Russia strived to get access to the sea and control the entire trade route "from the Varangians to the Greeks" – from the cold Baltic to warm Byzantium. However, we cannot exclude that these campaigns were carried out by several different "Russian" states. Such campaigns taught the predecessors of the Cossacks the skills of making special small durable vessels that could sail both on the seas and rivers and be dragged by the ground.

So, what is the true age of Russia? According to Lomonosov – no less than that of Ancient Greece and Rome. Many researchers agree with his assessment. Some of them rely on the "Letter of Alexander the Great to the Slavs"[39 - Мавро Орбини "Историография початия имене, славы и разширения народа славянского" страницы 145 – 147, глава "О Агрианах". Москва, "Белые Альвы", 2010.], which reads as follows: "We, Alexander, are the son of the supreme god Jupiter in heaven and Philip, King of Macedon on earth, the ruler of the world from sunrise to sunset and from noon to midnight, the conqueror of the Median and Persian kingdoms, Greek, Syriac and Babylonian , etc . To the enlightened Slavic genus and its language. Mercy, peace, respect and greetings from us and our successors in the governance of the world after us. Since you have always been with us in loyalty in battle, reliable, brave and restless, we grant and freely give you forever all the lands from the full sea of the great Arctic Ocean to the Italian southern rocky Sea, so that no one dares to settle in these lands but only your kind and if any outsiders have been discovered here, they will become your serf or servant with their offspring forever. Given in the city of Alexandria, founded by us on the glorious river Nile in the 12th year of our reign with the permission of the great gods Mars, Jupiter and the goddess Minerva. The witnesses of this are the noble Altera, our treasurer, and the other 11 princes, whom, in the event of our death without sons, we leave our and the whole world’s heirs."

This is a very interesting and at the same time devilishly insidious document, first mentioned by the Czech historian Vaclav Gaik in the "Czech Chronicle" of the Brno Archive describing the events of 1348. In 1516 the Czech historian Joseph Pervolf of the University of Warsaw discovered a copy of this letter in Latin. In 1551 this document was printed in Polish, in 1596 – in German, in 1601 – in Italian. He becomes widely known in Europe and soon in Russia. It was believed that the original was kept in the archive of the Czech Kingdom. For five hundred years there have been heated debates and disputes among scientists about the authenticity of this document. Naturally, German-speaking scientists actively dispute the authenticity of the Letter because it gives priority to the Slavs and the Slavic language in Europe. And this was at a time when Ancient Rome, the cradle of Western civilization, was just beginning to gain its strength. Photos of the original text of the diploma are easily found on the Internet. We do not give it here as they are protected by copyright.

There are some indirect evidences that the document may be authentic. The Charter mentions the twelfth year of Alexander's reign. This date falls on 324 BC, the penultimate year of his life. A campaign to distant India has just ended. Although it turned out to be not very successful, almost all the states of the Ancient World lay at the feet of the Great commander. It is known that after the Indian campaign Alexander the Great was actively preparing for a campaign to conquer "wild, barbaric" Europe. Now Europe and North America are the centers of world civilization, but in that distant past Greece and Rome (to a lesser extent) were such centers while the rest of Europe was considered wild and barbaric.

Alexander's favorite technique was "divide and conquer" playing on contradictions in the camp of the alleged enemy. This slogan is as old as the world. It was widely used by many leaders, leaders, princes, tsars before Alexander and it is now. During the conquest of the Persian Empire Alexander skillfully opposed the population of provinces to the Persians. As a result he was greeted with flowers as a liberator almost everywhere. Cities opened their gates wide before him without a fight. After the conquest of Egypt he was proclaimed the vicar of the God on earth and in some places even the God. He skillfully timed the trip to India to coincide with the internecine war between the Ruler of India and the Ruler of the Indian city of Taxila. Only fatigue and the murmur of his soldiers forced Alexander to turn back.

In preparation for the conquest of the "barbaric West", Alexander was likewise looking for allies in Europe and found the Slavs to be them. In those distant times they lived on the territory of modern Greece, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Yugoslavia and Austria. Descendants of the defenders of Troy glorified by Homer, they took a lively part in Alexander's victorious campaigns. In addition, the land road from Greece to Europe ran through their lands. The ancient authors who wrote about the Slavs emphasized their love of freedom and bravery in battle. No better allies could be found. The Macedonian letter to the Slavs is a poisoned knife stuck in the back of Europe by the iron hand of the Great commander. With one stroke of his pen he split the unity of Europe for millennia, spilled rivers of blood, opposing one European nation to another. Now we can only guess where the whole course of history would have turned and what would have happened to Europe if Alexander Macedonian had not died suddenly on the eve of the already prepared campaign. Scientists are still arguing about the authenticity of this letter.

There is a hypothesis that in addition to the letter to all Slavs, Alexander the Great also sent a separate letter specifically to the Russians when passing through the Czech land. The copies of that letter also spread to the Slavic countries. Alexander granted the Muscovite ancestors lands not from Aquilon to Italy but from the Baltic Sea to the Caspian.[40 - "Polystoria: Цари, святые, мифотворцы в средневековой Европе" под редакцией: М. А. Бойцов, О. С. Воскобойников М.: Издательский дом НИУ ВШЭ, 2016, с.265-300] The Russian empress Catherine the Great (Catherine II, German by origin) knew about the existence of such a letter and considered it a genuine historical document.[41 - ИМП: Императрица Екатерина II. О величии России. М., ЭКСМО, 2003, 832 с.] In her "Notes on Russian History" she wrote "16. They say that the Russ helped Philip of Macedon in the war three hundred and ten years before the Birth of Christ, his son Alexander as well and for bravery in this they got a charter written in golden words, which seems to be in the archives of the Sultan of Turkey. But since the sultan's baths are heated with archival papers, it is likely that this letter has also been used for that purpose long time ago, if it was there."[42 - Собеседник любителей российского слова. 1783. Ч. 2-7. Первое отдельное издание: Записки касательно российской истории. 4.1. СПб.: Имп. тип., 1787.] The opinions of historians are divided about the authenticity of this letter of Alexander the Great.

Back in the middle of the 19th century historian E.I. Klassen insisted that Slavic tribes existed even before the time of the city of Troy.[43 - Классен Е. И. «Новые материалы для древнейшей истории славян вообще и славяно-руссов до рюриковского времени в особенности, с легким очерком истории руссов до Рождества Христова». Вып. 1-3 – Москва: Унив. тип., 1854] Lomonosov M.V. in his "Ancient Russian History" also emphasizes that "the greatness and power of the Slavic tribe began many centuries before the ruin of Troy."

I, the humble author of this article, watched the film “Troy” in English in remote Australia in 2004. At that time I had not yet gone into the specific details of the history of Russia. After a few minutes of watching the movie I suddenly felt some inexplicable kinship with the Trojans. There was something in their faces, manners, clothes, actions that made them not strangers to me. Even the very name of Troy seemed painfully familiar to me as if I had known it since birth. Then I had a "wild and impossible" thought that the Trojans were Russians. Now the scientists are beginning to prove that my feelings had some basis – Troy was inhabited by Slavs indeed. Probably the creators of the film so scrupulously embodied the images of Troy and the Trojans based on legends, myths and excavation data that I saw the Trojans as kindred people.

Troy (also known as Ilion) was located in Asia Minor near the Dardanelles and controlled the sea trade routes of Europe and Asia. Such a beneficial strategic location allowed the Trojans to control all the trade flows of the Mediterranean and Black Seas, made them rich and strong. It caused envy among the Achaean Greeks and some peoples of the Black Sea region. According to a legend the Trojans blocked the narrow strait with a tension chain, not letting merchant ships through until they paid the established fee. There are certain reasons to believe that Troy did not exist on its own but was rather a part of the state "Mediterranean Russia".[44 - А. Абрашкин "Тайны Троянской войны и Средиземноморская Русь", 2006 г., изд-во Вече, ISBN 5-9533-1195-8 , 480с.]

Seven cultural layers have been discovered at the excavation site of Troy. They are associated with different periods in the existence of historical Troy. There used to be several “Troys” in fact. The city itself turned out to be much older than the Homeric Troy – it was originally built in the 4th millennium BC by the Pelasgians, the ancestors of the Slavs. “It is known from history” – wrote E.I. Klassen – that the Trojans were called first Pelasgians, then Thracians, then Teucrians, after that Dardanians and finally Trojans, and their descendants after the fall of Troy – Pergamians and Kemeians. He also notes that the Greeks called all of the Trojans, Macedonians and Phrygians to be Thracians, that the Thracians are descended from the Pelasgians. Among the Thracians as well as among the Pelasgians we meet many purely Slavic tribal names including the Russ and the Ruthenians, according to Herodotus. The Thracians wore forelocks as later the Little Russians (Malorossians) did; their graves were made in a mound, which is common among all the Slavs, their weapons were Slavic too. The most famous Thracian is Spartacus. After his capture by the Romans he almost demolished the Rome state by raising a slave rebellion. And since the Thracians were Slavs then the Trojans were too (as a part of the Thracians). The excavations found the majority of the buried Thracian girls with the specifically Slavic headdresses (kokoshniks).

Many sources call all the tribes of the Slavs with a common word – Wends. The chronicle of Fredegard, the 7th century A.C. says "… the Slavs, called Wends …". Ion of Bobby (also the 7th century A.C.) in his description of the life of St. Columbia says – “The idea came to him to go to the Wends who are also called the Slavs.” The Anglo-Saxon writer Alcuin of the times of Charlemagne wrote "We call the Slavs Wends." The Germans used to call all Slavs “Vend”. The Finns and the Estonians still call the Russians "Vene". And the Finnish name of Lake Ladoga is Veneimiere, which means “the Sea of Vene”.

The main neighbor of Troy was the state of Paphlagonia inhabited by the Wends and located on the southern coast of the Black Sea, east of Troy. When the Greeks and their allies went to war against Troy, a detachment of the Wends of Paphlagonia came to its aid. And most of the other neighboring principalities of the Wends joined the defenders of Troy. At the end of the second song of the “Iliad” Homer gives a "Catalogue of ships" with the troops that arrived to help Troy. It lists the peoples who participated in Troy’s defense. Those are the Trojans (apparently from the towns around, not from Troy itself), the Wends, the Pelasgians, the Dardani, the Kikons, the Peons, the Thracians, the Phrygians, the Carians, the Lycians, the Medes and others. Most of these tribes (if not all) are Slavic. We may say that an ancient world war took a place there then.

It needs be noted that several Slavic tribes of the Black Sea region opposed Troy on the side of Greece. For instance, a detachment of Myrmidons led by Prince Achilles. This "ancient Greek" hero deserves a closer look. Achilles was the son of Peleus and the grandson of the Aegin ruler Aeacus. He was a noble Scythian from the city of Myrmikion near the Meotida Lake (the Sea of Azov). Exiled for his wild, cruel and insolent behavior, he settled in Thessaly (according to Leo the Deacon, a Byzantine historian of the 10th century). The cut of Achilles’ cape fastened with a clasp, the habit of fighting on foot, blond hair, light blue eyes are typical of the ancient Slavs. Leo Deacon, like all medieval authors, considered the Scythians to be not the Scythian nomads (Iranians) but the entire population of the southern Russian steppes (Achilles is not nomadic at all, indeed). Many medieval authors (for instance Eustace of Thessaloniki and Attaliot) considered Achilles to be a Tauro-Scythian and even a Russian.[45 - Татьяна Джаксон, Ирина Коновалова, Александр Подосинов "Древняя Русь в свете зарубежных источников. Том II. Византийские источники", Litres, 2007 г., ISBN: 978-5-91244-008-3 , 383c.] Leo Deacon refers to the Jewish prophet Ezekiel who emphasizes the connection of Achilles with the Russ people.