Blackwell Reference Online

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In one sense the “Russian History” of the title of this collective work begins with the first accounts written in a newly literate Kievan Rus′; in another, it is to be found in the first scant mentions in the works of foreign authors (such as Herodotus) of ethnic groups and events in the areas that were later to be named Russia. A third approach would be to see the historical process as one extending, irrespective of literacy, into the deep past and studied by related disciplines such as archaeology. This chapter aims briefly to set the scene for subsequent ones, concentrating on the two topics mentioned in the title.The origin of the Slavic-speaking component of the Kievan state is still contentious, a controversy played out between scholars of several nationalities. The problem is more of a linguistic nature than an ethnic or even historical one. The earliest attested forms of an East Slavic language (a regional group of the Slavic language family that now contains Russian, Belarussian, Ukrainian, and Rusyn) are first attested in Kievan Rus′. At some stage Slavic languages had differentiated from other members of the Indo-European group, which had become widespread in Europe and southwest Asia some time in prehistory (disputed current models suggest either the Neolithic or the Bronze Age). Most Slavic languages are not directly attested until quite late in the historic period, ... log in or subscribe to read full text