I. R. VASILYEVSKY
(Based on the archaeological materials of the Black Grave mound)

Institute of Archeology and Ethnography SB RAS

17 Akademika Lavrentieva Ave., Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia

E-mail: vasilevsky@yandex.ru

Introduction

In the reconstruction of the world of people in different historical epochs, a significant place is occupied by the study of beliefs and cults characteristic of each individual community. One of the elements that reflect the state of society is the calendar as an expression of cycles that connect time, astronomical objects and the space around them. It is also consistent with significant events and holidays for this society, significant dates in the individual's life. The calendar counting system in pre-Christian Russia is practically unknown. Researchers call into question the complete lack of writing among the Slavs before the creation of Glagolitic and Cyrillic letters. The question of the religious views of the ancient Slavs, tribal unions in the territories between the Dnieper and the Volga, Ladoga and the Black Sea region in the period before the adoption of Christianity in Russia is poorly studied. Slavic vessels - "calendars" of the IV century with "lines and cuts" were found together with Roman coins of the same period, and as a result of the reconstruction of the calendar on these clay products, in some cases the beginning of the year is set in January, which corresponds to the Roman calendar. At the same time, as is known, the Slavs celebrated the beginning of the year close to the days of the spring or autumn equinox, so the question of the actual Old Slavic calendar remains open. Thus, at present, for the period of the V - X centuries, i.e., when the society was sufficiently developed, no traces of material culture have been found that allow us to get a complete picture of the counting systems and calendar of the Slavic tribes in the region under consideration.

Describing the complexity of the problem, it is necessary to note the migration processes or changes in beliefs in Russia, which are objectively confirmed by the periodic refusal to burn corpses. According to the assessment of academician B. A. Rybakov, this happened three times: around the 5th century BC, in the 2nd-4th and 9th-10th centuries AD [Rybakov, 1988, p. 111]. For the last episode, he does not establish a direct connection with the adoption of Christianity (988), emphasizing that Christian symbols - crosses and body icons-appear in Russian village mounds no earlier than the end of the XII century. Accordingly, it is impossible to talk about the widespread introduction of the Christian calendar in Russia before this time, and the concept of "pre-Christian Russia" can cover the period of the X - XII centuries. Moreover, the very construction of mounds indicates a different religious consciousness from Christianity and is usually associated with beliefs in the "great Mount Meru", where the gods reside, which is symbolized by the mound.

This article is designed as a polemic with the author of the main publications on burial in the Black Grave mound. Regarding approaches, it should be noted that B. A. Rybakov makes extensive use of local folklore recorded in the 19th century and information about folk festivals in the pagan era. I also refer to folklore, but I believe that the Chernihiv fairy tales known today are not related to the materials of the monument. B. A. Rybakov takes data on seasonal holidays in Russia as a calendar basis for the drawing on the silver shackle of the Turiy horn, and in my opinion, the frieze shows a lunar calendar with elements of Indo-Iranian mythology.

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The Black Grave Mound and elements of the burial ritual

Considering the above, we can add that in order to reconstruct the calendar in pre-Christian Russia, it is necessary to analyze the stable elements in the culture and beliefs of the Slavs, based on various archaeological materials that reflect their worldview to one degree or another. In addition, I used linguistic data: the origin of various words and loanwords in Russian supports the hypothesis of Indo-Iranian influence on rituals and customs in pre-Christian Russia.

The object of research is a fairly well - known archaeological material-ritual objects from the Black Grave mound near Chernihiv. Excavations of this burial site were carried out by Professor D. Ya. Samokvasov back in 1872-1874, and reports on field work were first published in Izvestiya Russkogo Geograficheskogo obshchestva in 1874.

The Black Grave is a rich princely burial with a mound about 11m high. During the excavations, a thorough reconstruction of both the burial site itself and the stages of the funeral rite, in which the construction of the house and its burning took place, was carried out. A distinctive element of the rite was that the dead were not placed on the pyre, but the fire was built over them, as evidenced by a significantly stronger melting of the upper sides of objects in the burial. This monument has been repeatedly described in the scientific literature [Sedov, 1982, p. 252], so I will only mention what is essential in the framework of the study.

A prince, a woman and a young prince were buried in the mound. The men had armor and weapons, and among the things associated with the woman, it should be noted 10 sickles in the legs. The ritual element of the burial is the placement of 12 wooden buckets in an irregular semicircle on the western side, and the objects that distinguish this burial from many others include about 100 headstock, a bronze bat and bone blocks with marks indicating points from one to six. In the process of completing the trizna, ritual objects were added to the burial from above (they were not touched by fire): a bronze figure of a man and two Turian horns bound with chased silver with gilding. One horn had a floral ornament, and the other (Figs. 1, 2) - a complex plot coinage (length 67 cm, height 12 cm). The mound is usually dated to the 960s, and a Byzantine coin of Constantine and Romanos (issue 945-959) was found in it without signs of wear, which was located just above the domovina and corresponds to the trizna.

In the context of studying the worldview of the ancient Slavs, I consider it necessary to give my own interpretation of some elements of the burial ritual in the Black Grave mound. Ten iron sickles at the feet of the buried woman are considered by B. A. Rybakov as ordinary agricultural implements that accompanied the woman during her lifetime and were left to her after her death [1988, p. 311]. In my opinion, the set of ten sickles indicates that this woman gave the prince a son and passed away with him. The beginning of the lunar month is considered the appearance of a new crescent moon, and ten lunar months is the usual period of pregnancy of a woman. To explain the rite, you can-

Fig. 1. Silver shackle of turiy horn from the Black Grave mound.

Fig. 2. Drawing of the coinage on the Turi horn.

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but to make a comparison with the funeral of the "noble Rus" (922), which was described by the Arab traveler Ibn Fadlan. According to his notes, it was not the wife or daughters who received part of the inheritance who were sent to the afterlife with the deceased, but one of the women who voluntarily agreed to be burned along with the body of the deceased. During the 10 days of preparation for cremation, this woman "drinks and has fun, adorns her head and herself with various kinds of ornaments and dresses, and, so dressed up, gives herself to people "(quoted in: [Ibid., p. 308]). In my opinion, by placing 10 sickles in the Black Grave, the prince's associates wanted to emphasize the direct kinship of the buried woman, to distinguish her from those women who left the world to observe the custom of accompanying the deceased in his other life, but were not close (concubines, slaves).

The next element of the funeral rite is 12 wooden buckets. The placement of buckets on the western side, in the heads of the buried, is usually interpreted as the direction in which the deceased will have to go in the other world: "A large group of ideas about the kingdom of the dead is associated with the apparent death of the sun and moon in the west: the road along which these brilliant luminaries move towards sunset is at the same time the road of the dead..." [Schurz, 1910, p.794]. This cultural tradition can be confirmed by a text from the Middle Kingdom period in Egypt (2050-1750 BC).:

Time like a dream flashes by,
And "welcome" will say
In the fields of Sunset to an alien.

[Anthology..., 2001, p. 11].

According to D. Ya. Samokvasov, the buckets contained tar, and B. A. Rybakov, based on studies of other mounds, believed that they were filled with honey or wine [Rybakov, 1949, p. 28]. In connection with the ambivalence of the understanding of the rite, we should refer to the myth of the further path of deceased people. The Ukrainian folklore tradition in the works of N. V. Gogol gave us the image of Viy, which is associated by a number of researchers with the names of the pre-Christian god of the Eastern Slavs Vey and the Aryan god Vayu (the Iranian version of the name of the Indian god Vat) [Bongard-Levin, 1983, p. 77]. Vayu ("to blow, to blow") he was the god of war and wind, the mediator between heaven and earth. The path of the deceased is described in the book" Avesta "as follows:" One can pass through the path that is guarded by a fast - flowing river; only one path is impassable-the ruthless Vayu " (see: [Ibid., p. 78]). Vayu was standing by the Eyvat Bridge that led to paradise. It can be assumed that the Slavs of pre-Christian Russia had a ritual of preparing the dead to overcome a water barrier, a river, and in this case they needed resin to make a boat, raft or bridge. At the head of the buried prince, between him and the buckets, there were 10 spears and 12 arrows, so it is more likely that the deceased were provided not with a means of "cajoling" the guards of the Eyvat Bridge (honey and wine), but with weapons necessary to overcome obstacles in their path. The Avesta also mentions such guardians of the road of the dead as the dragon, the dark brown bear, the robber man, and the"wheeled army". In favor of the version about the construction of a boat or bridge, the presence of carpentry tools in the mound - an axe, chisel and skobel. According to B. A. Rybakov, these objects belonged to the carpenter who made the house, since the "Drevodel tools" that were used to build the last dwelling of the prince were subject to burning [1988, p.312].

The number of buckets was probably determined by the borrowing of many peoples from the Babylonian priests of the duodecimal numeral system, counting by the dozen. At the same time, the Indian Vedas also mention 12 " chakravartins "(literally in Sanskrit," turning the wheel") - the owners of our planet; later this title was used as a prefix to the royal name, denoting divine origin [Temkin and Erman, 1982, p.259]. Thus, the number 12 meant some completeness of the account, completeness of the transfer. In addition, at that time, the concept of "guard" meant not only a group of people, but also the time of duty of the security of the settlement. Perhaps the ancient Slavs, like the Babylonian priests, divided the day into 12 equal parts. It is noteworthy that in the epic about Ivan Godinovich (Chernihiv record of the XIX century) Koshchei the Immortal hangs on 12 chains (Rybakov, 1988, p. 318), which probably denote 12 shifts of protection - 12 guards. The robber nightingale-a character in the epic about the hero Ilya Muromets-built a nest on 12 oaks, which meant complete control over the surrounding space. In the Eastern folklore tradition about the exploits of the hero of "Shahnameh" (first edition 994 Rustam's soldiers also used the number 12 to indicate reliable security: ".. the pit (with the prisoner) was filled up with a huge stone, and the White Diva put twelve divas (deities) to guard the pit" [Skazki..., 1981, p.239]. Knowing that the buckets were placed in a semicircle with an arc facing west, we can confidently talk about the device of reliable ritual protection from the realm of the dead in the west. The reasons for this are discussed in detail in the final part of the article.

General questions of interpretation of the plot on the Silver shackle

Among the items from the Black Grave, the most interesting is the ritual horn, on the shackle of which 12 figures are minted: two - human, two-winged horses, three-birds and five-animals. At the top

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Figure 3. One lunar cycle.

there is a kind of bar with 10 plaques, reminiscent of the counting system.

The general approach to the study of the plot was proposed by D. Ya. Samokvasov and consists in the fact that the interpretation of the drawing should be sought in the local, Chernihiv folklore. B. A. Rybakov (1949, pp. 46-49), who agrees with him, took the Chernihiv epic about Ivan Godinovich as the basis for the interpretation of coinage. This approach has two distinct components: folklore and ritual calendar. B. A. Rybakov writes that "the ritual horn depicts the myth of the death of the fairy-tale epic Koshchei the Immortal and the liberation from his power of Anastasia the Beautiful, associated in fairy tales with the flowering of spring and summer nature" [1988, p. 771]. And such an element of the drawing as arrows, in his opinion, indicates a duel with the hero: "... three arrows are located behind Koshchei in the side opposite to the main bird. Unlike epics, in which Koshchei is killed by the first arrow, here is a typical triple repetition for fairy tales... Here is everything that is mentioned in the climax of the epics: a prophetic bird, a girl giving a bow and arrow to Koshchei, and Koshchei himself with a bow in his hand, running to another bird, and an arrow flying to the back of Koshchei's head" [Ibid., p. 331]. Of the 10 plaques on the top of the shackle, two placed above the figures of people are considered by B. A. Rybakov as signs of Koshchei and Anastasia, and the rest - as eight months of the spring-summer season. At the same time, the position above the blooming hop cone is taken for June 24 - Ivan Kupala Day.

In my interpretation of the drawing on the silver horn shackle, I do not come from Chernihiv folklore, recorded in the XIX century. [Ibid., p. 317], and from the practical and ritual aspect of the life of the Slavs in pre-Christian Russia. At the same time, my position is fully consistent with B. A. Rybakov's assessment of the sources of the religious worldview of the Slavs:"... none of the names of Slavic deities finds an analogy in either Scandinavian or Germanic mythology... On the other hand, the influence of Iranian mythology, which dates back to the middle of the first millennium BC, is very clearly visible" [Ibid., p. 453]. You can add that the very location of the Black Grave mound is a district

Dnieper River-through this hydronym is associated with Iranian roots. The name Dnipro is derived from the Iranian words "dan" and "apr", which mean "deep water (river)" (Bongard-Levin, 1983, p. 24). D. Ya. Samokvasov noted the continuity of Indo-Iranian mythology and Slavic culture. In his lectures for students of Moscow University, he writes about the origin of the Slavic names of the main deity God, Bug, Big, Bag from the Indian name Bagavat, meaning the eternal being, the supreme god, by whose will Brahma created the world [Samokvasov, 1903, p. 101].

Let us consider the minting characters, which are conventionally numbered (see Fig. 2). Between Figures 4 and 5 there is a cone-shaped image, which B. A. Rybakov interprets as a flower (cone) of wild hops; at the same time, he fairly compares the word " khml "with the Indo-Iranian" soma"," homa", denoting a divine drink [Rybakov, 1988, p. 335], referring to the turiy horn itself, intended for libation. At the same time, the word "soma" corresponds in Vedic texts to the concepts of "moon" and "moon god"; moreover, the very use of the divine drink in a metaphorical sense corresponds to the visual waning of the moon, after which its " cup " is again filled with the light of the sun (Figure 3). In the book of the Vedas, the Mahabharata It is explicitly stated: "The moon wanes because the gods and the souls of the deceased who are in the realm of Yama (the god of death) drink the sacred soma from it, which it consists of, and then the sun fills the moon with it again" (see: [Temkin and Erman, 1982, p.33]. If we look from this position at the coinage plot, where the hop cone is located at the highest point between Figures 4 and 5, and at the lowest point between Figures 11 and 12, we can assume that the cycle of the lunar month is depicted here, and the characters of the drawing interpreted on the basis of ethnographic materials can become confirmation of this.

In ancient societies, almost all peoples went through the creation and use of the lunar calendar, which was later replaced by the solar one, but at the same time, for religious and agricultural purposes, the lunar calendar is still widely used in many countries. The plot on the shackle of the Turi horn describes the principle of counting the lunar months, and 10 plaques indicate significant periods of time for the prince or priest. The figures of a man and a woman on the frieze are nothing more than a symbol of conjunction, i.e. the entry of the month (as a lunar segment) into the sectors of various constellations. This rather traditional perception of the moon phase (new moon) in the myth-making of the Slavs and other peoples was interpreted as the marriage of the month with heavenly girls. In Hinduism, for more than two millennia, there has been a pantheon of 28 constellations with female names; the new moon consistently "marries" them, bypassing the celestial sphere in the astronomical sense [Bogi..., 1969, p. 237]. There are nine coins on the coinage in question.-

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shek look like clouds, and the tenth, directly above the female figure, rather resembles a ripe acorn, facing the cap up, and, accordingly, symbolizes the end of fruit ripening. These 10 positions are linked by a universal deadline for combining any calendar systems: ten lunar months make up a woman's normal gestation period-40 weeks, or 280 days. In early societies and beyond, relations between neighbors or within tribal alliances were formed on the basis of levying tribute to the stronger ones. The term of the annual collection of taxes was determined precisely by 10 lunar months: first, the period of time was clear, even if there were relations between different peoples; second, the term itself contained a hint of a threat to the life or freedom of children in case of non-payment of the required amount; third, such a period made it possible to regulate the issue of population at the "poll" tax collection. This is confirmed by the text from the "Tale of Bygone Years", where the chronicler speaks about the past of Russia: "Ovi (previously) on the moon chtyahu (on the moon was considered), and druzii (others) dnyami leta chtyahu. Devoyu bo (female term) for ten months number on Tom uvedasha. Og neelezh (from this period) the human tribute to davaga was begun by the tsesar" [Rybakov, 1988, p. 441]. Thus, according to the "Tale of Bygone Years", in Russia the account was used both according to the lunar calendar ("on the moon of chtyahu") and according to the solar calendar ("day of the summer of chtyahu"), and for collecting tribute to the "caesar" a period of 10 lunar months was determined. In this regard, it should be remembered that the word "calendar" comes from the Latin "calendarium" - literally, "debt book", and in Italy the middle of the first millennium. The so - called Year of Romulus, a calendar based on 10 months, was also in effect. A similar calendar system was also used by the Mayan tribes, who, having three calendars, used one of them (in 260 days) only in ritual and agricultural practice. A period of 280 days (10 lunar months) may raise questions about the annual shift in the time of tribute collection, but in reality there was only an indication of the timing of the preparation of tribute by the population and the departure of tax collectors. In Russia of the X century, princes established "signs" and "places" - strong points for collecting tribute, and the very withdrawal of tribute and departure for this prince were called "polyudye". Polyudye began in November, and ended only in the spring [Works..., 1899, p. 75], therefore, the problem of mismatch of the term of 10 lunar months with the solar year was removed by the duration of the treasury replenishment process itself.

Plot characters and their ritual meaning

Analyzing the artistic design of the master who made the product in question, we will focus on the main characters and questions of the ritual and religious perception of the world of his contemporaries.

As mentioned above, the turiy horn was not touched by the flames when the house was burned, because it was placed on top already during the performance of the trizna. In this regard, it is impossible not to mention one more point. During the restoration of the product in the State Historical Museum in the 1940s, experts noted: initially, during the manufacture of the silver shackle was located so that on the side of the horn drinker there were figures of winged horses holding a hop cone. During the excavation of the mound, the position of the frieze with a 180° turn from the original one was recorded, i.e. the figure of a girl appeared at this place. It is quite possible that the one who put the horn in the grave during the trizna deliberately unfolded the coinage in order to indicate a new starting point and emphasize the plot, where a man moves after a girl, but already in the "kingdom of shadows".

Taking into account the initial position of the silver horn shackle, I will begin the analysis of 12 characters in the plot with two winged horses holding a hop cone. Based on the above-mentioned Indo-Iranian continuity in the key issues of the Slavs 'religious worldview, we can assume that in the ritual tradition" khm'l-khoma " meant Soma, i.e. the Moon. Horses in this case are associated with the heavenly chariot, symbolizing the divine movement on the celestial sphere. The composition with a raised hop cone indicates the dominance of the moon - the full moon. Then the disk of the moon begins to wane; the symbol of this phase on the coinage is the image of a bird of prey-a griffin. In Vedic texts, and later in the folklore of other Asian peoples, there is a story about the abduction of the divine drink of the gods by a magic bird. In the myth of the giant eagle Garuda, it is said: "... the bird soared up and attacked the gods from above and brought down many with blows of its claws and beak. Unable to withstand the battle with the invincible bird, the gods retreated... Garuda... I grabbed a jar of amrita and immediately set off on my way back" (Temkin and Erman, 1982, p. 70). It was mentioned above that in mythology, the process of waning of the moon's disk is often identified with the loss of the divine drink, and, conversely, growth - with the filling of its "cup" with the drink of the gods. In this case, a connection is probably made with the theft of this drink by a bird of prey. Comparing the Vedic Rig Veda and the Zoroastrian Avesta, researchers note that the gigantic bird, which had different names (Garumat-Garuda, Shiena-Saena), in mythology was endowed with the features of a beast, was "in three natures"," three images " (Bongard-Levin, 1983, p. 126). Perhaps this is due to the placement under the image of a bird of two figures of animals, highlighted by the master. Hares are shown looking in different directions. According to B. A. Rybakov, the artist did not depict two hares, but tried to emphasize the volume of the figure of one according to the laws of the middle Ages.-

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kova iskusstva [Rybakov, 1988, p. 334]. In my opinion, it is more likely that these figures represent two stages of the moon's waning disk: the first - the third quarter, and the second-the fourth, until the moon completely disappears visually (see Figure 3). At the same time, their placement under the image of the catfish - stealing bird becomes clear.

The choice of the hare is not accidental: it was considered by the Slavs and Lithuanians as a carrier of a demonic, negative beginning. In the Ipatiev chronicle, the Lithuanian hare Bogomikz (literally, "scourge of God") is mentioned, the appearance of which on the way, according to legend, makes hunters turn off the road, do not enter the forest. Exploring the image of Koshchei the Immortal in Russian folklore, B. A. Rybakov places the hare in the retinue of Koshchei as its guardian. In Slavic folklore, there is a ban on eating hare meat; it is believed that you can not remember a hare while swimming on water, otherwise the water will raise a storm [Ibid., p. 334]. The latter is especially interesting, because, according to Slavic mythology, at night the sun is drawn by swans (sometimes horses) on the water, i.e., perhaps, for the master of the IX - X centuries, the hare was associated with the demons of the aquatic environment - the lords of the sun at night. Indian mythology (book IV of the Vishnu Puranas) mentions the ban of the high priests on the use of meat contaminated by the presence of hare meat for sacrifices, i.e. the hare was considered as a representative of negative forces (Temkin and Erman, 1982, p.79). Moreover, the origin of the Russian word "hell", which denotes the place of residence of God's opponents and sinners, may be related to the designation in Sanskrit in the ancient Indian Vedas of a hare or someone jumping, i.e. through the image of a hare, the concept of a person moving spiritually by jumping over other people and thereby suppressing them can be transmitted. In the Vedas, for example, the desecrator of sacrifices to the gods Shashada - "Hare - eater" and the god of war Skanda - "Jumping out of himself" (cf. "scandal" and the idiom "lose your temper"). Thus, the images of two hares on the shackle indicate the danger of the night star in its last phases as a source of demonic, sinful origin, and also, according to the same Vedas, the place of residence of the souls of dangerous sinners - the Moon.

In the next phase, the disk of the moon disappears, which is conveyed by the composition of two figures of wolves and a hop cone depicted between them at the bottom. Here we can agree with B. A. Rybakov, who considers the paired image of biting wolves as "a symbol of the struggle, the confrontation of equal forces" [1988, p. 332]. But for him, this is a pictogram of the battle for a good start between Koshchei Bessmertny and Ivan Godinovich. He interprets the hop cone as an image of the forces of nature in general, but does not accept the interpretation as a symbol of the moon. In my opinion, the wolf in this composition acts as an absorber of the moon, and its paired image is obviously explained by the correspondence of a pair of figures of horses lifting a hop cone. This interpretation of the plot is fully confirmed by the material of the collector of Russian fairy tales A. N. Afanasyev, who gives the following example of Slavic myth-making: "When the moon or slnce goes out, say:' Vl'kodlatsi will eat the moon or slnce '" (cit. by: [Ibid., p. 730]).

Next is a raven. In Russian folklore, it is a symbol of the night. Linking the concepts of "night" and "water", since in the Slavic mythological consciousness the sun is placed in the water at night, and the moon is placed in the daytime, we can come to an interesting hypothesis about the origin of the name of the black bird, which was totemic among many peoples. In the Vedas (late II-early I millennium BC), a deity named Varuna is the lord of the ocean and night, which serves as another proof of the preservation of Indo-Iranian foundations in the worldview of the Eastern Slavs. Vran-Raven (Varuna) is depicted by an ancient master in order to show the phase of "invisibility" of the Moon, when the Sun illuminates only its reverse side. This phase has a duration of one to two days, depending on the position of the observer on Earth.

The next composition features a woman and a man, both with bows and no arrows. It was noted above that in this case there is an artistic representation of the conjunction of the new moon, its "marriage". With the appearance of the crescent moon, a new lunar month begins to count down, which is currently preserved in many Muslim countries. If you look at the turiy rog from above, then the count of months goes clockwise, with an orientation of ten plaques located at the top of the shackle. The last plaque is placed above the female figure, has the appearance of a ripe acorn and marks the end of pregnancy-10 lunar months. Two multidirectional bows symbolize the two stages of growth of the moon's disk - the first and second quarters, i.e. before the full moon (see Figure 3).

Next is a figure of a rooster - a well-known symbol of dawn. It is difficult to say unequivocally about the ritual meaning of this character due to the variability of its use. There are two main interpretations that are based on the vertical image of a rod or arrow placed between the figures of a rooster and a man. In favor of the rod is the fact that archaeologists in the territory of Ancient Russia collected more than 150 such products of various artistic designs dating back to the X-XIII centuries. In this story, the rod means reminding the owner of the horn about the obligation to start performing some ritual actions. The figure of a rooster singing (head slightly tilted back) suggests the need for the first sunrise after

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when a young sickle appears, inform about the beginning of a new month (figuratively act as a singing rooster). Indeed, in ancient Rome, when the new moon appeared, the high priest, the pontiff, publicly announced the beginning of a new month in the central square; this function was considered important in society, emphasizing the role of the priestly caste for everyone. At the same time, B. A. Rybakov interprets the vertical object depicted between the figures of a rooster and a man as a cut - arrow with a two-horned tip for shooting birds [Rybakov, 1949, p.49]. Therefore, another explanation of the plot of the drawing is also possible, which is based on the records of Caesar Constantine Porphyrogenitus (945-959) about the pagan ritual of the Slavs. He writes:"...they make sacrifices... and they sacrifice live roosters and chickens. They stick arrows all around..."[Works..., 1899, p. 73]. On the silver chain there are also images of arrows near the figure of a rooster, and it can be said that the plot reminds the priest of the need to make a sacrifice to the deities in the middle of the lunar month.

The beginning of the countdown of both the lunar month and the period of 10 months is indicated by an arrow located obliquely (slope to the right) between the figures of a rooster and a man. According to B. A. Rybakov, all three arrows play the role of a simple weapon aimed at Koshchei's back, emphasizing the threefold attack on him. The Wolf and Raven are characters who, in accordance with the tale of Ivan Godinovich and other Russian fairy tales, help the main character to cope with Koshchei the Immortal. I give a different meaning to the next image of the plot - hort. In the Old Russian language, this word meant both a dog and a wolf. Hort's position in the drawing is very interesting: he is moving in the direction of the rooster (symbol of the sun) and people, but his head is turned in the opposite direction - he is looking at the full moon, because he is fascinated by its light. In Indo-Iranian mythology, there is an image that fully agrees with the one depicted on the Turian horn - this is the" mother of all dogs", the" hunting dog of the king of the gods " Saram. The meaning of the plot described in the Rig Veda (beginning of the first millennium BC) and Brihadevata (IV-III centuries BC) is the abduction of sacred cows from the gods by the Pani tribe and their search. It is noteworthy that the word itself "war" ("gavishti") in Sanskrit literally means "search for cows". Sarama, sent by the king of the gods to collect the cows, found them, but the pani drugged her with demon milk ("false moonlight"), so on her return she lied to the king of the gods that she had not found the cows. You can connect the origin of the Russian word "shame" with the name Sarama. Skeptics will note that the mythical events of the Vedas are very far from the history of the Slavs. I think the following thesis is more correct: "The Vedas... they cover the Persians in the east, the Aryans-Hellenes in the west, the Slavs-Germans in the northwest, and the Turanians in the northeast" (Reclu, 1908, p. 707). Indeed, in the Vedas, the Pani live across the Rasa River, which some experts identify with the Oxa-Amu Darya River (Temkin and Erman, 1982, p. 239). Other researchers argue that the ancient " l "in Aryan languages passed into "p", and in Iranian " s "passed into "x", and, consequently, Rasa is the Iranian name of the Volga-Raha; in Ptolemy it was already called Ra (Rha) [Bongard-Levin, 1983, p. 153]. In my opinion, we are talking about a certain people who lived on the territory of Russia (between the Volga and the Dnieper), which in the Slavic epic was attributed to werewolfism, the ability to talk to other people. wolves, lead away the dog chase. The image of the wolf was used very widely in Russian applied arts, epics and fairy tales, but in this case it is depicted on a ritual object. Given the placement of the hort figure and its posture, it can be assumed that in the priestly ritual, the symbolic image of Sarama was a warning about werewolves on the eve of the full moon, and also, perhaps, about the need to perform a ritual associated with the cult of hort - to put on the skin of a wolf. According to ethnographic materials preserved in Galicia and Poland, during Yuletide (December 25-January 6) and on Midsummer Night (June 24), people ran in villages with a stuffed wolf or dressed in a wolf skin (Rybakov, 1988, p.730). However, another semantic load on the image of the hort (Sarama) moving towards the dawn symbol-the rooster-is not excluded. Perhaps the emphasis was placed on the ban on the ritual of funerals in the evening, in the hours preceding the appearance of the moon in the sky, because it was believed that at this time the souls of the deceased could go astray, "intoxicated", like Sarama, with soma.

Analyzing the materials related to the pre-Christian period in the history of Russia, it should be noted that a significant part of the pagan cultural traditions that had Indo-Iranian roots did not come down to us, disappeared under the Greco-Roman influence. A typical example is the image of mermaids, which were associated in the worldview of the Slavs with the cult of rain and fertility. It was widely represented in everyday objects and art until the XIV century, when under the influence of the Christian Church, mermaids began to be perceived as magical creatures. In this regard, D. Ya. Samokvasov notes that "despite thousands of years of efforts of Christian preaching directed against the superstitious adoration of mermaids, goblins, brownies, etc.among the masses, it still lives in the lower classes of all Christian peoples" [1903, p. 100]. In the case of the characters on the silver shackle, we have the same situation: the influence of European culture made changes in the meaning of certain images and symbols of the pagan period, which, in my opinion, was partially overcome by referring to the original, Indo-Iranian foundations of the pre-Christian cultural traditions of the Slavs.

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Conclusion

The analysis showed that the turiy rog from the prince's Black Grave mound shows a scheme for calculating the time for Polyudya - the collection of tribute by the prince, based on a ten-month period (280 days). Minting characters indicate significant points in calculating the lunar month and moon phases. These images are associated with the myths and legends of pre-Christian Russia, rooted in the Indo-Iranian culture. The formation of Russian statehood, which dates back to the VIII-X centuries, involved the collection of various types of tribute by the prince and the provision of a single priestly power on its territory, which is confirmed by finds from the Black Grave.

Evaluating the elements of the funeral rite, we can make assumptions about the events associated with the prince buried in the mound, whose name has not yet been established. This burial is attributed to the 960s-the era of Prince Svyatoslav, the son of Prince Igor and Princess Olga (born in 942). In 964-967. Svyatoslav made campaigns in Khazaria, Vyatichi and Bulgaria, and in 968 there was an attack on Kiev by the Pechenegs, i.e. there were numerous battles, in one of which, perhaps, the prince and the prince were buried in a Black Grave. However, during the reconstruction of the funeral rite, experts noted that after the burning of the bodies, the helmet with the remains of the prince's skull was removed from the fire pit [Sedov, 1982, p.253], and later, when the bones were returned to the fire pit and the triza was performed, the mound was brought to a height of 11 m. There is obviously a great deal of respect for those buried in the mound, but at the same time there is a high probability that the removal of the skull is associated with a long-standing custom, according to which the head (or skull) of the offender must be presented to the "injured" party in order to avoid the development of a conflict. At the same time, according to the description of the monument, the weapons and armor of the men were piled up next to the buried ones - like those of the disarmed.

In the context of the events of the 60s of the X century, I propose the following version of what happened. As is known, in 962, at the request of Princess Olga, the German King Otto I sent the Catholic Bishop Adalbert to Kiev. In the same year, this bishop was exiled, and some of his people were killed. Svyatoslav was then 20 years old and it is unlikely that he personally opposed himself to the representatives of the German king and his mother. It is unlikely that other Kievans were also capable of this. At the same time, on behalf of the pagan-minded glades and Northerners (the main tribes of the middle Dnieper), a prince who was located nearby, but had

independence in the second most important city in Russia of the X century - Chernihiv [Rybakov, 1949, p. 52]. According to the chronicles, there was no conflict with the western neighbors, and it can be assumed that due to the life of the Chernigov prince's family, the incident with the Germans was resolved, and the Catholic diocese was removed from Russia. In favor of this version, two wide double-edged knives, similar in shape to the Frankish Scramasaks, are found on the fire pit. Regarding their function in burial, B. A. Rybakov notes: "... their shape is very unusual for Russian weapons. They are not suitable for either a stabbing or chopping blow... these are sacrificial knives" [Ibid., p. 41]. This interpretation of events is also consistent with the treaty of Prince Igor with Byzantium of 945, on the basis of which the lawsuits of that time between the Slavs and noble "foreigners" were interpreted: "... if a Christian kills a Rusin or a Rusin a Christian, let the one who committed the murder be kept from being killed by his neighbors, let them kill him " [Samokvasov, 1903, p. 142]. What happened also explains the subsequent position of the Chernigov princes - they separated from Kiev until the middle of the XI century. and in feuds between the principalities, they often acted in alliance with the Polovtsians, having received a notorious reputation from their contemporaries.

List of literature

Anthology of World Philosophy. Minsk: Harvest Publ., 2001, 990 p.

Gods, brahmans, and people, Moscow: Nauka Publ., 1969, 416 p.

Bongard-Levin G. M., Grantovsky E. A. From Scythia to India. - Moscow: Mysl, 1983. - 206 p.

Reklyu E. Chelovek i Zemlya [Man and Land]. St. Petersburg: P. P. Soikin Publishing House, 1908, 1016 p.

Rybakov B. A. Drevnosti Chernigova [Antiquities of Chernihiv]. MIA. - 1949. - Vol. 1, N11. - Pp. 7-93.

Rybakov B. A. Paganism of Ancient Russia, Moscow: Nauka Publ., 1988, 782 p.

Samokvasov D. Ya. Drevneye russkoe pravo [Ancient Russian Law], Moscow: Universitetskaya tip., 1903, 377 p.

Sedov V. V. Vostochnye slavyane v VI - XIII vekakh [Eastern Slavs in the VI-XIII centuries]. Moscow: Nauka Publ., 1982, 327 p.

Skazki i legendy Sistan [Fairy tales and Legends of Sistan], Moscow: Nauka Publ., 1981, 271 p.

The works of Konstantin Bagryanorodny "O Femakh" and "O narodakh". - M.: [Universitetskaya tip.], 1899. - 262 p.

Erman V. G. Temkin E. N., Myths of ancient India. Moscow: Nauka Publ., 1982, 270 p. (in Russian)

Schurz G. The history of primitive culture. Ostrogorsky Publishing House, St. Petersburg, 1910, 888 p.

The article was submitted to the Editorial Board on 12.07.04.

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