And Veles said:
Open the song box!
Unroll the ball!
For the time of silence is over
And it's time for words!
Songs of the bird Gamayun

... It's not scary to lie dead under the bullets,
It's not bitter to be homeless,
And we will save you, Russian speech,
Great Russian word.
A.Akhmatova

Not a single culture of a spiritually developed people can exist without mythology and writing. There is very little factual data about the time, conditions for the emergence and formation of Slavic writing. The opinions of scientists on this issue are contradictory.

A number of scientists say that writing in Ancient Russia appeared only when the first cities began to appear and the Old Russian state was formed. It was with the establishment of a regular managerial hierarchy and trade in the 10th century that there was a need to regulate these processes through written documents. This point of view is very controversial, because there is a number of evidence that the writing of the Eastern Slavs existed even before the adoption of Christianity, before the creation and spread of the Cyrillic alphabet, as evidenced by the mythology of the Slavs, chronicles, folk tales, epics and other sources

Pre-Christian Slavic writing

There is a number of evidence and artifacts confirming that the Slavs before the adoption of Christianity were not a wild and barbaric people. In other words, they knew how to write. Pre-Christian writing among the Slavs existed. The first to draw attention to this fact was the Russian historian Vasily Nikitich Tatishchev (1686-1750). Reflecting on the chronicler Nestor, who created The Tale of Bygone Years, V.N. Tatishchev claims that Nestor created them not from words and oral traditions, but based on already existing books and letters, which he collected and streamlined. Nestor could not, from words, so reliably reproduce the Treaties with the Greeks, which were created 150 years before him. This suggests that Nestor relied on existing written sources that have not survived to this day.

The question arises, what was the pre-Christian Slavic writing? How did the Slavs write?

Runic writing (features and cuts)

Slavic runes are a script that, according to some researchers, existed among the ancient Slavs before the baptism of Russia and long before the creation of Cyrillic and Glagolitic. It is also called the letter "devils and cuts." In our time, the hypothesis of the "runes of the Slavs" has support among supporters of non-traditional ( alternative) history, although there is still no significant evidence, as well as refutation of the existence of such writing. The first arguments in favor of the existence of the Slavic pynic writing were put forward at the beginning of the last century; some of the testimonies cited then are now attributed to the Glagolitic alphabet, and not to the "pynitsa", some turned out to be simply untenable, but a number of arguments remain valid to this day.

So, it is impossible to argue with the testimony of Titmar, who, describing the Slavic temple of Retra, located in the lands of the Luticians, points to the fact that the idols of this temple had inscriptions made by "special", non-Germanic ryns. It would be completely absurd to assume that Titmar, being an educated person, might not have recognized the standard junior Scandinavian ryns if the names of the gods on the idols would have been inscribed by them.
Massydi, describing one of the Slavic temples, mentions some signs carved on stones. Ibn Fodlan, speaking about the Slavs of the end of the 1st millennium, points to the existence of grave inscriptions on pillars among them. Ibn El Nedim speaks about the existence of Slavic pre-Cyrillic writing and even cites in his treatise a drawing of one inscription carved on a piece of wood (the famous Nedim inscription). In the Czech song "Judgment of Lyubysha", preserved in the list of the 9th century, "desks pravdodatne" are mentioned - laws written on wooden boards in some letters.

The existence of pynic writing among the ancient Slavs is also indicated by many archaeological data. The oldest of them are finds of ceramics with fragments of inscriptions belonging to the Chernyakhov archaeological culture, uniquely associated with the Slavs and dated back to the 1st-4th centuries AD. Thirty years ago, the signs on these finds were identified as traces of writing. An example of "Chepnyakhovsky" Slavic pynic writing can serve as fragments of ceramics from the excavations near the village of Lepesovka (southern Volyn) or a clay shard from Ripnev, belonging to the same Chernyakhovsky culture and representing, probably, a fragment of a vessel. The signs visible on the shard leave no doubt that this is an inscription. Unfortunately, the fragment is too small to be able to decipher the inscription.

In general, the ceramics of the Chernyakhov culture provides very interesting, but too scarce material for deciphering. So, the Slavic clay vessel, discovered in 1967 during excavations in the village of Voiskovoe (on the Dnieper), is extremely interesting. Its surface is inscribed with an inscription containing 12 positions and using 6 characters. The inscription can neither be translated nor read, despite the fact that deciphering attempts have been made. However, it should be noted a certain similarity of the graphics of this inscription with the pynic graphics. There is a resemblance, and not only a resemblance - half of the signs (three out of six) coincide with the Futarka pyns (Scandinavia). These are the runes Dagaz, Gebo and a secondary version of the rune Ingyz - a rhombus placed on top.
Other - later - a group of evidence of the use of pynic writing by the Slavs is formed by monuments associated with the Wends, the Baltic Slavs. Of these monuments, first of all, let us point out the so-called Mikorzhinsky stones, discovered in 1771 in Poland.
Another - truly unique - monument of the "Baltic" Slavic ryniki is the inscriptions on cult objects from the Slavic temple of Radegast in Retra destroyed in the middle of the 11th century during the German conquest.

Runic alphabet.

Like the pynes of the Scandinavian and continental Germans, the Slavic pynes go back, judging by all, to the North Italian (Alpine) alphabets. Several main variants of Alpine writing are known, which, in addition to the northern Etpysks, were owned by Slavic and Celtic tribes living in the neighborhood. The question of exactly how the Italic writing was brought to the later Slavic regions remains completely open at the moment, as well as the question of the mutual influence of Slavic and Germanic ryniki.
It should be noted that pynic culture should be understood much more broadly than elementary writing skills - this is a whole cultural layer, covering mythology, religion, and certain aspects of magical art. Already in Etpyria and Venice (the lands of the Etpysks and Wends), the alphabet was treated as an object of divine origin and might have a magical effect. This is evidenced, for example, by finds in the Etpysian burials of tablets with a list of alphabetic characters. This is the simplest form of pynic magic, widespread in the North-West of Europe. Thus, speaking of the Old Slavic runic writing, one cannot help but raise the question of the existence of the Old Slavic runic culture as a whole. The Slavs of pagan times owned this culture; it was preserved, apparently, in the era of “dual faith” (simultaneous existence of Christianity and paganism in Russia - X-XVI centuries).

An excellent tomy example is the widest use by the Slavs of the Freyra-Ingyz rune. Another example is one of the remarkable Vyatich temporal rings of the 12th century. Signs are engraved on its blades - this is another sign. The third blades from the edges carry the image of the Algiz rune, and the central blade is a double image of the same rune. Like pyna Freyra, pyna Algiz first appeared in Futark; it existed without changes for about a millennium and entered all the pynic alphabets, except for the late Swedish-Norwegian ones, which were not used for magical purposes (about the 10th century). The image of this pyna on the temporal ring is not accidental. Runa Algiz is a rune of protection, one of its magical properties is protection from other people's witchcraft and the evil will of others. The use of the Algiz rune by the Slavs and their ancestors has a very ancient history. In ancient times, four Algiz runes were often connected in such a way that a twelve-pointed cross was formed, which apparently has the same functions as the rune itself.

At the same time, it should be noted that such magical symbols can appear in different peoples and independently of each other. An example of a volume can be, for example, a bronze Mordovian plaque of the end of the 1st millennium AD. from the Army cemetery. One of the so-called non-alphabetic pynic signs is the swastika, both four- and three-branched. Images of the swastika in the Slavic world are found everywhere, although infrequently. This is natural - the swastika, a symbol of fire and, in certain cases, fertility - a sign too "powerful" and too significant for widespread use. Like the twelve-pointed cross, the swastika can also be found among the Sarmatians and Scythians.
Of extraordinary interest is the one-of-a-kind temporal ring, again Vyatka. On its blades, several different signs are engraved at once - this is a whole collection of symbols of ancient Slavic magic. The central blade carries a somewhat modified Ingyz line, the first petals from the center are an image that is not yet completely clear. A twelve-pointed cross is applied to the petals second from the center, which is most likely a modification of the cross of four Algiz runes. And, finally, the extreme petals carry the image of a swastika. Well, the master who worked on this ring created a powerful talisman.

World
The form of the rune World is the image of the Tree of the World, the Universe. It also symbolizes the inner self of a person, centripetal forces striving the World towards Order. In a magical sense, the rune Peace represents protection, the patronage of the gods.

Chernobog
In contrast to the rune Mir, the rune Chernobog represents the forces pushing the world towards Chaos. The magical content of the rune: the destruction of old ties, the breakthrough of the magic circle, the exit from any closed system.

Alatyr
The rune Alatyr is the rune of the center of the Universe, the rune of the beginning and end of all things. This is what the struggle between the forces of Order and Chaos revolves around; the stone that lies at the foundation of the World; it is the law of balance and return to normal. The eternal circulation of events and their immovable center. The magical altar on which the sacrifice is made is the reflection of the stone of Alatyr. This is the sacred image that is enclosed in this rune.

Rainbow
Rune of the road, the endless path to Alatyr; a path determined by the unity and struggle of the forces of Order and Chaos, Water and Fire. A road is more than just movement through space and time. The road is a special state, equally different from vanity and rest; a state of movement between Order and Chaos. The Road has neither beginning nor end, but there is a source and there is a result... The ancient formula: "Do what you want, and come what may" could serve as the motto of this rune. The magical meaning of the rune: stabilization of movement, travel assistance, a favorable outcome of difficult situations.

Need
Rune Viy - the god of Navi, the Lower World. This is the rune of fate, which cannot be avoided, darkness, death. Rune of constraint, stiffness and coercion. This is a magical ban on the commission of this or that action, and constraint in the material plane, and those bonds that fetter the consciousness of a person.

Krada
The Slavic word "Krada" means sacrificial fire. This is the rune of Fire, the rune of aspiration and the embodiment of aspirations. But the embodiment of any plan is always the disclosure of this plan to the World, and therefore the rune of Krad is also the rune of disclosure, the rune of the loss of the external, superficial - that which burns in the fire of sacrifice. The magical meaning of the Krada rune is cleansing; release of intention; embodiment and implementation.

Treba
Rune of the Spirit Warrior. The meaning of the Slavic word "Treba" is a sacrifice, without which the realization of intention is impossible on the Road. This is the sacred content of this rune. But sacrifice is not a mere gift to the gods; the idea of ​​sacrifice implies the sacrifice of oneself.

Force
Strength is the property of the Warrior. This is not only the ability to change the World and oneself in it, but also the ability to follow the Road, freedom from the shackles of consciousness. The Rune of Strength is also the rune of unity, integrity, the achievement of which is one of the results of moving along the Road. And this is also the rune of Victory, for the Warrior of the Spirit gains Strength only by defeating himself, only by sacrificing his external self for the sake of releasing his inner self. The magical meaning of this rune is directly related to its definitions as a rune of victory, a rune of power and a rune of integrity. The Rune of Strength can direct a person or situation to Victory and gaining integrity, can help clarify an unclear situation and push for the right decision.

There is
Rune of Life, mobility and natural variability of Existence, for immobility is dead. The rune is symbolizes renewal, movement, growth, Life itself. This rune represents those divine forces that make grass grow, earth sap flow through tree trunks, and blood run faster through spring in human veins. This is a rune of light and bright vitality and a natural desire for movement for all living things.

Wind
This is the rune of the Spirit, the rune of Knowledge and ascent to the top; rune of will and inspiration; an image of a spiritualized magical Power associated with the element of air. At the level of magic, the rune of the Wind symbolizes the Force-Wind, inspiration, creative impulse.

Bereginya
Bereginya in the Slavic tradition is a female image associated with protection and motherhood. Therefore, the rune of Beregini is the rune of the Mother Goddess, who is in charge of both earthly fertility and the fate of all living things. The Mother Goddess gives life to souls who come to incarnate on Earth, and she takes life when the time comes. Therefore, the Beregini rune can be called both the rune of Life and the rune of Death. The same rune is the rune of Fate.

Oud
In all branches of the Indo-European tradition, without exception, the symbol of the male member (the Slavic word "Ud") is associated with the fertile creative force that transforms Chaos. This fiery force was called Eros by the Greeks, and Yar by the Slavs. This is not only the power of love, but also a passion for life in general, a power that connects opposites, fertilizes the emptiness of Chaos.

Lelya
The rune is associated with the element of water, and specifically - Living, flowing water in springs and streams. In magic, the Lelya rune is the rune of intuition, Knowledge beyond the Mind, as well as spring awakening and fertility, flowering and joy.

Rock
This is the rune of the transcendent unmanifested Spirit, which is the beginning and end of everything. In magic, the rune of Doom can be used to dedicate an object or situation to the Unknowable.

Support
This is the rune of the foundations of the Universe, the rune of the gods. The support is the shaman's pole, or tree, on which the shaman makes his journey to heaven.

Dazhdbog
The rune of Dazhdbog symbolizes the Good in every sense of the word: from material wealth to the joy that accompanies love. The most important attribute of this god is the cornucopia, or, in a more ancient form, the cauldron of inexhaustible blessings. The stream of gifts flowing like an inexhaustible river represents the rune of Dazhdbog. The rune means the gifts of the gods, the acquisition, receipt or addition of something, the emergence of new connections or acquaintances, well-being in general, and also the successful completion of any business.

Perun
The rune of Perun is the god of thunder, protecting the worlds of gods and people from the onset of the forces of Chaos. Symbolizes strength and vitality. The rune can mean the emergence of powerful, but heavy, forces that can move the situation off the ground or give it additional development energy. It also symbolizes personal power, but, in some negative situations, power that is not burdened with wisdom. This is also a direct protection given by the gods from the forces of Chaos, from the destructive effects of psychic, material or any other destructive forces.

Source
For a correct understanding of this rune, one should remember that Ice is one of the creative primordial elements, symbolizing Strength at rest, potentiality, movement in stillness. The rune of the Source, the rune of Ice means stagnation, a crisis in business or in the development of a situation. However, it should be remembered that the state of freezing, lack of movement, contains the potential power of movement and development (signified by the rune There) - just as movement contains potential stagnation and freezing.

Archaeologists have provided us with much material for reflection. Particularly curious are the coins and some inscriptions found in the archaeological layer, which dates back to the reign of Prince Vladimir.

During excavations in Novgorod, wooden cylinders were found dating back to the years of the reign of Vladimir Svyatoslavich, the future baptizer of Russia, in Novgorod (970-980). The economic inscriptions on the cylinders are made in Cyrillic, and the princely sign is cut in the form of a simple trident, which cannot be recognized as a ligature, but only as a totem sign of property, which has changed from a simple bident on the seal of Prince Svyatoslav, Vladimir's father, and retained the form of a trident for a number of subsequent princes. The princely sign acquired the appearance of a ligature on pieces of silver, coins issued according to the Byzantine model by Prince Vladimir after the baptism of Russia, that is, there was a complication of an initially simple symbol, which, as a generic sign of the Rurikovich, could well have come from the Scandinavian rune. The same princely trident of Vladimir is found on the bricks of the Church of the Tithes in Kyiv, but its design is noticeably different from the image on the coins, from which it is clear that the bizarre curls do not carry a different meaning? than just an ornament.
An attempt to discover and even reproduce the pre-Cyrillic alphabet was made by the scientist N.V. Engovatov in the early 1960s based on the study of mysterious signs found in Cyrillic inscriptions on the coins of Russian princes of the 11th century. These inscriptions are usually built according to the scheme "Vladimir is on the table (throne) and behold his silver" with only the name of the prince changed. Many coins have dashes and dots instead of missing letters.
Some researchers explained the appearance of these dashes and dots by the illiteracy of Russian engravers of the 11th century. However, the repetition of the same signs on the coins of different princes, and often with the same sound value, made such an explanation insufficiently convincing, and Engovatov, using the uniformity of the inscriptions and the repetition of mysterious signs in them, compiled a table indicating their supposed sound value; this meaning was determined by the place of the sign in the word written in Cyrillic letters.
The work of Engovatov was talked about in the scientific and mass press. However, the opponents were not long in coming. "The mysterious signs on Russian coins," they said, "are either the result of the mutual influence of the Cyrillic and Glagolitic inscriptions, or the result of the engravers' mistakes." They explained the repetition of the same signs on different coins, firstly, by the fact that the same die was used to mint many coins; secondly, by the fact that "insufficiently literate engravers repeated the mistakes that were in the old stamps."
Novgorod is rich in finds, where archaeologists often dig up birch-bark tablets with inscriptions. The main, and at the same time the most controversial, are artistic monuments, so there is no consensus on the "Book of Veles".

"Vlesovaya book" refers to the texts written on 35 birch boards and reflecting the history of Russia for one and a half millennia, starting from about 650 BC. e. Found it in 1919 by Colonel Izenbek in the estate of the princes Kurakins near Orel. The planks, badly damaged by time and worms, lay in disarray on the library floor. Many were crushed under soldiers' boots. Isenbek, who was interested in archeology, collected the tablets and never parted with them again. After the end of the civil war, the "planks" ended up in Brussels. The writer Yu. Mirolyubov, who learned about them, discovered that the text of the chronicle was written in a completely unknown ancient Slavic language. It took 15 years to copy and decipher. Later, foreign experts took part in the work - orientalist A. Kur from the USA and S. Lesnoy (Paramonov), who lived in Australia. The latter assigned the name “Vles book” to the plates, since in the text itself the work is called a book, and Veles is mentioned in some connection with it. But Lesnoy and Kur worked only with texts that Mirolyubov managed to write off, since after the death of Isenbek in 1943 the tablets disappeared.
Some scholars consider the Vlesov Book to be a fake, while such well-known experts in ancient Russian history as A. Artsikhovsky consider it quite likely that the Vlesov Book reflects genuine paganism; the past of the Slavs. D. Zhukov, a well-known specialist in ancient Russian literature, wrote in the April 1979 issue of Novy Mir magazine: "The authenticity of the Vlesovaya Book is questioned, and this all the more requires its publication in our country and a thorough, comprehensive analysis."
Yu. Mirolyubov and S. Lesnoy basically succeeded in deciphering the text of the Book of Woods.
After finishing work and publishing the full text of the book, Mirolyubov writes articles: “Vlesova book” - a chronicle of pagan priests of the 9th century, a new, unexplored historical source” and “Were the ancient “Russians” idolaters and did they bring human sacrifices”, which he sends to address of the Slavic Committee of the USSR, urging Soviet specialists to recognize the importance of studying Isenbeck's tablets. The package also contained the only surviving photograph of one of these tablets. The "deciphered" text of the tablet and the translation of this text were attached to it.

The "deciphered" text was as follows:

1. Vles the book syu p (o) tshemo b (o) gu n (a) shemo u kyi more is a source of power. 2. In oa vr (e) exchanges by menzh yaky by bl (a) g a d (o) closer rshen b (i) to (o) ct in r (y) si. 3. And then<и)мщ жену и два дщере имаста он а ск(о)ти а краве и мн(о)га овны с. 4. она и бя той восы упех а 0(н)ищ(е) не имщ менж про дщ(е)р(е) сва так(о)моля. 5. Б(о)зи абы р(о)д егосе не пр(е)сеше а д(а)ж бо(г) услыша м(о)лбу ту а по м(о)лбе. 6. Даящ (е)му измлены ако бя ожещаы тая се бо гренде мезе ны...
The first person in our country who, 28 years ago, was to conduct a scientific study of the text of the tablet, was L.P. Zhukovskaya is a linguist, paleographer and archeographer, once chief researcher at the Institute of the Russian Language of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Philology, author of many books. After a careful study of the text, she came to the conclusion that the "Vlesov Book" is a fake due to the inconsistency of the language of this "book" with the norms of the Old Russian language. Indeed, the "Old Russian" text of the tablet does not withstand any criticism. There are enough examples of the noted inconsistency, but I will limit myself to only one. So, the name of the pagan deity Veles, which gave the name to the named work, should look exactly like this in writing, since the peculiarity of the language of the ancient Eastern Slavs is that the combinations of the sounds "O" and "E" before R and L in the position between consonants were successively replaced on ORO, OLO, ERE. Therefore, we have primordially our own words - CITY, SHORE, MILK, but at the same time, the words BREG, HEAD, MILKY, etc., which entered after the adoption of Christianity (988), were preserved. And the correct name would be not "Vlesova", but "Veles book".
L.P. Zhukovskaya suggested that the tablet with the text is, apparently, one of A.I.'s fakes. Sulukadzev, who bought old manuscripts from rag-makers at the beginning of the 19th century. There is evidence that he had some kind of beech planks that disappeared from the field of view of the researchers. There is an indication about them in his catalog: "Patriarchs on 45 beech boards of Yagip Gan smerd in Ladoga of the 9th century." It was said about Sulakadzev, who was famous for his falsifications, that he used in his forgeries "the wrong language due to ignorance of the correct one, sometimes very wild."
Nevertheless, the participants of the Fifth International Congress of Slavists, held in 1963 in Sofia, became interested in the "Vlesovaya knigi". In the reports of the congress, a special article was devoted to it, which caused a lively and sharp reaction in the circles of history lovers and a new series of articles in the mass press.
In 1970, in the journal "Russian speech" (No. 3), the poet I. Kobzev wrote about the "Vlesovaya book" as an outstanding monument of writing; in 1976, on the pages of the Week (No. 18), journalists V. Skurlatov and N. Nikolaev made a detailed popularizing article, in No. 33 of the same year they were joined by Candidate of Historical Sciences V. Vilinbakhov and the well-known researcher of epics, writer V. Starostin. Novy Mir and Ogonyok published articles by D. Zhukov, the author of a story about V. Malyshev, a famous collector of ancient Russian literature. All these authors advocated the recognition of the authenticity of the "Vlesovaya knigi" and presented their own arguments in favor of this.

knot letter

The signs of this writing were not written down, but transmitted using knots tied on threads.
The knots that make up the word-concept were tied to the main thread of the narrative (hence - “knots for memory”, “link thoughts”, “link a word with a word”, “talk confusedly”, “knot of problems”, “intricacies of the plot”, “tie” and “denouement” - about the beginning and end of the story).
One concept was separated from another by a red thread (hence - “to write from the red line”). An important thought was also knitted with a red thread (hence - “passes like a red thread through the whole story”). The thread was wound into a ball (hence - “confused thoughts”). These balls were stored in special birch bark boxes (hence - “to say from three boxes”).

The proverb has also been preserved: “What she knew, she said, she strung it on a thread.” Do you remember in the fairy tales Ivan Tsarevich, before going on a trip, receives a ball from Baba Yaga? This is not a simple ball, but an ancient guide. Unwinding it, he read the knot notes and learned how to get to the right place.
The knot letter is mentioned in the “Source of Life” (Second Message): “The echoes of the battles penetrated the world that was inhabited on Midgard-earth. At the very borderline was that land and the Race of pure light lived on it. Memory has preserved many times, tying the thread of past battles into knots.

There is also a mention of the sacred knot letter in the Karelian-Finnish epic “Kalevala”:
“The rain gave me songs.
The wind inspired me with songs.
The waves of the sea brought...
I wound them into one ball,
And in one I tied a bunch ...
And in the barn under the rafters
I hid them in a copper chest.”

In the recording of Elias Lennrot, the Kalevala collector, there are even more interesting lines recorded by him from the famous rune singer Arkhipp Ivanov-Pertunen (1769 - 1841). The rune-singers sang them as an introduction to the performance of the Runes:

“Here I am untying the knot.
Here I dissolve the ball.
I will sing a song from the best
Of the most beautiful I will perform ... "

Maybe, ancient Slavs had balls with knotted letters containing geographical information, balls of myths and religious pagan hymns, spells. These balls were kept in special birch bark boxes (isn't this where the expression "lie three boxes" comes from, which could have arisen at a time when the myths stored in balls in such boxes were perceived as pagan heresy?). When reading, threads with knots most likely "wound around the mustache" - it may very well be that these are reading devices.

The period of written, priestly culture, apparently, began among the Slavs long before the adoption of Christianity. For example, the tale of Baba Yaga's ball takes us back to the time of matriarchy. Baba Yaga, according to the famous scientist V. Ya. Propp, is a typical pagan priestess. Perhaps she is also the custodian of the "library of balls".

In ancient times, nodular writing was quite widespread. This is confirmed by archaeological finds. On many objects recovered from the burials of pagan times, asymmetrical images of knots are visible, which, in my opinion, served not only for decoration (see, for example, Fig. 2). The complexity of these images, reminiscent of the hieroglyphic writing of the Eastern peoples, makes it reasonable to conclude that they could also be used to convey words.

Each hieroglyph node had its own word. With the help of additional knots, additional information was reported about him, for example, his number, part of speech, etc. Of course, this is just an assumption, but even if our neighbors, the Karelians and Finns, had knot writing, then why couldn’t the Slavs have it? Let's not forget that the Finns, Ugrians and Slavs lived together in the northern regions of Russia since ancient times.

Traces of writing.

Are there any traces left nodular writing? Often in the writings of the Christian period there are illustrations with images of complex weaves, probably redrawn from objects of the pagan era. The artist who depicted these patterns, according to the historian N. K. Goleizovsky, followed the rule that existed at that time, along with Christian symbols, to use pagan ones (for the same purpose as defeated snakes, devils, etc. are depicted on icons).

Traces of knot writing can also be found on the walls of temples built in the era of "dual faith", when Christian churches were decorated not only with the faces of saints, but also with pagan patterns. Although the language has changed since then, it is possible to attempt (only with some degree of certainty, of course) to decipher some of these characters.

For example, the frequently occurring image of a simple loop - a circle (Fig. 1a) is presumably deciphered as a sign of the supreme Slavic god - Rod, who gave birth to the Universe, nature, gods, for the reason that it corresponds to the circle of a pictorial, i.e. pictographic, writing (that what the Brave called features and cuts). In pictographic writing, this sign is interpreted in a broader sense; Genus - like a tribe, a group, a woman, a birth organ, a verb to give birth, etc. The symbol of the Genus - a circle is the basis for many other hieroglyphic knots. He is able to give words a sacred meaning.

A circle with a cross (Fig. 1b) is a solar symbol, a sign of the Sun and the god of the solar disk - Khors. Such a reading of this symbol can be found in many historians.

What was the symbol of the solar god - Dazhbog? His sign should be more complex, since he is the god not only of the solar disk, but of the entire Universe, he is the giver of blessings, the progenitor of the Russian people (in "The Tale of Igor's Campaign" Russians are called the grandchildren of Dazhbog).

After research by B. A. Rybakov, it became clear that Dazhbog (like his Indo-European "relative" - ​​the solar god Apollo) rode a chariot across the sky, harnessed to swans or other mythical birds (sometimes winged horses), and drove the Sun. And now let's compare the sculpture of the solar god of the Western Proto-Slavs from Duplyany (Fig. 2b) and the drawing on the headpiece from the Simonov Psalter of the 13th century (Fig. 2a). Isn't it depicting the symbol of Dazhbog in the form of a loop-circle with a lattice (Fig. 1c)?

Since the time of the first Eneolithic pictographic records, the lattice has usually denoted a plowed field, a plowman, as well as wealth, grace. Our ancestors were plowmen, they also worshiped Rod - this could be the reason for the combination of the symbols of the field and the Family in a single symbol of Dazhbog.

Solar animals and birds - Lion, Griffin, Alkonost, etc. - were depicted with solar symbols (Fig. 2c-e). Figure 2e shows an image of a mythical bird with solar symbols. Two solar symbols, by analogy with the wheels of a wagon, could mean a solar chariot. In the same way, in pictorial, i.e., pictographic, writing, many peoples depicted a chariot. This chariot rode on a firm vault of heaven, behind which the heavenly waters were kept. The symbol of water - a wavy line - is also present in this figure: it is a deliberately elongated crest of a bird and a continuation of the thread with knots.

Pay attention to a certain symbolic tree depicted between the birds of paradise (Fig. 2f), either with a loop or without it. If we assume that the loop is a symbol of the Genus - the Parent of the Universe, then the hieroglyph of the tree, together with this symbol, acquires a deeper meaning of the world tree (Fig. 1d-e).

A slightly complicated solar symbol, in which a broken line was drawn instead of a circle, according to B. A. Rybakov, acquired the meaning of a "thunder wheel", a sign of the thunder god Perun (Fig. 2g). Apparently, the Slavs believed that thunder comes from the roar produced by a chariot with such "thunder wheels", on which Perun rides across the sky.

Nodular notation from the Prologue.

Let's try to decipher more complex nodular scripts. For example, in the 1400 manuscript "Prologue" a drawing is preserved, the origin of which is obviously more ancient, pagan (Fig. 3a).

But until now, this pattern was taken for an ordinary ornament. The style of such drawings by the famous scientists of the last century F. I. Buslaev was called teratological (from the Greek word teras - a monster). Drawings of this kind depicted intertwined snakes, monsters, people. Teratological ornaments were compared with the design of initial letters in Byzantine manuscripts, and attempts were made to interpret their symbolism in different ways. The historian N. K. Goleizovsky [in the book "Ancient Novgorod" (M., 1983, p. 197)] found something in common between the drawings from the "Prologue" and the image of the world tree.

It seems to me more likely to look for the origins of the composition of the picture (but not the semantic meaning of individual knots) not in Byzantium, but in the West. Let's compare the drawing from the Novgorod manuscript of the "Prologue" and the image on the runic stones of the ancient Vikings of the 9th-10th centuries (Fig. 3v). The runic inscription on this stone itself does not matter, it is an ordinary tombstone inscription. On the other hand, a certain “good warrior Smid” was buried under a similar stone nearby, whose brother (apparently a well-known person at that time, since he was mentioned in the tombstone) - Halfind “lives in Gardarik”, that is, in Russia. As is known, a large number of settlers from the western lands lived in Novgorod: descendants of the Obodrites, as well as descendants of the Norman Vikings. Wasn't it a descendant of the Viking Halfind who subsequently painted the intro for the "Prologue"?

However, the ancient Novgorodians could have borrowed the composition of the drawing from the Prologue not from the Normans. Images of intertwined snakes, people, and animals can be found, for example, in the headpieces of ancient Irish manuscripts (Fig. 3d). Perhaps all these ornaments have a much more ancient origin. Were they borrowed from the Celts, whose culture goes back to the culture of many northern European peoples, or were similar images known earlier, during the Indo-European unity? This we do not know.

Western influence in Novgorod ornaments is obvious. But since they were created on Slavic soil, traces of the ancient Slavic nodular writing may have been preserved in them. Let's analyze ornaments from this point of view.

What do we see in the picture? Firstly, the main thread (it is indicated by an arrow), on which hieroglyphic knots are hung, as it were. Secondly, a certain character who grabbed two snakes, or dragons, by the neck. Above it and on its sides are three complex knots. Simple figure-eight knots imposed between complex knots are also distinguished, which can be interpreted as separators of hieroglyphs.

It is easiest to read the top hieroglyph node, located between the two figure-eight separators. If you remove the snake fighter from the drawing, then the upper knot should simply hang in its place. Apparently, the meaning of this knot is identical to the serpent god depicted under it.

What god does the picture represent? The one who fought the snakes. Famous scientists V. V. Ivanov and V. N. Toporov [authors of the book "Studies in the field of Slavic antiquities" (M., 1974)] showed that Perun, like his "relatives" - thunderers Zeus and Indra, was a snake fighter. The image of Dazhbog, according to B. A. Rybakov, is close to the image of the snake fighter Apollo. And the image of Svarozhich Fire, obviously, is close to the image of the winner of the Rakshasas and snakes of the Indian god - the personification of the fire of Agni. Other Slavic gods, apparently, do not have "relatives" - serpent fighters. Therefore, the choice should be made between Perun, Dazhbog and Svarozhich Fire.

But we do not see in the figure either the thunder sign we have already considered, or the solar symbol (which means that neither Perun nor Dazhbog are suitable). But we see symbolically depicted tridents in the corners of the frame. This sign resembles the well-known tribal sign of the Russian princes Rurikovich (Fig. 3b). As studies by archaeologists and historians have shown, the trident is a stylized image of the Rarog falcon with folded wings. Even the name of the legendary founder of the dynasty of Russian princes, Rurik, comes from the name of the bird-totem of the Western Slavic encouragers Rarog. Details about the origin of the Rurik coat of arms are described in the article by A. Nikitin. The bird Rarog in the legends of the Western Slavs acts as a fiery bird. In essence, this bird is the personification of the flame, the trident is a symbol of Rarog-Fire, and hence the god of fire - Svarozhich.

So, with a high degree of certainty, we can assume that the screensaver from the "Prologue" depicts symbols of fire and the fire god Svarozhich himself - the son of the heavenly god Svarog, who was an intermediary between people and gods. Svarozhich people trusted their requests during the fire sacrifices. Svarozhich was the personification of Fire and, of course, fought with water snakes, like the Indian fire god Agni. The Vedic god Agni is related to Svarozhich Fire, since the source of the beliefs of the ancient Aryan Indians and Slavs is one.

The upper node-hieroglyph means fire, as well as the fire god Svarozhich (Fig. 1f).

Groups of nodes to the right and left of Svarozhich are deciphered only approximately. The left hieroglyph resembles the symbol of the Family tied on the left, and the right one resembles the symbol of the Family tied on the right (Fig. 1 g - i). Changes could be caused by inaccurate transfer of the initial image. These knots are almost symmetrical. It is quite possible that the hieroglyphs of the earth and sky were previously depicted in this way. After all, Svarozhich is an intermediary between the earth - people, and the gods - heaven.

Knot-hieroglyphic writing the ancient Slavs, apparently, was very complex. We have considered only the simplest examples of knot hieroglyphs. In the past, it was available only to the elite: the priests and the highest nobility - it was a sacred letter. The bulk of the people remained illiterate. This explains the oblivion of nodular writing as Christianity spread and paganism died out. Together with the pagan priests, the knowledge accumulated over the millennia, written down - "tied" - in knot writing, also perished. Nodular writing in that era could not compete with a simpler writing system based on Cyrillic.

Cyril and Methodius - the official version of the creation of the alphabet.

In official sources, where Slavic writing is mentioned, Cyril and Methodius are presented as its only creators. The lessons of Cyril and Methodius were aimed not only at creating the alphabet, as such, but also at a deeper understanding of Christianity by the Slavic peoples, because if the service is read in their native language, it is understood much better. After the Slavic alphabet of Cyril and Methodius was created, people wrote down Slavic speech in Latin or Greek letters, but this did not fully reflect the language, since Greek does not have many sounds that are present in Slavic languages. Services in the Slavic countries that were baptized were held in Latin, which led to an increase in the influence of the German priests, and the Byzantine Church was interested in reducing this influence. When an embassy from Moravia headed by Prince Rostislav arrived in Byzantium in 860, the Byzantine emperor Michael III decided that Cyril and Methodius should create Slavic letters that would be used to write sacred texts. If Slavic writing is created, Cyril and Methodius will help the Slavic states gain independence from the German church authorities. In addition, this will bring them closer to Byzantium.

Constantine (in tonsure Cyril) and Methodius (his secular name is unknown) are two brothers who stood at the origins of the Slavic alphabet. They came from the Greek city of Thessalonica (its modern name is Thessaloniki) in northern Greece. South Slavs lived in the neighborhood, and for the inhabitants of Thessalonica, the Slavic language, apparently, became the second language of communication.

The brothers received world fame and gratitude from their descendants for the creation of the Slavic alphabet and translations of sacred books into the Slavic language. A huge work that played an epochal role in the formation of the Slavic peoples.

However, many researchers believe that work began on the creation of the Slavic script in Byzantium, long before the arrival of the Moravian embassy. The creation of an alphabet that accurately reflects the sound composition of the Slavic language, and the translation into Slavonic of the Gospel - a most complex, multi-layered, internally rhythmic literary work - is a colossal work. To complete this work, even Constantine the Philosopher and his brother Methodius "with his henchmen" would need more than one year. Therefore, it is natural to assume that it was precisely this work that the brothers were doing back in the 50s of the 9th century in a monastery on Olympus (in Asia Minor on the coast of the Sea of ​​​​Marmara), where, according to the Life of Constantine, they constantly prayed to God, “engaging in just books."

Already in 864, Constantine and Methodius were received with great honors in Moravia. They brought the Slavic alphabet and the Gospel translated into Slavonic. Students were assigned to help the brothers and to train with them. “And soon (Konstantin) translated the entire church rite and taught them both morning, and hours, and Mass, and Vespers, and Compline, and secret prayer.” The brothers stayed in Moravia for more than three years. The philosopher, already suffering from a serious illness, 50 days before his death, "put on a holy monastic image and ... gave himself the name Cyril ...". He died and was buried in Rome in 869.

The eldest of the brothers, Methodius, continued the work he had begun. According to the Life of Methodius, “... having planted two priests of his students as shorthand writers, he translated incredibly quickly (in six or eight months) and completely all the books (biblical), except for the Maccabees, from Greek into Slavic.” Methodius died in 885.

The appearance of sacred books in the Slavic language had a powerful resonance. All well-known medieval sources that responded to this event report how "some people began to blaspheme Slavic books", arguing that "no nation should have its own alphabet, except for Jews, Greeks and Latins." Even the Pope intervened in the dispute, grateful to the brothers who brought the relics of St. Clement to Rome. Although the translation into a non-canonized Slavic language was contrary to the principles of the Latin Church, the pope, nevertheless, condemned the detractors, allegedly saying, quoting Scripture, like this: "Let all peoples praise God."

Not one Slavic alphabet has survived to this day, but two: Glagolitic and Cyrillic. Both existed in the IX-X centuries. In order to convey sounds reflecting the features of the Slavic language, special signs were introduced into them, and not combinations of two or three main ones, as was practiced in the alphabets of Western European peoples. The Glagolitic and Cyrillic alphabets almost coincide in letters. The order of the letters is also almost the same.

As in the very first such alphabet - Phoenician, and then in Greek, Slavic letters were also given names. And they are the same in Glagolitic and Cyrillic. According to the first two letters of the alphabet, as you know, the name was compiled - "alphabet". Literally, this is the same as the Greek "alphabeta", that is, "alphabet".

The third letter - "B" - lead (from "know", "know"). It seems that the author chose the names for the letters in the alphabet with meaning: if you read the first three letters “az-buki-vedi” in a row, it turns out: “I know the letters.” In both alphabets, letters were also assigned numerical values.

The letters in Glagolitic and Cyrillic had completely different shapes. Cyrillic letters are geometrically simple and convenient for writing. 24 letters of this alphabet are borrowed from the Byzantine statutory letter. Letters were added to them, conveying the sound features of Slavic speech. The added letters were built to maintain the general style of the alphabet. For the Russian language, it was the Cyrillic alphabet that was used, which has been transformed many times and is now well-established in accordance with the requirements of our time. The oldest record in Cyrillic was found on Russian monuments dating back to the 10th century.

But the Glagolitic letters are incredibly intricate, with curls and eyelets. There are more ancient texts written in the Glagolitic alphabet among the Western and Southern Slavs. Oddly enough, sometimes both alphabets were used on the same monument. On the ruins of the Simeon Church in Preslav (Bulgaria), an inscription was found dating back to about 893. In it, the top line is in Glagolitic, and the bottom two are in Cyrillic. The question is inevitable: which of the two alphabets did Constantine create? Unfortunately, it was not possible to answer it definitively.

1. Glagolitic (X-XI centuries)

We can only tentatively judge the oldest form of the Glagolitic alphabet, because the monuments of the Glagolitic alphabet that have come down to us are not older than the end of the 10th century. Looking at the Glagolitic, we notice that the forms of its letters are very intricate. Signs are often built from two parts located as if on top of each other. This phenomenon is also seen in the more decorative design of the Cyrillic alphabet. There are almost no simple round shapes. They are all connected by straight lines. Only single letters correspond to the modern form (w, y, m, h, e). According to the shape of the letters, two types of Glagolitic can be distinguished. In the first of them, the so-called Bulgarian Glagolitic, the letters are rounded, and in the Croatian, also called Illyrian or Dalmatian Glagolitic, the shape of the letters is angular. Neither one nor the other type of Glagolitic has sharply defined boundaries of distribution. In later development, the Glagolitic adopted many characters from the Cyrillic alphabet. The Glagolitic alphabet of the Western Slavs (Czechs, Poles and others) did not last long and was replaced by the Latin script, and the rest of the Slavs later switched to a Cyrillic type script. But the Glagolitic alphabet has not completely disappeared to this day. So, it was used before the beginning of the Second World War in the Croatian settlements of Italy. Even newspapers were printed with this font.

2. Charter (Cyrillic XI century)

The origin of the Cyrillic alphabet is also not completely clear. There are 43 letters in the Cyrillic alphabet. Of these, 24 are borrowed from the Byzantine statutory letter, the remaining 19 are invented anew, but in graphic design they are similar to Byzantine ones. Not all borrowed letters retained the designation of the same sound as in Greek, some received new meanings according to the peculiarities of Slavic phonetics. Of the Slavic peoples, the Cyrillic alphabet was preserved the longest by the Bulgarians, but at present their writing, like the writing of the Serbs, is similar to Russian, with the exception of some signs intended to indicate phonetic features. The oldest form of the Cyrillic alphabet is called the charter. A distinctive feature of the charter is sufficient clarity and straightforwardness of styles. Most of the letters are angular, wide heavy character. The exceptions are narrow rounded letters with almond-shaped bends (O, S, E, R, etc.), among other letters they seem to be compressed. This letter is characterized by thin lower elongations of some letters (Р, У, 3). We see these lengthenings in other types of Cyrillic. They act as light decorative elements in the overall picture of the letter. Diacritics are not yet known. The letters of the charter are large and stand separately from each other. The old statute knows no spaces between words.

The charter - the main liturgical font - clear, direct, slender, is the basis of all Slavic writing. These are the epithets used to describe the statutory letter of V.N. Shchepkin: “The Slavic charter, like its source - the Byzantine charter, is a slow and solemn letter; it aims at beauty, correctness, ecclesiastical splendor. It is difficult to add anything to such a capacious and poetic definition. The statutory letter was formed during the period of liturgical writing, when the rewriting of the book was a charitable, unhurried affair, which took place mainly outside the monastery walls, far from the bustle of the world.

The greatest discovery of the 20th century - Novgorod birch bark letters testify that writing in Cyrillic was a familiar element of Russian medieval life and was owned by various segments of the population: from princely-boyar and church circles to simple artisans. The amazing property of the Novgorod soil helped preserve birch bark and texts that were not written with ink, but were scratched with a special “writer” - a pointed rod made of bone, metal or wood. Such tools were found in large numbers even earlier during excavations in Kyiv, Pskov, Chernigov, Smolensk, Ryazan and in many settlements. The well-known researcher B. A. Rybakov wrote: “A significant difference between Russian culture and the culture of most countries of the East and West is the use of the native language. Arabic for many non-Arab countries and Latin for a number of Western European countries were alien languages, the monopoly of which led to the fact that the national language of the states of that era is almost unknown to us. The Russian literary language was used everywhere - in office work, diplomatic correspondence, private letters, in fiction and scientific literature. The unity of the national and state language was a great cultural advantage of Russia over the Slavic and German countries, in which the Latin state language dominated. Such a broad literacy was impossible there, since to be literate meant to know Latin. For the Russian townspeople, it was enough to know the alphabet in order to immediately express their thoughts in writing; this explains the widespread use in Russia of writing on birch bark and on “boards” (obviously waxed).

3. Semi-charter (XIV century)

Starting from the 14th century, a second type of writing developed - a semi-charter, which subsequently supplanted the charter. This type of writing is lighter and rounder than the charter, the letters are smaller, there are a lot of superscripts, a whole system of punctuation marks has been developed. The letters are more mobile and sweeping than in the statutory letter, and with many lower and upper elongations. The technique of drawing with a wide-nib pen, which was strongly manifested when writing in the charter, is noticed much less. The contrast of the strokes is less, the pen is sharpened sharper. They use exclusively goose feathers (previously used mainly reed feathers). Under the influence of the stabilized position of the pen, the rhythm of the lines has improved. The letter acquires a noticeable slope, each letter, as it were, helps the general rhythmic direction to the right. Serifs are rare, the end elements of a number of letters are drawn with strokes, equal in thickness to the main ones. The semi-ustav lasted as long as the handwritten book lived. It also served as the basis for the fonts of early printed books. The semi-ustav was used in the XIV-XVIII centuries along with other types of writing, mainly with cursive writing and script. It was much easier to write in semi-charter. The feudal fragmentation of the country caused in remote areas the development of their own language and their own semi-ustav style. The main place in the manuscripts is occupied by the genres of the military story and the annalistic genre, which best reflect the events experienced by the Russian people in that era.

The emergence of the semi-charter was predetermined mainly by three main trends in the development of writing:
The first of these is the emergence of a need for non-liturgical writing, and as a result, the emergence of scribes working to order and for sale. The writing process is faster and easier. The master is more guided by the principle of convenience, not beauty. V.N. Shchepkin describes the semi-ustav as follows: “... smaller and simpler than the statute and has much more contractions; ... it can be inclined - towards the beginning or end of the line, ... straight lines allow some curvature, rounded ones - do not represent a regular arc." The process of dissemination and improvement of the semi-scriptural order leads to the gradual replacement of the statute even from liturgical monuments by the calligraphic semi-scriptural script, which is nothing but a semi-scriptural script written more accurately and with fewer abbreviations. The second reason is the need of the monasteries for inexpensive manuscripts. Delicately and modestly decorated, as a rule, written on paper, they contained mainly ascetic and monastic writings. The third reason is the appearance during this period of voluminous collections, a kind of "encyclopedia about everything." They were quite thick in volume, sometimes sewn together and assembled from various notebooks. Chroniclers, chronographs, walks, polemical writings against the Latins, articles on secular and canon law, coexist in them with notes on geography, astronomy, medicine, zoology, and mathematics. Collections of this kind were written quickly, not very accurately, and by different scribes.

Cursive writing (XV-XVII centuries)

In the XV century, under the Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan III, when the unification of the Russian lands was completed and the national Russian state was created with a new, autocratic political system, Moscow turns not only into the political, but also the cultural center of the country. First, the regional culture of Moscow begins to acquire the character of an all-Russian one. Along with the increasing needs of everyday life, a new, simplified, more comfortable writing style was needed. They became cursive. Cursive roughly corresponds to the concept of Latin cursive. Among the ancient Greeks, cursive writing was widely used at an early stage in the development of writing, and it was also partially available among the southwestern Slavs. In Russia, cursive as an independent type of writing arose in the 15th century. The cursive letters, partly interconnected, differ from the letters of other types of writing in their light outline. But since the letters were equipped with a variety of all kinds of badges, hooks and additions, it was quite difficult to read what was written. Although the cursive writing of the 15th century still reflects the nature of the semi-charter and there are few strokes connecting the letters, but in comparison with the semi-charter this letter is more fluent. Cursive letters were largely made with elongations. Initially, the signs were composed mainly of straight lines, as is typical for the statute and semi-statute. In the second half of the 16th century, and especially at the beginning of the 17th century, semicircular strokes became the main lines of writing, and in the general picture of writing we see some elements of Greek cursive. In the second half of the 17th century, when many different variants of writing spread, and in cursive writing, features characteristic of this time are observed - less ligature and more roundness.

If the semi-ustav in the 15th-18th centuries was mainly used only in book writing, then cursive penetrating into all areas. It turned out to be one of the most mobile types of Cyrillic writing. In the 17th century, cursive writing, distinguished by its special calligraphy and elegance, turned into an independent type of writing with its inherent features: the roundness of the letters, the smoothness of their outline, and most importantly, the ability to further develop.

Already at the end of the 17th century, such forms of letters “a, b, c, e, h, i, t, o, s” were formed, which remained almost unchanged in the future.
At the end of the century, the round outlines of the letters became even smoother and more decorative. The cursive writing of that time is gradually freed from the elements of the Greek cursive and moves away from the forms of the semi-ustav. In the later period, straight and curved lines acquire balance, and the letters become more symmetrical and rounded. At the time when the semi-ustav is being transformed into civil writing, cursive writing also follows the corresponding path of development, as a result of which it can be further called civil cursive writing. The development of cursive writing in the 17th century predetermined the Peter the Great reform of the alphabet.

Elm.
One of the most interesting directions in the decorative use of the Slavic charter is ligature. By definition, V.N. Shchepkina: “Elm is Cyril’s decorative writing, which aims to tie a string into a continuous and uniform ornament. This goal is achieved by various cuts and embellishments. The system of writing in ligature was borrowed by the southern Slavs from Byzantium, but much later than the emergence of Slavic writing, and therefore it is not found in early monuments. The first accurately dated monuments of South Slavic origin date back to the first half of the 13th century, while those of the Russians date back to the end of the 14th century. And it was on Russian soil that the art of knitting reached such a flowering that it can rightfully be considered a unique contribution of Russian art to world culture.
Two factors contributed to this phenomenon:

1. The main technique of tying is the so-called mast ligature. That is, two vertical lines of two adjacent letters are combined into one. And if the Greek alphabet has 24 characters, of which only 12 have masts, which in practice allows no more than 40 two-digit combinations, then the Cyrillic alphabet has 26 characters with masts, of which about 450 commonly used combinations were made.

2. The spread of the tie coincided with the period when weak semivowels began to disappear from the Slavic languages: ъ and ь. This led to the contact of a variety of consonants, which were very conveniently combined with mast ligatures.

3. Due to its decorative appeal, ligature has become widespread. She was decorated with frescoes, icons, bells, metal utensils, used in sewing, on tombstones, etc.

In parallel with the change in the form of the statutory letter, another form of font is developing - initial letter (initial). Borrowed from Byzantium, the method of highlighting the initial letters of especially important text fragments has undergone significant changes among the southern Slavs.

Initial letter - in a handwritten book, emphasized the beginning of the chapter, and then the paragraph. By the nature of the decorative appearance of the initial letter, we can determine the time and style. In the ornamentation of headpieces and capital letters of Russian manuscripts, four main periods are distinguished. The early period (XI-XII century) is characterized by the predominance of the Byzantine style. In the XIII-XIV centuries, the so-called teratological, or "animal" style is observed, the ornament of which consists of figures of monsters, snakes, birds, animals, intertwined with belts, tails and knots. The 15th century is characterized by South Slavic influence, the ornament becomes geometric and consists of circles and lattices. Influenced by the European style of the Renaissance, in the ornament of the 16th-17th centuries we see wriggling leaves woven with large flower buds. With the strict canon of the statutory letter, it was the initial letter that made it possible for the artist to express his fantasy, humor, and mystical symbolism. An initial letter in a handwritten book is an obligatory decoration of the first page of the book.

The Slavic style of drawing initials and headpieces - teratological style (from the Greek teras - monster and logos - teaching; monstrous style - a variant of the animal style, - the image of fantastic and real stylized animals in ornament and on decorative items) - originally developed among the Bulgarians in the XII - XIII century, and from the beginning of the XIII century began to move to Russia. "A typical teratological initial is a bird or beast (four-legged), throwing leaves out of its mouth and entangled in weaving coming from the tail (or, in a bird, also from the wing)." In addition to the unusually expressive graphic design, the initials had a rich color scheme. But polychromy, which is a characteristic feature of the XIV century book-writing ornament, in addition to artistic, also had an applied value. Often, the complex construction of a hand-drawn letter with its numerous purely decorative elements obscured the main outline of the written sign. And for its quick recognition in the text, color highlighting was required. Moreover, by the color of the selection, you can approximately determine the place where the manuscript was created. So, Novgorodians preferred a blue background, and Pskov masters - green. A light green background was also used in Moscow, but sometimes with the addition of blue tones.

Another element of the decoration of a handwritten, and later printed book - a headband - is nothing more than two teratological initials, located symmetrically one opposite the other, framed by a frame, with braided knots at the corners.

Thus, in the hands of Russian masters, ordinary letters of the Cyrillic alphabet turned into a wide variety of decorative elements, introducing an individual creative spirit and national color into books. In the 17th century, the semi-ustav, having passed from church books to office work, was transformed into civil writing, and its italic version - cursive - into civil cursive.

At this time, books of writing samples appeared - “The Alphabet of the Slavic Language ...” (1653), primers of Karion Istomin (1694-1696) with magnificent examples of letters of various styles: from luxurious initials to simple cursive letters. By the beginning of the 18th century, Russian writing was already very different from previous types of writing. The reform of the alphabet and font, carried out by Peter I at the beginning of the 18th century, contributed to the spread of literacy and education. The new civil font began to print all secular literature, scientific and government publications. In form, proportions and style, the civil font was close to the old antiqua. The same proportions of most of the letters gave the font a calm character. Its readability has improved a lot. The forms of the letters - Б, У, Ь, Ъ, "ЯТ", which were higher in height than the rest of the capital letters, are a characteristic feature of the Peter's font. The Latin forms "S" and "i" began to be used.

In the future, the development process was aimed at improving the alphabet and font. In the middle of the 18th century, the letters “zelo”, “xi”, “psi” were abolished, the letter “ё” was introduced instead of “i o”. New font designs appeared with a high contrast of strokes, the so-called transitional type (fonts of the printing houses of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences and Moscow University). The end of the 18th - the first half of the 19th century was marked by the appearance of classic type fonts (Bodoni, Dido, printing houses of Selivanovskiy, Semyon, Revillon).

Starting from the 19th century, the graphics of Russian fonts developed in parallel with Latin ones, absorbing everything new that originated in both writing systems. In the field of ordinary writing, Russian letters took the form of Latin calligraphy. Designed in “copybooks” with a pointed pen, Russian calligraphic writing of the 19th century was a true masterpiece of handwritten art. The letters of calligraphy were significantly differentiated, simplified, acquired beautiful proportions, a rhythmic structure natural to the pen. Among the drawn and typographic fonts, Russian modifications of grotesque (chopped), Egyptian (squared) and decorative fonts appeared. Along with the Latin, the Russian font at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century also experienced a decadent period - the Art Nouveau style.

Literature:

1. Florya B.N. Legends about the beginning of Slavic writing. SPb., 2000.

2. V.P. Gribkovsky, article “Did the Slavs have written language before Cyril and Methodius?”

3. "The Legend of the Letters", translated into modern Russian by Viktor Deryagin, 1989.

4. Grinevich G. "How many thousand years of Slavic writing?", 1993.

5. Grinevich G. “Proto-Slavic writing. Decryption results”, 1993, 1999.

6. Platov A., Taranov N. "The runes of the Slavs and the Glagolitic".

7. Ivanova V.F. Modern Russian language. Graphics and spelling, 2nd edition, 1986.

8. I.V. Yagich The question of the runes among the Slavs / / Encyclopedia of Slavic Philology. Edition of the Department of Russian Language and Literature. Imp. Acad. Sciences. Issue 3: Graphics among the Slavs. SPb., 1911.
9. A.V. Platov. Cult images from the temple in Retra / / Myths and magic of the Indo-Europeans, issue 2, 1996.
10. A. G. Masch. Die Gottesdienstlichen Alferfhnmer der Obotriten, aus dem Tempel zu Rhetra. Berlin, 1771.
11. For more details, see: A.V. Platov. Monuments of the runic art of the Slavs / / Myths and magic of the Indo-Europeans, issue 6, 1997.

The runes of the ancient Slavs were signs of writing, but in the understanding of the Magi, runic signs also had a special secret magical meaning, therefore they were used for certain types of divination (fortune-telling on runes) and witchcraft. 18 Slavic runes have come down to us. How many there were in total - no one knows.
Now there is much more information about the "magic meaning" of runes than about Slavic runic texts. This information has little to do with the vanished knowledge of the Magi, because in later times, they were significantly supplemented and rethought by various "sorcerers", including our modern ones, who now have become more numerous than in former pagan times.

World M	Chernobog C, H	Alatyr BUT	Rainbow R	Need H	Krada G, K
Treba T	Force With	There is E	Wind AT	Bereginya B	Oud At
Lelya L	Rock X	Support O	Dazhdbog D	Perun P	Source And

The "magic meaning" of Slavic runes in the modern sense of the current Russian sorcerers who have received state certificates of the Russian Federation for the truth of their witchcraft.
Note. In the current Russian Federation, about 400,000 of the former 1.2 million researchers are left (the most intelligent and knowledgeable scientists have fled from Russian reality abroad), but more than 300,000 certified sorcerers, astrologers, clairvoyants, psychics and traditional healers have appeared.
World
The form of the rune World is the image of the Tree of the World, the Universe. It also symbolizes the inner self of a person, centripetal forces striving the World towards Order. In a magical sense, the rune Peace represents protection, the patronage of the gods.
Chernobog
In contrast to the rune Mir, the rune Chernobog represents the forces pushing the world towards Chaos. The magical content of the rune: the destruction of old ties, the breakthrough of the magic circle, the exit from any closed system.
Alatyr
The rune Alatyr is the rune of the center of the Universe, the rune of the beginning and end of all things. This is what the struggle between the forces of Order and Chaos revolves around; the stone that lies at the foundation of the World; it is the law of balance and return to normal. The eternal circulation of events and their immovable center. The magical altar on which the sacrifice is made is the reflection of the stone of Alatyr. This is the sacred image that is enclosed in this rune.
Rainbow
Rune of the road, the endless path to Alatyr; a path determined by the unity and struggle of the forces of Order and Chaos, Water and Fire. The road is more than just movement through space and time. The road is a special state, equally different from vanity and rest; a state of movement between Order and Chaos. The Road has neither beginning nor end, but there is a source and there is a result... The ancient formula: "Do what you want, and come what may" could serve as the motto of this rune. The magical meaning of the rune: stabilization of movement, travel assistance, a favorable outcome of difficult situations.
Need
Runa Viy - the god of Navi, the Lower World. This is the rune of fate, which cannot be avoided, darkness, death. Rune of constraint, stiffness and coercion. This is a magical ban on the commission of this or that action, and constraint in the material plane, and those bonds that fetter the consciousness of a person.
Krada
The Slavic word "Krada" means sacrificial fire. This is the rune of Fire, the rune of aspiration and the embodiment of aspirations. But the embodiment of any plan is always the disclosure of this plan to the World, and therefore the rune of Krad is also the rune of disclosure, the rune of the loss of the external, superficial - that which burns in the fire of sacrifice. The magical meaning of the Krada rune is purification; release of intention; embodiment and implementation.
Treba
Rune of the Spirit Warrior. The meaning of the Slavic word "Treba" is a sacrifice, without which the realization of intention is impossible on the Road. This is the sacred content of this rune. But sacrifice is not a mere gift to the gods; the idea of ​​sacrifice implies the sacrifice of oneself.
Force
Strength is the property of a Warrior. This is not only the ability to change the World and oneself in it, but also the ability to follow the Road, freedom from the shackles of consciousness. The Rune of Strength is also the rune of unity, integrity, the achievement of which is one of the results of moving along the Road. And this is also the rune of Victory, for the Warrior of the Spirit gains Strength only by defeating himself, only by sacrificing his external self for the sake of releasing his inner self. The magical meaning of this rune is directly related to its definitions as a rune of victory, a rune of power and a rune of integrity. The Rune of Strength can direct a person or situation to Victory and gaining integrity, can help clarify an unclear situation and push for the right decision.
There is
Rune of Life, mobility and natural variability of Existence, for immobility is dead. The rune is symbolizes renewal, movement, growth, Life itself. This rune represents those divine forces that make grass grow, earth sap flow through tree trunks, and blood run faster through spring in human veins. This is a rune of light and bright vitality and a natural desire for movement for all living things.
Wind
This is the rune of the Spirit, the rune of Knowledge and ascent to the top; rune of will and inspiration; an image of a spiritualized magical Power associated with the element of air. At the level of magic, the rune of the Wind symbolizes the Force-Wind, inspiration, creative impulse.
Bereginya
Bereginya in the Slavic tradition is a female image associated with protection and maternal origin. Therefore, the rune of Beregini is the rune of the Mother Goddess, who is in charge of both earthly fertility and the fate of all living things. The Mother Goddess gives life to souls who come to incarnate on Earth, and she takes life when the time comes. Therefore, the Beregini rune can be called both the rune of Life and the rune of Death. The same rune is the rune of Fate.
Oud
In all branches of the Indo-European tradition, without exception, the symbol of the male member (the Slavic word "Ud") is associated with the fertile creative force that transforms Chaos. This fiery force was called Eros by the Greeks, and Yar by the Slavs. This is not only the power of love, but also a passion for life in general, a power that connects opposites, fertilizes the emptiness of Chaos.
Lelya
The rune is associated with the element of water, and specifically - Living, flowing water in springs and streams. In magic, the Lelya rune is the rune of intuition, Knowledge beyond the Mind, as well as spring awakening and fertility, flowering and joy.
Rock
This is the rune of the transcendent unmanifested Spirit, which is the beginning and end of everything. In magic, the rune of Doom can be used to dedicate an object or situation to the Unknowable.
This rune is the only one that has become the letter of our modern alphabet. And our letter P, similar to the rune "Perun", is the Greek "pi".
Support
This is the rune of the foundations of the Universe, the rune of the gods. The support is a shaman's pole, or a tree, along which the shaman travels to heaven.
Dazhdbog
The rune of Dazhdbog symbolizes the Good in every sense of the word: from material wealth to the joy that accompanies love. The most important attribute of this god is the cornucopia, or, in a more ancient form, the cauldron of inexhaustible blessings. The stream of gifts flowing like an inexhaustible river represents the rune of Dazhdbog. The rune means the gifts of the gods, the acquisition, receipt or addition of something, the emergence of new connections or acquaintances, well-being in general, and also the successful completion of any business.
Perun
The rune of Perun is the god of thunder, protecting the worlds of gods and people from the onset of the forces of Chaos. Symbolizes strength and vitality. The rune can mean the emergence of powerful, but heavy, forces that can move the situation off the ground or give it additional development energy. It also symbolizes personal power, but, in some negative situations, power that is not burdened with wisdom. This is also a direct protection given by the gods from the forces of Chaos, from the destructive effects of psychic, material or any other destructive forces.
Source
For a correct understanding of this rune, one should know that Ice is one of the creative primordial elements, symbolizing Strength at rest, potentiality, movement in stillness. The rune of the Source (the rune of Ice) means stagnation, a crisis in business or in the development of a situation. However, it should be remembered that the state of freezing, lack of movement, contains the potential power of movement and development (signified by the rune There) - just as movement contains potential stagnation and freezing.

The first arguments in favor of the existence of the ancient Slavic pynic writing were put forward as early as the beginning of the 19th century; some of the testimonies cited then are now referred to the Glagolitic alphabet, and not to the "pynitsa", some turned out to be simply untenable. A number of arguments remain valid to this day.
So, it is impossible to argue with the testimony of Titmar, who, describing the Slavic temple of Retra, located in the lands of the Luticians, points to the fact that the idols of this temple had inscriptions made by "special", non-Germanic ryns. It would be completely absurd to assume that Titmar, being an educated person, might not have recognized the standard junior Scandinavian ryns if the names of the gods on the idols would have been inscribed by them.
Massydi, describing one of the Slavic temples, mentions some signs carved on stones. Ibn Fodlan, speaking about the Slavs of the end of the 1st millennium, points to the existence of grave inscriptions on pillars among them. Ibn El Nedim speaks about the existence of Slavic pre-Cyrillic writing and even cites in his treatise a drawing of one inscription carved on a piece of wood (the famous Nedim inscription). In the Czech song "Judgment of Lyubysha", preserved in the list of the 9th century, "desks pravdodatne" are mentioned - laws written on wooden boards in some letters.
The existence of pynic writing among the ancient Slavs is also indicated by many archaeological data. The oldest of them are finds of ceramics with fragments of inscriptions belonging to the Chernyakhov archaeological culture, unambiguously associated with the Slavs and dated to the 1st-4th centuries AD. Already thirty years ago, the signs on these finds were identified as traces of writing.
An example of "Chepnyakhovsky" Slavic pynic writing can serve as fragments of ceramics from the excavations near the village of Lepesovka (southern Volyn) or a clay shard from Ripnev, belonging to the same Chernyakhovsky culture and representing, probably, a fragment of a vessel. The signs visible on the shard leave no doubt that this is an inscription. Unfortunately, the fragment is too small to be able to decipher the inscription.
In general, the ceramics of the Chernyakhov culture provides very interesting, but too scarce material for deciphering. So, the Slavic clay vessel, discovered in 1967 during excavations in the village of Voiskovoe (on the Dnieper), is extremely interesting. Its surface is inscribed with an inscription containing 12 positions and using 6 characters. The inscription can neither be translated nor read, despite the fact that deciphering attempts have been made. However, it should be noted a certain similarity of the graphics of this inscription with the pynic graphics. There is a resemblance, and not only a resemblance - half of the signs (three out of six) coincide with the Futarka pyns (Scandinavia). These are the runes Dagaz, Gebo and a secondary version of the rune Ingyz - a rhombus placed on top.
Other - later - a group of evidence of the use of pynic writing by the Slavs is formed by monuments associated with the Wends, the Baltic Slavs. Of these monuments, first of all, let us point out the so-called Mikorzhinsky stones, discovered in 1771 in Poland.
Another - truly unique - monument of the "Baltic" Slavic ryniki is the inscriptions on cult objects from the Slavic temple of Radegast in Retra destroyed in the middle of the 11th century during the German conquest.
Like the pynes of the Scandinavian and continental Germans, the Slavic pynes go back, judging by all, to the North Italian (Alpine) alphabets. Several main variants of Alpine writing are known, which, in addition to the northern Etpysks, were owned by Slavic and Celtic tribes living in the neighborhood. The question of exactly how the Italic writing was brought to the later Slavic regions remains completely open at the moment, as well as the question of the mutual influence of Slavic and Germanic ryniki.

Runic culture should be understood much more broadly than elementary writing skills - this is a whole cultural layer, covering both mythology, and pagan religion, and certain aspects of magical art.
Already in Etpyria and Venice (the lands of the Etpysks and Wends), the alphabet was treated as an object of divine origin and might have a magical effect. This is evidenced, for example, by finds in the Etpysian burials of tablets with a list of alphabetic characters. This is the simplest form of pynic magic, widespread in the North-West of Europe.
Speaking about the Old Slavic pynic writing, one cannot but touch upon the question of the existence of the Old Slavic pynic culture as a whole.
Slavs of pagan times owned this culture; it was preserved, judging by everyone, even in the era of "dual faith" (simultaneous existence of Christianity and paganism in Russia - X-XVI centuries).
An excellent tomy example is the widest use by the Slavs of the Freyra-Ingyz rune. Another example is one of the remarkable Vyatich temporal rings of the 12th century. Signs are engraved on its blades - this is another sign. The third blades from the edges carry the image of the Algiz rune, and the central blade is a double image of the same rune.
Like pyna Freyra, pyna Algiz first appeared in Futark; it existed without changes for about a millennium and entered all pynic alphabets, except for the late Swedish-Norwegian ones, which were not used for magical purposes (about the 10th century). The image of this pyna on the temporal ring is not accidental. Runa Algiz is a rune of protection, one of its magical properties is protection from other people's witchcraft and the evil will of others. The use of the Algiz rune by the Slavs and their ancestors has a very ancient history. In ancient times, four Algiz runes were often connected in such a way that a twelve-pointed cross was formed, which apparently has the same functions as the rune itself.
At the same time, it should be noted that such magical symbols can appear in different peoples and independently of each other. An example of a volume can be, for example, a bronze Mordovian plaque of the end of the 1st millennium AD. from the Army cemetery.
One of the so-called non-alphabetic pynic signs is the swastika, both four- and three-branched. Images of the swastika in the Slavic world are found everywhere, although infrequently. This is natural - the swastika, a symbol of fire and, in certain cases, fertility - a sign too "powerful" and too significant for widespread use.
Like the twelve-pointed cross, the swastika can be found among the Sarmatians, and the Scythians, and among the peoples of the East, and among the Indians (in India it is widely used in our time). In all Indo-European cultures, the swastika with ends directed counterclockwise (in the positive direction of rotation according to modern geometric concepts) was understood as the "swastika of creation", and along the arrow (i.e. in the negative direction) - "swastika of destruction". The interaction of "creation" and "destruction" determined the course of everything that happened.
Of extraordinary interest is the one-of-a-kind temporal ring, again Vyatka. On its blades, several different signs are engraved at once - this is a whole collection of symbols of ancient Slavic magic. The central blade carries a somewhat modified Ingyz line, the first petals from the center are an image that is not yet completely clear. A twelve-pointed cross is applied to the petals second from the center, which is most likely a modification of the cross of four Algiz runes. And, finally, the extreme petals carry the image of a swastika. Well, the master who worked on this ring tried to create a "powerful" talisman.

Literature
A. Platov "Slavic runes", - M .: Helios, 2001
Mythology of the ancient world, - M.: Belfax, 2002
B.A. Rybakov "Paganism of the ancient Slavs", - M .: Russian Word, 1997
V. Kalashnikov "Gods of the ancient Slavs", - M .: White City, 2003

Not later than the very beginning of the 10th century in Bulgaria, the monk Brave wrote lines that have survived to this day and now cause so many contradictory, sometimes completely opposite in meaning, judgments: ..." Almost all modern works devoted to the pre-Christian writing of the Slavs traditionally begin with a commentary on these ancient lines. But no matter how numerous such comments are, it is impossible to avoid analyzing the words of Brave in this essay.

Let's start with the most controversial, with the verb chtehu, the interpretation of which causes so much controversy (the translation of the second verb in the phrase - gataahu - does not raise doubts: they guessed). As expected, two translation options are possible: read and counted. Modern authors, for the most part, are inclined to give the verb chtehu the meaning they considered. Indeed, there are certain arguments for this. So, for example, South and East Slavic counting systems are known using peculiar notches (lines or cuts) on special sticks described by many researchers. Another argument in favor of reading was considered to be no less logical and even more compelling. Indeed, if we assume the meaning was read, then how can we understand the previous remark of the Brave that Slovene does not have a written language?

It should be remembered that the words of the Brave were preserved not in one, but in several lists. At the same time, only in the Moscow and Chudovsky lists of legends do we find "they did not have letters", but in the rest - Savinsky, Lavrentevsky and Hilendarsky - "they did not have books". This gives the words of the Brave a completely different meaning and completely refutes the second argument of the supporters of the variant, who believed that it is quite possible to write and read, but at the same time compose books in the European sense of the word.

Further, if we turn purely to linguistics, we will see that the difference between the Slavic verbs to read and count is not of fundamental importance in this respect, if only because both verbs contain the same ancient stem, which also sounds in the verb honor, read. Moreover, in most ancient writing systems, the actual writing and numerical records were carried out by the same signs (Latin writing, early Cyrillic, etc.).

Considering all that has been said, many modern authors are now leaning towards a new, somewhat different from the established, opinion about the notorious words of the Chernoritet Brave. Probably, the Bulgarian monk still had in mind the existence of a certain writing system "devils and cuts", but stated the absence - at least in his opinion - of Slavic books made in this writing system.

The first arguments in favor of the existence of Slavic pre-Christian writing were put forward as early as the beginning - the middle of the last century; some of the testimonies cited then are now attributed to the Glagolitic alphabet, and not to the "devil and cut" system, some turned out to be simply untenable, but a number of arguments remain valid to this day. So, it is impossible to argue with the testimony of Titmar, who, when describing the Slavic temple of Retra, points to the fact that inscriptions were made on the idols of the temple, made with "special", non-Germanic runes. It would be completely absurd to assume that Titmar, being an educated person, could not recognize the standard junior Scandinavian runes if the names of the gods on the idols were inscribed by them. Massoudi, describing one of the Slavic temples, mentions some signs carved on stones. Ibn Fadlan, speaking about the Slavs of the end of the 1st millennium, points to the existence of grave inscriptions on pillars among them. Ibn El Nedim speaks of the existence of Slavic pre-Cyrillic writing and even cites in his treatise a drawing of one inscription carved on a piece of wood (the famous Nedim inscription). In the Czech song "The Judgment of Lyubusha", preserved in the list of the 9th century, there is a mention of deski pravdodatne - laws written on wooden boards in some letters.

When studying pre-Christian writing among the Slavs, it is also necessary to take into account the fact of the coincidence of the roots associated with reading and writing in all Slavic languages, noted by the Bulgarian scientist E. Georgiev:

"The words pisati, citati, pismo, kъniga and others are common to all Slavic languages, and this shows that the Slavs were familiar with the fact of reading and writing and for a very long time, even before they began to live an independent life in the newly created Slavic powers, at least" read" and "wrote" their "features" and "cuts", about which the ancient Bulgarian writer Chernorizets Brave speaks, but, probably, more than that.

Thus, the very fact of the existence of pre-Cyrillic writing among the Slavs can, despite the numerous attacks of opponents of this opinion, be considered indisputable. This follows both from the above considerations and from the analysis of material (including archaeological) monuments, some of which, in our opinion, are related to the Slavic runes, will be considered by us below. At one time, this opinion was shared by such an authoritative Russian historian as V.N. Tatishchev, who wrote the following words in his History of Russia: they couldn’t write ... Truly, the Slavs long before Christ and the Slavic-Russians actually had a letter before Vladimir, in which many ancient writers testify to us and, firstly, what is generally said about all the Slavs ". Finishing this short introduction, we will additionally point out that the fact of the existence of pre-Cyrillic writing among the Slavs has now been confirmed by a number of researchers.

Turning to the actual topic of this article - to the Slavic runes - it should be noted that over the past two millennia there has been not one (any) system of Slavic writing, but several such systems that developed independently and fundamentally different from each other. One of these systems was actually runic writing. As an example of another, independent writing system, one can cite the writing system studied by M. L. Seryakov and called by him "native Russian". This author considers a whole series of monuments, made, in his opinion, by the same signs, related to the ancient Indian Brahmi script. In general, the conclusions of M.L. Seryakov look very plausible, although they deserve some criticism - primarily in relation to the definition of the typology of a particular archeographic monument and in relation to the failure to indicate possible ways of developing the studied writing and its possible analogues.

Now we turn to the consideration of the Slavic runes themselves, and first we will clarify the question of the origin of the term itself, meaning the letters of the runic letter.

The now traditional interpretation of the word rune was established in the scientific community at the end of the last century. Quite rightly, the Germanic runa, rune, denoting the letter of the runic letter, is associated with the Gothic runa -mystery and other German. the verb runen (modern German raunen) in the meaning of whisper. A certain variety in the interpretation of the word rune was introduced by Nigel Pennick, who pointed out its non-Northern European parallels: other Celt, run, cf. Wall. rhin meaning whisper, to whisper; modern irl. run - secret; Scottish Gaelic run - lot. Almost all modern researchers lose sight of the Slavic languages ​​​​(by the way, they are much closer to Scandinavian than the same Celtic ones). This was not the case in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, during the heyday of research on the Slavic runic.

So, at one time I tried to connect the word rune with the Serb, gronic - to say the Polish Slavist A. Kukharsky. V. Tsybulsky and I. Yagich equally opposed such an interpretation, finding it "crazy". But against the later assumption of D. Zhunkovich, not a single researcher could put forward any counter-arguments. Zhunkovich's version was simply forgotten, as it often happened in the field of Slavic runology. At one time, I happened to come to the same conclusion that was made by Zhunkovich, almost independently of this researcher. I was struck by the existence of many Slavic rivers bearing the mysterious name Runa. In most cases, the etymology of these names is considered obscure. But after all, there is an old Slavic root of runes: it is from it that Russian comes. wound, injure, dig, Ukrainian rilla - furrow. According to Zhunkovich, the same root contains the verb ruti - to cut and the noun runa, meaning a cut, furrow, ... CUT. Isn't it with these cuts ch'tehu and gataahu the ancient Slavs?

It is curious that the basis run / ran with the meaning to cut, injure was also known to the ancient Germans, and it is surprising why researchers do not pay attention to this fact. So, the famous spearhead from Damsdorf, dating from the first half of the 1st millennium, bears the runic inscription RANJA, translated as "piercing", "injuring", "wounding".

Probably, the term rune still comes from the ancient Slavic-Northern European base with the meaning to cut (which looks natural), while the appearance of European words of the same root, but already meaning mystery, to speak in silence is secondary and is associated with the magical use of the ancient carved signs, ancient runes.

There are a number of written and other indirect evidence of the existence of pre-Christian writing among the Slavs, including runic writing. However, the only direct evidence can still be only the monuments of Slavic runic writing themselves. It strangely happened that all researchers of the Slavic school of runic art for almost two centuries would certainly fall into one of two warring camps, representatives of one of which rejected all arguments in favor of Slavic runes and declared all objects with runes that differ from Futhark to be fake ( Yagich and others), and representatives of the opposite camp interpreted any scratch on archaeological finds as Slavic runes (Klassen, Volansky, etc.). Of course, such maximalism of both warring parties could by no means lead to the establishment of the truth. Moreover, this situation persists to this day, when some researchers squeamishly frown at the mention of the pre-Cyrillic writing of the Slavs, while others read in modern Russian indiscriminately all the inscriptions of all times and peoples - from signs on the seals of Harappa to Latin epitaphs on Roman tombstones.

So, Klassen, following Volansky, declares the signs of the Italic (including the Etruscan) alphabets as ancient Slavic runes, and in three editions of his "New Materials for History ..." he cites a Slavic reading of many dozens of inscriptions from the Italian Peninsula. The naivety and groundlessness of the interpretations of Volansky and Klassen could have been touching if their publications had not misled many until now. At the same time, Yagich, in his great work "The Question of Runes Among the Slavs," sets out such a negative view of the problem of Slavic runes that the entire West Slavic archaeological science of the 19th and early 20th centuries involuntarily appears as a collection and description of countless fakes.

All this suggests the need for a sober, unbiased analysis of the monuments that exist to date, which may be related to the Slavic school of runic art, the very existence of which can hardly be in doubt.

In an effort to maintain a neutral position here in relation to the two-hundred-year-old dispute between supporters and opponents of the existence of the Slavic runic culture, we do not draw any final conclusions - except for the fundamental conclusion about the very existence of Slavic runes. In addition, we deliberately do not make any attempts to decipher the inscriptions, so as not to get carried away and not succumb to the temptation to build something out of nothing. Further, we leave aside such sources as the Book of Veles and Boyanov Gymn, for two reasons: due to the lack of direct evidence of their authenticity at the moment, and due to the lack of clarity whether we can classify written monuments of this type (if they are authentic) to runic.

So, we are starting to describe the monuments of Slavic runic art - art, since the writing itself (especially writing with sacred symbols, which runes are traditionally revered for) has always been considered as such in the traditional culture of Europe.

The oldest monuments of this art known to us belong to the Chernyakhov archaeological culture and date back to approximately the 2nd-4th centuries AD. These monuments form a peculiar and isolated group, clearly distinguished by the material of the archaeological excavations of Rybakov (sixties), Tikhanova (1957-1962) and other researchers in the territory of the Chernyakhov culture. Some monuments are identified as presumably runic by the leaders of the field work, others seem highly doubtful.

Undoubtedly runic ones include, for example, signs on fragments of ceramics from excavations near the village of Lepesovka, published by M.A. Tikhanova; In addition, the well-known Romanian archaeologist B. Mitria adhered to the opinion that these signs are traces of writing. Another example is the famous "Ripnev fragment" - a fragment of ceramics from near Ripnev, bearing an inscription, probably runic and published in the fundamental twenty-volume edition "Archaeology of the USSR".

Thus, the very existence of a runic culture among the Chernyakhovsky tribes should be considered an established fact. Another thing is that a number of researchers (M.A. Tikhanova, M.L. Seryakov and others) attribute this writing not to the Slavs, but to the Germans, and above all to the Goths. Yes, indeed, the Goths in their migration reached the territory of the Chernyakhov culture and could well have had some influence on the ethnogenesis of the Chernyakhov tribes, but the arguments presented in favor of the Germanic origin of the Chernyakhov writing are at least strange. The logic of these arguments is as follows: the Chernyakhov runes are Germanic insofar as the Chernyakhovites themselves are Germanic; the latter is deduced from the fact that they used Germanic runes, which are Germanic because ..., and so on, in a vicious circle. And this is despite the fact that already academician B.A. Rybakov at one time showed the inconsistency of the version of the Gothic origin of the Chernyakhov culture, which this outstanding researcher attributed to the circle of the most important Proto-Slavic cultures of the beginning-middle of the 1st millennium AD.

Somewhat later, one can probably consider the sites of the conventionally defined "Central European" group. In contrast to the archeographic monuments of the Chernyakhov culture, which are objects found as a result of excavations, the group of monuments of Central Europe is formed mainly by rock inscriptions discovered at different times and described by different authors.

So, for example, Zhunkovich mentions eight Slovak rock runic inscriptions, known already at the beginning of the 20th century, but by the time his work was published (1918) had not yet been studied. Another inscription - Velesturskaya, discovered in southern Slovakia near the confluence of Vah and Turoch, not far from Velestur, is mentioned by both Zhunkovich and Ruzhichka.

The famous Shutgard (Shuterad) inscriptions also belong to this, possibly, group of monuments of Slavic runic writing. The first of them (the "large" Shutgard or Sitka inscription) was discovered in 1928 near the village of Sitovo, not far from the ruins of ancient Shutgard. The first description of the inscription belongs to the secretary of the archaeological society in Plovdiv, Peev: “At a careful examination of the southern wall of the cave (the wall is almost a sheer rock), we found that about two meters from the floor a smooth polished strip 23 to 30 cm wide and 260 cm long was carved "Some mysterious signs are hollowed out on this strip. Without a doubt, the inscription was made by a human hand. The signs resemble the so-called runic writings used by the ancient Germanic peoples..." Peev failed to decipher the inscription.

The next attempt at deciphering was made in the early fifties by Academician Goshev. In his opinion, the inscription was made by the masters of the Slavic Runkhin tribe; Goshev translated the beginning of the inscription as "I, the prince of the Runkhins..." Unfortunately, Goshev did not have time to finish deciphering and translating the inscription.

Subsequently, attempts to read the inscription were made repeatedly. As an example, let's take a translation of the inscription, owned by prof. Titov: "In 6050 (542 AD), the prince (?) of desire from Veslanid (presumably Thessalonica) taught the language and ancient writing." However, neither this nor other versions of reading and translating the inscription seem to us at least to some extent convincing.

The Small Shutgard (Sit) inscription was discovered by Peev in the same cave as the previous one. From his report: "The eastern wall of the cave is a huge stone block. Here we also found an inscription 23 cm high and 80 cm long." Like the first, the inscription has not been deciphered.

The most interesting local group of monuments of runic writing dating back to the end of the 11th - beginning of the 14th centuries is formed by the monuments collected during archaeological excavations in the Vitebsk region of Belarus at the settlement of Maskovichi. Currently, most of these monuments are kept in private collections in Moscow. Very fragmentarily, these monuments were published by L.V. Duchits and E.A. Melnikova in "Ancient States ..." for 1980. A slightly larger number of monuments of this group were published by us in the 6th edition of "Myths and Magic of the Indo-Europeans" .

Most of these monuments are objects made of bone (rarely - wood) with inscriptions clearly runic inscriptions. Attempts to decipher the inscriptions, made on the basis of a rather controversial assumption about their Germanic origin, have not yielded results. In general, we consider the inscriptions to be clearly Slavic; the same opinion is shared by many Belarusian archaeologists and historians - for example, A.A. Duchkov, to whom we are grateful for the materials provided on the excavations in Maskovichi.

Runic inscriptions. 1. Belarus. 2-3. Russia. 4-5. Poland. 6. Runic system from the work of Arnkil, XVII century.

Finally, let us turn to the most, perhaps, the most numerous and well-known group of monuments of Slavic runic writing, the so-called "Vendian" runes, common among the Western (Baltic) Slavs.

To this group we include the Mikorzhin runic stones discovered on the lands of the West Slavic tribe of the Lyutichs, the cult images we have already described from the temple of Radegast in Retra, and a number of other monuments. The name of the group is derived from Venda Runis, i.е. "Vendian runes", which can be found in Scandinavian sources.

We are prompted to unite in one group monuments so different in nature not only by linking them to one territory and to one ethnic community, but also by a more important reason - the similarity of the alphabets used. Firstly, all the signs of the Mikorzha inscriptions find their correspondence among the Retrin runes (see table), moreover, two runes (Nos. 1 and 19) contained both in the inscriptions on the Mikorzhinsky stones and in the inscriptions on cult objects from Retra, absent in any other common runic alphabets. Secondly, the number of characters used in the Retrin inscriptions (25-30) coincides with the estimated number of runes in the Mikorzha alphabet. In addition, it is probably necessary to note an interesting fact: the image on the Mikorzhinsky stone No. 1 almost repeats the image No. 14 from the collection of retri objects published by us.

Yagich, in the work already mentioned, declares all the monuments of this group known to him to be forgeries. At the disposal of Yagich was the work of M.T. Arnkiel (Arnkiel, 1691), which, unfortunately, is not available to us. According to Yagich, Arnkil does not touch upon the issue of Slavic runes, but gives a list of the unique Germanic runic order containing Retrin runes Nos. 2 and 19. Assuming the appearance of these runes in Arnkil's order as the result of an engraver's error (?), Yagich concludes that these "wrong" runes were used by the falsifiers of all the monuments of the Vendian group, which supposedly confirms their falsification. However, the suggestion about the "mistake" of the engraver Arnkil seems strange to us, and we, for our part, are inclined to consider the presence of Retrin runes Nos. 2 and 19 in Arnkil's system as additional indirect evidence in favor of the authenticity of the inscriptions themselves. It should also be mentioned that a rune similar to sign No. 2 is present in the runic inscription on a cow rib from Novgorod, discovered during excavations in 1956.

Let us dwell in more detail on the main monuments of this group.

"Mikorzhinsky rune stones" are currently referred to as three stones bearing images and runic inscriptions. They were discovered in 1836 in the Poznan region (Poland). In favor of the authenticity of the inscriptions on the Mikorzhinsky stones, such researchers as Przhezdzetsky, Tsybulsky, Letseevsky, Schultz, Pekosinsky and others spoke out. De Courtenay, Nering, Yagich defended the opposite point of view. Drawings of stones have been published by many researchers, including Letseevsky.

The inscriptions use 15 or 16 characters; the total number of runes in this alphabet is estimated by us, based on the results of a combinatorial analysis of the inscriptions, as more than 24-25, but hardly more than 30-32. Of the fifteen known characters, more than ten are similar in outline to (or coincide with) the characters of the younger Scandinavian runic alphabets. They are closest to the Danish runes of the beginning of the 2nd millennium AD. At the same time, there are also signs unknown in Scandinavia. In addition, attempts to read the inscriptions as Germanic inevitably lead to failure, so that their Slavic origin can hardly be disputed.

The traditional reading for the first stone is SMIR PROVE KMET, but Pekosinsky read the inscription differently: SAIR ERDWD TDAT, which, unlike the first interpretation, does not allow translation. For the second stone (with a horse) Pekosinsky gives the following transliteration: SAIR TOGOTHLV WOIV S LVTWOI. It remains unknown to us exactly how Pekosinsky intended to translate this text. Yagich, while maintaining a negative position, transliterates the inscription somewhat more intelligibly: SMIR BOG(O)DAN VOIN LIUTVOI S.

A.A.Bychkov gives the following translation of the inscriptions: SMIRZH LIES AS A SACRIFICE (No. 2) SMIRZH FATHER LUTEVOY TO THE WARRIOR S[YNU] (No. 1)

If the Mikorzha stones are monuments, the authenticity of which is much more likely than the forgery, then the authenticity of the Retrin objects and inscriptions on them is questioned by many researchers. Here we should mention such supporters of the authenticity of the Retrine monuments as the brothers Grimm and Jan Kollar, whose unexpected death made it impossible to prepare in 1852 under the personal patronage of Her Imperial Highness Vel. Princess Elena Pavlovna publication of a work on this subject. We also note that the question of the authenticity or falsification of objects from Retra (at least those published by A.G. Mash in 1771) is currently being raised only in Russia. European researchers, for the most part, prefer to follow the verdict of a special commission that studied this issue for two years and decided that the objects were genuine.

According to existing ideas, bronze images of gods and ritual objects from the Retrino temple were found in the soil of the village of Prilwitz at the end of the 17th century. Much later, a certain Andreas Gottlieb Masch acquired them, described and commissioned engravings. These materials were published by him in 1771 in Germany. His book contains engravings of over sixty sculptures and other objects. Masha's entire collection was lost again, and later one "batch" of objects from Retra surfaced and was published by Potocki.

All items from the Rethrin temple were melted down; on their surface - judging by the engravings - numerous runic inscriptions made in runes are clearly distinguishable, many of which - like many of the Mikorzha runes - do not find analogues in the younger Germanic alphabets.

If we accept that the retri objects themselves are authentic, then the question of the authenticity of the inscriptions on them remains open. There are arguments that testify both in favor of their falsification and in favor of authenticity. An important argument that speaks of the falsity of the inscriptions is their very appearance. Is it possible to assume that the priests of the temple of Retra up and down covered the images of their gods with runes? It would be easier to assume that the inscriptions were made much later, already on top of the melting, in order to increase the sale value of the images.

On the other hand, a number of facts indicate the opposite. It can be unequivocally stated that the inscriptions are not a meaningless set of characters; the person who carved these runes - whether he was an ancient priest or an accidental owner - this person was well acquainted with the runic art. It should be pointed out that a number of runes used (Nos. 8, 18, 25) are relatively rare, and, importantly, belong to the same style (one of the Danish variants of the younger runes). This fact indicates that the runes applied to the images are not accidental and represent some kind of isolated tradition. In addition, as already mentioned, a number of signs are absent in the known runic alphabets, but are present in the inscriptions on the Mikorzhinsky stones.

It should also be noted that the "fake" and "authenticity" of the inscriptions on the images in this case are relative concepts. Even if we assume that the runes were applied after the images were discovered, in the 17th or 18th centuries, what was said in the paragraph above remains valid, and before us - one way or another - is an example of some West Slavic runic style, related to Mikorzhinsky or directly coinciding with it.

Among a significant number of inscriptions, only two, constantly repeating, can be unambiguously read: RHETRA and RADEGAST.

The fact that we meet the last name precisely on those sculptures that we would most likely consider to be images of Radegast, again indicates that if the carver was not a priest of the temple, he was nevertheless aware of the esoteric tradition of the Luticians.

The total number of monuments, inscriptions or signs on which are made in Vendian runes, is quite large. So, Letseevsky cites a number of very interesting monuments, most of them representing runic inscriptions on Polish stones. A unique monument - the so-called Krakow medallion - is mentioned, in addition to Letseevsky, also by Pekosinsky (1897), Przyborovsky (1873) and after them - Jagich (1911). The latter believed the medallion to be a fake, citing a very, very strange argument in favor of this: supposedly this monument cannot be authentic, since the Scandinavian runologists (who do not speak Slavic languages) could not translate the inscription on it. Pskosinsky and Letseevsky, on the contrary, considered the medallion unconditionally genuine; We are inclined to the same opinion.

Comparative table of Retrin, Mikorzhin and junior Scandinavian runes according to A. Platov.

Concluding this short review, we would like to say a few words about the most "fresh" age evidence of the use of runes by the Slavs. We are talking about runic or near-runic monuments, gravitating towards the White Sea area and dating back to the 19th-20th centuries. Now it is difficult to judge how competent it is to combine these monuments into one group, but much more important is the very statement of the existence of a living runic or near-runic tradition among the Pomors at the beginning of this century.

The initial prerequisites for the selection of an independent "White Sea group" was the fact of the use of unusual runic signs in wooden Karelian, runic calendars. One of them, the Petrozavodsk runic calendar, is currently stored in the Petrozavodsk Historical and Architectural Museum, where it arrived in the twenties of this century from the village of Vokpavelek (Kemsky district). The calendar is a wooden staff with a total length of 1.5 m with a handle, in cross section it forms a square 3x3 cm. The runic signs of the calendar are unusual and are a cross between the Germanic runes and the letters of the Old Slavonic alphabet.

More recently, new and very interesting data on the existence of runes among the Pomors have been obtained. So, on the logs of wooden buildings of the Tersky coast, E. Lazarev discovered runic signs and even inscriptions. According to the researcher, a number of characters coincide with the Scandinavian runes, some look like the runes of the Eurasian steppes, some look like deformed Cyrillic characters. Among them, several inscriptions were found, having a length of 4-5 positions.

Unfortunately, there are no large-scale studies of the White Sea runes at this time. This is all the more unfortunate because the signs, in the first half of the current century, applied to parts of wooden buildings, are irretrievably perishing as the wood itself is destroyed. It is impossible to judge whether the knowledge of these runes is preserved among modern Pomors (at least, there are no ethnographic data on this). If the last keepers of it have already died, then the signs and inscriptions on the logs along the shores of the White Sea are the last witnesses of this tradition.

Summing up all that has been said above, we must conclude that the existence of runic writing and runic culture as a whole among the Slavs is indisputable. The first traces of this culture appear at the beginning of a new era, i.e. almost simultaneously with the formation of the classical Germanic runic alphabet Futhark. Monuments of Slavic runic writing, probably representing different styles and alphabets and dating from the middle of the 1st millennium AD. before the era of the "developed" Middle Ages, are found throughout Slavic Europe and, despite the real fakes, for the most part are authentic and directly testify to the use of runic signs by the Slavs. Finally, we must state that the runic tradition among the Slavs did not stop with the onset of the New Age . Echoes of the ancient Slavic runic culture existed until very recently in remote areas of the Slavic world.

NOTES

1. An overview of such monuments can be seen in the following work: I.V. Yagich. The question of the runes among the Slavs. // Encyclopedia of Slavic Philology. Department of Russian language and literature. Imp. Acad. Sciences. Issue Z: Graphics among the Slavs. SPb., 1911.

2. ML. Seryakov. Russian pre-Christian writing. SPb., 1997.

3. E. Georgiev. Slavic writing before Cyril and Methodius. Sofia, 1952.

4. V.N. Tatishchev. Russian history. T.1. M.-L., 1962.

5. M.L. Seryakov. Cit. op.; A.V.Platov. Monuments of the runic art of the Slavs. // Myths and magic of the Indo-Europeans, issue 6, 1998; E. Georgiev. Cit. op.; and etc.

6. M.L. Seryakov. Cit. op.

7. I.V.Lgich. Cit. op.

8. N. Pennick. Run Magic. L., 1992.

9. D.Zunkovic. Die slavische Vorzek. Maribor, 1918.

10. As an example, the Runa River, which flows into the Upper Volga Lakes on the border of the Tver and Novgorod regions, is given.

11. E.A. Makaev. The language of the oldest runic inscriptions. M., 1965; A.V.Platov. Runic magic. M., 1994.

12. E.Kpassen. New materials for the ancient history of the Slavs. Issue. I-III. M., 1854-1861.

13.I.V.Yagich. Op.cit.

14. A.V. Platov. Cit. op.

15. From the point of view of linguistics, in most cases, we really have nothing - the existing corpus of inscriptions, scattered and representing different styles, is not currently sufficient for unambiguously reliable deciphering work. This, of course, does not in the least prevent us from stating the very fact of the existence of the Slavic runic culture.

16. M.A. Tikhanova. Excavations at the settlement III-IV centuries. near the village of Lepesovka in 1957-1959//Soviet archeology, 1963, No. 2; Her: Runic inscriptions from the territory of the USSR. Elder inscriptions. In the book: E.A. Melnikova. Scandinavian runic inscriptions. M., 1977; Her: Traces of runic writing in the Chernyakhov culture. In: Medieval Russia. Sat. M., 1976.

17. Slavs and their neighbors at the end of the 1st millennium BC. - the first half of the 1st millennium AD In series: Archeology of the USSR. Ed. B.A. Rybakova. M., 1993.

18. D.Zunkovic. Op. cit.

19. Ibid.

20. J. Ruzicka. Slovanska mythology. Prague, 1924.

21. The most ancient states on the territory of the USSR. Issue. 1980 M., 1981.

22. A.V. Platov. Monuments of the runic art of the Slavs // Myths and magic of the Indo-Europeans, issue 6, 1998.

23. A.V. Platov. Cult images from the temple in Retra // Myths and magic of the Indo-Europeans, issue 2, 1996.

24. V.P. Petrenko, Yu.K. Kuzmenko. Runic inscriptions from the territory of the USSR. Junior inscriptions. In the book: E.A. Melnikova. Scandinavian runic inscriptions. M "1977.

25. J.Leciejewski. About runah i runicznych pomnikach slowianskich. Lowow, 1906.

26. An elementary analysis was carried out on the growth of the number of characters with an increase in the serial number of the position in the text - A.V. Platov. On the issue of the alphabet of the Mikorzhinsky runic inscriptions. M., 1993. Author's archive.

27. A. G. Masch. Die Gottesdienftlichen Ulferfhumer der Obotriten, aus dem Tempel gu Rhetra. Berlin, 1771.

28. Some time after the publication of Gottlieb's book, some more items allegedly related to the Retrin temple appeared, but these new monuments were recognized as false by the absolute majority of researchers. The fate of these objects is unknown to me.

29. J. Potocki. Voyage dans qudques de la Basse Saxe pour la Recherche des antiquites Slaves ou Vendes. Hambourg, 1795.

30. However, it is necessary to remember the testimony of Titmar, who claimed that on the images of the gods in the Rethrin temple their names were inscribed in runes. In addition, Etruscan sculptural images come to mind, sometimes written in no more elegant way.

31. The assumption that the "retrin" style could be obtained by a conditional falsifier by mixing Danish and Mikorzha runes must be rejected: Mikorzha stones were discovered only in 1836, i.e. half a century after the publication of 1771.

32. J.Leciejewski. Op. cit.

33. See: A.V. Platov. Monuments of the runic art of the Slavs / / Myths and magic of the Indo-Europeans, issue 6, 1998.

34. L.E. Maistrov. Runic carved calendar of the Petrozavodsk Museum. //Historical and astronomical research. Issue. XVIII. M., 1986.

35. E. Lazarev, Runes of the White Sea. // Myths and magic of the Indo-Europeans, issue 4, 1997.

In modern magical practices, Veneds are considered Slavic runes today. Anton Platov, a researcher of the runic alphabets of the Slavic-Aryans, reconstructed the sacred system of the ancient Slavs ten years ago. He was followed by Oleg Sinko, an esotericist from Ukraine, who expanded the mantic and magical meanings of the Vendian runic writings.

In terms of popularity, the Slavic runic alphabet lags behind the Scandinavian Futhark, common in Europe. Perhaps the reason lies in the fact that the runic writing of the Slavs requires immersion in mythology and extensive knowledge about the way of life of their ancestors.

Where did the runes of the Slavs come from

Slavic runic writing - runica - occurs, according to the researcher V.A. Chudinov, since the time of the Lower Paleolithic. Under the runic understand all types of the ancient runic alphabet: Boyanov runes, Velesitsa, Karuna, Vendian runes, etc.

Eminent researchers of ancient alphabets believe that the Slavic runes appeared due to the influence of the Greeks, according to another version, the Aryan alphabet appeared after mixing the North Etruscan writing and the Ogham alphabet.

Among the evidence of the existence of the Slavic runic writing are the Slavic-Aryan Vedas, the Book of Veles and ceramic fragments containing inscriptions that are practically indecipherable. The latter were found during archaeological excavations and belong to the Chernyakhov culture.

Official science refuses to recognize the existence of the official existence of the Slavic runic. The small number of fragments with inscriptions, the inability to decipher the signs, the differences between the symbols found in different territories - these are some of the reasons why the runic alphabet remains in a semi-legal position among other scripts.

Alphabet

It is difficult to correlate the runic with the alphabet, since the signs do not represent letters, but syllables. For writing texts, a certain algorithm is followed:

• arrange characters in a row, 16 characters each;
• translated texts contain 32, 64 or more characters, each second character explains the previous one;
• one text suggests nine rows;
• lines are read from left to right, the next row is read from right to left.

In esoteric practices, the Vendian runic alphabet is used. The researchers of the runic writing compiled a table in which they indicated the correspondence of the characters to the letters of the Russian alphabet. You can start writing texts in the runic alphabet, referring to the table.

This group of symbols describes the laws of the world, the main driving forces of the universe, the spiritual path that every person passes through during his life.

1. The world ("M") symbolizes the divine part of human nature. The main archetype of the sign is Belobog. The inscription of the symbol is similar to the image of the World Tree or a person stretching his arms to the sky.
2. Chernobog ("Ch" and "C") balances the previous symbol and symbolizes chaos. It personifies the dark side of the "I", which will have to be accepted and worked out.
3. Alatyr (“A”) is the center of the universe, the beginning and end of the world, the starting point of all roads and the source of all rivers.
4. Rainbow ("R") is a sign of the road. It symbolizes the state of movement: physical and spiritual, it means help on the way and an easy way out of a difficult situation.

The next group of signs tells that the spiritual path in the Slavic tradition leads a person to the release of the divine principle within himself. Only the one who goes through the battle with his own inertia and ignorance is considered a true warrior.

1. Need (“N”) is a symbol of fate from which there is no escape, death, coercion and darkness. Need denotes a constrained consciousness, trials, financial difficulties.
2. Krada (“G” and “K”) is translated from Slavic as “sacrificial fire”. This is the rune of fire, the incarnation of intention, the loss of alluvial husks and purification.
3. Treba (“T”) is a sacrifice in which a person sacrifices himself. The symbol is also called the "Rune of the Spirit Warrior".
4. Strength ("C") represents integrity, which completes the victory over oneself and symbolizes the ability to follow the chosen path.

In addition to the main four elements, the Slavs singled out the fifth substance - Rock, Spirit, which cannot be seen or touched with hands, but it lies at the heart of the universe.

1. Wind (“B”) refers to the element of Air and symbolizes will, inspiration, wealth and wisdom.
2. Bereginya ("B") personifies the elements of the Earth, motherhood, fertility and wealth.
3. Ud ("U") - a fiery rune. The first meaning of the symbol is associated with male power, passion for life, fertility.
4. Lelya ("L") is associated with the element of Water. This is intuition and knowledge, strength and fertility.
5. Rock ("X" and "b") is considered a manifestation of the Spirit. The fifth element surrounds a person at every moment of existence, this is the essence of the universe.

The remaining runes in the runic alphabet of the Slavs cannot be grouped.

1. There (“E”) is the life force that drives wildlife.
2. The support (“O”) in the outline shows two borders separating the three worlds from each other - the Upper, Middle and Lower.
3. Dazhdbog ("D") personifies all kinds of blessings, starting with true love and ending with material wealth.
4. Perun ("P") symbolizes power, vitality and protection.
5. The source ("And"), on the contrary, demonstrates immobility. This "non-movement" keeps in itself the potential for development, strength at rest.

The runes of the ancient Slavs (also Russian, Venedic, Vedic, Aryan, pagan runes) - according to the official version, the alleged writing of the ancient Slavs, which existed even before the emergence of Cyrillic and Glagolitic.

Who created the Slavic runes and when did they appear?

There is no single point of view on this issue. Some argue that Slavic runes are the oldest symbols in the world and their origins must be sought in Vedic culture. Officially recognized historians are inclined to the version of the European and ancient Germanic roots of runic writing. The date of occurrence is considered to be the 1st century AD.

It is known about eighteen Old Slavic runes, each of them has its own image-value.

Description and meaning of runes

Rune photos (available for download)

Behind each rune is a certain meaning and energy. Knowledge of the meaning of Slavic runes can be useful in a wide variety of situations.

To achieve the result you are interested in, you can apply a temporary tattoo with the image of a rune on your body or make a charm, and then additionally charge it.

Be careful and careful when choosing a rune: you should not focus only on its description. At first, try to vilify it for a short time, carefully listening to the sensations in the body.

For convenience, we have arranged the descriptions of the Slavic runes in alphabetical order.

Alatyr(Az, World Mountain, Graaal)
The rune Alatyr symbolizes the center of the World, the basis of the universe. This is the beginning and the end, the balance and the pivot around which the cycle of life and the struggle of opposites develop. The world mountain, similar to the universal altar or chair, is a prototype of all earthly altars and thrones.

Bereginya(Mother Earth, Makosh, Fate)
Bereginya, among the Slavs, symbolizes female energy, protecting and giving life. The Mother Goddess creates favorable conditions and protects all living things. She is responsible for fate and material wealth, gives life and takes it away. Rune Bereginya should be used with a lack of vitality.

Wind(Strength, Veles, Top)
Rune of knowledge, magic, strength and will. Bereginya is the rune of earthly forces, and the Wind represents subtle and spiritual forces. Rune of Veles - the ancient Slavic god of wisdom and material wealth. Gives wisdom and strength.

Dazhdbog(Fertility, Gifts)
Dazhdbog - Slavic rune of good luck and wealth, symbolizes goodness and gifts. It is a symbol of spiritual and material well-being, endless abundance. Helps to improve financial situation.

There is(Life, Alive)
The rune symbolizes the forces responsible for the physical side of life. There is an image of the incessant movement of the flow of life: growth, development, renewal. Can be used in the treatment of diseases.

Source(Foundation, Ice, Standing)
There is a legend that our world arose from an icy seed. Water contains a huge potential for life and activity, while ice keeps it motionless and is the source of future life. The Slavic rune Source denotes several meanings: on the one hand, it is the fundamental principle and source of future activity, on the other, stagnation and stupor.

Krada(Fire, Sacrifice)
The image of the Great Fire and sacrifices for it. Also, Krada - denotes the activity and the losses associated with its implementation. For any embodiment of our plans, we always pay some sacrifice. Grants purification, accelerates and enhances the realization of intentions.

Lelya(Water, Attraction, Love)
Rune Lelya is a symbol of life hidden in water, joy, awakening and instinctive spontaneous intuition. Increases attractiveness and intuition, relieves unreasonable fears and complexes, helps in lucid dreams.

World(I, Belbog)
The image of the rune contains the image of the Tree of the World, it is a sign of the higher nature of man and all things. Interestingly, the inverted rune of the World, the Chernobog rune, serves as a modern symbol of peace. To what world are we being led? Gives the wearer the protection and favor of the bright gods.

Need(Inevitability, Karma, Falsehood)

The rune of Veles in the hypostasis of the God of the dark world is Viy. Rune Need is interpreted as an all-enforcing force, from which it is impossible to hide. In addition to the images of death and retribution, the rune imprinted images of the limitations of the material world and the shackles holding the consciousness of people. Strengthens the instinct of self-preservation, accelerates the realization of karma.

Support(Motherland, Pillar, Gods)
The rune of the Gods, who are the pillar of the universe. Denotes the Gods located on the axis of the world and the people existing near them. Used by those in the know to attract the blessings and protection of the Gods.

Perun(Coating)
The rune of the god of thunder Perun - the god of thunder, protecting the world of people and gods from the forces of destruction. The image contains male energy and vitality. It symbolizes initiation through the rejection of the old and rebirth. Develops and strengthens the personality, gives physical and mental stamina.

Rainbow(Joy, Road)
The rainbow marks the path in the direction and to our universal source, the image of which is contained in the Alatyr rune. The rune is useful in wandering and for the favorable resolution of difficult situations.

Rock
The image of the unmanifested Spirit, which contains the source, goal and end of all things. Used to convey a situation or thing to a higher power. It is believed that the transmitter loses the ability to control what is given.

Force(Knowledge, Integrity)
The rune contains an image of energy that allows us to move towards the source of the entire universe without leaving the path. It symbolizes the fullness and unity that we will gain when we reach the end of the path. The rune gives the wearer stamina, determination and determination.

Treba(Warrior, Sacrifice)
The word "treba" is translated as "sacrifice". The essence of the image is self-sacrifice in order to achieve the goal. The image is best revealed by a legend in which the hero feeds a bird with his own meat, pulling him out of the kingdom of the dead.

Oud(Youth, Love)
The Slavic rune Ud denotes the sexual and creative power that changes our world. It enhances the wearer's sexual attractiveness, helps with infertility, gives strength for activity.

Chernobog(Shadow, Darkness, World Tree Reflection)
The image contains forces striving for the destruction of the world and general chaos. The meaning of the rune is opposite in meaning to the rune Belbog (Peace), together they form a balance and are the basis for the existence of a dual material world. The rune Peace personifies the forces of order, and the rune Chernobog represents the world-destroying spirits of Chaos. The essence of the rune in destruction is to use it with the utmost care.

Should you get rune tattoos?

Everything at once…

The runes inflicted on the body affect your destiny. With this in mind, you can get a tattoo with any Slavic rune.

Are you sure that the image and energy contained in the rune will delight you throughout your life? And we are not talking about the impact of tattoos on skin health and public opinion, everything is clear here.

Much more important is your personal desire, which for many people changes several times a day, to say nothing of the decades that you will have to spend with a tattooed rune.

If you want to get a tattoo for some magical purpose, and not just for the sake of beauty, then it would be much more reasonable to make an amulet or apply a temporary tattoo.

Rune divination

The principle of divination on three runes

It is believed that the runes are able to predict the outcome of the situation. Using a minimal set of self-made Slavic runes (even drawn on plain paper), you can already conduct a divination session.

It is important to guess in the right frame of mind. You should be as calm as possible, nothing should distract the fortuneteller. Do everything slowly - without fuss. To create a suitable atmosphere, it is permissible to use incense, essential oils, and other attributes you like. Your question should be short and to the point, so focus on the situation and consider simplifying the question.

For interpretation, use a reference book or book (for example, "Runes of the Eastern Slavs" - author Kreslav Rys). In the future, we will definitely make a special service for divination on runes on the site.