MAIASK. 2017. No. 9

A. A. Romensky (Kharkov, Ukraine).

Primary Rus’ without the Primary Chronicle:

New Round of Debate about the Early History of Eastern Europe

(Book Review: Tolochko A. P. 2015. Ocherki nachalnoj rusi.

Kiev; Saint Petersburg: “Laurus” Publ.)

DOI: 10.24411/2219-8857-2017-00024

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Pages: 541-552

The new book of Aleksei Tolochko is devoted to the problem of the formation of Rus as a kind of special socium — the corporation of slave-traders on the Dnieper waterway. The history of Rus in Eastern Europe is considered in the context of the source-study questions about the early stages of the chronicle writing and the circumstances of the creation of the first chronicle narrative — Tale of Bygone Years. The author focuses attention on the unreliability of the general scheme of history in the PVL, as well as the information of the alternative source — “Memory and Eulogy” by Jacob the Monk. The structure of Rus’ society is investigated according to the treaties with Byzantium, as well as the treatises of Constantine Porphyrogenitus. The formation of statehood established only in the era of Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich.

Key words: Primary Chronicle, Rus’, State-making, the way “from Varangians to the Greeks”, Scandinavian antiquities, narrative.

Received August 11, 2017
Accepted for publication September 12, 2017

About the author:

Romensky Alexandr Alexandrovich (Kharkov, Ukraine). Candidate of Historical Sciences, Independent researcher.

E-mail pergamen-romen@mail.ru