Prologue I: The Nations of the Earth and the Founding of Kyiv

This is the tale of bygone years by the monk of the Caves Monastery of Theodosius: from where the Rus' land had its beginning […] and who first began to rule as prince in it, and how the Rus' land came to be.

Here we begin this tale.

After the flood, then, Noah's three sons divided the earth among them: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. The East fell to Shem: Persia, Bactria, reaching as far as India in length and in breadth as far as Rhinocolura—as one would say, from the east even to the south—and Syria, and Media along the river Euphrates, and Babylon, Corduene, the Assyrians, Mesopotamia, Arabia the Elder, Elymais, India, Arabia the Strong, Coele, Commagene, and all Phoenicia.

The southern part fell to Ham: Egypt, and Ethiopia bordering on India, and another Ethiopia, from which flows the Red Ethiopian river, running toward the east; the Thebaid, the Libyans, reaching even to Cyrene, Marmarica, the Syrtis, another Libya, Numidia, Masuria, Mauretania, lying opposite Gades. Toward the east it has Cilicia, Pamphylia, Pisidia, Mysia, Lycaonia, Phrygia, Camalia, Lycia, Caria, Lydia, another Mysia, the Troad, Soli, Bithynia, and Old Phrygia. And it has islands besides: Sardinia, Crete, and Cyprus; and the river Gihon, which is called the Nile.

The northern and the western lands fell to Japheth: Media, Albania, Armenia the Lesser and the Greater, Cappadocia, Paphlagonia, Galatia, Colchis, the Bosporus, the Maeotians, the Derbians, the Sarmatians, the Taurians, Scythia, Thrace, Macedonia, Dalmatia, the Molossians, Thessaly, Locris, Pellene, which is also called the Peloponnese, Arcadia, Epirus, Illyricum, the Slavs, Lusitania, Adria, and the Adriatic deep. And it has islands besides: Britain, Sicily, Euboea, Rhodes, Chios, Lesbos, Cythera, Zakynthos, Cephallenia, Ithaca, Corcyra, and a part of every land, the one called Ionia; and the river Tigris, flowing between Media and Babylon; and as far as the Pontic sea, on the northern side: the Danube, the Dnieper, and the Caucasus mountains—that is, the Hungarian—and thence, that is, even to the Dnieper; and the other rivers: the Desna, the Pripyat, the Dvina, the Volkhov, the Volga, which flows east into Shem's portion. In Japheth's portion dwell the Rus', the Chud, and all the peoples: the Merians, the Muroma, the Ves, the Mordvians, the Chud beyond the portages, the Permians, the Pechera, the Yam, the Yugra, the Lithuanians, the Semigallians, the Kurs, the Latgalians, the Livonians. The Poles, the Prussians, and the Chud sit along the Varangian sea. By this sea the Varangians sit here toward the east as far as the bounds of Shem's portion; along that same sea they sit toward the west as far as the land of the Hagarenes and the land of the Vlachs.

And this, too, is Japheth's stock: the Varangians, the Swedes, the Norsemen, the Goths, the Rus', the English, the Galicians, the Vlachs, the Romans, the Germans, the Korlazians, the Venetians, the Franks, and the others—they sit from the west toward the south and border upon Ham's tribe.

Shem, Ham, and Japheth, having divided the earth and cast lots, agreed that none should cross over into his brother's portion, and each lived in his own part, and there was one tongue. And when men had multiplied on the earth, they took thought to build a tower reaching to heaven in the days of Joktan and Peleg. And they gathered at the place, the plain of Shinar, to build […] a tower to heaven, with the city of Babylon around it; and they built the tower for 40 years, and it was not finished. And the Lord God came down to see the city and the tower, and the Lord said: “Behold, one people and one tongue.” And God confounded the tongues and divided them into 70 and two tongues, and scattered them over all the earth. And after the confounding of the tongues God broke down the tower with a great wind, and its remnant stands between Asshur and Babylon, and it is in height and in width 5433 cubits, a remnant kept through many years.

After the breaking down of the tower and the dividing of the tongues, Shem's sons received the eastern lands, and Ham's sons the southern, while Japheth's sons received the west and the north. Of those 72 tongues the Slavic tongue came to be, from Japheth's tribe, from the race called the Noricians—these are the Slavs.

After a great length of time the Slavs settled along the Danube, where the Hungarian land and the Bulgarian land now are. From those Slavs they spread abroad over the earth and were named by their own names, according to the places where each settled. Some came and settled on the river named the Morava, and were called Moravians, while others were called Czechs. And these same Slavs: the White Croats, the Serbs, and the Carinthians. For the Vlachs fell upon the Slavs along the Danube, and settled among them, and oppressed them. Other Slavs came and settled on the Vistula, and were called Poles; and from those Poles the Polianians were named; other Poles became the Lutichians, others the Mazovians, and others the Pomeranians.

So too those same Slavs came and settled along the Dnieper and were called Polianians, and others Derevlianians, because they settled in the forests; and others settled between the Pripyat and the Dvina and were called Dregovichians; and still others settled on the Dvina and were called Polotskians, for the sake of the river that flows into the Dvina, named the Polota—from it the Polotskians were named. The Slovenes settled around Lake Ilmen and were called by their own name, and they made a city and named it Novgorod. And others settled on the Desna, and along the Seim, and along the Sula, and were called Severianians. And so the Slavic tongue spread abroad, and therefore it was called the Slavic script.

While the Polianians lived apart among these hills, there was the route from the Varangians to the Greeks, and from the Greeks along the Dnieper, and at the head of the Dnieper a portage to the Lovat, and along the Lovat one enters the great lake Ilmen; from that lake flows the Volkhov and enters the great lake Nevo, and the mouth of that lake opens into the Varangian sea. And along that sea one may sail even to Rome, and from Rome come again by that same sea to Constantinople, and from Constantinople come to the Pontic sea, into which the river Dnieper flows. The Dnieper flows out of the Okov Forest and runs southward, and the Dvina flows out of that same forest and goes northward and enters the Varangian sea. Out of that same forest the Volga flows eastward and enters the Caspian sea with 70 mouths. Therefore from Rus' one may travel by the Volga to the Bulgars and to the Khvalisy and reach the east, into Shem's portion; by the Dvina to the Varangians, and from the Varangians to Rome, and from Rome even to Ham's tribe. The Dnieper enters the Pontic sea by three mouths, and that sea is called the Rus' sea, and along it the holy apostle Andrew, Peter's brother, taught.

As they tell, while Andrew was teaching in Sinope, he came to Korsun, and saw that from Korsun the mouth of the Dnieper was near, and wished to go to Rome; and he came to the mouth of the Dnieper, and from there journeyed up along the Dnieper. And by chance he came and stood beneath the hills on the shore. And in the morning, rising, he said to the disciples who were with him: “Do you see these hills? For on these hills the grace of God shall shine: a great city is to stand here, and God shall raise up many churches.” And he climbed the hills and blessed them, and set up a cross, and prayed to God, and came down from the hill where Kyiv was afterward to stand, and journeyed up along the Dnieper. And he came to the Slovenes, where Novgorod now stands, and saw the people that were there, what custom they had, how they washed and thrashed themselves, and he marveled at them. And he went on to the Varangians, and came to Rome, and declared what he had learned and what he had seen, and said to them: “I saw a wonder in the Slavic land as I was coming here. I saw wooden bathhouses, and they heat them very hot, and they strip and are naked, and douse themselves with lye, and take twigs, and begin to lash themselves, and lash themselves till they have nearly beaten themselves to death—scarcely do they crawl out alive—and then they douse themselves with cold water, and so come back to life. And they do this every day, tormented by no one, but tormenting themselves; and this they do not as a washing for themselves, but as […] torment.” And hearing this, they marveled. And Andrew, after he had been in Rome, came to Sinope.

And the Polianians lived apart, holding sway by their kin: these were Polianians even before those brothers, and each lived with his kin upon his own place, each ruling his own kin. And there were 3 brothers: one named Kyi, another Shchek, and the third Khoryv, and their sister Lybid. Kyi sat on the hill where the Borichev ascent now is; Shchek sat on the hill that is now called Shchekovitsa; and Khoryv on the third hill, from which came the name Khoryvitsa. And they built a town in the name of their eldest brother and called it Kyiv. And around the city there was forest and a great pinewood, and men hunted beasts there; they were wise and sensible men, and they were called Polianians—from them descend the Polianians, the men of Kyiv, to this day.

But others, not knowing, said that Kyi had been a ferryman: for at Kyiv there was then a ferry from the far bank of the Dnieper, and therefore they said: “To the ferry, to Kyiv.” Had Kyi been a ferryman, he would not have gone to Constantinople. But this Kyi ruled as prince in his own kin; and when he went to the emperor—this we do not know, but of this alone we are sure, as they tell: that he received great honor from the emperor, whose name we do not know, nor do we know under which emperor he came. And as he journeyed back, he came to the Danube, and loved the place, and built a small town, and wished to settle there with his kin; but those who lived nearby would not allow it, and to this day the Danubians call that town-site Kyivets. And Kyi came to his own city, Kyiv, and there ended his life; and his brothers Shchek and Khoryv, and their sister Lybid, ended their lives there.

This is the tale of bygone years, told by a monk of the Caves Monastery of Theodosius: where the land of Rus' came from […], and who first began to rule in it, and how the land of Rus' came to be.

This is where we begin this tale.

After the flood Noah's three sons divided the earth: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Shem received the east: Persia, Bactria, as far as India in length, and in width as far as Rhinocolura — that is, from the east down to the south — and Syria, and Media along the Euphrates river, and Babylon, Corduene, the Assyrians, Mesopotamia, Arabia the Elder, Elymais, India, Arabia the Strong, Coele, Commagene, and all of Phoenicia.

Ham received the southern part: Egypt, and the Ethiopia that lies next to India, and another Ethiopia, from which flows the Red Ethiopian river, running east; the Thebaid, Libya, reaching as far as Cyrene; Marmarica, the Syrtis, another Libya, Numidia, Masuria, and Mauretania, which lies opposite Gades. Toward the east he holds Cilicia, Pamphylia, Pisidia, Mysia, Lycaonia, Phrygia, Camalia, Lycia, Caria, Lydia, another Mysia, the Troad, Soli, Bithynia, and Old Phrygia. He also holds the islands: Sardinia, Crete, Cyprus, and the river Gihon, called the Nile.

Japheth received the northern lands and the west: Media, Albania, Armenia the Lesser and the Greater, Cappadocia, Paphlagonia, Galatia, Colchis, the Bosporus; the Maeotians, the Derbians, the Sarmatians, the Taurians; Scythia, Thrace, Macedonia, Dalmatia; the Molossians, Thessaly, Locris, Pellene, which is also called the Peloponnese; Arcadia, Epirus, Illyricum; the Slavs, Lusitania, Adriaca, and the Adriatic Sea. He also holds the islands: Britain, Sicily, Euboea, Rhodes, Chios, Lesbos, Cythera, Zakynthos, Cephallenia, Ithaca, Corcyra, and part of every land, and the land called Ionia, and the river Tigris, which flows between Media and Babylon. His lands run to the Pontus Sea on the north: the Danube, the Dnieper, and the Caucasus mountains, that is, the Hungarian mountains; and from there, that is, all the way to the Dnieper, and the other rivers: the Desna, the Pripyat, the Dvina, the Volkhov, and the Volga, which flows east into Shem's share. In Japheth's share live the Rus', the Chud, and all the peoples: the Merians, the Muroma, the Ves, the Mordvians, the Chud beyond the portages, the Permians, the Pechera, the Yam, the Yugra, the Lithuanians, the Semigallians, the Kurs, the Latgalians, the Livonians. The Poles, the Prussians, and the Chud sit along the Varangian Sea. Along that same sea sit the Varangians here to the east, to the border of Shem's share; and along that same sea they sit to the west, as far as the land of the Hagarenes and the land of the Vlachs.

This too is the stock of Japheth: the Varangians, the Swedes, the Norsemen, the Goths, the Rus', the English, the Galicians, the Vlachs, the Romans, the Germans, the Korlazians, the Venetians, the Franks, and the rest. They live from the west toward the south and adjoin the tribe of Ham.

Shem, Ham, and Japheth divided the earth and cast lots, so that no one would cross into a brother's share, and each lived in his own part. There was one language. When the people had grown many on the earth, they planned to build a tower up to heaven, in the days of Joktan and Peleg. They gathered at the plain of Shinar to build […] a tower up to heaven, and the city of Babylon around it. They worked on the tower for 40 years, and it was not finished. The Lord God came down to see the city and the tower, and the Lord said: “Here is one people and one language.” God mixed up the tongues and divided them into 70 and two, and scattered them over the whole earth. After the mixing of tongues God broke the tower apart with a great wind. A remnant of it stands between Asshur and Babylon. It is 5433 cubits in height and width, and the remnant has been kept for many years.

After the tower fell and the tongues were divided, Shem's sons took the eastern lands, and Ham's sons the southern lands, and Japheth's sons the west and the northern lands. Among those 72 tongues was the Slavic tongue, from the tribe of Japheth — the ones called the Noricians, who are the Slavs.

After a long time the Slavs settled on the Danube, where the Hungarian land and the Bulgarian land are now. Those Slavs spread over the earth and took names of their own, according to the place where each settled. Some came and settled on a river called the Morava and were named the Moravians, and others took the name Czechs. And these are the same Slavs: the White Croats, the Serbs, and the Carinthians. When the Vlachs fell upon the Slavs on the Danube and settled among them and oppressed them, some Slavs came and settled on the Vistula and were called the Poles; from those Poles the Polianians took their name. Other Poles became the Lutichians, others the Mazovians, and others the Pomeranians.

In the same way those same Slavs came and settled along the Dnieper and were called the Polianians, and others the Derevlianians, because they settled in the forests. Others settled between the Pripyat and the Dvina and were called the Dregovichians. Others settled on the Dvina and were called the Polotskians, after the stream that flows into the Dvina and is named the Polota; from it they took their name. And Slavs settled around Lake Ilmen and kept their own name, and they built a town and named it Novgorod. And others settled on the Desna, and along the Seim, and along the Sula, and were called the Severianians. So the Slavic tongue spread abroad, and from this the Slavic written language got its name.

While the Polianians lived apart on these hills, there was a route from the Varangians to the Greeks, and from the Greeks along the Dnieper; at the top of the Dnieper there was a portage to the Lovat, and along the Lovat one comes into Lake Ilmen the great. From that lake the Volkhov flows and enters the great lake Nevo, and from that lake the mouth runs out into the Varangian Sea. By that sea one can sail all the way to Rome, and from Rome come by the same sea to Constantinople, and from Constantinople come into the Pontus Sea, into which the Dnieper river flows. The Dnieper flows out of the Okov Forest and runs south. The Dvina flows out of that same forest and runs north and enters the Varangian Sea. Out of that same forest the Volga flows east and enters the Caspian Sea by 70 mouths. So from Rus' one can go by the Volga to the Bulgars and the Khvalisy and reach the east, into Shem's share; by the Dvina to the Varangians, and from the Varangians to Rome, and from Rome to the tribe of Ham. The Dnieper enters the Pontus Sea by three mouths; that sea is called the Rus' Sea. On it taught the holy apostle Andrew, Peter's brother.

As they tell, when Andrew was teaching in Sinope, he came to Korsun and saw that the mouth of the Dnieper was close to Korsun. He wanted to go to Rome, and he came to the mouth of the Dnieper, and from there he went up the Dnieper. By chance he came and stopped below the hills, on the shore. In the morning he rose and said to the disciples with him: “Do you see these hills? On these hills the grace of God will shine; there is to be a great city here, and God will raise up many churches.” He went up onto these hills, blessed them, set up a cross, prayed to God, and came down from the hill where Kyiv was later to stand, and went on up the Dnieper. He came to the Slovenes, where Novgorod now stands, and saw the people there, what their ways were and how they washed and lashed themselves with bundles of twigs, and he was amazed at them. He went on to the Varangians and came to Rome, and told what he had learned and what he had seen, and said to them: “A wonder I saw in the land of the Slavs as I came here. I saw wooden bathhouses. They heat them very hot, and undress, and stand naked, and douse themselves with a sour wash, and take young twigs, and begin to lash themselves, and they lash themselves until they are nearly dead; they barely climb out alive, and douse themselves with cold water, and so come back to life. They do this every day. No one torments them; they torment themselves. What they do is not bathing for themselves, but […] torment.” When they heard this, they were amazed. Andrew, after his time in Rome, came to Sinope.

The Polianians lived apart and were ruled through their own clans — they were Polianians even before these brothers — and each clan lived in its own place, each ruled by its own kin. There were three brothers: the first was named Kyi, the second Shchek, the third Khoryv, and their sister was Lybid. Kyi sat on the hill where the Borichev ascent is now; Shchek sat on the hill now called Shchekovitsa; and Khoryv on the third hill, from which came the name Khoryvitsa. They built a small town in the name of their eldest brother and called it Kyiv. Around the town there was forest and a great pinewood, and they hunted beasts there. They were wise and sensible, and they were called Polianians; from them come the Kyivans among the Polianians to this day.

Others, who do not know, say that Kyi was a ferryman; there was a ferry at Kyiv in those days, from the far side of the Dnieper, and so people said: “To the ferry, to Kyiv.” If Kyi had been a ferryman, he would not have gone to Constantinople. This Kyi ruled as prince in his own clan. He went to the emperor — we do not know this for sure; we know only what they tell: that he received great honor from the emperor, which one we do not know, the emperor in whose time he came. On his way back he came to the Danube, took a liking to the place, built a small town, and wanted to settle there with his clan, but the people living nearby would not let him. To this day the people of the Danube call that town site Kyivets. Kyi came back to his own city of Kyiv, and there he ended his life; and his brothers Shchek and Khoryv, and their sister Lybid, ended their lives there too.