A. T. Fomenko and G. V. Nosovsky
ROYAL ROME IN THE BETWEEN OKA AND VOLGA
(New information about the Virgin Mary and Andronicus-Christ, the Slavic War of the Novgorodians, Dmitry Donskoy and Mamai, Alexander Nevsky and the Battle of the Ice on the pages of the ancient "History of Rome" by Titus Livius and the Old Testament)
Foreword
All the results presented in this book have been obtained recently, are new and are published for the first time. This work follows our books "The Beginning of the Horde Russia" and "The Baptism of Russia".
The authors discovered new and extremely important information about the Virgin Mary and Emperor Andronicus-Christ (Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky), the Slave War of the Novgorodians, Prince Dmitry Donskoy and Khan Mamai, Prince Alexander Nevsky and the Battle of the Ice on the pages of the ancient "History of Rome" by Titus Livius, the works of Plutarch and the Old Testament.
In this book, we continue to draw new and often unexpected consequences from the statistical and astronomical datings of past events that we have obtained earlier. That is, from the new chronology we created. Mathematical and astronomical proofs of the actual new chronology are presented by us in previous books, primarily in the books "Foundations of History", "Methods", "Stars". We will not repeat them here.
What do we mean by reporting new information that we have discovered and greatly expand our knowledge of many famous people and events of the ancient world? We are not talking about the discovery by us of any fundamentally new, previously unknown manuscripts or inscriptions. Extracted, say, from some dusty, forgotten archives or as a result of excavations. We mainly work with well-known ancient texts. Although sometimes we did manage to find by ourselves or with the help of colleagues exceptionally rare and unique historical materials, which turned out to be very valuable for the new chronology. But still, we focus on well-known "ancient" works, the Bible, numerous medieval chronicles and manuscripts. Our discovery - which, by the way, was rather unexpected for us - is that these generally known texts contain, it turns out, a lot of unknown, firmly forgotten, "buried" by the editors of the 16th-18th centuries. And this deeply buried information needs to be “digged up”. Sometimes with great difficulty. Being brought to light, they turn out to be fragments of a once rich and detailed picture of the past, forgotten fragments of the biographies of famous heroes. Cleaning the debris from dirt and later deposits, we illuminate with bright light many half-forgotten or completely forgotten facts of the past. The authors do not deal with issues of faith and theology and do not discuss any of the church dogmas. The book deals exclusively with questions of a historical and chronological nature.
The legend of Romulus and Remus has been known to everyone since childhood. History textbooks, fascinating novels and chic Hollywood films tell about the great "ancient" Rome. The flight of King Aeneas from the burning Troy and his arrival in the homeland of his ancestors - in the rich Crowded country (Latinia). A stern she-wolf feeds her abandoned royal children - Romulus and Remus - with milk. Created by the great Etruscans, a bronze statue of a proud grinning wolf in the Vatican Museum. The babies grow up and Romulus founds Rome. The mighty Roman Empire rises. The iron legions of Rome conquer the world. The prediction of the gods is coming true that Rome will rule the entire universe. Bloody gladiator fights in the arena of the huge Colosseum. Annunciation. The Virgin Mary hugs two babies - Christ and John the Baptist. The death of John the Baptist and the crucifixion of Christ. Solar eclipse and earthquake at the time of Jesus' death. Holy Resurrection of Christ. Assumption of the Mother of God and the death of the legendary beauty, the Roman woman Lucretia. Ferocious tigers and lions are set against the first Christians, who are dying a martyr's death in front of roaring with delight pagan Romans, dressed in beautiful togas with a blood-red border. Cruel emperor Nero in a flower wreath sings a song on the podium of a huge amphitheater. The great Roman historian Titus Livy speaks admiringly of Imperial Rome in his famous History from the Foundation of the City. The great Greek historian Plutarch writes biographies of prominent Romans and Greeks...
It is believed that an educated person should know a lot of the history of Ancient Rome. And this is certainly correct. Roman history is indeed the backbone of ancient history. Many modern states are rightly proud of the fact that their roots go back to "ancient" Rome, that many European and Asian cities were first founded by Roman legions in the era of the expansion of the Empire in all directions.
In this book, we show that the "ancient" Imperial Rome is a state that arose in the Mesopotamia of the Oka and the Volga, that is, in Vladimir-Suzdal Russia, in the XIII - early XIV centuries. Another name for the Royal Rome is the Great = "Mongolian" Empire, which, according to the new chronology, existed in the XIV-XVI centuries AD. e. The point of view accepted today that "ancient" Rome conquered the entire civilized world of that time, IS RESPONSIBLE TO REALITY. However, with one amendment - this happened not long before our era, as the Scaligerian history assures us, but in the era of the XIV-XVI centuries. It was at this time that the Great = "Mongolian" Empire - that is, Russia-Horde, according to our reconstruction - covered almost the entire world.
We found that on the pages of the famous works of "ancient" Roman authors, for example, Titus Livius, MUCH AND RESPECTIVE SPEAK ABOUT THE VIRGIN MARY, THE MOTHER OF CHRIST. Recall that, according to our research (see the book "The King of the Slavs"), Christ is described in the Byzantine chronicles as Emperor Andronicus of the XII century AD. e., and in Russian - as the great Russian prince Andrei Bogolyubsky (partially). Thus, if we talk about secular history, then we are talking about the mother of the Byzantine emperor Andronicus the Elder. FOR THE FIRST TIME WE PRESENT THE OLD SECULAR SOURCES TELLING ABOUT THE MOTHER OF GOD BY THE MOUTH OF CONTEMPORARIES. In particular, the assertion of the Scaligerian version is refuted, that Mary the Mother of God was described by her contemporaries allegedly only in religious sources and was practically not reflected in the pages of the “ancient” secular literature of that era. The information we have discovered throws a new bright light on the life of Mary the Mother of God.
We show that the emperor Andronicus-Christ was also reflected in the pages of the famous "ancient" authors - Titus Livius and Plutarch. Recall that the Scaligerian version insists that Christ was described by his contemporaries only in church sources and is practically not described on the pages of "ancient" secular literature. In other words, the Scaligerian historians claim that none of the secular chroniclers contemporaries of Christ considered it necessary to leave information about him in his chronicle. Or, at least, such information has not reached us, with rare and, moreover, dubious exceptions. In the books "Tsar of the Slavs" and "The Beginning of the Horde Russia" we showed that this is far from being the case. It turned out that Andronicus-Christ was well known to many secular authors - his contemporaries. Whose works are cited, for example, by a later Byzantine historian Nicetas Choniates. Further, it turned out that the life of Christ was described not only by Byzantine secular writers, but also by Russian chroniclers. They knew Christ as the great Russian prince Andrei Bogolyubsky. And also - as the Apostle Andrew the First-Called. Further, we showed that many plots of the chronicle "biography" of Andronicus-Christ were included in the "antique" stories about the famous Roman emperor Julius Caesar.
In this book, we significantly expand the list of “ancient” secular texts and authors who speak a lot and in detail about Andronicus-Christ, as well as about Tsar-Khan Dmitry Ivanovich Donskoy, under whom apostolic Christianity was adopted in the Empire. First of all, this refers to the famous books "History from the Foundation of the City" by Titus Livy and "Comparative Lives" by Plutarch. It turned out that Christ is known to us today under two of his secular names. Namely, as the famous Romulus, the first king of the "ancient" Royal Rome. And also as Servius Tullius, the sixth, penultimate king of Imperial Rome.
In the books “Cossacks-arias: from Russia to India” and “Baptism of Russia”, we showed that the famous Battle of Kulikovo in 1380 was also reflected in many “ancient” primary sources, which today are classified as “deep antiquity”. In particular, in the Bible, "ancient" Indian epic, "ancient" mythology, Roman history. In this book, we present new vivid reflections of the Battle of Kulikovo and its main participants - Dmitry Donskoy and Khan Mamai, which we discovered in the "History" of Titus Livius and the Bible. This makes it possible to illuminate more vividly the great religious battle for the establishment of apostolic Christianity in the Great = "Mongolian" Empire. Now the description of the Battle of Kulikovo becomes much more saturated, since we add new sources to the sources about it known earlier, which were mistakenly attributed to completely different eras and events of the "remote past". Now that historical events and their descriptions have begun to “take their places” correctly, much of history has become clearer.
A page from a Russian school textbook:
.."First of all, the interfluve of the Volga and Oka, the core of the formation of the Russian people. It was from here that the Russians settled across the vast territory of Russia to the north, east and south."
And here is a map of that very heart, vigorously RussianOka-Volga quadrangle
(until about 1350)
.
Indigenous Finno-Ugric peoples - Merya (since the mid-1700s it has already been completely denationalized to the degree of Russianness) yes, moksha yes, erzya (on the map, Arzamas still bears the undistorted name Erd zyamas, translated as Erzya-earth) yes, bastard (today also Russian) yes, muroma ( And these are Russians there are, there are Veps, there are Mari.
Find Russians here:
If you say, it was a long time ago, it's the 1300s, here's the 19th century.
Back then, there were much fewer Russified people in Russia than today.
(It is characteristic that the author of the quote about contemporary Russians, himself also Russian in the first generation, from Ukrainians Sukhomlyn-ov - dry mlyn in translation into Russian is a dry mill):
This is 1830, early 19th century.
But even at the beginning of the 20th century, almost the entire north of Russia, the very north, about which the Russians lie to us today, that it was there that the ancient primordial Slavic Russia was preserved in all its purity, it turns out that they did not yet know the Russian language.
As evidenced by another map published in the Russian Empire (in 1914).
Read and watch here:
Picture for attraction and understanding:
A group of northern aliens of Russia. Small Veps Putin in the center in the second row.
Photographic card No. 72. A group of northern Russian foreigners from N.A. Shabunin's album Journey to the North, 1906
And at the end, just one question:
-Who will show me a map of the ethnic lands of the Russian people, such lands on the territory of Russia where the Russian Slavs would be an aboriginal = autochthonous = indigenous people?
I want to see it at least once in my life.
This post is also posted on:
All the results presented in this book have been obtained recently, are new and are published for the first time. This work follows our books "The Beginning of the Horde Russia" and "The Baptism of Russia".
The authors discovered new and extremely important information about the Virgin Mary and Emperor Andronicus-Christ (Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky), the Slave War of the Novgorodians, Prince Dmitry Donskoy and Khan Mamai, Prince Alexander Nevsky and the Battle of the Ice on the pages of the ancient "History of Rome" by Titus Livius, the works of Plutarch and the Old Testament.
In this book, we continue to draw new and often unexpected consequences from the statistical and astronomical datings of past events that we have obtained earlier. That is, from the new chronology we created. Mathematical and astronomical proofs of the actual new chronology are presented by us in previous books, primarily in the books "Foundations of History", "Methods", "Stars". We will not repeat them here.
What do we mean by reporting new information that we have discovered and greatly expand our knowledge of many famous people and events of the ancient world? We are not talking about the discovery by us of any fundamentally new, previously unknown manuscripts or inscriptions. Extracted, say, from some dusty, forgotten archives or as a result of excavations. We mainly work with well-known ancient texts. Although sometimes we did manage to find by ourselves or with the help of colleagues exceptionally rare and unique historical materials, which turned out to be very valuable for the new chronology. But still, we focus on well-known "ancient" works, the Bible, numerous medieval chronicles and manuscripts. Our discovery - which, by the way, was quite unexpected for us - is that these generally known texts contain, it turns out, a lot of unknown, firmly forgotten, "buried" by the editors of the 16th-18th centuries. And this deeply buried information needs to be “digged up”. Sometimes with great difficulty. Being brought to light, they turn out to be fragments of a once rich and detailed picture of the past, forgotten fragments of the biographies of famous heroes. Cleaning the debris from dirt and later deposits, we illuminate with bright light many half-forgotten or completely forgotten facts of the past. The authors do not deal with issues of faith and theology and do not discuss any of the church dogmas. The book deals exclusively with questions of a historical and chronological nature.
The legend of Romulus and Remus has been known to everyone since childhood. History textbooks, fascinating novels and chic Hollywood films tell about the great "ancient" Rome. The flight of King Aeneas from the burning Troy and his arrival in the homeland of his ancestors - in the rich Crowded country (Latinia). A stern she-wolf feeds her milk to the abandoned royal children - Romulus and Remus. Created by the great Etruscans, a bronze statue of a proud grinning wolf in the Vatican Museum. The babies grow up and Romulus founds Rome. The mighty Roman Empire rises. The iron legions of Rome conquer the world. The prediction of the gods is coming true that Rome will rule the entire universe. Bloody gladiator fights in the arena of the huge Colosseum. Annunciation. The Virgin Mary embraces two babies - Christ and John the Baptist. The death of John the Baptist and the crucifixion of Christ. Solar eclipse and earthquake at the time of Jesus' death. Holy Resurrection of Christ. Assumption of the Mother of God and the death of the legendary beauty, the Roman woman Lucretia. Ferocious tigers and lions are set against the first Christians, who are dying a martyr's death in front of roaring with delight pagan Romans, dressed in beautiful togas with a blood-red border. Cruel emperor Nero in a flower wreath sings a song on the podium of a huge amphitheater. The great Roman historian Titus Livy speaks admiringly of Imperial Rome in his famous History from the Foundation of the City. The great Greek historian Plutarch writes biographies of prominent Romans and Greeks...
It is believed that an educated person should know a lot of the history of Ancient Rome. And this is certainly correct. Roman history is indeed the backbone of ancient history. Many modern states are rightly proud of the fact that their roots go back to "ancient" Rome, that many European and Asian cities were first founded by Roman legions in the era of the expansion of the Empire in all directions.
In this book, we show that the "ancient" Imperial Rome is a state that arose in the Mesopotamia of the Oka and the Volga, that is, in Vladimir-Suzdal Russia, in the XIII - early XIV centuries. Another name for the Royal Rome is the Great = "Mongolian" Empire, which, according to the new chronology, existed in the XIV-XVI centuries AD. e. The point of view accepted today that "ancient" Rome conquered the entire civilized world of that time, IS RESPONSIBLE TO REALITY. However, with one amendment - this happened not long before our era, as Scaligerian history assures us, but in the era of the XIV-XVI centuries. It was at this time that the Great = "Mongolian" Empire - that is, Russia-Horde, according to our reconstruction - covered almost the entire world.
We found that on the pages of the famous works of "ancient" Roman authors, for example, Titus Livius, MUCH AND RESPECTIVE SPEAK ABOUT THE VIRGIN MARY, THE MOTHER OF CHRIST. Recall that, according to our research (see the book "The King of the Slavs"), Christ is described in the Byzantine chronicles as Emperor Andronicus of the XII century AD. e., and in Russian - as the great Russian prince Andrei Bogolyubsky (partially). Thus, if we talk about secular history, then we are talking about the mother of the Byzantine emperor Andronicus the Elder. FOR THE FIRST TIME WE PRESENT THE OLD SECULAR SOURCES TELLING ABOUT THE MOTHER OF GOD BY THE MOUTH OF CONTEMPORARIES. In particular, the assertion of the Scaligerian version is refuted, that Mary the Mother of God was described by her contemporaries allegedly only in religious sources and was practically not reflected in the pages of the “ancient” secular literature of that era. The information we have discovered throws a new bright light on the life of Mary the Mother of God.
We show that the emperor Andronicus-Christ was also reflected in the pages of the famous "ancient" authors - Titus Livius and Plutarch. Recall that the Scaligerian version insists that Christ was described by his contemporaries only in church sources and is practically not described on the pages of "ancient" secular literature. In other words, Scaligerian historians claim that none of the secular chroniclers-contemporaries of Christ considered it necessary to leave information about him in his chronicle. Or, at least, such information has not reached us, with rare and, moreover, dubious exceptions. In the books "Tsar of the Slavs" and "The Beginning of the Horde Russia" we showed that this is far from being the case. It turned out that Andronicus-Christ was well known to many secular authors - his contemporaries. The works of which are cited, for example, by a later Byzantine historian Nicetas Choniates. Further, it turned out that the life of Christ was described not only by Byzantine secular writers, but also by Russian chroniclers. They knew Christ as the great Russian prince Andrei Bogolyubsky. And also - as the Apostle Andrew the First-Called. Further, we showed that many plots of the chronicle "biography" of Andronicus-Christ were included in the "antique" stories about the famous Roman emperor Julius Caesar.
In this book, we significantly expand the list of “ancient” secular texts and authors who speak a lot and in detail about Andronicus-Christ, as well as about Tsar-Khan Dmitry Ivanovich Donskoy, under whom apostolic Christianity was adopted in the Empire. First of all, this refers to the famous books "History from the Foundation of the City" by Titus Livy and "Comparative Lives" by Plutarch. It turned out that Christ is known to us today under two of his secular names. Namely, as the famous Romulus, the first king of "ancient" Imperial Rome. And also as Servius Tullius, the sixth, penultimate king of Imperial Rome.
AFTER THIS, THE BOTH COUNTS UNITED AND LIVED TOGETHER, AND EACH GOT THE WOMAN WITH WHOM HE FIRST MATED FOR A WIFE. Husbands, however, could not learn the language of their wives, while wives learned the language of their husbands. When at last they began to understand each other, the men told the Amazons the following: “... We can no longer lead such a life and therefore we want to return to our own and live with our people again. YOU ALONE WILL BE OUR WIVES AND WE WILL HAVE NO OTHERS. To this the Amazons replied: “We cannot live with your women. After all, our customs are not the same as theirs ... If you want us to be your wives ... then go to your parents and receive your share of the inheritance. When you return, let's live on our own."
The young men obeyed their wives and did so: they returned to the Amazons, having received their share of the inheritance. Then the women said to them: “We are terrified at the thought that we will have to live in this country: because for us you have lost your fathers, and we have done great harm to your country. BUT BECAUSE YOU WANT TO MAKE US AS A WIFE, LET'S DO THIS TOGETHER: LETS GO OUT OF THIS COUNTRY AND LIVE BEHIND THE TANAIS RIVER.
The young men agreed to this. They crossed the Tanais and then three days went east from Tanais and three days north from Lake Meotida. Arriving in the area where they live to this day, they settled there. Since then, Savromatian women have retained their ancient customs: together with their husbands and even without them, they go hunting on horseback, go on a campaign and wear the same clothes with men.
SAUROMATS SPEAK SCYTHIAN, but from time immemorial it has been wrong, since the Amazons did not master this language well, p. 214–216.
In fact, here Herodotus again repeated the story of the Serf War, and in a version quite close to the abduction of the Sabine women, according to Titus Livy. Judge for yourself.
1) According to Herodotus, the Hellenes during the war CAPTURED WOMEN - AMAZONS and went with them to their homeland. According to Titus Livy, the Romans kidnap the Sabine women. According to the Russian - Horde version, serfs - slaves took the wives of their masters.
2) According to Herodotus, the Amazons were soon left "without men" again. Allegedly, they killed all the Hellenes who captured them. This motif of WOMEN WITHOUT HUSBANDS (MEN) sounds both in the version of Titus Livius and in the Novgorod version. Wives were left without husbands for one reason or another.
3) According to Herodotus, Amazon women ended up in the country of the Scythians. There was a fight between them and the Scythians. There were even dead. Realizing that they were dealing with women, the Scythians decided NOT TO KILL THE AMAZONS, BUT, ON THE CONTRAST, TAKE THEM AS WIFE FOR THEIR YOUNG PEOPLE. This plot almost coincides with the story told by Titus Livy. He also claims that the Romans decided to KIDNAP THE SABINE WOMEN IN ORDER TO TAKE THEM FOR THEIR WIFE AND TO EXTEND THEIR GENERATION. Of course, no one was going to kill the Sabine women. The men - Sabines, who were present at the abduction of wives and Sabine girls, were frightened and did not show real military resistance to the Romans. The Russian - Horde version muffledly, without any details, speaks of "the abduction of wives by serfs." It is only reported that the wives of the Scythians allegedly decided to become slave wives, as they believed in the death of their husbands, who had gone on a long trip.
4) Herodotus clarifies how exactly the Scythian plan was brought to life. The Scythians came up with a CLICK. In order to lull the vigilance and militancy of the Amazons, the Scythian youths had to pitch their camp not far from them and, in the event of persecution by the Amazons, temporarily retreat. But then it was recommended to slowly approach and break the camp again. This had to be done with caution until the Amazons got used to, put up with the presence of the Scythians and had sexual intercourse with them.
The Cunning motif also sounds vividly in the Roman version of Titus Livius. Romulus and the Romans also misled the Sabines by throwing a feast to which they invited neighbors with their wives and daughters. When they arrived, the Romans unexpectedly, according to a conventional sign, rushed to the Sabine women and kidnapped them. In the Greek version of Herodotus, the motive for the forcible abduction of women is greatly softened and replaced by the gradual addiction of the Amazons to the young Scythians who are not far from them. As we have already noted, the Russian Novgorod version also says that the wives of the Scythians SAMI decided to take serfs as their husbands, since they mistakenly considered their husbands to have died in the war. Thus, the motive of voluntary marriage sounds. We see that the story of Herodotus agrees well with both the version of Titus Livius and the Russian - Horde version.
5) According to Herodotus, in the end, the suspicion of the Amazons was replaced by love for the young men - the Scythians, who so long sought their attention. As a result, the Amazons became the wives of the Scythians. The Roman version of Titus Livy tells the same story. The abducted Sabine women at first, naturally, grieved for their former families, but the Romans who abducted them tried in every possible way to appease the women. As a result, the initial resentment was replaced by love and respect. Sabine women became good wives of the Romans. The Russian - Horde version also reports on the VOLUNTARY entry of the wives of Novgorodians into marriage with serfs.
6) According to Herodotus, the event takes place in Scythia. That is, as we understand it, in Russia - the Horde. Probably in the epoch of the XIII - beginning of the XIV century AD. e., when the Trojan king Aeneas = Prince Rurik and his descendants founded the Royal Rome in the Mesopotamia of the Oka and Volga. Herodotus also reports that the young Scythians and their Amazon wives set off on a long journey to found a new kingdom. It is clearly stated that they go northeast from the Tanais River, that is, from the Don River. Recall that on the old maps the Don was called Tanais, see the book "New Chronology of Russia". But if you move to the northeast from the Don River for a continuation, as Herodotus says, three days to the east and three days to the north, then you can find yourself just in Vladimir-Suzdal Rus. Which, as we showed in the book "The Beginning of the Horde Russia" became the metropolis of Tsarist Rome, founded here by Aeneas and his descendants. Thus, the testimony of Herodotus, Titus Livius, Virgil and other "ancient" authors in this paragraph are in good agreement both with each other and with the Russian - Horde version. According to which, Novgorod became the metropolis of the new Kingdom. By virtue of our results, this is Yaroslavl on the Volga, or, more generally, the area of several cities around Yaroslavl.
CONCLUSION. In the "History" of Herodotus there are two very close stories about the Kholopya war of the Novgorodians, probably XIII - early XIV century AD. e.
So, the story of the "ancient" Herodotus about the wives - the Amazons is directly connected with the Russian - Horde history of the Kholopia war near Yaroslavl - Novgorod. Here it is appropriate to recall that, according to the numerous facts we have discovered, the “ancient Amazons” are the Russian-Horde Cossacks. The wives of the Cossacks who lived on the Don and on the Volga, see "New Chronology of Russia", ch. 4:6; "Empire", ch. 9:20 am. In particular, on ancient maps, the "Land of the Amazons" was repeatedly depicted in Russia, in the Mesopotamia of the Volga and Don. Such, for example, is the map of Charles V and Ferdinand, given and studied by us in the book "New Chronology of Russia", ch. 4, illus. 4.8.
36. WHY IN THE EPOCH OF THE ROMANOVS THE NAME "NOVGOROD" WHICH WAS TAKEN FROM YAROSLAVL WAS TRANSFERED EXACTLY TO THE NORTH-WEST ON THE SHORE OF LAKE ILMEN?
As we showed in the book "New Chronology of Russia" and our other publications, the annalistic Veliky Novgorod is the city of Yaroslavl on the Volga. Or rather, the name of the whole region, which included several more cities, in particular Rostov and Suzdal. But in the epoch of the 17th century, the name "Novgorod" was taken away from Yaroslavl and assigned to a small town, a former neighborhood - a prison in the northwest of Russia, at Lake Ilmen, at the mouth of the river, which was called VOLKHOV. The question is why EXACTLY HERE was transferred - on paper and on maps - the famous annalistic name NOVGOROD, and along with it the no less famous name VOLGA? After all, it is clear that the word VOLHOV is just a slightly distorted name of the VOLGA.
Rice. 1.218. Fragment of a map by S. Herberstein allegedly dated 1546, which generally correctly shows the surroundings of the Northern Dvina. Taken from , map P
The answers may vary. However, among them there is one that deserves serious attention. Let us turn to the old maps of Muscovy, compiled by Western European cartographers and travelers of the 16th-17th centuries. Attention is drawn to the following curious circumstance. These maps depict the Northern Dvina and its environs quite well, and more or less correctly show the towns and villages of this region. See, for example, in fig. 1.218 the corresponding fragment of the map by S. Herberstein, allegedly from 1546, in fig. 1.25 a fragment of the map of Frederick de Wit in 1670, in fig. 1.219 - drawing of an old map by Guillaume Delisle of 1706. It can be seen that Western cartographers knew quite well those areas where Western merchants and merchant ships arrived by the Northern Sea Route. They climbed up the Dvina and other rivers of this region, eventually reaching Yaroslavl, the largest trading center of that era. See the modern map in fig. 1.216 and 1.214. But Vladimir-Suzdal Rus, the environs of the city of Moscow and, in general, the lands to the south and west of Yaroslavl, Western cartographers knew much worse. They even had difficulties with Moscow. That is, with the capital of Russia of the XVI century! For example, on the same map by S. Herberstein, allegedly from 1546, the city of Moscow is not marked. Only the name of the land is written - MOSCOW (Moscowia), see fig. 1.218.
This is a story about the legendary country of the Rus - Arsania (Arsa, Artab), known from Arabic sources, now it is a region of the middle Oka in the Ryazan region. The name of this center of Russia comes from the self-name of the Mordovian tribes - Erzya (Arsa from the Iranian aršan (hero, man). The name of the Russian city of Ryazan (Erzyan) also comes from it. It is quite possible that the famous, mentioned by Arab historians, could be the capital of this particular Since it is very likely that the legendary Arsa was originally located on Borkovsky Island, which is near the present Ryazan.This island (or peninsula) is located in the interfluve of the Oka and Trubezha rivers near the northern border of modern Ryazan.
Borkovsky Island near Ryazan on the map of S. Herberstein (1549).
View from the Island to the domes of the Assumption Cathedral in the Ryazan Kremlin. 
Borkovsky Island is known for its numerous hoards of Arab silver coins, more of them here than in any other ancient Russian city. The famous explorer of Old Ryazan, Mongait, believed that there were 7 of these treasures, now their number has been reduced to 5. Even despite this circumstance, the island village of Borki, in the north of Ryazan, remains the absolute leader in Kufic silver treasures. For example, in the famous Ladoga, the main northern city of the Rus, there are 4 of them, on the Sarsky settlement - the oldest Scandinavian center near Rostov, there are only 2 treasures. In total, 56 treasures of Arab dirhams are known on the Middle and Lower Oka, for comparison, only 25 treasures were found in the region of Novgorod and Ladoga. Those. in the region of Arsania, the largest number of Arab coins is concentrated than anywhere else in Russia. This is evidence that Arsa is the main trading center (trade) of the Rus on the Great Volga trade route. It was here, near the future Ryazan, that two major river routes crossed - the Volga and the Don. Along the Volga it was possible to get into the Caspian Sea, along the Don River - into the Azov and Black.
Map of treasures of Arab dirhams on the Volga trade route from the book by I.E. Dubov "The Great Volga Way". The location of the legendary country of Arsania (45-89) literally catches the eye with an abundance of black dots. 
On the map of Muscovy, compiled by S. Herberstein in 1549, this intersection of river routes is depicted literally. The rivers Oka and Don (Tanais) flow into a huge lake in the center of Muscovy. In the middle of this huge lake is depicted a certain Island, which Herberstein calls Strub (Strvb). 
S. Herberstein describes the island near Ryazan as "once a great reign, the sovereign of which was not subject to anyone", while he does not mention anything about the Ryazan principality.
Sigismund Herberstein
Notes about Muscovy
The Ryazan region is located between the Oka and the Tanais river, it has a wooden city not far from the banks of the Oka. There was also a fortress, which was called Yaroslav (Iaroslaw); now there are only traces left of it. Not far from the city, the Oka River forms an island called Strub, once a great reign, the sovereign of which was not subject to anyone
It is well known that not a single city of the Ryazan principality was located on an island in the middle of the Oka. Herberstein mentions Pereyaslavl Ryazansky (present-day Ryazan), he calls it the fortress Yaroslav (Iaroslaw) and confuses it with Old Ryazan, allegedly only traces remained of it. Apparently, Herberstein learned about these cities from stories. They told him and the great island state, which in his mind was superimposed on the information about the Ryazan Principality and even managed to block it. The island state became more significant than the future Russian principality. What the word Strub means is unknown, perhaps it is a modified "log" in the meaning of a fortress, perhaps it is a distorted word "island".
Ibn Ruste, "The Book of Expensive Values"
As for the Rus (ar-rusiyya), they are on an island surrounded by a lake. The island on which they live, a three-day journey long, is covered with forests and swamps, unhealthy and damp to the point that as soon as a person sets foot on the ground, the latter trembles due to the abundance of moisture in it. They have a king called hakan-rus.
The interfluve of the Oka and the Trubezh River is the land of numerous lakes and swamps. During the spring floods, it was almost completely flooded, only the tops of huge sand dunes remained above the water. When the water subsides, the approximate diameter of Borkovsky Island can reach up to 2 km. This is somewhat less, but they could be wrong, because none of the Arabs has ever been to the Island of the Rus.
Borkovsky Island was formed by the sediments of the Oka River. In ancient times, its huge sand dunes were even called mountains. The largest dune bore the name "Sakor-gora", at the end of the 19th century a settlement and a large burial ground of the Finno-Ugric Ryazan-Oka archaeological culture were found on it. This warlike culture lasted until the 7th century, it is believed that later it was transformed into the Meshchera culture and underwent strong Slavicization. At the end of the 19th century, one of the first explorers of Borkovsky Island, A.I. Cherepnin, wrote down a local legend about the owners of Sakor Mountain.
A.I. Tcherepnin, Local antiquity. Borkovo burial ground "(TRUAC, 1894, Vol. 9, Issue 1, S. 1-26)
“A long time ago, it seems, even before the Tatars, there was a town with iron gates on Sakor-gora; alien giants lived in the city; they led a dissolute life - they offended the surrounding peasants, robbed their property, took away their wives and daughters by force; there was nothing to do with them. Many years passed, the giants did not leave their sinful life. It was hard for the people. Long-suffering and many-merciful is the Lord, for a long time He allowed the ugliness of the giants; but even God's mercy comes to an end. God was angry with the wicked, sent fierce enemies against them, who exterminated the giants to the last baby and ruined their filthy town. It was then that a miracle happened, the iron gates went into the ground by themselves - it was easy for the enemies to break into the town.
Remains of a sand dune on Borkovsky Island. 
Cherepnin's information is largely consistent with S. Herberstein's text and references by Arab authors. At the site of the current village of Borki, there was once a center of powerful rulers. The Arabs called him Arsa (Arta, Artania). They wrote that none of the strangers from here did not return alive. Why is unknown.
Al-Istakhri
"Rus. There are three groups [jeans]. One group of them is closest to the Bulgar, and their king sits in a city called Kuyaba, and it [the city] is larger than the Bulgar. And the most distant group of them, called as-Slaviya, and [the third] group of them, called al-Arsania, and their king sits in Ars. And people come to Cuiaba to trade. As for Arsa, it is not known that any of the strangers reached it, since there they [the inhabitants] kill every stranger who comes into their lands. Only they themselves go down the water and trade, but do not tell anyone anything about their affairs and their goods and do not allow anyone to accompany them and enter their country. And black sable and tin [lead?] are taken out of Arsa.”
The Arabs undoubtedly called the city of Kuyaba Kiev, Slaviya, most likely Novgorod, the land of the Slovenes of Ilmen. The Arabs often confused the Balkan Bulgaria and the Volga, therefore, in the story of Istakhri, the name Bulgar refers to the First Bulgarian Kingdom (which is in the Balkans). It is indeed closer to Kiev than to the other two centers of Russia. Many generations of explorers tried to place the city of Arsu literally anywhere - from the Baltic to Perm. But most linguists saw Arsania in the region of present-day Ryazan because of the coincidence of the name of the city, the name of the local Erzi and the people of Arisu, mentioned by the Khazar king Joseph.
Response letter of the Khazar king Joseph
By (this) river (Itil, Volga) there are numerous peoples in villages and cities, some in open areas, and others in fortified (walled) cities. Here are their names: Bur-t-s, Bul-g-r, S-var, Arisu, Ts-r-mis, V-n-n-tit, S-v-r, S-l-viyun. Each people is not amenable to (accurate) investigation and there is no number of them. They all serve me and pay tribute.
The people of Arisu, according to the Khazar king, lived near the Volga (Itil), next to the Suvars (S-var - a tribe of the Volga Bulgars) and the Mari-Cheremis (Ts-r-mis). This is an approximate settlement of the Mordovian tribes.
In the 9th century, the territory of the Middle Oka was captured by the Vyatichi. As is known from The Tale of Bygone Years, the Vyatichi were also under the control of the Khazars and paid tribute to them, Tsar Joseph apparently mentions them under the name V-n-n-tit (Ventichi, Vyatichi).
It can be assumed that the Rus on Borkovsky Island were also dependent on the Khazar Khaganate. The legend about the receipt by the Rus of their land from the Khazars is given by Arab authors.
Mojmal at-tawarikh
"They also say that Rus and Khazar were from the same mother and father. Then Rus grew up and, since he did not have a place that he would like, wrote a letter to Khazar and asked him for a part of his country to settle there. Rus was looking for and found a place for himself, an island neither large nor small, with swampy soil and rotten air, and there he settled.
The coast of Borkovsky Island and the Oka River in the area of the Lukovsky Forest. 
On the map of al-Idrisi, the city of Artan is located in the lands of the Mordovians west of the Volga (Itil). Next to it on the map is a certain river Saginu (or Sakir), whose name resembles the name "Sakor-mountains" from the legend of Borkovsky Island. It is quite possible that this is no coincidence, near Idrisi the Sakir River is a kind of tributary of the Volga, which flows into the Sea of Azov, i.e. this is a combination of the Oka and Don rivers at the same time.
Below, a reconstruction of the map of al-Idrisi with Latin designations of toponyms. A piece of the Black Sea is at the top. The city of Artan is depicted on the top of a mountain. Idrisi wrote about him:
al-Idrisi
The city of Arsa is beautiful and (located) on a fortified mountain between Glory and Cuiaba.
Reconstruction of the Idrisi map from B. A. Rybakov's book "Russian lands on the map of Idrisi". The reconstruction is close to modern cartography. 
Arab authors specifically singled out the Oka - they called it the Rus (Rusov) river and, apparently, combined it with the Volga. Since it was along the Oka that the famous Volga trade route from the Varangians to the Arabs (or Khazars) went. The Rus ethnic community itself was undoubtedly formed on this trade route.
"Hudud al-alam" about the river Rus
“Another river is the Rus, which flows from the depths of the country of the Slavs and flows eastward until it reaches the borders of the Rus. Further, it passes the borders of Urtab, Slab and Kuyafa, which are the cities of the Rus, and the limits of Kifdzhak. There it changes direction and flows south to the borders of the Pechenegs and flows into Attila.
The Rus River is so important for the compiler of Hudud al-Alam that he places all three Russian centers on its banks - Urtab (Ryazan), Slab (Novgorod) and Kuyafa (Kiev). Undoubtedly, this is a mistake, but it emphasizes the importance of the Oka and the Volga trade route for Russian history.
"Khudud al-alam" About the three centers of the Rus.
Kuya.a - the city of the Rus, the closest to the Muslims, a pleasant place and the residence of the king. Various furs and valuable swords are taken out of it. Sla.a is a pleasant city, and from it, when peace reigns, trade is conducted with the Bulgar country. Artab is a city where every stranger is killed and from where very valuable sword blades and swords are taken out, which can be bent twice, but as soon as the hand is withdrawn, they return to their former shape.
The unknown author of Hudud al-Alam emphasizes that valuable, apparently damask, sword blades are taken out of Arsa. Most likely they were produced in Europe and transported along the Volga route, but it can be assumed that some samples were forged on the spot, because the Ryazan-Oka Finns had a fairly developed culture of metalworking.
Since the 15th century, the Monastery of the Epiphany has been known on Borkovsky Island. The current Church of the Epiphany in Borki was erected in 1673. Now around the Church of the Epiphany there is a cemetery in the village of Borki. 
At present, almost all sand dunes on Borkovsky Island have ceased to exist. From here, during the entire Soviet period, sand was exported to construction sites in the city of Ryazan. Due to such barbarism, a significant part of the sandy mountains turned into quarries filled with water. Of course, the entire cultural layer of Sakor Mountain was completely destroyed. The remains of this dune are now built up with the houses of the village of Borki.
Lake Svyatoe on Borkovsky Island. 
To the east of Sakor-mountain used to be the so-called Pearl Field and Pearl Hillock, as well as the French Hillocks. These names appeared due to active treasure hunting in this area. Local residents found a placer of jewelry right on the surface of the Pearl Field. The mounds became "French" due to the fact that they constantly found burials of unknown soldiers with edged weapons, local peasants believed that these were the graves of soldiers of the Napoleonic army of 1812.
Systematic archaeological studies of Borkovo Island were carried out only at the end of the 19th century, these were excavations by V.A. Gorodtsov, A.I. Cherepnin. Most of the Kufic silver hoards from Borok were also found in the 19th century. In Soviet times, the dunes were explored only sporadically, especially since by the 1970s they had already been almost completely destroyed.
A.L. Mongait wrote about settlements on Borkovsky Island in Soviet times.
“Many Chud settlements that arose in the early Iron Age continued to exist in the 6th-10th centuries. n. e. Such, for example, are two settlements discovered by V. A. Gorodtsov in Borki in 1890. One of them was located at the southern tip of Sokor-mountain and was characterized by pits and the remains of destroyed adobe ovens, near which fragments of coarse earthenware, burnt stones lay in abundance , iron ore and slag, clay spinners and weights. Another settlement was discovered on the so-called "French hillocks", not far from the place where a treasure with Kufic coins of the 10th century was found. The area of the village is covered with a layer of coal, which indicates its destruction by fire. A mass of rough-molded ceramics with thick walls, according to V. A. Gorodtsov, was found here, modern to the Borkovsky burial ground and basically dating both settlements”
A.L. Mongait. "Ryazan land".
It is very difficult to draw conclusions about the ethnic component of the population of Borkovsky Island, primarily because of its poor knowledge. After all, researchers of the late 19th century did not yet possess all the skills of modern archeology. In Soviet times, Borki was little explored, and by the end of the 20th century, the cultural layers of the Island had already ceased to exist.
It is possible that in the 9th century the Borkovo settlement had a mixed Finno-Slavic population under the control of Scandinavian Rus. Since the Vyatichi were under the control of the Khazaria, one can assume the presence of some kind of Khazar contingent. The presence of the Khazars on the Middle Oka may be evidenced by the presence of a settlement
