Kyi, Shchek and Khoryv: the legendary founding of Kyiv
The Primary Chronicle tells of three brothers of the Polans — Kyi, Shchek and Khoryv — and their sister Lybid, who built a town on the hills above the Dnieper and named it after the eldest; archaeology dates the first Slavic settlement on these hills to the 6th–7th centuries.
- Date
- between 500 and 700exact date unknown: an interval is given
- Place
- Starokyivska Hill, Kyivtoday: Kyiv, Ukraine · Eastern Europe
- Participants
- East Slavs
- Threads
- Eastern Europe and Rus’ before the Baptism (1st–10th c.)
- Also known as
- Kyi; Founding of Kyiv; Основание Киева; Кий Щек Хорив Лыбедь
The chronicler gives no date, but reports that Kyi went to Constantinople and was received with great honour by the emperor, and that he tried to settle on the Danube, where he founded the little town of Kyivets; he rejects the view that Kyi was a mere ferryman. Historians such as Boris Rybakov linked the story with the 6th–7th centuries and the Slavic advance towards the Danube. The chronicle adds that after the brothers’ deaths the Polans had to pay tribute to the Khazars.
The year 482, officially celebrated as Kyiv’s foundation date in 1982, is a convention adopted by the Soviet authorities rather than a date from any source; a coin of the emperor Anastasius I (491–518) found on Zamkova Hill was used to support it. Archaeologists date the earliest Slavic settlement on the Kyiv hills to the 6th or 7th century, hence the interval given here.
Connections
Related events
- Rise of the Khazar Khaganatebetween 630 and 650 – c. 670 · Eastern Europethe chronicle says the Polans later paid tribute to the Khazars
Same participants
- Early Slavic cultures: Prague-Korchak, Penkovka and Kolochinc. 450 – c. 700 · Eastern Europevia East Slavs
- Founding of Ladoga753 · Eastern Europevia East Slavs
Same place
- Kyiv culturec. 200 – between 400 and 430 · Eastern Europe
- First Christianization of the Rus’between 860 and 867 · Eastern Europe
- Askold and Dir rule in Kyiv862–882 · Eastern Europe
- Oleg takes Kyiv882 · Eastern Europe
- The Pechenegs first come to the Rus’ land915 · Eastern Europe
- Constantine VII describes the Rus’ route to Constantinoplebetween 948 and 952 · Eastern Europe
- Pecheneg siege of Kyiv968 · Eastern Europe
- Feud of the Sviatoslavichi977 – between 978 and 980 · Eastern Europe
- Vladimir’s pagan pantheonbetween 978 and 980 · Eastern Europe
- Vladimir’s choice of faith986–987 · Eastern Europe
- Baptism of Rus’988 · Eastern Europe
- Building of the Church of the Tithes989–996 · Eastern Europe
- The first Rus’ coinsbetween 988 and 1000 – 1015 · Eastern Europe
- Siege of Kyiv5 September – between 19 November and 6 December 1240 · Eastern Europe
Adjacent events in the thread
- Avar campaign against the Antes602 · Eastern Europe
Meanwhile in the world
Other regions, within a year of this event
Western and Central Europe
- Gregorian mission to the Anglo-Saxons597
- Lombard invasion of Italy2 April 568 – 572
- The Avars settle in the Carpathian Basinbetween 567 and 568
- Gothic War (535–554)535–554
- Benedict of Nursia founds Monte Cassinobetween 529 and 530
+ 1 event
Balkans and Anatolia
- Avar–Persian siege of Constantinople29 June – 7 August 626
- Jordanes and Procopius describe the Sclaveni and the Antesbetween 550 and 554
- Plague of Justinian541–549
- Construction of Hagia Sophia23 February 532 – 27 December 537
- Corpus Juris Civilis7 April 529 – 16 November 534
+ 2 events
Africa
- Vandalic WarJune 533 – March 534
The same period
Sources
- Wikipedia (English): Kyi, Shchek and Khoryv
- Wikipedia (English): 1500th anniversary of Kiev
- Wikipedia (Russian): Кий (князь)
- Толочко П. П. Древний Киев. — Киев: Наукова думка, 1983.
- Рыбаков Б. А. Киевская Русь и русские княжества XII–XIII вв. — М.: Наука, 1982.