SLST 180 Lecture 2: SLST 180

• School: University of Victoria
• Department: Slavic Studies
• Course: SLST 180
• Professor: Swift Megan A.

Document Summary

839 ce: kingdom of rus founded with capital as kyiv. 988 ce: prince vladimir, ruler of kievan rus, accepts christianity. Conception of the world based on the world tree/tree of life: 3 levels: Three is considered to be a magical, fairytale number three levels in the world. Shamanism is the earliest form of recognizable religion in pagan russia. Shaman: intermediary between human and spirit world. Temples were built to pagan gods, sacrifices were made. Pagan rituals were so stamped out after arrival of christianity that some of the names of pagan gods are lost. According to legend, prince vladimir chose orthodox christianity as a religion by sending out delegates to all the world religions to find out which religion would be best for the slavs. In looking to reconstruct the pagan world : anthropologists would go out to remote villages, observe festivals, and connect them to what they already knew about pagan gods etc, archaeological finds (many during soviet period)