Askold and Dir
Encyclopedia
Askold and Dir (Dyri in both dialects of Old Norse
) are semi-legendary rulers of Kiev
who, according to the Primary Chronicle
, were two of Rurik
's voivodes in 870s. That chronicle implies that they were neither his relatives nor of noble blood.
(Norse
Miklagård, Slavic Tsargrad
). When travelling on the Dnieper, they saw a settlement on a mountain and asked to whom it belonged. They were told that it was Kiev
and had been built by three brothers named Kyi, Schek and Khoriv
, who were the ancestors of the inhabitants, who were now paying tribute to the Khazars
. Askold and Dir settled in the town and gathered a large number of fellow Varangians
and began to rule the town and the land of the eastern Polans
.
According to the Saga of Ragnar and his Sons, Askold was the son of Hvitserk
, and the grandson of Ragnar Lodbrok
, a semi-legendary king of Sweden (ca. 770-785). Hvitserk was a contemporary of Rurik, and was said to have waged a war of conquest in Eastern Europe.
The only foreign source to mention one of the co-rulers is the Arab
historian Al-Masudi
. According to him, "king al-Dir [Dayr] was the first among the kings of the Saqaliba
(is arabic for Slavs)." Although some scholars have tried to prove that "al-Dir" refers to a Slavic ruler and Dir's contemporary, this speculation is questionable and it is at least equally probable that "al-Dir" and Dir were the same person. It seems that in Old East Slavic it was originally "askold Dir" and not "Askold i Dir" as it is known from the Primary Chronicle
. The word askold or oskold is derived from Old Norse
óskyldr meaning strange, so there was probably a ruler Kiev called Dir by the Slavs and the Varangians called him something like "óskyldr Dyri"—stranger Dir. The Russian Varangians later forgot the meaning of óskyldr so Nestor wrote about two rulers of Kiev—about Askold and Dir.
The Rus' attack on Constantinople in June 860 took the Greeks by surprise, "like a thunderbolt from heaven," as it was put by Patriarch Photios in his famous oration written for the occasion. Although the Slavonic chronicles tend to associate this expedition with the names of Askold and Dir (and to date it to 866), the connection remains tenuous. Despite Photius' own assertion that he sent a bishop
to the land of Rus' which became Christianized and friendly to Byzantium, most historians discard the idea of Askold's subsequent conversion as apocryphal.
When Rurik died he was succeeded by Oleg
who was of his kin (as it is believed by some historians) and in whose care was Rurik's son Igor
. Oleg attacked and conquered Kiev around 882. According to the Primary Chronicle he tricked and killed Askold and Dir using an elaborate scheme. Vasily Tatischev, Boris Rybakov
and some other Russian and Ukrainian historians interpreted the 882 coup d'état in Kiev as the reaction of the pagan Varangians
to Askold's baptism. Tatischev went so far as to style Askold "the first Russian martyr
".
A Kievan legend identifies Askold's burial mound
with Uhorska Hill, where Olga of Kiev
later built two churches, devoted to Saint Nicholas
and to Saint Irene
. Today this place on the steep bank of the Dnieper is marked by a monument called Askold's Grave
.
Old Norse
Old Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....
) are semi-legendary rulers of Kiev
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
who, according to the Primary Chronicle
Primary Chronicle
The Primary Chronicle , Ruthenian Primary Chronicle or Russian Primary Chronicle, is a history of Kievan Rus' from about 850 to 1110, originally compiled in Kiev about 1113.- Three editions :...
, were two of Rurik
Rurik
Rurik, or Riurik , was a semilegendary 9th-century Varangian who founded the Rurik dynasty which ruled Kievan Rus and later some of its successor states, most notably the Tsardom of Russia, until 1598....
's voivodes in 870s. That chronicle implies that they were neither his relatives nor of noble blood.
Biography
The Primary Chronicle relates that Askold and Dir were sanctioned by Rurik to go to ConstantinopleConstantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
(Norse
Old Norse
Old Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....
Miklagård, Slavic Tsargrad
Tsargrad
Tsargrad is a historic Slavic name for the...
). When travelling on the Dnieper, they saw a settlement on a mountain and asked to whom it belonged. They were told that it was Kiev
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
and had been built by three brothers named Kyi, Schek and Khoriv
Kyi, Schek and Khoriv
Kyi , Shchek and Khoryv are the three legendary brothers, sometimes mentioned along with their sister Lybid , who, according to the Primary Chronicle, were the founders of Kiev city - now the capital of Ukraine...
, who were the ancestors of the inhabitants, who were now paying tribute to the Khazars
Khazars
The Khazars were semi-nomadic Turkic people who established one of the largest polities of medieval Eurasia, with the capital of Atil and territory comprising much of modern-day European Russia, western Kazakhstan, eastern Ukraine, Azerbaijan, large portions of the northern Caucasus , parts of...
. Askold and Dir settled in the town and gathered a large number of fellow Varangians
Varangians
The Varangians or Varyags , sometimes referred to as Variagians, were people from the Baltic region, most often associated with Vikings, who from the 9th to 11th centuries ventured eastwards and southwards along the rivers of Eastern Europe, through what is now Russia, Belarus and Ukraine.According...
and began to rule the town and the land of the eastern Polans
Polans (eastern)
The Polans ; also Polianians; were a Slavic tribe between the 6th and the 9th century, which inhabited both sides of the Dnieper river from Liubech to Rodnia and also down the lower streams of the rivers Ros', Sula, Stuhna, Teteriv, Irpin', Desna and Pripyat...
.
According to the Saga of Ragnar and his Sons, Askold was the son of Hvitserk
Hvitserk
Hvitserk was one of the legendary sons of the 9th-century Norse king Ragnar Lodbrok and his wife Kraka, attested to by the Ragnarssona þáttr. Since he is not mentioned in any source that mentions Halfdan Ragnarsson, some scholars have suggested that they are the same individual.After having...
, and the grandson of Ragnar Lodbrok
Ragnar Lodbrok
Ragnar Lodbrok was a Norse legendary hero from the Viking Age who was thoroughly reshaped in Old Norse poetry and legendary sagas.-Life as recorded in the sagas:...
, a semi-legendary king of Sweden (ca. 770-785). Hvitserk was a contemporary of Rurik, and was said to have waged a war of conquest in Eastern Europe.
The only foreign source to mention one of the co-rulers is the Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
historian Al-Masudi
Al-Masudi
Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn al-Husayn ibn Ali al-Mas'udi , was an Arab historian and geographer, known as the "Herodotus of the Arabs." Al-Masudi was one of the first to combine history and scientific geography in a large-scale work, Muruj adh-dhahab...
. According to him, "king al-Dir [Dayr] was the first among the kings of the Saqaliba
Saqaliba
Saqaliba refers to the Slavs, particularly Slavic slaves and mercenaries in the medieval Arab world, in the Middle East, North Africa, Sicily and Al-Andalus. It is generally thought that the Arabic term is a Byzantine loanword: saqlab, siklab, saqlabi etc. is a corruption of Greek Sklavinoi for...
(is arabic for Slavs)." Although some scholars have tried to prove that "al-Dir" refers to a Slavic ruler and Dir's contemporary, this speculation is questionable and it is at least equally probable that "al-Dir" and Dir were the same person. It seems that in Old East Slavic it was originally "askold Dir" and not "Askold i Dir" as it is known from the Primary Chronicle
Primary Chronicle
The Primary Chronicle , Ruthenian Primary Chronicle or Russian Primary Chronicle, is a history of Kievan Rus' from about 850 to 1110, originally compiled in Kiev about 1113.- Three editions :...
. The word askold or oskold is derived from Old Norse
Old Norse
Old Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....
óskyldr meaning strange, so there was probably a ruler Kiev called Dir by the Slavs and the Varangians called him something like "óskyldr Dyri"—stranger Dir. The Russian Varangians later forgot the meaning of óskyldr so Nestor wrote about two rulers of Kiev—about Askold and Dir.
The Rus' attack on Constantinople in June 860 took the Greeks by surprise, "like a thunderbolt from heaven," as it was put by Patriarch Photios in his famous oration written for the occasion. Although the Slavonic chronicles tend to associate this expedition with the names of Askold and Dir (and to date it to 866), the connection remains tenuous. Despite Photius' own assertion that he sent a bishop
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
to the land of Rus' which became Christianized and friendly to Byzantium, most historians discard the idea of Askold's subsequent conversion as apocryphal.
When Rurik died he was succeeded by Oleg
Oleg of Novgorod
Oleg of Novgorod was a Varangian prince who ruled all or part of the Rus' people during the early 10th century....
who was of his kin (as it is believed by some historians) and in whose care was Rurik's son Igor
Igor, Grand Prince of Kiev
Igor was a Varangian ruler of Kievan Rus' from 912 to 945.-Biography:...
. Oleg attacked and conquered Kiev around 882. According to the Primary Chronicle he tricked and killed Askold and Dir using an elaborate scheme. Vasily Tatischev, Boris Rybakov
Boris Rybakov
Boris Alexandrovich Rybakov was a Soviet and Russian historian who personified the anti-Normanist vision of Russian history....
and some other Russian and Ukrainian historians interpreted the 882 coup d'état in Kiev as the reaction of the pagan Varangians
Varangians
The Varangians or Varyags , sometimes referred to as Variagians, were people from the Baltic region, most often associated with Vikings, who from the 9th to 11th centuries ventured eastwards and southwards along the rivers of Eastern Europe, through what is now Russia, Belarus and Ukraine.According...
to Askold's baptism. Tatischev went so far as to style Askold "the first Russian martyr
Martyr
A martyr is somebody who suffers persecution and death for refusing to renounce, or accept, a belief or cause, usually religious.-Meaning:...
".
A Kievan legend identifies Askold's burial mound
Kurgan
Kurgan is the Turkic term for a tumulus; mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves, originating with its use in Soviet archaeology, now widely used for tumuli in the context of Eastern European and Central Asian archaeology....
with Uhorska Hill, where Olga of Kiev
Olga of Kiev
Saint Olga , or Olga the Beauty, hypothetically Old Norse: Helga In some Scandinavian sources she was called other name. born c. 890 died 11 July 969, Kiev) was a ruler of Kievan Rus' as regent Saint Olga , or Olga the Beauty, hypothetically Old Norse: Helga In some Scandinavian sources she was...
later built two churches, devoted to Saint Nicholas
Saint Nicholas
Saint Nicholas , also called Nikolaos of Myra, was a historic 4th-century saint and Greek Bishop of Myra . Because of the many miracles attributed to his intercession, he is also known as Nikolaos the Wonderworker...
and to Saint Irene
Saint Irene
Saint Irene may refer to:* Irene of Thessalonica, one of the virgin sisters, feast day April 3* Irene of Rome , wife of martyr Saint Castulus, feast day January 22* Irene of Tomar Saint Irene may refer to:* Irene of Thessalonica, one of the virgin sisters, feast day April 3* Irene of Rome (died c....
. Today this place on the steep bank of the Dnieper is marked by a monument called Askold's Grave
Askold's Grave
Askold’s Grave is an opera in 4 acts by Alexey Verstovsky to a libretto by Mikhail Zagoskin ....
.
English
- Guide to Askold's Grave
- Askold at Find-A-Grave