LEGEND
OF THE FOUNDING OF
by
Andrew Gregorovich
ONCE UPON A TIME there
was a royal family of three brothers. One was named Kie, the second was Shchek,
the third Khoriv and they had a beautiful sister called Lebid. They had lost
their mother and father to invaders from the East and were searching for a place
to make a new home.
When they arrived at the
beautiful blue
Kie and his brothers
built a boat and then sailed across the broad and mighty
Kie ruled on the hill
which is now called Borichev, Shchek settled on the hill which is now called
Shchekovitsa, and Khoriv settled on the third, which after him was called
Khorevitsa. And it was thus that they founded the great city over 1,500 years
ago.
In ancient days this was
the land of the Trypilians, Cimmerians, Scythians, Sarmatians, Alans, Antae,
Roxolanians and the legendary Amazon women. The ancient Greek historian
Herodotus, "the Father of History" wrote that Hercules himself had
founded this land.
According to legend here
was the very place, the Starokievska Hill, where the Apostle Saint Andrew,
centuries earlier came as a missionary to
Merchants and craftsmen
from far and wide soon gathered by the
It was in 988, five
centuries after the founding, that King Vladimir Christened his Slavic nation,
the Ukrainian people of Rus'-
King Vladimir built the
It was in the year 1187
that for the first time in history the historical chronicles mention the new
name
Centuries later, in
1492, the Cossacks of Ukraine, the famous Zaporozhians, came into history as
defenders of the Christian Church and the Ukrainian nation from Tatar, Turkish,
Polish and Russian invaders. And as Taras Shevchenko, the great poet, said in
The Dream: "The First (Tsar Peter I) racked my country dear, The Second
(Catherine II) gave the final blow, That brought my land to utter woe...
Shevchenko's "sad
Ukraine" has now been reborn in the world "family of free
nations". And this city of Kiev, the capital of the ancient Rus Kingdom,
which is one of the most beautiful cities in the world today, has become the
great gold-topped capital of democratic, free and independent Ukraine.
·
Andrew Gregorovich
Plaque created for the 1500th Anniversary of Kiev celebrated in 1982.
It features a sculpture of Kie, Shchek, Khoriv and Lebid in a ship which is
on the Dnipro River bank. |
NOTES
In 1982 the City of Kiev
celebrated its 1,500th Anniversary, however we know that the city existed long
before that. The original chronicle version of the founding of Kiev in the Povist
vremennykh lit is reflected in paragraphs 1, 3 (except the date), 4 and 5.
Archeologists have found stone age (late paleolithic) remains but the oldest
dwelling in Kiev is from the 25th century B.C., about 4,500 years ago, so Kiev
was inhabited long before King Kie. However, according to some historians King
Kie (or Kyi) was a real person who ruled the Polianians and lived in the 5th
century A.D.
The English form of the
name Kiev, based on Old Ukrainian, goes back centuries while the modern name is
spelled Kyiv in Ukrainian. The Government of Ukraine favors the use of
the form Kyiv by its government agencies but Kiev is still the common usage in
the English speaking world today.
Northwestern Ukraine,
including Kiev, is thc original homeland of all the Slavic peoples so Kiev
perhaps represent the oldest Slavic citv. Thc Slavic tribes which lived on the
territory of present day Ukraine and who are probably the ancestors of the
Ukrainian nation include the Polianians, Drehovichians, Siverians, Drevlianians,
Volynians, Dulibians and Ulichians. Northwestern Ukraine is also considered by
many scholars as the birthplace of the Indo-European peoples or languages.
Kashtan trees are chestnut trees for which Kiev is famous in the Spring. The
Lebid River flowing through Kiev today to the Dnipro was named in honor of the
sister of Kie. Saint Andrew is the patron Saint of Ukraine. St. Michael, the
Archangel, is the patron saint of the City of Kiev.
King Vladimir is
sometimes known as Velyky Kniaz in Ukrainian which is often
mistranslated as Grand or Great Prince. Since Kniaz a cognate ot the
word King this is the correct term for English speaking countries. There
are many St. Vladimir Churches in the world some of which use the modern
Ukrainian spelling of Volodymyr. Khreshchatik, litetally Christening Street, is
the majestic main street ot Kiev today. The foundation stone outline of the
Desyatina (Tithes) Church may still be seen today in front ot the Historical
Museum near St. Andrew's Cathedral.
The Dnipro River, which
flows through the heart of Ukraine, is often found in the old Greek form Borysthenes
on old maps or as Dnieper on modern maps. It comes from the Iranian word
don or dan meaning 'river' as in Danube, Dnister, Donets and the Don
Rivers. Ancient Rus' should not be confused with Russia, a completely separate
name which centuries later (after 1710), on Tsar Peter I's orders, replaced the
original name Muscovy. Today it is actually spelled Rossia in Russian.
Ukraine declared its sovereignty in July 1990 and its independence on August
24,1991, before the USSR disappeared. Today Ukraine is a nation of 52 million
with the largest territory of any country in Europe.
·
A.G.: July 27th, 1992
Kiev. The main area of the upper city of King Vladimir with the
Desyatina Church, bottom right, built before the year 1000 A |