Sineus and Truvor
{{Short description|Brothers of Rurik, a Varangian chieftain of the Rus'}}
File:Prizvanievaryagov.jpg, Truvor and Sineus arrive at Ladoga, as painted by Viktor Vasnetsov ({{circa}} 1900).]]
Sineus and Truvor ({{langx|ru|Синеус и Трувор}}){{efn|{{langx|cu|Синеусъ и Труворъ}}{{cite book |title=Polnoe sobranie russkikh letopiseĭ |date=1851 |publisher=Izd-vo Akademii nauk SSSR |page=88 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TUkPAQAAMAAJ |language=ru}}}} are mentioned in Rus' chronicles as brothers of Rurik, a Varangian chieftain of the Rus' who is traditionally considered to be the founder of the Rurikids. According to legendary calling of the Varangians as recorded in the Primary Chronicle (PVL) and Novgorod First Chronicle, the three brothers were invited by East Slavic and Finnic tribes to reign over them in what is now northwestern Russia in 862. Sineus established himself at Beloozero and Truvor at Izborsk.{{cite book |last1=Peterson |first1=Gary Dean |title=Vikings and Goths: A History of Ancient and Medieval Sweden |date=21 June 2016 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-1-4766-2434-1 |page=209 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=joawDAAAQBAJ |language=en}} After they died, Rurik consolidated their territories into his own.{{cite book |title=The Oxford illustrated history of the Vikings |date=1997 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford [England] |isbn=9780192854346 |pages=138–139}}
Description
{{Further|calling of the Varangians}}
According to the Primary Chronicle, compiled in {{circa|1113}},{{cite book |last1=Langer |first1=Lawrence N. |title=Historical dictionary of medieval Russia |date=2021 |location=Lanham |isbn=9781538119426 |pages=145 |edition=Second}} a group of Varangian Rus' were invited to rule over the local East Slavic and Finnic tribes after they began fighting each other.{{cite book |last1=Dolukhanov |first1=Pavel Markovich |title=The early Slavs : Eastern Europe from the initial settlement to the Kievan Rus |date=2013 |location=Oxfordshire, England |isbn=9781317892229 |pages=182}} Rurik, the oldest of the brothers, established himself in Novgorod, while Sineus established himself at Beloozero, on the shores of Lake Beloye, and Truvor at Izborsk,{{cite book|title=The Scots magazine, or, General repository of literature, history, and politics|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AF0AAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA339|accessdate=19 August 2012|year=1802|publisher=Printed by Alex Chapman and for James Watson|pages=339}} although archaeological findings have also suggested that his residence was in Pskov.{{cite book|author=Wladyslaw Duczko|title=Viking Rus: Studies on the Presence of Scandinavians in Eastern Europe|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hEawXSP4AVwC&pg=PA111|accessdate=19 August 2012|year=2004|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-13874-2|pages=111}} Truvor and Sineus died shortly after the establishment of their territories,{{cite book |last1=Langer |first1=Lawrence N. |title=Historical dictionary of medieval Russia |date=2021 |location=Lanham |isbn=9781538119426 |pages=176 |edition=Second}} and Rurik consolidated these lands into his own territory,{{cite book|author=Gwyn Jones|title=A History of the Vikings|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofvikings00jone_0|url-access=registration|accessdate=19 August 2012|date=19 July 2001|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-280134-0|pages=[https://archive.org/details/historyofvikings00jone_0/page/246 246]}} thus laying the foundations for the state of Kievan Rus'.{{cite book|author1=Thomas Schaub Noonan|author2=Kathryn Reyerson|title=Pre-Modern Russia and Its World: Essays in Honor of Thomas S. Noonan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LMwmcqwZUGcC&pg=PA161|year=2006|publisher=Otto Harrassowitz Verlag|isbn=978-3-447-05425-6|pages=161}}
Interpretation
According to popular 20th-century scholarly interpretation (summarized in the textbook by Katsva and Yurganov),{{cite book|last1=Кацва |first1=Л. А.|last2=Юрганов |first2=А. Л.|title=История России VIII-XV вв.|year=1996|publisher=Вентана-Граф|location=Moscow|language=Russian|isbn=5708401028|pages=21–22}} the phrase "Rurik, Sineus, en Truvor" should be read "Rurik, sine hus, en tro(gna) vär(ingar)" (Rurik, his house/relatives, and true companions).{{cite book|title=Рюрик - Синеус - Трувор|url=http://bse.sci-lib.com/article098532.html|publisher=Great Soviet Encyclopedia}} Melnikova (1998) disagreed, arguing that modern linguistical expertise shows that "sine hus" and "thru varing" contradict basic morphology and syntax of known old Scandinavian dialects, and could never be translated as "our faithful" and "his households".{{cite book|author=Мельникова Е. А.|title=Древнейшие государства Восточной Европы. 1998 г|year=2000|publisher=Восточная литература РАН|isbn=5-02-018133-1|pages=148–149}} On the other hand, historians of the 19th century (A. Kunik, N. Belyaev, et al.) had already found common old Scandinavian names such as Signjótr (also Sveinn?) and Þórvar[ð]r, which could fit well with the PVL transcription of "Sineus" and "Truvor".{{cn|date=November 2024}}
Russian historian Valentin Yanin (2008) agreed that the "existence of the "Rurik brothers" seems doubtful" based on the linguistic argument, adding: "The distance of Beloozero from Novgorod is quite significant, and the subordination of the territory closer in the direction of Beloozero to Novgorod occurred only in the middle of the 10th century, when Princess Olga established churchyards on the Msta. In Izborsk, it is customary to display a stone cross, supposedly standing on the grave of Truvor, in complete oblivion of the fact that Truvor, if he lived, then one and a half centuries before the establishment of Christianity in Eastern Europe. The most significant thing is that neither in Izborsk nor in Beloozero have archaeological excavations found any traces of Scandinavian presence in the 9th century."{{cite book|last=Янин|first=Валентин Лаврентьевич|script-title=ru:Очерки истории средневекового Новгорода|url=http://www.e-reading.biz/bookreader.php/137788/Yanin_-_Ocherki_istorii_srednevekovogo_Novgoroda.html|year=2008|publisher=Языки славянских культур |language=ru|isbn=978-5-9551-0256-6}}
See also
Notes
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