Prince Oleg the Prophet

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

According to the official history, Prince Oleg has been the ruler of Novgorod presumably since 879 and Kiev since 882. The exact date of birth of Prince Oleg is unknown.

In Novgorod, he began to rule after the death of Rurik. It has not been established exactly who Oleg Ruriku is, but there is an assumption that he was his brother-in-law (brother of his wife). It was after the death of Rurik that Oleg began to rule Novgorod. It is worth noting that Igor Rurikovich was supposed to rule Novgorod, since it was he who was the only direct heir of Rurik, but in 878 he was only a year old, at that age, naturally, he could not rule Novgorod. Only after the death of Oleg Igor began his reign.

From the very beginning of his reign, Prince Oleg tried to expand his possessions and unite all the Slavs. From his subordinates, he gathered a fairly powerful army, with the help of which he managed to capture Smolensk. After Smolensk, Oleg captured Lyubech, and already in 882 his army captured Kiev. It was from this moment that Oleg began to rule Kiev. It is also worth noting that it was in 882 that Kievan Rus appeared as such, the capital of which, accordingly, became Kiev. That is why Prince Oleg is deservedly considered the founder of Kievan Rus.

In 907, Oleg equipped an army of 80,000 people and went with him to Byzantium. Byzantium at that time was ruled by Leo VI, who, seeing a large and strong army, closed the gates of the city and blocked the harbor with chains. At the same time, the soldiers of Kievan Rus got the opportunity to plunder small suburbs of Constantinople. Nevertheless, Oleg did not stumble from Constantinople and, as legends say, ordered the soldiers to build wheels and put ships on them (Oleg's army went to Byzantium on ships). When a fair wind blew, Oleg's soldiers raised their sails and drove straight towards Constantinople. Leo VI, seeing this spectacle, was frightened and opened the gate. Thus, Prince Oleg captured Byzantium. The main result of this victory was an agreement according to which Kievan Rus could conduct duty-free trade across the whole of Byzantium.

It is worth noting that the defeated Byzantines tried to offer poisoned food to Oleg, ostensibly as a sign of respect. However, Prince Oleg sensed danger and refused the poison. For this he received the nickname Prophetic.

Prince Oleg died presumably in 912. His death is covered with a legend, according to which the Magi predicted the Prophetic Oleg death from his own horse, whom the prince loved very much. Having obeyed the Magi, Oleg abandoned his faithful horse and ordered his entourage to feed him the best grain and give him the best water. A few years after that, Oleg again remembered the predictions of the Magi and inquired about the fate of his horse. It turned out that his horse had already died long ago. Oleg asked to be shown where the horse's remains were. Arriving at that place, Oleg stepped on the skull of his horse, deciding that the Magi made a mistake with the prediction. However, a poisonous snake crawled out of the skull and poisoned the prince with a deadly poison.

A. S. Pushkin used this episode from The Tale of Bygone Years to create his famous Song of the Prophetic Oleg.