Not all people know what is famous on May 24, but it is even impossible to imagine what would become of us if this day in 863 turned out to be completely different and the creators of writing refused their work.
Who created Slavic writing in the 9th century? It was Cyril and Methodius, and this event happened just on May 24, 863, which led to the celebration of one of the most important events in the history of mankind. Now Slavic peoples could use their own written language, and not borrow the languages of other peoples.
The creators of Slavic writing - Cyril and Methodius?
The history of the development of Slavic writing is not as "transparent" as it might seem at first glance, there are different opinions about its creators. There is an interesting fact that Cyril, even before he began to work on the creation of the Slavic alphabet, was in Khersones (today it is Crimea), where he could get the scriptures of the Gospel or the Psalter, which at that moment were written precisely in the letters of the Slavic alphabet. This fact makes us wonder: who created the Slavic writing, did Cyril and Methodius really write the alphabet or take the finished work?
However, besides the fact that Cyril brought the finished alphabet from Khersones, there is other evidence that the creators of the Slavic writing were other people, and those who lived long before Cyril and Methodius.
Arab sources of historical events say that 23 years before Cyril and Methodius created the Slavic alphabet, namely in the 40s of the 9th century, there were baptized people who had books written in the Slavic language in their hands. There is also one more serious fact proving that the creation of Slavic writing occurred even earlier than the announced date. The bottom line is that Pope Leo IV had a diploma issued before 863, which consisted of the letters of the Slavic alphabet, and on the throne this figure was in the interval from 847 to 855 of the 9th century.
Another, but also important fact of proof of the more ancient origin of Slavic writing lies in the assertion of Catherine II, who, during her reign, wrote that the Slavs are an older people than is commonly believed, and they have written language from the time before Christ.
Evidence of the antiquity of the Slavic language among other peoples
The creation of Slavic writing until 863 can be proved by other facts that are present in documents of other peoples who lived in ancient times and using other varieties of writing in their time. There are a lot of such sources, and they are found in a Persian historian named Ibn Fodlan, in El Massudi, as well as in a little later creators in well-known works, which say that Slavic writing was formed before the Slavs appeared books.
The historian, who lived on the border of the 9th and 10th centuries, claimed that the Slavic people are more ancient and more developed than the Romans, and as evidence he cited some monuments that allow us to determine the antiquity of the origin of the Slavic people and their written language.
And the last fact, which can seriously affect the way people think in finding an answer to the question of who created the Slavic writing, is coins that have different letters of the Russian alphabet, dated earlier than 863, and located on the territories of such European countries like England, Scandinavia, Denmark and others.
Refutation of the ancient origin of Slavic writing
The alleged creators of Slavic writing a little "missed" with one thing: they did not leave any books and documents written in this ancient language. However, for many scientists, it is enough that Slavic writing is present on various stones, rocks, weapons and household items that were used by the ancient inhabitants in their daily lives.
Many scientists worked on the study of historical achievements in the writing of the Slavs, however, a senior researcher by the name of Grinevich was able to get almost to the very source, and his work made it possible to decrypt any text written in Old Slavic.
The work of Grinevich in the study of Slavic writing
In order to understand the writing of the ancient Slavs, Grinevich had to do a great job, during which he discovered that it was based not on letters, but had a more complex system that worked due to syllables. The scientist himself absolutely seriously believed that the formation of the Slavic alphabet began 7,000 years ago.
The signs of the Slavic alphabet had a different basis, and after grouping all the symbols, Grinevich distinguished four categories: linear, dividing symbols, picturesque and restrictive signs.
For research, Grinevich used about 150 different inscriptions that were present on all kinds of subjects, and all his achievements were based on the decoding of precisely these symbols.
In the course of research, Grinevich found out that the history of Slavic writing is more old, and the ancient Slavs used 74 characters. However, there are too many characters for the alphabet, and speaking of whole words, there cannot be only 74 of them in the language. These thoughts led the researcher to the idea that the Slavs used syllables in the alphabet instead of letters.
Example: “horse” - the syllable “lo”
His approach allowed to decipher the inscriptions over which many scientists fought and could not understand what they mean. And it turned out that everything is quite simple:
- The pot, which was found near Ryazan, had an inscription - an instruction saying that it should be put in the oven and closed.
- The sinker, which was found near the Trinity city, had a simple inscription: "It weighs 2 ounces."
All the above evidence fully refutes the fact that the creators of the Slavic writing - Cyril and Methodius, and prove the antiquity of our language.
Slavic runes in the creation of Slavic writing
The one who created the Slavic writing was a rather smart and brave man, because such an idea at that time could ruin the creator due to the lack of education of all other people. But in addition to the letter, other ways of disseminating information to people were invented - Slavic runes.
In total, 18 runes were found in the world that are present on a large number of various ceramics, stone statues and other artifacts. An example is pottery from the village of Lepesovka, located in southern Volhynia, as well as an earthenware vessel in the village of Voiskovo. In addition to evidence located on the territory of Russia, there are monuments that are in Poland and were discovered back in 1771. They also have Slavic runes. We should not forget the Radegast Temple, located in Retra, where the walls are decorated with Slavic symbols. The last place that scientists learned from Titmar of Merseburg is a fortress-temple and is located on an island called Rügen. There are a large number of idols whose names are written using runes of Slavic origin.
Slavic writing. Cyril and Methodius as creators
Writing is attributed to Cyril and Methodius, and historical evidence of the corresponding period of their life, which is described in sufficient detail, is given in confirmation of this. They affect the meaning of their activities, as well as the reasons for working on the creation of new characters.
Cyril and Methodius to the creation of the alphabet led the conclusion that other languages can not fully reflect Slavic speech. This constraint is proved by the writings of the monk Khrabr, in which it was noted that before the adoption of the Slavic alphabet for general use, baptism was carried out either in Greek or in Latin, and in those days it became clear that they could not reflect all the sounds that filled our speech .
Political influence on the Slavic alphabet
Politics began to influence society from the very beginning of the emergence of countries and religions, and it also had a hand in the Slavic alphabet, as well as other aspects of people's lives.
As described above, services for the baptism of the Slavs were conducted either in Greek or in Latin, which allowed other churches to influence the minds and strengthen the idea of their dominant role in the heads of the Slavs.
Those countries where liturgies were held not in Greek but in Latin received increased influence of German priests on the faith of the people, but this was unacceptable for the Byzantine church, and she took a step back, instructing Cyril and Methodius to create a written language on which service and sacred texts.
The Byzantine church correctly reasoned at that moment, and its intentions were such that the one who created Slavic writing based on the Greek alphabet would help to weaken the influence of the German church on all Slavic countries at the same time, and at the same time help bring people closer to Byzantium. These actions can also be considered as dictated by self-interest.
Who created the Slavic script based on the Greek alphabet? Cyril and Methodius created, and for this work they were chosen by the Byzantine church not by chance. Cyril grew up in the city of Soluni, which, although it was Greek, but about half of its inhabitants spoke fluent Slavic, and Cyril himself was well versed in it, and also had excellent memory.
Byzantium and its role
As for when work began on the creation of Slavic writing, quite serious debate is underway, because May 24 is the official date, but there is a large time gap in history that creates a discrepancy.
After Byzantium gave this difficult task, Cyril and Methodius began developing the Slavic script and in 864 arrived in Moravia with the finished Slavic alphabet and the fully translated Gospel, where they recruited students for the school.
After receiving the assignment from the Byzantine church, Cyril and Methodius are sent to Morvia. During their journey, they are writing the alphabet and translating the texts of the Gospel into the Slavic language, and upon arrival in the city they are in the hands of the finished work. However, the road to Moravia does not take so much time. Perhaps this time period allows you to create the ABC, but translating the Gospel writings in such a short time is simply impossible, which indicates early work on the Slavic language and translation of texts.
Cyril's disease and his care
After three years of work in his own school of Slavic writing, Cyril refuses this matter and leaves for Rome. This turn of events was caused by the disease. Cyril left everything for a quiet death in Rome. Methodius, finding himself alone, continues to pursue his goal and does not retreat, although now it has become more difficult for him, because the Catholic Church has begun to understand the scope of the work done and is not enthusiastic about it. The Roman Church imposes bans on translations into the Slavic language and openly demonstrates its dissatisfaction, however Methodius now has followers who help and continue his work.
Cyrillic and Glagolitic - what laid the foundation for modern writing?
There are no confirmed facts that can prove which of the scripts originated earlier, and there is no exact information about who created the Slavic script in Russia and to which of the two possible Cyril had his hand. Only one thing is known, but the most important thing is that it was the Cyrillic alphabet who became the founder of today's Russian alphabet, and only thanks to it can we write as we write now.
The Cyrillic alphabet has 43 letters, and the fact that its creator is Cyril, proves the presence of 24 letters of the Greek alphabet in it . And the remaining 19, the creator of the Cyrillic alphabet based on the Greek alphabet, was included exclusively to reflect the complex sounds that were present only among the peoples who used the Slavic language for communication.
Over time, the Cyrillic alphabet was transformed, it was almost constantly influenced in order to simplify and improve. However, there were moments that at first made writing difficult, for example, the letter "", which is an analogue of "e," the letter "y," is an analogue of "and". Such letters initially made it difficult to spell, but reflected the sounds corresponding to them.
Glagolitic, in fact, was an analogue of the Cyrillic alphabet and used 40 letters, and 39 of them were taken from the Cyrillic alphabet. The main difference between the Glagolitic alphabet is that it has a more rounded writing style and is not inherent in angularity, in contrast to Cyrillic.
The disappeared alphabet (Glagolitic alphabet), although it did not take root, was intensively used by the Slavs living in the southern and western latitudes, and, depending on the location of the inhabitants, it had its own writing styles. The Slavs living in Bulgaria used a verb with a more rounded style for writing, while Croatians gravitated towards angular writing.
Despite the number of hypotheses and even the absurdity of some of them, each is worthy of attention, and it is impossible to say exactly who the creators of Slavic writing are. The answers will be vague, with many flaws and omissions. And although there are many facts that refute the creation of writing by Cyril and Methodius, they are honored for their work, which allowed the alphabet to spread and transform to its present form.