To the 1000th anniversary of the Principality of Chernihiv: princely bull of the XI century.

In April 2009 Dr.. a resident of. Rudka of Chernihiv district, за 2 km northwest of the settlement, on an abandoned field, a lead bulla was found near a marshy area at a depth of 25–30 cm, covered with a light brown patina. Its diameter is 23–28 mm, thickness 2 мм, weight 20 g. Vertically has a through hole for the cord. On the front side, a high-relief waist image of St. George? (Dimitriy?) with a beardless face, short hair, whose curls reach only to the lower edge of the ears, with spear in right hand and round shield in left, which keeps something aloof. The absence of a nimbus and inscriptions in a column on both sides of the saint's head is noteworthy. A question arises: were they even on the matrix, or for some reason did not fight back? On the back of the bull there is an inscription 4 lines in Greek letters: "KЄRO / …CO[Л]’ / [GE]ORG / [IA] ”. Letter height 3 мм.

The village of Rudka is located on the river. Lathe, за 16 km from Chernigov. Near Rudka, a number of settlements and barrows of the Kyivan Rus period and settlements of the VI-IV centuries were discovered. до н.е., a hoard of Roman coins[1]. In ancient times and now, the road from Chernihiv to Ljubech ran through Rudka. Authentically, this area was part of the princely domain. So, the find in Rudka is quite logical. Furthermore, we are sure, that this is not the last find of such artifacts in the mentioned territory.

According to the classification of V. Yanina and P. The Hayduk seal belongs to the category of princely seals with Greek linear inscriptions, more precisely to bulls with a short legend[2]. A question arises, which prince the seal belonged to.

Researchers note the difficulty of attributing the seals of this group. It is due to that, that there are no direct indications of their Russian affiliation in the inscriptions, which can be established only by special conditions of the find or a large number of similar finds in ancient Russian complexes or stylistic features, which coincide with the features of definitely Russian seals[3]. Taking these caveats into account, we can come to a conclusion, that the found bulla is stylistically close to seal no 7, yak belonged to Prince Izyaslav Yaroslavich, son of Yaroslav the Wise. True, the latter contains the image of St. Demetrius with a spear and a shield[4]. However,, if our reconstruction of the inscription is true, then the found bull depicts St. George. In this case, it was closer to the seal of Yaroslav the Wise No. 31a of the last years of his reign[5].

We have listed the most likely ones, from our point of view, versions regarding the identity of the found seal. However,, the state of the find does not give an unequivocal answer. The seal can also belong to the category of princely sealers' bulls. According to the style of the image and drawing of letters, the composition of the inscription is similar to seals No. 40a, 40b Svyatopolk Izyaslavych, who ruled in Polotsk, Novgorod, Tours, Києві, or Oleg Svyatoslavych, who ruled in Tmutarakan and Chernihiv[6]. Both princes were baptized by Michael in the second half of the 12th century. only they had such a name. So, if the seal depicts an arch. Michael, then the name of the printer George is indicated in the inscription? This assumption is supported by the fact that seal No. 40b was found in Chernihiv.

The found bulla is also close to seal no 35 - Rostyslav Volodymyrovych († 1066) or Mstislav Izyaslavych († 1069), Yaroslav's grandchildren[7]. It cannot be ruled out that it belonged to Yurii-Georgiy Dolgoruky[8].

Exist, albeit minimal, the probability that, that it is a Byzantine or Balkan seal[9].

Reliable attribution of the found artifact is possible only if a new bulla of better preservation is found.

Старший науковий співробітник музею,

кандидат історичних наук Ігор Ситий

[1] Chernihiv. Encyclopedic guide. К., 1990. С. 716.

[2] Yanin V., Gaidukov P. Actual seals of Ancient Rus' X–XV centuries. Т. ІІІ. Stamps, registered 1970–1996. M., 1998. S.20, 24.

[3] Yanin V., Gaidukov P. Decree. work. С. 24.

[4] Yanin V., Gaidukov P. Actual seals of Ancient Rus' X–XV centuries. Т. And. Seals of the 10th – early 13th centuries. M.: Science, 1970. P.167, 249, 281.

[5] Yanin V., Gaidukov P. Actual seals of Ancient Rus' X–XV centuries. Т. ІІІ. Stamps, registered 1970–1996. С. 24, 260, 311.

[6] Yanin V., Gaidukov P. Actual seals of Ancient Rus' X–XV centuries. Т. ІІІ. Stamps, registered 1970–1996. С. 25, 26, 117, 261.

[7] Yanin V., Gaidukov P. Actual seals of Ancient Rus' X–XV centuries. Т. And. Seals of the 10th – early 13th centuries. С. 24, 172 – 173, 285.

[8] There only. С. 30.

[9] Bulgakova V. Byzantine seals from finds in Crimea (based on materials from private collections ) // Eastern European Archaeological Journal No. 1 (8), January-February 2001 // http:/archaeology.kiev.ua/journal/010101/Bulgakova.ntm; Kupranis A. Dated seals of the hierarchs of the Russian Church (pre-Mongol period) // Eastern European Archaeological Journal No. 1 (1), November-December 1999// http:/ archaeology.kiev.ua/ journal/011299/ Kupranis ntm; Bulgakova V. Old Russian seal of the second half of the 12th century- first half of the 13th century. from the territory of the Kyiv Detinets ) // Eastern European Archaeological Journal No. 1 (2), January-February 2000 // http:/ archaeology.kiev.ua/journal/010100/Bulgakova.ntm; Bulgakova V. Sphragistic material and historical and cultural interpretations: discovery of the seal of Prince Izyaslav Yaroslavich (1052-1078) in Kyiv // Eastern European Archaeological Journal No. 1 (1), November-December 2001 // http:/archaeology.kiev.ua/ journal/ 011299/ Bulgakova.ntm; Kupranis A. Old Russian hanging lead seal from Beloozero // Eastern European Archaeological Journal No. 2 (3), March-April 2000// http:/archaeology.kiev.ua/journal/020300/ Humpback ntm; Gaidukov P., Yanin V. Old Russian pendant seals, registered in 1997 g. // http: //russianchange.narod.ru/sfr./1997/s97c.html; Gaidukov P., Yanin V. Old Russian pendant seals, registered in 1998-1999 years. . // http: //russianchange. narod.ru/sfr./1998/ s 98 and. html; Gaidukov P., Yanin V. Old Russian pendant seals, registered in 2000 g. // http: //russianchange.narod.ru/sfr./2000/s02.html; Gaidukov P., Yanin V. Old Russian pendant seals, registered in 2001 g. // http: // russianchange.narod.ru/sfr./2001/s01.html; Gaidukov P., Yanin V. Old Russian pendant seals, registered in 2003 g. // http: //russianchange.narod.ru/ sfr./2003/s03.html; Gaidukov P., Yanin V. Old Russian pendant seals, registered in 2004 g. // http: //russianchange.narod.ru/sfr./2004/s04.html; Gaidukov P., Yanin V. Old Russian pendant seals, registered in 2005 g. // http: //russianchange. people. ru/sfr./2005/s05.html; Gaidukov P., Yanin V. Old Russian pendant seals, registered in 2006 g. // http: //www. siegel.ru /2006/sv 06.html; Gaidukov P., Yanin V. Old Russian pendant seals, registered in 2007 g. // http: //www.siegel.ru/2007/sv07.html.