Can the grave of Oleg the Wise be located in Tatarstan near Bolgar?

Two graves of Prince Oleg

Today, two objects claim to be the resting place of the prince. The first is a ten-meter hill (hill) “Olegova Mogila” near the village of Staraya Ladoga in the Leningrad Region. In the early edition of the “Tale of Bygone Years” we read that in 922 “Ida Oleg to Novugorod, and from there to Ladoga. The friends say, as if going beyond the sea, and I will put the zmia in my leg, and from that I will die; there is his grave in Ladose. "

Only in the XIX century. this message of the annals served as a reason for attributing the hill standing out on the ground as the “Oleg grave.” No folk legends linking the name of Oleg and the hill have been recorded. Most likely, “Olegova Grave” near Ladoga is a figment of the imagination of scientists and publicists of the 19th century. Today, this myth is not debunked in order to maintain the “brand of the area” and attract tourists. However, the grave of the prince, as the chronicle indicates, could really be in the Ladoga area, but, most likely, it was symbolic and did not contain the ashes of the prince who died “beyond the sea” (more on this below).

Oleg's second alleged burial place is Mount Shchekavitsa (“Olegova gora”) in Kyiv (or several other places in the same city). This is stated in the late edition of the “Tale of Bygone Years”: in 912, Prince Oleg got sick, “and died. And all the people mourned him with great weeping, and carried him, and buried him on the mountain called the Cheek... There is his grave to this day, the grave of that Olegov is called. "

Historians trust earlier editions of the annals, but at the same time they try to double-check their information using other sources.

Oleg and the “noble rus” from “Notes” by Ahmed ibn Fadlan

So, before us are at least two versions of the circumstances and time of death of the second ruler of Russia after Rurik.

The version of “912” about the death and burial of Oleg in Kyiv is doubtful. Firstly, she is known from the late edition of The Tale of Bygone Years. Secondly, according to another independent source (the so-called “Cambridge Anonymous”), the Byzantine emperor Roman I (919-944) “sent great gifts to Clg [i.e. Oleg], the king of Russia, “inciting him to fight the Khazars (which means, at least as early as 919, Oleg was alive). Thirdly, the annals describe a clearly Christian burial rite (with crying), while Oleg was a pagan Viking, and their funeral was to be accompanied by ritual fun.

The version of “922” is preferable, as it is known from an earlier list of the “Tale of Bygone Years," and, according to a hypothesis that has recently appeared in the scientific world, is confirmed by another well-known source dated almost to days and, most importantly, independent of Russian chronicles — “Note” by Ahmed ibn Fadlan about his journey in 922 as part of the Baghdad embassy to the Bulgar ruler Almush. Candidate of Historical Sciences Elleonora Minakova (Oryol State University) suggested that the funeral of the “noble rus” seen by Ahmed ibn Fadlan is the burial of none other than Oleg the Wise (E.A. Minakova. Some aspects of Oleg Veshchy's life chronology//Scientific notes of Oryol State University. 2024. №4. S. 100-105).

If we develop this idea, it turns out that the Old Russian prince died on the banks of the Volga and was buried here, and his graves mentioned in different editions of the Tale of Bygone Years were cenotaphs — symbolic burial structures that did not contain the remains of the deceased. In ancient times, cenotaphs were installed if, for example, a warrior died far away on a campaign, which probably happened to Oleg. An example of modern cenotaphs are imitations of graves on the side of roads where car accidents occurred.

Most likely, Oleg's cenotaphs in Kyiv and Ladoga were established by contemporaries of the prince's death due to his authority and desire to use this authority for their own political purposes. The real, containing the remains of the deceased grave of the Leading Oleg could well have been in the Volga Bulgaria.

Nailed his shield to the gates of Constantinople, but died on the Volga banks?

The hypothesis of the identity of the Leading Oleg who died in 922 and the “noble rus” Ahmed ibn Fadlan who was buried in the same 922 has serious scientific prospects. It is necessary to recall the main milestones of the prince's life, which will help to understand the possible reasons for his appearance in 922 in the Middle Volga region.

Oleg (Helgi), apparently, was a relative of the first Russian prince Rurik. After his death in 879, he took care of the son of Rurik Igor (Ingvar). In 882, Oleg actually created Ancient Russia, uniting Novgorod with Kyiv and killing the Vikings Askold and Dira, who independently ruled in Kyiv. In 907, Oleg, apparently, makes a trip to Constantinople and nails his shield on the gates of Constantinople. In 911, a Russian-Byzantine treaty is concluded, in which Oleg is called the “Grand Duke of Russia.” Perhaps his name should be associated with a large-scale campaign of the Rus on the shores of the Caspian Sea in 913/914.

At the end of his stormy life, returning from another campaign, Oleg in 922 goes to Novgorod, and then to Ladoga. However, the chronicler is not sure of this information: “Others say that he went out to sea, a snake bit him in the leg there, which is why he died; his grave [cenotaph?] is in Ladoga. " It is permissible that “sea” meant Lake Ladoga, any water barrier or the expression “go beyond the sea” in itself meant a long journey. Sailing from Ladoga and moving along the Great Volga Way, Oleg with his people (merchants, troops and concubines) was “visiting” the Bulgars.

V.N. Tatishchev (Russian historian and statesman of the era of Peter I), using the list of “Tales of Bygone Years” that did not reach us, reports that in the year of Oleg's death: “burn the sky, and pillars of fire went from Russia to Greece to fight” (V.N. Tatishchev Russian history. VOL. 2. M-L., 1963. S. 39). Apparently, the northern lights are described here with an abnormal noise of unknown origin. Ahmed ibn Fadlan, who, like the Russian chronicler, reminded him of the battle, observed exactly the same rare atmospheric phenomenon in 922, being with the Bulgars:

... “I saw how before the [final] disappearance of the [light] of the sun... the sky horizon turned very red. And I heard [high] in the air loud sounds and a strong gomon. Then I raised my head, and there's a cloud not far from me, red like fire, and there's this gomon and these sounds [coming] from it. And here in it are the likeness of people and horses, and here in the hands of distant figures in it, similar to people, bows, arrows, spears and naked swords... And this detachment began to attack that detachment, as the squadron attacks the squadron... We [for a long time] looked at the detachment attacking the detachment. Both of them mixed together for a while, then both separated, and thus this phenomenon continued for some part of the night. Then it disappeared from us "(" Risala "(Note) by Ahmed ibn Fadlan//History of the Tatars. Volume. 2. S. 732, 733 (translated by Nuria Garaeva)).

The almost literal coincidence of the descriptions in the Russian annals and the work of Ahmed ibn Fadlan suggests that in both cases we are talking about the same rare atmospheric phenomenon that happened in the year of the death of Prince Oleg, that is, in 922.

The message of the “Tale of Bygone Years” about Oleg's death from a snake bite correlates with the testimony of Ahmed ibn Fadlan about the large number of snakes living in the land of the Bulgars:

“I saw that they have so many snakes that on a tree branch, right, [sometimes] a dozen or more of them will wind up. They [residents] don't kill them and they don't harm them. Right, somehow I saw in one place a long tree, the length of which [was] more than a hundred cubits. It has already fallen. And now his barrel is huge extremely. I stopped, looking at him, and suddenly it was moving. It scared me. I looked at it carefully, and here is a snake on it, close to it in thickness and length. When she saw me, she fell down from it and disappeared between the trees. " ((“Risala” (Note) by Ahmed ibn Fadlan//History of the Tatars. Volume. 2. P. 734 (Translated by Nuria Garaeva)).

Many of the reptiles seen by Ahmed ibn Fadlan were most likely harmless snakes, but among them there could be poisonous steppe vipers. Almush's headquarters, as will be shown below, was most likely located near the modern village of Izmeri, Spassky district of Tatarstan (37 km in a straight line northeast of Bolgar). I spent 10 years on archaeological expeditions near Mizry and I know for sure that there are still many vipers here. They live further south, on the islands opposite Bolgar.

A viper bite is especially dangerous for an elderly person, as Prince Oleg was without a doubt in 922. According to the testimony of an Arab traveler, the deceased rus lay in a temporary grave for 10 days before cremation. When he was removed from there for further ritual actions, he “had already turned black from the cold of this country.., but did not wind up, and nothing changed in him except his color.” The temporary grave played the role of a “refrigerator” (it was in the summer), so the corpse did not decompose much (“did not obey”), but at the same time the skin for some reason (clearly not from the cold) became black. This was especially striking to Ahmed ibn Fadlan, who wrote that the Rus are “blond, blush, white-skinned.” Blackening of the skin could be caused by the consequences of a steppe viper bite, that is, extensive hemorrhages caused by its poison under the skin and hematomas at the site of the bite, which spread throughout the body. So the mention of the annals of Oleg's death from a snake bite may reflect a real event.

Ahmed ibn Fadlan testifies that after the cremation of the rus and his concubine, a mound was built over the fire pit, on which a log was hoisted and the name of this buried “outstanding husband” and at the same time the name of the king of the Rus was written on it. The meaning of the double inscription can be explained by the fact that the buried was indeed Prince Oleg, and the king of the Rus — officially recognized as such after the ritual of Oleg's transition to the afterlife and his successor Igor, who is in distant Kyiv (“the king died, long live the king!”).

The fact of the simultaneous presence in 922 at the headquarters of Almush of the Baghdad ambassadors and the ruler of the Rus does not seem to be a coincidence. Let me remind you that Oleg actively fought against the “unreasonable Khazars," and the ruler of the Bulgars really wanted to get rid of the power of the Khazar Khagan. As it would be expressed today, Oleg and Almush could have common geopolitical interests, and, apparently, they temporarily coincided with the interests of the Baghdad Caliphate, which necessitated the “official visit” of the Old Russian prince.

What led the caliph's envoys to the distant Volga Bulgaria? Why did the serious costs of the huge (five thousand people) embassy and the construction of the fortress required by Almush become such an urgent need for Baghdad? Let us turn to the analysis of the “Note” by Ahmed ibn Fadlan and the general situation in the Baghdad (Abbasid) caliphate by 922.

Caliphate attempt to create a military alliance of Bulgars, Oghuz and Rus

By the early 920s the Sunni Abbasid caliphate was going through hard times. Military detachments of the Shiite sect of the Karmatians easily smashed government troops and approached Baghdad itself. The caliphate's own military resources were minimal, and it became more and more difficult to resist the onslaught of the Karmatians. It was impossible to agree with them, since the Karmatians denied the very idea of the need for caliph power. Only by 921 a fragile peace was achieved, and in the same year a huge (5 thousand people and 3 thousand horses) embassy was equipped far north with the usual Muslim clergy for the Baghdad diplomatic ceremony. It is logical to assume that the main goal of the embassy in such a difficult period was to search for military allies against the main (both ideological and military) enemies of the state — the Karmatians.

The first potential military allies could be the Oguz Turks wandering in Central Asia. Of these, they recruited soldiers (“gulams”) into the caliph's guard and subordinate to him (often nominally) large feudal lords (like the emir of the Samanid state). It is no coincidence that upon arrival of the embassy, the military leader of the Oguzes Etrek (by the way, the father-in-law of the Bulgarian ruler Almush) collects a council of noble Guzes, and Etrek himself is secretly handed a letter from the Baghdad vizier at night.

From the text of the “Note” by Ahmed ibn Fadlan, it follows that the Oguzes knew about the military diplomatic mission of the Baghdad embassy, but, guided by their interests, in the end decided to observe neutrality and released the ambassadors home. Now the caliphate could not count on the help of the Oguzes. Volga Bulgars and, possibly, Rus-Vikings remained.

Almush by 922 was already a Muslim and was probably well informed about the deplorable state of the caliphate, which he decided to take advantage of. He asked for money to build a fortress to protect against the Khazars. Bulgars (yesterday's nomads) did not yet know how to build serious fortifications, and the embassy probably had the appropriate masters.

To discuss possible military assistance to the caliphate, Almush, like his father-in-law Etrack, began to convene a meeting of representatives of the tribes subject to him. Some Suvars refused to appear. Addressing the rebellious, Almush argued that the gathering was organized on behalf of the caliph:

“Verily, Allah the mighty and the great granted me Islam and the supreme power of the ruler of the faithful, and I am his [Allah's] slave, and this is the work that he entrusted to me, and whoever opposes me, I will defeat him with a sword” (“Risala” (Note) Ahmed ibn Fadlan//History of the Tatars. Volume. 2. S. 737 (Translated by Nuria Garayeva)).

How the meeting of the tribes subordinate to Almush ended is unknown, since the corresponding fragment of the manuscript of Ahmed ibn Fadlan is lost.

Almush could become an intermediary between Baghdad and the Vikings, who had tempting prospects for a campaign south of the Caspian against the Karmatians, and not on their own initiative, but at the request of the caliph himself.

The Rus robbed the southern coast of the Caspian Sea eight years earlier (campaign 913-914), but on the way back they were defeated by the Bulgars led by Almush. The Caspian campaign of the Rus is associated with the name of Oleg. After a military clash, the Bulgars and Rus could well conclude a truce or even an alliance against a common enemy — the Khazars.

In the event of military assistance to the caliph, Oleg could hope for trade privileges for Russian merchants in Baghdad, like those he achieved after going to Constantinople when drawing up the Russian-Byzantine treaty of 911. It is difficult to separate Viking trade and military enterprises: according to Ahmed ibn Fadlan, with each of those he saw and allegedly arrived on trade affairs, the Rus had “an ax, a sword and a knife, [and] he [never] parted with all this.”

Thus, Oleg could have reasons to move from Ladoga towards Volga Bulgaria in 922.

The meeting of Almush, Oleg and Sausan ar-Rassi (head of the Baghdad embassy) most likely took place at the headquarters of the Bulgarian ruler — in the area of the modern village of Izmer, Spassky district of Tatarstan. It was here in the X-XI centuries. there was the largest trade and craft settlement of the Bulgars (proto-city), where archaeologists in large numbers find silver Central Asian dirhams, objects of Old Russian and Scandinavian imports, Bulgarian jewelry. Together with the later emerging Bilyar (“Inner Bolgar”), this settlement (“Outer Bolgar”) constituted the “Great City” of the Bulgars on the Volga. In the Horde period, the city on the site of the current Bulgarian settlement began to be called Bulgaria.

It can be assumed that the course of the Bulgarian-Russian-Baghdad negotiations was interrupted by the unexpected death of Oleg from a snake bite. Oleg's successor Igor was in distant Kyiv, his interest in a dangerous campaign was incomprehensible. Perhaps that is why, after Oleg's funeral, the secretary of the Baghdad embassy (Ahmed ibn Fadlan) began to ask the Russians about their new king through an interpreter. Without the order of Igor, the squad of the deceased Oleg did not want to take independent actions, and, most likely, having buried the prince, as well as taking some of his things for the cenotaphs, she returned to Ladoga or Kyiv along the Great Volga Way.

Where to look and is it possible to find “Oleg's grave”?

According to the “Memo...” Ahmed ibn Fadlan, a noble rus (possibly Prince Oleg) after his death spent 10 days in a temporary grave, and his relatives and close associates had fun and prepared for the main part of the rite — cremation. A wooden platform and a ship were made, on which the deceased, along with the murdered concubine and many valuable things, were burned, and an earthen mound was poured over the burning site. After some time, especially after the final approval of Islam, the Bulgars probably forgot that the cremated remains of Oleg and his concubine were buried under one of the many mounds according to the pagan rite. It can be assumed that among the Bulgars and later the Tatars, this hill began to be associated with completely different mythological plots.

Analysis of written and archaeological sources suggests that the Old Russian prince Oleg died in 922 in the vicinity of the modern village of Izmer, Spassky district of Tatarstan, and was buried somewhere in the district on the left bank of the Volga. When creating the Kuibyshev reservoir, “Olegova Mogila," like thousands of other archaeological sites, could fall into the flood zone and be irretrievably destroyed. If a miracle happened and the monument is at least partially preserved, it may be among the artificial “hills” located south of Izmerei — unexplored archaeological sites, considered the ramparts of the fortifications of the Bulgarian or earlier time.

Among the studied monuments, in my opinion, attention should be paid to the high rampart located 18 km south of Bolgar of the Balymer settlement (the central part of the village of Balymer, Spassky district of Tatarstan). The local population calls this hill “Sholom” (it resembles a helmet in shape).

The monument is intensively destroyed by the reservoir, but in the middle of the XIX century. it was a majestic embankment with a height of more than 21 m and a circumference of almost 427 m. Archaeologist V.F. Smolin, who excavated Sholom in 1925, associated it with the burial of the rus from the “Note...” Ahmed ibn Fadlan. The main researcher of the object B.B. Zhiromsky (excavations of 1954) believed that this is a pagan sanctuary of the VI-X centuries. with an altar, numerous traces of fires and sacrifices of pets. Thanks to an article published in 1965 by P.N. Starostin, the opinion was established in science that Sholom is the rampart of the Dobulgar settlement of Imenkov culture of the 4th-7th centuries, and the burnt log houses and a large number of ceramic fragments found inside the hill were used to strengthen the rampart structure. Abandoned by 922, the hillfort (especially its rampart) could be used by the Vikings for their religious rites. Ahmed ibn Fadlan, who personally saw these rites, writes the following:

“And as soon as their [rus] ships arrive at this pier, immediately each of them comes out, [carrying] bread and meat with him, onion, milk and nabiz to go to a long log [idol] stuck in the ground, who [has] a face that looks like a person's face, and around him are small images, and behind these images are long logs stuck in the ground.... He approaches the large image and worships it, ... then [he] leaves what he had with him in front of [that] log. Then he leaves.

If the sale is difficult for him and his stay is delayed, then he will come again with a second and third gift, and if [it] is difficult for him to achieve what he wants, he will carry a gift to each of the small images, ask them for a petition... And so he takes a number of sheep or cattle, kills them, distributes some of the meat, and the rest carries and leaves between the big log and the small standing around it and hangs the heads of the cattle or sheep on this tree stuck [behind] in the ground. When night comes, the dogs will come and eat it all. And says the one who did it: “My Lord has already become pleased with me and ate my gift” (“Risala” (Note) Ahmed ibn Fadlan//History of the Tatars. Volume. 2. S. 740 (Translated by Nuria Garaeva)).

Now, judging by the research of 2014, only one third remains from the crumbling monument, but B.B. Zhiromsky managed to fix on the top of Sholom a cone-shaped embankment 2 m high and 12 m wide at the base. Fragments of animal bones, ceramics and a large number of rotted logs were found in the embankment. It was not possible to fully study this crumbling embankment at the top of a hill 21 m high. Perhaps it is somehow connected with the burial rites of the Vikings, and the wood decay is the remains of the boat in which the deceased was buried. Certain analogies can be found in Viking burials in wooden chambers on the tops of hills in the Plakun tract near the village of Staraya Ladoga, Leningrad Region (it is believed that Oleg's vigilantes were buried here). The height of the burial, according to the Vikings, facilitated access to Valhalla (the world of the dead).

Near Sholom, Balymer mounds with cremations were discovered, which many scientists since the 19th century. associated with the Vikings and the funeral of the rus described by Ahmed ibn Fadlan. However, now this point of view is criticized, since burial cremations in the X century. were known among many peoples of Eastern Europe. In addition, when examining the area by modern researchers, many “mounds” in reality turned out to be burrows of animals.

Thus, it is difficult to catch archaeological traces of Viking burials, but written sources (more reliable than archaeological) clearly indicate that these burials were performed in the Middle Volga region and one of them may be the grave of the Leading Oleg.

Considering that modern Bulgaria is a large tourist center, and in order to preserve the memory of the death and burial of Prince Oleg somewhere in the city district, it is logical to raise the question of building a memorial sign here — a symbolic “Oleg's grave," similar to those existing in Kyiv and next to Staraya Ladoga.