Not all people know what May 24th is famous for, but it is even impossible to imagine what would have become of us if this day in 863 turned out to be completely different and the creators of writing abandoned 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 the Slavic peoples could use their own script, 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 Chersonese (today it is Crimea), from where he was able to take the sacred writings of the Gospel or the Ps alter, which already at that moment turned out to be written precisely in the letters of the Slavic alphabet. This fact makes one wonder: who created the Slavic script, did Cyril and Methodius really write the alphabet or did they take the finished work?
However, besides the fact that Cyril brought the finished alphabet from Chersonesus, there is other evidence that the creators of the Slavic writing were other people, who lived long before Cyril and Methodius.
Arabic sources of historical events say that 23 years before Cyril and Methodius created the Slavic alphabet, namely in the 40s of the IX century, there were baptized people who had books written specifically on Slavic language. There is also another serious fact proving that the creation of Slavic writing took place even earlier than the stated 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 this figure was on the throne in the interval from 847 to 855 of the IX century.
Another, but also important fact of proving the more ancient origin of Slavic writing lies in the statement of Catherine II, who during her reign wrote that the Slavs are an older people than is commonly believed, and they have had writing since preceding Christmas.
Evidence of the antiquity of the Slavic language among other peoples
The creation of Slavic writing before 863 can be proved by othersfacts that are present in the documents of other peoples who lived in ancient times and used other types of writing in their time. There are quite a few such sources, and they are found in the Persian historian named Ibn Fodlan, in El Massoudi, as well as in slightly later creators in fairly well-known works, which say that Slavic writing was formed before the Slavs had books.
The historian, who lived on the border of the 9th and 10th centuries, argued that the Slavic people are more ancient and more developed than the Romans, and as proof he cited some monuments that allow us to determine the antiquity of the origin of the Slavic people and their writing.
And the last fact that can seriously affect the train of thought of people in search of an answer to the question of who created the Slavic script is coins that have different letters of the Russian alphabet, dated earlier than 863, and located in the territories of such European countries as England, Scandinavia, Denmark and others.
Refutation of the ancient origin of Slavic writing
The alleged creators of the Slavic script "missed" a little 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, howevera senior researcher named Grinevich was able to reach almost the very source, and his work made it possible to decipher any text written in Old Slavonic.
Grinevich's work in the study of Slavic writing
In order to understand the writing of the ancient Slavs, Grinevich had to do a lot of work, during which he discovered that it was not based on letters, but had a more complex system that worked at the expense of 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 different bases, and after grouping all the characters, Grinevich singled out four categories: linear, separating characters, pictorial and limiting characters.
For research, Grinevich used about 150 different inscriptions that were present on all kinds of objects, and all his achievements were based on the decoding of these symbols.
Grinevich in the course of research found out that the history of Slavic writing is older, and the ancient Slavs used 74 signs. However, there are too many characters for the alphabet, and if we talk about whole words, then there cannot be only 74 of them in the language. These reflections led the researcher to the idea that the Slavs used syllables instead of letters in the alphabet.
Example: "horse" - syllable "lo"
His approach made it possible to decipher the inscriptions that many scientists fought over and could not understand whatthey mean. And it turned out that everything is quite simple:
- The pot, which was found near Ryazan, had an inscription - instructions, which said that it must be put in the oven and closed.
- The sinker, which was found near the Trinity city, had a simple inscription: "Weighs 2 ounces."
All of the above evidence fully refutes the fact that the creators of Slavic writing are Cyril and Methodius, and prove the antiquity of our language.
Slavic runes in the creation of Slavic writing
The one who created the Slavic script was a rather smart and courageous person, because such an idea at that time could destroy the creator due to the ignorance of all other people. But besides the letter, other options for disseminating information to people were invented - Slavic runes.
In total, 18 runes were found in the world, which are present on a large number of different ceramics, stone statues and other artifacts. An example is ceramic products from the village of Lepesovka, located in southern Volyn, as well as an earthen vessel in the village of Voyskovo. In addition to the evidence located on the territory of Russia, there are monuments that are located in Poland and were discovered as early as 1771. They also have Slavic runes. We should not forget the temple of Radegast, located in Retra, where the walls are decorated with Slavic symbols. The last place that scientists learned about from Titmar of Merseburg is a fortress-temple and is located on the islandcalled Rugen. There are a large number of idols whose names are written using runes of Slavic origin.
Slavic writing. Cyril and Methodius as creators
The creation of writing is attributed to Cyril and Methodius, and in confirmation of this, historical data of the corresponding period of their life is given, which is described in some detail. They touch on the meaning of their activities, as well as the reasons for working on the creation of new characters.
Cyril and Methodius led to the creation of the alphabet by the conclusion that other languages cannot fully reflect Slavic speech. This constraint is proved by the works of the Chernoristian Brave, in which it is noted that before the adoption of the Slavic alphabet for general use, baptism was carried out either in Greek or in Latin, and already 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 its influence on society from the very beginning of the birth of countries and religions, and it also had a hand in the Slavic alphabet, as well as in other aspects of people's lives.
As described above, Slavic baptismal services were held either in Greek or Latin, which allowed other churches to influence the minds and strengthen the idea of their leading role in the heads of the Slavs.
Those countries where the liturgies were held not in Greek, but in Latin, received an increase in the influence of German priests on the faith of the people, but for the Byzantine Churchthis was unacceptable, and she took a retaliatory step, instructing Cyril and Methodius to create a written language on which the service and sacred texts would be written.
The Byzantine church reasoned correctly at that moment, and its intentions were such that the one who created the Slavic script based on the Greek alphabet would help weaken the influence of the German church on all Slavic countries at the same time and at the same time help bring the people closer to Byzantium. These actions can also be seen as self-serving.
Who created the Slavic script based on the Greek alphabet? Created by Cyril and Methodius, and for this work they were chosen by the Byzantine Church not by chance. Kirill grew up in the city of Thessalonica, which, although it was Greek, about half of its inhabitants were fluent in the Slavic language, and Kirill himself was well versed in it, and also had an excellent memory.
Byzantium and its role
There is quite a lot of debate about when work on the creation of the Slavic script began, because May 24 is the official date, but there is a large gap in history that creates a discrepancy.
After Byzantium gave this difficult task, Cyril and Methodius began the development of Slavic writing and in 864 arrived in Moravia with a ready-made Slavic alphabet and a fully translated Gospel, where they recruited students for the school.
After receiving an assignment from the Byzantine Church, Cyril and Methodius head to Morvia. During their journey theythey are engaged in writing the alphabet and translating the texts of the Gospel into Slavonic, and already upon arrival in the city, they have finished works in their hands. However, the road to Moravia does not take so much time. Perhaps this time period makes it possible to create an alphabet, but it is simply impossible to translate the gospel letters in such a short time, which indicates advance work on the Slavic language and translation of texts.
Kirill's illness and departure
After three years of work in his own school of Slavic writing, Kirill refuses this business 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 step back, although now it has become more difficult for him, because the Catholic Church has begun to understand the scale of the work done and is not enthusiastic about it. The Roman Church bans translations into Slavic and openly demonstrates its displeasure, but 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 which of the two possible ones Cyril had a hand in. Only one thing is known, but the most important thing is that it was the Cyrillic alphabet that became the founder of today's Russian alphabet, and only thanks towe can write to her as we write now.
Cyrillic has 43 letters, and the fact that its creator is Kirill proves the presence of 24 letters of the Greek alphabet in it. And the creator of the Cyrillic alphabet based on the Greek alphabet included the remaining 19 solely to reflect complex sounds that were present only among the peoples who used the Slavic language for communication.
Over time, the Cyrillic alphabet was transformed, almost constantly it was influenced in order to simplify and improve. However, there were moments that at first made it difficult to write, for example, the letter "e", which is an analogue of "e", the letter "y" is an analogue of "i". Such letters made spelling difficult at first, but reflected their corresponding sounds.
The Glagolitic, in fact, was an analogue of the Cyrillic alphabet and used 40 letters, 39 of which were taken from the Cyrillic alphabet. The main difference between Glagolitic is that it has a more rounded writing style and does not have the angularity that Cyrillic does.
The disappeared alphabet (Glagolitic), 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 the Glagolitic script with a more rounded style, while the Croatians gravitated towards the angular script.
Despite the number of hypotheses and even the absurdity of some of them, each is worthy of attention, and it is impossible to answer exactly who the creators of Slavic writing are. Answerswill be vague, with many flaws and shortcomings. And although there are many facts that refute the creation of writing by Cyril and Methodius, they were honored for their work, which allowed the alphabet to spread and transform to its current form.
