Slavs and The East

T h e Slavs and the East
The Slavs and

the East
Editors
Mikhail Tikhomirov, Academician
BabadjaiyGafurov, Corresponding M e m b e r of the
U . S . S . R . Academy of Sciences
1 Unesco
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Published in 1965 by the United Nations

Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
Place de Fontenoy, Paris-7e
Printed by Imprimerie Marne, Tours
Unesco 1965
Printed in France
MC(CUA).f>4/D.58/A
Contents
Preface 7
Introduction 9
Ancient neighbours of the Slavs 17
Early sources 21
T h efirstjourneys to the East 28
Trade and trade routes 33
T h e interaction of cultures 38
Oriental studies 54
T h e awakening of the East 63
T h e Soviet East 67
Cultural relations today 71
Articles contributed by: Leonid Vassilyev, Yuri Zavadovsky,

Vladimir Korolyuk, Yuri Nasenko, Anatoli Novoseltsev, A n n a
Tveritinova, Naftula Khalfin, Nina Shastina.
Preface
T h e present work is one of a series of booklets for the general

public, which deal with various aspects of the Major Project
on Mutual Appreciation of Eastern and Western Cultural
Values. It w a s prepared, at the request of the Secretariat, by
the National Commission for Unesco of the Union of Soviet
Socialist Republics.
This publication is thus a contribution by the U . S . S . R . National Commission to the implementation of the Major Project.
It so happens that one of its two principal authors, Professor
Babadjan Gafurov, corresponding m e m b e r of the U . S . S . R .
A c a d e m y of Sciences, is chairman of the East-West Committee
set u p within the National Commission. T h e other is M r . M i k hal Tikhomirov, m e m b e r of the U . S . S . R . A c a d e m y of Sciences.
These two scholars requested a group of authors, members
of the Institute of Asian Peoples, the Institute of History and
the Institute of Slavonic Studies, to write the various chapters
of the work, which covers the following subjects: the neighbours
of the Slavs in antiquity; earliest records;firstjourneys to the
East; trade and trade routes; cultural influences; Oriental
studies; the awakening of the East; the Soviet East; today's
cultural links. T h e opinions expressed in these pages are
Preface
therefore those of the authors, and their observations d o not

necessarily reflect Unesco's views.
T h e Organization is, however, grateful to them for having
described the development of mutual understanding between
Eastern and Western cultures from the standpoint of the Slav
peoples, and for having taken equal account of the phenomena
of the past and of the present repercussions of these reciprocal
influences.
Introduction
T h e progress m a d e in the U . S . S . R . in the study of the history

of the culture of Eastern and Slav countries is a matter of c o m m o n knowledge, but w e are still not in a positionfar from
itto give a concise, clear account of the relations between
the Slav peoples and the peoples of the East through the centuries. In studying ancient periods, researchers are hampered,
above all, by the scantiness and fragmentary nature of written
sources. Consequently, the historian is constantly obliged to
rely only on mute archaeological remains or on linguistic and
ethnographical data, which cannot yet be accurately dated.
O n the other hand, as w e come closer to modern times, sources
become both more numerous and more varied. Present-day
historians must not only uncover but also select their material
in order not to lose sight of the forest for the trees.
Since this paper is being written at a time w h e n very m a n y
aspects of the subject 'the Slavs and the East' are still controversial, hypothetical or insufficiently studied, w h e n our k n o w ledge about contacts between the countries of the East and
those of Central and Eastern Europe throughout the ages and,
more especially, during ancient and mediaeval times, is still
fragmentary, and w h e n m u c h of the data relating to the recent
Introduction
io
past and more modern times still awaits specialized investigation, it is naturally not the purpose of this pamphlet to cover
the whole range of problems, even in a very cursory w a y .
In setting forth the basic facts in the history of contacts
between the Slav peoples and the East, the writers of this paper
realized that the terms 'Slavs' and 'East' are, historically
speaking, by n o means identical concepts. T h e term 'East'
in this pamphlet means the numerous peoples of Asia, speaking
a multitude of languages, often unrelated to one another.
These peoples were in the pastand still areat different
stages of social development and their material and cultural
traditions are highly disparate. T h e concept 'Slavs', o n the
other hand, is a n ethnical one, covering a group of peoples
interconnected by a certain c o m m o n origin and similarity of
languages. It is true that the Slav peoples too, once the primitive community stage was over, did not constitute a single
historical unit. In the course of their development, they c a m e
into contact with tribes and peoples of different cultures and
different origins, so that the ethnical elements entering into
the formation of the contemporary Slav peoples were by no
means uniform. In the past, nevertheless, despite differences
of religion and allowing for certain specific features and irregularities of social development, the Slav peoples were always
united by their c o m m o n derivation from a single primitive
Slav race and by the similarity of their historical past and their
spiritual and material culture.
At the same time, it must be emphasized, w h e n studying
the close ethnical, cultural and historical ties uniting the Slav
peoples throughout the ages, that the contacts between these
peoples and the East, from earliest times, were merely part
of a whole pattern of contacts between the peoples of Asia
and those of Central and Eastern Europe, in which not only
the Slav peoples but also Germans and Hungarians, R u m a nians and Albanians, and the peoples of the Baltic provinces
and Scandinavia participated; moreover, these contacts never
took the form of mutual relations between two hermetically
sealed or diametrically opposed worlds. T h e special nature
of the historical process in the West and the East did not
imply any basic contradiction between them. Fundamentally
11
Introduction
speaking, the historical progress of h u m a n society in East

and West proceeded along identical Unes, with the transition
of both Eastern and Western peoples from one stage of development to the next higher stage being governed by the same
social and economic laws in each case. T h e social and spiritual motives which impelled the peoples of the East and the
West respectively to embark o n the hard fight against oppression and to aspire to, believe in and fight for social justice
were, if not identical, at any rate very similar. This is particularly apparent at the present time, w h e n the peoples of both
Europe and Asia have rallied together in the community of
nations, united in the c o m m o n struggle for socialism, progress
and peace.
T h e Slav peoples have played a large and important part
in the historical contacts that have enriched the culture of
the peoples of Europe and Asia through the centuries precisely
because of the fact that, geographically speaking, the Slav
peoples were close neighbours of Eastern peoples. Their lands
were traversed, ever since the very early Middle Ages, by
the most important transit trade routes of the world, linking
the thenflourishingcountries of the East with a feudal Europe
emerging from the ruins and ashes of the Ancient World.
T h e Slav languages belong to the very extensive IndoEuropean family, which includes the R o m a n c e , Germanic
and Slav tongues, the languages of the Greeks, the Celts, the
Letts and Lithuanians, the Iranians and Armenians, the Indians,
Thracians and Illyrians. Slavs were the aboriginal inhabitants
of vast areas of Central and Eastern Europe located within
the present boundaries of the Soviet Union and Poland, between
the Dnieper and the Oder.
As a result of extensive transmigration, in the course of
which the n e w ethnical m a p of Europe took shape, the Slav
tribes established themselves in the territory of modern Czechoslovakia and settled in Pannonia (where the Hungarians
appeared later and founded their feudal State). T h e Slav
populations, little by little, occupied the whole of the area
lying between the Oder and the Elbe, advancing even in some
places beyond the Elbe to the west. Almost at the same time
the Slav tribes began to m o v e forward into the Balkans, where,
Introduction
ia
by the middle of the eighth century, they already constituted

the dominant ethnical, military and political force, occupying
a large part of the peninsula.
T h e era of mass Slav migrations in the early Middle Ages
was also the time w h e n the three main branches of the great
Slav people took final shape. T h e East Slavs include the present-day Russians, Ukrainians and Byelorussians; the West
Slavsthe Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, and Sorbs or Lusations;
South Slavs (Bulgarians, Serbs, Macedonians, Croats and
Slovenes) occupied the Balkan peninsula.
Subsequently, substantial changes occurred along the western
frontiers of the Slav world. T h e G e r m a n feudal drive to the
East reduced the size of Slav-occupied territory in the West,
where the Slav tribes along the Elbe and the Baltic found
themselves absorbed by the Germanic ethnic mass.
At the same time, the territory occupied by the Slavs expanded considerably to the south and east. T h e East Slavs not
only stood u p to the attacks of the n o m a d tribes of the Black
Sea steppes and threw off the Tartar-Mongolian rule which
had stifled their spiritual and material culture for three centuries; but they even succeeded in conquering large areas of the
Black Sea steppes, besides embarking on large-scale economic
development of the limitless expanses of the Urals and Siberia.
This expansion, begun as early as the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries by peasants and Cossacks pushing south and east,
eventually m a d e the Russian Slavs direct neighbours of the
peoples of Central Asia and the Far East.
T h e clearest illustration of the tremendous progressive importance of this drive of the Eastern Slavs to the shores of the
Pacific O c e a n is the present-day economic and cultural development of Siberia, which Soviet people are transforming into
a very advanced industrial and agricultural region with a
highly developed scientific and cultural life.
But another inference m a y also be drawn from the foregoing: the influence exerted by relations and links with Eastern
countries o n their social, political and cultural development
was by no means identical for all the Slav peoples. T h e effect
of such contacts was, quite obviously, m u c h greater in the
case of the Southern Slavs, w h o remained for m a n y centuries
13
Introduction
under the feudal yoke of the Turks, and had m a n y economic

links of all kinds with the countries of Asia Minor and the
Middle East, than in the case of the Western Slavs. But
the Eastern Slavs alsoRussians and Ukrainians, in particularhad, and still have, specially close contacts with
a great variety of Asiatic countries. This circumstance has,
of course, influenced our choice of historical material for the
present pamphlet.
T h e Slavs, like the other peoples of Europe, have not merely
helped to shape the n e w ethnical structure of Europe but have
also, from the very outset, played an active part in European
cultural, economic and political life. Together with the R o m a nic and Germanic peoples, they were the heirs of the GraecoR o m a n Mediterranean civilization of the Ancient World,
based, in turn, o n the tremendous achievements of the ancient
civilizations of Asia and Africa. T h e Slav peoples m a d e an
enormous contribution to the development of European culture and science, and so played an active part in creating world
cultural tradition as a whole and contributed to the triumphs
of h u m a n genius in all spheres of knowledge, from elaborating
the heliocentric theory to penetrating the deepest secrets of
the structure of matter and the heroic conquest of the cosmos.
Yet, the advance of European civilization was never an isolated phenomenon: it drew its inspiration, throughout the
centuries, from the superior, vitalizing civilizations created by
the peoples of the East, just as the peoples of the East, in their
turn, particularly in recent and modern times, have absorbed
into their cultures and assimilated the technical and spiritual
achievements of Europe.
T h e fact that the Slav peoples played an important part in
this mutually enriching exchange of technical and cultural
values is due mainly to the links which these peoples had, in
ancient times and for m a n y centuries, maintained with the
East. T h e Slav peoples, in creating their indigenous civilization, had always maintained extremely close and varied
cultural contacts with other peoples.
T h e history of relations between the Slav peoples and peoples
of the East had, of course, in addition to these fruitful exchanges
of ideas and achievements, its negative aspects toowhich
Introduction
'4
brings us back to a problem already mentioned above, that

of the choice of material for this pamphlet.
That w e decided, eventually, to confine ourselves to cultural and historical problems w a s not due to any reluctance
on our part to touch upon the complex and controversial
aspects of the past. W e do not in the least underestimate the
significance of political contacts and relations in history
which, incidentally, have been studied in relatively greater
detail; nor do w e take the view that history should ignore such
negative p h e n o m e n a as the three-century-long yoke imposed
by the Tartars on Russia, the six centuries of Turkish feudal
rule in the Balkans or the predatory nature of Tsarist foreign
policy. But at this juncture, w h e n our planet is threatened by
the monstrous scourge of nuclear w a r and the sole alternative
to a disastrous world-wide atomic conflict is peaceful co-existence between countries with different social systems, first
priority must, in our opinion, be given to studying and clarifying those aspects of past history which help to bring nations
closer together and increase their mutual understanding and
respect.
T h e team of authors, representing m e m b e r s of the Institute
of Asian Peoples, the Institute of History and the Institute of
Slav Studies of the U . S . S . R . A c a d e m y of Sciences, has concentrated on questions of economic and cultural contacts between
the Slav countries and the countries of the East, on the traditions of their c o m m o n revolutionary struggle, and on broad
co-operation between them in modern times; and has selected
and arranged the material so as to illustrate clearly and vividly
the following main themes:
Cultural or economic isolation has never proved favourable
to real social, economic and cultural progress. Large-scale
exchanges of cultural values and mutually advantageous
economic exchanges have always promoted the general
progress of countries and peoples, without materially afFecting either their individual image or the originality of their
culture.
Economic and cultural relations between peoples, along with
greater knowledge of one another, constitute powerful levers
that help in discarding outworn national prejudices. B y
15
Introduction
overcoming the racial, national a n d religious barriers erected in the past by the exploiting classes, nations will thereby
remove a serious hindrance to h u m a n progress.
T h e abolition of national and social oppression, as seen from
the example of the development of Eastern peoples in the
Soviet Union, creates the most favourable possibilities for a
very extensive international exchange.
T h e present-day development of extensive co-operation between the peoples of the East, the Slav countries, and all
the countries with socialist systems yields beneficial results
in all branches of their domestic a n d international development. Such co-operation is equally important to both parties
and it serves the interests of mankind as a whole, since it
helps to solve the most burning problem of the presentday worldwar or peacein favour of peace.
Ancient neighbours
of the Slavs
A glance at the m a p of Europe and Asia immediately shows

that the mountain range of the Urals, separating the Eastern
European plain from Siberia, breaks off at its southern end
before reaching the Caspian Sea, and forms a sort of natural gateway, where the steppes of Asia meet those of the Black
Sea region.
L o n g before they were ploughed up by Soviet tractors,
these steppes were, in Gogol's words, 'a green and virgin wilderness'. Covered with tall feather-grass that would hide a
horseman, they provided the ancient nomads with rich pastures. T h e Asiatic peoples found here their most convenient
route from east to west, and in the opposite direction, or across
their path, moved those Slav tribes w h o sought an outlet to
w a r m seas or new and fertile lands to conquer.
Ties of mutual influence linked u p at the meeting-point of
these two ethnic and cultural streams.
For a long period during the last millennium B . C . , Scythians
and Sarmatians'the mare-milkers'led a nomadic existence
to the north of the Black and Caspian Seas. These were
peoples of European racial type, whose languagesknown
as Eastern-Iranianwere distantly related to Persian. S o m e
Ancient neighbours of the Slavs
18
of them contributed to the development of an advanced

Graeco-Scythian culture on the shores of the Black Sea,
where Greek colonies were situated.
Gold vessels and ornaments, unearthed in great numbers
from Scythian burial mounds, form a collection of extreme
rarity, of which the U . S . S . R . is justly proud. T h e Greek historian Herodotus describes h o w the Scythians buried their kings.
W h e n the king died, his favourite concubine and faithful
servants were first strangled and then buried with himas
well as his finest horses and golden vessels, for the Scythians
believed that the dead m a n would need all these in the other
world. A high m o u n d was raised over the tomb.
T h e descendants of the Scythians and Sarmatians settled
on the shores of the Black Sea and intermingled partially with
the Eastern Slavs, w h o inherited a n u m b e r of words from the
vocabulary of the Scythians. T h e Russian word for dog,
sobaka, for example, is considered to be one such ancient
borrowing. It is certain that the present names of some of
the rivers of the Ukraine are also East-Iranian in structure.
Moreover, it must be assumed that m a n y Slavonic-Iranian
linguistic similarities can be explained by the c o m m o n origin
of these Indo-European peoples; whilst similarities in the fields
of mythology, religion and ethnics clearly reflect the ancient
community of religion, mythology and culture, and consequent close cultural contacts that existed between the Iranians,
in the wider sense of the term, and the Slavs.
Beyond the Scythians, further to the east, lived the ancestors
of the Turkic-Altaic peoples. T h e y were also horse-breeders,
and their culture, to judge from archaeological data, in m a n y
ways resembled that of the Scythians. This is particularly
proved by a burial m o u n d discovered by Soviet archaeologists
in the perpetual frost zone of the Altai Mountains: here, the
deceased's horses were buried along with him.
T h e H u n s , w h o belonged to the same racial and linguistic
group, moved into Europe in the fifth century A . D . , and left
similar burial grounds in what is n o w Czechoslovakia. After
the H u n s were defeated at the battle of Chalons on the Catalaunian plains in 451 and driven out of Western Europe, they
were rapidly absorbed by other nomadic peoples.
19
S o m e time later, in the sixth and seventh centuries, the

Bulgars, w h o are believed to have belonged to the Turkic
peoples, appeared in the steppes of South Russia. Some of
them moved towards the Balkans; crossing the Danube, they
found themselves a m o n g Slavs and rapidly adopted and mastered the Slavonic language and culture. S o m e of them moved
to the upper Volga, where they founded the State of the 'Volga
or K a m a Bulgars', which for a long time played an important
role as an intermediary in trade between the Slavs and the
peoples of the East.
Another intermediary in trading relations between the
Slavs and the East was the Khazar Khaganate, which existed
on the lower Volga until the end of the first millennium A . D .
and which consisted of Turkic peoples whose leaders had adopted
Judaism.
A m o n g the north-eastern neighbours of the Slavs were the
Finno-Ugrians, w h o traded between the third and seventh
centuries A . D . with Sassanid Iran and the Caucasus. A m o n g
these peoples ancient Russian chronicles mention the Chudes,
Mordvins, M u r o m s and Cheremissi. S o m e of these have gone
on living in almost the same places u p to the present day.
Others moved far to the west, like the Magyars, w h o settled
in Central Europe.
In regions where the Eastern Slavs c a m e into contact with
the Chudes, the Russian population, into which the Chudes
were subsequently absorbed, has preserved a peculiar type of
ornament: a pendant in the form of a small duck with a lump
of earth in its beak. This little duckfiguresin the cosmogonical
tales of the Finno-Ugrians and the Volga Bulgars.
In north-eastern Europe, sheltered by the Urals and by
dense forests, lived the Ugrians, Permians and K o m i . For
more than fifteen hundred years they accumulated unique
treasure hoards, buried under the ground. Embossed dishes
and cups of silver gilt, unearthed in this region in the nineteenth
and early twentieth centuries, are exhibited in the 'Sassanid
R o o m ' of the Hermitage M u s e u m in Leningrad.
Russian popular art, like that of several other Slav peoples,
has preserved a number of motifs in c o m m o n with the art of
the Scythians, the Altai peoples, the Bulgars, the Finno-Ugrians
20
and the Sassanid Iranians. T h e portrayal of animals, in particular, became very widespread a m o n g all these peoples. K n o w n
customarily to specialists as the 'animal style', this style w a s
formed while the Scythians were still in Hither Asia, and spread
from there to Iran, the Caucasus and Central Asia, as far as
the Altai and north-west India.
Animals were represented both singly, in pairs and 'face
to face', and also in rows. Hunting scenes, or those representing the attacks of predatory beasts o n deer and other hoofed
animals are particularly c o m m o n . Fantastic figures, half-beast,
half-human, sometimes with appendages in the form of birds'
wings or a snake-like tail, are also c o m m o n . All these griffons,
sirens and centaurs sometimes underwent Byzantine processing
before appearing as decorations on north Russian embroidery,
on spinning wheels, and o n other household articles.
These different phenomena, considered as a whole, are
eloquent testimony to the fact that at no time in h u m a n history
were East and West separated from each other by a blank
wall, but that the cultures of Eastern and Western peoples
developed under conditions of prolonged and rather varied
contacts.
Early sources
Whereas our knowledge of the earliest contacts between the

Slavs and Eastern peoples derives from folklore, linguistics,
toponymy and archaeology, and from fragmentary information
supplied by R o m a n writers (Pliny and others), w e have at
our disposal, from the sixth century A . D . onwards, written
evidence of contacts between the Slav world and the East
which, though still very disjointed and fragmentary, is nevertheless important. This was the period w h e n the Slavs became
well k n o w n in Byzantium. T h e Byzantine government enrolled
detachments of Slavs in its service and used them in wars
with Sassanid Iran. It was through the Greeks that the very
n a m e , 'Slavs', became known in the East.
But was it only through the Greeks that sixth-century Iran
learned of the existence, somewhere in the far north, of a tall,
fair-haired race, renowned for its courage and virility? T h e
sixth century was, after all, the greatest age of Sassanid expansion; its garrisons then held the impregnable Derbent citadel
and the Dariel Pass, so preventing the nomads from invading
Transcaucasia. It is a pity that the Iranian sources of the period
have not reached us. But m u c h later chroniclers of the Caspian
regions, historians in particular, were not only familiar with
Early sources
22
the legends handed d o w n from former times but also with the
chroniclers of the pre-Muslim period. It is precisely in their
work that w e find several rather vague references to the Slavs,
w h o became k n o w n in Iran in the second half of the sixth and
thefirstthird of the seventh centuries.
It m a y be assumed that as early as the seventh and eighth
centuries, Slav settlements existed somewhere near the middle
D o n , which Arab authors of the eighth and ninth centuries
called 'the river of the Slavs'.
F r o m the eighth century onwards there was increasingly
important commerce between the countries of the Arab Caliphate and those of Eastern Europe and the Baltic seaboard.
F r o m its very beginnings, a particularly important role in this
trade was played by the route along the River Volga. T h e
Volga itself is called the 'Russian River' by Arab geographers
of the tenth century. T h e boats of Eastern merchants m o v e d
northwards along its course, passing through the rich trading
centres of Itil (near present-day Astrakhan) and Bulgar (south
of the mouth of the K a m a ) . They were attracted there by the
legendary riches of the northern lands, and primarily by their
furs: silver fox, sable, marten, ermine, beaver and the pelts
of other animals. Their value was well k n o w n in K h o r e z m ,
as well as in Bokhara, Rai, Baghdad and Cairo. Poets sang their
praises, and kings, emirs and famous potentates strove to outdo
each other with magnificent gifts from the dense forests and the
rivers of the distant northlands. Finest of all were the furs
from the land of the Volga Bulgars and the Russian north. In
addition to furs, Eastern Europe exported w a x , honey and
slaves. T h e countries of the Slavs received in return the products
of sophisticated Eastern artisans, and, in particularly large
quantities, silver coins. It is no mere coincidence that, throughout the whole vast area in which the Eastern and Western
Slavs were settled, numerous hoards of silver coins of the eighth
to tenth centuries are still being discovered, bearing silent witness to the lively trading relations that existed with the East in
those distant times.
But Eastern merchants were not the only active parties in
this trade. 'Trading guests' from the Slavs were familiar figures
in various towns of the Caliphate. Ibn Khurdadbih, an Arab
23
Early sources
geographer of the ninth century, provides us with evidence of

their regular visits to Eastern lands. H e wrote: 'Concerning
the Russian merchants, they are a kind of Slavs, and bring
beaver fur, the fur of the silver fox and swords from the most
remote parts of the Slav land to the R o m a n (Black) Sea ; and
the Emperor of the R o m a n s (Byzantium) levies a tithe on them
(the merchants) ; and, if they so desire, they set off along the
Tanais (Don), the river of the Slavs, and pass through the
narrows of the capital of the Khazars, and the ruler of the
Khazars levies a tithe on them. T h e n they set off for the Dzhurdzhan (Caspian) Sea and land on whatever shore they please...
and sometimes they carry their goods on camels from Dzhurdzhan to Baghdad, where Slav slaves serve them as interpreters.'
T h e lively trade relations between the countries of the Caliphate and the lands of the Slavs strengthened the interest
taken in the Slavs by Arab science. In works written as early
as the eighth to tenth centuries, scholars find quite a lot of
important data about the Slavs. Geographical and historical
works of that period contain material concerning the origin
of the Slavs, their contacts with other peoples, their churches
and religion, the life and customs of the different tribes, the
first Slav States etc.
A t the beginning of the tenth century, the vizier of the central
Asian State of the Samanids was al-Dzhaykhani. This enlightened minister combined his activities as a statesman with an
interest in science; he patronized scholars, and was himself a
student of geography. In compiling his great geographical
work, he not only m a d e wide use of the works of his predecessors, the Greek and Arab geographers, but also in seeking to
fill in the gaps which existed in these works, and, if possible,
to add n e w and contemporary material, he gathered around
him merchants w h o had travelled to distant lands and questioned them about the lands and peoples they had seen. These
merchants included people w h o had been to the Volga, and
also to the distant town o f ' K u y a b ' (Kiev), the Russian capital.
T h e inquisitive minister-geographer heard from them about
the great riches of that country, about its warlike and doughty
inhabitants, about the relations between the Russians and
Early sources
24
neighbouring peoples and, in particular, about their trade.

Eastern merchants and travellers c a m e to the lands of the
Slavs from the West, from M o s l e m Spain. Ibrahim ibn Y a k u b
m a d e such a journey to the lands of the Western Slavs in the
sixties of the tenth century, and has left us an extremely interesting account. A m o n g the Slav States, he described Bohemia,
Poland, the principality of the Obodriti and Bulgaria. H e did
not visit the latter country but saw ambassadors from Bulgaria
during an audience given by the G e r m a n Emperor Otto I.
These ambassadors 'wore narrow cloaks fastened with long
belts which had gold and silver buttons'. Ibrahim ibn Y a k u b
wrote of the Bulgarians that they had translated the Gospels
into the Slav language.
This traveller goes into m u c h greater detail concerning the
Western Slavs, w h o m he, m o r e often than not, calls 'Slavs'.
Speaking of the activities of the population, he noted that
'they (the Slavs) are diligent in tilling the soil and earning a
livelihood and surpass all northern peoples in this respect'.
Himself an inhabitant of the torrid south, where the farmer
often ran the risk of losing his entire harvest as a result of drought,
Ibrahim ibn Y a k u b remarked that in the country of the Slavs
no such a danger existed.
T h e Slavs were, from ancient times, k n o w n in the East as
a northern people. Eastern scholars of the time even explained
such superficial characteristics of the Slavs as their fair hair
and their fresh complexion by the peculiarities of the cold
northern climate. N o r did Ibrahim ibn Y a k u b fail to mention
this, although he was, of course, clearly exaggerating w h e n
he wrote that the Slavs, accustomed to the cold climate, were
afraid to travel even to L o m b a r d y or to Italy, because the
great heat would, as they alleged, have fatal consequences for
them. A t the same time, he noted, evidently with some surprise, that the inhabitants of Bohemia were generally darkhaired.
N o r did he omit to mention the towns of the Slavs, paying
particular attention to a description of Prague. This town,
which was celebrated for making saddles and shields, was
visited by Russian, Polish, Pomeranian, Varangian, Jewish
and Moslem merchants.
25
Early sources
By the end of the tenth century, paganism in Russia was

in decline. W h e n the Russian prince, Vladimir Svyatoslavich
('the Saint'), head of one of the largest European States, decided
to 'abandon the old gods', in the words of the Russian Primary
Chronicle, he organized an unusual competition between
representatives of the three biggest monotheistic religions
Christianity, Islam and Judaismthe so-called 'testing of
faiths'. A t the prince's request, representatives of each religion told him about the significance and special features of
their faith. T h e chronicler relates that Vladimir w a s at first
attracted to the M o s l e m religion, but some of its dogmas, such
as the ban o n wine and pork, were not to his taste. Finally,
Russia accepted Christianity from Byzantium.
This was not, of course, because Vladimir stubbornly refused
to abstain from wine and pork, but because political conditions
in the tenth century, the presence of Christian neighbours to
the south and west, and, by that time, of quite strong Christian
elements in Russia, obliged the prince to declare for Christ
rather than M o h a m m e d . But it is curious that this 'testing of
faiths', although it is basically cloaked in legend, found expression in the literature of the East. In thefirsthalf of the thirteenth
century, M o h a m m e d Awfi, a Persian poet from Central Asia
living in India, compiled a unique anthology, Jawami ulHikayat in which he recounts, inter alia, h o w the prince of the
Russians, Buldmir (Vladimir), sent ambassadors to K h o r e z m ,
as he wished to adopt Islam.
T h e contacts between the Eastern Slavs and the peoples
of the Northern Caucasus and Transcaucasia were particularly
close. Georgia became a strong and united kingdom in the
twelfth century. Georgia was k n o w n in Russia as the land of
the Abkhazians (Abkhazia). T h e Russian Chronicle has preserved for us considerable information about the diplomatic
and dynastic relations of Russian princes with the ruling house
of Georgia. Thus, in 1152, Prince Mstislav married the daughter
of the king of the Abkhazians (his wife was the aunt of the
famous Georgian queen, T a m a r a , w h o herself took a Russian
princeling as herfirsthusband).
There is also evidence of cultural contacts between Russia
and Transcaucasia. Georgian craftsmen are believed to have
Early sources
26
participated in the construction of the celebrated churches of the

capital city of Vladimir o n the Klyazma.
Eastern, Western and Southern Slavs derived their knowledge of the East both from contemporary word-of-mouth reports
and from historical literature, principally Greek. Russian,
Polish and Czech annals and chronicles (for example, the
Polish chronicle of Gallus A n o n y m u s , and the Czech chronicle
of Cosmas of Prague, compiled in the eleventh to twelfth centuries, contained a certain amount of information about the
civilizations of the ancient EastEgypt, Assyria, Media and
Iran. T h e compiler of the twelfth-century Russian Primary
Chronicle was obviously familiar with the geography and
history of Eastern countries. Thus, he speaks of the trade route
along the Volga to the 'Khvalynskoe' (Caspian) Sea and further
to 'Khvalisi' (Khorezm). T h e work of the fifteenth-century
Polish chronicler, Jan Dlugosz, contains numerous references
to the ancient and mediaeval peoples of the East.
T h e last of the great Arab travellers of the Middle Ages
k n o w n to us to have visited the Slavs was the Andalusian A b u
H a m i d of Granada, w h o spent fifty-six of the ninety years of
his life in long journeys through different countries in Asia
and Europe. H e lived for a long time in Saksin, a town of the
eleventh to thirteenth centuries, situated at the mouth of the
Volga, on the site of the ancient Itil, and he had a house in
Hungary. A b u H a m i d also visited Bulgar on the Volga, and
on his return journey from there (in the third decade of the
twelfth century) he travelled through part of the territory
of the Eastern Slavs, leaving behind him a sort of diary of his
journey. A n outstanding characteristic of this m a n was his
love for all forms of the odd or unusual. Thus, the section of
his notes about the country of the Slavs (the Russians) begins
with a description of forms of exchange which had impressed
him. In the part of Russia which this traveller visited, the
means of exchange was not metal coins, which the Arab
merchant was accustomed to in other countries, but squirrelskins.
A b u H a m i d also recorded other impressions. H e spoke
of the 'bravery' of the Slavs, and said that their country
was 'vast, rich in honey, wheat, barley and large apples of
27
Early sources
unsurpassed quality, which were abundant there and inexpensive'. In one Slav town in Russia, whose exact location is hard
to determine, he had an interesting meeting with a native of
Baghdad, A b d al-Karim, w h o lived there.
Twenty years after A b u H a m i d ' s visit to Russia, the Arab
scholar, al-Idrisi, a m e m b e r of a distinguished but declining
family, w h o was attached to the court of Roger, the N o r m a n
King of Sicily, far away in the West, completed a geographical
work, Nuzhat al-Mushtak Fihtirak al-Afak (The Journey of
O n e w h o Loves Horizons). While working o n this project,
al-Idrisi, like his distant predecessor, al-Dzhaykhani, not only
m a d e use of scholarly works but also obtained the assistance
of his patron, Roger, in collecting a mass of oral information
about different countries and about trade in the contemporary
world. T h e countries of the Slavs also are given quite a lot of
prominence in his work. Al-Idrisi listed m a n y Slav towns, and
mentioned the trade routes which he knew about.
T h efirstjourneys
to the East
After Christianity was adopted in Russia, pilgrimages (khozheniya) were a m o n g thefirstkinds of journeys m a d e by Russians
to the East. Pilgrims' tales of Constantinople, Byzantium and
Palestine appear in Russian chronicles from the twelfth century
onwards. A s early as the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the
Russians had a special quarter (obol) in Constantinople, where
merchants w h o had arrived from Russia used to live. Colonies
of Russian monks sprang up in the monasteries of Constantinople.
S o m e of them transcribed or even translated books by Greek
authors into their native tongue, and also transcribed works by
South Slav authors, and sent them to M o s c o w . It was through
these that Russia became aware, long before the fall of Constantinople, of the Turks having appeared in Asia Minor. A
detailed account of the siege and capture of Constantinople
by the Turks in 1453 was left by one of the Russian eye-witnesses of this eventNestor Iskander.
After the Turks captured Kaffa in the Crimea, in 1475,
the Ottoman State became a close neighbour of Muscovite
Russia. Desirous of direct contacts with the Turks, M o s c o w
sent itsfirstambassador to Istanbul in 1497, with instructions
to get an agreement permitting Russian merchants to engage
29
T h efirstjourneys to the East
in unhampered trade in the Turkish possessions. Subsequently,

ambassadors were exchanged more or less regularly between
Ottoman Turkey and Russia. T h e articles produced by Turkish craftsmen in the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries
weapons, armour, plates and dishes in chased metal, harness
decorations, precious fabrics and enamelswhich are conserved in the 'Oruzhejnaya Palata' Armoury of the M o s c o w
Kremlin, were all at one time or another brought into Russia
as gifts from the Turkish Sultans to the Russian Tsars.
Sixteenth-century Russia learned about Turkey and the life
of the Turks through the works of Ivan Peresvetov and M a x i m
the Greek, which are written in a lively manner, and were
extremely popular at that time. In the seventeenth century,
a very well-known work in Russia and in Europe was a book,
The Court of the Turkish Czar, by the Polish writer, Starovolsky,
written after his lengthy stay in Turkey; soon after publication,
it was translated into Russian and other European languages.
In the eighteenth century, Vassilyi Grigorovich-Barsky travelled in Turkey and the countries of the Near East, as did
Konstantin Bazili, Mikhail Vronchenko and Piotr Chikhachev
in the nineteenth century.
F r o m the fifteenth century onwards, there is evidence concerning the exchange of ambassadors between Muscovite
Russia and Iran. For example, the Iranian historian, A b d
ar-Razzak, refers to the arrival of Russian ambassadors in
Herat in 1464. A n embassy from Sultan Hussein of Herat
arrived in M o s c o w in 1490 with an offer of 'friendship and
affection'.
Exchanges of embassies became more frequent in the sixteenth century, w h e n the Kazan and Astrakhan khanates
were united with Russia and Iran became her immediate
neighbour.
F r o m the seventeenth century w e have the travel notes of
the Russian merchant, Kotov, concerning Iran and the lands
situated on the route to that country. Kotov supplied very
interesting geographical, ethnographical and economic material
about the lands and peoples he had seen.
F r o m ancient times India engrossed the imagination of the
Slavs. T h e fantasy-embroidered story of Alexander the Great's
journey to the East, to India, was familiar to Russians and

Western Slavs, under the title of Aleksandrija. M o r e reliable
information about this country was provided by the translations of the Christian Topography of Cosmas of Indikopol.
Most of the information about this 'land of wonders', however,
reached the Slavs indirectly, mainly through Central Asia,
Transcaucasia and Iran. T h efirstRussian to see India with
his o w n eyes was Aphanasi Nikitin, a merchant of Tver, w h o
was there in 1466-72. H e described his journey in a book entitled Travels Beyond Three Seas. In contrast with m a n y European travellers, Nikitin managed to mingle with the Indians
and gain a good knowledge of the country and its customs.
In the seventeenth century, Russia tried to establish regular
commercial and diplomatic relations with India, but of
three embassies sent out, only the last one reached Kabul,
in 1676.
Shortly after the creation of the Afghan State (1747), Bogdan Aslanov was sent there by Russia as an ambassador to
establish diplomatic relations and also to ascertain the possibilities of trade with India through Astrabad. Aslanov's journey
began in January 1764, and lasted more than a year. Aslanov's
notes were the first almost entirely reliable information in
Russia about Afghanistan. F r o m the third decade of the nineteenth century onwards, Russian scholars were the first in
Europe to m a k e a thorough study of the history of the Afghan
people and of its language, Pushtu. In 1858-59 a scientific
expedition led by Nicolai Khanykov investigated a number
of architectural monuments in Afghanistan. In 1878, the first
Russian mission visited the capital of Afghanistan, Kabul.
T h e Russians were the first of the Slav peoples to establish
permanent relations also with the peoples of Central Asia and
Siberia. In the seventeenth century, Ivan Fedotov and the
Pazukhin brothers collected information about Bokhara and
Khiva and by the beginning of the eighteenth century, a m a p
of Central Asia had been compiled in Russia, and Russians
were already quite familiar with those regions. There is, in
Paris, a m a p of Central Asia and the Caspian Sea, corrected by
Peter I in his o w n hand w h e n he was shown an extremely
inaccurate m a p prepared in Europe.
3'
T h e Yermak expedition, which inaugurated the conquest

of Siberia, was organized in 1581, from the lands owned by
the Stroganov merchants beyond the Urals. T h e Cossacks and
the 'pioneers' opened up n e w territories and built towns:
Tobolsk, T o m s k , Yeniseisk and Yakutsk. A s early as 1640,
the Russians had theirfirstm a p of Siberia. At the end of the
seventeenth century, parties led by Poyarkov and Khabarov
reached the shores of the Pacific Ocean. A Russian Cossack,
Dezhnev, discovered the strait which separates Asia from North
America. In thefirsthalf of the eighteenth century, two expeditions were led to Kamchatka by Vitus Bering. Russians also
penetrated into Alaska (which belonged to Russia until 1867,
w h e n it was sold to the United States).
In the seventeenth century, detachments of Cossacks, in
their conquest of Siberia, c a m e into contact with n o m a d
Mongols. In a desire to establish good relations with the M o n gols and, across their territory, with China, the Russian government exchanged ambassadors with the Mongolian ruler, AltanKhan.
It was only in the seventeenth century that regular contacts
between Russia and China were established, when the Cossack
Ivan Petlin accomplished a journey of incomparable daring
to Peking. A n official embassy, headed by Feodor Baikov, was
later sent to China with a retinue of one hundred. Feodor
Baikov's credentials proclaimed 'and W e , the Great Sovereign,
seek firm friendship and affection with Y o u , the Chinese E m p e ror . . .'. This embassy did not, however, gain audience with
the Chinese Emperor. In 1675, Nikolaj Spafary arrived in
Peking at the head of a large Russian embassy. H e was received
in audience by the Chinese Emperor, and credentials were
exchanged. T h e Russian people learned m u c h about China
from this ambassador. T h e Treaty of Nerchinsk in 1689 opened
up wide prospects for Russo-Chinese relations.
Other Slav peoples also became acquainted with China in
the seventeenth century. Polish missionaries, for example,
were a m o n g those w h o carried Catholicism from Western
Europe to China. O n e of them, Mikhail Boim, rendered great
services to the authorities of the M i n g Dynasty in the midseventeenth century during their struggle with the Manchus
32
in the Kwang-si province, and his n a m e has passed into Chinese

history.
Emerging on the shores of the Pacific Ocean and establishing
themselves there, the Russians became acquainted also with
the Japanese. In a Cosmography which appeared in Russia
in 1670, it is stated that: 'Japanese people are very clever.'
Japanese fishermen, shipwrecked on the shores of Kamchatka
in 1695 and 1719, captured the interest of the Russians with
tales of their o w n country.
In 1803 Japanese vessels were again shipwrecked on Russian
shores. T h e Russians helped the Japanese sailors, and sent
an embassy, headed by Nicolai Rezanov, back with them w h e n
they returned to their homeland. Later, the Japanese published
a diary which they had kept during their stay in Russia. It
contained detailed descriptions of the natural resources of Siberia and the customs of its inhabitants. A m o n g its illustrations
is an interesting Indian ink portrait of Rezanov, with explanatory details of his costume.
Despite the mutual interest between Russians and Japanese,
regular commercial relations between them were slow to develop. A n expedition by the merchant Grigory Shelekhov, at
the end of the eighteenth century, proved fruitless, as did even
the later expeditions of Nicolai Kruzenshtern (1805) and Vassili
Mikhailovitch Golovnine (1811-13). Trade between Japan and
Russia began only in the middle of the nineteenth century.
Trade and trade

routes
T h e trading links between Slav countries and the East, which

had been so animated during the early Middle Ages, were
not discontinued subsequently. Even during the hard times of
Tartar-Mongol domination, the ancient trade route along the
Volga did not lose its importance, and in the fourteenth century, Russian vessels moved d o w n the great river to the trading
centres of the Volga right to the mouth of the river. In the
fourteenth andfifteenthcenturies, Iranian, Central Asian and
Armenian merchants travelled upstream with the traditional
products of Eastern crafts.
Gradually, as the young Russian State, having managed to
throw off the Tartar-Mongol yoke, spread over the wide plains
of Eastern Europe, and as its power and international prestige
grew, n e w and ever more favourable conditions for trade with
the East were established.
Absorbing successively within its frontiers the realms of
Kazan, Astrakhan and Siberia, Russia carved herself a route
towards the countries of the East. Astrakhan became a centre
of Eastern trade, from which Russian merchants travelled along
the Caspian Sea coast, through Derbent and Baku, to Transcaucasia, Iran and even India. F r o m the second half of the
Trade and trade routes
34
fifteenth century onwards, and particularly in the sixteenth

century, their business journeys took them more and more
frequently to the Caucasus, Transcaucasia, Iran, the Turkish
Empire and its possessions. Merchants from Poland and Bohemia reached the countries of the East either through the Turkish possessions in the Balkan peninsula or through the Ukraine
and the Crimea. Even in the seventeenth century, the trade
route from Trebizond to the Crimea, the D a n u b e regions and
eastwards to Iran was very important. T h e South Slavs, w h o
were subjects of the Ottoman Empire, maintained constant
trading contacts both with Turkey itself and with the Arab
peoples of the Mediterranean.
T h e riches of India were particularly attractive to Slav
merchants, as well as to traders from other European countries.
Trading relations between Russia and India were established
as early as the late sixteenth century. Their growth is testified
to by the fact that, whereas a considerable proportion of the
Indian goods which reached Russia u p to the mid-seventeenth
century came through Archangel, where they arrived in British
and Dutch ships, subsequently, it was only from the south that
they all entered Russia.
It must be emphasized that it was precisely from the sixteenth
century onwards, w h e n the great age of geographical discoveries began, and Europe was fascinated by news of the incalculable riches of India and China, that the Slavs proved again
to be almost the principal link in expanding commercial and
cultural relations between Western Europe and the East.
Although Europe was b y then already familiar with the sea
route to India and although the capture of Byzantium by the
Turks in 1453 had not yet led to the decline of the old trade
route to the East through the Balkans and Asia Minor, the
possibility of finding n e w routes through Polish and Russian
lands tempted the merchant houses of Europe. As early as
1520, Paolo Centurione, a Genoese, came to M o s c o w with
orders to find out a land route to China. A special company
was set up in England in the mid-sixteenth century, with the
aim of establishing trade routes through Russia to China and
India. In 1558, Anthony Jenkinson, an agent of this company,
secured the protection of the Russian Tsar and travelled along
35
the Volga-Caspian route,firstto Khiva and Bokhara, and finally

even to Iran. In 1587, permission was also granted to Polish
and Lithuanian merchants to trade with the countries of the
East across Russian lands and to seek routes to China.
Besides searching for a land route to China, the Europeans
did not abandon their attempts to discover a northern sea
route to China. O n e of the first of these projects was launched
as early as the beginning of the sixteenth century by the M u s covite ambassador in R o m e , Dimitri Gerasimov. In 1553, the
Englishman, Chancellor, tried to carry out this project but got
only as far as Archangel, with the result that the first trade
contacts were established between Russia and England. Tsar
Ivan the Terrible, w h o was interested in the East, is known
to have promised a large reward to anyone w h o reached China
by the northern sea route. It was only in the second half of
the seventeenth century that these efforts were discontinued,
when it was found that China could not be reached by sea,
'because of great ice, frost and fogs'.
A considerable part of the Slav trade with the East was in
the hands of merchants of Eastern origin. A m o n g these, a
prominent role was played by Armenian traders. They founded
numerous colonies both in the East (in India, Egypt and Iran)
and also in Europe, particularly in Poland, the Ukraine, the
Crimea and Moldavia. M a n y Armenian merchants lived in
M o s c o w and Astrakhan. In the seventeenth century, the A r m e nians, w h o had established a number of close trading contacts,
held for a time what was virtually a monopoly in supplying
Eastern goods to the countries of Europe via Russia and Poland.
Besides the Armenians, an important role in seventeenth- and
eighteenth-century trade via Astrakhan was played by merchants
from India. S o m e of them, natives for the most part of the
Punjab and Sind, settled in Astrakhan, where a special 'Indian
market' was built in 1625. F r o m here, the 'Indian guests'
travelled to fairs in M o s c o w and Nizhny Novgorod, and in
1723 they even approached Peter I with a request to allow
them to trade also in Petersburg, Archangel 'and thence to the
G e r m a n States and through Siberia to China'.
Merchants from Central Asia ('men of Bokhara'), played
an important part in trade with that region. They regularly
36
brought their caravans across the Kazakh steppes and the

lower Urals to the Volga region, with bales of goods from different Eastern countries, including China, to which they had
discovered a road long before the Russian merchants. W h e n
Siberia was united with Russia, Tobolsk became an important
commercial centre, where at the outset trade across the territories of the Kazakh nomads was also conducted mainly by
the ' m e n of Bokhara'. Later, from the end of the seventeenth
century, Russian merchants also began to take their o w n caravans to China via Tobolsk, Kyakhta and Nerchinsk.
F r o m the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries, the Crimea
played an important role in trading relations between the
Slavs and the East. Polish, Russian and Ukrainian merchants
traded with the Ottoman Empire and the Caucasus through
the Crimean Khanate and its trading towns and ports (for
example, Kaffa, the present-day Theodosia). Goods were exported to the East from the South Slav countries.
F r o m ancient times, the main items which the Slavs exported
to the East were leather, fur and articles m a d e of these materials. T h e skilful Slav craftsmen carefully fashioned various
sorts of leather, which were very highly esteemed all over the
Near and Middle East as far as India. Russian and Bulgarian
leathers, particularly morocco and 'yuft', were k n o w n there
as telatin (from the Russian telyatina) and bulgar. Furs, above
all sable, as well as ermine, beaver, silver fox, etc., were in
huge demand. T h e Slavs also brought flax, w a x , honey, woollen fabrics, wooden articles, grain, h e m p and amber. According
to written sources, 'linen clothes from Russia' were in great
d e m a n d in the Indian town of Delhi as early as the fourteenth
century. Russian leathers, furs and fabrics were sold in the
markets of Samarkand and Bokhara; Bulgarian leather goods
and attar of roses were popular commodities in the Near East;
and Polish cloth in the Crimea and the Caucasus. Firearms
were exported to Eastern countries in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, whilst hunting birdsfalcons and gerfalconswere also highly prized at the courts of Eastern
rulers.
T h e nature of Slav exports to the East changed noticeably
from the beginning of the eighteenth century, and particularly
37
in the nineteenth century. W i t h the development of manufactured products, industrial goods began to play a dominant
role. Russian, Polish and Czech manufacturers furnished the
markets of the East with cheap factory-made textiles (mainly
brightly coloured cottons), metal articles (instruments, utensils
and weapons), dyes, glass, candles, ropes, paraffin oil, paper,
etc. Paper was sent from Russia to the East in particularly
large quantities: m a n y Iranian, Transcaucasian and Central
Asian manuscripts of the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries
are written on paper m a d e in Russia.
T h e East supplied Europe and particularly the Slav countries
with luxury articles, precious goods and ornaments: valuable
weapons (damascene blades, Turkish sabres and pistols), rich,
fine fabrics (Indian 'cashmere' shawls, Persian, Central Asian
and Chinese silks), and precious stones. H a n d - m a d e rugs occupied an important place in this trade, and were particularly
sought after in Poland. Spices and rare medicines were also
imported from the countries of the East, mainly from India.
Turkey, Iran and Central Asia traded in thoroughbred horses,
harness, rice, coffee, fruits, nuts and tobacco, China in cheap
cotton fabrics k n o w n as 'kitaika', tea, paper, porcelain, articles
m a d e of metal and bone, etc.
It is interesting that as a result of m a n y centuries of trade
relations between the Slav peoples and the East, quite a few
words of Eastern origin havefilteredinto the trade terminology
of the Slavs. For example, such expressions as altyn, coin
(Tartar), pai, share, chek, cheque (Persian), mogarych, tip
(Arabic), barysh, profit, tamozhnya, customs (Turkish), etc.,
were widely employed by the Russians. T h e abacus, which
is used to this day as part of shop or office equipment in Russia
and Poland, was introduced by the Mongols. F r o m the merchants of the East the Russians also borrowed the caravan,
indispensable as a means of trading along the difficult and
lengthy highways of Central Asia and China.
T h e interaction of
cultures
Throughout history cultural relations between peoples and the

interaction of cultures have taken diffrent forms. Most frequently, they have been the result of direct and immediate
contact. N o t infrequently, however, cultural influences have
penetrated also from neighbouring peoples, undergoing in passage
a lengthy process of stratification of elements from a multitude of
cultures. Cultural influences have by no means necessarily
involved direct borrowings from alien cultures; creative receptiveness and modification have m u c h more often been customary.
T h e influence exerted on one another by the cultures of the
East and the Slavs can be traced literally in all spheres of the
material and spiritual existence of these peoples.
Agriculture
F r o m time immemorial the Slavs were tillers of the soil,
sowing millet, wheat, rye and other cereals, some of which
were introduced to the Slav ploughman by the East.
Through the intermediary of Byzantium and the Arabs,
rice c a m e to Europe from the distant countries of the East;
it w a s k n o w n in Russia as 'Saracen millet'. Russian market-
39
T h e interaction of cultures
gardens also contain m a n y products of Eastern origin; watermelons, melons, pumpkins and apricots.
Russians have always been very interested in 'overseas'
plants. A s early as the seventeenth century, Tsar Aleksei
Mikhailovich had a special garden laid out in the village of
Izmailov, near M o s c o w , where plants brought from the East, e.g.
the mulberry, were grown on an experimental basis. Russian
ambassadors always tried to bring back n e w types of plants
from the lands of the East. Thus, A d a m Laksman brought
seeds of local types of rice and barley back out of Japan in 1793.
M o r e than once, Russian ambassadors to China were instructed
to procure 'tea-bushes'.
Rare animalslions, tigers, camels and elephantswere
also brought back to Slav countries from the East. It is
k n o w n that, as early as the tenth century, camels were brought
into Poland; Prince Meczko I sent one as a gift to the G e r m a n
Emperor. Elephants which the Shah of Iran sent as a gift to
Ivan the Terrible were kept not far from the Kremlin in M o s c o w .
At the beginning of the eighteenth century several elephants
were sent as a gift to Peter I, and in 1741 fourteen elephants
arrived all at once in Petersburg. A special 'elephant house'
was built for them, and their Indian keepers lived nearby.
Crafts
Articles m a d e by Slav craftsmen were highly esteemed in
the East. It was no coincidence that experienced master
craftsmen of Slav origin could be met with at the courts of
m a n y Eastern potentates. In the thirteenth century there was
a whole colony of Russian master craftsmen in Karakorum,
the Mongol capital. O n e of them, a skilled goldsmith n a m e d
K o s m a , built a throne for K h a n K u y u k , and fashioned the
great seal of state whose imprint is preserved on a letter from
the K h a n to the R o m a n Pope. Slav craftsmen had a considerable influence on the development of craftsmanship a m o n g
Eastern peoples.
In their turn, Eastern articles also had an influence on the
work produced by the Slavs. In the early Middle Ages, the
great d e m a n d for Arab jewellery a m o n g the Slavs was already
40
leading to imitations. Eastern designs were reproduced in early

Russian jewellery. Armourers also worked in the 'Eastern
style': an example of this m a y be seen, for instance, in the
Russian-made bakhterets (a sort of chain mail) preserved in
the city m u s e u m at Ryazan; it is decorated with signs imitative
of Arab lettering.
T h e Turks had a great influence on the crafts of the Southern
Slavs in the fifteenth century. Illuminators of manuscripts,
w h o were given the Arab-Turkish n a m e of Mudzhellid, were,
in particular, influenced by Eastern master craftsmen and by
Eastern taste. Ornamental designs on the pages and bindings
of manuscripts were predominantly Eastern in motivation.
Book-binders m a d e wide use of the technique of 'leather filigree' (stamped leather binding), which had been borrowed from
the East. T h e sixteenth-century Serbian gospels are examples
of this type of illumination.
T o a certain extent the craftsmen of other Slav lands also
imitated Eastern articles. For example, fabrics, girdles, brocades
and rugs imitating Persian and Turkish models were produced
in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in Poland, the
Ukraine and Byelorussia (particularly in the towns of Brody,
Zamoste and Slutsk). Interest in Eastern goods increased
particularly from the seventeenth century onwards, w h e n
m a n y hand-made productsfabrics, weapons, rugs and ornamentsbegan to be brought into the Slav countries from the East.
Eastern craftsmen also began to arrive. Armenians living in
Poland taught the Poles h o w to m a k e rugs. In Poland, as w e have
already said, there had always been a great d e m a n d for rugs. In
the sixteenth century so m a n y were imported by Polish merchants that exported rugs were k n o w n in Iran as 'Polish rugs'.
In Russia the influence of Eastern craftsmen was felt most
strongly in the development of weaving. T h e finest Indian
fabrics were particularly highly esteemed. It is an interesting
fact that Russian missions leaving for India were instructed
to bring Indian weavers to Russia. A 'velvet house' was established in the seventeenth century in M o s c o w for the production
of satin, velvet, damask and other fabrics. T h e art of making
carpets with a flat surface in the Ukraine was also brought in
from the East.
4i
Trade with China introduced the Slavs to Chinese handicrafts, and to porcelain in particular.
After the establishment of trade relations between Russia
and China, porcelain became an important item in Russian
imports. S o m e porcelain articles were m a d e in China specially
for the Russian market. For example, a collection of apothecary's jars of startling whiteness and decorated with the royal
emblem was manufactured for Peter I, and porcelain tiles were
ordered for a stove at Peterhof Palace.
Certain Eastern handicraft articles were introduced to the
Slav countries through the intermediary of the West. For
example, the art of paper-making, invented at the beginning
of our era in China, penetratedfirstinto Central Asia. From
there it was taken over by the Arabs and introduced into Spain.
T h e manufacture of paper then began in other Western European countries also. T h efirstreference to a 'paper mill' in
Russia dates from 1565.
In some instances, Slav master craftsmen w h o had become
familiar with certain Eastern goods but did not k n o w the
techniques of their production, independently found out h o w
to produce them, and sometimes even improved on the originals. For example, 'cashmere' shawls, which c o m m a n d e d
exceptionally high prices throughout the world, were produced
by a technique k n o w n only in India. At the beginning of the
nineteenth century, Russian craftsmen succeeded in building
a loom which m a d e it possible to produce shawls of a quality
not surpassed by imported cashmeres. For example, the Journal
of Manufacture and Trade (St. Petersburg, N o . 9, 1827) notes:
' A s nothing was k n o w n about the construction of a loom for
cashmeres, and as ordinary looms could not be used for this
product, M a d a m e Eliseeva unpicked a genuine cashmere
shawl and tried to discover, from the arrangement of its threads,
h o w such a loom should be constructed. H e r experiments
lasted for more than five years, during which time a great
number of looms were constructed and dismantled, before,
finally, she succeeded in finding the correct answer.' Subsequently, manufacturers in European, and also in Slav countries,
began to master the art of making m a n y of the traditional
products of Eastern craftsmen. Russian, Polish and Czech
42
manufacturers began to produce silk fabrics, machine-made

rugs and fez caps and even copper vessels and cofFee-mills,
decorated with Arab inscriptions, Eastern vignettes or coats
of arms, glass ware, etc. These goods of Slav origin soon gained
a big hold in Eastern markets, together with fabrics, plates
and dishes, and other industrial goods from Western countries.
In the nineteenth century, Russian goods had already gained
a wide circulation in the countries of Central Asia, and in
Iran and China.
Daily life
Cultural relations with the countries of the East had a considerable influence also on the daily life of the Slav peoples. N o r
did the lengthy period w h e n the Tartar-Mongol yoke lay
heavy on Russia, and Turkish oppression on the Balkans, fail
to m a k e their impact in this connexion. M o r e than a few Eastern elements penetrated the language and customs of the
Slavs. For example, some Southern Slavs, forced to accept the
Moslem faith, adopted M o s l e m dress and habits also.
Isolated traces of Eastern influences were rather slow in
disappearing from Russian daily life. At the beginning of the
twentieth century, peasants were still wearing long garments
of Eastern cutthe kaftan or feryaz (a long tunic with a
waist-girdle), the armyak (a cloth coat), the zipun (a homespun
coat) and the kushak (sash) ; these names also came from the
East. Eastern apparelsharovary (wide trousers), kuntushi (a
form of cloak), tufli (slippers)was widely worn in Poland,
the Ukraine and a m o n g the Southern Slavs. In turn, Slav
clothes had an influence on the dress of a n u m b e r of Eastern
peoples.
S o m e foodstuffs of Eastern origin became firmly established
in the diet of European peoples, including the Slavs. T e a was
particularly popular a m o n g the Russians, w h o had first c o m e
across it in Mongolia, at a reception given by Altan-Khan in
1616. T h e Russian ambassadors were treated to milk with
melted butter and 'with leaves of some kind in it'. T h e ambassadorsfirstdeclined to accept tea as a gift for the Russian Tsar,
butfinallyagreed. T e a w a s thus introduced into Russia consi-
43
derably earlier than into Holland and England. For a long

time afterwards it remained the main Russian import from
China. In 1833 thefirstexperimental tea-plantations were laid
out in the Crimea, but it was only in the twentieth century
that tea began to be produced o n an industrial scalein
Georgia and the K u b a n .
It was from the Russians that the habit of drinking tea,
together with its Chinese n a m e , chai, became widespread in
the eighteenth century in Central Asia, Iraq, Turkey, Syria
and Egypt. T h e vessel which in its native land, China, was
used to mull wine, was adapted by the Russians and by other
Europeans too for infusing tea.
T h e samovar, which c a m e into use for heating the water
with which the infused tea was diluted, was invented in Russia.
M a n y Eastern peoples became acquainted with the Russian
samovar, and it became extremely popular in Central Asia,
Turkey, Iran and the Arab countries. In Kashmir it has even
kept its Russian n a m e .
It was from the Turks that the Slavs acquired the habit of
drinking coffee (particularly widespread a m o n g the Southern
and Western Slavs), and of smoking tobacco. Natives of Central
Asia and the Caucasus introduced the Slavs to m a n y Eastern
dishes and delicacies: plov (pilaf), shashlyk (kebab), and turkish
delight. In addition to foodstuffs and clothing, a number of
Eastern games also entered into the daily life of the Slav peoples;
chess is an example (even today the queen is called ferz and
the bishop slon, words borrowed from Iranian terminology).
Conversely, a number of everyday characteristics and customs
were transplanted by the Slavs to various Eastern peoples. For
example, w h e n Siberia and Central Asia were united with
Russia, m a n y cultural achievements of the Slavs, relating to
daily life, clothing, foodstuffs, household articles, etc., became
quite firmly established in the cultures of the local peoples.
W h e n they came into contact with the peoples of the Far
East, the Russians taught them, and the Japanese, in particular, the art of photography, the tailoring of European clothes
and the use of the barometer.
44
Science
In ancient times and in the Middle Ages, those of the exact
and natural sciences most widely developed in the East were
geography, astronomy, and mathematics. T h e Slavs considered
astronomy to be a Persian science and, indeed, thefirstastrolabes and other astronomical instruments were brought from
Central Asia and Iran. T h e Europeans, including the Slavs,
learned m u c h about mathematics from the Eastern peoples.
T h e numerals still employed today are called 'Arabic' (although
they really originated in India).
T h e leading role in the development of natural and exact
sciences has in recent times passed to Europe. It should be
pointed out that Slav scholars m a d e a considerable contribution to the study of Asia, and the investigation of itsfloraand
fauna. Konstantin Maximovitch, a Russian botanist of the
mid-nineteenth century, w h o published a number of works on
the flora of Japan, is k n o w n as the 'father of Eastern Asian
botany'. A t the end of the nineteenth century, the Russian
botanist Vladimir K o m a r o v (later the president of the U . S . S . R .
A c a d e m y of Sciences) m a d e a study of the flora of the Far East,
particularly Korea.
Slav scholars have done a great deal for the study of
Eastern peoples, their daily life, manners and customs. T h e
Russian ethnographer Nicolas Mikloukho-Maklay, for example,
achieved a genuine scientific break-through. After several years
spent in N e w Guinea, in the country of the Papuans, he succeeded in proving that these so-called 'savages' were not inferior
to Europeans in their natural intellect, moral principles and
spiritual qualities. It was about a century ago, in 1871, that
Maklay landed on the beach which was subsequently given his
n a m e , but the Papuans still retain lively memories of this remarkable m a n ; in their language, an iron axe is still k n o w n as
'Maklay's axe', and such words as nozh (knife), pila (saw),
arbuz (water-melon), dynya (melon) and tykva (pumpkin) have
kept their Russian intonation.
T h e works of m a n y other Slav scholars also contributed to
the study of the vast, unexplored regions of Asia and to the
development of the geography and ethnography of the peoples
45
of the East. For example, in the seventeenth century, Yuri

Krzani, a Croatian living in Russia, spent fifteen years in
Siberia and compiled descriptions of Siberia, Mongolia and
China. Krzani's manuscript, Concerning Trade with China,
which was written before 1675, was read by Spafary w h e n he
set out as ambassador for China. Returning in 1680 to his
native land, Krzani presented his History of Siberia to the
Polish king, J a n Sobieski, thereby contributing in no small
measure to acquainting Western Slavs with the Far East.
T h e peoples of the East have m a d e quite a considerable
contribution to medicine and pharmacology. Accumulated and
tested over hundreds of years, Eastern folk-medicine was held
in great esteem in the West, as well as by the Slavs. 'Panty', the
young horns of the spotted deer, and ginseng were valued above
all the other medicinal products of the East. T h e former was
soaked in special solutions, dried and pulverized, then shipped
in this form to Europe, where it was in great d e m a n d . Ginseng
was valued even more highly as the 'root of life', whose miraculous curative powers were legendary. In the eighteenth century,
w h e n Franz Yelachich, a Russian doctor, was setting off for
China, he was ordered to discover 'whether the ginseng root
grows there, and to try to obtain seeds or a cutting thereof.
In their turn, Western doctors acquainted the East with
European medical science. Here again, the role played by the
Slavs was quite considerable. Russian doctors founded the first
hospital in Japan in the middle of the nineteenth century. T h e
first doctor in Mongolia, Pavel Shastin, was a Russian. His
methods of treatment m a d e such an impression on the M o n golians, hitherto familiar only with their sorcerers and 'shamans', that, for a long time, in Mongolia the word vrach
(doctor) and 'Shastin' were synonymous.
T h e prominent Russian epidemiologists Dimitri Zabolotny
and Vladimir Khavkin spent m a n y years studying plague
epidemics in the countries of the East, and developing methods
of anti-plague vaccination. In the laboratory which he set
up in India Khavkin developed a vaccine against plague
and tested its effectiveness on himself in 1899. This vaccine
has saved the lives of m a n y millions of Indians, and the Institute of Bacteriology founded in B o m b a y in 1925 on the basis
46
of the Russian doctor's laboratory was given his n a m e . T h e

Khavkin Institute is today considered to be one of the most
famous centres of scientific medicine in the East.
S o m e mention should also be m a d e of the socio-political and
philosophical thought of the countries of the East. T h e teachings
of famous Eastern philosophers have influenced m a n y European thinkers, and particularly one of the greatest of these
L e o Tolstoy.
Tolstoy, in his turn, had a considerable influence o n Indian
social thought, particularly o n the teachings of M o h a n d a s
K . Gandhi. In Gandhi's words, all other books 'seemed insignificant compared with Tolstoy's independence of thought,
profound morality and sincerity'. Gandhi developed and m a d e
extensive use of the methods of civil disobedience and passive
resistance, which played such an important role in India.
Literature and folklore
A study of the folklore of the Slavs reveals elements from the
c o m m o n Indo-European fund which links up the pre-history
of Slav literature with the folklore of the Indo-Iranian peoples.
M a n y tales, fables and songs have subjects in c o m m o n with
those of a number of other peoples in Europe and in Asia. In
some cases it is even possible to discover direct borrowings.
For example, the tale of Yeruslan Lazarevich, which enjoyed
success in Slav popular picture-books u p to the nineteenth
century, was a faithful reflection of the subject of an Iranian
epic, with the names slightly altered (Sohrab and R u s t u m ) .
S o m e works from the literature of the Eastern peoples had
already reached the Slavs via Byzantium. For example, they
were introduced in the twelfth century to the Indian Panchatantra which had initially been translated from the Arabic
version into Greek. A story about the youth of B u d d h a , The
Tale of Barlaam and Josaphat, taken from the Pahlevi, Arabic
and Greek versions, belongs to m u c h the same period.
Relations with the peoples of the East, the pilgrimages
which Russian people m a d e to Byzantium and Palestine, as
well as the trading relations of Slav merchants, facilitated the
appearance of numerous tales, byliny (epics), khozheniya (travel
47
tales) and other products of literature and folklore. T h e earliest

Russian manuscript preserved concerning such a pilgrimage
is the Khozhenie Igumena Danila (The Journey of the Abbot
Daniel), a description of a journey through Constantinople
to Palestine in 1110-18. Such Russian byliny as those about
D y u k a Stepanovich or Sadko, the remarkable minstrel of
Novgorod, which relate adventures on journeys to the countries
of the East, more especially to India, also belong to the twelfth
century.
Legends and tales of Eastern origin on Biblical subjects,
which reached Europe together with Christianity, were also
widely k n o w n a m o n g the Slavs. It is c o m m o n knowledge that
at a later period, in the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries,
these subjects had an influence on certain works of a literary
and artistic character.
Quite a number of themes and subjects related to Turkish
and Arab folklore also m a d e their w a y into the folklore and
literature of some of the Slav peoples over w h o m the Turks
ruled in thefifteenthand sixteenth centuries.
In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Russia and other
Slav countries were already familiar with m a n y works from
Eastern literature, mainly, it is true, from Western European
translations. In the eighteenth century the writer Dmitri
Kantemir translated the K o r a n into Russian and Nicoli
Mikhailovitch Karamzin the Sakuntala of Kalidasa. At the
end of the eighteenth and beginning of the nineteenth centuries,
the tales of the Thousand and One Nights were translated into
Russian, and during the same period Russian readers were also
introduced to the poetry of Sa'di, which was highly esteemed b y
the great Russian poet Alexander S. Pushkin.
At the beginning of the nineteenth century, Ossif Senkovsky,
a Polish-born writer and Orientalist, using the pseudonym of
'Baron Brambeus', published a cycle of Tales from the East,
which w a s very popular with Russian readers. Immediately
after this, Eastern and, in particular, Caucasian themes c a m e
to occupy an important place in the works of the greatest
Slav writersAlexander Pushkin, A d a m Mickiewicz, Mikhal
Lermontov, Ivan Franko, Lesya Ukrainka and others. Works
from the literature and folklore of the East were also reflected
48
in the creations of the best Slav writers. For example, the works
of Leo Tolstoy reveal his familiarity with the tales and legends
of China and Japan ( The Chinese Empress Silinchi, The Goldenhaired Princess), and also with moral maxims which fitted in
with his o w n ideas ('Honest m e n are not rich and rich m e n
are not honest', 'truth is terse, lies are always long-winded', etc.)
Russian literature, and the works of Tolstoy, Dostoievsky
and Anton Chekov in particular, had, in turn, an enormous
influence on the whole world, including the countries of the
East. T h e works of the great authors mentioned were already
well k n o w n in India, Japan, China and other Eastern countries
by the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth
centuries. Russian literature became especially popular in
Japan. A t the end of the nineteenth century m a n y Japanese
students were sent to study in Russia. O n e of them, Masutaro
Konisi, met Leo Tolstoy in 1892, and on his return h o m e
printed a number of translations and articles o n the subject
of Russian literature. In the words of the Japanese, Tolstoy's
humanitarian thought 'shook the spiritual world of Japan to its
foundations'.
Language
At the source of the Slav languages, and uniting them into
a single family, lies a c o m m o n stock of roots and the g r a m m a tical structure of the language of the ancestors of the Slavs.
T h e Slavs, however, are known to be historically and genetically related to the Indo-European group of peoples, and for
this reason the Slav languages preserve some features approximating them to the Indo-Iranian languages. In describing the
origins of the Slav languages reference can be m a d e to the part
played in their formation by the languages of the Iranian, FinnoUgrian, Uralo-Altaic and Turkic groups.
Furthermore, all the Slav languages contain m a n y borrowed
words of Eastern origin; these are less often found in Czech
and more often met with in the Serbian and Bulgarian languages.
'Layerings' of Turko-Mongolian words are noticeable in the
Russian and Polish languages, which were penetrated b y
Mongolian and Tartar words connected with nomadic ways
Golden comb from the

Solkha burial mound,
portraying Scythians,
South Russia;
fifth century B.C.
Funeral chariot from

the Pazyryk burial
mounds, Altai;
fourth to third
centuries B.C.
A map of the Caucasus, by Al-Idrisi, a twelfth-century geographer,

from an Arab manuscript of the same period
'&>
J&*
Photo : Milos Hrbas, Prague
The towers of Tamerlane*s palace at Samarkand; fourteenth century
Photo : Breton-Rapho
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^^j
5&
|H^ ^
^4^*^.^"
T A P CWf/f o / 57. fan, i? Square, Moscow
Mongolian horseman;
seventeenth-century
drawing
Portrait of the traveller Nicolai Rezant

painted by a Japanese artist;
beginning of nineteenth century
iy
i.
fc J
*v oj
5
u
""" ' *
%_
)K
ffe
*k5
Mahatma Gandhi
Photo : Press Information Bureau,
Government of India
f Leo Tolstoy, as seen by the painter Ilya Repin
Photo : Sovinformburo
Star dancer of the Tadzhik State Philharmonic

Society's Rubob Ensemble
Photo : Unesco/V. Noskov
&"*
m
Wm't
Jf'JfMP*
p-a^^lfe^i.
^HflfF".
ipPt^ j
Technician working on the construction of a

new irrigation system at Khadje Bakirgani,
S.S.R. of Tadzhik
Pupils from the District ofBaiaoud in

Uzbekistan listen to a kolkhoz gardener explain
how to grow vines
mt
Photo : Unesco/B. Riabinine
49
of life and horse-breeding: the Russian loshad (horse) and

the Polish losza (mare) are derived from the Turkic alasa
(horse). S o m e Russian and Polish military terms have their
origin in Eastern roots: the words yesaul (captain), khorunzhi (cornet), karaul (guard) came from the Mongols, and
the word bulava (mace) from the Polovtsians. During the
period of Turkish rule in the Balkans, a multitude of Eastern
words and expressions were organically absorbed into the
Bulgarian and Serbian languages: pazar (market), qualdirma
(roadway), sise (bottle), parmaklik (railing), qalafat (carpenter).
T h e Russian and Ukrainian languages are indebted to Turkish
and Persian for the words takhta (ottoman), izyum (raisins),
kavun (water-melon), chuval (bag), kishmish (currants), etc.
T h e languages of China and Japan had little real effect on
the Slav languages: they are too far removed from each other
and structurally dissimilar. Mention m a y be m a d e only of a
few words which have penetrated into the Slav languages, more
particularly, Russian: zherC sherC (ginseng), fanza (a Chinese
peasant house), kimono, samurai, mikado, bogdykhan (Chinese
Emperor). Mamont ( m a m m o t h ) , taiga and a few other words
were taken by the Slavs (and from the Slavs by other Europeans
too) from the languages of the peoples of Siberia.
In some cases, it is possible to trace a c o m m o n source which
enriched the vocabularies of both the Slav and the Eastern
peoples. For example, both the Slavs and the Arabs received
a number of Greek words from Byzantiumusually those
describing everyday articles and artistic and architectural
objects, for example, the Russian sunduk and the Arabic sunduk
(box or chest), the Russian fonar' and the Arabic fanar (lantern), the Russian palata and the Arabic balt (chamber).
A number of Slav words penetrated to the East. Thus, for
example, the Turks acquired voivoda (Russian voevoda, c o m mander), zolota (gold coin), sapqa (Russian shapka, cap), kapuska
(Russian kapusta, cabbage) and m a n y other words.
T h e influence of Slav lexicology has also m a d e itself strongly
felt a m o n g the numerous peoples of Eastern origin living in
Slav countries, and particularly in Russia. This is especially
noticeable in words with a contemporary context and connected
with the development of science, industry and culture. A s a
50
rule, most of the national groups n o w inhabiting Russia, as

well as the populations of m a n y of the Union Republics of
Central Asia and Transcaucasia, understand and m a k e wide
use of the Russian language.
Descendants of ancient Eastern peoples, the Karaims, for
example, still exist in isolated colonies in the territory of the
Slavs. Here is a n interesting anecdote. W h e n some Polish
Orientalists visited the Karaims at the beginning of this century,
one of them chanced to read aloud in a Karaim household
a glossary of ancient Polovtsian words. T h e host's 7-year-old
daughter, hearing familiar words, provided a number of explanations of the text. T h e astonished Orientalist realized that the
little girl understood a language which had been forgotten for
m a n y centuries.
T h e exchange of influences between the Slav and the Eastern
languages is, of course, not limited to the examples cited above.
Nevertheless, such examples do provide evidence of the character
and direction of these mutual influences and of the w a y in
which they have promoted the mutual enrichment of the languages and cultures of the Slav and Eastern peoples. This
is particularly true of Russian, which has been enriched through
contacts between the Russian population and m a n y Western
and Eastern peoples. Russian has today become a world language.
Architecture
During the formation of the Slav States, South Slav and
Russian architecture was strongly influenced by that of Byzantium. This was particularly noticeable in the field of ecclesiastical architecture, with its monumental churches of the
d o m e d cruciform type, roofed with low, hemispherical cupolas.
S o m e time later, Muslim architecture, introduced b y the
conquering Turks, left its mark on the buildings of the South
Slavs. Mosques with minarets, Eastern bath-houses, marketplaces (ckarshi), roadside inns (khans), etc. became c o m m o n
features of most South Slav towns. Eastern influences are less
noticeable in the architectural history of the Western Slav
countriesPoland and Czechoslovakiaalthough here, too,
quite a few architectural monuments of Eastern type m a y
51
be found side by side with the old Gothic-style churches. Architectural monuments, built by Armenian architects, have survived in the Ukraine and in Poland.
After the union of the Khanates of K a z a n and Astrakhan
with Russia, Eastern motifs become more prominent in Russian architecture. For example, the famous Pokrovsky church
(Cathedral of Saint Basil the Blessed), erected by the master
builders, B a r m a and Postnik on the R e d Square in M o s c o w
during the reign of Ivan the Terrible, was built in the national
Russian skater (tent) style of ecclesiastical architecture, but
embodied also a n u m b e r of Eastern elements. Ingeniously
composed, striking in its forms and in the brilliance of its colouring, this building is a genuine masterpiece of the Russian
builders' art.
Russian architecture left its mark, in turn, on the development of architecture in a number of Eastern countries, particularly in the Caucasus, Central Asia and Siberia.
Art
Early Slav art owed m u c h to the various Eastern peoples
w h o once inhabited the Slav lands. It was particularly influenced
by the Scythian 'animal style', with its characteristic motifs
of animals: battling, galloping, writhing or poised ready to leap.
With the emergence and spread of Christianity in the Slav
countries c a m e the first flowering of painting, particularly in
the form of frescoes and icons. As early as the tenth and eleventh
centuries, frescoes and mosaics were characteristic features in
Kievan Russia where, in contrast with Byzantium, these two
forms of monumental pictorial art were, as a rule, c o m bined. Icon-painting developed in the twelfth and thirteenth
centuries; the panels commonly used were covered with a
special compound, lefkas, and individual icons and complete
iconostases were produced. Russian master painters were also
to be found in the East: a church in the ancient Armenian capital, Ani, was decorated in 1215 by a Russian artist.
A certain Eastern influence can already be detected in the
drawings of the early Slav masters of the same period. For
example, examination of the background of some South Slav
52
Orthodox icons unexpectedly reveals elements of Muslim architecture (silhouettes of mosques, etc.). In the Serbian Prizren
Gospel of the thirteenth century, the Evangelist M a r k is even
portrayed in Eastern dress. T h e art of icon-painting reached
its zenith in Russia in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries,
with Andrei Rublev and Dionysius.
In the works of Slav artists of the eighteenth and nineteenth
centuries m u c h attention is devoted to Eastern subjects. S o m e
of these artists, Vassili Vereshchagin, for example, portrayed
in their works the life of the peoples of Central Asia, India and
other Eastern countries.
Russian artists of the nineteenth century carefully studied
the painting of other peoples. They had long been interested,
for example, in the theory and practice of Chinese painting.
A mission to Peking in 1830 included the artist, Anton Legashev,
w h o had been officially instructed to m a k e a thorough study 'of
Chinese painting, and the preparation of the pigments which
are so outstanding in their clarity and durability'. Legashev
acquitted himself admirably, and brought back formulae for
preparing Chinese ink and pigments, as well as a series of pictures he himself had painted in China.
T h e East had a notable influence also on the development
of the applied arts of the Slavs. Indian precious stones and
articles fashioned from pearls had acquired great popularity
at an early date. M a n y precious stones in Russia were called
lal, from the actual Indian word lal meaning 'red'. Motifs
from Persian and Central Asian rugs evoked imitation in Russia
and Poland.
Music, theatre, dancing
Certain musicologists suggest that the musical culture of the
ancient Slavs w a s based on a five-tone scale, similar to that
on which Chinese popular music is composed to this day. This
tone-scale was at some stage widespread all over Eastern Europe
and Asia, and forms the basis of the round-dances (kolo) of
Serbia and the ceremonial songs of the Eastern Slavs which
have been preserved u p to the present day. Later, with the
development of musical culture in the Slav countries, musical
53
motifs of Eastern origin are met with in the works of

m a n y outstanding composersTchaikovsky, Borodin, RimskyKorsakov and others. T h e 'Polovztian Dances', 'Persian Songs'
and 'Arabian Dances' are, in part, adaptations of rhythms and
melodies preserved in the tradition of everyday life from distant
times.
In its turn, the classical music of the Slav composers contributed to the development of modern forms of musical art in
a number of other nations. T h e greatest contemporary c o m posers of Georgia, Zakari Paliashvili, Andre Balanchivadze
and others, were influenced during their formation by the
Russian school of music. O n e of Nicolas Rimsky-Korsakov's
pupils was Alexander Spendiarov, w h ofirstset Armenian national music in the context of the major musical forms.
In China, India and a number of other Eastern countries,
the theatre, although in a rather special form of its o w n , gained
celebrity at an early date. Nevertheless, the introduction of
certain Eastern peoples to the dramaturgy and theatre of Europe
was due in no small measure to Russian cultural personalities.
A n outstanding figure a m o n g these was Guerassim Lebedev, w h o
spent twelve years in India at the end of the eighteenth century
and actually became the founder of the European type of dramatic theatre there. Guerassim Lebedev himself translated a
number of plays into Bengali, formed and rehearsed a company
of actors, wrote music, designed scenery and presented the first
performance, which was a milestone in the development of
Indian culture, and right up until the present day Indians
regard Lebedev as one of the forerunners of the contemporary
Indian theatre.
Lack of space has prevented us from mentioning more than
a few examples of the ways in which the cultures of the Slavs
and the East have influenced and enriched one another. T h e
real extent of cultural relations between them has been far
wider. But even these few examples show h o w beneficial they
were. It is important to note that the process of inter-penetration of m a n y elements from the cultures of the Eastern and
Slav peoples has resulted in cultural achievements which not
only enriched these peoples themselves, but also became the
heritage of world civilization and of mankind as a whole.
Oriental studies
T h e gradual strengthening of relations between the peoples

of Europe and the Eastern countries helped to stimulate the
growth of a strong interest in the East and in Eastern studies.
A n e w special science was born: Oriental studies. Oriental
studies form a historically-established complex of the scientific
disciplines engaged in the study of history, economics, material
and spiritual culture, combined with a general study of the
peoples of the East, based principally o n source-material o b tained from these peoples themselves.
T h e development of Oriental studies w a s given a special
fillip in the Slav countries because of their direct proximity to
the East, and because the history of m a n y Slav countries has
been closely interwoven with that of one or other of the peoples
of Asia.
Oriental studies as a science went through a lengthy period
of development. Its early history consisted of the accumulation
of such information about the peoples of the East as was, for
example, to be found in laconic descriptions of historical events
in Russian, Polish and Czech chronicles of the thirteenth and
fourteenth centuries. Scientific Oriental studies began in the
Slav countries in the seventeenth century, w h e n the works
55
Oriental studies
of the Moldavian, Spafary, the Croatian, Krzhani and the

Russian, Andrei Lyzlov appeared as the first modest efforts
to draw general conclusions from a n d to explain the data accumulated. In the following years interest in the East grew steadily, as m a y be seen from the large number of works that
appeared, particularly in the nineteenth century, which w a s
the age of brilliant discoveries in Oriental studies.
N o w a d a y s , thanks to the strengthening of friendly relations
between Slav and Eastern countries, Oriental studies have
found n e w and favourable conditions for development. N e w
themes have emerged: the problems involved in the struggle
for national liberation; the generalization of the efforts of
Eastern peoples, after winning their independence, to build
u p their State, socio-economic and cultural structures. O n c e
again light has been thrown on the nation's role, as creator
of history and culture, both in studying the distant past and
investigating contemporary problems.
Oriental studies in the Slav countries have provided science
with a n u m b e r of discoveries of world importance. Russian
and Soviet scholars hold a leading place a m o n g Slav Orientalists.
A t the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth
centuries, as a result of extremely arduous journeys through
Asia, Russian geographers not only eliminated the so-called
'blank spots' o n the m a p of Asia but also m a d e discoveries
which led to the emergence of n e w branches of Oriental studies.
Thus, Piotr Kozlov discovered, in the 'dead' city of K h a r a Khoto, a secret hiding-place where a library had been preserved, and this formed the foundation for a n e w science:
Tungut studies. U n d e r the Soviet rgime, Nicolai Nevsky took
up the task of deciphering the T u n g u t written language. H e
compiled a word-list of this dead language, determined its
phonetic basis, and was thefirstto induce these ancient writings
to tell mankind about a vanished civilization. Nevsky's work,
published in i960 under the general title of Tangutskaja Filologija (Tungut Philology), was acclaimed by the scientists of
the U . S . S . R . and honoured by a supreme awardthe Lenin
Prize.
Soviet archaeologists have been responsible for discovering
Oriental studies
56
m a n y of the advanced cultures of the Ancient East. T h e ruins

of a fortress o n M u g Mountain in Central Asia lay for centuries
buried beneath the sands. Here, excavations revealed valuable
documents o n parchment, paper and w o o d . T h e deciphering
of these documents, which were written in a variety of languages,
and also the discovery (during excavations by Alexander Yakubovsky and his pupils) in ancient Pyanjikent of multi-chrome
frescoes on the walls of temples and dwellings, and of sculptured
items in clay and w o o d , m a d e it possible to reconstruct the
history of the culture of Sogdiana.
Excavations in Chorasmia in Central Asia, carried out under
the direction of Sergei Tolstoy, revealed the profoundly original
and vivid art of its ancient inhabitants, ancestors of the modern
Tadzhiks and Uzbeks. T h e monumental sculptures and decorative frescoes of Chorasmia are striking in their originality and
expressiveness.
Archaeological investigations in Siberia have provided a
great wealth of material o n the history and ethnography of
the peoples w h o inhabited this enormous region. In the Pazyryk
burial m o u n d s in the Altai Mountain oblast, funeral furnishings, articles of leather, w o o d and metal, mummified bodies,
and even fabrics, felt and rugs of local origin were found, preserved in a rare state of excellence by the perpetual frost. So
rich were the finds that Sergei Rudenko was able to describe
in detail the culture of the ancient populations of the Altai
(fifth to third centuries B . C . ) , w h o created a special art of
their o w n , with motifs resembling the 'animal style' of the
Scythians.
T h e excavations m a d e by Sergei Kiselev, Alexis Okladnikov
and Mikhal Gryaznov are also noteworthy for the number
of finds of world importance. A s a result of their work, studies
were m a d e of the ancient cultures of m a n y of the n o w extinct
peoples of Siberia.
T h e archaeological work done by Boris Piotrovsky in Transcaucasia led to the discovery of the remarkable monuments of
the ancient state of Urartu, the kingdoms of Colchis and Iberia,
Caucasian Albania and Media.
These discoveries by Soviet scholars are a worthy continuation
of the work of Russian Orientalists.
57
Oriental studies
T h e remarkable Russian scholar, Vassili Bartold, was at

one and the same time a Turkologist, an Iranist and an Arabist,
a brilliant historian, ethnographer and philologist with a very
wide range of interests.
T h e Soviet Arabist Ignace Krachkovsky was a specialist
in both history and cultural history. Besides editing m a n y
ancient written documents, he was the first to undertake the
task of acquainting European science with contemporary Arab
literature. His Arabskaja geografieskaja literatura (Arabian G e o graphical Literature) was a unique encyclopaedia for Arabists,
and his book Mad arabskimi rukopisjami (Concerning Arabian
Manuscripts), a lively and attractive account of ancient m a n u scripts, which was translated into m a n y languages, is of more
than purely academic interest. O n e of Krachkovsky's pupils
Feodor Shumovskyis continuing his work in the study of
Arabian geographical literature.
In Russia, Ancient Eastern studies were initiated by two
outstanding scholarsMikhail Nikolsky and Vladimir Golenishchev. Nikolsky was thefirstto study and publish the
inscriptions of Urartu, which he himself collected in the C a u casus. In a number of papers he showed the importance of a
study of the past history of Urartu for the history of the Ancient
East. In his long and prolific life, Vladimir Golenishchev m a d e
an enormous contribution to science. H e discovered and published a number of the most important literary monuments
of Ancient Egypt. H e m a d e the first catalogue of the collection
of the Egyptian antiquities in the Hermitage, and his o w n
superb collection formed the basis of the Eastern Department
of the State Pushkin M u s e u m of Fine Arts in M o s c o w . Vladimir Golenishchev was the founder and first holder of the Chair
of Egyptology in the University of Cairo.
T h e founder of the Russian school of ancient Eastern studies
was Boris Turaev. Himself a trained Egyptologist, he was at
the same time extremely interested in the Coptic and Ethiopian
languages. His main work, Istorija Drevnego Vostoka (History
of the Ancient East), also throws light on the history of such
countries as Nubia and A k s u m , a subject which had not previously been studied.
Vassili Struve, a pupil of Turaev, is the head of the Soviet
Oriental studies
58
school of historians of the Ancient East. His perfect familiarity

with sources and his profound philological knowledge have
enabled him to explain the existence in the Ancient East of a
slave-owning society, and to trace the history of its origins,
development and downfall. M o r e than a hundred scientific
papers have c o m e from his pen, as well as a course on ' T h e
History of the Ancient East' which has w o n universal recognition.
Nina Pigulevskaya has carried out a n u m b e r of detailed
studies concerning the relations of Byzantium with the East,
and the history of the Near and Middle East in the early Middle
Ages.
T h e deciphering by Sergei Malov of ancient Turkic runic
inscriptions of the seventh to ninth centuries discovered in
Mongolia and in the valley of the river Yenisei, is an outstanding achievement in thefieldof Turkic studies. These inscriptions are exceptionally important for the study of the ancient
civilization of the peoples of Central Asia.
Indian studies in Russia are noted for a number of worldfamous names, a list headed by Ivan Minaev, the founder of
studies in Indian Buddhism and the contemporary languages of
India. 'Eastern studies in Russia', he wrote, 'never had, and
never could have, an abstract character. W e are too close to
the East to have a purely abstract approach to such studies
For the Russian scholar, the East cannot be a dead, exclusively
literary subject of scientific inquiry.' Sergei Oldenburg, his
successor, was the initiator and director of the publication of
a monumental collection of Buddhist texts, Bibliotheca buddhica,
devoted to a study of the history, culture and literature of
India, China and Mongolia. Serge Oldenburg deciphered
and interpreted the ancient Indian manuscripts which he himself discovered in Sinkiang.
T h e study of Buddhist philosophy was the life-work of Feodor
Shcherbatskoy. His most celebrated work, the two-volume
Buddhist Logic was the result of more than twenty-five years'
labour. Shcherbatskoy was thefirstto draw attention to the
materialistic elements in ancient Indian philosophy.
T h e study of modern Indian languages and literature was
begun in the U . S . S . R . o n the initiative of Alexei Barannikov,
59
Oriental studies
w h o dedicated his work to the service of cultural collaboration

between the peoples of India and the Soviet Union.
T h e eminent Russian scholar Yuri Roerich, son of the famous
painter Nicola Roerich, spent almost thirty years in India,
devoting his studies to Tibet, Mongolia and India and, in
particular, translating from Tibetan the monumental chronicle
Golubiye annaly (the 'Pale Blue Records').
Russian scholars have m a d e a serious study of Mongolia:
the names of Isaac Schmidt and Ossip Kovalevsky are k n o w n
to anyone w h o has taken even a superficial interest in M o n golian studies. Palladius Kafarov's discovery of the Sokrovenniye Skazanija (a thirteenth-century chronicle written in Chinese
characters, but in the Mongolian language), was a landmark
in the study of Mongolian culture.
Shortly after the creation of the Mongolian People's Republic,
an expedition from the Soviet Union, headed b y Piotr Kozlov,
was sent there and discovered the Noin U l a burial mounds,
which provided a wealth of material o n the culture of the
H u n s . Soviet, Czech and Mongolian archaeologists have worked
together on excavations of Karakorum, the ancient capital of
the Mongolian Empire.
Boris Vladimirtsov has done outstanding work on the history
of the social organization of the Mongols during the feudal
period. His books Gingis-Lan (Genghis K h a n ) and Obscestvennyj stroj mongolov (The Social Structure of the Mongols)
have been translated into a number of Western and Eastern
languages.
Slav scholars have also m a d e no slight contribution to the
study of China. Nikita Bichurin (whose n a m e in religion was
Hyacinth), one of the leaders of a Russian religious mission
sent to China at the beginning of the nineteenth century, which
was, in fact, thefirstpermanent Russian embassy in that country, helped to promote the growth of international sinology
by his numerous works o n the history and culture of China and
by translations from the Chinese.
Another celebrated Russian sinologist was Palladius Kafarov,
the compiler of thefirstChinese-Russian dictionary, later augmented and published by the sinologist, Pavel Popov.
In the second half of the nineteenth century, the most serious
Oriental studies
60
and knowledgeable specialist in the history of the culture,

religion and philosophy of China was the Russian scholar,
Vassilyi Vasilyev. In the twentieth century, Vassilyi Alekseev,
for a long time the doyen of Chinese studies in the U . S . S . R . ,
m a d e a most valuable contribution to the development of
sinology. His works on the literature and culture of China are
widely read.
T h e founder of Japanese studies in the U . S . S . R . was N . K o n rad, the author of a series of valuable monographs on the
philosophy, history and culture of Japan and China. In his
work Konrad always pays tribute to the important role of
Eastern cultures in world civilization.
At the end of the nineteenth century, after the 'discovery'
of Korea, Russia became the leading country in the study of
the history, geography and culture of that country. T h e threevolume composite work, Opisanie Korei (Description of Korea),
published in 1900, was, at the time, actually a complete conspectus of all that was then scientifically k n o w n about that
country.
Eastern studies have achieved great success in Czechoslovakia, where they have a long tradition. A s early as the seventeenth century, the celebrated scholar, J a n A m o s K o m e n s k y
(Comenius), corresponded with the Sultan of Turkey and turned
his attention to the problems of Eastern studies in his research
work on the Bible. His Otv'rtaja duer' jazykov (The O p e n Door of
Languages) was extremely popular abroad and went through
m a n y translations, including four into Eastern languages. Direct
contacts with the countries of the East, and the scientific centre
and library established in Prague facilitate the successful work
of Czechoslovak Orientalists.
In thefirsthalf of the twentieth century, the work of two
Czech Orientalists m a d e an important contribution to science.
Alois Musil discovered a number of architectural monuments
in Arabia, drew a m a p of the unexplored regions of that
country and gave detailed ethnographical descriptions of the
Bedouins, together with material on their language. Another
scholar, Bedfich Grozny, deciphered Hittite hieroglyphs, laid
the foundations of a n e w scienceHittite studiesand introduced the world to the ancient culture of Asia Minor.
6i
Oriental studies
His works are of prime importance for comparative linguistics.

T h e works of the Czech Orientalists, Frantisek Leksa, Rudolf
Ruzika and Vincenc Lesny, are widely k n o w n . Their work is
being continued today by Felix Tauer, Y a n Rypka, Pavel
Poukha, Y a n Bakos, Timofe Pokora and their pupils.
T h e translation work done by Czech scholars reflects the
profound and sincere interest felt by the people of Czechoslovakia for the cultures of the East. Czech art publications like
Artia, scientific reviews such as Archiv orientalny, and popular
science journals, like New Orient and Novy Orient, appear in
the principal European languages and are well k n o w n throughout Europe.
In Poland, as early as the sixteenth century the research
studies of Vilnius A c a d e m y included Oriental disciplines
dealing with the interpretation of the Bible, a subject which
called for a knowledge of ancient Hebrew. This tradition has
been maintained also in the Vilnius State University, which
has given science such important Orientalists as O . Senkovsky,
w h o later became one of the founders of Russian Arabic studies.
Poland was for a long time a close neighbour of the Turkish
Empire, so it is not surprising that Turkish studies have long
since attracted Polish scholars. T h e work of Ananiasz Zaionchkovsky on Kipchak terminology and his studies of ancient
Turkish antiquities are of outstanding importance for Turkish
and Slavic studies as well as for the history of relations between
East and West. T h e names of Vladislav Kotvich, Tadeusz
Kovalsky and Marian Levitskyauthors of works on TurkoMongolian philologythe sinologists, Y a n Khmelevsky and
Vitold Yablonsky, the Arabist, Tadeusz Levitsky, and the
Indologists, Stanislaw F . Mikhalsky, Stanislaw Shaier and Elena
Willman-Grabowska, are world-famous. T h e works of Polish
Orientalists, together with their periodicals, Przeglad orientalistyczny, Rocznik orientalistyczny and Folia orientalia, are published
in m a n y European languages and are widely k n o w n beyond
the frontiers of Poland. In W a r s a w the State Archaeological
M u s e u m has a magnificent collection of objects illustrating
the material culture of the Ancient East m a d e by the archaeologist, K . Mikhalovsky, w h o led an archaeological expedition
to the U . A . R .
Oriental studies
62
Bulgarian scholars, in studying the history of their o w n

country, have in their research drawn on Easternand
particularly Turkishdocuments. Bulgarian translations of
Turkish manuscripts, m a d e by Piotr Ikhchiev, Nicola Skazov,
Ivan Dorev and Gleb Glybov, were a m o n g the first publications of their kind in Europe. T h e works of such contemporary Bulgarian Turkologists and Arabists as Boris Nedkov
are widely k n o w n , and have been published also in a n u m b e r
of European languages.
In Yugoslavia, Oriental studies are closely related to research
in the field of national history. For more than five hundred
years, the Yugoslav lands were under the rule of the Turkish
Empire, so that Turkish written material is at one and the same
time material for the history of the peoples of Yugoslavia during
that period.
According to the Yugoslav Turkologist, H a m i d Kalechi,
the earliest library of Muslim manuscripts was founded in 1445
in Skopje. A collection of valuable Eastern manuscripts is
preserved in the Eastern Institute founded in Sarajevo in 1950
by the Muslim Theological University, Gazi Husrevbeg. T h e
institute's journal, Plozi, publishes early Turkish diplomatic,
epigraphic and other material, research papers on Turkish
feudalism in the Balkans and the relations between Turkey
and the European powers. Turkish historical monuments are
the subject of a series of papers entitled Monumenta Turcica,
published by the institute.
The awakening of
the East
In the middle of the last century Europe was passing through

a rapid process of economic expansion: factories and railways
were being built, share-holding companies were being formed
and steamships began plying to overseas countries. A s a result
of three great discoveries in natural sciencethe biological
cell, the law of conservation of energy and the Darwinian
theoryman's natural environment appeared to be in
perpetual motion. Technology rapidly developed. Literature
and art were enriched by a whole constellation of sparkling
names. But by the seventies of the nineteenth century, capitalism, which had achieved these successes in scientific, technical
and cultural development, began to enter a n e w phase, that of
imperialism. T h e hunt for sources of raw materials, for market
outlets and spheres for capital investment generated a n e w
wave of colonialist conquests.
T h e peoples of the East were not prepared to accept this
situation. T h e great popular revolt in India in 1857-59, the
revolt of A h m e d Arabi in Egypt in 1881-82, the 'Boxer rising'
in China, put d o w n in 1900 as a result of intervention by eight
great Powers, and m a n y other popular uprisings occurred during
the second half of the nineteenth century.
The awakening of the East
64
Despite all imperialist efforts to slow the economic development of the colonial and independent countries, this development continued, though at a slower rate. Colonizers set u p
firms to treat raw materials, they built railways and opened
mines. This tended to strengthen the role of the working class
and the nationally-minded middle class in the East, at the time
of the Russian Revolution of 1905.
China, in particular, responded enthusiastically to the revolution in Russia. Conditions for acceptance of the n e w ideas
had been prepared by the familiarity of the leaders of Chinese
society with Russian culture. A t the end of the nineteenth and
beginning of the twentieth centuries, books and articles devoted
to Russia appeared. T h efirsttranslations of works of Russian
literature quickly became popular. T h e famous Chinese writer
L u Sin' pointed out: 'Russian literature opened our eyes to
the beauty of an oppressed nation's soul, to its sufferings and
to its struggle. . . . W e understood what was most important
that there are two classes in the world: the oppressors
and the oppressed.. . . This appeared at that time as the supreme
discovery, on a par with the discovery of fire.'
Other Asian countries too responded to the revolutionary
alarm signal which had been sounded in Russia. Even in India,
separated from Russia by an artificial barrier, cultural and
scientific links with the Slavs were not completely cut.
In Syria and Palestine, Russian schools were established in
the nineteenth century by the 'Rossijskoe Palestinskoe Obsestvo' (Russia-Palestine Society). S o m e young Arabs studied in
Petersburg and M o s c o w . F r o m the end of the last century
interest in the study of Russian culture increased in Turkey
also. For example, the writer A h m e d Midhat wrote in a foreword to his translation of a biography of Pushkin: ' T o d a y ,
Pushkin is not only regarded as a Russian writer; he is acquiring
the significance of a great m a n w h o is recognized as a figure
belonging to world civilization.'
Ideas need no visas to travel. It is, therefore, not surprising
that the ideas of the Russian Revolution began to spread
quickly in the East. National liberation movements sprang u p
in a n u m b e r of countries. T h e bourgeois revolutions in Iran
(1905-11), Turkey (1908-09), China (1911-13), the swelling
65
movement for national liberation in India in 1905-07, whose

slogans were swaraj (home rule) and swadeshi (national selfsufficiency), the creation of an autonomous Mongolia in 1911,
etc., stimulated the social development of Asia. These revolutionary movements, however, were at a stage still doomed to
failure.
T h e victory of the October Revolution in Russia inspired
people with n e w hopes for a better future. O n 4 M a y 1919,
a powerful anti-imperialist movement began in China, which
later, in 1925-26, led to revolution.
O n e after the other came massive risings against the imperialism in India, each more menacing than the previous one.
Efforts by Indians to understand Russia, which was building
a n e w life, evoked an interest in Russian classical literature,
with which India at first became familiar through English
translations. T h e ideas of Tolstoy were reflected in the work
of Tagore and Gandhi, and Chekhov became a model for Prem
C h a n d , w h o wrote in Hindi and U r d u . T w o quotations s u m up
the atmosphere of this era:
'Russia, following the great Lenin's precepts, looked into
the future and thought only of what was to be, while other
countries lay n u m b e d under the dead hand of the past and
spent their energy in preserving the useless relics of a bygone
age. In particular, I was impressed by the reports of the great
progress m a d e by the backward regions of Central Asia under
the Soviet rgime. In the balance, therefore, I was all in favour
of Russia, and the presence and example of the Soviets was a
bright and heartening phenomenon in a dark and dismal
world.' (Jawaharlal Nehru, An Autobiography.)
'Separated from life, it (education) becomes dead capital,
and ceases to be of use. W h e n I came here, I noticed that
(the Russians) were making education a vital force, because
they do not separate the school from the surrounding world . . .
the usual aim of the education which they diffuse is to seek
to educate the individual.' (Rabindranath Tagore, Russian
Letters.)
Immediately after the triumph of the national liberation
revolution in Turkey, the latter concluded in 1921 a treaty
of friendship and brotherhood with Soviet Russia. T h e good
66
neighbourly relations established between Turkey and the

Soviet Union facilitated the rapprochement of the two peoples
and their fruitful collaboration in different fields. In Turkey,
thanks to Soviet assistance, a number of industrial enterprises
were founded; Turkish specialists underwent training in the
U . S . S . R . and delegations of scholars were exchanged.
Relations between the Soviet Union and Iran began to develop on a completely new basis. W h e n , in 1921, the Soviet Union
annulled the treaties imposed upon Iran, the w a y was opened
up for a wider exchange of achievements in thefieldsof science,
literature and art.
T h e Great October Socialist Revolution evoked a wide
response in the Arab East also. Translations of books by Soviet
writers were soon widely read.
East and West paid close attention to Soviet life. T h e peoples
of the Soviet Union emerged with honour from their severe
trials, and overcame the secular backwardness they had inherited from old-time Russia. These successes enabled m a n y
people to appreciate what had not been fully understood in the
first years of the Soviet State's existence.
T h e Soviet East
In the second half of the nineteenth century an event occurred

in Central Asia which was of paramount importance for its
future history: the region was incorporated into the Russian
Empire. A colonial rgime was established in Turkestan, as
that country was then called. T h e Uzbeks, Tadzhiks, Kirghiz,
Turkmens and Karakalpaks shared the lot of the Russian,
Ukrainian and Byelorussian workers, w h o were governed by
Tsarist satraps, capitalists and landlords. A n e w form of exploitation was brought to bear upon the Central Asian peoples,
w h o continued to suffer under the yoke of their o w n lords and beys.
Nevertheless, unification with Russia was a factor of great
importance for Central Asia. It was not merely, and not so
m u c h , that more advanced socio-economic (capitalist) relations
began to develop there. T h e Central Asian peoples became
part of a country to which the centre of the world revolutionary
movement had been transferred, and where the most advanced
and militant partythat of Leninwas being formed. It
was precisely this party, most of whose members were representative Russians, that roused against Tsarism and exploiters
of all kinds all the peoples and national minorities of the multinational Russian Empire.
The Soviet East
68
Under the direction of this party, the dekhkans (peasants)

and artisans of Central Asia, the workers of Azerbaijan, Georgia
and Armenia actively participated in the Great October Socialist Revolutionand defended the gains m a d e in October
during the years of civil war and foreign intervention.
After the victory and confirmation of Soviet rule in Russia,
Lenin's nationality policy was consistently carried into effect.
O n the ruins of the Tsarist 'prison-house of nations', which the
workers had destroyed, a State was created, based on friendship
and o n the collaboration of all races and nationalities. T h e
better developed peoples (and by virtue of historical circumstances, Russia was the foremost of these) helped the others to
overcome more quickly their backwardness, so that all could
progress together.
Here is a typical example. In the difficult year of 1920,
Lenin ordered a special train to be sent from M o s c o w to Tashkent. In its carriages were professors and lecturers, whose
mission was to set up thefirstCentral Asian institute of higher
educationthe University of Turkestan (today the V . I.
Lenin Tashkent State University). They took with them all
the necessary equipment, a well-stocked library, and in a very
short time,firstscores, then hundreds, then thousands of Uzbeks,
Tadzhiks, Kazakhs, Kirghiz and Turkmens, w h o had received
a university education, carried the torch of knowledge into the
towns and villages of Central Asia.
T h e Central Asian peoples have been able to leap forward
through a whole historical epoch and m o v e from feudalism
direct to socialism. T h e Great October Revolution gave them
political freedom; but freedom would have been meaningless
if their economic backwardness had not been eliminated. T h e
Communist Party and the Soviet Government saw to it that
the economy of Central Asia developed at a rate that exceeded
the average for the whole country.
Once-backward border regions of Tsarist Russia have been
transformed intoflourishing,autonomous industrial-agricultural
republics.
A real revolution has taken place also in the cultural life of
the peoples of the Soviet East. Here, not only has universal
illiteracy been totally eradicated, but numerous local cadres
6g
T h e Soviet East
of specialists with secondary and higher education have been

trained also.
Each republic has it o w n university, its national academy
of science and a widely-spread network of institutes for educational, scientific research, cultural and medical studies. T h e
names of the Kazakh geologist, Kanysh Satpaev, and of the
Uzbek scholars, T a s h m u k h a m e d Sarymsakov (mathematics)
and Abid Sadykov (chemistry), and m a n y others, are well
k n o w n far beyond the frontiers of the Soviet Union.
T h e scholars of Central Asia and Transcaucasia are playing
an important role in the studies of the East and its culture.
Very rich collections of Eastern manuscripts in Tashkent,
Erevan, Tbilisi, Dushanbe and other cities constitute valuable
material for scientific publications. T h e multi-volume editions
of the catalogue of manuscripts of the Oriental Studies Institute
of the Uzbekistan A c a d e m y of Sciences, or the famous Canon
of Ibn Sina (Avicenna), and the publications of the Matenadaran collection of Armenian manuscripts, have attracted the
close attention of scholars throughout the world.
T h e culture of the peoples of the Soviet East, national in
form and socialist in content, has attained unprecedented
heights.
T h e friendship that prevails between all Soviet peoples has
not only facilitated the flowering of each of their cultures, but
has also contributed to their mutual enrichment and to mutual
cultural exchanges. A n d , while in the numerous theatres and
concert halls of the Central Asian Republics the productions of
Russian and Ukrainian composers and the incomparable Russian ballet meet with invariable acclaim, the hearts of the
peoples of M o s c o w , Kiev, Minsk and other towns in Russia,
the Ukraine and Byelorussia are w o n over by the rhythmic
dances of the East in the renderings of such magnificent choreographers as Galya Izmailova or M u k a r r a m Turgunbaev, the
dramatic art of Sara Ishanturaeva, the birdlike notes of Khalima
Nasyrova, the enchanting music of A r a m Khachaturyan or
Uzeir Gadzhibekov. T h e books of Sadriddin Aini, Mukhtar
Auezov, Chingis Aitmatov, Aibek and Berda Kerbabaev do
not rest long unwanted on the shelves of bookshops and libraries,
for they are read by the whole country.
The Soviet East
70
T h e former slaves, brilliantly portrayed as they have been

by the classical Tadzhik writer, Sadriddin Aini, have, with
the help of the Russian and other peoples of the Soviet Union,
become the fully independent masters of their o w n destiny.
A s they build u p their o w n socialist society, the workers of
Central Asia, together with all the workers of the Soviet
powers, have confidently m o v e d on to the task of building c o m munism.
Cultural relations
today
T h e outbreak of the Second World W a r menaced all the values

of civilization which h u m a n genius had created. T h e sky over
Europe was darkened by the smoke from the furnaces of
Maidanek and Auschwitza 'brown plague' threatened to
spread all over the world. Freed from fascism in Europe, the
peoples of Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, the G e r m a n Democratic
Republic, Poland, R u m a n i a , Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia
set out on the road to socialist construction. T h e peoples of
the U . S . S . R . and the Eastern European countries, w h o had
experienced inexpressible suffering and endured the severest
losses during the war and w h o were n o w engaged in peaceful,
creative labour, could yearn for nothing more desirable than
peace.
In the countries of the East, a new wave of national-liberation revolutions developed after the defeat of Japan. T h e
process of socialist expansion in Mongolia was accelerated.
T h e Chinese people w o n their national independence and
embarked on the conversion of their country to socialism. T h e
peoples of Korea and Viet-Nam set out on the same road.
India, Indonesia, B u r m a and other Asian countries obtained their independence. In order to eradicate their age-old
Cultural relations today
72
backwardness, all countries need a lasting and stable peace. For

this reason, the ideas of peace and friendship between peoples
which emanate from the socialist countries are understood
by and familiar to all the peoples of the East.
A n awareness of the historic role of the East in world progress, not
only in the past but in the present, has led the Slavs to study the
cultural heritage and the contemporary spiritual life of the East.
Friendly relations with the peoples of Asia have helped to
popularize in all corners of the Soviet Union the literature and
art of China, India, Indonesia, Japan and other countries. For
example, dozens of works by classical and contemporary Chinese authors, collections of Chinese poems, tales and legends
have been published in the U . S . S . R . Works by Indian writers
and politicians appear in large editions and are sold out i m m e diately. Each year sees increased interest taken in the classical
and contemporary literature of Iran. W o r k s by Pakistani writers, 'Faiza A k h m a d a Faiza, Kasmi and others, are being
published. T h e Japanese Kabuki Theatre which toured the
U . S . S . R . attracted such crowds of spectators that performances
had to be repeated. T h e original music of the peoples of SouthEastern Asia, their pictorial arts and the particularly impressive technique of lacquer painting, the products of popular
artists, works of literature and cinema films are constantly
attracting the attention of a very wide public. A n orchestra
from Afghanistan and an exhibition of pictures by Afghan
artists m a d e a very successful tour of the U . S . S . R . In 1962, the
U . S . S . R . A c a d e m y of Sciences held a special academic meeting
to commemorate the ninetieth anniversary of the great Pakistani
writer and educator, Abdul K h a k a .
T h e enormous interest taken in the East is reflected in the
fact that a number of primary and secondary schools in M o s cow, Leningrad, Tashkent, Alma-Ata and other cities have
introduced lessons in Eastern languagesHindi, Chinese, U r d u
and Arabic.
Poland, Czechoslovakia and Bulgaria are also strengthening
and widening their contacts with the countries of the East.
M a n y people attend evening classes at the school of Eastern
languages in Prague after the day's work; several hundred
students graduate every year from the school.
73
Cultural exchanges between the Soviet Union and the countries of Asia are an example of peaceful collaboration and
brotherly mutual assistance.
For example, most Mongolian scholars or savants have been
educated in the Soviet Union. T h e Mongolian A c a d e m y of
Science works in close contact with the academies of science of
the U . S . S . R . , Czechoslovakia and Poland. Scientific and cultural
collaboration with socialist countries is helping to develop the
economy and enrich the culture of Mongolia.
Viet-Namese students are studying in Soviet institutes of
higher education, and Soviet scholars travel to Viet-Nam to
study its history, language and culture. Viet-Nam is being given
help by other socialist countries also, especially Poland and
Czechoslovakia.
With the assistance of the U . S . S . R . , industries are being
built u p in Indonesia, and roads are being driven through
the jungles of the island of Kalimantan. Soviet people have
helped B u r m a to build a technological institute equipped with
the latest apparatus. Soviet specialists are building a radio station in Laos.
T h e independence of India, w o n in 1947, opened u p wide
possibilities for cultural association between Indians and the
peoples of foreign countries, including the U . S . S . R . M o r e and
more books are being translated into the languages of India.
There is possibly not a single language in that country into
which Gorki's novel Mother has not been translated. His
play The Submerged has had great success with Indian intellectuals, w h o also appreciate other Soviet writers, such as Boris
Polevoi.
Soviet literature, theatre, cinema and music are extremely
popular in Japan. All the important works of Soviet authors
have been translated into Japanese. Every appearance by
Soviet performers in that country is highly successful, but
audiences are particularly attracted by the classical Russian
ballet. T h e Soviet choreographers A . Messerer and V . Burmeister have helped to train young Japanese dancers and have
already put on a number of performances in Japan.
Cultural contacts are growing between the Arab countries
and the Soviet Union and other socialist States. There has
74
been an increase in exchanges of scholars, actors' groups and

cinema films; quite a few Arab students are studying in the
U.S.S.R.
Performances by the Bolshoi ballet and the Soviet violinist
David Oistrakh were recently welcomed with great interest in
Turkey. Turkey has quite extensive scientific and cultural relations with Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and Poland.
T h e Society for Cultural Relations with the U . S . S . R . , organized in Iran as long ago as 1943, helps to organize photographic
exhibitions, sporting contests, film shows and other manifestations which contribute to rapprochement between the two
peoples. T h e society publishes a magazine Pajame Nau ( N e w
Herald), and lays particular emphasis o n acquainting the Iranian people with the achievements of Soviet science and culture. M a n y works by Slavic authors (Pushkin, Tolstoy, Gogol,
Chekov, Gorki, Ostrovsky, Sholokov, Hasek, Fridrich Capek,
Branislav Nusi, etc.) have been translated and published in
Iran.
In Afghanistan, professors from the U . S . S . R . lecture in the
University of Kabul. A number of courses in the Russian language have been organized in the country, and the works of
Leo Tolstoy, M a x i m Gorki, Nicola'i Ostrovsky are translated
and published. Plays by Russian dramatists, including Anton
Chekhov, are performed in the Kabul Theatre 'Pokhyni N a n dare', on the lines of Konstantin Stanislavsky's system.
After the State of Pakistan was formed in 1947, the U . S . S . R . ,
Czechoslovakia and other socialist States established diplomatic relations with it. T h e success of the U . S . S . R . pavilion at the
International Industrial Exhibition in Karachi in 1955 facilitated the conclusion of a n u m b e r of mutually advantageous
economic agreements. Scientific contacts have expanded remarkably: Soviet Union savants have participated in several
sessions of the Pakistan Philosophical Congress, in a colloquium
on the problems of Islam, in medical conferences and so on.
In 1962, in Karachi, Lahore and Dacca, an exhibition of works
by Russian and Soviet artists was staged.
T h e Soviet people consider egalitarian and mutually advantageous cultural collaboration to be an important factor in
strengthening peace, friendship and mutual understanding
75
between peoples, for developing national cultures and enriching

the treasure houses of world culture.
T h e main feature characterizing the current expansion of
cultural relations between the Slavic countries and the East is
the aspiration of all the peoples for peace.
Peace is our c o m m o n cause.

Slavs and The East

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T h e Slavs and the East

The Slavs and

Published in 1965 by the United Nations

Articles contributed by: Leonid Vassilyev, Yuri Zavadovsky,

T h e present work is one of a series of booklets for the general

therefore those of the authors, and their observations d o not

T h e progress m a d e in the U . S . S . R . in the study of the history

speaking, the historical progress of h u m a n society in East

by the middle of the eighth century, they already constituted

under the feudal yoke of the Turks, and had m a n y economic

brings us back to a problem already mentioned above, that

A glance at the m a p of Europe and Asia immediately shows

Ancient neighbours of the Slavs

of them contributed to the development of an advanced

Ancient neighbours of the Slavs

S o m e time later, in the sixth and seventh centuries, the

Ancient neighbours of the Slavs

Whereas our knowledge of the earliest contacts between the

geographer of the ninth century, provides us with evidence of

neighbouring peoples and, in particular, about their trade.

By the end of the tenth century, paganism in Russia was

participated in the construction of the celebrated churches of the

T h efirstjourneys to the East

in unhampered trade in the Turkish possessions. Subsequently,

T h efirstjourneys to the East

journey to the East, to India, was familiar to Russians and

T h efirstjourneys to the East

T h e Yermak expedition, which inaugurated the conquest

T h efirstjourneys to the East

in the Kwang-si province, and his n a m e has passed into Chinese

Trade and trade

T h e trading links between Slav countries and the East, which

Trade and trade routes

fifteenth century onwards, and particularly in the sixteenth

Trade and trade routes

the Volga-Caspian route,firstto Khiva and Bokhara, and finally

Trade and trade routes

brought their caravans across the Kazakh steppes and the

Trade and trade routes

Throughout history cultural relations between peoples and the

leading to imitations. Eastern designs were reproduced in early

manufacturers began to produce silk fabrics, machine-made

derably earlier than into Holland and England. For a long

of the East. For example, in the seventeenth century, Yuri

of the Russian doctor's laboratory was given his n a m e . T h e

tales) and other products of literature and folklore. T h e earliest

Golden comb from the

Funeral chariot from

A map of the Caucasus, by Al-Idrisi, a twelfth-century geographer,

Photo : Milos Hrbas, Prague

The towers of Tamerlane*s palace at Samarkand; fourteenth century

f"- isyfr"''- ..'.*'"' '"yrtj

T A P CWf/f o / 57. fan, i? Square, Moscow

Portrait of the traveller Nicolai Rezant

f Leo Tolstoy, as seen by the painter Ilya Repin

Star dancer of the Tadzhik State Philharmonic

Photo : Unesco/V. Noskov

Technician working on the construction of a

Pupils from the District ofBaiaoud in

Photo : Unesco/B. Riabinine

of life and horse-breeding: the Russian loshad (horse) and

rule, most of the national groups n o w inhabiting Russia, as

motifs of Eastern origin are met with in the works of