Vestnik Pravoslavnogo Svâto-Tihonovskogo Gumanitarnogo Universiteta: Seriâ III. Filologiâ (Dec 2023)
The origin of similar entries in the biblical parts of the Old Russian Chronographs: stories about the settlement of peoples and Babel’s Tower
Abstract
The article is devoted to one of the most difficult and little-studied problems in the historiography of Ancient Russian chronographs: reconstruction of the composition of the biblical part of the so-called Chronograph according to the Greate narrative (Khronograf po velicomu izlozheniju – hereafter KVI) of the 2nd type. Its beginning, replaced in the Troitskii khronograf by the Biblical books fand in Complete and Brief chronographic versions of the Paleya – by Paleya Interpretata, has only recently been correlated with Tikhonravov’s chronograph. The basis for this conclusion was the study of borrowings in the last from the Chronicles of John Malala, which are read in the editorial revision, in the biblical part – similar to the Introductory part of Hellenic Chronograph (Letopisetc Ellinskii) of the 1st and 2nd types and with the so-called Addition to the Paleya, and in the chronographic part – similar to the Troitskii khronograf and Complete and Brief chronographic Paleyas. In this article, other sources are attached to this series of correspondences, namely: a story about the settlement of the descendants of the sons of Noah, chapter 34 from the Izbornik Svyatoslava of 1073, extract from Chronicle of George the Monk (Hamartolus), a story about the size of the Tower of Babel and the "Legend of the Creation of the World" by Epiphanius of Cyprus. Most of the listed common sources of chronographs were included in the biblical part of the non-preserved early chronograph (unlikely called in ancient Russian literature: KVI), which was addressed by the compiler of the KVI of the 2nd kind, apparently using them not only in the main text containing the biblical books, but also in the convoy. The same non-preserved chronograph, regardless of the KVI of the 2nd kind and the Tikhonravov’s chronograph, became one of the sources of the Introductory part of the Letopisetc Ellinskii of both types, Additions to the Paleya, the Introduction and Philosopher's Speech of the Tale of Bygone Years, the Paleya Interpretata and, possibly, the Short chronographic Paleya. The list of common sources of the biblical parts of the listed monuments of Old Russian chronography and chronicles does not end there: a number of biblical apocrypha dating back to the Book of Jubilees, as well as the apocryphal Life of Moses should be added to them. However, this issue is beyond the scope of this article.
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