Kyi, Shchek and Khoryv (orv|Кии, Щекъ, Хоривъ|Kii, Ščekǔ, Horivǔ; uk|Кий, Щек, Хорив|Kyi, Šček, Horyv; ru|Кий, Щек, Хоривъ|Kii, Šček, Horiv) were three legendary brothersoften mentioned along with their sister Lybеd(orv|Лыбѣдь|Lybed'; uk|Либідь|Lybid'; ru|Лыбедь|Lybed') who, according to the Primary Chronicle,[1] founded the city of Kiev (modern Kyiv), which eventually became the capital of Kievan Rus', and is the present-day capital of Ukraine.
There is no precise and historically established information about the existence of the four legendary siblings and the establishment of the city of Kiev.[2] It has been claimed by some scholars that Kyi was also prince (knyaz) and founded the so-called Kyi dynasty, from the Slavic tribe of Polans.[3]
In the Primary Chronicle (1110s), written by a monk of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra (traditionally attributed to Nestor), a special place is held by the legend of the foundation of Kiev by three brothers.[2] Nestor places those brothers onto various hills of Kyiv.[2] Geographically, the Old Town is located on a higher right bank of the Dnieper, which is an extension of the Dnieper Upland, where remnants of the Church of the Tithes are located.
The Chronicle further states that there were people ("who did not know what they were saying") who considered Kyi a mere ferryman.[2] But it later claims that Kyi, as a prince of his gens, was visiting Czargrad and received great honors from the Emperor.[2] Dmitry Likhachov combined attestations of the Nikon Chronicle, which also recounts that Kyi with a great army marched onto Czargrad and received great honors from the Emperor.[2] During his expedition to Constantinople, Kyi also founded a city of Kyivets on the Danube.[2]
Nestor also names the approximate date of the assault on Kyiv by the Khazar Empire as "after the death of Kyi," which supports Boris Rybakov's hypothesis of the 6th–7th centuries.[2] In his chronicle Nestor does not indicate the date of Kyi's death nor the existence or absence of heirs who continued to rule after his death.[2] The chronicle does mention a meeting between local residents with the newly arrived Askold and Dir who asked them whose city Kjiv was, and received the answer that the three brothers who built it were long dead and the residents now paid tribute to the Khazars.[2] However, the Polish historian Jan Długosz points out the Przemysł Chronicle that asserts, "after the death of Kyi, Shchek and Khoryv, their children and grandchildren who descended from them by direct lineage ruled for many years."[2]
The text of the legendary founding of Kiev (Kyiv) by the three brothers and their sister is found in the Primary Chronicle on page 9, lines 5–21. Each full sentence has been highlighted in the comparison below:
| Line | Laurentian Codex | Hypatian Codex | Samuel Hazzard Cross & Olgerd P. Sherbowitz-Wetzor English translation of the Laurentian text (2013) [1930, 1953] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 9.5 | полемъ же жившемъ ѡсобѣ и володѣ ющемъ | полѧномъ же живущиим ѡсобѣ и владѣющимъ | While the Polyanians lived apart and governed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 9.6 | и роды своими. иже и до сее братьѣ бѧху | роды своим. ꙗже и до сеꙗ братѧ бѧху | their families (for before the time of these brothers there were already | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 9.7 | полѧне. и живѧху кождо съ своимъ родомъ. и | полѧне. и живѧху кождо съ родом своимъ. | Polyanians, and each one lived with his gens | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 9.8 | на своихъ мѣстѣхъ. владѣюще кождо родомъ | на своихъ мѣстехъ. володѣюще кождо родомъ | on his own lands, ruling over his kinsfolk), | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 9.9 | своимъ на своихъ мѣстѣх. быша .г҃. братьꙗ. | своимъ·:· И быша .г҃. брата. | there were three brothers, | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 9.10 | единому имѧ кии. а другому щекъ. а третьему | аединому имѧ кии. а другому щекъ. а третьему | Kyi, Shchek, and | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 9.11 | хорвиъ] сестра ихъ лыбедь. сѣдѧще| хоривъ. и сестра ихъ лыб<ѣ>дь. и сѣдѧше| Khoriv, and their sister was named Lybed'. Kyi|-| 9.12| кии на горѣ гдѣ же <ны> не оувозъ боричевъ.| кии на горѣ кдѣ нн҃ѣ оувозъ боричевъ.| lived upon the hill where the Borichev trail now is,|-| 9.13| а щекъ сѣдѧше на горѣ. гдѣ ныне зоветсѧ| а щекъ сѣдѧше на горѣ. кдѣ ннѣ зоветсѧ| and Shchek dwelt upon the hill now named|-| 9.14| щековица. а хоривъ на третьеи горѣ.| щековица. а хоривъ на третьеи горѣ.| Shchekovitsa, while on the third resided Khoriv,|-| 9.15| ѿ него же прозвасѧ хоревица. и створиша| ѿ нюдѹ же прозвасѧ хорівица. створиша| after whom this hill is named Khorevitsa. They built|-| 9.16| градъ во имѧ брата своего старѣишаго. и нарекоша| городокъ. во имѧ брата ихъ старѣишаго. и наркоша| a town and named it [...] after their oldest brother [and named]|-| 9.17| имѧ ему киевъ. бѧше ѡколо| и киевъ. и бѧше ѡколо| it Kyiv]. Around the|-| 9.18| града сѣсъ и боръ великъ. и бѧху ловѧща| города лѣсъ и боръ великъ. и бѧху ловѧще| town lay a wood and a great pine-forest in which they used to catch|-| 9.19| звѣрь бѧху мужи мудри и смыслени| звѣрь. бѧхуть бо мудрѣ и смыслени. и| wild beasts. These men were wise and prudent;|-| 9.20| нарицахусѧ полѧне. ѿ ни<хже> есть полѧне| нари[ци]хусѧ полѧне. ѿ нихъ же суть полѧне.| they were called Polyanians, and there are Polyanians descended from them living|-| 9.21| в киевѣ и до сего д҃не.| киꙗне и до сего д҃ни.| in Kyiv to this day.|}Acts of KyiIn the subsequent lines 9.22–10.14, the background, life story and legacy of Kyi and his siblings is briefly lined out. Lines 10:5 and 10:6 contain well-known examples of disputed textual variants in the Primary Chronicle: the main textual witnesses including the Laurentian and Hypatian Codices have different texts here, and scholars cannot agree which manuscript most closely reflects the original text.
Legacy of the four siblingsThe Primary Chronicle relates three different versions of what happened to political power amongst the Polyanians in the period after the four siblings (the three brothers and their sister) died and before the Khazars vassalised them. Lines 10.15–10.17 suggest that the offspring of Kyi, Shchek, Khoryv and Lybid' continued to reign amongst the Polyanians, while the Derevlians and other tribes around them had their own knyazi (princes):
16.21–17.3 say that upon the deaths of the four siblings, the Derevlians seized power and "oppressed" the Polyanians, then "other neighbours", and then finally the Khazars made them tributaries:
In lines 20.24–21.3, the inhabitants of Kyiv/Kiev tell Askold and Dir a brief history of the city, which does not mention either a reign of the siblings' descendants, nor of an "oppression" by the Derevlians or other neighbouring tribes; instead, the three brothers' deaths are immediately followed by paying tribute to the Khazars: |