HlSTBKe Afc
E pochs.
Antiquities.
Under the name o f Demetrius, the murdered brother o f tins fas,
V’tereigfti
VIII. 'The aeeeffihaGf th^idyaefly e f R©ma*ie:W':f6 * | ;,€ri «he|perfonGf
MiSlail'TpdbfdSRdtz:-, fpriUjg''!36 -the female line from SvaaMJfc’ 'jHe
■was followed by his fon Alexis, father of'Peter the Great.
I3C The reign df Peter, I has 'been juftly confidered as a moft fj*m-
ptirrifot epbcfr id Ruffian hiftory; hut on reading the annals tff^the
pfoee^rig reigsps'from that of :Ivan IV, it will he peredved -that a part of
bilrhdmiratibltfor Tetef a'rifes from our inattention •td’-Mfe predeceffors 5
grid ^ a t the-light whitfh ®e’diffiifed was far -from being fo fuMri&and
g r a n d ‘h S - l# i id m M r i r i^ y u i r i% in e d ; -
if. Trie-date reign ‘of -Cathei'ine II deferws'^t'o be hem-memerated
aitiotrg We| ffioft MitiaTTt ripochs in the Ruffian ‘^rihilsymrir miift her
fieffeual drfhtes’"eifoltrtfe her from the lift of greft arid'hblefove!r'ergris.
'OfkasSieHt mdntirfaehts. Ktrffia'darrnot be frippofidd lo ‘aftei-d- great vastly.
Tometiinesfhfe tdmbs of their .pagan aneefto-fs iare'difo^feed,
Ci^khlti^We^diis3 and ©friahrents. We lerirfe 'frbtii Hei^&otus «that
fhfe Scythians'fegar&d the tbfflhs-of their princes With'fiogtiiar veneration
; and the Sarmatians or Slavons fesrn rfo ‘have 'Imbibed the-feme
ideas. TMe-'cataooiabs at -KloW 'witte-perhaps Toffifad'in the Tagan‘period,
though they be now replete with marks ’.of Chriftianity. Th-ay^are
labyrinths'bf bOftfidefeMri extent, h8®|B would a , W^fs
of hafoenriff day, but they do ridtfeein to contain the,bb{dies^ftthe,tno-
riarcfis*. ' : ■ 'v ■
The idols of Pagan Ruffia are fometimeS found caftTn bt©ftfce;rifod
Dr. Guthrie of PeEefflburg haft given an 'ihg©ni®us afceount bf jhifila-
vohic mythology \ Tlie chief'-God, PdrOUft, was fiippbfed thefaiM^id
bl’thunder; Vi%>ft FdembtedTah; BwetOvid1 wAs'-the-’SUn'J^1'Afiollo;
, Silnoy Bog, or the ftrong god, was Hercules-;‘Leda Fgfewriblds *Mars,>fec.
IVfany | divinities1 prefidedover love, fuch ' as1 Lada 7rir Venus; t Lelio or
Cupid, and his brother Dido, who,like the Anteros of the Cheeks, c'ounter-
kEted'1 the power Of Cupid. Radagaft was thdgdd who prote9le-d towns.
The Ruffians had alfo -goddeffes ebrt efpondirig1 with' Geres,’ Di;i;na,:'and
Pomona; and' their Rouffalki were1-nymphs of the woods'-;arid waters.
3 Herbin. Crypta: itijo v ienK ,* - ■* DTlfeftatibhs furies anfiqui't& de'Ruffie, 1795.' 8'vb.
2 \ 1 The
The Pagan Ruffians alfo worfhipped , Znifcfo.or Vefta, in ' the form of
fire; and venerated waters, the Bqg or-Hypanis -bfeing as highly regarded
as the Ganges among thb. Indians f.the. Don and the Danube were
alfo holy- ftreams ;,arid there was a- facreddkfee, Environed with a thick
fbreftj«W-the.ffl§' of Rügen-, which was adored by the-Slavohic tribes.
The.converfibri.tpf the Ruffians muft of courfe have been followed
by-th? S f ai0n 0« m£*n7 churche'^ '^ut as Byzantine^ or Italian archie
s were 'employed, tbolfir fedificeft hiW but few'pbculiarities. Perhaps
no country of-cbfifiderable extent fc&T afford fewer- monuments of ancient
art than Ruffia. 9
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ANTTQJ7I.
TIBS*