R U S 
nations that had been subjugated by Oleg, several, on the 
accession of a new sovereign, attempted to regain their 
independence; in particular the Drevlians, who dwelt on the 
banks of the Uscha, in the present district of Vrutsch, were 
the first to rise in revolt. They were, however, soon quelled, 
and punished by the imposition of an increased tribute. The 
U glitches, who inhabited the southern bank of the Dnieper, 
maintained a longer contest for their liberty. One of their 
principal towns sustained a siege of three years, and at last 
submitted on condition of the trifling tribute of a marten’s 
skin blackened by fire; as these furs were valued in propor¬ 
tion to the darkness of their colour. 
Igor soon had to contend with more formidable enemies. 
The Petchenegans, a nation hitherto unknown, quilted their 
settlements on the Yaik and the Volga, and made incursions 
into the Russian territory. These people appear to have 
been at least as powerful and warlike as the Varages; and 
Igor finding himself unable to cope with them in arms, con¬ 
cluded a treaty of alliance. About five years after, disputes 
arose between the new allies, and both had recourse to arms. 
It appears that the Russians were finally victorious, and the 
Petchenegans were, for some time, disabled from giving Igor 
any farther molestation. 
The Russian monarch, in imitation of his guardian, soon 
turned his attention towards the Grecian empire, where de¬ 
predations might apparently be made with impunity. He 
equipped an immense armament, consisting, as we are as¬ 
sured by the Russian annals, of 10,000 barks, each carrying 
40 men, thus forming an army of 400,000 warriors. With 
this immense force he set sail for Constantinople, without 
any previous declaration of war, and without any ostensible 
motive for thus infringing the treaty that had been concluded 
some years before between Oleg and Leo. In his route he 
Overran and ravaged the provinces of Paphlagonia, Pontus, 
and Bithynia, plundering the towns, and butchering the 
inhabitants. For some time the barbarians met with no 
opposition, as the imperial troops were engaged in distant 
provinces ; but the government of the empire was now in 
very different hands from those which held it during the 
former invasion. The Grecian forces were well appointed, 
and commanded by two generals of approved ability and 
courage. These were Theophanes and Phocas, of whom 
the former commanded the fleet, and the latter the army. 
The Russians had soon cause to repent their temerity. 
Theophanes attacked them on board their ships, within sight 
of the Pharos, and throwing among them the unquenchable 
Grecian fire, with the effects of which they were wholly 
unacquainted, threw them into such confusion, that many 
plunged into the sea to avoid the fires that threatened and 
pursued them. Their vessels were dispersed, shattered or 
consumed by flames, and great numbers of their crews 
perished. The remainder reached the shores of Bithynia 
but before they could recover from their consternation, they 
were met by Phocas, who fell upon them with his troops, 
and made prodigious slaughter. So great were the losses 
sustained by Igor in this unfortunate expedition, that he 
carried back with him scarcely a third of his army. This 
second naval expedition of the Russians against Constanti¬ 
nople took place in 941. 
Though discouraged by the ill success which had attended 
his first invasion of the Grecian empire, Igor was too much 
stimulated by the desire of plunder, not to risk a second 
attempt. Three years after he collected new forces, took 
into pay many of the Petchenegans, and again set out for 
Greece; but before he had advanced beyond the Taurican 
Chersonesus, the emperor Romanus, informed of his ap¬ 
proach, and not choosing to hazard the result of an engage¬ 
ment, sent deputies to the Russian leader, offering to pay 
him the same tribute which had been given to his predecessor. 
With this offer Igor complied, and once more retired with 
his army. 
Igor was now far advanced in years; but he insatiable 
rapacity of his officers, ever craving fresh spoils from 
vanquished nations, impelled him to turn his arms against 
the Drevlians, for the purpose of obtaining from them an 
Yol. XXII. No. 1515. 
S I A. 457 
increase of their yearly tribute. In this unjust attack he was 
at first successful, and returned loaded with the contributions 
which he had levied from that people; but having dismissed 
great part of his troops with the spoils of the vanquished, 
and marching with the remainder too far into the country, 
he fell into an ambuscade, which the Drevlians, now grown 
desperate, had formed on his approach in the neighbourhood 
of Korosten. The Russians were soon overpowered, and 
Igor, being made prisoner, was put to death. 
Before the death of Oleg, Igor had married a princess of 
a bold and daring spirit, named Olga, by whom he had 
one son, Sviatoslaf; but as he was very young at the death 
of his father, the queen-mother Olga assumed the reins of 
government. Her first care was to take signal vengeance on 
the unhappy Drevlians, for having bravely defended them¬ 
selves against the encroachments of tyranny and oppression. 
These people, satisfied with the death of their oppressor, ap¬ 
peared desirous of renewing their amicable intercourse with the 
Russians; and their chief, Male, is even said to have made an 
offer of his hand to Igor’swidow. Olga, with that deep cunning 
and concealed malice that so often mark the character of the 
despotic leader of a barbarous people, pretended to listen to 
their overtures, received the deputies of Male, but imme- 
dialely ordered them to be privately put to death. In the 
mean time she invited a larger deputation from the Drevlian 
chief, which she treated in the same inhuman manner, 
taking care that no tidings of either murder should be carried 
to the Drevlians. She then set out as if on an amicable 
visit, to conclude the new alliance, and having proclaimed a 
solemn entertainment, to which she invited some hundreds 
of the principal inhabitants of the Drevlian towns, she 
caused them to be treacherously assassinated. This was but 
the first step to the more dreadful vengeance which she had 
resolved to inflict on this deluded people. She laid waste 
the whole country of the Drevlians, and in particular the 
town of Korosten, near which Igor had lost his life.’ For a 
longtime she could not master the place, as the inhabitants, 
dreading the horrible fate that awaited them, from the re¬ 
vengeful spirit of Olga, defended themselves with the utmost 
valour and success. Historians are not ashamed to assert 
that the town was eventually subjugated by the following 
expedient. Being assured of clemency, on condition of 
sending to Olga all the pigeons of the town, they submitted; 
but Olga causing lighted matches to be fastened to the tails of 
the pigeons, set them at liberty. The birds flew to their 
usual places of residence in the town, which w'ere speedily in 
a conflagration. The wretched inhabitants endeavouring to 
escape the flames, fell into the hands of the Russian soldiers, 
planted round the town for that purpose, by whom they 
were put to the sword. 
This was the only warlike transaction, if it deserves that 
name, which took place during the regency of Olga. Though 
not uncommon in the annals of a barbarous people, it w’ould 
have been sufficient to hand down her name with detestation 
to posterity, had she not, in the opinion of her panegyrists, 
atoned for the enormity, by attempting to introduce into her 
dominions the Christian religion. 
Hitherto the Slavi, and the Scandinavian nations who had 
taken possession of their territories, were Pagans, and their 
religious ceremonies, like those of all the surrounding 
nations, were marked by an absurd and cruel superstition, 
which, under pretence of worshiping the Supreme Being, 
insulted his attributes, and increased instead of lessened the 
miseries of human nature. Their deities seem to have been 
borrowed, partly from the Greeks and Romans, and partly 
from the Scythians ; but were characterized by peculiar 
names, and represented by idols of complex workmanship 
and grotesque appearance. Thus the godPerune, orPerkune, 
who was the chief among the Slavonian deities, analogous 
to the Zeus of the Grecian, and the Jupiter of the Roman 
mythology, was personated by an idol whose head was of 
silver, his ears and mustachios of massy gold, his legs of 
iron, and his trunk of hard incorruptible wood. It was de¬ 
corated with rubies and carbuncles, and held in its hand a 
stone carved, to represent the symbol of lightning. The 
6 A sacred 
