Skąd się wzięła Moskwa
Gościwit Malinowski - podcast INTERPRETACJE
8,628 views
The meme depicted on the title page of this program, featuring four churches in Kyiv and four photos of a forest, supposedly representing Moscow, was distributed on February 22, 2022. "Memes of this type" reflect a certain literary, or perhaps rhetorical, topos. They appeared as early as 2017, when Anna of Kiev, who became Queen of France in the 11th century, was juxtaposed, while the site of the future Moscow was depicted as a forest with frogs. However, the origins of this type of meme are even older, dating back to the 19th century. In 1847, British politician Benjamin Disraeli, in his political novel, Tancred; or, The New Crusade, in which he proclaims the reconciliation of Judaism and Christianity, makes the following contrast: "Syria was a great country when France and England were forests." That is, "Syria was a great country when France and England were still covered with forests." The sentence is uttered in a conversation with a Lebanese prince about the possibility of Syria's subjugation to France or England. Syria's former greatness serves to undermine the pretensions of contemporary European powers.
In 1869, American writer and satirist Mark Twain, in his novel The Innocents Abroad, depicts Damascus as a city that has witnessed the founding, flourishing, and fall of other great centers, including Rome: "In her old age she saw Rome built," meaning: "Damascus was already old when Rome was just being built." He later grants Damascus the right to the title of Eternal City.
Meanwhile, Moscow as a forest was first contrasted with flourishing Kiev in the 1882 book The Russian Empire: Historical and Descriptive by Scottish journalist John Geddie from Edinburgh, in the chapter "Great Novgorod and Its Neighbors." The author describes Kyiv as "a splendid seat of wealth and power when the site of Moscow was still a forest." This motif resurfaces in our times. In 2013, Ukrainian politician Anatoly Vitiv, commenting on the arrival of Putin and Patriarch Kirill to celebrate the baptism of Rus', said: "When Prince Vladimir of Kyiv baptized Rus', bears roamed the area of present-day Moscow." And in 2018, in an interview for Radio Svoboda, Ukrainian columnist Vakhtang Kipiani stated: "When Kyiv was baptized, adopting a religion for a vast geopolitical space, the area of Moscow was a forest." He goes on to mention wolves and bears, noting that some people also lived in the area. In his May 2022 article "The Cold War of Religion," Grzegorz Górny writes about the baptism of Rus' in Kiev in 988, adding: "when, where Moscow is today, only the forests rustled." He then presents Kiev as the cradle of East Slavic Orthodoxy.
This meme-like juxtaposition of the ancient city of Kiev with Moscow, covered in deep forests, is therefore one of the few images from the ancient history of the Russian state that are commonly associated with Polish audiences. Therefore, I wanted to devote today's program to the origins of Moscow and the Muscovite state, as they are much more interesting than such a meme-like portrayal of history.
If you like the INTERPRETATIONS podcast, you can support it on Patronite.pl: 👉 https://patronite.pl/podcastinterpret... https://suppi.pl/interpretacje Or buy a symbolic coffee on Buycoffee.to: 👉 https://buycoffee.to/podcastinterpret...
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Pozdrawiam
Pozdrowienia z suwalskiego megapolis!
Ruś Zaleska łupiła Kijów w koalicji z innymi ksiestwami jeszcze przed najazdem Mongołów.
Kijów już w 13 wieku podupadł i nie kwitł.
Ale posłucham do konca
Skąd się wzięła Moskwa
Gościwit Malinowski - podcast INTERPRETACJE
8,628 views
The meme depicted on the title page of this program, featuring four churches in Kyiv and four photos of a forest, supposedly representing Moscow, was distributed on February 22, 2022. "Memes of this type" reflect a certain literary, or perhaps rhetorical, topos. They appeared as early as 2017, when Anna of Kiev, who became Queen of France in the 11th century, was juxtaposed, while the site of the future Moscow was depicted as a forest with frogs. However, the origins of this type of meme are even older, dating back to the 19th century. In 1847, British politician Benjamin Disraeli, in his political novel, Tancred; or, The New Crusade, in which he proclaims the reconciliation of Judaism and Christianity, makes the following contrast: "Syria was a great country when France and England were forests." That is, "Syria was a great country when France and England were still covered with forests." The sentence is uttered in a conversation with a Lebanese prince about the possibility of Syria's subjugation to France or England. Syria's former greatness serves to undermine the pretensions of contemporary European powers.
In 1869, American writer and satirist Mark Twain, in his novel The Innocents Abroad, depicts Damascus as a city that has witnessed the founding, flourishing, and fall of other great centers, including Rome: "In her old age she saw Rome built," meaning: "Damascus was already old when Rome was just being built." He later grants Damascus the right to the title of Eternal City.
Meanwhile, Moscow as a forest was first contrasted with flourishing Kiev in the 1882 book The Russian Empire: Historical and Descriptive by Scottish journalist John Geddie from Edinburgh, in the chapter "Great Novgorod and Its Neighbors." The author describes Kyiv as "a splendid seat of wealth and power when the site of Moscow was still a forest." This motif resurfaces in our times. In 2013, Ukrainian politician Anatoly Vitiv, commenting on the arrival of Putin and Patriarch Kirill to celebrate the baptism of Rus', said: "When Prince Vladimir of Kyiv baptized Rus', bears roamed the area of present-day Moscow." And in 2018, in an interview for Radio Svoboda, Ukrainian columnist Vakhtang Kipiani stated: "When Kyiv was baptized, adopting a religion for a vast geopolitical space, the area of Moscow was a forest." He goes on to mention wolves and bears, noting that some people also lived in the area. In his May 2022 article "The Cold War of Religion," Grzegorz Górny writes about the baptism of Rus' in Kiev in 988, adding: "when, where Moscow is today, only the forests rustled." He then presents Kiev as the cradle of East Slavic Orthodoxy.
This meme-like juxtaposition of the ancient city of Kiev with Moscow, covered in deep forests, is therefore one of the few images from the ancient history of the Russian state that are commonly associated with Polish audiences. Therefore, I wanted to devote today's program to the origins of Moscow and the Muscovite state, as they are much more interesting than such a meme-like portrayal of history.
If you like the INTERPRETATIONS podcast, you can support it on Patronite.pl: 👉 https://patronite.pl/podcastinterpret... https://suppi.pl/interpretacje Or buy a symbolic coffee on Buycoffee.to: 👉 https://buycoffee.to/podcastinterpret...
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