Originally published 1846 | ||
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Similar Eneïda, Book of Veles, Primary Chronicle | ||
History of Ruthenians or Little Russia (Russian: Исторія Русовъ, или Малой Россіи) also known as History of the Rus' People is a book, written and originally published in Russian, on the history of the Rus' people (Ruthenians) and their state, Little Russia (Russian: Малоросія, in the terminology of the book), from antiquity to 1769. It mostly deals with the history of the Zaporizhian Sich and the Cossack Hetmanate.
Contents
Content and authorship
The book was written as a political essay by an unknown author at the end of the 18th or early 19th century, and first published in Moscow University press by Osyp Bodianski in 1846. The title page ascribed the work to "Georgi Koniski, Belorusian Archbishop".
History of the Rus focuses on two ideas. Firstly, it emphasizes the historical difference and antagonism between Rus' (Ukraine) and Muscovy (Russia). Secondly, it accentuates on the historical continuity of the Rus' people (Ukrainians) from the medieval times of Kievan Rus' till the early modern Cossack state.
Despite numerous factual mistakes and exaggerations, History of the Rus' had a great impact on Ukrainian scholarship, works of prominent Ukrainian writers like Nikolai Gogol and Taras Shevchenko, and formation of Ukrainian national discourse of the 19th century.