Olga of Kyiv was known for her fiery temper and gift for diplomacy.
Image description: top half has an image of the energy drink can labeled “Burn” next to a Coca-Cola bottle labeled “Share a Coke with Olga” in Ukrainian. Bottom half has a portrait of Olga of Kyiv, edited to have an overexaggerated, wicked-looking smile.
Ah but there is more to it.
How Princess Olha and pigeons are connected – an ancient legend
“The Tale of Bygone Years” tells that after the Drevlyans killed Olha’s husband, Prince Ihor, who was collecting tribute for the second time in a year, she decided to take cruel revenge. The burning of Iskorosten, the main city of the Drevlyans, which continued to resist, was the final stage. The fact that ancient Iskorosten (modern Korosten) was burned is confirmed, in particular, by archaeological finds.
The chronicle notes that Iskorosten was under siege, but it was not possible to take it by force. Then Olha sent a message to the residents of Iskorosten: she was ready to lift the siege if they gave “a tribute of three pigeons and three sparrows from each yard.”
The residents gave the birds, and Olha ordered to tie a smoldering torch wrapped in rags to each bird, and when evening came, the birds were released. They flew back to their nests – on the roofs of wooden houses, barns, barns, which at that time were covered with straw or reeds. Thus, the fire quickly engulfed the entire city, which burned to the ground.
Whether birds were involved in the burning of Iskorosten is a question, says Akim Galimov: “Personally, it is difficult for me to imagine this whole process, and besides, such a plot is popular in many Scandinavian sagas. Perhaps this is just a well-chosen poetic image used to describe the burning arrows. The fact is that the city was really burned.”
Burning arrows are just as likely to work. That is, not very. Fire bombardment is more likely.
Incendiary Avian Devices were developed for use in ww2 also
Straw roofs were heavily used in these lands, so it’s not that unlikely.
The unlikely part are the flaming arrows arriving, well, still flaming. Even with modern petrochemicals that’s a hard thing to pull off.
There’s a great “half arsed history” episode about her. She was some woman!
why is the г a backwards s?
It’s stylized as cursive
I looked it up… wow. I know cyrillic cursive can look like arabic, but I’m astonished.
The taste of victory
