9781422283622

MOSCOW’S EARLY HISTORY The first Russian state, known as Kievan Rus, was set up in the ninth century a.d. By the twelfth century it was divided into principalities. Moscow began as a small settlement in a principality called Suzdal. No one is quite sure when this was, though the first known record of the name Moscow dates from 1147. In 1156

the ruler of Suzdal, Prince Yury Dolgorukiy, built a wooden fort in Moscow with a wall around it. This was the original Kremlin.

⌂ This modern painting

shows the Kremlin and its surrounding wooden wall in the fourteenth century.

THE TWO-HEADED EAGLE The emblem of Russia is a two-headed eagle.

It dates back many hundreds of years. A single eagle was the symbol of the emperors of Rome. When the Roman Empire ended in the fifth century a.d., it was followed by the Byzantine Empire. This empire lasted until 1453 and adopted a two-headed eagle as its emblem. Moscow had trading links with the Byzantine Empire, and Czar Ivan III later married the niece of the last Byzantine emperor. Ivan III decided to take the two-headed eagle symbol to represent Muscovy. Later it became the emblem of all Russia.

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