Why Did Ivanko Pavlovich “Dig the River” in 1133?

Abstract

In the debatable issue about the meaning of the phrase ryti rѣku, used in the inscription on the Sterzhensky cross in 1133, the author supports the traditional point of view, according to which it means the work to deepen the riverbed of the Volga in its up-per reaches. This interpretation is based on a number of precedents already cited in literature. An alternative version, which assumes that the inscription reflects the ritual of plowing the river ― a magical means of causing rain ― is considered unlikely for historical and linguistic reasons. The work on the Upper Volga in 1133 is put in connection with the aridity of this year, which is supported by the dendrochronology. Special importance is given to the construction of a new bridge over the Volkhov in Novgorod in the same year 1133: two events are interpreted as coordinated acts that used favorable hydrological conditions for construction. The synchronicity of these acts is considered in connection with the political situation of this period: for Prince Vsevolod Mstislavich, the construction of the bridge could be a means to strengthen his position in Novgorod, which was shaken after the events of 1132. At the same time, hereditary building ambitions are visible in the actions of Ivanko Pavlovich ― following the model of his father, the Ladoga posadnik Pavel, who laid the stone fortress in Ladoga in 1116 ― simultaneously with the laying of a new fortress in Novgorod by Mstislav Vladimirovich. It has been suggested that the so-called “Wonderful Cross”, which stood at the entrance to the Great Bridge over the Volkhov, was, like the Sterzhensky Cross, erected to commemorate the construction of the bridge.