It was only at the end of the nineteenth century that Russian archaeologists, ethnographers and orientalists began to take a serious interest in the Mongols and their influence. Archaeological excavations showed that Sarai had not been a settlement of tents, as imagined by the Russians until then, but a large medieval city of 75,000 people with stone buildings, well-laid-out streets and hydraulic systems, craft workshops and schools.…
One of Batu’s first moves was to summon the Russian princes to Sarai to swear an oath of allegiance to the Mongol khan. These trips became a regular phenomenon, for no prince could rule without a patent (yarlyk) from the khan.…
Through Byzantium the Russians were connected to the Greeks, Bulgarians, Serbs, Albanians and Romanians, all affiliated to the Eastern Orthodox Church. Through its broader links to Christendom, they also entered into closer contact with Europe, becoming conscious of themselves as Europeans belonging to a common faith.…
The “small deeds liberalism” of the provincial zemstvos was not a challenge to the central state. Indeed, in so far as the crucial weakness of the tsarist system was the under-government of the localities, they were a vital supplement to it.…
The Emancipation Decree was proclaimed on 19 February 1861. It was not read to the peasants until 7 March, the first day of Lent, when, it was assumed, they could be counted on to listen to their priests, charged with its communication, in a sober and submissive mood.…
Poland too was a battleground, particularly after the Polish uprising of 1863, when Alexander II intensified the Russification of the empire’s western provinces, areas where the Polish landowners remained strongly nationalist. Russian was made compulsory in schools and public offices. Polish students at Warsaw University had to suffer the indignity of studying their national literature in Russian translation.…
Govinda said: “Still, oh Siddhartha, you love a bit to mock people, as it seems to me. I believe in you and know that you haven’t followed a teacher. But haven’t you found something by yourself, though you’ve found no teachings, you still found certain thoughts, certain insights, which are your own and which help you to live?…
Together with other monks, Govinda used to spend the time of rest between pilgrimages in the pleasure-grove, which the courtesan Kamala had given to the followers of Gotama for a gift. He heard talk of an old ferryman, who lived one day’s journey away by the river, and who was regarded as a wise man by many.…
В четверг (30 мая) в 7.30 утра на борту автобуса EMT за пять минут родился ребенок.
Иностранная пара, едва говорящая по-испански, села в автобус на el Paseo Marítimo, еще тогда водитель заметил, что женщина чувствует себя не очень, но так как маршрут проходит через больницы, не придал этому большого значения.…
Через несколько минут после пересечения границы соседней страны Руанды с конголезским городом Гома я был поражен крайней нищетой и хаосом: дети в возрасте двух лет, сидящие на руле мотоциклов, проносящихся мимо нас по дорогам, испещренным огромными выбоинами; лачуги с жестяными крышами в качестве домов; люди, забитые, как заключенные, в крошечные автобусы с решетками на окнах; мусор повсюду; гигантские курганы остывшей лавы на обочинах дорог, напоминающие о вулканическом гневе под поверхностью земли.…