Lesson Plans Provided by Andrea at Epic Homeschool Mentoring

An Index to the Lesson Plans is provided at the top of the page

Week 18: Russia for Homeschoolers

Ancient History Resources for Homeschool and Personal Study. This weeks topics: The Srubna Culture, Proto-Slavic Peoples, Scythians and the Rurik Dynasty.

Ancient History is studied through the collection of archeological evidence, written records and oral stories or myths. Just because evidence shows a particular belief or custom was common at a particular time does not mean that everyone in that civilization shared that belief. When you study the topics for this week, you can either go deep on one topic for the week and skip the others or you can do a new topic each day. This outline is just a suggested pace, you can go slower or faster as needed. This outline is intended to provide you with a place to start. You will still need to do your own research.

The famous gold stag of Kostromskaya, Russia

Homeschool Topics for Week 18

Srubna Culture

Proto-Slavic Peoples

Scythians

Rurik Dynasty

Discussion Questions

Srubna Culture

The Srubna Culture or Timber Grave people, inhabited the Eurasian Steppe known today as Ukraine, Southern Russia and Kazakhstan. This civilization is generally considered to have been founded by Iranian settlers who moved North.

Proto Slavic People

Because the Slavs were first identified as such in the sixth century CE, the Proto Slavic peoples are those that came before them. An absence of written records makes it hard to determine where these people originated. There was definitely a culture interaction between several groups, such as the Prague group, Indo-European Scythians and Goths. Socially, the chieftains did not work together to form a centralized government until the Middle Ages. This area was home to various tribes of "barbarians."

Scythians

The Scythians were the loosely organized nomads of the Eurasian Steppe. They were fierce mounted warriors. They destroyed the Assyrian capital of Nineveh. Herodotus claimed that the Scythians scalped their deceased foes. They may have also used barbed or poisoned arrowheads. According to Wikipedia, about 20% of the graves found contained women dressed for battle. Archelogical evidence suggests they used cannabis. They facilitated the beginning of the trade route that would become known as the Silk Road. In a 79 AD ribbon cutting ceremony in China, Chang'an Emperor Wu cut a silk ribbon with a pair of gold scissors to officially open the Silk Road. 

Because medieval writers used the term Scythian broadly for everyone who came from the East, the term is hardly definitive. Some Celts of Scotland, the Franks and the Poles among others claim descent from early Scythians.

Rurik Dynasty

Rurik and his brothers founded the civilization known as Kievan Rus. The tribal groups of Sweden decided to try and govern themselves. Their unifying policy was called russkaia zemlia ('the Rus' land') and the called themselves the Rus people. These people traded with Scandinavia and Byzantium. They used the Slavs as slaves to man their log rafts and do the grunt work.

Resources:

Books (all links go to Goodreads)

Casting a bronze pendant (this video shows an ancient practice which was used by all cultures)

Activities

1. Research one unusual thing that was traded on the Silk Road 
2. Learn about female warriors. Describe some ways women are courageous? Listen to a podcast about archeological finds.
3. Make your own cone shaped hat
4. Read this account of a unicorn from Ibn Fadlan's Journey to Russia. Give a reason why you think unicorns are extinct. Or was the animal described more like a rhinoceros and not extinct at all.
"Near this river is a vast wilderness wherein they say is an animal that is less than a camel and more like a bull in size. Its head is like the head of a camel, and its tail is like the tail of a bull, while its body is like the body of a mule, and its hooves are like the cloven hooves of a bull. In the center of its head, it has a thick round horn, which as it rises from the head of the animal gets to be thinner until it becomes like the point of a lance. The length of some of these horns is from three to five cubits, and there are those that may attain to a greater or lesser length. The animal grazes on the leaves of trees, which are quite green. When it sees a horseman, it makes straight for him, and if he happens to have under him a fast horse, he is rendered safe from it with some effort. If it overtakes him, it removes him from the back of his horse with its horn. It continues in this manner until it kills him. It does not bother the horse in any form or manner. They seek out this animal in the forests in order to kill it. They do that by climbing tall trees among which it is found, and with this object in mind, they assemble a number of archers with poisoned arrows. When it stands in their midst, they shoot at it until it is severely wounded and killed by them." page 60

Image Credit: Joanbingo / Wikimedia Commons / Public domain