“Scythian Achilles” by Leo the Deacon: on the Question of the Myth Evolution

The article, using a large corpus of sources and literature, examines in a broad historical context the narrative by Leo the Deacon, the 10th century Byzantine historian, dedicated to the 970 confrontation between the Romans and the Russians. The passage analyzed in the article contains references to the characters of Homer and Herodotus, while the Scythian Achilles myth occupies an important place in the analyzed text. As a result, the focus of research interest is on the mid-late 10th century Eastern Slavs’ real religious practices, including ritual sacrifices. The Bosporan cult of Achilles and the Scythian tradition of venerating Achilles as a deity in the Northern Black Sea region have been studied in detail in modern works. The ancient religious content and meaning of the Scythian Achilles image was known to Leo the Deacon, who claimed that Achilles had taught the Scythians pagan rites and sacrifices. Special attention is paid to the reception of the “History” by Leo the Deacon in the early 19th century Russian Empire, when this work by the Byzantine historian was first published in 1819.