Dynamics of number of the old believers’ population in Bessarabia 1812-1835
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. I [XVI], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie Chișinău, 2007
The present work is based on documentary material preserved at the National Archives of the Republic of Moldova and draws attention to the question of the dynamics of the Old Believers’ population of Bessarabia in 1812-1835. Due to the fragmental nature of available data concerning the Old Believers between the Prut and Dniester rivers it is practically impossible to determine their numbers between 1812 and 1826.
The classified reports of the city police and the local authorities (ispravniks) filed for the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Empire make it possible to determine the numbers of the Old Believers in Bessarabia since 1826, as well as to define the settlements they inhabited.
It is a known fact that the peripheries of empires were places of preference for various outlawed population groups, due to different reasons whether social, political or religious. The Old Believers were one such group. On the out- skirts of the empire the administrative pressure was much less severe than that in the central areas. Since 1812, Bessarabia became a province of the Russian Empire, and the Old Believers had lived there since the 18th century. Thus, the territory became a transfer point of Old Believers’ emigration out of the Empire and for their return to Russia.
The item is the lower part of a leg of a festive table made of white and gray marble. In the upper part, it has a protrusion, similar to a Doric capital, on the horizontal platform of which a square recess is engraved, designed to fix the second part of the leg (upper). The lower part of the leg is made in an anthropomorphic style, and, in our opinion, there are two variants of identifying the depicted character...
The National Museum of History of Moldova takes place among the most significant museum institutions of the Republic of Moldova, in terms of both its collection and scientific reputation.
The National Museum of History of Moldova takes place among the most significant museum institutions of the Republic of Moldova, in terms of both its collection and scientific reputation.
The item is the lower part of a leg of a festive table made of white and gray marble. In the upper part, it has a protrusion, similar to a Doric capital, on the horizontal platform of which a square recess is engraved, designed to fix the second part of the leg (upper). The lower part of the leg is made in an anthropomorphic style, and, in our opinion, there are two variants of identifying the depicted character. The first involves the image of the head of the young Heracles (Heracles - Ἡρακλῆς) (beardless), the most favorite hero of antiquity, wearing on his head the skin of the Nemean lion - Λέων της Νεμέας, a vicious monster from Greek mythology who lived in Nemea and was eventually killed by Heracles. The first labor of Heracles, of the twelve set by King Eurystheus (his cousin), was to kill the Nemean lion and bring his skin to the king. It is also known from Greek mythology that the lion of Nemea took the form of a beautiful woman in order to seduce the inhabitants of neighboring villages, who wanted to save the girl from danger. Upon entering the cave, a man saw the woman, who usually pretended to be wounded, and rushed to help her. When he approached her, the woman turned into a lion and killed him. Then the lion devoured the man, giving his bones to Hades - ᾍδης, the god of Hell, who lived in the kingdom of shadows. The second version of the anthropomorphic image interpretation suggests Alexander the Great, king of Macedonia in the second half of the 4th century BC, one of the most famous heroes of the Greek world, who sometimes is depicted as Hercules - wearing a lion's skin. Some researchers consider the custom of wearing the skin of a slain lion a sign of royal power. The word βασιλεύς itself, translated from ancient Greek, means "walking the path of the lion", that is, the king. This title was held by the Greek kings from the Homeric period, and later, starting from the 7th century AD - by the Byzantine emperors.
