Science confirms – 5. Collection of scientific articles. Andrey Tikhomirov

looked like an oblong ingot of silver. In Kievan Rus until the beginning of the 13th century. also had circulation, the Kiev hryvnia (a hexagonal ingot of silver weighing 38 spools), equal to half the Byzantine liter and used mainly in relations with Byzantium. Novgorod, Chernihiv and other grivnas also differ. During the 13th and 14th centuries the weight of the hryvnia continued to decline, reaching by the end of the 14th century. about 184. From the 2nd half of the 13th century. a silver ingot appeared, corresponding to half of the monetary hryvnia – the ruble (from the word “cut”, in the 13—14 centuries, for the convenience of trading calculations, the hryvnia began to be cut into pieces, each part became known as the ruble), which in the 15th century. finally supplanted the monetary hryvnia. Since the 14th century, Russian coins have often depicted a horseman with a spear, the prototype of which was George the Victorious, later from here arose – a penny 1/100 of the ruble. Also in the 14th and 15th centuries on the territory of Rus’, controlled by the khans of the Golden Horde, payment bars were used – Tatar soms (sums), the name goes back to the weight tradition of the Horde. From the 16th century The hryvnia became the monetary unit of account. They called the hryvnia, a real ingot of silver; unit of mass; as well as countable hryvnia, when hryvnias coexisted with coins in monetary circulation. The names of many modern currencies (for example, mark, pound, lira) contained concepts of this kind. At the very beginning of the formation of the monetary system, the three hypostases of the hryvnia coincided with each other, but under the influence of internal and external factors, the values began to diverge. For example, as a result of the saturation of the market with minted coins, the demand for it fell. The weight of the ingot hryvnia also varied depending on the period and region.

      1 – hryvnia of the Novgorod type. 12th-13th centuries; 2 – hryvnia of the Kyiv type. 12th century; 3 – hryvnia of the Chernihiv type. 12th century, ibid.

      On the territory of the ancient Russian state, ingots of various weights and types circulated, but the so-called Kyiv and Novgorod hryvnias prevailed. Kyiv hryvnias XI – XIII centuries. are cast ingots of a hexagonal shape. Throughout the entire period of their existence, they maintained a stable weight of about 160 g. This allows us to associate their weight norm with the weight of the Byzantine liter -327.456 g and consider it equal to 1/2 liter 163.728 g.

      The general dating of the Kyiv hryvnia confirming joint finds with Byzantine coins of the 11th-12th centuries. They appeared, most likely, in the middle of the XI century. and existed until the Mongol-Tatar invasion. Their range covers almost the entire territory of Kievan Rus, but most of the finds are concentrated in its southern regions.

      Novgorod hryvnia ingots had a completely different look and weight. These are long sticks weighing about 200 g. There are two types of Novgorod ingots: longer (14—20 cm) and straight and short (10—14 cm) with a slightly curved back. The first date from the 11th-13th centuries, the second – from the 14th-15th centuries.

      Unlike Kyiv ingots, Novgorod hryvnias provide a relatively large amount of epigraphic material – they are often scratched with the names of the persons for whom they were cast. From one such inscription, one of the Russian names for the ingot itself became known – “izroy” (from the word “dig up”). Sometimes on Novgorod ingots there are scratched transverse lines, the last of which, as a rule, is oblique.

      In addition to these two main types of silver ingots – Kiev and Novgorod, some others also participated in the monetary circulation of Ancient Rus’, for example, the so-called Chernigov, close in weight to Novgorod, and in shape representing, as it were, roughly flattened Kiev, or Lithuanian – in the form of small sticks of soft outline, often with several characteristic dents on the back. Metrologically, Lithuanian ingots are not connected with Russian weight systems and came to Rus’ from the Baltic states as silver raw materials.

      Since in Rus’ coins were the main original form of silver raw materials, a certain number of coins of the same weight could well serve as a measure of the weight of an ingot – hryvnia. Then, apparently, a feedback was established – a silver bar began to serve as a measure of the number of coins. Most likely, it was as a result of this connection between coins and ingots that such monetary and weight concepts as “hryvnia” (weight unit), “hryvnia silver” (ingot) and “hryvnia kun” (counting unit) were developed. Written sources make it possible to establish the weight equality of hryvnia silver to 4 hryvnia kunas and calculate the weight values of fractions of the latter.

      Old Russian monetary terminology and money account. In Russian written sources, primarily in Russian Pravda and the Tale of Bygone Years, the following names of monetary units are contained: cattle, kuna (from “marten”), rezana (from “cut”), nogata (from Arabic naqd – a full-fledged, perfect coin), a veveritsa (from the old Russian “squirrel”, Polish wiewiórka, the smallest monetary unit), veksha (a valuable good-quality fur), white (apparently, white fur) and hryvnia.

      The oldest unit of weight is the hryvnia. This name is associated with a neck decoration in the form of a hoop, which is widespread among the Slavs, Finno-Ugric peoples and other peoples. The origin of the weight hryvnia has not yet been finally established. Attempts were made to derive its weight from the Byzantine liter (Roman libra – 327.456 g) on the basis of a parallel analysis of the 911 agreement between Rus’ and Byzantium and Russian Pravda. The agreement fixes a fine of 5 liters for intentionally striking “according to Russian law”, and Russkaya Pravda imposes a fine of 12 hryvnias for a similar insult. From here, the weight of the hryvnia was determined at 136.44 g.