Merya

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An approximative map of the non-Varangian cultures in European Russia, in the 9th century. The Merya region is shown in purple

The Merya people (Russian: Меря; also Merä) were an ancient Finno-Ugric people who lived in the regions of modern Russian cities of Moscow, Rostov, Kostroma, Jaroslavl and Vladimir. They were an old and important culture which is shown in the numerous archaeological finds in those areas.

They spoke a Finnic language, related to the languages spoken by other tribes in the surrounding larger region, such as the Mari, the Mordvins, the Meshchera and the Veps, although its exact position within the broader Finno-Ugric language group remains debatable (see Merya language).

They are mentioned by the 6th century Gothic scholar Jordanes as the Merens and later by the Russian chronicles. Soviet archaeologists believed that the capital of the Merya was the site of Sarskoe Gorodishche to the south of Rostov.

According to recent Finnish and Estonian estimates, based to the population figures of the Baltic area (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania), roughly a similar area of size than Merya, by the end of 12th century the number of Merya population was as high as more than 800.000 people^{[citation needed]}. They were one of the five peoples who took part of the founding of Novgorod and thus played important role in creating the modern Russian state. Their role has been neglected in Russian history, but now, after 1998, when a closed archive was located and opened to public, a lot of new information has come to light and provides fascinating facts, even written Merya language including transliteration of Biblial Old Testament to Merya language from 11th century^{[citation needed]}. It is also believed that Merya language was still widely used in the countryside as late as the time of Alexander I, after the Napoleon War against the Russia in 1812^{[citation needed]}.

They were assimiliated by the Slavs. However, the Merya culture was also assimilated in those regions that were initially inhabited by Merya. Sacred woods and stones, worshipped by Merya, were part of local traditional feasts for much longer than the similar Slavic sacred places in the west regions of modern Russia.

Also, the name Merya (in some cases spoken like 'Nerya') is still kept in a lot of local toponyms, and was preserved later in a much greater number. The examples are: Nero Lake near Rostov the Great, Nerskaya River near Kurovskoe in Moscow Oblast, Nerskoe Lake in Solnechnogorsky region of Moscow Oblast, villages 'Nerya' etc.

[edit] See also

Merya language

[edit] References

Aleksey Uvarov, "Étude sur les peuples primitifs de la Russie. Les mériens" (1875).

This article contains content from the Owl Edition of Nordisk familjebok, a Swedish encyclopedia published between 1904–1926 now in public domain.