Kyi, Shchek and Khoryv were three legendary brothers - often mentioned along with their sister Lybid - who, according to the Primary Chronicle, founded the medievalcity ofKiev, which eventually became the capital of present-day Ukraine. There is no precise and historically established information about the rule of Kyi and the establishment of the city of Kiev.
Historical background
In the Primary Chronicle which is traditionally believed to have been written by a monk of Kiev Cave Monastery by the name of Nestor and finished in 1113, a special place is held by the legend about the foundation of Kiev by three brothers. In the legend, Nestor places those brothers onto various hills of Kyiv. Geographically, the old Kiev is located on a higher right bank of Dnieper which is an extension of the Dnieper Upland where remnants of the Church of the Tithes are located. The Chronicle further states that there were people who considered Kyi a mere ferryman. But, then it argues that Kyi as a prince of his gens was visiting Czargrad and received great honors from the Emperor. Dmitry Likhachov combined attestations of the Nikon Chronicle which also indicates that Kyi with a great army marched onto Czargrad and received great honors from the Emperor. During his expedition to Constantinople, Kyi also found a city of Kyivets on the Danube. Nestor also names the approximate date of the assault on Kiev by the Khazar Empire as "after the death of Kyi" which confirms the hypothesis of Boris Rybakov, 6th-7th centuries. In his chronicle Nestor does not indicate the date of Kyi's death nor the existence or absence of his heirs who continued to rule after his death. The chronicle does mention a meeting between local residents with the arrived Askold and Dir who asked them referring to Kiev, whose city it was and received the answer that the three brothers who built it were long dead and the residents now paid tribute to the Khazars. However, the Polish historian Jan Długosz drew attention to the Przemysł Chronicle that asserts "after the death of Kyi, Shchek, and Khoryv their children and grandchildren who descended from them by direct lineage ruled for many years".
Archaeological excavations have shown that there was indeed an ancient settlement starting with the 6th century. Some speculate that Kyi was a real person, a knyaz from the tribe of the Polans. According to legend, Kyi, the eldest brother, was a Polianian Prince, and the city was named after him.. As well, the legend says that the appearance of a large city on the hilly banks of the Dnieper was predicted by Andrew the Apostle.
Historiographical interpretation
Many historians consider as truthful the existence of Kyi and his princely rule around the 6th century. Among such historians are Boris Rybakov, Dmitry Likhachov, Aleksey Shakhmatov, Alexander Presnyakov, Petro Tolochko, Nataliia Polonska-Vasylenko, and others. The legendpersonal names have similar equivalents from an Armenian chronicle from the 7th century, History of Taron, by Zenob Glak. In it, two Kievan brothers Kyi and Khoryv have almost the same counterparts in brothers Kouar and Horian, while Polyans have it in district Balounik. The legend also has parallels in the Croatianorigo gentis of five brothers and two sisters from the 30th chapter of De Administrando Imperio by Constantine VII, and the Bulgarian apocryphal chronicle about the ethnogenesis of the Bulgarians. All three speak about people who migrated to a foreign land, whose leader was of the same name, while Kievan and Croatian mention a sister. The female personality and number three can be found also in three daughters of Duke Krok from Chronica Boemorum, two sons and daughter of Krakuslegendary founder of Kraków from Chronica seu originale regum et principum Poloniae, and three brothers Lech, Czech, and Rus from Wielkopolska Chronicle. Khoryv or Horiv, and his oronym Khorevytsia, some scholars related to the Croatian ethnonym of White Croats. Paščenko related his name, beside to the Croatian ethnonym, also to solar deityHors. Near Kiev there is a stream where previously existed a large village named Horvatka or Hrovatka, which flows into Stuhna River.
Modern tributes
In addition to the respective hills and the river, there are Shchekavytska and Khoryva Streets in Kiev's ancient neighborhood of Podil. In 1982, Kyi, Shchek, Khoryv and Lybid were depicted in a sculpture at the river-side of Navodnytsky Park. The monument, created by Vasyl Borodai, soon became iconic for the city and has been used as Kiev's unofficial emblem. In the 2000s another statue was installed at the central square, Maidan Nezalezhnosti.
