Where is the distant kingdom located? Artania - the distant kingdom, the thirtieth state What does the distant kingdom mean

Far away, in the thirtieth state.

In some kingdom, in some state. In the thirtieth kingdom. Far away, in the thirtieth state.
Cm. SAYINGS

Proverbs of the Russian people. - M.: Fiction. V. I. Dal. 1989.

See what "Far distant lands, in the thirtieth state" is. in other dictionaries:

far away lands- very far away. This phraseological unit is of folklore origin. The word distant is the addition of two numerals: three and nine. It dates back to the time when in Rus', along with the decimal number system, there was also... ... Phraseology Guide

See: Beyond distant lands, in the thirtieth state... V.I. Dahl. Proverbs of the Russian people

Once upon a time there lived a king of oats, he took away all the fairy tales. Neither in words (or in a fairy tale) can be said, nor written with a pen. Fable in faces. A word is not removed from a fairy tale (from a song). The fairy tale is not chasing reality. The tale begins from the beginning, is read to the end, and is not in the middle... ... V.I. Dahl. Proverbs of the Russian people

Husband. in general, sovereign, monarch, supreme ruler of the land, people or state. The king of earth walks under the king of heaven, under God. Hear, O kings, and understand, O judges of the ends of the earth! Solomon. The king of kings (God) has many kings. Russians... ... Dahl's Explanatory Dictionary

TRI, counting; two (or two) with one, four without one. Remember three things; pray, be patient, work. Cloth from three rubles, three each. Three for all! The problem is solved in three ways. They served for three summers, served three turnips and not a single red one! Our Mina is not... Dahl's Explanatory Dictionary

Will, will this collection be published when this collection, with which the collector has cherished his life, but, parting with it, as if the matter was over, does not want to leave it without a parting word. This introduction was written in 1853, when... ... V.I. Dahl. Proverbs of the Russian people

Bayun This term has other meanings, see Bayun. Cat Bayun is a character in Russian fairy tales, a huge cannibal cat with ... Wikipedia

Away, at a distance, at a distance, at some distance; far away; from afar. The forests darkened in the distance. // A decent person is ready to run away from you, far away. Ven. To the ends of the world. For seven (one hundred, fifty) miles (to travel) there is (to drink) jelly. For... ... Dictionary of synonyms

For the musical group, see Baba Yaga. Baba Yaga ... Wikipedia

Books

, Akulova Anastasia. In a certain kingdom, in a certain state... or more precisely, in the glorious city of Kitezh, hidden from human eyes, in the Academy of Evil Spirits, an exchange took place with a foreign academy. How do you think,…
In a still water... friends made, Anastasia Akulova. In a certain kingdom, in a certain state... or more precisely, in the glorious city of Kitezh, hidden from human eyes, in the Academy of Evil Spirits, an exchange took place with a foreign academy. How do you think,…

Candidate of Biological Sciences B. KAZACHENKO (Research Institute and Museum of Anthropology of M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University).

Science and life // Illustrations

Limburg brothers. “The Fall and Expulsion from Paradise,” 1415 - 1416.

Image of the number 30.

This is how the number 100 was depicted.

European (ancient Egyptian) finger counting by dozens in phalanges.

Old Russian account of Siberian trappers by knuckles.

The most complex is the Chinese finger counting system.

Old Russian method of multiplication on the fingers.

The abacus is an ancient counting device that replaced finger counting.

The very first counting tools of the ancient caveman in the Upper Paleolithic were, of course, fingers. Nature itself provided man with this universal counting tool. For many peoples, fingers (or their joints) served as the first counting device during any trade operations. For most of the people's everyday needs, their help was quite enough.

Many number systems go back to finger counting, for example, pentary (one hand), decimal (two hands), decimal (fingers and toes), magnum (total number of fingers and toes for the buyer and seller). Many nations have fingers for a long time remained a counting tool at the highest stages of development.

In our everyday life, we still use counting small objects “heel by mi”: buttons, screws, large seeds, cucumbers, eggs, garlic, etc. In Tsarist Russia, gold coins were minted in denominations of 5, 10 and 15 rubles (imperial).

However, in different countries and at different times they considered it differently.

Despite the fact that for many peoples the hand is a synonym and the actual basis of the numeral “five,” for different peoples, when counting with fingers from one to five, the index and thumb can have different meanings.

For example, when Italians count on their fingers thumb indicates the number 1, and the index finger marks the number 2; when the Americans and the British count, the index finger means the number 1, and the middle finger - 2, in this case the thumb represents the number 5. And the Russians start counting on their fingers, bending the little finger first, and end with the thumb, indicating the number 5, while the index the finger was compared with the number 4. But when the number is shown, the index finger is put out, then the middle and ring finger.

When the ancient Egyptians performed magical counting, they held open palms in front of their faces, counting from the thumb of their right hand to the thumb of their left hand.

Northern European finger counting allowed to show with the fingers of one hand, put in various combinations, all numbers from 1 to 100. Moreover, tens were depicted with the thumb and forefinger, and units with the other three.

For example, the number 30 was obtained when the thumb and index fingers of the left hand were connected into a ring. In order to depict the number 60, the thumb needs to be bent and, as it were, bowed in front of the index finger hanging over it. To show the number 100, it was necessary to press the straightened thumb from below to the index finger and move the other three fingers to the side.

According to the testimony of the ancient Roman historian Pliny the Elder, a giant figure of the two-faced god Janus was erected on the main Roman square - the Forum. With the fingers of his right hand he depicted the symbol of the number 300, which was accepted at that time in Rome (joining the thumb and forefinger into a ring), with the fingers of his left hand - 55 (the thumb and middle one are bent). Together this constituted the number of days in a year in the Roman calendar.

The fact that in England the first ten numbers in the Middle Ages were called by a common name - “fingers”, confirms the prevalence of counting on fingers among the English. Apparently, it is no coincidence that in ancient Russian numbering the units were called “fingers”, the tens were called “joints”, and all other numbers were called “counts”.

Counting in pairs Until the middle of the 18th century, it always occupied an important place in the life of Russians, since it had a qualitative origin - a pair of arms, legs, eyes, etc. It was not without reason that they said: “two boots are a pair,” “two kopecks,” etc.

Usually, the account was kept in pairs in all trade transactions, when selling eggs, apples or dry goods in small wholesale. The individual measure of consumption of portioned tea in a tavern was called a “pair of tea,” and the trade measure of the necessary and sufficient amount of milk for an urban family living in Moscow in the 19th century was “a pair (little jars) of milk.” A natural measure of distance associated with land surveying and foot measurements of Russian explorers was a double or “pair step” (equal to one fly fathom). In trade transactions with silk fabric imported from Turkey, the so-called Russian elbow (also called paired or “big elbow”) was always used. The fact is that in those days the material was prepared in the form of narrow strips, which were convenient to measure by wrapping it around the hand, starting from the bend of the thumb, wrapping it around the elbow and again pulling it to the thumb. The length of a complete revolution of matter around the “elbow” gave a special unit of measure - “double cubit”, which came into use in our country since the 15th century and was called “Russian cubit” or “arshin”.

Counting in threes appeared in Rus' as a result of its contacts with Byzantium, the Golden Horde and Ancient China (derived from the personal pronouns “I”, “you”, “he”). This account has not taken root with us, with the exception, perhaps, of the tradition of harnessing horses in threes and Orthodox custom be baptized with three fingers. True, five-altyn coins in denominations of 15 kopecks (issued in the Soviet Union), six-denomy altyn (three-kopeck coins equal to six Moscow money or three Novgorod copper kopecks) and chervonets in the form of three-ruble coins issued in Russia since 1701.

Counting in fours originated from the ancient - binary counting. Remnants of this number system can be traced in musical notation (for example, an octave is divided into two tetrachords), in the name of the Russian measure of liquids - “quarter”, in the division of the year into four seasons, etc.

The quaternary counting system is based on the “fingers” of the hand, not counting the thumb. Big is not a “finger” at all, it’s “pales”! - in this number system meant the end of the account, that is, it was the equivalent zero. By the way, in English the same four fingers are called the word “fingers”, and the thumb is called “thumb”, which corresponds to the Russian “dyb” or “dyba” (literally: “finger standing behind”).

The number system of primitive people, who drew sticks on the walls of caves or made notches on animal bones and tree branches, is not forgotten today. This is evidenced by sergeant stripes in the army or the number of sewn stripes on the sleeve of a cadet uniform, corresponding to the course of study at a military university.

Finger counting with sixes in Rus' it was practically not used. However, Ancient Rus' became acquainted with the six-digit number system in the 11th-13th centuries in the northern Black Sea region through the so-called Byzantine counting, in which the number “six” for some reason was the key one. We still have a few words to remember from those times: “six” or “shestak” (half a dozen or six pieces), “six-knuckle elbow” (54 cm) and a girl’s braid six fists long (“six-knuckle” or “six-handed” braid), in one word “six-handed”, 12 vershoks (that is, “top of a finger”).

Counting by eights is also based on finger counting and is essentially a combination of the binary and quaternary systems. Elements of the octal system existed in Rus' at the beginning of the 20th century. This is the eight-pointed cross that the Old Believers used, and eight-voice church singing, and the name of the Russian drinking measure - “osmushka”, obtained as a result of successive threefold division in half. In Russian folk metrology, this is generally the division of any accounting indivisible measure (for example, a piece of arable land, a fathom or a bucket of wine) into parts corresponding to 1/2, 1/4 and 1/8 shares.

The octal number system underlies all natural musical modes (octave) and was the only one until the appearance of the chromatic scale in the 18th century. The transition from the octal to the decimal system in Rus' left its mark in the word “ninety” - an attempt to combine the eight- and decimal systems.

Finger counting in nines is perhaps the most widespread Russian the folk way multiplication on the fingers using the so-called nines - a kind of multiplication table indicating the nine-year periods of human life. In ancient times, our ancestors counted by nines for some time (however, it seems that they still counted by eights, and from nine a new segment of counting began). At least seven to nine centuries have passed since then, but we still tremble before the formidable “ninth wave” or arrange a memorial for the deceased on the ninth day after death.

By the way, “ninety” was sometimes written as “ninety” before 1398. Let us also recall the popular fairy-tale address to which heroes traditionally set off for their exploits: the distant kingdom, the thirtieth state.

Counting in tens arose around 3-2.5 thousand years BC in Ancient Egypt. Having undergone minor changes, the ancient Egyptian decimal system first settled in the East (in India around the 6th century AD, better known as Indian counting), and then through very active trade in the 11th-13th centuries it reached its limits. Ancient Rus'. From the Horde, Rus' adopted the decimal number system for weight measurements and money counting, ahead of even Europe, which became acquainted with the decimal number system through the Arabs only in the 13th century, and adopted it even later.

However, this number system finally took root in Russia along with the reforms of Peter I, which came to us from Europe.

Old Russian method of multiplication on fingers is one of the most commonly used methods that Russian merchants have successfully used for many centuries. They learned to multiply single-digit numbers from 6 to 9 on their fingers. In this case, it was enough to have basic finger counting skills in “units”, “pairs”, “threes”, “fours”, “fives” and “tens”. The fingers here served as an auxiliary computing device.

To do this, on one hand they extended as many fingers as the first factor exceeds the number 5, and on the second they did the same for the second factor. The remaining fingers were bent. Then the number (total) of extended fingers was taken and multiplied by 10, then the numbers were multiplied, showing how many fingers were bent, and the results were added up.

Counting by dozens originates from counting along the phalanges of the fingers. In this case, the thumb played the role of a counter, with the help of which the phalanges of other fingers were counted. Twelve is obtained if, for example, you start from the lower phalanx index finger and end with the upper phalanx of the little finger. Moreover, among different European peoples in trade, the count of a dozen dozens (“gross”), five dozens, that is, “sixties,” and even a dozen grosses, that is, “mass,” has taken root.

The duodecimal number system was once widespread among many European nations. The Swedish king Charles XII (the same one whom Russian troops defeated near Poltava in 1709) tried to legitimize the counting by dozens and grosses.

Until recently, here in Russia, some items (for example, handkerchiefs, feathers, pencils, school notebooks) were usually counted as dozens. To this day, forks, knives, and spoons are sold in dozens, and dinnerware sets (tea and dinner sets) are still traditionally made up of 12 sets. Until recently, furniture sets always included 12 chairs or armchairs. We divide the year into 12 months, and the day into 24 hours, which in everyday life we still prefer to count as 12 days and nights.

Counting in sixties has also been associated with counting on fingers. It first appeared among the Sumerians in the 3rd millennium BC. in Mesopotamia (Interfluve) and then was adopted by the Babylonians, which is why it went down in history as the Babylonian number system. This method of counting was also present in ancient Russian measures of length (this is evidenced, for example, by the division of the Novgorod measured "elbow" for 60 notches).

In Ancient Rus' (especially in the Novgorod Republic of the 12th-15th centuries), counting was widespread, based on counting the number of phalanges on the hand of the “counter”. The counting began with the upper phalanx of the “finger” (little finger) of the left hand, and ended with the lower phalanx (“bottom of the finger”) of the index finger. The big one, or “pales the great,” of the left hand sequentially “counted” the joints on the outstretched hand. Having counted to twelve, the “counter” turned to his right hand and bent one finger on it. This continued until all the fingers of the right hand were clenched into a fist (since the number of phalanges on four fingers was 12, the result was 12 fives, that is, 60). The fist in this case symbolized five dozen, that is, “sixty.”

Echoes of the ancient sexagesimal number system still remain with us in the form of dividing a circle into 360 degrees (1 degree is equal to 60 minutes, a minute is 60 seconds). Following the example of the Babylonians in calculating time, we still divide an hour into 60 minutes, and minutes into 60 seconds.

But the most amazing thing is that traces of finger counting in sixties have survived almost to this day. Just a few decades ago, in the markets of Ukraine, Poland, the Baltic states and Germany, one could meet sellers of eggs, apples, pears, mushrooms, etc., laying out their goods on heaps - heaps, 60 pieces in each.

Counting by forties(or “sorokovitsy”) had a predominant distribution in Ancient Rus'. The number 40 (four tens) has long been called “four” or “forty”. But eight hundred years ago, to designate this multitude as holy and Orthodox Rus' The name “forty” appeared for the first time. Scientists are still arguing where this word came from. Some believe that its origins are in the Greek name for the number 40 - “tessakonta”, others argue that it appeared when Rus' paid tribute in “forties” (the annual Horde tax, equal to the fortieth part of the available property). The third group of researchers is convinced that this word comes from the so-called fur money and the name “shirt”. Therefore, our ancestors, for example, in the Russian North counted “magpies,” and their fellow Siberian trappers counted in “shirts,” that is, fur bags in which animal skins were stored (mainly 40 pieces of squirrel skins or 40 sable tails , who went in the 16th century to sew one boyar fur coat, called a “shirt”).

The number 40 had a special meaning for us, for example, the forty-day periods mentioned in the Holy Scriptures contained 40 pounds in a pood, 40 buckets in a measuring barrel, 40 braids in a specified bucket, etc.

The fact that the number 40 in Rus' once played a special role in finger counting is also evidenced by some beliefs associated with it. Thus, the forty-first bear was considered fatal for a Russian hunter; killing a spider meant getting rid of forty sins, etc. All that quantity that exceeded a certain set (for example, “forty”), beyond all imagination (“forty

Sorokov”) and which did not fit in the head of the Russian tiller due to its unlimited size, was called in one word - “darkness”.

Strictly speaking, in Ancient Rus' darkness was also called the number 10,000 and the “great” number 1,000,000. There is no doubt that our ancestors were also familiar with large numbers, for which special names were used: the number “darkness of those ” (that is, a million millions) was called “legion”, the number “legion of legions” was called “leodr”, “leodr of leodrov” was called “raven”, and the number 10 49 was called “deck”. And only “the human mind cannot understand more than this,” that is, only for large numbers did Russians in the 17th century have no names.

This calculation originates from counting the knuckles of Siberian trappers, who in this manner kept track of the total number of animal skins (“magpies”) subject to barter (exchange) for other goods. Thumb of the right hand, used as a counter, the Siberian hunter counted each pair of joints on the four remaining fingers and, having thus counted eight units, bent one finger of his left hand. Obviously, the counting operation ended when all five fingers of the left hand were bent, which gave five eights, one “shirt” or the number “forty”. In accordance with Russian folk ideas about the “structure” of the human body, the first two phalanges of the index finger were called the “top of the finger” (or “vertex”), the middle finger was called the “kutyrka”, and the little finger was called the “finger”. The lower phalanx of the finger itself was called the “bottom of the finger”, “root”, “root of the finger” or “radical joint”, less often - the “lobe joint”.

By the way, in the customs document of 1586, “magpies,” for example, were the skins of sables and martens presented to the Austrian Caesar Rudolf from Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich as payment for waging war with the Turks.

Apparently, the number 40 has long been associated with the concept of “the end of the count” and sometimes served as the name for an indefinitely large set. It is no coincidence that in Russian the word “centipede” has always had the meaning of “centipede”. Moscow churches were also considered “magpies”. Back in the 17th century they said that there were “forty and forty churches” in Moscow, although in fact there were only about a hundred of them.

The human body, like a living calculating machine, turned out to be so closely connected with counting that in ancient Greek the very concept of “counting” was expressed by the word “five.” And in the Russian language, the word “five” used to mean the ability to “increase”, “multiply” or count by fives, in other words, the ability to count on the fingers.

Finger counting, inherited from distant ancestors, has been preserved to this day and is actively used, for example, by a judge in a boxing ring when counting seconds during a knockout or at a commodity exchange somewhere in Chicago or Tokyo. And in everyday life he is not forgotten. And today we bend (and Americans, on the contrary, straighten) our fingers, in a dispute showing our opponent, for the sake of greater persuasiveness, the number of arguments in favor of our position.

Literature

Le Goff J. Civilization of the medieval West. - M.: Progress Academy, 1992.

Gardner M. Mathematical short stories / Trans. from English - M.: Mir, 1974. Zorina Z. A., Poletaeva I. I. zoopsychology. - M., 2001.

History of mathematics from ancient times to the beginning of the nineteenth century: In 3 volumes / Ed. A. P. Yushkevich. - M.: Nauka, 1970. - T. 1.

Klix F. Awakening thinking. - M., 1983.

Kolman E. History of mathematics in ancient times. - M., 1961.

Levy-Bruhl L. Supernatural in primitive thinking. - M., 1999.

McKusick V. A. hereditary characteristics of a person. - M.: Medicine, 1976.

Miklouho-Maclay N. N. Travel. - M.; L., 1940. - T. 1.

Rozin V. M. Introduction to cultural studies. - M., 1994.

People's poet. 1. In Russian fairy tales there is a very distant country, land. An eagle and a man flew to the distant kingdom (A.N. Tolstoy. Vasilisa the Wise). The wonderful raft carried me away to lands of fantasy and adventure. Closing my eyes, I swam into the distant past... ... Phraseological Dictionary of the Russian Literary Language

Far Away Kingdom- wing. sl. Far away. Far Away (Thirtieth) Kingdom An expression often found in Russian folk tales with the meaning: far away, in an unknown distance. Thirty-nine twenty-seven in the old way of counting by nines; thirty thirty... Universal additional practical explanatory dictionary I. Mostitsky

Far Away Kingdom- a mythical image of very distant lands, states and peoples located extremely far away, even unknown where - “far away lands.” This expression is traditionally used in Russian folk tales and in everyday speech as a proverb... ... Fundamentals of spiritual culture (teacher's encyclopedic dictionary)

far away kingdom- see far away... Dictionary of many expressions

distant kingdom-state- far away kingdom state... Spelling dictionary-reference book

far away kingdom, state- In Russian fairy tales: a very distant country, land. In a distant kingdom there lived a princess. The eagle flew to the distant kingdom... Dictionary of many expressions

Far Away Kingdom (state)- Folk. A distant country, land. BTS, 1345, 1457 …

KINGDOM- Live in the kingdom. Sib. Approved To have wealth, to be well provided for. SPS, 72; SBO D1, 139; WWTP, 70; FSS, 71. In the distant (thirtieth) kingdom. People's Very far away. /i> The turnover is found in Russian folk tales. BMS 1998, 609. Sit down/… … Large dictionary of Russian sayings

kingdom- A; Wed 1) a state ruled by a king, queen 1); the land of such a state. Moscow, Byzantine kingdom. * In a certain kingdom, in a certain state... (traditional beginning of a Russian fairy tale) 2) The reign of which l. king, reign. IN… … Dictionary of many expressions

Far Away, Thirtieth Kingdom- Far away. Far Away (Thirtieth) Kingdom An expression often found in Russian folk tales with the meaning: far away, in an unknown distance. Far away - twenty-seven in the old counting by nines; thirty - thirty. Encyclopedic... ... Dictionary winged words and expressions

Books

Far Away Kingdom. In the claws of a white eagle, Denis Konstantinovich Novozhilov. The internecine strife in which the Far Away Kingdom is mired still cannot end. The losing side stubbornly refuses to give up, and the winners lack the strength to finally overcome... Buy for 269 rubles
Far Away Kingdom In the claws of a white eagle, Novozhilov D.. The internecine strife in which the Far Away Kingdom is mired still cannot end. The losing side stubbornly refuses to give up, and the winners lack the strength to finally win...

Fairy tales are a unique phenomenon, a unique collection of folk wisdom, passed on to the younger generation in an allegorical form.

But in addition to the edifying aspect, they seem to contain encoded information about the world around them, in which the heroes have to overcome many obstacles.

For example, Ivan Tsarevich is often forced to go after Vasilisa the Beautiful “...to the distant kingdom, the thirtieth state”.

So let's find out: did it really exist and where is it located?

distant country

Stories about Marya the Artisan, Koshchei the Immortal, Ivan the Fool and Baba Yaga teach children not to give in to difficulties, to fight for their happiness, and to always act according to their conscience. The action of these allegorical stories often takes place in some distant, other, magical land, where unprecedented miracles can happen, and animals speak with human voices. Of course, fairy-tale geography is by no means an exact science, although sometimes you can find very specific descriptions of the nature of the mysterious distant kingdom.

According to the generally accepted idea, the fairy tale number “far away” is equal to 27, because this is what is obtained if 3 is multiplied by 9. And “thirty”, accordingly, equals 30. That is, in fairy tales we are talking about a very distant country, which can be reached if alternately cross 30 states, of which 27 are monarchies (kingdoms), and what form of government in the remaining 3 countries is unknown.

Someone always tells the hero the right direction: Baba Yaga, Gray Wolf, a magic ball, etc. Often, on the way to the goal, Ivan Tsarevich (or the Fool) has to overcome various obstacles: insurmountable thickets, deserts, swamps or rivers of fire.

Just a month away

However, not all researchers believe that the distant kingdom is very far from Rus', since people there speak the same language as the hero of the fairy tale. There is a version that the above-mentioned numbers 27 and 30 indicate the duration of the lunar and solar months; this is exactly how much time it supposedly takes to travel on foot to the distant kingdom.

For example, the distance from the city of Murom to the capital Kyiv-grad, if counted in a straight line, is 957 km. For the hero Ilya Muromets, such a journey was not difficult.

Without any information about how people lived in the neighboring principality, ancient storytellers, endowed with remarkable imagination, could come up with magical or frightening images.

world of the dead

The most mystical version endows the distant kingdom with the properties of the world of the dead. The number “three” has always been considered magical, and when multiplied by 9 or even 10, it becomes a kind of pass to the next world, where all sorts of miracles are possible.

In this case, Baba Yaga seems to be something of a guide to the afterlife. She herself partially relates to him; it is no coincidence that she has one leg - bone (that is, dead). And the hut on chicken legs is nothing more than a portal to another dimension, the border between worlds.

This version is supported by the fact that the hero finds himself in the distant kingdom after Baba Yaga put him to bed, having previously evaporated him in the bathhouse. That is, she prepared the body for the transition to the afterlife, washing it like a dead person.

On the Moon

There is also a cosmogonic version of the nature of the distant kingdom. Supporters of this interpretation of fairy tales proceed from the fact that our ancestors encrypted in them original messages to their descendants, containing amazing knowledge about the Universe and the Solar system, in particular.

The fact is that the magical country we are looking for is not on Earth, but “...far away.” Do you notice the difference? What if we take the diameter of our planet as a basis? Since the Earth is an ellipsoid, its equatorial diameter is 12 thousand 756.2 km, and the polar one is slightly smaller - 12 thousand 713.6 km. The distance from the Earth to the Moon at its perigee (the point of its orbit closest to us) is 356 thousand 104 km, and at the apogee (when the satellite of our planet is farthest away) - 405 thousand 696 km.

This version explains why the magical, fairy-tale country is sometimes distant, sometimes thirty lands away: the planets move endlessly in their orbits, sometimes approaching and sometimes moving away from each other. And oddly enough, our distant ancestors could have known about this. True, the source of their amazing awareness of the device solar system unknown

Hyperborea

Some researchers prefer to look for the distant kingdom not in space, but in time. They believe that the magical country known to us from fairy tales is the same Hyperborea that has sunk into the mists of time.

Judging by the legends of the ancient Greeks, the mysterious state located in the north could well be the homeland of our ancestors. In his “Centuries,” the medieval French predictor Nostradamus more than once describes historical events that occurred in Russia, calling our country Hyperborea.

It is possible that this ancient state was destroyed during the Ice Age. For example, the Russian folk tale “Crystal Mountain” from the collection of A.N. Afanasyeva describes how the distant kingdom was half drawn into the inevitably approaching crystal mountain. And the hero saved his people and the princess (what would happen without her?) by obtaining a magic seed. After lighting this magical object, the crystal mountain, very similar to a glacier, quickly melted.

This tale apparently reflects people's hopes of preventing a climate catastrophe, which may have destroyed the mysterious Hyperborea, and its inhabitants were probably forced to move a little further south.

There are so many different versions: from completely logical to mystical, from historical to fantastic. So where is the distant kingdom? Where heroes overcome obstacles and find love, and good triumphs over evil.

Is this only possible in a fairy tale? That's the question.

Fairy tales are a unique phenomenon, a unique collection of folk wisdom, passed on to the younger generation in an allegorical form. But in addition to the edifying aspect, they seem to contain encoded information about the world around them, in which the heroes have to overcome many obstacles. For example, Ivan Tsarevich is often forced to go for Vasilisa the Beautiful “... to the distant kingdom, the thirtieth state.” So let's find out: did it really exist and where is it located?

distant country

Just a month away

If we consider that a fairy-tale hero or hero can cover about 40 kilometers in a day, then the magical country could well turn out to be a neighboring principality, because it was located about 1200 km from the starting point. For example, the distance from the city of Murom to the capital Kyiv-grad, if counted in a straight line, is 957 km. For the hero Ilya Muromets, such a journey was not difficult.

Without any information about how people lived in the neighboring principality, ancient storytellers, endowed with remarkable imagination, could come up with magical or frightening images.

world of the dead

On the Moon

This is surprising, but 27 Earth diameters (thirty Earths) is the distance from our planet to the Moon when it is at perigee, and 30 Earth diameters (thirty Earths) is the distance from our planet to the Moon when it is at apogee.