SILA KORNEJ | СИЛА КОРНЕЙ | MIGHTY ROOTS
Good news – all comics illustrations are now complete! We have started the layout design of the printed/PDF version. The animation process is still slow due to iOS challenges – we might just release the second episode for Android only if that keeps stalling us…
We continue to work on the first story from the animated fantasy comic book series about customs and beliefs of the Slavic people in the early Middle Ages.
We continue to work on the first story from the animated fantasy comic book series about customs and beliefs of the Slavic people in the early Middle Ages.
As a conclusion of a series of posts about the “Maurice’s Strategikon”, see below a note on the famous Slavic hospitality 😀🎂🍽🥂, as well as the ancient art of disguise, which the author considered important and necessary to mention.
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“They are kind and hospitable to travelers in their country and conduct them safely from one place to another, wherever they wish. If the stranger should suffer some harm because of his host’s negligence, the one who first commended him will wage war against that host, regarding vengeance for the stranger as a religious duty.”
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“Their experience in crossing rivers surpasses that of all other men, and they are extremely good at spending a lot of time in the water. Often enough when they are in their own country and are caught by surprise and in a tight spot, they dive to the bottom of a body of water. There they take long, hollow reeds they have prepared for such a situation and hold them in their mouths, the reeds extending to the surface of the water. Lying on their backs on the bottom they breathe through them and hold out for many hours without anyone suspecting where they are. An inexperienced person who notices the reeds from above would simply think they were growing there in the water.”
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For more interesting facts refer to the source: “Maurice’s Strategikon: Handbook of Byzantine Military Strategy”, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2001
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While reading the “Maurice’s Strategikon”, one experiences conflicting feelings: from pride in our ancestors to bewilderment – how far have we gone in our consciousness development from the ancient Slavs in some areas. What do you think?
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“When a difference of opinion prevails among them, either they come to no agreement at all or when some of them do come to an agreement, the others quickly go against what was decided. They are always at odds with each other, and nobody is willing to yield to another.”
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“Since there are many kings among them always at odds with one another, it is not difficult to win over some of them by persuasion or by gifts, especially those in areas closer to the border, and then to attack the others, so that their common hostility will not make them united or bring them together under one ruler.”
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This resembles the phrase “Divide et impera” (“Divide and rule”) – a principle that was very effectively applied first by the Roman and then by the Byzantine empires…
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To be continued…
