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long neck, pointy ears, and a curly tail. The beast either has an arrow with feathers in its mouth or is spewing fire; one of the accompanying texts (the one below the box) says "I am a wild beast" (the text in the box says "Greetings from Onfim to Danilo", likely a friend or classmate of Onfim). The number of fingers on the pictured people's hands varies from three to eight; Onfim had yet to learn
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Onfim left seventeen known birch bark items. Twelve of those have illustrations, five only text. One of the drawings features a knight on a horse, with Onfim's name written next to him, stabbing someone on the ground with a lance, with scholars speculating that Onfim pictured himself as the knight.
252:
Onfim's illustrations include pictures of knights, horses, arrows, and slain enemies. One image, "a portrait of himself, disguised as a fantastic animal", is found on item 199 (pictured above; it was originally the bottom of a basket made of birch bark), which contains a picture of a beast with a
264:
and added "On", for his name, in the middle; below that alphabet is what some researchers see as a boat with oars. Item 206 contains alphabetic exercises and "'portraits' of little Onfim and his friends". Interestingly, Onfim didn't use the
175:. Scholars believe that the Novgorod Republic had an unusually high level of literacy for the time, with literacy apparently widespread throughout different classes and among both sexes. Some 200 kilometres (120 mi) south of
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forests, whose bark was used for centuries by the locals for writing since it was soft and easily scratched. Since 1951, more than 1100 pieces of birch bark with writing on it have been found, and continue to be discovered.
230:—texts that were presumably familiar to him. His writing includes phrases such as "Lord, help your servant Onfim" and fragments from Psalms 6:2 and 27:3. Most of Onfim's writing consists of citations from the
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The rows of five letters each on the other side of 199 are an alphabet exercise. On item 205 (not pictured in this article), Onfim wrote the
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which was preserved in the clay soil of
Novgorod. Onfim, who was most likely six or seven at the time, wrote in the East Slavic
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139:) in the 13th century, some time around 1220 or 1260. He left his notes and homework exercises scratched in
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is indicative of a high rate of literacy among the population, as is the large number of styluses.
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147:. Besides letters and syllables, he drew "battle scenes and drawings of himself and his teacher".
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Stemmen Op
Berkenbast: Berichten Uit Middeleeuws Rusland: Dagelijks Leven en Communicatie
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274:
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792:
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Readings in
Russian Civilization, Volume 1: Russia Before Peter the Great, 900-1700
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277:; for instances, Onfim wrote поклоно "bow (lit.); greetings, regards (fig.)" (cf.
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by his time, but it is unknown. By modern convention he is often referred to as
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The writings are clearly learning exercises: Onfim practiced by writing out the
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203:), and the academic field that studies them is called berestology (Russian:
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629:"А. A. Зализняк: О берестяных грамотах из раскопок сезона 2015 года"
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Birch-bark letter no. 202: spelling lessons and drawings
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Dekker, Simeon (2018). "The Field of Study: Berestology".
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Old
Russian birchbark letters : a pragmatic approach
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as a horseman slaying a person, presumably his teacher.
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Writing, Society and
Culture in Early Rus, c.950-1300
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171:. At the time Onfim lived, it was the capital of the
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Kent, Allen; Lancour, Harold; Daily, Jay E. (1979).
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Onfim's homework exercises and "I am a wild beast",
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40:One of Onfim's schoolwork doodles (no. 200),
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335:", a series of syllables, and portraits
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290:) and ꙁвѣре "wild beast" (cf. Russian
641:Chambers, John H. (16 October 2008).
7:
581:The Birch Bark Post of the Centuries
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756:. U of Chicago P. pp. 47–59.
167:, is the administrative center of
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779:Website, contains catalog of all
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627:Денис Кижаев (13 October 2015).
458:Ianin, "Medieval Novgorod," 206.
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390:It is possible Anthemius had a
686:Russia: A History, new edition
115:), better known by the modern
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817:People from medieval Novgorod
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812:13th-century European people
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135:(now named Veliky Novgorod,
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16:13th-century Novgorodian boy
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131:), was a boy who lived in
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617:"Slavic Paleography" 522.
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752:. In Thomas Riha (ed.).
683:Freeze, Gregory (2002).
662:Franklin, Simon (2010).
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333:Now when the sixth hour
209:). The great number of
197:('birch bark', plural:
163:Novgorod, now known as
727:Schaeken, Jos (2012).
286:; as spelt before the
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189:birch bark manuscripts
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119:spelling of his name,
750:"The Dig at Novgorod"
712:. Vol. 27. CRC.
483:. Leiden. p. 1.
400:Anthemius of Novgorod
240:
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842:13th-century artists
706:"Slavic Paleography"
631:– via YouTube.
288:1918 spelling reform
145:Old Novgorod dialect
85:, and the notes and
83:preserved birch bark
365:Note his own name (
644:Everyone's History
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783:found in Novgorod
763:978-0-226-71843-9
719:978-0-8247-2027-8
696:978-0-19-162249-6
675:978-1-139-43454-6
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255:how to count
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248:. (Item 199)
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68:(presumably)
795:, medieval
647:. Xlibris.
525:Schaeken 8.
467:Schaeken 7.
246: 1260
191:are called
187:In Russia,
100:Novgorodian
806:Categories
561:Yanine 54.
499:1030304572
433:Freeze 38.
410:References
151:Background
79:schoolwork
789:Blog post
507:cite book
96:Anthemius
23:Anthemius
224:alphabet
133:Novgorod
62:Novgorod
781:beresty
392:surname
306:Gallery
283:поклонъ
279:Russian
211:beresty
200:beresty
194:beresta
125:Russian
117:Russian
89:therein
87:doodles
760:
737:
716:
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651:
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377:⟩ to ⟨
367:Онѳиме
331:206: "
228:psalms
137:Russia
112:Onθime
104:Онѳимє
29:Онѳиме
353:Notes
299:зверь
293:звѣрь
181:birch
129:Онфим
121:Onfim
758:ISBN
735:ISBN
714:ISBN
691:ISBN
670:ISBN
649:ISBN
513:link
495:OCLC
485:ISBN
296:and
273:and
267:yers
77:His
50:Born
791:by
808::
708:.
601:^
584:,
509:}}
505:{{
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438:^
417:^
381:⟩.
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243:c.
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678:.
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379:К
375:А
373:⟨
275:Е
271:О
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123:(
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