The Rise of Rurik

Chapter 37: Engraving Knowledge On Wooden Boards

Chapter 37: Engraving Knowledge On Wooden Boards

In the huge high priest's house, the brazier made the whole house so warm that the people in it could cope with only ordinary linen clothes.

The number of priests in the tribe is small, and they are all women. In order to take up this job, they also give up the right to be mothers.

They are all supported by the tribal people, and spend most of the year in the chief priest's house, except for sacrifices on necessary days.

Much of the leisure time of many priests consisted of weaving their own garments from linen thread and cooking flammable lamp oil from animal fat.

When Rurik was invited to enter this field, he immediately smelled a tempting aroma.

Although the entire longhouse is warm, it still has a lot of holes. The air heated by the multiple braziers seeps out from the gaps on the top floor, and the cool air from the outside also penetrates through the gaps on the lower floors. There is no possibility of carbon monoxide poisoning here, and the indoor temperature will drop rapidly because the brazier charcoal is extinguished.

The younger priests set up rudimentary hearths over braziers, thick cast iron basins with some seal fat in them.

When Otto returned, he happened to catch a few plump Baltic seals, and boiling oil was naturally a necessary operation.

When the bay is frozen, it is also one of the normal tasks of the tribe to drill holes in the ice to capture seals.

These captured seals, meat and internal organs are used as food, skins for clothing, and seal oil is naturally an excellent fuel.

The aroma of the fat being roasted made Rurik very comfortable. He was not hungry now. He came to the longhouse today and learned that knowledge was his first priority.

Rurik came with a big purpose, and the priest Veria, who would serve as his one-to-one teacher, also came with a big purpose.

But even great achievements have a small beginning.

It was snowing lightly in the sky, and Rurik knew that his father was going to lead the tribe to the north for collective hunting. According to the experience over the years, they would be able to return with their prey after more than ten days. Fortunately, I can eat venison all winter long.

Rurik has his own job, and while he is very young and has a lot of free time, it is best to finish that knowledge in a short time.

He entered the warm longhouse, and after feeling the warmth, he put the leather jacket aside.

Veria, leaning on crutches, is as kind as his grandmother.

"Child, you arrived as scheduled."

"Yes, great priest." Rurik bowed deliberately, and his words were also very respectful.

The clan did not bow, or even have a clear ceremonial gesture.

Of course, Veria felt very comfortable. She couldn't help but stretch out her old and thin right hand and put it on Rurik's head with golden braids.

She couldn't help but praise: "You are really different from those children. Let's get started! I will be satisfied for the rest of my life by cultivating you into a talent. This is the biggest task of my remaining life."

"Do you want to start studying now?" Rurik immediately raised his head.

"Yes! From now on, there is still time in the future. Since you intend to learn, tell me clearly, are you willing to master all the wooden boards in that room?!"

"Of course." Rurik replied without hesitation.

"Very good. That's a lot of knowledge, and hopefully you'll keep your word."

Lots of knowledge on the board? Rurik didn't think so at all!

The Babylonians recorded knowledge on clay tablets, the ancient Egyptians recorded knowledge on straw paper, the Greeks recorded knowledge on sheepskin, and in the very far east, bamboo slips and paper.

However, in this era, paper should be widely used in Europe along the road.

Rurik estimated in this way, how could the situation be so ideal?

The real historical process, from the third century to the thirteenth century, for a thousand years,

The best carrier for documents and books in Europe is parchment. Until the invasion of Menggu, the papermaking technology from the East spread. In just a few decades, the whole of Europe began to use cheaper paper to write, which objectively contributed to the rapid spread of the Renaissance. Because ordinary people can buy cheap books without spending too much money. They will no longer be dull for a long time because the priests monopolize knowledge. They can have their own perception of the whole world and their own independent thinking through books.

In the first half of the ninth century, due to the decline of the Tang Dynasty, the order of trade routes from Xi'an to Eastern Rome became worse. Commercial activities were hit by the war, and those desperate merchants were more willing to transport silk, tea, porcelain and spices with higher added value. Various types of paper, which were not expensive in the East, were not the main commodities. Even for these commodities, the nobility of Eastern Rome flocked to them. After they bought it out, it was difficult for Western Europe and even Northern Europe to get these materials.

Unless, the various tribes of the Vikings around the Mediterranean Sea, they have greater ambitions to trade with Eastern Rome.

The time is 828 AD, and so far, no Viking force has really had commercial contact with Eastern Rome.

Because now, the "Viking Age" has only just begun.

Here, the most likely to complete it is the Rus tribe branch of the Swedish Syrian League, if they relocate to Novgorod according to the historical process, the mixed Varyag-Slavs, the trade with Eastern Rome The era of competition began immediately.

Rurik basically knew about this historical process, and he also knew very well that he should be the driving force of the history of this process. But these words are too metaphysical and grandiose. Ordinary people may find it unbelievable to say them. Vilia estimates that she will believe it. So what if she believes it, and finally she sighs with emotion "Odin's blessing".

It stands to reason that the Rus people can also use sheepskin or cowhide to make a carrier for writing, but they did not do this, probably because this operation is time-consuming and labor-intensive.

On closer inspection, they don't seem to have a strong incentive to do so either.

There are thousands of people in the entire tribe, and only a few people love to learn book knowledge. More people do not advocate anti intellect. On the contrary, everyone understands the importance of knowledge.

Ordinary people disdain the knowledge recorded in the rune alphabet on the wooden boards, and because they must learn the rune alphabet to understand knowledge, this discourages many people.

What they know best is actually some symbols marked with numbers in the rune alphabet. After all, trade needs to understand decimal numbers.

Only a few of them knew how to write their names in the rune alphabet, and everything was basically limited to that.

They pay more attention to the words and deeds of technology. The shipbuilders teach their sons how to build ships, and the professional blacksmiths teach their sons how to choose ores, smelt and forge. Including the women of the family also taught their daughters how to make linen thread, how to weave cloth, and how to process animal hides.

The living environment is too bad, any young boy or girl must learn the most practical life skills in a short period of time, and learn those obscure theoretical knowledge. An obscure figure written by the priests of the grain".

Yes, most of them are members of the Ross tribe, unfortunately they don't even know the written alphabet of their own tribe.

It is not surprising that the Ron alphabet has always been a niche language and is quickly dying out.

So, the whole tribe essentially doesn't like books because they don't yet understand the use of learning something obscure.

Without the help of the tribe, the historical development of the tribe must also be recorded, and the Villians are afraid that their tribe will forget who they are after a few generations.

Based on her own memory, she also selected some elastic oak boards, baked them very dry, and polished them with a whetstone. Finally, the ancient knowledge was engraved with rune letters.

But what she has is not simply this knowledge, and even the majority of clan members don't even know that the young Vilia had the honor to meet the man in black who claimed to be from "Warm Beach".

Those men in black persuaded Veria to believe in a supreme existence, and Veria bluntly told them that the only supreme being was Odin.

However, Veria got a treasure, a book of dozens of parchment in a small wooden box. The beautiful cover of the book is full of Eastern Roman style, and the content is written in two sets of scripts - Latin and Greek.

As for the content of it, they all sing praises to an apostle and what the apostle taught to ordinary people.

Veria's knowledge is known as the wise, and her knowledge is still extremely limited.

She didn't want to be a follower of that apostle, she just wanted to be a servant of Odin. Veria respected those people in black from Rome. She simply believed that the book that was sealed in a wooden box for decades was the "oracle book" of the Romans.

Odin controlled the cold north, and the Roman south was out of Odin's control.

Veria kept the book very well, because she felt that when the tribe had the opportunity to have further contact with the Romans in the future, this book would serve as a medium for friendly exchanges. After all, fighting contact was the last resort.

In addition, she marveled at the fact that Roman texts were preserved on soft parchment. How can animal hides be processed into such writing instruments? She didn't understand at all, envious but helpless.

She can only write down the knowledge of the tribe on the oak, because the area is cold and dry, and the oak is strong enough. In terms of preservation time, the text on the oak board is still very clear for decades.