According to legends, Ilya Muromets, the son of a farmer, was born in a village near Murom. He suffered a serious illness in his youth and was unable to walk until the age of 33. He could only lie on a Russian stove, until he was miraculously healed by two pilgrims. He was then given super-human strength by a dying knight – Svyatogor – and set out to liberate the city of Kiev from Idolishche to serve Prince Vladimir the Fair Sun. Along the way he single-handedly defended the city of Chernigov from nomadic invasion and was offered knighthood by the local ruler, but Ilya declined to stay. In the forests of Bryansk he then killed the forest-dwelling monster Nightingale the Robber, who murdered travelers with his powerful whistle.
In Kiev, Ilya was made chief bogatyr by Prince Vladimir and he defended Rus' from numerous attacks by the steppe people, including Kalin, the tsar of Golden Horde. Generous and simple-minded but also temperamental, Ilya once went on a rampage and destroyed all the church steeples in Kiev after Prince Vladimir failed to invite him to a celebration. He was soon appeased when Vladimir sent for him. - condensed from Wikipedia
He must have made an impression. Russia is still enamored of him.
Igor Sikorsky named his giant four engined WW1 bomber after him.
Via
daily timewaster
2 comments:
Thanks, that's interesting like everything associated with Sikorsky.
I can't figure out the hero's first name, the fonts on WIKI make it look like iiya(IIYA).
I guess it could even be llya(LLYA) if not capitalized, but the picture caption shows Ilya(ILYA).
Sorry, I'm babbling, thanks again.
No wait, the caption on the picture reads Ilia(ILIA).
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