«Rrincipum Specula» in Kyiv Rus: Features of Functioning

Abstract

Rrincipum Specula («mirrors for prince») is a term that is not often used to the texts of Kyiv Rus. Instructions to the princes, which were an important element in the education of rulers, often functioned in the Kiev Russ culture not as whole texts, but fragmented, in the form of quotations, aphorisms, ideas or contexts. It stimulated the own creativity of the Rus scribes. Due to it, Kyiv Rus culture assimilated the ancient, Byzantine and Western European political ideas.