Based on the above provisions, the area of Kyiv Zvenigorod should have been in the direction from Kyiv to Vasilkov, in the middle of the distance between both cities - maybe somewhat closer to Kyiv. Having established this assumption from the chronicle texts, I addressed questions to people who were studying the outskirts of Kyiv, and immediately came across an instruction that fully met the required conditions. General M.I. Drogo Mirov, who carefully studied the outskirts of Kyiv for military-topographical purposes, pointed out to me a fortification standing in all the required conditions, marked on the plan of the outskirts of Kyiv, published by the Kyiv military district headquarters in 1865. This fortification is located almost on a straight line between Kyiv and Vasilkov, deviating from it no more than a mile to the east; it lies 15 versts from Kyiv and 20 from Vasilkov (in a straight line distance), half a verst northeast of the village of Khotova and at the same distance from the Feofaniya desert, southwest of it; it occupies an area (about 60 acres) lying on the top of a secluded hill, surrounded on all sides by ravines, on the bank of the shallow Sirakova stream, after which the settlement itself is called Sirakhov; the walls of the hill are cut artificially, and a shaft is poured on the upper edges; in the middle of the height, around the slope of the walls, a regular ledge is built; At the bottom of the walls, in many places, there were traces of the ditch that surrounded them, and on the outside of the latter, a small earthen embankment. In general, the slope of a hill presents the following profile in cross-section:
a—upper square of the settlement;
b—the shaft surrounding it; c - ledge in the middle of the slope; doctors;
e - shaft on the outside of the ditch.
To the north of the fort, at a distance of about 100 to 200 fathoms from it, there is a low, in some places already disappeared rampart, one end of which touches the ravine surrounding the fort, and the other - to the Sirakov stream; Perhaps this shaft formed the basis of the folk legend about ancient Torchesk,” Kyiv Gubernia Gazette 1DO, ** 33 and 34.
t&viye of the city, the fortress of which was the ancient settlement. - The very outline of the settlement indicates its ancient origin; the outline follows the natural line of the mountain’s contour, not adapting to either straight or broken lines and not forming regular angles. All the turns of the shaft bend along random curved lines, presenting, without distinction, convex and concave curvatures, which serves as clear proof that the fortification was erected even before the advent of firearms.
Since the upper surface of the fortification represents a natural, albeit slight, slope to the south, then, even before the construction of the fortification, the water dug two deep gullies, which represented ravines inside the fortification. The builders of the fortification took advantage of these ravines; They blocked the exits of the ravines with artificial ramparts, the height of the entire circular rampart, but left a small gap in each of the two potholes for entry, while the pothole itself, gradually rising to the center of the settlement, served as an entrance road. —
In general, there were 6 entrance gates to the fortification, and all these entrances were protected in a special way: opposite each hole in the rampart, the ditch surrounding the fortification was significantly expanded, and at the bottom there was a mound, masking the hole in the rampart:
aa - shaft;
^ b-gate; ssss—ditch; d - mound.
The same mound, also equal in height to the height of the fort, was built opposite the western, sharply protruding spur of the fortification, although there was no entrance gate in this place.
That's all the comments about the present appearance of the Sirakov settlement, the plan of which I attach here; On the attached map, I believe, it will be quite convenient to check the chronicle legends about ancient Zvenigorod, and thus make sure that the location of this city very plausibly coincided with the position of the current Sirakov settlement.
Then it remains for me to say only a few words about the only thing that, as far as I know, has been definitely suggested.
F ANCIENT KIEV ZVENIGOROD.
comments regarding the location of Kyiv Zvenigorod. M.A. Maksimovich, in a note published in Russian Conversation (1859, book VI, mixed page 1 00), dwelled on the idea that Zvenigorod was located on the site of the present village of Zvonkova, lying on the banks of the Irpen. Of course, the author relied solely on the identity of the root in the names “Zvenigorod” and “Zvonkova”; but, bearing in mind the chronicle indications, I believe it is enough to take one look at the map to be convinced of the fallacy of this assumption.