people
Drevlyans
also: древляне, Derevlians
An East Slavic tribal union of the pre-Christian era, settled in the forests west of Kiev; named by Chekhov, tongue-in-cheek, as one of the pagan 'forebears' of the modern Russians.
Reading notes
- Krasnaya Gorka §3 Drevlyans
One of the East Slavic tribal unions of the pre-Christian era, inhabiting the forests west of Kiev; invoked here, along with the Krivichi and Merya, as stock 'ancient ancestor' figures in a mock-ethnographic aside.