person
Peter the Great
also: Пётр Великий, Peter I
Tsar Peter I of Russia (1672-1725), whose wars with Sweden are invoked here purely as a comic pretext for the joke about the Swedish match.
Reading notes
- Toward a Characterization of the Peoples §11 Peter the Great
Tsar Peter I of Russia (1672-1725), whose real wars against Sweden are recruited here as a comic pretext for the match joke.
- On April §30 in the time of Peter
Refers to the reign of Peter the Great, who imported foreign theater troupes and Western customs to Russia; the anecdote of the German troupe's April Fools' prank is a piece of theatrical folklore attached to his era.
- Happiness §55 Peter the Emperor, who was building his fleet in Voronezh
A real historical fact: Peter the Great built Russia's first regular navy at Voronezh in the late 1690s, using the Don river system to project power toward the Sea of Azov and the Ottoman-held fortress of Azov. Panteley's tale of robbers ambushing a gold shipment meant for that fleet-building effort grounds his "treasure" story in genuine 17th-century military history, in contrast to Zhmenya's more purely supernatural legend.