Podlevsky S. Chernihiv`s graffiti in the socio-cultural space of X-XVII centuries.

This dissertation is a complex interdisciplinary study of epigraphic monuments of X-XVII centuries from Chernihiv.With use of modern methodological positions in this work were systematized, analyzed and interpreted complexes of graffiti inscriptions and images. They were discovered in Chernihiv during archaeological excavations and during other studies of architectural monuments. On particular material were determined time of spread and the use specifics of the main types of writing, which in different historical periods existed in this city. Was observed appearance, development and changes in the tradition of the Cyrillic graffiti during the studied time. The main tendencies in the development of Chernihiv`s Cyrillic epigraphy was highlighted on the basis of involving a wide source base. In addition to samples of Greek and Latin writing that existed in the city during the middle ages and early modern era, an array of rune-like symbols, which was actively used during the X-XIII centuries, was explored. These symbols cannot be defined as writing system and they are, probably, a reflection of the runic writing of Scandinavians and Turk`s who were in Chernihiv and its district at this period. Probably for the first time in Ukrainian historiography a general array of epigraphic material from the tenth to eighteenth centuries, which originates from one city and reflects the cultural traditions, world outlook and religious beliefs of the local population, was analyzed. Key words: Chernihiv, urban environment, epigraphy, writing, graffiti, middle ages, early modern era, socio-cultural space.