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more than 150 miles from the nearest settlement,

Well, since you have traveled this far, you might as well come in.'

omething from the middle ages. Jerry-built from whatever materials came to hand, the dwelling was not much more than a burrow—"a low, soot-blackened log kennel that was as cold as a cellar," with a floor consisting of potato peel and pine-nut shells. Looking around in the dim light, the visitors saw that it consisted of a single room. It was cramped, musty and indescribably filthy, propped up by sagging joists—and, astonishingly, home to a family of five:

Have you ever eaten bread?

he daughters spoke a language distorted by a lifetime of isolation. "When the sisters talked to each other, it sounded like a slow, blurred cooing."

a member of a fundamentalist Russian Orthodox sect, worshiping in a style unchanged since the 17th century.

Peter was a personal enemy and "the anti-Christ in human form"—a point he insisted had been amply proved by Tsar's campaign to modernize Russia by forcibly "chopping off the beards of Christians."

Things had only got worse for the Lykov family when the atheist Bolsheviks took power. Under the Soviets, isolated Old Believer communities that had fled to Siberia to escape persecution began to retreat ever further from civilization. During the purges of the 1930s, with Christianity itself under assault, a Communist patrol had shot Lykov's brother on the outskirts of their village while Lykov knelt working beside him. He had responded by scooping up his family and bolting into forest.

our Lykovs then—Karp;

wife, Akulina

son named Savin

Natalia, a daughter who was only 2.

wo more children had been born in the wild—Dmitry in 1940 and Agafia in 1943—

d neither of the youngest Lykov children had ever seen a human being who was not a member of their famil

new there were places called cities where humans lived crammed together in tall buildings. They had heard there were countries other than Russia. But such concepts were no more than abstractions to them. Their only reading matter was prayer books and an ancient family Bible. Akulina had used the gospels to teach her children to read and write, using sharpened birch sticks dipped into honeysuckle juice as pen and ink. When Agafia was shown a picture of a horse, she recognized it from her mother's Bible stories. "Look, papa," she exclaimed. "A steed!"

e traversed 250 kilometres [155 miles] without seeing a single human dwelling!"

They fashioned birch-bark galoshes in place of shoes. Clothes were patched and repatched until they fell apart, then replaced with hemp cloth grown from seed.

pinning wheel a

A couple of kettles served them well for many years, but when rust finally overcame them, the only replacements they could fashion came from birch bark.

heir staple diet was potato patties mixed with ground rye and hemp seeds.

bundance

stream. Stands of larch, spruce, pine and birch yielded all that anyone could take.... Bilberries and raspberries were close to hand, firewood as well, and pine nuts fell right on the roof."

rmanently on the edge of famine.

not until the late 1950s, when Dmitry reached manhood, that they first trapped animals for their meat and skins. Lacking guns and even bows, they could hunt only by digging traps or pursuing prey across the mountains until the animals collapsed from exhaustion

Agafia's unusual speech—she had a singsong voice and stretched simple words into polysyllables—convinced some of her visitors she was slow-witted; in fact she was markedly intelligent, and took charge of the difficult task, in a family that possessed no calendars, of keeping track of time. 

mitry, a

urious and perhaps the most forward-looking member of the family

Perhaps it was no surprise that he was also the most enraptured by the scientists' technology.

many happy hours in its little sawmill, marveling at how easily a circular saw and lathes could finish wood.

he Lord would provide, and she would stay, she said—as indeed she has. A quarter of a century later, now in her seventies herself, this child of the taiga lives on alone, high above the Abakan.

 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation , search Funerary stele of Mnesarete ; a young servant (left) is facing her dead mistress. [1] Attica, circa 380 BC. (Glyptothek, Munich, Germany) Slavery was common practice and an integral component of ancient Greece throughout its rich history, as it was in other societies of the time including ancient Israel and early Christian societies.[2][3][4] It is estimated that in Athens, the majority of citizens owned at least one slave. Most ancient writers considered slavery not only natural but necessary, but some isolated debate began to appear, notably in Socratic dialogues while the Stoics produced the first condemnation of slavery recorded in history.[4] In conformity with modern historiographical practice, this article will discuss only chattel (personal possession) slavery, as opposed to dependent groups such as the penestae of Thessaly or the Spartan helots, who were more like medieval serfs (an enhancement to real estate). The chattel slave is an individual deprived of liberty and forced to submit to an owner who may buy, sell, or lease him or her like any other chattel.

Jump to: navigation , search Funerary stele of Mnesarete ; a young servant (left) is facing her dead mistress. [1] Attica , circa 380 BC. ( Glyptothek , Munich , Germany ) Slavery

A Medieval monastery received pilgrims and travellers, at a period when western Europe was almost destitute of innsA Medieval monastery performed many works of charity, feeding the hungry, healing the sick who were brought to their doors, and distributing their medicinesA Medieval monastery provided education for boys who wished to become priests and those who intended to lead active lives in the worldA Medieval monastery copied the manuscripts of classical authors preserving valuable books that would otherwise have been lost A Medieval monastery kept records of the most striking events of their time and acted as chroniclers of the medieval history of the Middle Ages

the lavatorium was a room which contained a trough with running water where monks washed their hands before meals Misericord - a misericord was the part of a monastery where monks were disciplinedNight Stair - A staircase used by the monks to enter a church directly from their dormitory in order to attend late night and early morning servicesRefectory - the refectory was dining hall of a monasterySacristy - the sacristy was a small building, usually attached to the chancel in which vestments and sacred vessels were keptScriptorium - the scriptorium was the room in a monastery used by clerics or scribes copying manuscriptsWarming-house - the warming house was the only room in a monastery, apart from the infirmary and kitchen, where a fire was allowed. Also called a Calefactory

Lavatorium

Lavatorium

Lavatorium

Lavatorium

Cellarium - store-house of a monasteryChapter-house - The chapter house was a room in which monks met daily, to discuss business and to hear a chapter of the monastic ruleCloister - the cloister was a covered walkway in a monastery often situated around an quadrangle A cloister often comprised of a plain wall or colonnade on the outer side and a series of windows on the inner side Dorter - a dorter was a monastic dormitory. Sometimes the monks slept in isolated rooms called cells

Frater - a frater was another term for a refectory (dining room)Garderobe - a garderobe was a lavatory in a medieval buildingGranary - A monastery storehouse for threshed grainInfirmary - the infirmary was the part of a monastery which housed the monks who were too sick or old to take part in the normal monastic lifeKitchen - The monastery kitchen where food was prepared and cookedLavatorium -

Feudalism ~ The King awarded land grants to his most important nobles, like Barons and Bishops, in return for their contribution of soldiers for the King's armies. Lords could have a variety of other official titles including Earl, Marquis or Viscount. Lords did more than fund wars. They were the local justice and held court for local matters. Lords provided some of their land to Vassals, or tenants who were a somewhat higher class than peasants. Vassals were required to serve guard duty, and later they paid a fee to acquire mercenaries (soldiers-for-hire).  At the lowest class of society were the Peasants, also called "serfs" or "villeins." Peasants provided the Lord with labor or a share of the produce or livestock yielded from his lands in exchange for protection, land to work and a place to live.