THE TRIDENT IS IN FACT AN ANCIENT UKRAINIAN SYMBOL

[BlueandGold]

http://www.ukrainianmusic.net/mp3/kyiv-tebe.mp3

[BlueandGold]

UKRAINE COAT OF ARMS - The National Arms - Trident (tryzub). The official coat of arms of Ukraine is a gold trident on an azure background. As a state emblem the trident dates back to Kievan Rus', when it was the coat of arms of the Riuryk dynasty. There are various theories about its origins and meaning. A trident was the symbol of Poseidon, the sea god of Greek mythology. It has been found in different societies, such as the Bosporan and Pontic kingdoms, the Greek colonies on the Black Sea, Byzantium, Scandinavia, and Sarmatia, and has been used in various ways: as a religious and military emblem, a heraldic symbol, a state emblem, a monogram, and simply a decorative design. The oldest examples of the trident discovered by archeologists on Ukrainian territory date back to the 1st century ad. At that time the trident probably served as a symbol of power in one of the [Christian] tribes that later became part of the Ukrainian people.

http://www.rollintl.com/roll/grcoat.htm

[BlueandGold]

After the death of Svyatoslav the Kyivan Rus suffered political crises: broke out strives between the Ryurykovyches for supreme power in the state. In a clash for the right to gather tributes, Yaropolk killed his brother Oleh. Young Volodymyr, fearing that he would suffer the same fate, escaped to Sweden. In several years he came back at the head of Varangian army forces and broke out a war against Yaropolk, in which Yaropolk met his death.

Having ascended to the throne in 980 and concentrating an integrated power in his hands, Volodymyr the Great (in Scandinavian Valdemar) initiated a new epoch in the history of Kyivan Rus. Volodymyr introduced more constructive approach in the state system. As distinct from his predecessors, his attention was directed first of all at prosperity of his possessions, not capture of lands and gathering of tributes. Though in due time, he also became famous for military acquiring, namely, his victory over the Byzantine army and destroy of Khersones. In Volodymyr's time ruling, Rus had flourished and developed as an integrated society and state. Varangian princes did not consider Rus as a simple area for further conquests or a land for exploitation.

In 988 Volodymyr introduced Christianity according to the Byzantine tradition. Adoption of Christianity provokes a number of disputes in the Ukrainian history - still nowadays circumstances and true reasons of the Kyivan prince, which had determined his choice, are not known. But it is obvious, that this event had become a turning-point of the history - Kyivan Rus adjoined to Christian nations, in other words joined to religion, predominant in the most powerful civilization of that times. Based on the principle of tsar papistry, according to which supreme religious power belonged not to the head of a church but the governor of a state, Byzantium Orthodoxy consolidated the positions of the Ryurykovyches dynasty. After having introduced Christianity in Kyivan Rus an impact of Byzantium culture increased. Economic relations with the Byzantium Empire developed, that resulted in its own money coining. On the coins of Volodymyr for the first time a heraldic insignia - Tryzub appeared.

http://www.kmu.gov.ua/control/en/pub...5&cat_id=32672