Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Princess Olga

Princess Olga the Beautiful lived between 890-969. For almost twenty years she ruled Kievan Rus. Her very first act as a ruler was to take a bloody revenge against Drevlians, the people who had killed her husband, prince Igor. She burned down an entire town with all its citizens because her rage was so great. 

At the age of 45, Princess Olga gave birth to her only child and ruled in his name until he became an adult. She was a very active ruler who traveled incessantly around the country, trying to improve life in her realm. Emperor Constantine of Constantinople kept asking her to marry him but Olga remained faithful to the memory of her dead husband.

She was also the very first ruler of Kiev who converted to Christianity. The Orthodox Church proclaimed Olga a saint and considers her to be equal to the Apostles. The name "Olga" actually means "a saint", so she was obviously destined for sainthood from the very beginning.

8 comments:

KT said...

I see some similarity in the facial features of the blogger and Princess Olga. You might be up to something :)

Clarissa said...

Oh, so now all Slavic people look the same, eh? :-) :-) :-)

KT said...

Lol. Not really, but it seems to me that if she would look to the right as you've done in your photo below, we might find a similarity. For now, the nose and mouth look similar. Or if you would look at the camera and hold a cross as she's done. Now the name Olga...

Clarissa said...

I should totally start walking around with a cross this size. here in the Bible Belt I'll fit right in.

feMOMhist said...

since fMhgirl has entered her "princess" phase I've been trying to educate her about ACTUAL princesss, not disney pinkified BULLSHIT. Thanks for the addition

Spanish prof said...

I'm giving out more information than I should, but I was named in honor of Trotsky's wife, as an act of rebellion of my father against my communist grandmother.

Tim said...

I should totally start walking around with a cross this size. here in the Bible Belt I'll fit right in.

If you carve 'Jesus Loves America' into it and wear it as a piercing, yes.

Clarissa said...

And instead of a white headscarf there should be the American flag. :-)