Vyr is an

archaeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or recorded history, historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline ...

of an ancient city located on the left bank of the Vyr river (a tributary of the

Seym river The Seym or Seim (; ) is a river that flows westward in Russia and Ukraine. It is long (250 km within Ukraine) and its basin area about . It is the largest tributary of the Desna (river), Desna. Places on the river include Kursk, Kurchatov, Rus ...

in the

Dnipro Dnipro is Ukraine's fourth-largest city, with about one million inhabitants. It is located in the eastern part of Ukraine, southeast of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on the Dnieper River, Dnipro River, from which it takes its name. Dnipro is t ...

basin) at the mouth of its tributary, the Kryha river. The modern-day city of

Bilopillia Bilopillia (, ) is a List of cities in Ukraine, city in Sumy Raion of Sumy Oblast of northeastern Ukraine. It was the administrative center of Bilopillia Raion until it was abolished on 18 July 2020. It is located close to Kursk Oblast of Russia ...

is located at the site. Vyr was first mentioned in the

Ipatiev Chronicle The ''Hypatian Codex'', also known as Hypatian Letopis or Ipatiev Letopis, is a compendium of three Rus' chronicles: the ''Primary Chronicle'', ''Kievan Chronicle'' and '' Galician-Volhynian Chronicle''. It is the most important source of histori ...

in 1113. The city consisted of a citadel (1.5 hectares) on a high (15–18 meters) promontory on the left bank of the Kryha River, and an "outer city" or "fortress" with an adjacent open settlement (7–10 hectares). Vyr was first mentioned in the

Polovtsians The Cumans or Kumans were a Turkic nomadic people from Central Asia comprising the western branch of the Cuman–Kipchak confederation who spoke the Cuman language. They are referred to as Polovtsians (''Polovtsy'') in Rus' chronicles, as "Cum ...

and feudal strife in the southern lands of Rus as the center of the eponymous volost between the headwaters of the Sula and Seym rivers (an area of over 8,000 square kilometers) in the 12th century, which changed hands several times. From 1159 to 1162, it was the capital of the appanage of Izyaslav Davydovych. Later, together with the Kursk Seim, Vyr became part of the Novgorod-Seversk Principality. It played an important role in the defense system of the southeastern borders of Rus, controlling the "steppe corridor" – the passage to the Polovtsian steppe. It was destroyed in 1239 during the Mongol-Tatar invasion.

References

{{Authority control Hill forts in Ukraine Archaeological sites in Ukraine Lost towns of Rus'