⇓ HISTORY OF THE CARPATHIANS ⇓
The Ukrainian Carpathians are a mountain range located in the far west of Ukraine.
The Carpathians have a unique landscape: the high-altitude alpine meadows of Chornohora and Svydovets, the rocky slopes of the Maramureș Mountains, the mid-altitude Gorgany Mountains with their stony peaks, as well as the lower Eastern Beskids, the Pokuttia-Bukovyna Carpathians and the Volcanic Carpathians.
The mountains were first mentioned under the name “Carpathians” by the Greco-Roman scholar Claudius Ptolemy in his work Geography in 150 AD.
In 1794, Balthasar Hacquet, a professor at Lviv University of French origin, was the first to define the boundaries of the Carpathians — from Bratislava to the Iron Gates on the Danube.
⇓ LEGEND OF THE ORIGIN OF THE CARPATHIANS ⇓
Long ago, there were no mountains in our land, only a vast plain. People grazed their livestock and gathered their harvests. Their ruler was a man whom the people called Sylun.
When he walked across the land, the ground groaned beneath his feet.
One day, a young man named Karpo came to him and asked to work for him.
“All right,” Sylun agreed. Karpo worked for him for thirteen years. One evening, he saw his master taking a walk before going to bed and said to him:
“You know that I have worked for you for a long time. I would like to visit my mother, and I ask you to pay me for my work.”
Sylun replied:
“I feed you and clothe you. What more do you need?”
Sylun became angry with Karpo. He approached his servant and threw him to the ground. Karpo got back on his feet, straightened his shoulders, walked up to Sylun and threw him down with such force that Sylun sank beneath the earth.
Sylun cried out. He struck the ground with one hand — and a mountain rose. He struck with the other — and another mountain appeared. He stamped one foot — a third mountain rose, then the other — and yet another appeared.
That is how the mountains came into being. And the people said:
“You wanted to kill Karpo, but he defeated you.”
Since then, the mountains have been called the Carpathians, in honour of the brave and strong Karpo.