Onfim (Old Novgorodian: онѳиме, Onfime; also Anthemius of Novgorod) was a Novgorodian boy who lived in Novgorod (present-day Russia) in the 13th century, some time around 1220 or 1260. He left his notes and homework exercises scratched in soft birch bark which was preserved in the clay soil of Novgorod. Onfim, who was most likely six or seven at the time, wrote in the Old Novgorodian dialect of Old East Slavic. Besides letters and syllables, he drew "battle scenes and drawings of himself and his teacher".
Background
Novgorod, now known as Veliky Novgorod, is the important administrative center of the Novgorod Oblast. At the time Onfim lived, it was the capital of the Novgorod Republic. Scholars believe that the Novgorod Republic had an unusually high level of literacy for the time, with literacy apparently widespread throughout different classes and among both sexes. Some 200 kilometres (120 mi) south of Saint Petersburg, the city is surrounded by birch forests, whose bark was used for centuries by the locals for writing since it was soft and easily scratched. Since 1951, more than 1100 pieces of birch bark with...
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