Alyosha Popovich

Strong bogatyr Alyosha Popovich.
—From a lubok (popular print).
Bogatyrs (1898) by Viktor Vasnetsov: Alyosha Popovich is on the right.

Alyosha Popovich (Russian: Алёша Попович, Ukrainian: Олешко Попович, literally Alexey, son of the priest), is a folk hero of Kievan Rus', appearing in Russian folklore.[1] He is a bogatyr (a medieval knight-errant) and the youngest of the three main bogatyrs, the other two being Dobrynya Nikitich and Ilya Muromets. All three are represented together in Viktor Vasnetsov's famous painting Bogatyrs.

In byliny (ballads), he is described as a clever-minded priest's son who wins by tricking and outsmarting his foes. He defeated the dragon Tugarin Zmeyevich by trickery.

  1. ^ James Bailey; Tatyana Ivanova (2015). An Anthology of Russian Folk Epics. Routledge. p. 121. ISBN 978-0-873-32641-4.