Continuing to call upon the land trope exhibited in The Lay of Igor’s Campaign, the Tale of the Destruction of Riazan employs literary techniques to link land, religion, and for the Slavs, identity.

The tale begins by exclaiming, “… the godless Emperor Batu invaded the Russian land…” (pp. 82), which pits the religious beliefs of each side against one another. This is similar to the image illustrated in Igor’s Campaign, with the land beyond the rivers—Pagan land inhabited by the Kumans—being eerily described as dark, unholy and foreign. This imagery evolves as the Tartar’s are victorious in battle. Suddenly, instead of Rus land being holier-than-thou, it is described as being barren, frozen and covered in snow. Implicitly, the Mongols by way of their faith brought this frost.

Relatedly, as the Orthodox warriors fall in battle, they all drink “…the same bitter cup to the dregs.” Dying men finishing their distasteful drinks so as not to be wasteful of their land’s resources shows that land is part of the Russian identity. The narrator diligently includes this before the death of each Slav, especially the prominent ones, to highlight their respect for the land they fatally defend.

The text is also awfully incriminating during the sacking of Riazan, “Neither father nor mother could mourn their dead children, nor the children their fathers or mothers. Nor could a brother mourn the death of his brother, nor relatives their relatives. All were dead.” (pp. 84). The Tartars ravished the city, their behavior and reverence of the land is directly antithetical to the Rus—they were external.

Through the use of a Christian/Pagan land dichotomy, the text pushes the narrative that only land inhabited by good, humble, Orthodox people can be Russian land. Otherwise, it is barren, pagan and foreign.