The name of the mighty epic hero Ilya Muromets - defender of the Russian land - is familiar to each of us from childhood. But what is behind this name? Is this a real person or just some collective image? And if the latter is true, then did this fictional character have any historical prototype? Or maybe several prototypes at once? The author of the book gives his answers to these and many other questions, carefully and scrupulously traces the development and formation of the legendary image of the main hero of the Russian epic, thoroughly analyzes all the main versions expressed on this subject in historical science. And as a result, the figure of Ilya Muromets, seemingly so familiar and familiar to us, acquires completely new, unexpected features for us.