To Miklagarðr: The Route from the Varangians to the Greeks

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Scandinavians have travelled eastward since ancient times. The trade route of Eastern Europe flourished during the Viking Age, when nordic merchants called travelled as far as Baghdad. It was ineviteble that the Varjags would encounter the third major player in the middle east: the eastern remnant of the Roman Empire, posthumously called: Byzantium. To any brave soul who dared to cross the Varjag Sea, the wild rapids and frozen plains, great adventures - and greater riches - beckoned in the greatest city on earth...
Sources and further reading:
In Austrvegr - Marika Mägi
Viking Rus - Wladyslaw Duczko
Ett ödesdigert vikingatåg - Mats G. Larsson
Väringar - Mats G. Larsson
Rusernas rike - Mats G. Larsson
La Suède et l'Orient - T.J. Arne
The Annals of St. Bertin (839) and Chacanus of the Rhos - Ildar Garipzanov
Viking Rus and Byzantium - Jonathan Shepard
Arabic sources on the Vikings - J.E. Montgomery
Svear i Österviking - Holger Arbman
Viking Age Textiles - Annika Larsson
The Vikings in the East - Fjodor Androshchuk
The early Slavs - Pavel Markovich Dolukhanov
Byzantine Armies 886-1118 - Ian Heath
Gutasagan - accessed via www.guteinfo.com/?id=103
De Administrando Imperio - Constantine Porphyrogenitus, accessed via: faculty.washington.edu/dwaugh/...
gnezdovo.com/
The Primary Chronicle - Unknown(Translated into swedish by A. Norrback)
Timestamps
0:00 Introduction
1:26 First contact
4:16 Striking a deal
6:21 A new road
8:18 The Daugava Route
11:31 The Lovat Route
13:29 The Dniepr
16:15 The Vistula Route
16:57 In Constantinople
19:45 War and peace
22:11 The Varangian Guard
23:29 Initial decline
25:20 A final Swedish huzzah
26:42 End of the road
#vikings #history #byzantium #byzantine

[@balticempire7244]

I've encountered an alternative idea of Miklagarðr meaning "City of Michael", which was the name of several Byzantine Emperors during the early-mid 9th century.

[@yllbardh]

Great/Big City. And Varyag and not -Varjag-

[@jansundvall2082]

@@yllbardh varyag is spelled with j in the Scandinavian languages

[@yllbardh]

@@jansundvall2082 Jeg ved det but here is the English version of the word, which with *Y* in the pronunciation comes closer to the Scandinavian pronunciation and not with ˈdʒeɪ.

[@user-xi1tu8hh9m]

The Birka purse is not made out of Comodo dragon skin, even if it was believed so for a long time. Today, we know that it is beavers tail, which makes musch more sense and still looks just as spectacular.. :-)

[@Nero_Karel]

Those churches painted in Byzantine style are not only to be found on Gotland, but A LOT of them also in Denmark. The bulk of them center around Sjælland and (the then arguably Danish) Skåne and were built by members of Jarl Skjalm Hvide's family and their associates when cultural exchange with Byzantium was at its zenith during the 12th century. My former medieval Scandinavian history professor actually wrote an excellent monograph about this connection, but being very expensive and written in German it's unfortunately not very accessible - for anyone who'd still like to check it out though it's 'Skandinavien und Byzanz - Bedingungen und Konsequenzen mittelalterlicher Kulturbeziehungen' by Roland Scheel

[@LukasNse]

Förmodligen en av de bästa videorna jag har sett om svenska vikingar. Tack för att du la upp den!

[@erikm8372]

Just FYI, Komodo dragons don’t actually live in India, or really “South Asia” at all, but specifically “Komodo” (island), one of thousands of south-central Indonesian islands. Besides their namesake, they also swim between & live on the islands of Flores, Rinca & Gili Matang (sp?). But some of their relatives do live in India! Mostly Asian water monitors, in south & eastern India (which are only slightly smaller than Komodo dragons), and Bengal monitors. In the western & central part of the country are desert monitors, yellow monitors… & maybe more that I’m forgetting. Lol.

[@nikkitutt5436]

enjoyed very much. love to learn about the swedish vikings and the rus. an amazing people and skilled sailors. thank you for your latest fascinating video.

[@thechancellor3715]

"Ancient Amber Routes and Discovery of the Eastern Baltic" by Dr. Arnold's Spekke traces the routes for those interested in learning more.

[@Nero_Karel]

I haven't heard of that particular inscription at 18:03 before, but since Are marked his name with a K my first thought was that it might indicate "kristos". Immortalising his conversion from one religious affiliation to another as an "oath" of sorts would definitely make sense for the kind of background he would have come from

[@swedishmetalbear]

There was a mistake in the beginning. Komodo dragons are only found in "Indonesia" on one particular island called Pulang Komodo. Not India.. Which is far out in the Indonesian peninsula. Closer to Papua New Guinea than Java...

[@Artur_M.]

"Are was here!" 😉 Seriously though, its an amazing video.

[@johnfisk811]

Just at the tail end of your main period, did the English settlements around the mouth of the Sea of Azov have any role in the Viking trade? They persisted into the 14th century.

[@vladlachow]

Takk for en lærerikt og bra presentert video

[@TheTubeTube2]

Really interesting with loads of information and clarity. I very much liked and appreciated this excellent episode, thank you!

[@josephjude1290]

Great information and visuals

[@PlasmaticMink]

God damn KZbin didn't send me a notification for this video... Well, at least I found it now.

[@denniswrande6004]

This is one of the best videos i have seen about the viking age and it is so interesting too learn about my the vikings too see how they traded and raided other villagers in the and made trade but they were so smart and strong in their way of dealing with other people and i feel the runes has an deep meaning and magical properties.

[@NeonStreetRat252]

The history of the Byzantines and the Rus is one of those stories of history that does not get enough attention. Thank you for making this video.

[@Sviareik]

Awesome vid

[@perun814]

No country was more influenced in europe more by the Greeks than Russia Historically known as Daria or Hyperborea to the Greeks. Problem that Germany somehow ended up Romanised while Russia ended up Helenised.

[@matthijsvancampen7901]

“The treaty of 9/11” took me by surprise a little bit ahahaha

[@davidbryden7904]

Have you heard of "the other 9/11," the Chilean coup d'etat of 1973?

[@stephenchappell7512]

Not as much of a coincidence as you might think 🤔

[@HabsburgFanClub]

Could you possibly do a video on the different types/regions of vikings? Like Denmark? Thanks, I appreciate your content!

[@okancanarslan3730]

Nice documentary

[@dasarath5779]

you forgot to mention the livonians! they were an extremely important people in the duna route!

[@williambrudvik4747]

Does anyone know the name of the painting/painter of the bog ceremony at 15:47?

[@ZS-rw4qq]

13:00 As a Slavic speaker (although a southern one) I would roughly translate Gnezdo(vo) to Nest

[@vladlachow]

You are right. But Gnözdovo is just the name of a modern village that gave the name to the site. Most archaeologists agree that this site is the old Smolensk, before it was moved several kilometers eastwards after a devastative fire. That gave a great level of preservation to the old one.

[@jakelynch5113]

I wonder how easily it would have been to affix skis of either wood or iron the the hulls of the smaller ships to then be used as sleds over the frozen rivers ?

[@velisvideos6208]

A good point. One would have to support the ship on both sides to prevent it from falling over. Very simple trusses with rudimentary skis would have worked. For the Overland portage one would use logs laid on the ground to reduce friction. We still use them ( in Finland) when a boat needs pulling out of water. You would be surprised how well it works, wet timber has very low friction. With the proper profit motive, surely the Rus solved these minor technical issues.

[@user-po8ke5vh2e]

holm - means hill or mound or small mount (in russian)- which were used to build a fort on it.

[@rebralhunter6069]

Anyone know what some of the background music is called/from? It sound so damn familiar but I just can't out my finger on it.

[@jamesivey5573]

Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind! After thinking for ages I finally picked it out. Then I came to the comments to see if anyone else could confirm. I’m 99% sure (at least the first half of) it is from Morrowind, specifically walking in the southwest corner of the map (sea town you start in, Ebonheart, Balmora, up to Ald Ruhn)

[@martinwinther6013]

That viking grafitti in the church, his name and a K.. He was caught red-handed and didnt finish the full sentence, thats all there is to it. I know, I was there when it happend

[@Citypunk]

Daugmale and rest of the mouth of Daugava was controlled actually by Livonians and to enter the Riga bay you had to pass Osilia and deal with Osilians.

[@olavirumvolt]

And sometimes counter problems there: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salme_ships

[@jansundvall2082]

Why do you not include the northern part of Swedes realm in your maps? The old great Hälsingland ( Hälsingland, Medelpad and Ångermanland) was since the beginning of the history populated from south and integrated in the Swede’s networks.

[@Gudha_Ismintis]

19:57 - Igor to prove himself 😁

[@15425rfggdfc]

Мы впитали в себя всех, кто приходил к нам...)

[@nuperaa6617]

2:10 could you give me the source for that Saint? That "amicii tăi" is totally Romanian.

[@nuperaa6617]

Nevermind, i found the text and it's "amicitiae" you made it sound so Romanian but it's simply Latin 😂

[@jakkeledin4645]

Daugava river = Väinä joki. Why Finns use have own names for road to Bysant?

[@RosierJulio]

Como fue la relacion de los eslavos y rus con los pechenegos??

[@ZS-rw4qq]

13:20 Was it in the Cyrillic script?

[@ZS-rw4qq]

I'm completely speculating, but goreti/goriti can mean to burn - so it could be an urn?

[@jakkeledin4645]

Vikings learn to road from Finns. FINNS were many times their navigators. Rome Tacitus tell how Finn come to ship and give sacrifacing to big stones of temple ( seita). Rurik and Oleg got Finns dna N1c.

[@ZS-rw4qq]

2:00 Considering that Greek ch is usually a H sound, it looks like these boys were under a kha(ga)n

[@nuperaa6617]

Why did they pick "amicii tăi"? That's Romanian

[@ZS-rw4qq]

​@@nuperaa6617I need to rewatch the video, was the source western or eastern?

[@ZS-rw4qq]

​@@nuperaa6617If it was an Eastern source, my guess would've been that Balkan latin had by that point evolved halfway between the classical Latin and modern Romanian.... Learning that the source was Frankish complicates my theory

[@nuperaa6617]

@@ZS-rw4qq I found the source, the way he spoke the word made it sound Romanian. In the source the word is "amicitiae" and it's Latin, a bit far from Romanian "amicii tăi" nevertheless it's incredible how unknowingly he made it sound Romanian and it's incredible how there are still people that believe Romanian is Slavic and not a Latin based language.

[@manchagojohnsonmanchago6367]

one of the main reason for the decline of the scanidinavians trade was their conversion to catholisim and the lithuanians rise in power, being pagans.. they favored orthodox christians to trade with over the hostile Catholics

[@TeutonicEmperor1198]

and then the Teutons arrived

[@TRHARTAmericanArtist]

I'm so glad that I didn't live back then. I would have spent all my time inventing the machine gun.

[@ZS-rw4qq]

Americans... I'd be inventing hot showers and toilet paper

[@karlnemliher167]

8:30 you forgot Livonians, Finnic tribe who actually controlled entrance to Daugava river.

[@skurt9109]

💪🇸🇪

[@Texasmade74]

Nonsense the Rus didn't "convert" til 988 CE under Vladimir, one of the sons of Sviatoslav 1

[@Sadoyasturadoglu]

"Chacanus" is nothing but the Latin pronunciation of "Khagan".

[@ZS-rw4qq]

I thought that as well!

[@waynemcauliffe-fv5yf]

Might of taken some of more Irish ancestors there

[@Sp-zj5hw]

My mother's surname is Spadafora. We will never forgive the Normans for de-Hellenising southern Italy. Never...

[@TeutonicEmperor1198]

yeah, f these guys!! your mother surname means "sword bearer"!

[@donalddesrosiers761]

Geez I mean it was so long ago and I mean it's not like anyone alive is responsible for it...

[@SneedPatch]

Cry about it

[@miloshp7399]

😂

[@daverogers1099]

you don't have to forgive the Norman he doesn't want you to forgive him he doesn't care about your feelings he only needs you to obey your Lord learn your place and give thanks for the Norman defeated the Muslim menace in his time the Norman is the divine mechanism his Christian people prayed for to save them from the alien hostile Africans and Asians who would enslave all Normans and Italians be grateful

[@TheAlwaysPrepared]

The largest city in europe is moscow. Just for the record.

[@dmytro2792]

Thanks for an interesting video. Just a clarification, it's Kyiv not Kiev.

[@fraumahler5934]

And Russia is Muscovy, the pariahs of the civilised world.

[@williambrudvik4747]

Kænugarðr*

[@victoriathorlacius874]

Icelanders still call Swedes “Svíar”.

[@FamMitrevski]

The correct name for byzantium was and is Macedonia

[@user-po8ke5vh2e]

now days in russia we discovered that all baltic and western vikings to the gals and frises and hollanders - were slavik and connected to russian slavs. same runes same ornaments same idols. even on albion (england) we were 1 huge family of slavs

[@user-po8ke5vh2e]

@Baltic Empire if u r interested i can drop u a russian/hollander historian woman - she discovered alot about how slavs and all people u describe here were 1 family and had 1 language and stuff

[@natalieflores7722]

'promo sm'

[@sodinc]

It might be a good video, but the way you pronounce "varjag" hurts my ears 😅

[@georgekashuba1656]

No Russian monk 1250 only Kievan Rus from today Ukraine.

[@user-nc6vn3bt3v]

Не было никакой киевской руси! Была Русь

[@perun814]

The Vings were terified of the Finnic and Slavic people . Indeed the rise of Ruthanins ended sweeden as northern power. The greeks historically hated the vikings.Calling them them the inbreed race

[@SL7O7]

ruthenians ≠ moscovites

[@dirksharp9876]

The Eastern Slavs literally asked Norsemen to rule them...

[@jakkeledin4645]

Vikings scare finnic tribes. Read sagas and learn!

[@perun814]

@@dirksharp9876 no they didn't.the rus has newer been ruled by anyone.EVER.NOBODY COULD EVER CONQUER THAT REGION u INBREED. they are called ruthanians because of their extreme war like nature.In greece they are referred to as boreans or decenders of Boreans the vary word rus comez.from borus. BOREANS. NOT EVEN THE MONGOLS COOULD TAKE THEM.and in the end they beat both the Mongols and the germans it was germany that was historically rolled by prussians.not the other way around

[@perun814]

@@dirksharp9876 where do u you think this tale.of ice giants and 10 foot tall.russians come.from. the idea that the russians were vikings actualy comes from a mistake. by a Arab scolar

[@user-oc9cf3vw8i]

At 2:30 the author mentions "russian" monk - the usage of current Russia name is not correct - the correct woul be Russ - the name os Medival Kievan Russ (see the capital is Kiev not Moskow)ю uk.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9F%D0%BE%D0%B2%D1%96%D1%81%D1%82%D1%8C_%D0%B2%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%BC%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%BD%D0%B8%D1%85_%D0%BB%D1%96%D1%82

[@user-nc6vn3bt3v]

Не было никакой киевской руси! Была просто Русь. Столицы менялись, сначала был Новгород потом недолго Киев потом Москва

[@olavirumvolt]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salme_ships