Fun fact to know and share: The Russian state was the creation of a Swedish Viking upper class ruling over a feudal population of Slavs. Check it out on the Wiki:
Kievan Rus.
Here's some OG Rus graffiti in the Hagia Sophia - then, an awesome church in the Roman Empire. You might know them as "The Byzantium Empire". It was just old Rome, really. But by the 9th century CE, they were using Kievan Rus Viking bodyguards. Another fun fact! Rome finally fell in the year 1453, if you reckon the fall of Constantinople as the end of the Roman Empire. Columbus "discovered" America in 1492 for reference. The same year Spain finally pushed Islam from Iberia. Fascinating stuff.
Oh, yeah, other Vikings (Danish, Norwegian) also helped create the modern states of France and England.
Makes you think, about Vikings, you know?
2 comments:
Here's a fun one. The Russian foundation myth claims Slavs were fighting so much among themselves that they decided they needed a king to rule over them all. So they invited Vikings to come rule them!
It was so smooth! And bloodless, I am certain.
I read about that recently. Seems like it might be based in some truth about Swedes being invited to take over an area in the Baltics, which later became Kievan Rus.
I wonder if there is a viking/slav divide within Russia to this day?
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