The Rus and the Norsemen

[Zhukov]

i recently heard of a theory that the vikings founded modern russia. the theory goes that viking explorers crossed through finland and the baltic sea. once in the country now known as ukraine, the vikings founded a new nation called the rus. the name rus comes from the vikings own tribe name. they set up their capitol in Kiev. from their they began inter-mingling with the native ukrainians and begun raiding the byzantines. eventually they spread eastward occupying huge territories until the nation became known as kieven russia. is this true?

[mastodon]

the early inhabitants of the russian plain were of origins as different as the areas they occupied. the open steppe was the first to be settled, before the forests in the north. about 1000bce, the hittites began moving into the caucasus with the help of iron. in the 7th century bce, the greeks settled the coast of the black sea and a little of crimea. about this time the aryan medes, an iranian people, moved in on the fertile crescent while another iranian people, the scythians, moved into the russian steppe. the ruling people among them was the turco-tartar/mongols, who swept in from the heart of asia. there was a long succession of ruling peoples in the steppe. after the tartars, the bulgars, then the khazars. it goes on and on.

the forests of the north are of a different story. the forbidding forests were less welcoming and thus, not as settled. there are 3 distinct catagories of inhabitants. the least significant of these was the finns [your norsemen]. the volga bulgars, a more prominent neighbor, held the weak finns hostage at times, demanding overwhelming tribute. the 2nd group was the lithuanians. they were mainly farmers. for the most part, the lithuanians were also subservient to more powerful neighbors. it is the 3rd catagory of people, the indo-european slavs, who form the principle subject of ruyssian history. these indo-european slavs were of no perceptable "common stock" as historians put it; they were quite the mutts of eastern europe.

kiev was nothing more than the most organized and largest of a cluster of unorganized villages. it was a social unit of slavs, not norsemen.

all in all, the norsemen did not play a significant role in settling nither the steppe nor the forest.

[mastodon]

after realizing that my previous answer was rather inadequate in answering you question, i did some research.

i seems the theory you heard is recognizing that "rus" comes from the finnish name for sweden, "ruotsi." the name "ruosti," it is argued, arose from "roosmenn," men of the rowing-way, the people of today's roslagen, the rowing-law, the coastal area of swedish uppland. there is also another theory, equal in clout to the one you cited. some authors [eg: boris rybakov] who argue that the word "rus" originally referred to a geographical area west of the dnieper. there is also a tributary of the dnieper named "ros." some indirect support for this theory is found in the fact that early arab sources mention the country before the age of the vikings.

here is what the russian primary chronicle has to say about it:

The Polianians lived apart and governed their families, for thus far they were brethren, and each one lived with his gens on his own lands, ruling over his kinfolk. There were three brothers, Kii, Shchek, and Khoriv, and their sister was named Lybed. Kii lived upon the hill where the Borich trail now is, and Shchek dwelt upon the hill now named Shchekovitza, while on the third resided Khoriv, after whom this hill is named Khorevitza. They built a town and named it Kiev after their oldest brother. Around the town lay a wood and a great pine forest in which they used to catch wild beasts. These men were wise and prudent; they were called Polianians, and there are Polianians descended from them living in Kiev to this day. Some ignorant persons have claimed that Kii was a ferryman, for near Kiev there was at that time a ferry from the other side of the river, in consequence of which people used to say, "To Kii's ferry." Now, if Kii had been a mere ferryman, he would never have gone to Constantinople. He was then the chief of his kin, and it is related what great honour he received frorn the emperor when he went to visit him. On his homeward journey, he arrived at the Danube. The place pleased him, and he built a srnall town, wishing to dwell there with his kinfolk. But those who lived nearby would not grant him this privilege. Yet even now the dwellers by the Danube call this town Kievetz. When Kii retumed to Kiev, his native city, he ended his life there; and his brothers Shchek and Khoriv, as well as their sister Lybed, died there also.

and on the varangians:

860-862 (6368-6370) The tributaries of the Varangians drove them back beyond the sea and, refusing them further tribute, set out to govern themselves. There was no law among them, but tribe rose against tribe. Discord thus ensued among them, and they began to war one against another. They said to themselves, "Let us seek a prince who may rule over us, and judge us according to the law." They accordingly went overseas to the Varangian Rus: these particular Varangians were known as Rus, just as some are called Swedes, and others Normans, Angles, and Goths, for they were thus named. The Chuds, the Slavs, and the Krivichians then said to the people of Rus, "Our whole land is great and rich, but there is no order in it. Come to rule and reign over us." They thus selected three brothers, with their kinfolk, who took with them all the Rus, and migrated. The oldest, Rurik, located himself in Novgorod; the second, Sineus, in Beloozero; and the third, Truvor, in Izborsk. On account of these Varangians, the district of Novgored became known as Russian (Rus) land. The present inhabitants of Novgorod are descended from the Varangian race, but aforetime they were Slavs. After two years, Sineus and his brother Truvor died, and Rurik assumed the sole authority. He assigned cities to his followers, Polotzk to one, Rostov to another, and to another Beloozero. In these cities there are thus Varangian colonists, but the first settlers were, in Novgorod, Slavs; in Polotzk, Krivichians; at Beloozero, Ves; in Rostov, Merians; and in Murom, Muromians. Rurik had dominion over all these districts. With Rurik there were two men who did not belong to his kin, but were boyars. They obtained permission to go to Constantinople with their families. They thus sailed down the Dnepr, and in the course of their journey they saw a small city on a hill. Upon their inquiry as to whose town it was, they were informed that three brothers, Kii, Shchek and Khoriv, had once built the city, but that since their deaths, their descendants were living there as tributaries of the Khazars. Oskold and Dir remained in this city, and after gathering together many Varangians, they established their domination over the country of the Polianians at the same tiine that Rurik was ruling at Novgorod.

863-866 (6371-6374) Oskold and Dir attacked the Greeks during the fourteenth year of the reign of the Emperor Michael. When the emperor had set forth against the Saracens and had arrived at the Black River, the eparch sent him word that the Russians were approaching Constantinople, and the emperor turned back. Upon arriving inside the strait, the Russians made a great massacre of the Christians, and attacked Constantinople in two hundred boats. The emperor succeeded with difficulty in entering the city. The people prayed all night with the Patriarch Photius at the Church of the Holy Virgin in Blachemae. They also sang hymns and carried the sacred vestment of the Virgin to dip it in the sea. The weather was still, and the sea was cahn, but a storm of wind came up, and when great waves straightway rose, confusing the boats of the godless Russians, it threw them upon the shore and broke them up, so that few escaped such destruction. The survivors then returned to heir native land.

[Wendist]

Hello Zhukov

If you are really interested in finding more info on this subject and have the time to read a rather long thread then I recomend you to look up the thread "Muscovites preceeded Russians" in the Current Events section.

Regards Thomas