Constantine VII describes the Rus’ route to Constantinople
In De Administrando Imperio the emperor Constantine VII described how the Rus’ gathered their dugout boats at Kyiv each spring, passed the Dnieper rapids under the threat of the Pechenegs and sailed along the coast to Constantinople — the classic account of the route “from the Varangians to the Greeks”.
- Date
- between 948 and 952exact date unknown: an interval is given
- Place
- Kyivtoday: Kyiv, Ukraine · Eastern Europe
- Route
- Novgorod → Smolensk → Lyubech → Kyiv → Dnieper Rapids → Island of St Aitherios (Berezan) → Mouth of the Danube → Constantinople
- Participants
- Kievan Rus’, Sviatoslav I, Pechenegs, Byzantine Empire, East Slavs
- Threads
- Eastern Europe and Rus’ before the Baptism (1st–10th c.)
- Also known as
- Route from the Varangians to the Greeks; Dnieper route; Путь из варяг в греки; Полюдье
Chapter 9 names the towns from which the monoxyla came — Nemogardas (Novgorod), where Sviatoslav, son of Igor, had his seat, Miliniska (Smolensk), Teliutza (Lyubech), Chernigoga (Chernihiv) and Vousegrade (Vyshhorod) — and gives the names of the rapids in “Russian” (Old Norse) and “Slavonic”, such as Essoupi, “do not sleep”, and the fourth, Aeifor, where the boats had to be carried overland. After a rest on the island of St Aitherios the convoy followed the coast past the mouths of the Dniester and the Danube to Mesembria and Constantinople.
The same chapter describes the poliudie: in November the rulers left Kyiv with all the Rus’ for the lands of the Drevlians, Dregovichs, Krivichs, Severians and other tributary Slavs, spent the winter there and returned in April when the ice broke. The treatise was compiled in about 948–952 for the emperor’s son Romanos II.
Connections
Related events
- Gnezdovo inscriptionbetween 925 and 960 · Eastern EuropeGnezdovo lay on the Dnieper route described by Constantine VII
- Death of Sviatoslav at the Dnieper rapids972 · Eastern Europethe rapids where the Pechenegs lay in wait
Same participants
- Igor’s campaigns against Byzantium11 June 941 – 944 · Balkans and Anatoliavia Pechenegs
- Rus’–Byzantine Treaty of 944between 944 and 945 · Balkans and Anatoliavia Byzantine Empire
- Olga’s revenge on the Drevlians945–946 · Eastern Europevia Kievan Rus’
- Olga’s visit to Constantinople and her baptism9 September – 18 October 957 · Balkans and Anatoliavia Kievan Rus’
- Sviatoslav’s campaign against the Khazars964 – between 968 and 969 · Eastern Europevia Sviatoslav I
- Pecheneg siege of Kyiv968 · Eastern Europevia Pechenegs
- Baptism of Rus’988 · Eastern Europevia East Slavs
Same place
- Kyiv culturec. 200 – between 400 and 430 · Eastern Europe
- Kyi, Shchek and Khoryv: the legendary founding of Kyivbetween 500 and 700 · Eastern Europe
- First Christianization of the Rus’between 860 and 867 · Eastern Europe
- Askold and Dir rule in Kyiv862–882 · Eastern Europe
- Oleg takes Kyiv882 · Eastern Europe
- The Pechenegs first come to the Rus’ land915 · Eastern Europe
- Feud of the Sviatoslavichi977 – between 978 and 980 · Eastern Europe
- Vladimir’s pagan pantheonbetween 978 and 980 · Eastern Europe
- Vladimir’s choice of faith986–987 · Eastern Europe
- Building of the Church of the Tithes989–996 · Eastern Europe
- The first Rus’ coinsbetween 988 and 1000 – 1015 · Eastern Europe
- Siege of Kyiv5 September – between 19 November and 6 December 1240 · Eastern Europe
Meanwhile in the world
Other regions, within 25 years of this event
Western and Central Europe
- Battle of Lechfeld10–12 August 955
- Imperial coronation of Otto I2 February 962
- Baptism of Poland14 April 966
- First Althing at Þingvellir930
- Abd al-Rahman III proclaims the Caliphate of Córdoba16 January 929
Balkans and Anatolia
- Rus’–Byzantine Treaty of 944between 944 and 945
- Olga’s visit to Constantinople and her baptism9 September – 18 October 957
- Igor’s campaigns against Byzantium11 June 941 – 944
- Sviatoslav’s invasion of Bulgariabetween 967 and 968 – July 971
- Siege of Dorostolon23 April 971 – July 971
+ 1 event
The same period
Sources
- Wikipedia (English): De Administrando Imperio
- Wikipedia (English): Route from the Varangians to the Greeks
- Wikipedia (Russian): Об управлении империей
- Wikipedia (Russian): Путь из варяг в греки
- Constantine Porphyrogenitus. De Administrando Imperio / Ed. Gy. Moravcsik, transl. R. J. H. Jenkins. — Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks, 1967. — Ch. 9.
- Константин Багрянородный. Об управлении империей / Под ред. Г. Г. Литаврина, А. П. Новосельцева. — М.: Наука, 1989.