Eastern Europe and Rus’ before the Baptism (1st–10th c.)
From the Sarmatians, Goths and Huns to the Antes, the Khazars and the Varangians, and from the first Rus’ princes to Vladimir’s baptism of Kyiv: ten centuries in the lands of the future Rus’ and their neighbours.
46 events · 4 regions · Eastern Europe, Balkans and Anatolia, Western and Central Europe, Middle East and Egypt
For the first centuries AD the history of the forests and steppes between the Carpathians and the Volga is known mostly from archaeology and from Greek and Latin authors writing about their northern neighbours. The archaeological cultures — Zarubintsy, Kyiv, Chernyakhov, Prague-Korchak and Penkovka — are shown as long processes with approximate dates; the Sarmatians, Goths, Huns, Antes and Avars appear through Tacitus, Ammianus Marcellinus, Jordanes, Procopius and Menander.
From the 8th century the picture sharpens: Staraya Ladoga is dated by tree rings to 753, the Khazar Khaganate dominates the steppe, and the Rus’ enter written history in 839 and 860. For the 9th and early 10th centuries the Primary Chronicle gives exact-looking years (862, 882, 907…), but its chronology for this period was reconstructed in the late 11th and early 12th centuries; such dates are marked as chronicle dates and their problems are explained. From the 940s Byzantine, Arab and Western sources allow firmer dating, down to the Baptism of 988 and the first years of Vladimir’s Christian reign.
Events
- Zarubintsy culturec. 200 BC – c. 200 · Eastern Europe
- Roman–Bosporan War45–49 · Eastern Europe
- The Goths settle in Oiumc. 180 – c. 230 · Eastern Europe
- Kyiv culturec. 200 – between 400 and 430 · Eastern Europe
- Chernyakhov culturebetween 200 and 250 – between 400 and 430 · Eastern Europe
- The Huns conquer the Alans and the Greuthungic. 370 – 376 · Eastern Europe
- Vinitharius’ war with the Antes of Bozbetween 375 and 380 · Eastern Europe
- Jordanes and Procopius describe the Sclaveni and the Antesbetween 550 and 554 · Balkans and Anatolia
- The Avars ravage the lands of the Antesbetween 560 and 562 · Eastern Europe
- Early Slavic cultures: Prague-Korchak, Penkovka and Kolochinc. 450 – c. 700 · Eastern Europe
- Kyi, Shchek and Khoryv: the legendary founding of Kyivbetween 500 and 700 · Eastern Europe
- Avar campaign against the Antes602 · Eastern Europe
- Rise of the Khazar Khaganatebetween 630 and 650 – c. 670 · Eastern Europe
- Founding of Ladoga753 · Eastern Europe
- The Khazar rulers adopt Judaismbetween 740 and 861 · Eastern Europe
- Construction of Sarkelbetween 833 and 841 · Eastern Europe
- The “Rhos” at the court of Louis the Pious18 May 839 · Western and Central Europe
- Rus’ attack on Constantinople18 June – 4 August 860 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Calling of the Varangians862 · 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
- Oleg’s campaign against Constantinople907 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Rus’–Byzantine Treaty of 9112 September 911 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Great Rus’ raid on the Caspianbetween 913 and 914 · Middle East and Egypt
- The Pechenegs first come to the Rus’ land915 · Eastern Europe
- Ibn Fadlan’s embassy to the Volga Bulgars21 June 921 – 12 May 922 · Eastern Europe
- Igor’s campaigns against Byzantium11 June 941 – 944 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Gnezdovo inscriptionbetween 925 and 960 · Eastern Europe
- Rus’–Byzantine Treaty of 944between 944 and 945 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Drevlian uprising and death of Igor945 · Eastern Europe
- Olga’s revenge on the Drevlians945–946 · Eastern Europe
- Constantine VII describes the Rus’ route to Constantinoplebetween 948 and 952 · Eastern Europe
- Olga’s visit to Constantinople and her baptism9 September – 18 October 957 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Sviatoslav’s campaign against the Khazars964 – between 968 and 969 · Eastern Europe
- Pecheneg siege of Kyiv968 · Eastern Europe
- Sviatoslav’s invasion of Bulgariabetween 967 and 968 – July 971 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Siege of Dorostolon23 April 971 – July 971 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Death of Sviatoslav at the Dnieper rapids972 · 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
- Baptism of Rus’988 · Eastern Europe
- Vladimir’s siege of Chersonesus (Korsun)between 988 and 989 · Eastern Europe
- Building of the Church of the Tithes989–996 · Eastern Europe
- The first Rus’ coinsbetween 988 and 1000 – 1015 · Eastern Europe
Key participants
Sources
- Wikipedia (English): East Slavs
- Wikipedia (English): Kievan Rus'
- Wikipedia (English): Primary Chronicle
- Wikipedia (Russian): Восточные славяне
- Wikipedia (Russian): Киевская Русь
- Wikipedia (Russian): Повесть временных лет
- Franklin S., Shepard J. The Emergence of Rus, 750–1200. — London; New York: Longman, 1996.
- Curta F. The Making of the Slavs: History and Archaeology of the Lower Danube Region, c. 500–700. — Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001.
- Седов В. В. Славяне в раннем средневековье. — М.: Фонд археологии, 1995.
- Повесть временных лет / Подгот. текста, пер., ст. и коммент. Д. С. Лихачёва; под ред. В. П. Адриановой-Перетц. — 2-е изд. — СПб.: Наука, 1996.
- Golden P. B. An Introduction to the History of the Turkic Peoples. — Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1992.
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