Map showing the major Varangian trade routes: the Volga trade route ( in red ) and the Trade Route from the Varangians to the Greeks ( in purple ).

Apart from Ladoga and Novgorod, Gnezdovo and Gotland were major centres for Varangian trade.

Map showing the major Varangian trade routes: the Volga trade route ( in red ) and the Trade Route from the Varangians to the Greeks ( in purple ).

After the Varangian and Khazar power in Eastern Europe waned, Slavic merchants continued to use the portages along the Volga trade route and the Dnieper trade route.

In the Viking – late Iron Age, from the 750s onwards, Ladoga was a bridgehead on the Varangian trade route to Eastern Europe.

Its name is derived from the Rus ', a people of Finno-Ugric and Varangian composition who settled in the vicinity to control trade routes leading from Novgorod to Polotsk and Kiev.

Map showing the major Varangian trade routes: the Volga trade route ( in red ) and the trade route from the Varangians to the Greeks ( in purple ).

Rurik or Riurik (, Old East Norse: Rørik, meaning " famous ruler "; ca 830 – ca 879 ) was a Varangian chieftain who gained control of Ladoga in 862, built the Holmgard settlement near Novgorod, and founded the Rurik Dynasty which ruled Russia until the 17th century.

The portages of present-day Russia were vital for the Varangian commerce with the Orient and Byzantium.

Guests from Overseas, 1901 ( Varangian s in Russia )

* Turisas's second studio album The Varangian Way is a concept album that tells the story of a group of Scandinavians travelling the river routes of medieval Russia, through Ladoga, Novgorod and Kiev, down to the Byzantine Empire.

By the time of the Emperor Alexios Komnenos in the late 11th century, the Byzantine Varangian Guard was largely recruited from Anglo-Saxons and " others who had suffered at the hands of the Vikings and their cousins the Normans ".

The great losses that the Varangian Guard suffered is probably what is reflected by the largest group of runestones that talk of foreign voyages in Sweden, i. e. the Greece Runestones of which many were raised by former members of the Varangian Guard, or in their memory.

In 860, an attack was made on the city by a new principality set up a few years earlier at Kiev by Askold and Dir, two Varangian chiefs: Two hundred small vessels passed through the Bosporus and plundered the monasteries and other properties on the suburban Prince's Islands.

Viking graffiti survive in Rome and at Newgrange Mound in Ireland, and a Varangian scratched his name ( Halvdan ) in runes on a banister in the Hagia Sophia at Constantinople.

Perhaps at that time the Varangian warriors were recruited ; their presence is indicated by archaeological excavations in the vicinity of Poznań.

* Harald III of Norway, at this time leader of the Varangian Guard in the Byzantine Empire, returns to Norway, possibly because of his involvement in Maniaces ' revolt.

A son of the Varangian ( Viking ) Grand Prince Vladimir the Great, he was vice-regent of Novgorod at the time of his father ’ s death in 1015.

Some modern historians have suggested that at some point during these years Edgar served in the Varangian Guard of the Byzantine Empire, a unit which was at this time composed primarily of English emigrants, but this is unsupported by evidence.

However, his elevation had antagonised not only the Doukas family, in particular the Caesar, John Doukas who led the opposition of the palace officials to Romanos ' authority, but also the Varangian Guard, who openly expressed their discontent at the marriage of Eudokia.

Here, he was assisted by the Varangian Guard, which was at that time led by Harald Hardrada, who later became king of Norway.

According to the Hypatian Codex, the legendary Varangian leader Rurik arrived at Ladoga in 862 and made it his capital.

Although his burial mound is still shown to occasional tourists, archaeological excavations of long barrows abounding in the vicinity did not reveal the presence of the Varangian settlement at the site, indicating that Izborsk was an important centre of the early Krivichs.

The Varangian Guard not only provided security for the Byzantine Emperors, but participated in many wars involving Byzantium and often played a crucial role, since they were usually used at the critical moments of a battle.

In 989 these Varangian, led by Basil II himself, landed at Chrysopolis to defeat the rebel general Bardas Phokas.

The Varangian guard was still operating at least as late as the mid-fourteenth century, and people identified as Varangians were to be found in Constantinople around 1400.

One surviving ivory plaque from the 10th century Constantinople depicts a Varangian holding an axe that is at least as tall as its wielder.

srklant on the Tillinge Runestone raised in memory of a Varangian who did not return from Serkland, at the church of Tillinge in Uppland, Sweden. In Old Norse sources, such as sagas and runestones, Særkland or Serkland was the name of the Abbasid Caliphate and probably some neighbouring Muslim regions.

Notably one of the Ingvar Runestones, the Gripsholm Runestone, raised circa 1040 at Gripsholm, commemorates a Varangian loss during an ill-fated raid in Serkland.

Among Zuckerman's beliefs and those of others who have analyzed these sources are that the Khazars did not lose Kiev until the early 10th century ( rather than 882, the traditional date ), that Igor was not Rurik's son but rather a more distant descendant, and that Oleg did not immediately follow Rurik, but rather that there is a lost generation between the legendary Varangian lord and his documented successors.

Among the beliefs of Zuckerman and others who have analyzed these sources are that the Khazars did not lose Kiev until the early 10th century ( rather than 882, the traditional date ), that Igor was not Rurik's son but rather a more distant descendant, and that Oleg did not immediately follow Rurik, but rather that there is a lost generation between the legendary Varangian lord and his documented successors.

The Greece Runestones # Ög 81 | Högby Runestone is one of the c. 30 Greece Runestones in Sweden that commemorate members of the Varangian Guard.

In 980, the emperor Basil II received an unusual gift from Prince Vladimir of Kiev: 6, 000 Varangian warriors, which Basil formed into a new bodyguard known as the Varangian Guard.

Later in the 11th Century the Varangian Guard became dominated by Anglo-Saxons who preferred this way of life to subjugation by the new Norman kings of England.

He came out with the Patriarch to the Golden Milestone before the Great Palace and addressed the Varangian Guard.

Thus, there was a short-lived eleventh century attempt to re-establish an independent Galatia by native Galatians whose aristocracy and people appealed to Anglo-Saxon and Russo-Norman mercenaries of the Byzantine Varangian Guard and Frankish Crusaders alike in establishing a new kingdom.

According to the earliest Russian chronicle, a Varangian named Rurik was elected ruler ( knyaz ) of Novgorod in about 860, before his successors moved south and extended their authority to Kiev, which had been previously dominated by the Khazars.

Many served as mercenaries, and the famed Varangian Guard, serving the Emperor of Constantinople was drawn principally of Scandinavian warriors.

Founded and ruled by a Varangian warrior elite and their descendants, the medieval state of Rus arose in the 9th century.

According to the Primary Chronicle, a Varangian from Rus ' people, named Rurik, was elected ruler of Novgorod in 862.

According to the Primary Chronicle Rurik was one of the Rus, a Varangian tribe likened by the chronicler to Danes, Swedes, English and Gotlanders.

The term Varangian remained in usage in the Byzantine Empire until the 13th century, largely disconnected from its Scandinavian roots by then.

In 862, the Finnic and Slavic tribes rebelled against the Varangian Rus, driving them overseas back to Scandinavia, but soon started to conflict with each other.

The disorder prompted the tribes to invite back the Varangian Rus " to come and rule them " and bring peace to the region.

In contrast to the intense Scandinavian influence in Normandy and the British Isles, Varangian culture did not survive to a great extent in the East.

Instead, the Varangian ruling classes of the two powerful city-states of Novgorod and Kiev were thoroughly Slavicised by the end of the 10th century.

This was known as the Varangian Guard.

The word " Varangian " may have originated in Old Norse, but in Slavic and Greek it could refer either to Scandinavians or Franks.