Tracing the Paths of the Vikings Through Their Graffiti

One of the things that the Vikings are renowned for is their seafaring abilities. As a result of their expertise in this field, the Vikings were able to travel around Europe (and beyond) via various waterways such as seas and rivers. Archaeological traces of the Vikings have been found in many of the places where they travelled to and settled on. Such traces include runestones, burials (including grave goods), and even ships. One of the lesser known traces left by the Vikings is perhaps their graffiti.

Varangians

One of the places where the Vikings ended up was Constantinople (now known as Istanbul), in modern day Turkey. During the Viking Age (from 8th until the 11th centuries AD), this was the capital of the Byzantine Empire, and was one of the greatest cities in Europe at that time. The Vikings arrived in the Byzantine capital from the lands of the Kievan Rus’ via the Dnieper River and the Black Sea.

During the second half of the 10th century AD, a prince of the Kievan Rus’, Vladimir (who later became known as Vladimir the Great), was forced to flee to Scandinavia as a result of a civil war with his brothers. Once there, Vladimir assembled an army of Norse warriors (known as Varangians), returned home, and defeated his enemies.

Having been victorious, Vladimir faced a new problem – he could not afford to pay his mercenaries. The Varangians did not seem eager to return to Scandinavia either, and demanded to be shown the way to Miklagard (the name used by the Norse for Constantinople).

Around the same time, the Byzantine Emperor, Basill II, was requesting military aid for the purposes of putting down some revolts, and defending his throne. Thus, Vladimir sent 6000 of his Varangians to Constantinople, which was the beginnings of the Varangian Guard, an elite unit of the Byzantine army whose members served as the bodyguards of the Byzantine emperors.