XIV
THE BYZANTINE INHERITANCE IN RUSSIA
THE Byzantine inheritance in Russia—to that title objection
might with some reason be taken, for the heir conies Into his
inheritance only after the death of his ancestor, and it is true
that East Rome had evangelized Russia centuries before
Constantinople fell into the hands of the Muslim. But the
phrase may perhaps be justified, since it is also true that it
was only after 1453 that Holy Russia became fully conscious
that she and she alone could claim as of right the inheritance
which the Second Rome had been powerless to defend.
To estimate the range and the intensity of Byzantine
influence upon pre-Mongolian Russia one must always bear
in mind the historical background. It is now generally
recognized that the creation of the Kievan State was the work
not of the Slavs but of the predatory Northmen who raided
far and wide round the coasts of Europe in the early Middle
Ages. The Scandinavian advance was at the first directed
towards the south by way of the Volga and It is the Russians
of this eastern route who are known to the Arabic geogra-
phers. Their statements have been supported by the
evidence of archaeology: post-Sassanid ornaments and Arab
coins dating from the ninth century have been found in
Sweden and Arab coins (A.D. 745-900) in north Russia.
But it is with the later western Scandinavian advance that
the future lay. Here the Swedes first established themselves
in the neighbourhood of Novgorod under the half-legendary
figure of Rurik. After a repulse he withdrew to his own
country only to be recalled by the disunited tribesmen.
Such is the account given in the saga which is preserved in
the Russian Primary Chronicle. From Novgorod the North-
men made their way southward down the Dnieper under the
leadership of Askold and Deir until they reached Kiev
which they captured from the Slavs. The invaders found in
their path Slav cities: they were not city-founders but
organizers, warrior-merchantS entering into possession
where others had already builded. It was from Kiev that
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