According to the ''
Primary Chronicle'', the fleet of Rus' under
Oleg the Wise carried out a military strike against Byzantium in 907, landing a huge army in
Thrace
Thrace (, ; ; ; ) is a geographical and historical region in Southeast Europe roughly corresponding to the province of Thrace in the Roman Empire. Bounded by the Balkan Mountains to the north, the Aegean Sea to the south, and the Black Se ...
and beginning to plunder it, following which the Byzantines offered peace to the Rus'.
Account in the ''Primary Chronicle''
The chronicle describes the raid of 907 in considerable detail. The memory of the campaign seems to have been transmitted orally among several generations of the Rus'. This may account for the abundance of colorful details that belong to folklore rather than to history.
According to the chronicle, Igor was left in
Kiev
Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...
with his new wife Olga while Oleg assembled a host of a variety of ethnic groups: Varangians, Slavs, Chuds, Krivichians, Merians, Polyanians, Severians, Derevlians, Radimichians, Croats, Dulebians, and Tivercians. The chronicle describes these groups as pagan, and the "Greeks" (that is Byzantines) referred to these tribes as "Great Scythia".
We are told that, at first, Byzantine envoys attempted to poison Oleg before he could approach
Constantinople
Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...
. The Rus' leader, renowned for his oracular powers, refused to drink from the poisoned cup. When his navy was within sight of Constantinople, he found the city gate closed and the entry into the
Golden Horn barred with iron chains.
At this point, Oleg resorted to subterfuge: he effected a landing on the shore and had some 2,000 dugout boats (
monoxyla) equipped with wheels. After his boats were thus transformed into vehicles, he led them to the walls of Constantinople and fixed his shield to the gates of the Imperial capital.
The threat to Constantinople was ultimately relieved by peace negotiations which bore fruit in the
Russo-Byzantine Treaty of 907. Pursuant to the treaty, the Byzantines paid a tribute of twelve
grivnas for each Rus' boat.
Interpretations
That Oleg's campaign is not fiction is clear from the authentic text of
the peace treaty, which was incorporated into the chronicle. Current scholarship tends to explain the silence of Greek sources with regard to Oleg's campaign by the inaccurate chronology of the Primary Chronicle. Some assume that the raid actually took place in 904, when the Byzantines were at war with
Leo of Tripoli.
Despite recurrent military conflicts, the relations between the Rus' and Byzantium seem to have been predominantly peaceful. The
First Christianization of the Rus' was reported by
Patriarch Photius in the 860s. In one of his letters, Patriarch
Nicholas Mysticus threatened to unleash a Rus' invasion of
Bulgaria
Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...
. Historians infer from his account that the Byzantines were able to manipulate the Rus' of Oleg's time for their own political ends.
Furthermore, substantial contingents of the Rus' joined the imperial service and took part in the Byzantine naval expeditions throughout the 10th century. A squadron of 700 Rus' mercenaries participated in the
Crete
Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...
expedition of 902. A unit of 415
Varangians was involved in the Italian expedition of 936. Thirteen years later, in 949, Rus' troops sailed on nine vessels to accompany the Greeks in their expedition against the
Emirate of Crete
The Emirate of Crete ( or , ; ) was an Arab Islamic state that existed on the Mediterranean island of Crete from the late 820s to Siege of Chandax, the reconquest of the island by the Byzantine Empire in 961. Although the emirate recognized the ...
.
Historian Vladimir Shikanov claims that Byzantium faced a raid by "raiders" who plundered the Thracian coast and wanted to find glory in Constantinople, but they failed to do so because the remaining fire-fighting ships under the command of Patrikios John Rodin defeated the Rus at Cape Tricephalus, and the
treaty of 911 was a "gift" to the barbarians. making the course of the case more predictable. According to him, in the chronicle, the defeat was disguised as a great victory
Vladimir Pashuto believes that regardless of the interpretation and chronology of the campaign, the peace treaty was beneficial to Rus' in all respects.
See Also
*
Rus'–Byzantine Treaty (911)
Notes
References
*
Andrey Nikolayevich Sakharov. Дипломатия древней Руси: IX – первая половина X в. Moscow, 1980.
Analysis of Nestor's account of the expeditionon www.textology.ru.
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Rus'-Byzantine War (907)
900s conflicts
907
Battles involving the Vikings
900s in the Byzantine Empire
907
10th century in Kievan Rus'
Amphibious operations
Primary Chronicle episodes