DK Eyewitness Books - Viking

19

GOING OVERLAND

The Russian rivers were full of

rocks and rapids. The Vikings

dragged or carried their light

boats around these dangers.

Not everyone made it. Swedish

memorial stones record the

deaths of many travelers in

Russia and lands beyond.

$:(//ʜ$50('RUS

In the east, Vikings were called Rus by the local people.

This is probably where the word Russia comes from. Arab

writers describe Viking traders armed with swords and

carrying furs of black fox and beaver. The Arab Ibn

Fadhlan (pp. 47, 55) said the Rus he met in 922 were

“the filthiest of God’s creatures.” He noted with

disgust that they all washed in the same bowl of

water, rinsing their hair, blowing their noses, and

spitting in it before passing it on to someone else!

VIKING CHURCH

The cathedral of Saint Sofia at Novgorod dates from the

mid-11th century. It replaced an earlier church built in 989,

just after Prince Vladimir, the ruler of the Vikings in the

area, ordered his people to become Christians. The onion-

shaped domes are a common feature of Russian churches.

SONG OF THE VOLGA

This is Song of t he Volga by the Russian painter Wassili

Kandinsky (1866–1944). The Volga River flows across

Russia all the way to the Caspian Sea. Viking traders sailed

up it in ships heavy with Arab silver. They had to pay taxes

to the Bulgars and Khazars, who lived along its banks.

Fur hat

Fighting ax wit h a

long wooden handle

Long knife in a
leat her sheat h

Woolen tunic wit h an

embroidered border

Baggy

pants in

t he eastern

fashion

Knee-high

leat her boots

Wooden

shield

Sword