Search Results: Varangian Guard

The mercenary Varangian Guard was an elite Byzantine army corps and the personal bodyguard of emperors beginning with Basil II in c. 988 CE. The Viking unit was famous for the stature of its members and their blood-thirsty conduct in battle...

The Praetorian Guard (cohortes praetoriae) was, in the Roman Republic, a commander's personal bodyguard and then, in the imperial period, an elite force assigned to protect the emperor and Rome. Over the years, the guard would become a dangerous...

A 12th century CE illustration showing the Varangian Guard defending a city. The Varangians were an elite corps of the Byzantine army and palace bodyguard from the 11th to 13th centuries CE. They were composed of Vikings and then Anglo-Saxons...

Kievan Rus (862-1242) was a medieval political federation located in modern-day Belarus, Ukraine, and part of Russia (the latter named for the Rus, a Scandinavian people). The name Kievan Rus is a modern-day (19th century) designation but...

Map showing Varangian trade routes. Red: Volga trade route Purple: trade route from the Varangians to the Greeks Orange: Other trade routes of the 8th-11th centuries

Viking warfare, along with its key component of raiding, is inextricably connected with the expansion of Scandinavian influence along the North Atlantic and into the Mediterranean in the Viking Age (c. 790-1100 CE), where the Vikings' heavy...

Scandinavians from the island of Gotland began to spread throughout the Baltic region along the Russian rivers in the 700s. While the Vikings of Norway and Denmark from the 8th to 11th centuries are widely recognized as fearsome raiders and...

The Vikings were originally diverse Scandinavian seafarers from Norway, Sweden, and Denmark (though other nationalities were later involved) whose raids and subsequent settlements significantly impacted the cultures of Europe and were felt...

Greek Fire was an incendiary weapon first used in Byzantine warfare in 678 CE. The napalm of ancient warfare, the highly flammable liquid was made of secret ingredients and used both in catapulted incendiary bombs and sprayed under pressure...

A marble sculpture depicting a Roman Praetorian Guard. 2nd century CE, from a monumental arch honouring Trajan. (Pergamon Museum, Berlin)