13. Swedish Vikings in the East

We begin this episode by getting to know the Rus in more detail, a name for the Swedish Vikings as they headed east towards modern day Russia, Ukraine, Greece and Turkey. We see how the Byzantine and Arabic sources describe these new arrivals and determine exactly how "Swedish" they remained after their many trips to the region. We also talk about how some of these Rus ended up back in western Europe, as part of a Byzantine diplomatic mission to Louis the Pious from the last episode, and how this explains in more detail how these Vikings could be Rus and Swedish at the same time.