We know about the ancient path "from the Varangians to the Greeks" from school. However, the fact that this route was actually used a thousand years ago raises big questions.
Against the stream
The path "from the Varangians to the Greeks", connecting the north and south of Europe, is described in detail in the Tale of Bygone Years. Around this trade artery, if you believe the story of the vocation to reign Rurik, the Russian state was formed. Academician Dmitry Likhachev generally called this path "the most important in Europe up to the 12th century."
True, the chronicler is not really talking about the path "from the Varangians to the Greeks", but on the contrary - "from the Greeks to the Varangians", that is, from south to north. Along the Dnieper to Lovat, further to Lake Ilmen, from there to Volkhov, to Ladoga (in those days Lake Nevo), which "with its mouth joins the Varangian Sea." And then "on that sea to go to Rome." Why go to Rome around Europe, the Russian chronicler did not think, understanding Rome as a kind of abstraction.
For a long time, historians did not see much difference in which direction to sail. But here's the bad luck: Volkhov in those days did not flow as it is now, but in the other direction - from north to south. Even in our time, this river changes the direction of flow from a strong flood or stormy wind. According to scientists, the current state of affairs was formed as a result of geological shifts not earlier than the XIV century. That is, a thousand years ago, all the way from the Black Sea to the Baltic would have to go against the current.
It is very inconvenient to paddle, and the Byzantines did not climb the Dnieper beyond Kiev. Indeed, why choose such an impractical route?
It turns out that we did not go from south to north, but from north to south? At first glance, it is logical. Rurik first sat down in Ladoga and Novgorod, then Prophetic Oleg, moving south, conquered Smolensk and Kiev, and in the end went to the Black Sea and nailed a shield to the gates of Constantinople. Having established control over the entire route, the Vikings began to profit from trade. This opinion was shared by the Russian historian Vasily Klyuchevsky. He believed that it was around the trade route from the Baltic to Byzantium that the Russian state arose, headed by Kiev.
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Trade without traces
Unfortunately, the Varangian merchants of the VIII-XI centuries are unknown to science. They simply had nothing to trade. Varangians (Normans) plundered, killed, sometimes captured entire kingdoms. If they sold anything, it was only their services as mercenaries. But even if we assume that in Russia they became peaceful merchants, the question arises: where is the evidence of their stay?
On the banks of the Volkhov and the Dnieper, traces of Varangian trading posts and barrows should have been preserved. Nothing like this! In the cultural layers of Kiev in the VIII-X centuries of Scandinavian and Greek objects - the cat cried.
Until the end of the 10th century, there was no regular route even from Kiev to Novgorod, and not that "from the Varangians to the Greeks."
At the same time, along the Volga, which connected the Baltic with the Arab world, there are plenty of treasures with Arab coins and Varangian graves. And the Volga route is mentioned not in one chronicle, but in hundreds of sources.
In Scandinavia itself, they hardly find anything Byzantine either.
All this does not mean that there was no connection between the north and south of Europe. Since the late Roman Empire, there was a well-known waterway from the Baltic to the Black Sea. He walked along the Vistula or Elbe and Danube. Half of the road is always a passing stream, there are no rapids, the land is civilized and relatively safe. Moreover, the road is shorter.
In other words, there was no way “from the Varangians to the Greeks”. It was simply not needed by anyone, since the Scandinavians went south by other roads, and the Byzantines did not wander further than Kiev. For a long time, ships went along the Dnieper only to the neighboring city.
When Kievan Rus turned into a united state, it became possible to travel safely through it. But this route - from the Baltic to the Black Sea through Kievan Rus - still had no serious significance.
Boris SHAROV