Re: [tuning] Digest Number 1288 -Vikings

Joe: The Vikings were mostly traders and mercenaries in Byzantium.
Emperors hired them as "Varangian Guards," grafitti in Old Norse have
been found in Hagia Sophia. Some lists of regulations are still extant
on the number of Vikings who could visit the city at one time and the
number of baths per week the guards were entitled to. Apparently, the
Scandinavians were cleaner than most Europeans at the time.

The name Russia is thought to derive from "Rus," a Finnish name for
Viking rowers. The Vikings in the north of Russia were raiders as much
as colonizers, alas.

--John

Hi John Chalmers,

I believe the Varaginian Rus were Swedish vikings. The oldest extant viking
people would appear to be the Icelandic. Their DNA is so uniform that they
have greatly aided DNA understanding by contributing their ethnic stock
information....for a price!

Johnny Reinhard