Russia’s Road to the Middle East (Resources & Notes)
[Note: The Black Sea was also called the Pontos Euxeniose, Greek Pontos Euxenios, which literally means the “hospitable sea,” which is considered a euphemism for Pontos Axeinos, which is understood to mean “inhospitable sea,” which is a description attributed to the Greek poet Pindar.] [Note: Justinian I, also known as Flavius Petrus Sabbatius Iustinianus Augustus, was traditionally called Justinian the Great, and also Saint Justinian the Great, in the Eastern Orthodox Church. He was a Byzantine emperor who sought to revive the Classical Roman Empire, and although some have interpreted the work of Justinian I as being a “revival” of the Roman Empire, it is quite clear from history that he never realized the restoration of the Classical Roman Empire.].[Note: Justinian I tried to recover the lost empire of the west from the German invaders who ruled Italy and parts of North Africa, but the best he could achieve was the restoration of Ravenna as a capital of Italy.] [Note: Before the reign of Justinian I, reasonably considered the last of the Roman emperors, the empire was earlier divided to the two sons of Theodosius I (the Great), who was the last emperor to rule over both the western and eastern halves of what remained of the Classical Roman Empire.] [Note: Both Theodosius and Justinian would in time become significantly influential on the migrating Slavs who early on settled in the region of the Balkans. Noting that it was Theodosius the Great who issued a decree that made orthodox Nicene Christianity the official state religion of both the western and eastern regions of a crumbling Roman empire, and so Nicene Christianity became the foundation for the Eastern Orthodox Church, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Catholic Church and the Russian Orthodox Church. This was followed by Justinian’s support of the creed established at Nicaea and Constantinople, which became the official creed (Symbol of Faith) of the Eastern Orthodox Church. (The addition of the Filioque by the Roman Catholic Church led to the Great Schism between Roman Catholicism and Byzantine Orthodoxy.)] [Note: It is thought that it was four tribes—the Chuds, Slavs, Merians and Krivichs—who at one time drove out a people called the Varangians (supposedly Scandinavians).] [Note: Warring tribes among the Slavs led them to seek a prince among the Varangians. This initiated a Scandinavian expedition into Russia by three brothers, Rurik, and later Dir and Askold, and their kinsman supposedly known as the Rus. This Rurik (Hrörekr), a Swede, founded Russia’s first ruling dynasty, and in time these northern rulers became known as the velikii kniaz, meaning “great prince,” or “grand prince,” as was Yaroslav the Wise.] [Note: Yaroslav the Wise, the Grand Prince of Kyiv, was a renowned ruler from one of the earliest Russian states, the Kievan kingdom. The ancient city of Kyiv (sometimes Kiev) was once called “the mother of all Russian cities,” and was founded beside the Dnepr River (Dnieper) in what is today the country of Ukraine.] [Note: Yaroslav the Wise was a man of some religious devotion who was inspired to have many religious books from the Byzantine Empire translated into Old Russian. He also founded some of the earliest monasteries in Russia, and after defeating the tribes of Pincenates in 1035 AD, Yaroslav marked his victory by building one of the great cathedrals of Europe, the Saint Sofia Cathedral in Kyiv.] [Note: Yaroslav also established many ties with Western European rulers by having his children marry into many of Europe’s royal families. Yaroslav’s wife, known as Irene in Russia, was the daughter of King Olaf of Sweden. His son Vsevolod married the daughter of the Byzantine Emperor Konstantin Monomakh. His grandson, the legendary Russian Prince Vladimir, was later dubbed ‘Monomakh.’ His second son married the sister of Dazamir of Poland, the youngest daughter Anne married Henry I of France, his daughter Elizabeth married Harald III of Norway and Anastasia married the future Andrew I of Hungary. Also, his granddaughter married the German Emperor Henry IV and his grandson Vladimir Monomakh married the daughter of Harold who was the last Anglo-Saxon king.] [Note: By 1914, on the eve of World War I, the destiny of Europe was influenced by three ruling cousins and grandsons of Queen Victoria of England—George V of England, Wilhelm II of Germany and Nicholas II of Russia. (George V’s and Nicholas II’s mothers were both Danish princesses.] [Note: Yaroslav began the lineage and dukedoms of Moscow. These dukes of Moscow eventually added to their official title the phrase “of all Russia.” Thus, they each became the “Grand Duke of all Russia.”] [Note: The “grad” of Moscow gradually grew in prominence and was considered a fortress against the Mongols with its high walls, and although disputed, the word “Kremlin” (kreml) is thought to be of Tatar or Mongol origin and means “fortified place,” and some consider it to be the foundational word for “Crimea.”] [Note: It was Ivan III (called “the Great”) who continued to enlarge the boundaries of Russia and end the subservience to the Tatars. It was during this time that the duke of Russia sought to claim an even greater title—Tsar (Caesar) of all Russia. This political title was realized with the marriage of Ivan III and Zoë Palaeologina, the niece of Constantine XI Palaeologus who was the last of the Byzantine Emperors. Ivan’s new wife Zoë (Sophia) exercised a great influence on the Russian court by bringing with her manuscripts, priests, scholars, artists and architects, creating somewhat of a renaissance for the Muscovites.] [Note: Ivan the Great’s grandson, Ivan IV, known in history as Ivan the Terrible, was the first to officially assume the title of Tsar. His rule reflected Tatar absolutism and the Byzantine practice of combining church and state, which further established—in part—the foundation for what would eventually become the modern Russian state.] [Note: Tacitus recorded in his Germania that the peoples who inhabited the peninsula of Sweden were called the Suiones (“Sviar” in Old Norse). They became known as the Svear and gave their name