Holmgard: The Mysterious Capital of Ancient Russia

Join our Discord: Support me on Patreon: Heading down the river Volkhov in northern Russia, travellers meet with a lake, called the Ilmen. At the northern entrance of the lake rises an archipelago of hills, turned by the rising water into little islands or peninsulas, known to the Norse as holmar. On the eastern part of the delta lies a hill, nowadays called Gorodishche. This is believed to have been a powerful local stronghold, and perhaps even the first capital, of the Rus. Sources: Gene Pool of the Novgorod Population - Balanovska et. al Ibn Fadlan and the land of darkness - Paul Lunde, Caroline Stone New data on the Ryurik Gorodishche near Novgorod - E.N. Nosov Notes upon Russia - Sigismund Herberstein Pantographia - Edmund Fry The emergence of Rus, 750-1200 - Simon Franklin The Primary Chronicle - Anonymous Viking Rus - Wladyslaw Duczko Древнерусское языческое святилище в Перыни - Vasili Sedov Image credits: By Sterndmitri - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, By WasilissaValskaya - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, By Sterndmitri - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, Timestamps: 0:00 Introduction 6:06 Nordic presence 8:39 Wendish presence 16:24 The Peryn sanctuary 22:17 Political power 27:09 Rise of Novgorod #vikings #history #russia