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There were also lots of contact between the Vikings and Byzantine Greece.
Contantinople was called Miklagĺrd by the Vikings.
"Ancient" Swedes are called väringar (the varangian guard of the emperor in Miklagĺrd).
They were brave warriors and founded the Principality of Kiev and even Russia, which bears their "german" nickname (rauphs=red-haired, even in modern Greek is RWSSOS both Russian and red-haired).
Several names that you take as typical Russian are in fact Swedish (e.g. Oleg=Helge). And many words in Russian, both toponyms but even administrative terms are Swedish.
The Greece runestones (Swedish: Greklandsstenarna) are about 30 runestones containing information related to voyages made by Norsemen to the Byzantine Empire. They were made during the Viking Age until about 1100 and were engraved in the Old Norse language with Scandinavian runes. All the stones have been found in modern-day Sweden, the majority in Uppland (18 runestones) and Södermanland (7 runestones).
Most were inscribed in memory of members of the Varangian Guard who never returned home, but a few inscriptions mention men who returned with wealth, and a boulder in Ed was engraved on the orders of a former officer of the Guard.
On these runestones the word Grikkland ("Greece") appears in three inscriptions, the word Grikk(j)ar ("Greeks") appears in 25 inscriptions, two stones refer to men as grikkfari ("traveller to Greece") and one stone refers to Grikkhafnir ("Greek harbours"). Among other runestones which refer to expeditions abroad, the only group which are comparable in number are those that mention expeditions to England, the so-called "England runestones".
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Originally Posted by Creoda
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