Aghia Sofia Istanbul/Constantinople Norse Connection

Aghia Sofia across the Golden Horn, Istanbul

 Istanbul, is still Constantinople (“Constantinoupoli”: Constantine’s City)or "Oi Polloi", “The City” to the Greeks.  The Turkish name derives from the old Greek name .  Here too we can find traces of our Norse Ancestors.  In the old city, the great 9^th Century Byzantine cathedral of Aghia Sofia (Saint Sophia) stands, firm, its great dome defying gravity.  Now a museum, it contains a Viking secret.  Ascending to the gallery by a series of ramps built inside the massive walls, and having passed through the Empress’s private lodge, one can stand with one's hands on the stone balcony.   

Ramp to the Gallery

There, carved in the soft stone were names in runic characters, one of which reads “Halfdan”, dated to the 9^th Century.  This encouraged me to find out more.  It seems Halfdan was a member of the Varangian Guard, bodyguards to the Holy Roman Emperor.

Halfdan in Runic Characters

More Viking Names

 
The Gallery where the Vikings stood

Just as our ancestors journeyed to the West, they also turned South and East, arriving in the Black Sea and to Constantinople through Russia’s river systems, and also through the Mediterranean.  The Eastern Vikings were known as the Rus, and they called Constantinople “Myklegaard” meaning the Great City.  The attack was unsuccessful, the Greeks attributing their success to a miracle resulting from the parading on the walls of the robe of the Virgin Mary.  Subsequently, the Rus, now turning to Christianity, perhaps impressed at the effect of the robe, sued for peace and then began trading, and entered into Byzantine military service.  This tradition continued for many years, and many returned home wealthy as a result of their service, either to Norway or even Iceland, where the Laxdaela Saga records that a certain “Bolli brought with him a great deal of money and many treasures that princes and men of rank had given him. Bolli had such a taste for the ornate when he returned from his travels that he would not wear any clothes that were not made of scarlet cloth or gold-embroidered silk, and all his weapons were inlaid with gold... Bolli rode from the ship with eleven companions. His companions were all wearing scarlet and rode in gilded saddles; they were all fine-looking men, but Bolli surpassed them all. He was wearing clothes of gold-embroidered silk which the Byzantine Emperor had given him, and over them a scarlet cloak. He was girt with the sword 'Leg-Biter', its pommel now gold-embossed and the hilt bound with gold. He had a gilded helmet on his head and a red shield at his side on which a knight was traced in gold. He carried a lance in his hand, as is the custom in foreign lands. Whenever they took lodgings for the night, the womenfolk paid no heed to anything but to gaze at Bolli and his companions and all their finery.”  The last and best known member of the Guard was Harald Hardrada, who then became King of Norway, and fell at Stamford Bridge in 1066.