They were soon joined by others of their warlike countrymen.

The natives appear to have made no opposition to their rule, and thus Kief became the center of a new and independent Russian kingdom.

These energetic men rapidly extended their territories, raised a large army, which was thoroughly drilled in all the science of Norman warfare, and then audaciously declared war against Greece and attempted its subjugation.

The Dnieper, navigable for boats most of the distance from Kief to the Euxine, favored their enterprise.

They launched upon the stream two hundred barges, which they filled with their choicest troops.