Crimean History Pt. 2: Prelude to Holy Kiev

Invitation of the Varangians by Viktor Vasnetsov, before 1913

As the 9th century dawned, Crimea was split between the Empire of Khazaria, which controlled Crimea’s northern half, and the Byzantine Greeks who controlled the south. As it would be in centuries to come, the Byzantines and the Turkic Khazars alternated between squabbling and alliances. Khazar…