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OLEG (?-912)

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Originally appearing in Volume V20, Page 77 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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OLEG (?-912) , See also:prince of See also:Kiev, succeeded Rurik, as being the eldest member of the ducal See also:family, in the principality of See also:Great See also:Novgorod, the first See also:Russian See also:metropolis. Three years later he moved southwards and, after taking See also:Smolensk and other places, fixed his See also:residence at Kiev, which he made his See also:capital. He then proceeded to build a fortress there and gradually compelled the surrounding tribes to pay him See also:tribute, extending his conquests in all directions (883-903) at the expense of the See also:Khazars, who hitherto had held all See also:southern See also:Russia to tribute. In 907, with a See also:host made up of all the subject tribes, See also:Slavonic and Finnic, he sailed against the Greeks in a See also:fleet consisting, according to the lyetopis, of 2000 vessels, each of which held 40 men; but this estimate is plainly an exaggeration. On reaching See also:Constantinople, Oleg disembarked his forces, mercilessly ravaged the suburbs of the imperial See also:city, and compelled the See also:emperor to pay tribute, provide the Russians with provisions for the return See also:journey, and take fifty of them over the city. A formal treaty was then concluded, which the Slavonians swore to observe in the names of their gods Perun and Volos. Oleg returned to 1.:iev laden with See also:golden ornaments, costly cloths, wines, and all manner of See also:precious things. In 911 he sent an See also:embassy of fourteen persons to Constantinople to get the former treaty confirmed and enlarged. The naiaes of these ambassadors are preserved and they point to the Scandinavian origin of Oleg's host; there is not a Slavonic name among them. A new and elaborate treaty, the terms of which have come down to us, was now concluded between the Russians and Greeks, a treaty which evidently sought to bind the two nations closely together and obviate all possible See also:differences which might arise between them in the future. There was also to be See also:free See also:trade between the two nations, and the Russians might enter the service of the See also:Greek emperor if they desired it. The envoys returned to Kiev in 912 after being shown the splendours of the Greek capital and being instructed in the rudiments of the Greek faith.

In the autumn of the same See also:

year Oleg died and was buried at Kiev. See S. M. Solovev, See also:History of Russia (Rus.), vol. i. (St See also:Petersburg, 1895, &c.) ; M. F. Vladimirsky-Budanov, Chrestomathy o the History of Russian See also:Law (Rus.), pt. i. (Kiev, 1889). (R. N.

End of Article: OLEG (?-912)

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