Rus (people)
The Rus are a historical people of the region of the same name , whose origin is not exactly clear. Many historians assume that the Rus come from Scandinavia and are therefore Varangians ( Vikings ). However, other (mostly Russian) scientists consider them Slavs . The Rus-Khaganat , Kievan Rus (both states of the old Rus), Russia and Belarus ( Belarus in its official languages) are named after the Rus .
Theories of origin
First, in the 18th century, the German historians and philologists Gottlieb Siegfried Bayer and August Ludwig von Schlözer , who both worked at the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences , asserted the Scandinavian origin of the Rus. Here they referred to the Nestor Chronicle . In the 19th century, among others, the Dane Vilhelm Thomsen took up this theory. In Russia, the Nestor Chronicle is mostly viewed as an inadequate source; Russian theories therefore suggest that the Rus were southern Slavs from the Ukrainian river Ros .